It's not 'merely' the LGBT community, I'm a guy in real life & I play female characters, yet I also like to date female characters. But this is a bit besides te point. The reason people probably assumed that LGBT relationships would be available is that it wasn't mentioned anywhere that it'd be straight relationships only & that Bioware has a history of adding at least some kind of LGBT content to it's games (see list below). Kotor had Juhani Jade Empire had Silk Fox & Sky Dragon Age I had Leliana & Zevran Dragon Age II had Leliana, Zevran, Isabela, Merrill, Anders and Fenris Mass Effect had Liara Mass effect II had Kelly Chambers, Samara and Morinth And last but not least Mass effect III had Stever Cortez, Kaidan Alenko, Kelly Chambers, Liara T'Soni and Diana Allers A lot of these characters were available for both genders and some of them only for the same gender. Let's say I own a pie restaurant & you happen to like apple pie. You reserve a table at my restaurant and order an apple pie, after which i tell you that unless you visit my restaurant on a weekly basis every single week for at least a year and reserve that special table in the corner, I'll only serve you chocolate pie which, if you're willing to work with me here, you don't like. I wouldn't be surprised if you felt discriminated against, whether that feeling is correct/justified or not. This is pure capitalism. Nothing more & nothing less. Since we live in a capitalistic world, this is to be expected. It's also why I won't bother complaining about it (I can't change the world). To use my pie restaurant as an example again... If I wanted to serve apple pie to customers, I'd probably have to hire a new cook or at least a cookbook that contains the recipe. I'd have to adjust my kitchen, so that the apple pie dough wouldn't be contaminated with chocolate, etc. (give me a break, I'm making this up while writing ). Of course it would have been smarter had I initially reserved a part of my kitchen for apple pies, but alas, I wasn't that smart. Still, I need to make a profit (I need to eat & pay my rent as well (once again, we live in a capitalistic world & i can't tell the land owner that he'll have to forget about the rent for a few months just because I made a mistake)) so yes, I'd charge the people who want this. Not too much, as it'd scare them off, but still...

Yes, it'd be pay2gay essentially, mostly because I doubt they've added the voices to the original game (I know, it's not bioware's smartest move) & hiring the voice actors again, plus adjusting the game files in such a way that it'd actually be usable in game will probably cost quite a bit of money. So if bioware wants to be paid for it, then I'll relent on that part & pay for it. Another option would be to add a menu option at the next update where you can choose straight, bisexual or gay/lesbian. Those who are against anything but straight relationships would set the option to straight, those who dislike straight relationships would set it to gay/lesbian & those who like some diversity would set it to bisexual. Bisexual would also cause a roll call (off screen, the player wouldn't notice it & only see the result) whenever an encounter takes place to decide if it'd be a straight or gay/lesbian encounter, assuming that programming something like this wouldn't be too difficult. Still, since bioware/EA would have to adjust the game & that'd once again cost money, I doubt they'd do it. Option nr. 3 would be to simply boycott the game. (the following applies to me, but I think they apply to a lot of other players as well) My female characters simply do not have any decent romanceable options available to them (not for me anyway) & my 1 male character does not have the correct personality. Simply put, the entire idea of romancing, even though the concept is good, simply doesn't exist in this game for me. Of course, a boycott would only work if A. the people who want this are subscribers B. If they're willing to join I have to admit, option nr. 3 could be seen as a bit childish, but if one compares it to more mundane matters like having a subscription to a magazine that doesn't feature the articles you want (besides the ones you can find a lot cheaper in other magazines), people would actually tell you you're mad when you stay subscribed to said magazine. Still, option nr. 3 is the option I myself like the least and I'm actually hoping that bioware will spend some money on the voice actors. Like I already said in my previous post, I'd be willing to pay for it (assuming the price they ask isn't too high). The sad thing is that this is an online game. Bioware's previous games could be edited to modify it in such a way that the games suited the wants & needs of the players. If I wanted to romance another character in Baldur's gate 2 Shadows of Amn, Dragon Age, KoToR (I & II) or Mass Effect, I'd simply look on the net for an applicable mod & modify my game. This option is not available in an MMO. Bioware & EA SHOULD have given this some thought, but sadly, they didn't. (although as far as EA is concerned, I'm not really surprised. I haven't had much positive to say about them since they took over Origin in the '90s).

Has nobody ever asked Bioware/EA if they're willing to change all of the companions & encounters for money? As in, buy the change from the cartel market? Those who have moral or other objections to such encounters/relationships could simply avoid them by not buying the pack & those who do want them can. The money earned could be spent on the voice actors, in those cases that the text is gender specific & has to be changed. I can only speak for myself, but I'd be willing to pay for it (if they implement something like this before 1 september) .