Tomodachi Life on 3DS received a lot of criticism due to its handling of gender and sexuality. Characters could only be straight, and could only form heterosexual relationships. This is complicated by the fact that relationships were essentially randomly assigned to characters.
Nintendo of America said the following in response to the criticism:
“We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch.
"At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community, and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values of fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.”
In Miitopia, characters could form relationships, but this was framed more as a friendship rather than a romantic relationship. Despite this, Russia notably marked the game as being 18+ for containing "gay propaganda."
How do you think Tomodachi Life will handle gender and sexuality? Here are some ideas I have for what it could be:
- No gender, no sexuality, just friendships – This would be like Miitopia. Characters would not actually have a "gender" assigned to them at all, and they would form "relationships" that are not necessarially romantic.
- When creating a character, gender and sexuality are selected – When you create a character you choose if the character is male or female, and you choose if the character is attracted to male or female or both. This would prevent characters based on real people from winding up in unwanted relationships.
- Just have no relationship mechanic at all – Miis will not have relationships, gay or straight, and not move in with each other. This is kind of a scorched earth approach.
Any of these approaches would probably also lead to Nintendo having to rework or scrap the baby mechanic as well.
What do you think the new Tomodachi Life will do to handle gender and sexuality?
by razorbeamz