An archive of transcripts of James Somerton's videos. If you'd like to help, feel free to submit an issue with any found sources, or PR for code changes.
Misinformation. James said "queer rep wasn't a main staple of the Knights of the Old Republic series or BioWare as a whole until Dragon Age many years later", a claim that is not accurate.
It is true that queer representation was not a staple in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, since the KotOR series only has Juhani from the first KotOR game as the sole confirmed queer character (Juhani is specifically a lesbian) and same-gender romance option in the entire KotOR series, while the sequel Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which was developed by Obsidian, not BioWare) does not have a single confirmed queer character or same-gender romance option at all.
However, queer representation had been a main staple of BioWare games since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Between the releases of KotOR in 2003 and Dragon Age: Origins (the first Dragon Age game) in 2009, BioWare released Jade Empire in 2005 and the first Mass Effect game in 2007, both of which included queer characters and same-gender romance options: Jade Empire has Silk Fox and Sky, both bisexual and can be romanced by male and female player characters, while Mass Effect has Liara T'Soni, who also can be romanced by male and female player characters.
What makes James's inaccurate claim more jarring is that James did bring up Liara later in his video. It is worth noting that Verity Ritchie pointed out in their Patreon podcast and post that the part about Liara in James's video was one of the things James ripped off from Verity's video "How Bisexuality Changed Video Games".
Furthermore, Robert Grosso's article on Techraptor, "Queer Characters in Gaming - A Brief History", which was confirmed to be one of the sources James' "Video Games and The Choice to Be Gay" video had plagiarized, even pointed out that:
Starting with Juhani in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare would go on to include same-sex options for players in almost all subsequent titles.
Where in the video was it used?
12:13 to 12:20:
"Queer rep wasn't a main staple of the Knights of the Old Republic series or BioWare as a whole until Dragon Age many years later."
How would you like to be credited?
Use my GitHub username and link back to this issue.
Which video did you find this in?
"Video Games and the Choice to be Gay": https://tustin2121.github.io/James_Somerton_Transcripts/videos/TQNKEkrPEfI
What is the problematic line?
Misinformation. James said "queer rep wasn't a main staple of the Knights of the Old Republic series or BioWare as a whole until Dragon Age many years later", a claim that is not accurate.
It is true that queer representation was not a staple in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, since the KotOR series only has Juhani from the first KotOR game as the sole confirmed queer character (Juhani is specifically a lesbian) and same-gender romance option in the entire KotOR series, while the sequel Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which was developed by Obsidian, not BioWare) does not have a single confirmed queer character or same-gender romance option at all.
However, queer representation had been a main staple of BioWare games since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Between the releases of KotOR in 2003 and Dragon Age: Origins (the first Dragon Age game) in 2009, BioWare released Jade Empire in 2005 and the first Mass Effect game in 2007, both of which included queer characters and same-gender romance options: Jade Empire has Silk Fox and Sky, both bisexual and can be romanced by male and female player characters, while Mass Effect has Liara T'Soni, who also can be romanced by male and female player characters.
What makes James's inaccurate claim more jarring is that James did bring up Liara later in his video. It is worth noting that Verity Ritchie pointed out in their Patreon podcast and post that the part about Liara in James's video was one of the things James ripped off from Verity's video "How Bisexuality Changed Video Games".
Furthermore, Robert Grosso's article on Techraptor, "Queer Characters in Gaming - A Brief History", which was confirmed to be one of the sources James' "Video Games and The Choice to Be Gay" video had plagiarized, even pointed out that:
Where in the video was it used?
12:13 to 12:20: "Queer rep wasn't a main staple of the Knights of the Old Republic series or BioWare as a whole until Dragon Age many years later."
How would you like to be credited?
Use my GitHub username and link back to this issue.