On that Whole Nintendo Tomodachi Life Same Sex Marriage Issue

There seems to be a bit of controversy brewing thanks to Nintendo, and it's not their recent economic situation. Nintendo has a game called Tomodachi Life for the 3DS which is partly about building character relationships. The original version in Japan did not allow for same sex relationships to be developed, so when Nintendo decided to localize the game to the US, a group of gamers decided to create a proposal to request that Nintendo allow for same sex marriage. Nintendo's response was as follows:

"Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life. The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that 'Tomodachi Life' was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary.

The ability for same-sex relationships to occur in the game was not part of the original game that launched in Japan, and that game is made up of the same code that was used to localize it for other regions outside of Japan."

Now, their response on social commentary, it seems to me, is complete hogwash. Whether the game is set in a "playful alternate life" or not, games that focus on building relationships (and games in general) make social commentaries, whether intended or not. The fact that the game does not allow same sex marriages is in itself a social commentary. It may not be representative of the company's position on the issue (if it has any) or even of the developers' stance. It may be that it is simply a response to the markets. However, this does not mean that the game does not make a statement in the issue, because when taken as an individual text itself, it does. That first section of Nintendo's answer is both out of touch and unnecessary.  From a culture / society perspective, it is simply wrong.

However, from a technical perspective, Nintendo may have a point. I have seen too many comments saying that all Nintendo has to do is change a variable from "not marry" to "marry", when this is not the case. These comments don't take into account how coding and game development actually work. My purpose in writing this is not to defend Nintendo, as much to explain a process. In that spirit, let me first explain what would actually have to be done as far as the game's design, then give some simple examples of code. I will then conclude with an opinion of what Nintendo should do.

The process of changing an integral element of a game's design is tedious and arduous. Because the original Japanese game does not allow for same sex marriage, in order to include this in the US version Nintendo would have to change entire systems in the game's design. First, they would have to either create a new system to measure same sex character relationships, or extensively modify the currently existing system to allow every character and every possibility. This new system would have to keep track of relationship points (or whatever the code uses to measure relationship between characters) for each new possible relationship, which means the creation and definition of dozens, perhaps hundreds of new variables and classes. These variables would be part of the new module created. 

Because the game would now allow new relationships, then this means that new dialogue would have to be created. If the game is going to give a fair representation of same sex relationships and not come across as a lazy attempt at appeasing fans, there will be several hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of new dialogue for each possible new relationship.

Now, the writing of lines, honestly, isn't that complex. All that Nintendo would need is a clever writer, and there are many out there willing to do it, I'm sure. When it comes to creating entire new systems to measure behavior, it becomes a bit more complicated. Below I will put a few lines of code from a game I'm making. The code is borrowed from awesome scripter Moghunter over at Atelier RGSS:

That looks like extensive and complicated code. What does it do? When a character moves into a new map, the module above displays the name of the location. That's all. It doesn't actually display the location or create visuals or allow any sort of player interaction or make music play or guide player behavior or create conversations. The only thing it does is read the name of a map (the creation of the map involves even more extensive code, the naming of the map involves another extensive module) and display it on screen. It is a code so simple that most coders and scripters would be hesitant to even call it a system. I am, however, modifying some code that could be called a "system". In that system, the game presents a side view, menu driven battle system that uses a wait and action system similar to that present in Ar Tonelico. It's over 5,000 lines of code long. Note that it is a system that only modifies an already existing battle system composed of about 3,000 lines of code (which is, in itself, only a small sub routine of a far larger collection of code). So no, it would not be as simple as changing "same sex allow marry? = no" to "same sex allow marry? = yes". That is, unless players are ok with same sex relationships in the game using the exact same system and dialogue options as different sex, which would in effect negate gender differences, make all characters mono-gendered, and render all of it pointless. 

So what should Nintendo do? Allow me to give three possible routes. Note that I don't necessarily endorse the first two of them. They are simply options open to Nintendo. 

Route 1: The Corporate Thing 

Nintendo is, above all, a corporation, and the purpose of a corporation is to make money (even if Nintendo has flopped at this as of late). There is an outcry from people who want same sex relationships in the western localization, and Nintendo certainly does have the resources to modify the game (I honestly don't see how adding the system would cost the company more than, maybe, 100,000 USD). What Nintendo should do, then, is do a study - how many people who were going to buy the game will not buy it because of the lack of same sex relationships? How many people will buy it if they add same sex relationships? Will the potential lost revenue / earned income offset the projected expense of modifying the code? How many people who would have bought the game as it is would be turned off by the game if they included the new mechanic? How many lost sales would there be? If they will sell enough additional units to offset the cost of changing the system, then Nintendo should do it. If not, then they should leave the game as is. 

Route 2: The Ethical Thing

No doubt all of you are thinking "the ethical thing is to add / not include same sex marriage in the game" depending on where you stand on the issue. The ethical thing is necessarily to implement the system or not as much as to take a stand. The ethical thing would be for Nintendo to come out and say "this is how we feel about same sex marriage". If they are for same sex marriage, then they should either include a same sex marriage system or explain why it's impossible for them to include it. If they are against it, they should clearly state it. Of course, doing this will lead to many unhappy people either way, which is why it stands directly opposite to corporate interests (remember how pro same sex marriage people no longer eat at Chick Fil A and anti same sex marriage people no longer eat Oreos).

Route 3: What I would do

I would just not bring the game over to the west. Not because of the whole same sex issue (although it is one of the most important issues of our time), but because I just don't see the game as being a potential success. Gameplay and structure doesn't seem to me like something that western audiences would like.