Last week, gay gaming enthusiast Tye Marini released a video discussing the impact of Nintendo's stubbornness in denying same-sex relations in their upcoming 3DS video game, Tomodachi Life. To combat this problem, Marini encourages players and supporters to use the hashtag #Miiquality on social media as a way to raise awareness over the ban.
According to Marini, coupling is an essential function within the Tomodachi Life. "There are specific features and content that you can't access without getting married, such as moving into a bigger house of your own [and] having a child and sending them off to other islands." Mariani went on to explain his disappointment over having to choose between creating avatars closer to his real life relationship and exploring all of the content offered in the game.
Nintendo of America has since responded to the movement, saying in a statement that "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."
Ironically, the original Japanese version of Tomodachi Life briefly allowed players to create same-sex attracted characters. However, Nintendo released a patch to cease that option, which in turn only drew more attention to the need for marriage equality within the game.
