Shepard is heterosexual "by choice"
Muzyka explains lack of gay relationships.
BioWare co-founder Dr Ray Muzyka has said that the absence of gay relationships in the Mass Effect games is a storytelling decision.
"In Mass Effect it's more a third-person narrative, where you have a pre-defined character who is who he is, or she is," Muzyka told IGN when asked why Dragon Age: Origins allowed for gay relationships while Mass Effect didn't.
"But it's not a wide-open choice matrix. It's more choice on a tactical level with a pre-defined character. So they're different types of narratives, and that's intentional."
The Mass Effect games are about "[Commander] Shepard as a defined character with certain approaches and worldviews", Muzyka continued.
"So we constrain the choice set somewhat, but enable more tactical choices and enable a deeper, richer personality, because it's more focused around defining one character, it's not as wide open. But that's by choice."
Dragon Age, for its part, "is a first-person narrative" where "you are that character at a fundamental level", and that's the reason there's more scope for different relationships.
Meanwhile, over on the BioWare forums, an argument has broken out between fans about whether the developer is guilty of censoring itself by not including more explicit sexual content.
That, too, was a "choice", according to QA man Stanley Woo.
"Let me tell you, folks, that as a developer full of mature individuals, we are also free to not have explicit sex and/or nudity in our games, no matter what you, Fox News, the government, or Bunky the Wonder Clown has to say about it," he wrote.
"We have never considered it a 'problem', it is simply a choice we have made and we have every right to make that choice."
Woo also said he finds it frustrating that "people who claim to be old enough and mature enough to handle sex and nudity in a game seem to believe that any lack of sex and nudity in the game is a sign of self-censorship".
This writer finds it frustrating that you can't chat up Harbinger. Love conquers all.
Check out our Mass Effect 2 review if you fancy some more BioWare this morning.