The makers of Star Wars have been force-d to unveil the first ever gay characters in its latest computer game.
Designers behind ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ have included a ‘gay’ planet called Makeb where male and female characters – and aliens – have same sex relationships.
The homosexual characters appear in the ‘Rise of the Hutt Cartell’ – a part of the role-playing game which can be accessed by gamers who pay for an expansion pack.
Players who enter the new level can exchange ”flirtatious” dialogue and enter into same-sex cyber ‘relationships’ with computer-controlled characters of the same gender.
To get to the gay planet, users must also have a powerful character – as the planet is populated by powerful monsters.
BioWare, the Canadian studio behind the game, say the characters have been introduced after pressure from gay fans.
Executive producer Jeff Hickman said in a post on the official website: ”As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of.”
The game is the latest expansion to the MMORPG – massively multiplayer online role-playing game – set in the fictional Star Wars universe, and has around a million players.
But the move has also created controversy – with some gamers upset that the gay characters have been segregated from the rest of the game’s population.
Some gay groups claim the designers have created a ”gay ghetto” by forcing players to carry out relationships in one particular area.
The game, which was launched in December 2011, does not allow a player to have a gay sidekick, but the team at BioWare are hoping to fix that at a later date.
