Treasures are special items for the player to collect, sell, and or to gift to other Miis. Treasures can be obtained by playing games with the Miis and winning them as well as through viewing the Mii's dreams. There are two categories: Treasures and Special Foods. The treasures' main usage is to be sold at the Pawn Shop, however they can also be given to Miis who want to confess their love if.
A gay Mesa gamer is challenging Nintendo's view of marriage and pushing for same-sex virtual relationships in a game scheduled for release next month.
Tye Marini, 23, has launched a social media campaign to convince Nintendo to include gay marriage in the upcoming game, 'Tomodachi Life.'
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'The game does not support same sex relationships,' Marini says in a Vimeo he filmed. 'Being a gay man myself this is very disappointing to me.'
Marini's #Miiquality campaign on Twitter, Facebook and Vimeo has attracted the attention of the national media and prompted a response from the gaming giant, reflecting the power of social media in pushing for change.
Marini's widely publicized views have drawn support from several Arizona gay and lesbian groups, who agree with the gamer's push for equality in a virtual game.
'Tye's campaign is significant because games like this and pop culture in general can have a huge effect on people who interact with them,' said Jeremy Zegas, project director of Why Marriage Matters Arizona, a public education campaign for marriage equality.
'By not showing gay and lesbian relationships, it tells young gay people that there is a legitimate reason for their exclusion,' Zegas said. 'Who wants to play a game and live in a state where your closest relationships are not recognized?'
'Why can't (marriage) be allowed for gay people, too?' said Michael McFall, publisher of Pride Guide Arizona. 'It needs to be equal across the board.'
Marini last month month launched the #Miiquality social media campaign for same-sex marriages in 'Tomodachi Life,' urging like-minded game fans to send messages via Twitter and Facebook, to make videos and podcasts and write articles, and to contact Nintendo directly.
He hopes the Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo Co., and its subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., decide to add same-sex relationship options to English versions of the hand-held Nintendo 3DS game.
Nintendo has been a big influence on Marini, who says he began playing Donkey Kong and Mario Bros at roughly the age of 2. In 2009, Marini moved to Arizona from Pennsylvania to be with his boyfriend, who he met playing Animal Crossing: Wild World, another Nintendo game.
Marini, who works in the electronics department at Toys R Us and started the Streetpass Arizona Nintendo 3DS Community Gamer's group in the Phoenix area, said in a phone interview Thursday that the success of his campaign has surprised him. Nearly 25,000 viewers have clicked on his Vimeo alone.
But Nintendo this week issued a statement saying it wasn't changing the game.
'Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of 'Tomodachi Life,' Nintendo of America Inc. said.
'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.'
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It's Nintendo's prerogative to develop games, rules and characters as it sees fit, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.
'Nintendo is under no constitutional obligation to offer people the opportunity to represent themselves however they live in a game like this,' said Dan Pochoda, legal director of ACLU of Arizona.
A trailer for the game says players make Mii's of their favorite people. Miis 'rap, rock, eat doughnuts and fall in love,' the trailer says.
But only if they are heterosexual, Marini says.
'Relationships between Mii characters are a HUGE part of the game,' Marini says on the Vimeo video. 'In the game, Miis will fall in love, and they get can even get married too, and there are specific features and content you can't access without getting married.'
In its statement, Nintendo notes, '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.'
Several role-playing games, such as 'The Sims,' 'Fable' and 'The Elder Scrolls,' allow players to create characters that can woo characters of the same sex, as well as marry and have children.
'Grand Theft Auto IV,' 'The Last of Us' and 'Gone Home,' have included specific gay, lesbian and bisexual characters.
Marini urges fans to buy the game in June. He believes Nintendo's response to his campaign leaves the door open for same-sex provisions on future games.
'Together, maybe, just maybe, we can make a difference,' Marini says of his #Miiquality campaign.
'We have heard and thoughtfully considered all the responses,' Nintendo said. 'We will continue to listen and think about the feedback. We're using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us at all levels of the organization.'
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The Associated Press contributed to this article.