Dark Cat of the Sith
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So I saw a few people chattering on Twitter the other day about Master Yoda's petition to support EA against anti-gay group pressure. Because, you see, EA dared to put out games with homosexual content, and we can't have that infecting the minds of young children and real manly men. There's been discussion on whether or not it's a fake to distract people from other issues with the company or not, and if EA actually gives a fuck or if it's a PR stunt. I can't say anything about EA itself, but I do believe there is a lot of "legitimate" (not staged) anti-gay upset that manifests itself either overtly or in more subtle fashions. See this post on the BioWare social forums about Dragon Age II, and a BioWare dev's excellent "fuck off" response:
I just love this response. He reminds the bigot that everyone is people and he shows complete indifference that one guy is creeped out because hey, this is for everyone. And while this is the DAII team, not the ME team, or the SW:TOR team, I love that across the board BioWare shows commitment to including their LGBT fanbase in their games. And let's be real, probably half the same-sex romances aren't even played by gay people! It's possible to be a straight people who actually wants to explore that character's personal dynamics. Gasp. Anyway, the tl;dr here is: eff yeah BioWare devs, keep on smacking down stupid monkeys. "A blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could feel my anger!" - Darth Baras twitter ; amateur photographer ; fanfiction writer ; roleplayer and worldbuilder |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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I love how he uses "traditional kind of guy" as a nice way of saying "homophobe."
"Fenris was such an awesome warrior! But then he got all weird and gay, and rather than realizing that his gayness did not in any way affect his awesome warrior-ness, I instead decided that he was no longer an awesome warrior, because I'm uncomfortable living in a world where gay people can also be awesome warriors. BioWare, please, help!" and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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Knowing people inside of EA...I wouldn't be too excited about it as being more than a distraction. EA has done some pretty despicable things in the eyes of the gaming community, and this is their attempt to distract from the load of awful. I've seen this before from Bioware, however, and LOVE the response.
Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards |
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Formerly “MumboJumbo”
Join Date: Dec 2009
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I find it a bit creepy that anyone wants to express their orientation, be it homo or heterosexual through a videogame. The same goes for relationships.
Turn off the screen and go grab someone's ass be it the same or a different sex in real life. I'm sorry if that offends but reality is reality for a reason. |
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
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Er. Nick this is about the presence of characters (not the player character) in the game being given sexual orientations. Honestly my take is this: if the sexual orientation is necessary to drive plot forward, by all means, the more the merrier, but if it is simply added for filler, what's the point?
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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It can be a large part of storytelling to have a romance, El Gallo. For the longest time, that romance has always been hetero, and most often Caucasian or Asian couples. Producing games with different types of romances available to the player helps other people connect with the game in new ways, rather than reinforcing the "you're different, so you don't matter enough to get your own" message that all minorities grow up hearing. It isn't any different than having a gay character in a novel, or whatever else.
Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards |
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Rocket Surgeon
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
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I love how much of the guy's perception of reality is revealed in his first sentence:
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Formerly “MumboJumbo”
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Understand I'm not saying the guy petitioning to not encounter gay team players is right. Aside from a label under characteristics how do they express being straight or gay? If they do take some sort of action to prove that point and it is some sort of goal to work towards in the game, my point, for me at least stands. If someone is a gay man and wants to hack at dragons for ten hours so he can save and kiss a virtual gay prince, I'm still of the view that those ten hours would be better spent chasing down and kissing actual men. Just my two cents and understand that my in depth gaming likely involves some birds and pigs or helping direct water. I'm not certain of the orientation of the birds, pigs or alligators. EDIT: I guess I thought of another example that shows how I feel about this. My sons really liked Guitar Hero when it was big and apparently I was decent at it when playing with them. I helped them unlock all the songs and whatnot. One day they were fighting and I intervened. Apparently they had spent all the virtual dollars but were arguing over what to buy because they discovered I had never spent any of my virtual dollars. I had to sort it out and I guess the virtual dollars buy t-shirts, decals for guitars (skins?) and so forth. I could care less what character I played as, what t-shirt it wore, or which model of guitar it played. The whole concept of caring and cultivating virtual things to that degree strikes me as strange. Last edited by El Gallo : 2012-04-12 at 14:32. |
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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The answer for you is this - don't play games with a story.
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Thunderbolt, fuck yeah!
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denmark
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Sorry for asking stupid questions, but which game is this about? One where you can make both love and war?
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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BioWare's games, generally, are not just ten hours of slashing or shooting. They have a story, and the relationships between the party members are generally considered to be an important part of their games' experience. Quote:
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and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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I think it is in reference to Dragon Age II. So yes.
Edit: In response to Mugge. |
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Ice Arrow Sniper
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Thunderbolt, fuck yeah!
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denmark
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Shit! I totally forgot about that. It's actually a perfect example of sex not being so much about arousal, but more about getting into the games character. Whether sexual orientation should be predefined or not, probably depends a lot on the game and it's characters. For example, I would have a really hard time picturing Duke Nukem as gay while it would be easy to accept a new character as gay.
Thanks |
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Formerly “MumboJumbo”
Join Date: Dec 2009
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I find that odd, and a bit gross. I would find it that way regardless of orientation. I don't care to deal with technology in that way.
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I'm going to disagree though on the claim that people don't use these games to substitute or avoid real life in ways. Clearly people do. Not all people and not in all ways but we are talking about the percentage that care about what shirt their avatars are wearing, or who care about the relationship status of their virtual team members. It isn't the only way people have of wasting their time or avoiding life but it certainly can be a way they do that. |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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I think we're past the point where a game should only feature something if it serves a direct gameplay function. There's a reason most games feature characters, and not faceless wireframes, even though those could swing a sword just as well. Character adds to the experience. Like a great soundtrack, a well-written plot is enjoyable in its own right while also enhancing and "heightening" the gameplay — fighting to save characters we like is more satisfying than just fighting to earn "points." And writing a well-written plot means writing interesting and human characters, and humans have relationships. In short, a game can have a gay character without that being what the game is about. And not everybody who enjoys reading or watching a story featuring a fictional relationship is doing so in lieu of having their own. I mean, really...I never thought I would have to defend the worthiness of, y'know, "fiction." and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Also, the reverse is okay as well. Someone might want to play a gay character who is NOT expressing themselves. I have played female chars in Ultima Online not because I have a need to express any kind of female-ness but just to be different. These games would be boring if everyone looked and acted the same. They attempt to mirror real-life by having a lot of diversity. Gays exist in the real world, why not in the game world? My take on this is this is either: a. EA's way of trying to broaden their appeal to people to increase profit. or b. EA's way of trying to make a political point. (a) makes perfect sense, (b) usually pisses me off but in this case I don't care because they are not advocating taking money or freedoms away from me personally. And I essentially agree with them. Now if they start mirroring their story-line along say the "Occupy Movement" or some kind of crazy, obvious political angle, THAT would piss me off, BUT it is still a free world, there are thousands and thousands of games, and one doesn't HAVE to play them all... |
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Dark Cat of the Sith
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I've been talking in general BioWare terms, but let me give you a specific example of a point when a romance changed things in a game. Heavy endgame spoilers for the Star Wars: The Old Republic Sith Warrior class storyline below. Spoiler (click to toggle):
tl;dr: I can buy sexual orientation not being impactful in a game like Duke Nukem. But in games where being able to talk to your companions actually affects the goddamn storyline, it had better fucking well be allowed to everyone. "A blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could feel my anger!" - Darth Baras twitter ; amateur photographer ; fanfiction writer ; roleplayer and worldbuilder |
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New Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Ohio
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I spend a large portion of my life playing video games, and it has nothing to do with avoiding relationships or other things in real life. I suppose you could make the argument that I am attempting to avoid BOREDOM in my everyday life, but that goes for every single person that works, has a hobby, sleeps too much, etc. Simply put, I could be doing a billion things with my time, and I'd rather sit in front of my computer than spend hours at the gym or playing sports.
As far as the OP, kudos to BioWare. I don't necessarily care for any of their newer games (SW:TOR was disappointingly boring,) but I am glad that they put their foot down. It makes me cringe just knowing that people still take issue with sexual orientation. ~Dan~ If anyone plays Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii, or has a 3DS, feel free to PM me about swapping friend codes and such. :) |
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¡Damned!
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
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I would've never known wtf a "Bear" was if it wasn't for MC. Just sayin'.
I guess that's the cool thing about a sandbox game, you come in as you are. Thinking about it though - there may be instances outside of our server where a player plays a part more along the lines of what s/he fantasizes about. I'm sure it's happened. We make our own story, of course, but I don't think there's been any romancing in ANMC (admittedly I'm kind of dumb about that even irl). Although... Bryson *did* rub his naked butt on my bed.... So it goes. |
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