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Star Wars: The Old Republic: No Same Sex Relationships
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If they can't offer same sex relationship options, remove the sex relationship feature from the game, you either give the whole pie or you put it back in the oven.
Also belive this is not Bioware's decision and is either a rating issue or LA not allowing it. As for the marketing perspective, I think it more in the lines of "making one gay person happy while alienating even one(probably higher number) family of 3 that won't buy they game for their child and themselves now", is not a good way to go. The % of people who are tollerant to same sex relationships is quite small to those who aren't.
Ehh, slippery slope there
What if I really want to romance IG-88?
or Ewoks or Jawas!
Did you see any same sex relationships in Star Wars? Ever? Did you see any same sex ones? Sure.
What about Firefly. What about Aliens? What about Star Trek?
Suddenly because Bioware is making a game they're supposed to put same sex relationships into the game because? It fits with the lore? It has some sort of precident? Because it doesnt. They didnt do it in the past Kotor games and I seriously doubt they'll do it here.
Just make a girl that looks like a guy if you have to have it. And role play as a dude. Problem solved.
Well, you just said that...
- Gay people have no morals.
- Most people are "closeted homophobes"
- And that these "closeted homophobes" are being oppressed by the evil and aggressive gays.
Yay.
Umm ... ewoks?
j/k
Sorry, just trying to bleed off a bit of pressure.
This news does not really effect me one way or another. Being gay or strait has nothing to do with the game. What matters is the how the game will play and the story that is told. It matter vert little to me what sex I can or can not have relations with and why should it. I cant think of one game where it has matter to me nor has it effected the out come of the game play for me. For me this this just another thing for people to QQ about.
Completely agree not to mention this argument has been used by the biggots for YEARS, you can't protect children from something that is essentially part of nature and they themselves are aware of at 1.5 years old and you can't protect children from something that is NOT taught NOT learned behavior and is NOT part of who some of us are from birth. Stating that it's to protect children from something like this is like saying that somehow the love i have for my husband is wrong, and that's wrong in itself. Don't dictate to my kids (your) biggoted beliefs.
and when i say your i don't mean the poster Unlight I mean Lucas Arts
Without same sex relationships, you'd never have new headlines such as, "Woman in sumo wrestler suit assaulted her ex-girlfriend in gay pub after she waved at man dressed as Snickers bar".
It's a real headline.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
There are no pies (or 'buns' for that matter either) in any ovens
They are relationship arcs - the closest you get to 'sex' is seeing someone leaving the NPC's room.
Further, the arcs are personal and private to your character. No one else ever sees your romance arc. No one else would ever know about it unless you told them, and the acrs are character initiated (which means no hedonistic Anders hitting on you all the time ;P) (That last part wasn't directed at you Frearlessbro - just a general comment - to all the misconceptions flying around this topic right now)
I think what many people are forgetting is that when it comes to the story driven content, the tale being told is Bio-ware's story, and not the player's own.
Don't kid yourself, when you enter this part of the gameplay, its much like reading a book, you go with what the author wrote, and get almost no chance to interact based on your personal preferences. You might get some options, but in the end you'll go either left or right based on what Bioware lays out for your character.
So they chose not to tell a tale of homosexual romance. Many novels leave it out, (being largely irrelevant to the story I suppose) so why expect Bioware to be any different.
It really doesn't fit in with the lore in any way, it would be undesireable to some parents who do control what their children see and play until they are 18 (in theory) so why add the extra hassle.
In the end, few people will avoid playing SWOTOR by excluding gay relationships, while the potential to lose business is much greater if they include the content.
And in the end, these games are all about business, and not too concerned about testing the social mores of society.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I am not hating against homosexuals, but there are a lot of gamers in mmo's who make fun of homosexuals to the point of pretending to be homosexual, or even start homesexual-sounding guild names then harass other players.
That being the case, there is no way for any game developer to know really who is actually homosexual and who isn't for the game sake. So I really think both sides need to take a reality check and stop trying to make a mole hill out of it.
I am personally against in game NPC relationships. It just smacks of silliness to me in an MMO where there should be a bunch of PC's running around to interact with on whatever level you choose. But if a game is going to put them in I figure you should put 'em all in. Just make all of it optional, so no one has to do any of it, otherwise don't bother. I'm straight, but knowing that some guy or girl is off having whoo-hoo with some pixels that are supposed to be a guy or a girl doesn't really bother me or my sexuality. There are far, far worse things under the sun, than someone else's sexuality.
As for the posts - The amount of homophobe I've seen here is rather pathetic. I'll likely get moderated for this but part of a free open discourse is to call attention to those who are being moronic. In this one instance we are actually talking about an issue related to civil rights. If this had been a game that didn't allow for inter-racial relationships you can bet the morons who are against it would have pretty much stayed hidden because there is a stigma attached to being a bigot. There needs to be a stigma attached to any sort of hatred that tries to tell people their romantic choices are wrong, when it is between two consenting adults.
One last thing, there is a difference between sex and gender. Gender is a construction, there are certain historical behaviors that would have been considered masculine in the past, but are now more considered feminine. That is gender. Sex is a biological term denoting the presence of male or female genitalia, the two are not always the same.
Just invite your guild mate onto your ship and play out your gay sw dreams ..more interactive that way.
I agree, I personally think its perfectly fine to be gay.
But that aside, regardless of how WE feel about it , its a meaningless stance. You really think it will stop IG gay relations betwine players? It wont, nor will they actively take actions against it. So effectively it is a meaningless stance.
So they are giving.. less tolerant people the impression they are protected against gay relations around them.
In Firefly the escort character admitted to having several women as clients.
In Aliens the movie wasn't about romantic relationships at all, and barely even touches on romance.
Finally in Star Trek, they do touch on the subject of same-sex relationships several times. Most reoccuringly is with the symbiots that carry over memories across hosts, which have been both male and female.
So actually they are there in the story, just subtley. The main point of them all I would say, is that all of such Sci-Fi settings don't go out of their way to ignore the existence of same-sex relationships. Bioware on the other hand, is going out of their way to add NPC romances, but is making a conscious decision to leave out any representation for same-sex relationships.
You're forgetting the ESRB. It's almost certain that including same sex relationships would bump up the rating, which would mean that in exchange for adding something for a tiny percentage of the population, they lose access to a large number of kids whose parents categorically refuse to buy Mature rated games.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Firefly: For an entire episode, Inara had a client who was a woman. Kaylie giggled, Malcolm glowered and Jayne went to his bunk. If there had been more than 10 episodes, I'm sure there would have been more instances of it. Joss Whedon isn't someone to who would be afraid to push boundaries.
Aliens: there were no romances at all. The closest thing to it was some cold and slimey facehugger action.
Start Trek: STTNG introduced same-sex relationships subtley during the series. It was kept low-key and mostly in the background, but the show made a conscious decision to include it. Prior to that, the politcal climate would have made it impossible to even hint at during previous incarnations of the IP.
The point is, that it is out there and it's not wrecking our world. Why would it start now unless we wanted it to?
I am curious, do you also get offended when you read a book and watch a movie where there are no gay relationships going on, but do have hetero ones? Do you call the director or the authour and tell him that he should remove the hetero ones if there are not gay ones?
Wouldn't it make more sense to simply leave out NPC romances if they're so concerned about their ESRB rating?
Fine, no same sex relationships, but what about Robot sex?
I wouldn't have thought this would make or break the game for me, but after reading responses on both forums I think it will. I don't really want to play in a game which panders to some of the bigoted fools I've read. Come on, Bioware. You've done it before. You even weathered the alien side-boob. You can do this. Don't let ignorance win.
EDIT: I'm in favor of the same sex romances in case that wasn't clear.
THANK YOU for that.
You mean those WERE the droids we're looking for? Hot damn!
Have you ever walked the streets of Nar Shaddaa? Visit some clubs there? Go to peoples houses? There's billions of people in there, that could be doing anything. The movies are about Jedis and a couple of other characters, do they represent the whole universe? Movies that does not aim to introduce the whole galaxy and everyone in it but just a few main heroes "trying to save the world", and if these characters show no sign of being gay then all of a sudden everyone in internets feel like they have the right the say "nope, there's no homosexuality in the Star Wars universe". Unless Lucas Arts say there is nothing gay in the Star Wars universe, you can stop speculating.