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Reporting on Makeb being the "gay planet"
FrodoFragins
Member EpicPosts: 5,903
I never really thought of it this way, but it gives the appearance that same sex relationships is delegated to a remote corner of the galaxy.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/423849/20130114/star-wars-old-republic-sgr-gay-planet.htm
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Personally I'm a bit bewildered why people are surprised that Bioware is adding the Same-Sex romance option; it's Bioware.
Then again, they did try to have their cake and eat it too with their, we have no SGR yet, but will some day launch stance.
They would have been better off just having it to begin with, less feathers ruffled if you knew what you were getting into.
BUT....
To be perfectly honest, I don't understand why anyone would want to play a MMO to "romance" an NPC in the first place, gay, hetero, or anything in between.
I prefer the tried and true system where an oversexed guy pretends to be a lesbian to cyber with a real life girl, who he finds out months later is also an oversexed guy pretending to be a lesbian.
It is just making SWTOR and even Star Wars tacky.
If it was in the game from the start and all over, then it may have gotten away with it, but advertising it and making a big deal out of it, will make the game suffer.
They should just keep it in other mature games and save it for Mass Effect Online if they ever decide to do that.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Lol.
on a serious note, and not aimed at you tf25, no one is forcing anything on anyone, just have faith in your ability to choose not to flirt with male NPCs.
"It's a sandbox, if you are not willing to create a castle then all you have is sand" - jtcgs
That sounds to me like neither having your cake nor eating it. That would convince people who are offended that SGR will be in eventually not to pick up the game in the first place, convince people who think it really needs SGR not to play the game yet because they need to wait for SGR, and annoy everyone else who doesn't care either way that they're wasting development resources on it.
Well in a ay both are correct. From their forums, it would seem the pr- SGR camp figured the SGR would come some day, and the con-SGR camp thought it would never make it into the game. Bioware managed to put it off for over a year. Now the chickens come home to roost. (Only on Makeb mind you.)
I don't know why this is such a contentious issue for many people. We're talking about same-sex flirt dialog options in a game that already allows players to commit deliciously evil acts in other cut scenes. Early in the game I got the opportunity to execute a man while his son watched. That's ok, at least my male toon didn't have the option to kiss the dude - that would have been totally unacceptable, right? Probably would have had to uninstall the game in disgust.
Now I can understand religious objections, and I appreciate the civility of those whose beliefs have not yet rendered them incapable of expressing those objections without threats or violence. Equally, I don't particularly like vociferous secular fundamentalists intent on imposing their own lefty notions of progress on everyone else - even when I am sympathetic to their causes. But I genuinely struggle to understand why SGRs are such a hot topic in games in which you traditionally progress by systematically murdering thousands and looting their corpses. For those whose objections are born out of adherence to religious scripture, doesn't this directly contravene at least two of the ten commandments? And unlike the option to flirt with a character of the same sex, that violence is not something you can choose to avoid.
Anyway, to address the issue of the 'gay planet', Bioware should probably have had SGRs available from the onset or not implemented them at all. My murderous Sith warrior was castigated for not being decisive when he chose to let an innocent alien prisoner remain in jail instead of freeing or executing him. There is a lot to be said for sticking to your line, especially when you're inevitably going to annoy one faction or another.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
I am all for same sex marriage male or female its your business to do whatever the heck you want and I am very much cool with that concept HOWEVER..
I am not cool with a company wasting its freaking efforts on lore based content to amuse people thats just a total slap in the face to gamers who want actual game content. Swtor has made some serious direction / focus mistakes in the past and they are heading towards it again focused on the wrong thing, if anything same sex relationships should just come with an xpac as part of the xpac not a content update they are working hard to provide.
They refused to merge servers, the didnt bring rated wz's when promised. I was loving the wz's when I was playing but without the merge ques became 1hr and that just pushed me out of the game if only they would have offered transfers or merges but hey thats the past I just hope it isnt a sign of the future...
It's been mentioned before how adding specific areas for SGRA would be a bad idea, since there will undoubtedly be no explaination why it doesn't happen anywhere else in the galaxy. Companions should have been the better route for this, with maybe scattered romance here and there for NPC's - same or different sex. A choice of the player. .. if EA adds SGRA to Makeb, then I'm going to expect it with every expansion.
Well the story hit a major cable news network (website & airtime):
‘Star Wars’ game segregates gay characters on gay planet
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/14/star-wars-game-segregates-gay-characters-on-gay-planet/
, so I guess it's a matter of time before the others pick it up. I expect soccer moms everywhere to be throwing conniptions.
It's great publicity though, I suppose... mustering up those who rebel against society (current direction, political sensitivity issues, etc), which would account for quite a few. Way, way cheaper than running commercials. EA marketing comes through again! (I wish their game designers / developers were just as good, but that's another story).
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
I have no problem with EA/BW putting sgr in the game,but why only with npc's on Makeb?People have been asking for this since release and now it's confined to 1 planet to start.
I guess it's possible that the poor sub retention and cut's may have played into this,or is it a shut up and be happy with this attitude??
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark
Because that would require them going back and fixing something in the original content. This would be like making a clean spot on a dirty floor, now you have to do the whole thing. They can't start down that road. They don't have the ability.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
I don't know when people will get over same sex relationships and just move on with their lives. You clearly don't support it so even if it was from start you would still call it tacky.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
The thing that bother's me though is,I'm pretty sure this was asked for in beta.I believe they said it may happen,but nothing certain.
You're right though,in the end there's no way they could go back and re-do the original game once it was released.The money involved in v/a and implementing it into the story would be too much to ask.
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark
I have no problem with it.
-For the people saying "It's taking time away from blah blah blah..." that's a load of horse manure. They aren't going back and rewriting what is already there. They're putting it in with content that is going to be released in the spring. If you have a problem with that then you need to avoid Bioware games.
-The game is rated "T" for teen so for any parent that gripes "now I have to explain sex to my children" I ask why are you allowing them to play this game in the first place? The game has brutal death scenes and violence along with romance options. If you have no problem with your children seeing that then don't bitch about this.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
You answered the question in your 1st sentence of the 1st paragraph with what you said in the 1st sentence of the last paragraph
Plus it is Star Wars. There is a time and place for everything, and family entertainment is not usually the place for this.
Also it is being advertised and being made a big deal of. Apparently Rift has SG marriages but I did not know that, and is just worked into the mechanics, and is something not being a big deal of
I can imagine if some kids did play this, they would be immature about it and start mocking these NPCs and laughing at them etc, and maybe hurl abuse at other players
Parents may even deem the game too violent for their kids, and ban them from it already, but they know what it is about. There is currently no SGR in SWTOR, but soon there will be, and will change things.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
-It doesn't take much time to re-color items and put them on the Cartel store. They have plenty of time to do whatever, they just won't/can't. Makeb was probably finished last year when they had 80% more staff.
-I agree with you, this is much ado about nothing.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Lol,just reading your 1st sentence about re-color items for Cartel store.It's true and they can't even get the color's right.There's been many complaint's about the images on the pack's not matching the end result.
Someone at EA/BW need's some freakin glasses!
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark
Or give a slight damage/XP bonus for gay scenes and see how fast people's "principles" last.
"It's a sandbox, if you are not willing to create a castle then all you have is sand" - jtcgs
Honestly if the only reason that BW are making these changes is because of activist influences/pressures outside of the gaming community then I want no part of it. It only leaves the door cracked for the next group and the next group and before you know it law makers will be influencing things like level of violence, amount of blood, swear words per sentence or any other form of rediculous censorship they deem worthy. Religious groups, PTAs and government regulators are gonna have a field day with this example.
I say let the devs make whatever screwed up version of games they want to make and let the masses that will be actually playing decide. Games are a form of entertainment and escapism created to turn profits, not political tools created to influence public thinking on hot button social issues. If a player or a group of players cannot find enough freedom within the game to satisfy their real world social needs then I say they are playing for the wrong damn reason.
Ask yourself why do you have to wear your lifestyle on your sleeve within the confines of a video game? I personally have never seen such a movement to include issues of race or religion before in these games. I've been playing mmos for years and I have never gotten upset that dark-skinned npcs are not nearly shown as much as light-skinned ones. Or gotten upset because I cannot create a black npc to match my own skin tone. But for some reason SWTOR and this gay issue is being made into a social statement about the unfair and unjust treatment of all players who want to feel gay within the game. Bullocks! I say let the polls, player request and data speak for itself. If the playing population really felt that strongly about this then the evidence would speak for itself.
So far all I'm seeing is a few people trying to keep this issue from settling in the hopes that it finally catches enough steam. All I can say is that be careful what you wish for. Don't believe for a second that GLAAD are the only group of buzzards circling TOR's dying carcuss hoping for a easy meal.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Oh a gay planet?
Next shuttle to Marbek... I AM OFF! XD
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
This topic has been brought up twice before. The last time was..last week? Both threads got locked in a day.
Good luck with this one.
We aren't looking specifically for romance in computer games. What we are though is tired of being subjected to a 'straight' point of view on all content design. We'd like to see a gay point of view on occassion without having to browbeat the developers to get it. In this day and age of greater acceptance, we shouldn't have to 'persuade' developers to keep us in mind when making content.