Reporting on Makeb being the "gay planet"

GrayGhost79 · January 2013

[mod edit]

TwoThreeFour · January 2013

Originally posted by GrayGhost79
Originally posted by TwoThreeFour
Originally posted by Ramonski7

(...)
Ask yourself why do you have to wear your lifestyle on your sleeve within the confines of a video game?

(...)

So you are saying that homosexuality is a lifestyle and can thus be changed through pure will?

Not a disussion for this thread, trying to have a discussion on this is almost a garuntee to get the thread closed.

In any case I think it's all asinine. Scripted romantic relationships in games is a waste of resources and is simply a novelty that appeals to a very minor portion of the gaming community. So much fuss over nothing lol.

I agreee with that it shouldn't be a such big fuss as it is; however, in several Western countries (U.S.A. among them), this is a controversial topic and taking a clear stance for or against is controversial. I very much look forward to the time when a "feature" such as Bioware's raises absolutely no eyebrows.

ezpz77 · January 2013

Originally posted by superniceguy
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.

Non-heterosexual relationships have been a part of Star Wars for awhile.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Goran_Beviin

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Ferus_Olin

nachofoot · January 2013

Originally posted by FrodoFragins
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

Sounds like they added romance options to a game and want you to buy the expansion pack to pay for it.

No thanks. I would rather pay for something meaningful...like actual content.

FromHell · January 2013

Good. Finally I can safely say Bioware will never see another dime from me. Never. Again.

Thought I might resub for a month in the future but this plan is now officially canceled.

well done, when you think they can't ruin the SW IP anymore, don't forget Hickman sure finds a way.

I'm outta here bye bye enjoy the "new planet"

superniceguy · January 2013

Originally posted by ezpz77
Originally posted by superniceguy
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.

Non-heterosexual relationships have been a part of Star Wars for awhile.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Goran_Beviin

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Ferus_Olin

It is not in the movies, and not advertised, as that is the first time I heard of it.

I guess it all depend on how it is being put in, especillay in a Star Wars MMO. It is not just kids who need to be protected it is the gay community who needs to be protected from the kids - Kids can be so cruel as they do not fully understand.

SuperDonk · January 2013

Originally posted by tiefighter25
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.

LOL!

Aethaeryn · January 2013

Would it not be on the new planet because it is a new "feature". They were making that area and it would be easier to program the dialoge as they went along?

The funny thing is I had no idea Mass Effect had same gender options. . where was all the hoopla then?

kadepsyson · January 2013

I would say the population of Makeb is rather... homogeneous

Karteli · January 2013

Originally posted by superniceguy
Originally posted by ezpz77
Originally posted by superniceguy
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.

Non-heterosexual relationships have been a part of Star Wars for awhile.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Goran_Beviin

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Ferus_Olin

It is not in the movies, and not advertised, as that is the first time I heard of it.

I guess it all depend on how it is being put in, especillay in a Star Wars MMO. It is not just kids who need to be protected it is the gay community who needs to be protected from the kids - Kids can be so cruel as they do not fully understand.

That situation stems directly from the lack of open communication as to how someone is different. Education systems are on this and actively bringing topics up in class to explain why everyone is not the same. These types of situations are becoming less and less frequent.

If video games openly allow differences, then there will be less hardships, in the end. It becomes less of a mystery why someone is a different skin color, or why they wear certain clothes. Or how some may prefer the same gender.

I suspect all the fears of SGRA come back to an analogy of a person integrating themselves with a different race and suddenly becoming that race. They are still their same person, however. If anything, they are more sensitive to those they integrated with.

Sensitivity is good. It does not make someone they were not born to be. The whole conversion theory is out as far as I'm concerned.

A game is supposed to put you though wild events that you may never see in real life. Enjoy. It's just a game.

NC-John · January 2013

After the horror that was jar jar and the entire franchise being more geared and made for children, I applaud BW for this. it will keep away the youngsters who have homophobic parents and the hope is they can maintain a more adult driven Star Wars. This game may be the final game that employs some very dark themes and adult content based on star wars universe.

I'm sick of childish MMOs that are geared for children. This may be the last dark hope for Star Wars lore since disney took control.

Still waiting for a great 18+ MMO with deep story and very graphic content and themes.

Quizzical · January 2013

Most video games try to shy away from political and religious controversy. Too often it will just offend people without accomplishing anything. Even games that make politics or religion an explicit part of the game often go out of their way to avoid offending anyone in the process. For example, take this from the Civilization IV manual:

-----

"We know that people have extremely strong opinions about religions--in fact, many a war has arisen when these beliefs collide. We at Firaxis have no desire to offend anyone. However, given the importance that religions have had in human development, we didn't want to just leave them out of the game altogether; instead, we have tried to handle them in as respectful, fair and even-handed manner as possible. (All religions in the game have the same effects, the only difference being their technological requirements.)

"There are seven religions in Civilization IV (testing having determined that seven is the optimal number for gameplay). When determining which seven to include, we picked those religions that we thought would be most familiar to our audience. We do not mean to imply that these religions are more important, better or worse than any other religions.

"We offer no value judgments on religion; we mean no disrespect to anyone's beliefs. We're game designers, not theologians."

-----

Apart from some details of game mechanics, a statement to that effect could have been written by an awful lot of game designers. Video games tend to shy away from political and religious controversies to a much greater degree than, say, television or movies. I'd like to attribute it to game designers being more in touch with their audience than Hollywood types are.

Meanwhile, SGR necessarily wanders into both political and religious controversy. EA seems determined to make the issue drag on for as long as possible, too, rather than just doing something, insisting that it's not going to change, and leaving it alone. Sometimes they seem to take the view that any publicity is good publicity. Remember the time they hired some people to picket their offices, pretending to be Christians outraged at something or other in one of their games?

Karteli · January 2013

Originally posted by Quizzical
Most video games try to shy away from political and religious controversy. Too often it will just offend people without accomplishing anything. Even games that make politics or religion an explicit part of the game often go out of their way to avoid offending anyone in the process. For example, take this from the Civilization IV manual:

-----

"We know that people have extremely strong opinions about religions--in fact, many a war has arisen when these beliefs collide. We at Firaxis have no desire to offend anyone. However, given the importance that religions have had in human development, we didn't want to just leave them out of the game altogether; instead, we have tried to handle them in as respectful, fair and even-handed manner as possible. (All religions in the game have the same effects, the only difference being their technological requirements.)

"There are seven religions in Civilization IV (testing having determined that seven is the optimal number for gameplay). When determining which seven to include, we picked those religions that we thought would be most familiar to our audience. We do not mean to imply that these religions are more important, better or worse than any other religions.

"We offer no value judgments on religion; we mean no disrespect to anyone's beliefs. We're game designers, not theologians."

-----

Apart from some details of game mechanics, a statement to that effect could have been written by an awful lot of game designers. Video games tend to shy away from political and religious controversies to a much greater degree than, say, television or movies. I'd like to attribute it to game designers being more in touch with their audience than Hollywood types are.

Meanwhile, SGR necessarily wanders into both political and religious controversy. EA seems determined to make the issue drag on for as long as possible, too, rather than just doing something, insisting that it's not going to change, and leaving it alone. Sometimes they seem to take the view that any publicity is good publicity. Remember the time they hired some people to picket their offices, pretending to be Christians outraged at something or other in one of their games?

beating around the bush. You hit it head on!

edit: The description makes me feel like they are sorry for even implementing anything at all, lol.

I don't expect EA to kiss anyones ass (they never have before) .. so, hehe. The Civ response was humorous, though! Thanks, great input.!

itgrowls · January 2013

Originally posted by FrodoFragins
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

Like the parliament of a large multiworld society would really be that nearsighted just because the current political structures from a tiny race with visions of grandeur for itself still hasn't learned what being a citizen means in RL and still fights over which ancient religious book is the most right. Sticking gay players into a single world? This to me isn't progress at all, people didn't throw their consoles out en masse when games were released with this type of story structure. There were no reports of parents deleting GW2 off of computers en masse because the main storyline characters just happen to have a lesbian relationship. And certainly no one even blinked an eye when it was in ME so why now? It's just another means to make Gay relationships seem unnatural and different. It's honestly not progress.

Karteli · January 2013

Originally posted by itgrowls
Originally posted by FrodoFragins
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

Like the parliament of a large multiworld society would really be that nearsighted just because the current political structures from a tiny race with visions of grandeur for itself still hasn't learned what being a citizen means in RL. This to me isn't progress at all, people didn't throw they consoles out en masse when games were released with this type of story structure. There were no reports of parents deleting GW2 off of computers en masse because the main storyline characters just happen to have a lesbian relationship. And certainly no one even blinked an eye when it was in ME so why now? It's just another means to make Gay relationships seem unnatural and different. It's honestly not progress.

Can you link that scene, for .. educational purposes?

L0C0Man · January 2013

Originally posted by Karteli
Originally posted by itgrowls
Originally posted by FrodoFragins
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

Like the parliament of a large multiworld society would really be that nearsighted just because the current political structures from a tiny race with visions of grandeur for itself still hasn't learned what being a citizen means in RL. This to me isn't progress at all, people didn't throw they consoles out en masse when games were released with this type of story structure. There were no reports of parents deleting GW2 off of computers en masse because the main storyline characters just happen to have a lesbian relationship. And certainly no one even blinked an eye when it was in ME so why now? It's just another means to make Gay relationships seem unnatural and different. It's honestly not progress.

Can you link that scene, for .. educational purposes?

There's no actual scene, but several lines in the story (and the novels) make it clear that there was a romantic relationship between Caithe (one of the members of Destiny's edge, the main good guys) and Duchess Faolain (leader of the Nightmare Court, the evil faction of the sylvari) that was broken when the former became involved with the nightmare court, but that the feelings still remain on both sides.

Actually big part of the sylvari is that for them love and reproduction are separate issues, since they're plants "born" already adult from the pale tree, so gender isn't an issue for relationships. Actually, one of the sylvari CC options (seeing in a dream, copied and pasted: "In my dream, a champion in brilliant green armor defeated all challengers. He seemed invincible, yet a small mouse nipped at his heel") actually leads your main storyline to a male sylvari asking for help because "a brute is killing his beloved"... which turns out to also be male.

tiefighter25 · January 2013

This thread is hilarious.

All over avatars flirting with NPCs. (Does it still count if a male charcter flirts with a male NPC if the player is female?)

Violence aside, I agree with those reminding to us that the original movies were family entertainment. As in when Luke entertained notions of banging his sister.

Also worthy of note, people have some pretty short memories.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/allout-petition-hacked120412

The link's name alone is fun.

Karteli · January 2013

Originally posted by tiefighter25
This thread is hilarious.

All over avatars flirting with NPCs. (Does it still count if a male charcter flirts with a male NPC if the player is female?)

Violence aside, I agree with those reminding to us that the original movies were family entertainment. As in when Luke entertained notions of banging his sister.

Also worthy of note, people have some pretty short memories.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/allout-petition-hacked120412

The link's name alone is fun.

Star Wars is becoming less of what we know anyways. Greedo shoots first, so Han isn't the aggressor in a family movie... /sigh. Han is a hero so he can not possibly be portrayed as an instigator (even though if he tried to run he would be killed). /grumble

Lucas takes that "family entertainment" to a new level. I'm not really sure on his direction. It's way off from his original ideas.

Is George Lucas moving his investests forward with changing ideals? Will George Lucas CAN SWTOR? Will George Lucas step in to mandate how the new Star Wars movies will be made?

All this and more, on the next episode of SOAP .. da de dah, da de dah dah dah dah, da de dah da dahh de dahh de dahh ..

Camaro68 · January 2013

Originally posted by Karteli
Originally posted by tiefighter25
This thread is hilarious.

All over avatars flirting with NPCs. (Does it still count if a male charcter flirts with a male NPC if the player is female?)

Violence aside, I agree with those reminding to us that the original movies were family entertainment. As in when Luke entertained notions of banging his sister.

Also worthy of note, people have some pretty short memories.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/allout-petition-hacked120412

The link's name alone is fun.

Star Wars is becoming less of what we know anyways. Greedo shoots first, so Han isn't the aggressor in a family movie... /sigh. Han is a hero so he can not possibly be portrayed as an instigator (even though if he tried to run he would be killed). /grumble

Lucas takes that "family entertainment" to a new level. I'm not really sure on his direction. It's way off from his original ideas.

Is George Lucas moving his investests forward with changing ideals? Will George Lucas CAN SWTOR? Will George Lucas step in to mandate how the new Star Wars movies will be made?

All this and more, on the next episode of SOAP .. da de dah, da de dah dah dah dah, da de dah da dahh de dahh de dahh ..

To me its like putting saurkraut on a pizza. If I want saurkraut I'll have a rueben.

If I order a pizza I want a frikin pizza.

It's just like if this site were to put up a gay and lesbian forum. It's got nothing to do with the content of this site and I'm sure there's plenty of other websites out there for gay and lesbian discussions for people who want to have them.

[mod edit]

protodoxa · January 2013

MurlockDance · January 2013

Originally posted by FrodoFragins
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

I am not quite sure what a 'gay planet' is. Don't get me wrong, I don't know what a 'heterosexual planet' is either.

On a more serious note though, I do find it awkward that they have one planet where players can choose what type of romance they have. The message Bioware is sending out is very ambiguous : are all relationships being accepted now or are they just playing lip service ? Will all future planets added have this option in or is this it ?

I do feel at some level that Bioware is opening up a can of worms on this one because if they fail to continue to support this, it will look bad for them for those in the 'gay community' but on the other hand if they do continue to support it, it could piss off those who are opposed to it.

Maybe it is best to leave this one alone because I think that Bioware missed their opportunity for being open-minded and allowing full role play customization choices at release of the game when it should have been incorporated.

Now, they seem silly because they have put it on one remote planet, which is like saying 'we accept people with different sexual orientations, but not really because it is only on this one planet that people have to pay extra for'.

MurlockDance · January 2013

Originally posted by Camaro68

To me its like putting saurkraut on a pizza. If I want saurkraut I'll have a rueben.

If I order a pizza I want a frikin pizza.

It's just like if this site were to put up a gay and lesbian forum. It's got nothing to do with the content of this site and I'm sure there's plenty of other websites out there for gay and lesbian discussions for people who want to have them.

You'd think gay people above anyone else would appreciate not having someone else's agenda shoehorned in just to please an activist group.

I think the issue is more that it has to be shoehorned in at all. It should have been in from the start because it is a matter of roleplay and options of roleplay. Yes, as someone pointed out, two players could roleplay a same gender relationship, but why isn't it an option with companions and NPCs too ? After all, NPCs are a part of the virtual world so it just makes sense to have these things in.

Bioware talks about human and alien relations and how they are at times frought with tension, so I am guessing that romance between aliens and humans can be contentious too. So why did they not put SGR in from the get-go ?

It seems like Bioware wimped out big time.

Swanea · January 2013

Im all for them adding it, but it is pretty terrible that it's just ONE planet and with NPCs that are ONLY on the planet (ie not companions or anything)

It's kinda...meh how they handled it.

tiefighter25 · January 2013

Originally posted by Swanea
Im all for them adding it, but it is pretty terrible that it's just ONE planet and with NPCs that are ONLY on the planet (ie not companions or anything)

It's kinda...meh how they handled it.

Kind of sums up the rush to launch in general.

I do believe it was originally intended, considering the developers and that it's Bioware in general.

I have a feeling it was slashed for budgeting purposes (the Bioware monikered "EA Deathstar" to meet the 2011 Holiday launch window.

The developers were intending to play catch-up, and Makeb was designed by the original developers, and they added the SGR element in as they originally intended, However, they originally intended it to come out as a major content patch in the summer of 2011, not as an expansion in 2012.

Since EA withheld and is now releasing the content patch as an expansion, they are stuck with the now gone developers descion to introduce the SGR romances.

My guess, despite EA's ublic progresive stnce on "gay" issues, they would have prefered not spending money to develope them in the first place, and conversely, are not wiling money to take them out.

Thus you have Makeb with SGR, but no going back to allow the 1-50 NPCs or companions the option.

Makeb has SGR, but it's sort of just mentioned to keep their SGR faction appeased, but with little fanfare, in an attempt to not piss off people who are afraid that homosexuality is contagious.

Theories are of course, just that.

tiefighter25 · January 2013

Originally posted by pioneer08

t Oh just something else the fab 5 can whine and cry about. These people would have whined and cried if they would have released it at the beginning dont be fooled by anything they say.

Pray do tell who the Fab 5 are, so as I may avoid being fooled by the lies and blasphemy they spread.

They obviously do not revere and respect he who walks behind the rows.

Howdy, Stranger!

Reporting on Makeb being the "gay planet"

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Reporting on Makeb being the "gay planet"

Comments