I just received a reply to my followup feedback. It is slightly more encouraging on the actual subject of SGRA's but much more frustrating in regards to the larger picture of how Bioware is choosing to communicate with its GLBT players. It reads: Okay, so *this* response refers to SGRA's as being something that will be added in "future patches". Not "content expansions", but "patches". Good to know, I guess. But why can't someone from the Community Team be engaging us and telling us this? Obviously the fact that this content is coming in future patches is not super-secret if a low-level customer service employee has access to the information, so why can't our Community Team do us the courtesy of providing this information? Does my $15 a month not help to pay for a Community Team? Am I not part of the community? Again, my frustration is not about the current lack of SGRA content. It is about the dismissive way the GLBT community is being treated by SWTOR's "Community Team". We should not have to scrape together bits and shreds garnered from various sources and customer service emails in order to try to piece together Bioware's intentions. That is not a respectful way to communicate with your customers. It is infuriating. @Sparklecat: Unfortunately I received messages from two different customer support representatives that had the same "the only statement Bioware will be making" wording, so it is definitely not a single representative's choice of wording.

Heh. Yeah, maybe. But then, if they can remain totally unconcerned about the feelings of the entire GLBT community, I highly doubt they'd show any concern for me as an individual.

Good lord. I just got another response from customer service. I was invited to post a question on the Q&A thread. After being told that whatever current statement exists somewhere here on the message board is the only statement that Bioware will be making. I just sent a response to that. Here's an excerpt:

For pete's sake, yes, people can see how it *could* mean that. But you yourself just said it "essentially" says that. If it was so crystal-freakin' clear, why did you use the word "essentially"? We are asking for clarification because it is NOT clear, and your use of the word "essentially" means that you know it too. So kindly stop accusing others of trolling.

Until I got the response from customer service saying that "the response posted by our Community Team on the official forums is the only response Bioware will be making on this issue.", I would not have believed you. Now, however...I'm afraid you may be correct. I mean, its one thing to say that a statement is currently the only information available. But to tell someone that a statement is the only thing that ever WILL be said about the matter is something else entirely. It is a completely dismissive statement. Incidentally, does anyone know where, on the official forums, this "statement" exists? In any case, my continued subscription is looking less likely every day. Its truly sad that I may end up choosing to cancel, not because of any feature that isn't being offered in the game, but because Bioware refuses to even discuss the matter with the GLBT community. Until yesterday, I would never have believed it.

They are, yes, but I'm not certain how much good it would do to email EA. They don't exactly have the best reputation for caring what their customers think. About anything.

Well, I just got a response to my email. It is as follows: Which I take to mean "So stop asking already." NOT encouraging. I noticed. I like it. EDIT: I also just sent a copy of my message to the email address contact@bioware , since it is the parent company. Guess I have to get mommy and daddy involved.

Sigh. Yep. I just followed Uluain's example and sent two messages, one using the contact page , and the other using the email address feedback@swtor.com . I guess if they don't want to come to the thread to chat with us, we have to bring the chat to them using other channels. How disappointing, though. This whole experience is really beginning to tarnish Bioware's reputation for me.

Indeed. Even the phrase "content expansions" isn't really clear. They just added a new flashpoint with 1.1. Is that considered a "content expansion"? Or do they mean that SGRA's will only appear with an actual PAID expansion pack? The available information is far from crystal-clear. EDIT: Lol, gekko, you beat me to it!

If anyone is being intentionally obtuse.... No. Just no. We have NOT gotten an answer. And if we have I would ask you to link it, please, for the benefit of all who are reading this thread. 1. There was an announcement that SGRA's would be in the game. 2. There was another announcement that SGRA's would not be in the game at launch, but would be a post-launch feature. 3. It is post-launch. 4. People have been asking for information regarding the implementation, timeline, and other specifics. 5. THERE HAS BEEN NO ANSWER.

And if that is true, then that is all the more reason they should tell us what is going on. EDIT: I originally posted this in the Q&A Thread, but it was deleted (along with several other posts) as the moderator felt the conversation was starting to stray off topic. So, to further my point about communication, I will repost it here, for the benefit of anyone from Bioware who might be listening: So, wait, have the sgra's not even been written yet? We don't know that. Did they not record the voice-acting for the sgra's at the same time they recorded all the other voice acting in the game? We don't know that. Are they still working on cinematics for sgra cut scenes? We don't know that. I understand that you support the addition of sgra's, and I'm glad to hear that. So I hope you will not take my post to be in any way attacking you. You have extremely valid points, and you might be correct in that this content is still being written. But why is it so much to ask for some information on the issue? It is several orders of magnitude easier to "be patient" when we know what we'll be getting, how they're planning to implement it, and a ballpark timeline. For all we know, they might be planning to add it to the game tomorrow. But we don't know that. So, while I thank you for your support on the main issue of whether it gets in the game in the first place, I hope you can also try to put yourself in our shoes and understand why we'd like a bit of communication.

I agree completely.

Yeah, I'm in agreement here. These kinds of "One-day-blink-and-you'll-miss-it" rewards aren't usually very enjoyable for people who have jobs and real-life commitments. I don't mind something like that every now and then, but I hope this kind of thing doesn't become commonplace.

Precisely. We are asking for a bare minimum of effort from Bioware at this point. Just give us some basic information as to what we can expect in regards to ballpark timeline and what exactly is being implemented.

That's where I keep getting stuck, too. @ Comfterbilly: I completely support your idea of not having real-life politics intrude on game-time. Even as a gay person, if I clicked on an NPC and had them initiate a conversation about how they, as a gay person, felt discriminated against, and then they gave me a quest where I had to deliver an important message to the leader of a gay-rights movement, crossing through hostile territory to do so... Well, that'd be kind of depressing. I doubt that anyone, even members of the GLBT community, want to see political content, or experience poor down-trodden gay people in an alternate universe. We, also, can get enough of that crap in our real lives. What I (and GenoAmi, I suspect, though I would not wish to put words in someone else's mouth) am trying to do is see if you can envision a way where the mere presence of a gay person doesn't scream "politics" at you. Do you see where I'm coming from here? Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding your position?

Well, I'd ask you the same question. Regardless, if you've read my other posts, you would note that I am of the opinion that there is room for some sort of compromise. Is that not a compromise you can live with? Or is it your feeling that nothing short of giving every single player access to every other player's output numbers will be acceptable?

What can you tell us about the eventual inclusion of same-gender romance arcs? Specifically: *When will they be added? *Will current companions be available for same-gender romances, or are you just adding brand-new companions with that ability? *Does the inclusion of same-gender romance content also mean that we will see some same-gender "flirt" options for non-companion NPC's?

Aw, dammit. Now I'm depressed. I only upgraded my basic game to get the digital items, so I didn't get any physical collector's stuff, but I do agree that the digital stuff is...kind of underwhelming. Having said that, I don't necessarily feel that anything was misrepresented. I would have liked it had the speeder upgraded itself when you trained for a higher speed, but its not like they led me to believe that it would. So, yeah, I have buyer's remorse for spending the extra cash for the fairly useless and unappealing digital items, but...that was my own bad decision. I can't blame Bioware, though there's also certainly nothing wrong with trying to encourage them to make digital stuff that is more fun, useful, and levels with you.

Nicely done, Bioware. Thank you for listening and making this change to prevent griefing. It is much appreciated.

As a member of the LGBT community I'll say a few things. First, for GLBT people, this is obviously an issue that cuts pretty close to our emotional core. As this topic has progressed, I've been doing a lot of soul-searching, trying to figure out not only how I feel about various things, but why I feel that way. I think I struggle with what I'll call a "Message -vs- Method" conflict. For example, looking at this issue from a different angle, let's say I, as Bioware, call out to my players and say, "Hey players, now you can role play your character as being any sexual orientation that you choose! All you have to do is select the option you prefer in the preferences menu!" As a gay person, I might think that's a bonus. "Hey", I might think, "I can finally play a gay character if I want to! Yay for me!". But if you say "Hey, gay players! Because some heterosexual players find you offensive, we are going to give them the ability to turn off any options that might suggest any gay themes. But don't worry, we're going to make sure you can censor all that hetero stuff too! All you have to do is select the option you prefer in the preferences menu!", the reaction from the gay community will be vastly different. In this case, the "method" being used is the same (the creation of dual toggles), but the message is entirely different. And, frankly, offensive. What I have been asking myself is this: If we lived in a perfect world, where there was no bigotry based on petty differences such as sexual orientation, would I be offended by the ability for others to select not to see gay-themed content? I will honestly answer: No, I wouldn't. Because I'd know that it isn't about someone trying to send a message to me that I don't belong in their world. So I guess what I'm saying is, the message is more important than the method to me. When I see people posting things like "gay people don't belong in video games", that sends a message. And its not a good one. Its not even a neutral one. Its very, very close to "Black people have no business thinking they should be able to swim in our pool". And it feels crappy. So...yes, I think a dual toggle can work. But people have to realize that you can't sell it to the GLBT community by attaching the messages: "You don't belong in a video game" "Any gay-themed content is automatically political and I don't want to see your politics" --and-- "I need to protect my kids from you" Those are awful messages, and they will always be met with resistance. Not that everyone in this thread has been saying that, and I realize that. I'm very appreciative of the efforts many people have made to engage in civil discussion. But I've seen plenty of the afore-mentioned kinds of comments and attitudes in other threads. TL;DR Let's all think about what we're saying before we start talking about what we should be doing. Message is important.

But opposite-gender flirting does have a place in video games? I'm not following you. Can you explain why you feel one has a place but not the other?

Actually, I've had the very same thought. I've played several MMO's where just launching the client caused it to update, and you were only prompted to log-in after the update was complete. That's a much more user-friendly system in my opinion. /signed EDIT: To add another example of how this would be useful, I play SWTOR on my laptop and have a security key on my account, using my ipod touch as the key generator. If I know that I am not going to have time to play SWTOR, I may not have my ipod with me, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to update my client while I'm doing something else. That way, when I return home, my client -- and I -- will be ready to play.

Ouch. I feel your pain. That...kind of sucks.

I agree with this. Or even if they randomized it so that he didn't say something every single time you ran by him after entering the room it wouldn't be so annoying. Also, he simply needs more to say. The problem is, for me at least, that the frequency with which they have him speaking to me is set much too high for the small amount of voice dialogue that is recorded for him. What do you think, OP? You're awfully quiet all of a sudden....

But what if you weren't okay with interracial sex? In your example, you say that you've already made it clear that you're fine with it by rolling a black character and flirting with the governess. So if you were not okay with being a black character and flirting with an npc of another race, how would you go about showing the game you decided that? Well, by your own example, it would seem that you would tell the game you didn't approve of interracial relationships by not flirting with said governess. In your own example, no toggle was needed. You simply choose, or do not choose, the flirt option with the character in question. And you seem fine with that when it comes to interracial character relationships. Much of this debate seems to be centered on whether or not someone wants to play a character that is attracted to the same gender they are. But as the title of this thread is a bit broader than that, I'd like to pose a question: What about content where the NPC you are interacting with -- not your own character -- is homosexual? For example, you see a male NPC that offers a quest, and upon initiating the cut scene, he explains that his boyfriend/husband has been taken hostage by some people he owes money to, and would you please help? To those of you that are requesting this toggle, what is your response to content like this? Would your proposed toggle also ensure that these quests didn't appear, even though it has nothing to do with the orientation of your own character?