Did I hear this right?

[fungihoujo]

As long as they don't make us pay for that extra content, I'm fine with that. It would be the final nail in the coffin for me if they ask us to buy SGRs.

 

Doubtful- they likely will make f2p pay for the content- including the companion, not unlike they did with HK.

 

If you're a sub I doubt you'll have to pay for anything until there's an expansion with level cap increase.

[fabiyun]

Sounds more like a "we have no idea because we haven't even discussed it yet" to me. "We will let you know when we confirm whether we are confirming this. Or not." Please. Not sure why BW-Austin is so afraid of "the gays" after all the success BW-Edmonton has had with being an inclusive developer and building a relationship with this part of the community but enough is enough. If BW-Austin want to continue building a reputation of exclusion and discrimination fine, I'll just go elsewhere.

 

I'm pretty much giving up on BW-Austin at this point. They've made what should have been a complete non-issue and the content simply included from the start into a mountain of an issue that requires contacting LGBT groups just to get a confirmation that they don't have any confirmations. Ridiculous.

 

I think the same way about that comment. It sounds like they still need to discuss it, but they'll let us know when that happens. I'm not pleased with this response. It certainly doesn't sound like it will come with Makeb, or even with story content.

[Nozybidaj]

I think the same way about that comment. It sounds like they still need to discuss it, but they'll let us know when that happens. I'm not pleased with this response. It certainly doesn't sound like it will come with Makeb, or even with story content.

 

From the sound of it it is so far in the distant future that I'm beginning to understand why they won't answer any questions about. All it is at the moment is a bullet point on a white board somewhere if even that. These guys really dropped the ball. This should have been in the game day 1. A year later and its still no where on the horizon.

 

Guess I don't really have any choice then except to join the over a million people that have left this game behind for good. BW just couldn't deliver.

[Revanchis]

The reason for that is that they're inexperienced with making MMO's. This game really should have been a proper RPG from the get go.

 

When this feature does come around I may even come back for it.

[Ellianshia]

The reason for that is that they're inexperienced with making MMO's. This game really should have been a proper RPG from the get go.

 

When this feature does come around I may even come back for it.

 

I doubt I would if they keep dragging their feet. At this point, it's more a case of being disappointed in the company altogether, having been a firm supporter of their products up until this point. I wouldn't have minded being told that they changed their mind... as long as they went and told us. The silence coming from them is deafening, even though there was the promise of "this year".

 

Fine, plans changed, you lost funding, you lost developers, etc, etc, etc. Be responsible and go ahead and let us actually know what's happening so we can plan accordingly.

[Nozybidaj]

I doubt I would if they keep dragging their feet. At this point, it's more a case of being disappointed in the company altogether, having been a firm supporter of their products up until this point. I wouldn't have minded being told that they changed their mind... as long as they went and told us. The silence coming from them is deafening, even though there was the promise of "this year".

 

The thing to remember is BW-Austin (makers of SW:TOR) isn't BW-Edmonton (ME, DA, KOTOR, BG). Yes indeed BW-Edmonton is a firm supporter of the GLBT community and have developed a strong line of products that have been made with the idea that being inclusive is a good thing.

 

BW-Austin however has shown pretty clearly they are not an inclusive developer and have so far shown no support or any interest in developing a good relationship with the GLBT community. The Austin division simply has different guiding principles than the Edmonton group.

 

I think we are all just barking up the wrong tree here. BW-Austin clearly isn't listening.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Nozybidaj

[chimex]

The thing to remember is BW-Austin (makers of SW:TOR) isn't BW-Edmonton (ME, DA, KOTOR, BG). Yes indeed BW-Edmonton is a firm supporter of the GLBT community and have developed a strong line of products that have been made with the idea that being inclusive is a good thing.

 

BW-Austin however has shown pretty clearly they are not an inclusive developer and have so far shown no support or any interest in developing a good relationship with the GLBT community. The Austin division simply has different guiding principles than the Edmonton group.

 

I think we are all just barking up the wrong tree here. BW-Austin clearly isn't listening.

 

I do see where you're coming from, your point is solid. I have bo bark against you. You seem to be a person who places the facts infront themselves.

 

My argument against this point is thus:

 

Say you had a McDonalds (heaven forbid lol) and the store in your area pledged NOtTto serve anything with bacon/fish or lamb. The local public would be disgraced, no?

[Nozybidaj]

I do see where you're coming from, your point is solid. I have bo bark against you. You seem to be a person who places the facts infront themselves.

 

My argument against this point is thus:

 

Say you had a McDonalds (heaven forbid lol) and the store in your area pledged NOtTto serve anything with bacon/fish or lamb. The local public would be disgraced, no?

 

Oh I think they absolutely should be serving up the sames things here, but the fact is they aren't. Those of us who came here expecting a true Bioware game with all the expectations that come along with that are simply going to be disappointed with the BW-Austin team's attempt at making one.

[amnie]

Oh I think they absolutely should be serving up the sames things here, but the fact is they aren't. Those of us who came here expecting a true Bioware game with all the expectations that come along with that are simply going to be disappointed with the BW-Austin team's attempt at making one.

 

maybe instead of contacting GLAAD we should have contacted Bioware Edmond first then, but I doubt that would have changed anything. I know we all don't really want to hear this, but fact remains EA can basically just drag people away from other companies and have them work under the name 'Bioware' all of a sudden. granted there are people working (or have been working) on TOR that also worked on previous 'actual Bioware' games, but in the end this is an 'EA' game more than anything.

 

that in itself doesn't mean anything, though, when you think about how The Sims is one of the best selling gaming series ever. and unlike a game with 'story' like TOR does, in the sims gender gets addressed zero times. (well, expect maybe the fact that without mods you can't get male character pregnant...)

 

so for now we can just hope that people at Bioware Austin will wake up, and our worst fears are not true. I can honestly hardly stomach the idea that we have to wait 'a lot longer' for something that - as you said - should have been in this game from the start.

 

and in this regard we can all just repeat it so much:

 

it's not about wanting same sex romance in an MMO

 

it's about wanting same sex romance in an MMO that has opposite sex romance.

[Ketchum]

I'm not opposed to romancing the opposite gender in this game just for the fun of it, but it's all only for the fun of it. Like I'm teasing my companion, only to shove them out an airlock after I get max affection with them.

 

That said, some of the OGRomances are pretty damn creepy. Take Nadia for the Consular. She's barely out of her teens, and she feels so much younger than that. I wouldn't romance her if she gave me free purple crystals. Same with Ashara for Inquisitors.

[fabiyun]

I'm not opposed to romancing the opposite gender in this game just for the fun of it, but it's all only for the fun of it. Like I'm teasing my companion, only to shove them out an airlock after I get max affection with them.

 

That said, some of the OGRomances are pretty damn creepy. Take Nadia for the Consular. She's barely out of her teens, and she feels so much younger than that. I wouldn't romance her if she gave me free purple crystals. Same with Ashara for Inquisitors.

 

There were too little women in the team imo, I think the story has been affected. Maybe some males in their mid life stage think it's cute to romance a young girl, but for me it's right there on the border of abuse. It's creepy. I'm curious about what the women think about this? Any comments?

For me it also doesn't add up story wise. I know some would want to say that it's the way of the Sith or something, but in all the EU books I have the Sith are a highly sophisticated society, sure in the Spartan fashion, but not creepy to this extend. I can't make any excuses for it through canon either, it just doesn't work for me.

[Kleryk]

There were too little women in the team imo, I think the story has been affected. Maybe some males in their mid life stage think it's cute to romance a young girl, but for me it's right there on the border of abuse. It's creepy. I'm curious about what the women think about this? Any comments?

For me it also doesn't add up story wise. I know some would want to say that it's the way of the Sith or something, but in all the EU books I have the Sith are a highly sophisticated society, sure in the Spartan fashion, but not creepy to this extend. I can't make any excuses for it through canon either, it just doesn't work for me.

 

Doubleposting, ehh, sorry.

 

What you seem not to notice is that you can make a teenage-looking character in TOR just as well. You call romancing the equivalent of 18-20 years old a creepy thing, but remember that there are many teenagers/young people that play this MMO and they might want to date a cute girl of their age/a bit younger rather than, let's say, a mature woman like Elara Dorne who talks to you about kids and making plans for life next time you talk to her after telling her that you love her.

 

Broaden your view, my apprentice!

[DarknessInLight]

PvP Czar Gabe Amatangelo mentioned in a video interview recently that he thinks that the Makeb patch will also bring SGRs (finally!) to the game. But he also says that he's about as far away from Story as a developer can get, and is uncertain of how accurate his scuttlebutt might be.

 

Any chance we can get this confirmed / denied, since it is half-leaked already?

 

EDIT - the interview remarks I mention can be seen here:

 

EDIT 2 - the tweet from Hall Hood alluded to as confirmative later in this thread seems to have been removed. So I suppose this question is in fact still open.

 

If this is true and SGR's happen, my main toon is going to jump off first.

[Soul_of_Flames]

Perhaps I'm saying this because I'm not very big on roleplay... but I honestly cannot fathom why something like this is being given such attention when there are a vast amount of other things in the game that actually matter and need fixing.

 

I have nothing against same gender romance... but I find it to be in the upper hundreds on the list of priorities in the game.

 

Work on it when there isn't anything else that requires more attention, or work on it on occasion when there are lulls in development. The absence of same gender romance is not game breaking and it is not undermining the service people are paying for. There are far more important things that time should be invested into for fixing and SGR is not one of them.

 

For starters... I'd like it if my friend list actually worked for a change. It has been broken since 1.3 and no amount of tickets has been able direct attention to this. I'm betting is because they are prioritizing unimportant junk like this over actual issues...

Edited December 9, 2012 by Soul_of_Flames

[Lent_San]

Work on it when there isn't anything else that requires more attention, or work on it on occasion when there are lulls in development. The absence of same gender romance is not game breaking and it is not undermining the service people are paying for. There are far more important things that time should be invested into for fixing and SGR is not one of them.

Again one of those thinking their opinion is everyone's opinion. For me not having SGR is a game breaker. Just accept it. You don't even have to agree. Just some regard for other people's wishes would be nice, once in a while.

[Tatile]

For starters... I'd like it if my friend list actually worked for a change. It has been broken since 1.3 and no amount of tickets has been able direct attention to this. I'm betting is because they are prioritizing unimportant junk like this over actual issues...

 

When did the writing staff become involved with QA and bug fixing? When did asking Mr. Gonzalez and Ms. Berryman if they could relay information to the community make it so that the rest of the customer support team is rendered incapable of doing their job?

 

Frankly, I don't care if the Friend's tab is fixed, there aren't enough people on it to worry me and for the most part I'm sure half of them quit, but I'm not going to tell Bioware to stop working on that bug fix. Never once have we said that Bioware should stop making PvP content, PvE content or stop working on fixing the bugs that exist in their game. If Bioware can't fix bugs, that's not my fault, that's Bioware's fault. If Bioware can't handle talking to the community and coding at the same time, that's not my fault, that's Bioware's fault.

 

The Super Secret Space Project is probably draining more resources than this - I highly doubt that the Voice Actors are going to be recording soliloquies on the trappings of their mortal coils for it, though.

[Soul_of_Flames]

That isn't my opinion. Nor is it my interpretation of what other people think. It's just simple common sense.

 

Having one character unable to be involved romantically with another character is not important in the least in the broader spectrum of the game.

 

Priority should be made for BUGS and GLITCHES, not making a handful of role players happy.

 

And again, I'm not against SGR. I'm merely saying don't prioritize it over things that actually NEED attention.

[Soul_of_Flames]

When did the writing staff become involved with QA and bug fixing? When did asking Mr. Gonzalez and Ms. Berryman if they could relay information to the community make it so that the rest of the customer support team is rendered incapable of doing their job?.

Writers have nothing to do with anything. Writers write and create situations and experiences to be played out. But that is all they do. The very fact that we even know about SGR in relation to this game is proof enough that the writing is probably already finished. But it takes man power from the development team to build these interactions in game.

 

What I don't understand is what you didn't understand from my first post? I'm pretty sure I clearly said "work on it when their are lulls in development." Obviously the entire development team doesn't merely work on one task at a time. My point is that something like this shouldn't be given a priority assignment is all.

Edited December 10, 2012 by AllisonBerryman

[HectorCasan]

On the scale from 1 to 10 for priority. This is like 40 in importance.

 

Can not believe they are wasting time on developing this.

 

 

 

exactly i cant understand why do they even bother with something so stupid like this?, who cares really?

[amnie]

exactly i cant understand why do they even bother with something so stupid like this?, who cares really?

 

I hope you are equally mad they wasted so much time with the OGRA that could have been spent on... chat bubbles

[Tatile]

I hope you are equally mad they wasted so much time with the OGRA that could have been spent on... chat bubbles

 

Don't forget hood toggles and usable chairs.

 

I actually want all the things. Guess I'm greedy :/

[Ellianshia]

exactly i cant understand why do they even bother with something so stupid like this?, who cares really?

 

You mean besides the people posting to support it? That's who. I guess you care as well, if you took the time to come here and post about it.

 

What's your next rhetoric question?

[natashina]

This didn't come out of nowhere. They've been talking about this for over a year now.

 

 

The following statements were made in September 2011 by Stephen Reid, former Senior Online Community Manager for SWTOR.

 

Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature. Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options.

 

First of all, this is definitely not an audience that consists of a 'couple of people' and we're aware of that. We take this decision very seriously. Second, it's very important to realize that this is just one of many, many content additions that will be going into the game post launch. The vast majority of our content will be of interest to the vast majority of our potential audience.

However, one of the amazing things about MMOs is that over time we can get to add things that are exciting and interesting to smaller audiences. Normally, that's not something that's addressed too far ahead of time. In this case, we felt the addition was warranted and should be addressed early. There will be plenty of content for all to play and enjoy.

 

We can't guarantee that a character you play at launch would have romance options 'unlocked' for an existing companion. It's something that will be taken into consideration when making design decisions. Not a promise it'll happen, but we'll take that feedback and relay it through to design. We fully intend to do justice to the story in our storylines. As you may have heard, we take story very seriously - this included.

 

 

This is a link to an early video talking about SGRs coming in ToR.

 

 

Here is the transcripts the PAX Q&As on Darth Hater with a mention about SGRs coming in The Old Republic:

Day One Day Two

 

 

Here's a link to the Daniel Erickson quote from the Guild Summit. I'll post the

.

 

 

This game is rated "T" for Teen for a reason. The game should not have to put on parental filters for an audience too young for it's rating. Just like with, say, the Battlefield series. I don't think there should be extra filters so those kids can play a game too old for them. The kind of filter a young child needs isn't from a video game, but from the parents themselves.

Edited December 10, 2012 by natashina

[natashina]

At this rate, BW-Austin is going to have bad press if they don't include it.

 

They've talked a really good game about including LGBT content for their games.This is an example of one recent article.

 

This may not seem like a big deal to some, but it's a very big deal to the LGBT gamer community, as well as to the roleplaying community at large. Plus, investors don't care either.

 

One of the interviews in the article is from Ginger Maseda, EA's Global Talent Acquisition and Inclusion Leader.

 

"There have been no questions, comments or concerns raised from our investors with regards to support for LGBT initiatives in the community or having LGBT characters in our games," Maseda said, casting a net beyond DOMA and into the company's decisions to celebrate Pride Month and allow gay player characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic. "Essentially, it's been a non-issue from an investor perspective."

 

In summation, neither Electronic Arts nor their investors have any problem with SGRA content in The Old Republic and even come out to fully support it. While there are no player or non-player characters that are LGBT currently in ToR, articles such as that show that there isn't any pressure from EA investors against SGRs.

 

And lying to investors as well as customers about your product is a big no no. So if they are going to get rid of it (which I still doubt,) or implement it, they need to say something one way or the other.

 

Edited December 10, 2012 by natashina

[Ketchum]

Which begs the million credit question we've been asking this whole time: Why haven't they put it in yet? They have every green light possible, yet they still falter. It's a mystery of life and our society has been established for the soul purpose of uncovering it! Edited December 10, 2012 by Ketchum