Same gender romance discussion

[vadess]

Well, temperature-wise I'd say Cytharat was the sauna-type "meeting", they don't last long usually...Theron, yeah, there is still hope here if for the sake of a nice surprise they lied when said we're not getting more than a few [flirt]'s in 3.0...apart from that, I'd say I mainly count on Mass Effect mmo to have all of that, presuming ME universe will ever receive its mmo expansion...

 

Still... Don't want to wait around for Mass Effect. Need some Start Wars Gay Pride as this franchise lacks it!

[Branosaros]

More man-on-man would be awesome... yeah, I want to corrupt Theron a bit. Show him a life of true intrigue.

Vector would also be awesome... as for Cytherat, I felt it was more of a one-night fling.

Though I did like his sense of honour, and the fact that he saw me as his superior despite my lack of force sensitivity and my position as Special Projects Commander (I love the title, but I hope we get a promotion for the new expansion )

[Preston_Violent]

More man-on-man would be awesome... yeah, I want to corrupt Theron a bit. Show him a life of true intrigue.

Vector would also be awesome... as for Cytherat, I felt it was more of a one-night fling.

Though I did like his sense of honour, and the fact that he saw me as his superior despite my lack of force sensitivity and my position as Special Projects Commander (I love the title, but I hope we get a promotion for the new expansion )

 

Achievement unlocked: man-on-man corrupter. Corresponding legacy title now available

[vadess]

Achievement unlocked: man-on-man corrupter. Corresponding legacy title now available

 

I WANT That achievement!!

[vadess]

More man-on-man would be awesome... yeah, I want to corrupt Theron a bit. Show him a life of true intrigue.

Vector would also be awesome... as for Cytherat, I felt it was more of a one-night fling.

Though I did like his sense of honour, and the fact that he saw me as his superior despite my lack of force sensitivity and my position as Special Projects Commander (I love the title, but I hope we get a promotion for the new expansion )

 

Hmmmmm... I don't know what Cytharat would be. If only it lasted past makeb or built up to him becoming a companion!

Edited October 16, 2014 by vadess

[Rasbid]

Okay, so this opinion is coming from an openly gay man (Myself!)

 

I have a very firm belief when it comes to equality within video games, particularly when it comes to representation of female characters as something other then prizes or grim-dark excuses to introduce sexual abuse to ' gritty up the setting ', I'm also a firm preacher of sexual equality, there should be gay, lesbian, bisexual and asexual characters within a game.

 

Why? why not just make everyone bisexual? because not everyone is bisexual within real life, but gay people do in fact, exist.

 

LGBTs should be implanted within a setting for a various reasons but I'm just gonna give one (It may bleed over into two reasons.. sue me).

 

Fantasy RPGs use the backbone of real life society and our understanding of it to create an emotional connection within the player, the most obvious element within SWTOR I can think of.. is how The Empire still uses slaves, there's some real life connection and associations with slavery that we all deal with and carry around, but from a game point of view The Sith Inquisitors rise to power wouldn't have the same weight to it if you started off a free civilian.

 

So what would be a good way to implant LGBT elements within SWTOR? give us a diverse approach to homosexuality within varying alien cultures, for example, perhaps it's perfectly fine and dandy for your Pureblood Sith to be homosexual but only if he is assigned a female ' breeding ' partner from a stock of equally pure sith, so that his glorious lineage may continue, maybe even give us an alien culture where same sex relations are the norm?

 

Basically, as an openly gay man and big time roleplayer, story lover and general nerd, I whole heartedly encourage the introduction of LGBT characters within SWTOR, but please make it an interesting and thought provoking romance option that isn't simply a copy and paste hetreonormative sobfest, please also avoid doomed romances based around same-sex arrangements, we've had centuries of real life oppression due to our preference, it ain't cute to romanticise it.

 

Apologies if I come across a little zealous, obviously the topic is close to my heart.

[vadess]

Okay, so this opinion is coming from an openly gay man (Myself!)

 

I have a very firm belief when it comes to equality within video games, particularly when it comes to representation of female characters as something other then prizes or grim-dark excuses to introduce sexual abuse to ' gritty up the setting ', I'm also a firm preacher of sexual equality, there should be gay, lesbian, bisexual and asexual characters within a game.

 

Why? why not just make everyone bisexual? because not everyone is bisexual within real life, but gay people do in fact, exist.

 

LGBTs should be implanted within a setting for a various reasons but I'm just gonna give one (It may bleed over into two reasons.. sue me).

 

Fantasy RPGs use the backbone of real life society and our understanding of it to create an emotional connection within the player, the most obvious element within SWTOR I can think of.. is how The Empire still uses slaves, there's some real life connection and associations with slavery that we all deal with and carry around, but from a game point of view The Sith Inquisitors rise to power wouldn't have the same weight to it if you started off a free civilian.

 

So what would be a good way to implant LGBT elements within SWTOR? give us a diverse approach to homosexuality within varying alien cultures, for example, perhaps it's perfectly fine and dandy for your Pureblood Sith to be homosexual but only if he is assigned a female ' breeding ' partner from a stock of equally pure sith, so that his glorious lineage may continue, maybe even give us an alien culture where same sex relations are the norm?

 

Basically, as an openly gay man and big time roleplayer, story lover and general nerd, I whole heartedly encourage the introduction of LGBT characters within SWTOR, but please make it an interesting and thought provoking romance option that isn't simply a copy and paste hetreonormative sobfest, please also avoid doomed romances based around same-sex arrangements, we've had centuries of real life oppression due to our preference, it ain't cute to romanticise it.

 

Apologies if I come across a little zealous, obviously the topic is close to my heart.

 

*applause**applause*

 

Hope the community people are listening. You should message this to Eric Musco!

[Jduensing]

Okay, so this opinion is coming from an openly gay man (Myself!)

 

I have a very firm belief when it comes to equality within video games, particularly when it comes to representation of female characters as something other then prizes or grim-dark excuses to introduce sexual abuse to ' gritty up the setting ', I'm also a firm preacher of sexual equality, there should be gay, lesbian, bisexual and asexual characters within a game.

 

Why? why not just make everyone bisexual? because not everyone is bisexual within real life, but gay people do in fact, exist.

 

LGBTs should be implanted within a setting for a various reasons but I'm just gonna give one (It may bleed over into two reasons.. sue me).

 

Fantasy RPGs use the backbone of real life society and our understanding of it to create an emotional connection within the player, the most obvious element within SWTOR I can think of.. is how The Empire still uses slaves, there's some real life connection and associations with slavery that we all deal with and carry around, but from a game point of view The Sith Inquisitors rise to power wouldn't have the same weight to it if you started off a free civilian.

 

So what would be a good way to implant LGBT elements within SWTOR? give us a diverse approach to homosexuality within varying alien cultures, for example, perhaps it's perfectly fine and dandy for your Pureblood Sith to be homosexual but only if he is assigned a female ' breeding ' partner from a stock of equally pure sith, so that his glorious lineage may continue, maybe even give us an alien culture where same sex relations are the norm?

 

Basically, as an openly gay man and big time roleplayer, story lover and general nerd, I whole heartedly encourage the introduction of LGBT characters within SWTOR, but please make it an interesting and thought provoking romance option that isn't simply a copy and paste hetreonormative sobfest, please also avoid doomed romances based around same-sex arrangements, we've had centuries of real life oppression due to our preference, it ain't cute to romanticise it.

 

Apologies if I come across a little zealous, obviously the topic is close to my heart.

 

I agree with what you say but we won't see it, this game is rated T after all. There is sex and homosexuality in the game, but I doubt we will get any vaguely descriptive info on the topic of homosexuality in various cultures as it might push the T boundaries.

[vadess]

I agree with what you say but we won't see it, this game is rated T after all. There is sex and homosexuality in the game, but I doubt we will get any vaguely descriptive info on the topic of homosexuality in various cultures as it might push the T boundaries.

 

Why would it push the T boundary? Technically the T means the scene faces to black, and it can't be explicit in terms of talking about it. That's not the same as having LGBT characters in a video game across various species and cultures.

[Jandi]

Why would it push the T boundary? Technically the T means the scene faces to black, and it can't be explicit in terms of talking about it. That's not the same as having LGBT characters in a video game across various species and cultures.

 

Ummm yeah, no. The rating has nothing to do with that, that's a myth spewn by people against such content. You could have a game with nothing but homosexuals, every character, and the rating would still be T if what they show stays within a T rating range.

 

Please, stop spreading this nonsense.

 

The sims 4 has a T rating, for example. Also, yes, some cuntries can raise raitings or even ban games for retarded reasons such as this, but those countries are never catered to, they can either vote/revolt differently or suck it up. What matters to EA is the ESRB, which won't budge even if you made "Gay pride: The Game".

Edited October 20, 2014 by Jandi

[vadess]

Ummm yeah, no. The rating has nothing to do with that, that's a myth spewn by people against such content. You could have a game with nothing but homosexuals, every character, and the rating would still be T if what they show stays within a T rating range.

 

Please, stop spreading this nonsense.

 

The sims 4 has a T rating, for example.

 

Never played the Sims 4. So, not sure how that is a comparison really.

 

And with or without that example, your response has nothing to do with the question i asked which was how works including lgbt characters across cultures and species in SWTOR put its T rating in jeopardy? If T rating doesn't have rules about sexual content in RPGs like SWTOR, then SWTOR wouldn't lose it for including those characters in it.

[Jandi]

Sonuva... I was meant to reply to that *other* poster. My apologies.

[Jduensing]

Sonuva... I was meant to reply to that *other* poster. My apologies.

 

Well jeez sorry I'm that *other* guy. And like it or not stuff like that does push ratings. It's considered mature content (and really this game would be better with an M anyways) so the various cultural opinions on sex wont be greatly delved into. And I wasn't talking about just homosexuality, but sexuality in general, It's a topic often left unexplored.

[Jandi]

Well jeez sorry I'm that *other* guy. And like it or not stuff like that does push ratings.

Give one example that has raised the ESRB rating? I'll save you the trouble and tell you that you won't find a single game that is above teen purely due to sexuality if it stays in the fade to black section.

 

Again though, what individual countries decide is irrelevant, what I mean is the ESRB rating.

 

It's considered mature content (and really this game would be better with an M anyways) so the various cultural opinions on sex wont be greatly delved into. And I wasn't talking about just homosexuality, but sexuality in general, It's a topic often left unexplored.

 

And tell me, why *should* it be explored in this game specifically? For the sake of it? To make some statement? To get media attention? I don't have a problem with any topic, trust me, but if it's done for the sake of doing it, it's just stupid and devalues not only the topic of varying sexualities, but the game itself. You have to take into consideration what IP you're dealing with.

 

I would love to have brothels on Nar Shaddaa, proper gory kills, some actually impactful events on screen etc, but this is Star Wars, not Witcher. (A Star Wars game with the Witcher tone would be so epic!)

Edited October 20, 2014 by Jandi

[Jduensing]

Give one example that has raised the ESRB rating? I'll save you the trouble and tell you that you won't find a single game that is above teen purely due to sexuality if it stays in the fade to black section.

 

Again though, what individual countries decide is irrelevant, what I mean is the ESRB rating.

 

 

 

And tell me, why *should* it be explored in this game specifically? For the sake of it? To make some statement? To get media attention? I don't have a problem with any topic, trust me, but if it's done for the sake of doing it, it's just stupid and devalues not only the topic of varying sexualities, but the game itself. You have to take into consideration what IP you're dealing with.

 

I would love to have brothels on Nar Shaddaa, proper gory kills, some actually impactful events on screen etc, but this is Star Wars, not Witcher. (A Star Wars game with the Witcher tone would be so epic!)

Thats what that guy was talking about, the one i commented on. exploring in a mature way how sexuality weaves into various cultures, and i said this game is T so it probably won't happen. Look at what I commented on before you bash me.

[AbsolutGrndZero]

Never played the Sims 4. So, not sure how that is a comparison really.

 

And with or without that example, your response has nothing to do with the question i asked which was how works including lgbt characters across cultures and species in SWTOR put its T rating in jeopardy? If T rating doesn't have rules about sexual content in RPGs like SWTOR, then SWTOR wouldn't lose it for including those characters in it.

 

Sims 4, even Sims 1-3 have all had homosexuality as an option for the characters. They also "Woohoo" (Sims euphemism for sex) mostly whenever they want. The way they "fade to black" is they jump underneath the covers, do it in a closed photo booth, basically you don't see it directly, but you see/hear it (they laugh, ooh and ahh, and such as they roll around under the covers, or the photo booth they are in shakes). So, yeah it's pretty damn obvious that this is supposed to be two women or two men having sex, they just present it in a joking manner that allows it to get a T rating. So, not showing ANYTHING would actually be less of a problem. That's the relevance to Sims 4.

 

Although, if I read what you said, it looks like you two were in agreement, it was the guy you quoted that started the "homosexuality would negate the T rating" fallacy?

Edited October 21, 2014 by AbsolutGrndZero

[AelixVII]

Well damn, a mod! That's like the first time in how many years? did someone nudge them here in the right direction while that, ehm, unpleasantness was going on or does this mean they're still watching? D: Or... or... even more bizarrely, does this mean they look into post reports in this sub forum? Surely not.

 

... please also avoid doomed romances based around same-sex arrangements, we've had centuries of real life oppression due to our preference, it ain't cute to romanticise it.

God yes, there's enough negative portrayal of in tv, film and games these days as it is.

[vadess]

Sims 4, even Sims 1-3 have all had homosexuality as an option for the characters. They also "Woohoo" (Sims euphemism for sex) mostly whenever they want. The way they "fade to black" is they jump underneath the covers, do it in a closed photo booth, basically you don't see it directly, but you see/hear it (they laugh, ooh and ahh, and such as they roll around under the covers, or the photo booth they are in shakes). So, yeah it's pretty damn obvious that this is supposed to be two women or two men having sex, they just present it in a joking manner that allows it to get a T rating. So, not showing ANYTHING would actually be less of a problem. That's the relevance to Sims 4.

 

Although, if I read what you said, it looks like you two were in agreement, it was the guy you quoted that started the "homosexuality would negate the T rating" fallacy?

 

I believe you are correct.

[WyrenTamer]

I want to know if already existing characters will be able to romance a same gender companion, if and/or when Bioware releases such. I'd rather not have to start over because my old character doesn't have it, or I've finished all the conversations with them.

[SithKoriandr]

I want to know if already existing characters will be able to romance a same gender companion, if and/or when Bioware releases such. I'd rather not have to start over because my old character doesn't have it, or I've finished all the conversations with them.

 

Pretty sure they said they won't be adding to the companion storylines. So finish them up now.

[Suromir]

Pretty sure they said they won't be adding to the companion storylines. So finish them up now.

 

Yep..they said any same-gender romances will be in the form of Makeb's. New NPC's

 

MAYBE if we ever get a new companion..but even that probably won't happen because they'd have to record too many options for each individual class and gender. that's at least 16 different paths to do multiple convo's for with branching choices. So, again, even that is very unlikely. But no they won't be making Corso (et al) bi-sexual at all.

[Preston_Violent]

Yep..they said any same-gender romances will be in the form of Makeb's. New NPC's

 

MAYBE if we ever get a new companion..but even that probably won't happen because they'd have to record too many options for each individual class and gender. that's at least 16 different paths to do multiple convo's for with branching choices. So, again, even that is very unlikely. But no they won't be making Corso (et al) bi-sexual at all.

 

Eventually they'll have to fulfill this request too, although the very existence of this issue is more than strange for a BW game. At any rate, these are the times when casual players who want new stories, new lore, new companions, new dialogues etc...are an absolute majority (paying majority, among other things), while people interested in learning (almost) scripted dance routines of various complexity around operation bosses are getting increasingly fewer every year. We know one mmo that's pretty much failed exactly because of this. And BW is surely aware of this so there's definitely hoping we'll get what's ours

 

Btw, as far as I remember, in one of the latest streams Eric said that they're always looking if they can add same gender romance to the existing companions, the point is, he clearly didn't brush off the possibility of it.

[SithKoriandr]

Eventually they'll have to fulfill this request too, although the very existence of this issue is more than strange for a BW game. At any rate, these are the times when casual players who want new stories, new lore, new companions, new dialogues etc...are an absolute majority (paying majority, among other things), while people interested in learning (almost) scripted dance routines of various complexity around operation bosses are getting increasingly fewer every year. We know one mmo that's pretty much failed exactly because of this. And BW is surely aware of this so there's definitely hoping we'll get what's ours

 

Btw, as far as I remember, in one of the latest streams Eric said that they're always looking if they can add same gender romance to the existing companions, the point is, he clearly didn't brush off the possibility of it.

 

Not sure if I agree with the statement of "They'll eventually have to fulfill this request too" as that's not really true. However, it would be nice! My Bounty Hunter was always meant to be with Mako!

[Preston_Violent]

Not sure if I agree with the statement of "They'll eventually have to fulfill this request too" as that's not really true. However, it would be nice! My Bounty Hunter was always meant to be with Mako!

 

If they said categorically "no, never" then I'd understand this "that's not really true" of yours...in fact this thread would be probably long dead and archived by now, when you get an official "no". So unless you do know something none of us here knows, which I, in my turn, doubt, therefore I don't think that I'm so far away from being any right that you found it appropriate to say "not really true".

Same-gender romance is both normally the feature of a BW rpg game and their original screw-up when for some reasons back in the early development days they decided that something like that does not belong in the star wars universe. Or it was some other vague and uncertain excuse like that...so yeah it remains an issue they have to atone for

[BenBenmc]

If they said categorically "no, never" then I'd understand this "that's not really true" of yours...in fact this thread would be probably long dead and archived by now, when you get an official "no". So unless you do know something none of us here knows, which I, in my turn, doubt, therefore I don't think that I'm so far away from being any right that you found it appropriate to say "not really true".

Same-gender romance is both normally the feature of a BW rpg game and their original screw-up when for some reasons back in the early development days they decided that something like that does not belong in the star wars universe. Or it was some other vague and uncertain excuse like that...so yeah it remains an issue they have to atone for

 

I don't remember to have read that statement in the past. My bet is : a bunch of family associations like the french one "La manif pour tous" (clearly anti LGBT) makes a lot of pressure to Bioware to not implement true LGBT romances. At least in the past ... I don't think BW or EA want to be thrown before a court ...

 

Another explanation : originally, this game was intended to be PEGI 12 (not sure which rating corresponds in the US). It was later in the developpement that the rating evolved to a PEGI 16 (T rating in the US). Not a bug deal though ... The "fade to black" does the trick.

 

And you can't dismiss the thoughts of the voices actress and actors who maybe don't want to record such LGBT dialogues.

 

 

 

 

Pick your choice ...

Edited November 2, 2014 by BenBenmc