The story of the week is simply chosen by virtue of the amount of discussion it generated on the forums. No more. No less. I don't have a horse in this race in any way, shape or form nor do I have "an agenda".
Originally posted by LauZaIM
This site went to absolute sh*t. Who is hiring these people to write this crap? Why is MMORPG being reduced to "The Inquirer"; spinning irrelevant issues into something "big" by including popular "products"? This isn't good journalism or thoughtful in any way, it's straight up trolling the community by create something out of nothing just to get hits.
I'm done here, I'm never coming back to this site, it has been completely ruined by dumba*ses.
Been to the Bioware site lately? The SWTOR forums have several 200+ page discussions on this very topic. We brought it to the attention of our community because it's a significant topic of discussion here and on the Bioware/SWTOR site.
On a completely unrelated side note: WHY is it that when you edit, a bunch of extra spaces are inserted into your post? Blech...
You must be new to the SWTOR.com forums. Every little piece of information Bioware releases gets broken down and dissected into 200 page threads. It is quite nuts over there.
I think they should have left the romance out. It was a dumb idea to begin with. That kind of stuff is better left for the people to role-play. I can understand why people are offended. But I also understand that the game needs to generate money, and there are a lot of parents out there that would not approve of their child playing a game where they are married to someone of the same gender. With that in mind, I would try not let it upset you. Bioware is backed in a corner on this one. I grew up in a Christian/Conservative home, and if my parents would have found me playing a video game with same-sex marriage in it I would have been banned from it pronto. This is STAR WARS, people. This is as big as it gets. Word would spread like wild fire that the game was spawned from Satan. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. Hopefully someday soon it need not be an issue. But at the moment homosexuality is an atom bomb in America and Bioware would loose an enormous amount of potential players still living at home with Mom and Dad.
Could care less about ANY romance with an NPC at all in this game. If you want same sex, find someone to RP it with you in game. Its a freakin NPC for crying out load!
I think they should have left the romance out. It was a dumb idea to begin with. That kind of stuff is better left for the people to role-play. I can understand why people are offended. But I also understand that the game needs to generate money, and there are a lot of parents out there that would not approve of their child playing a game where they are married to someone of the same gender. With that in mind, I would try not let it upset you. Bioware is backed in a corner on this one. I grew up in a Christian/Conservative home, and if my parents would have found me playing a video game with same-sex marriage in it I would have been banned from it pronto. This is STAR WARS, people. This is as big as it gets. Word would spread like wild fire that the game was spawned from Satan. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. Hopefully someday soon it need not be an issue. But at the moment homosexuality is an atom bomb in America and Bioware would loose an enormous amount of potential players still living at home with Mom and Dad.
I agree with you for the most part. And yea, if putting romance in the game was going to cause this sort of problem they should have left it out. Of course, hind sight sort of works like that.
Anyways I find the entire issue rediculous. They didnt put same sex relationships in the game! Be offended. What if you like dating black women? Are any of the companion characters black? Or female? NO? Offended. What if you sort of prefer to have more than one girlfriend at a time (sleazy yea but it happens)? Wait....can you not romance more than one companion at a time? OFFENDED! What if you're a nudist but the game doesnt ever let you be totally nude? OFFENDED!
And the list could go on all day. I dont rag on movies or books because it lacked something I like. Or want. Thats just kind of silly. Now if the game did have homosexuality in it, and it presented it in a bad light, I could see some people being highly offended. But its not in the game at all.
Some homosexuals may feel they arent represented in this game. And so are offended. How many games, books, movies, plays, etc have been made with absolutely no reference to homosexuality in them?
Oh I know one! It was a series of movies called Star Wars.
I think they should have left the romance out. It was a dumb idea to begin with. That kind of stuff is better left for the people to role-play. I can understand why people are offended. But I also understand that the game needs to generate money, and there are a lot of parents out there that would not approve of their child playing a game where they are married to someone of the same gender. With that in mind, I would try not let it upset you. Bioware is backed in a corner on this one. I grew up in a Christian/Conservative home, and if my parents would have found me playing a video game with same-sex marriage in it I would have been banned from it pronto. This is STAR WARS, people. This is as big as it gets. Word would spread like wild fire that the game was spawned from Satan. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. Hopefully someday soon it need not be an issue. But at the moment homosexuality is an atom bomb in America and Bioware would loose an enormous amount of potential players still living at home with Mom and Dad.
I agree with you for the most part. And yea, if putting romance in the game was going to cause this sort of problem they should have left it out. Of course, hind sight sort of works like that.
Anyways I find the entire issue rediculous. They didnt put same sex relationships in the game! Be offended. What if you like dating black women? Are any of the companion characters black? Or female? NO? Offended. What if you sort of prefer to have more than one girlfriend at a time (sleazy yea but it happens)? Wait....can you not romance more than one companion at a time? OFFENDED! What if you're a nudist but the game doesnt ever let you be totally nude? OFFENDED!
And the list could go on all day. I dont rag on movies or books because it lacked something I like. Or want. Thats just kind of silly. Now if the game did have homosexuality in it, and it presented it in a bad light, I could see some people being highly offended. But its not in the game at all.
Some homosexuals may feel they arent represented in this game. And so are offended. How many games, books, movies, plays, etc have been made with absolutely no reference to homosexuality in them?
Oh I know one! It was a series of movies called Star Wars.
Exactly how I feel about it. It's just getting ridiculous to the point where it almost seems like people are making an effort to be offended at anything accesible. To a point, that's warranted and good. In the right place and time, that has clear purpose and effect. In a video game? Give me a break. It's VIRTUAL reality we are talking about here. We might as well be taking offense to every green orc, white elf, ugly troll, pink unicorn, and purple hippogryph we read about if this argument has any relevance. There have been millions of new release fictional universes created before and after Star Wars that don't include homosexuality. Why does Star Wars all of a sudden get targeted?
Fighting for the rights of homosexuality in the Star Wars universe DOES NOTHING. Stop wasting your time fighting for fictional rights and get your ass outside to fight for it where it actually matters, then you might see some actual progress in world opinion and tolerance. Everyone arguing about this needs to realize that there needs to be a clear line where fictional universes do not meet or equal reality, otherwise it's not very fictional, is it? Apparently gay society in Star Wars either hasn't come out of the closet, or doesn't exist. So what? The author of fiction can do whatever they want with their universe, including making every character in the book blonde-haired, white as paste, straight as an arrow, elves that ride elephants. Get over it, or don't play it if you want to see gay Jedis.
I think they should have left the romance out. It was a dumb idea to begin with. That kind of stuff is better left for the people to role-play. I can understand why people are offended. But I also understand that the game needs to generate money, and there are a lot of parents out there that would not approve of their child playing a game where they are married to someone of the same gender. With that in mind, I would try not let it upset you. Bioware is backed in a corner on this one. I grew up in a Christian/Conservative home, and if my parents would have found me playing a video game with same-sex marriage in it I would have been banned from it pronto. This is STAR WARS, people. This is as big as it gets. Word would spread like wild fire that the game was spawned from Satan. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. Hopefully someday soon it need not be an issue. But at the moment homosexuality is an atom bomb in America and Bioware would loose an enormous amount of potential players still living at home with Mom and Dad.
I agree with you for the most part. And yea, if putting romance in the game was going to cause this sort of problem they should have left it out. Of course, hind sight sort of works like that.
Anyways I find the entire issue rediculous. They didnt put same sex relationships in the game! Be offended. What if you like dating black women? Are any of the companion characters black? Or female? NO? Offended. What if you sort of prefer to have more than one girlfriend at a time (sleazy yea but it happens)? Wait....can you not romance more than one companion at a time? OFFENDED! What if you're a nudist but the game doesnt ever let you be totally nude? OFFENDED!
And the list could go on all day. I dont rag on movies or books because it lacked something I like. Or want. Thats just kind of silly. Now if the game did have homosexuality in it, and it presented it in a bad light, I could see some people being highly offended. But its not in the game at all.
Some homosexuals may feel they arent represented in this game. And so are offended. How many games, books, movies, plays, etc have been made with absolutely no reference to homosexuality in them?
Oh I know one! It was a series of movies called Star Wars.
Yeah, I agree. There are a thousand things that people could get offended about. I was just trying to point out that if any thought went into this it was likely from a business standpoint, not a moral one. I probably should not have said that "I understand why some people are offended" because my whole point was that they shouldn't be.
I find it funny that NOT having a same-sex relationship is controversy. WTF? I'm offended that Christianity and Islam is not represented in SWTOR. I'm offended that those with physical and mental disabilities can't become Jedi. I'm offended that Darth Vader dressed in all black. I'm offended that the driods are sold into slavery in Star Wars.
I find it funny that NOT having a same-sex relationship is controversy. WTF? I'm offended that Christianity and Islam is not represented in SWTOR. I'm offended that those with physical and mental disabilities can't become Jedi. I'm offended that Darth Vader dressed in all black. I'm offended that the driods are sold into slavery in Star Wars.
Exactly. I hear ya.
Point 1 : How can you be offended about something thats non existant? What I mean by that is I could totally understand homosexuals getting offended if they put it in the game and it was presented offensively. But its not even IN THE GAME !
Point 2: Where were these people when Kotor came out? Where were they when Kotor 2 released? I dont remember any friggin controversy then. And it was the exact same deal. Oh but of course when an mmorpg based on Kotor (basically Kotor 3) comes out, and it does the EXACT same thing the past two games did, suddenly its a damn controversy???
Beg to differ with ya Suzie. I think crap flinging, angst ridden, knee jerking, forum monkeys were the story of the week. Huttball and the whole no same sex romance (in the champaign room) issues were just background we could use to justify our rioting.
Same as it ever was.
Quoted for indisputable truth.
{mod edit}
The arguments this article covers boils down to two things.
1. Huttball: "OMG! Why is Bioware giving us more gameplay options!?"
{mod edit} The few dozen forum-goers that have really showed opposition to this represent less than .001% of the expected playerbase of the game. Not a controversy at all if you ask me.
Most people that oppose this sort of thing won't ever say a word, because they know that they do, they'll be attacked and lambasted where they stand. People don't want to say anything, even though they disagree, because they don't feel like dealing with all the backwash for standing up and voicing their opinion and who can rightly blame them.
{mod edit}
I'm not gay and I agree wuth you completely.
To all those who are glad of this decision and who constantly shout down those who oppose it, I would like to make a few observations:
First of all, this is providing less options into the game when the goal should be more options to allow people to be an unique as possible and to have as many game choices as possible.
Second, those who oppose this idea are trying to tell ME and EVERY OTHER PLAYER of SWTOR how to play the game. YOU have no right at all to tell me how to play my personal storyline with my companion characters in the game. It isn't as if you will be forced to watch my character have a gay/lesbian relationship with one of my companions. You will be blissfully unaware of the relationships I engage in in private, so why even bother commenting on MY game experience?
It's just sad to see the outright dismissal and often downright condescanding behaviour from a certain subset of the video game community on this matter. People are opposed to providing MORE OPTIONS in a video game on how that game plays and how people play that game? Why? Isn't this the exact opposite of what the sandbox-lovers around here and gamers in general want? {mod edit}
I'm just going to put this down here. Was going to say it on the OBoards but useless exercise is useless.
For one this is what BW is reaping by treating this game like it's the Manhatten Project. The OBoards are like that because BW has zero interest in keeping the now paying (VERY important) customers informed. They could kill at least 50% of the (useless) threads there if they would just respond. So rumors run rampant.
As far as the SGR thing, if BW wasn't hiding in Area 51 as I posted above they would have given people a definitive answer to shut them up. I think the answer is simple. Voice acting. If they included SGR they would have to create a lot more VO than they have now. That's a lot of new scripting and coding and all that stuff they do to keep us entertained. So they left it out. Prolly to be part of the first expansion. Better things to focus on, like Huttball I guess...
Can we at least wait for the game to come out before we start crucifying it.
Oh yeah a release date WILL NOT be announced until after the Beta is well over. They are waiting to see how the servers and whatnot hold up with the Beta/stress testing going on. If their are no problems or when the problems are fixed then they will launch a few weeks after that. Looking at Q1 2012. Trust me.
Bartoni's Law definition: As an Internet discussion grows volatile, the probability of a comparison involving Donald Trump approaches 1.
I think you'll find that the root of the cotroversy doesn't stem from SWTOR or even the KOTOR series but from Bioware's image as represented by their other games... Mainly the Dragon Age series and Mass Effect series. They opened the 'same sex relationships' can of worms in these other games and now people just kinda expect it from Bioware. I can fully understand why they don't want it in SWTOR as they are trying to make it a more 'family frendly' type of game than their other games of late. I personally don't have an issue with it but people need to understand that these other games were rated 'M' and Bioware is going more for an 'E' or 'T' rating with SWTOR.
Bren
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
I think you'll find that the root of the cotroversy doesn't stem from SWTOR or even the KOTOR series but from Bioware's image as represented by their other games... Mainly the Dragon Age series and Mass Effect series. They opened the 'same sex relationships' can of worms in these other games and now people just kinda expect it from Bioware. I can fully understand why they don't want it in SWTOR as they are trying to make it a more 'family frendly' type of game than their other games of late. I personally don't have an issue with it but people need to understand that these other games were rated 'M' and Bioware is going more for an 'E' or 'T' rating with SWTOR.
Bren
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
{mod edit}
What answer? I simply do not see how one form of relationship is more "adult" than the other. If both are aduklt relationships that involve adult feelings and an implied sexual relations then they are both "teen" rated materials. How does the change of gender in any way change this basic formula?
I think you'll find that the root of the cotroversy doesn't stem from SWTOR or even the KOTOR series but from Bioware's image as represented by their other games... Mainly the Dragon Age series and Mass Effect series. They opened the 'same sex relationships' can of worms in these other games and now people just kinda expect it from Bioware. I can fully understand why they don't want it in SWTOR as they are trying to make it a more 'family frendly' type of game than their other games of late. I personally don't have an issue with it but people need to understand that these other games were rated 'M' and Bioware is going more for an 'E' or 'T' rating with SWTOR.
Bren
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
{mod edit}
What answer? I simply do not see how one form of relationship is more "adult" than the other. If both are aduklt relationships that involve adult feelings and an implied sexual relations then they are both "teen" rated materials. How does the change of gender in any way change this basic formula?
Bioware didnt invent these laws, they just have to work with them, if that means they have to place some limitations in player/npc conduct because of the age ratings system, then so be it.. instead of having a go at Bioware, try lobbying congress (in the USA) or whatever passes for such in the EU.. ... and good luck with that
I think you'll find that the root of the cotroversy doesn't stem from SWTOR or even the KOTOR series but from Bioware's image as represented by their other games... Mainly the Dragon Age series and Mass Effect series. They opened the 'same sex relationships' can of worms in these other games and now people just kinda expect it from Bioware. I can fully understand why they don't want it in SWTOR as they are trying to make it a more 'family frendly' type of game than their other games of late. I personally don't have an issue with it but people need to understand that these other games were rated 'M' and Bioware is going more for an 'E' or 'T' rating with SWTOR.
Bren
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
{mod edit}
What answer? I simply do not see how one form of relationship is more "adult" than the other. If both are aduklt relationships that involve adult feelings and an implied sexual relations then they are both "teen" rated materials. How does the change of gender in any way change this basic formula?
Bioware didnt invent these laws, they just have to work with them, if that means they have to place some limitations in player/npc conduct because of the age ratings system, then so be it.. instead of having a go at Bioware, try lobbying congress (in the USA) or whatever passes for such in the EU.. ... and good luck with that
What laws? The Sims has same sex relationships and it is rated "teen," it seems to me that the ERSB thinks same sex relationships deserve the "T" rating.
Originally posted by lokiboard This is a game going for a TEEN rating......Could all of you NAMBLA people leave....................NOW!
How would this change the rating?
From the ESRB:
TEEN Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.
To get a teen rating the "straight" relationship thing is already going to have to be very tame anyway, making same sex relationships equally as tame would not change the rating.
I think you'll find that the root of the cotroversy doesn't stem from SWTOR or even the KOTOR series but from Bioware's image as represented by their other games... Mainly the Dragon Age series and Mass Effect series. They opened the 'same sex relationships' can of worms in these other games and now people just kinda expect it from Bioware. I can fully understand why they don't want it in SWTOR as they are trying to make it a more 'family frendly' type of game than their other games of late. I personally don't have an issue with it but people need to understand that these other games were rated 'M' and Bioware is going more for an 'E' or 'T' rating with SWTOR.
Bren
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
There are many homosexual couples now that have adopted children.
However a very vast majority of children are raised in a home where there is a man/woman spousal system. Or a single parent. Regardless, whether it was a single parent or a married couple raising their child, outside of the adoption system, these children were born to a man and a woman, who is now raising them.
In a traditional and typical family there is a heterosexual relationship going on directly in front of the childs eyes. Its called "parents". I say parents in the the most traditional sense, which is still likely the most common.
The traditional family is : Husband (father), Mother (wife), children.
{mod edit}
So a foreign thing like homosexuality (as far as they are concerned) being displayed openly in the home, particularly in a video game of all things, may not be considered family friendly.
If this doesnt make sense to you, it may one day. If not, I apologize for wasting your time. Ive tried to make it as clear as I can make it.
Originally posted by Xondar123 Originally posted by Brenelael I think you'll find that the root of the cotroversy doesn't stem from SWTOR or even the KOTOR series but from Bioware's image as represented by their other games... Mainly the Dragon Age series and Mass Effect series. They opened the 'same sex relationships' can of worms in these other games and now people just kinda expect it from Bioware. I can fully understand why they don't want it in SWTOR as they are trying to make it a more 'family frendly' type of game than their other games of late. I personally don't have an issue with it but people need to understand that these other games were rated 'M' and Bioware is going more for an 'E' or 'T' rating with SWTOR. Bren
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
And it's not like the 3 hetero relationships presented in the 6 movies were healthy:
1. Brother/Sister lovefest only prevented by AT-AT assault.
2. Admitted drug runner forcing himself on said sister.
3. Mentally and emotionally ill "kid" fatally injures his wife in a fit of rage.
Two guys kissing doesn't seem like such a threat after all that.
Comments
Cleveland Steamer
You must be new to the SWTOR.com forums. Every little piece of information Bioware releases gets broken down and dissected into 200 page threads. It is quite nuts over there.
I think they should have left the romance out. It was a dumb idea to begin with. That kind of stuff is better left for the people to role-play. I can understand why people are offended. But I also understand that the game needs to generate money, and there are a lot of parents out there that would not approve of their child playing a game where they are married to someone of the same gender. With that in mind, I would try not let it upset you. Bioware is backed in a corner on this one. I grew up in a Christian/Conservative home, and if my parents would have found me playing a video game with same-sex marriage in it I would have been banned from it pronto. This is STAR WARS, people. This is as big as it gets. Word would spread like wild fire that the game was spawned from Satan. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. Hopefully someday soon it need not be an issue. But at the moment homosexuality is an atom bomb in America and Bioware would loose an enormous amount of potential players still living at home with Mom and Dad.
Could care less about ANY romance with an NPC at all in this game. If you want same sex, find someone to RP it with you in game. Its a freakin NPC for crying out load!
Sigh, here we go again.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
I agree with you for the most part. And yea, if putting romance in the game was going to cause this sort of problem they should have left it out. Of course, hind sight sort of works like that.
Anyways I find the entire issue rediculous. They didnt put same sex relationships in the game! Be offended. What if you like dating black women? Are any of the companion characters black? Or female? NO? Offended. What if you sort of prefer to have more than one girlfriend at a time (sleazy yea but it happens)? Wait....can you not romance more than one companion at a time? OFFENDED! What if you're a nudist but the game doesnt ever let you be totally nude? OFFENDED!
And the list could go on all day. I dont rag on movies or books because it lacked something I like. Or want. Thats just kind of silly. Now if the game did have homosexuality in it, and it presented it in a bad light, I could see some people being highly offended. But its not in the game at all.
Some homosexuals may feel they arent represented in this game. And so are offended. How many games, books, movies, plays, etc have been made with absolutely no reference to homosexuality in them?
Oh I know one! It was a series of movies called Star Wars.
Exactly how I feel about it. It's just getting ridiculous to the point where it almost seems like people are making an effort to be offended at anything accesible. To a point, that's warranted and good. In the right place and time, that has clear purpose and effect. In a video game? Give me a break. It's VIRTUAL reality we are talking about here. We might as well be taking offense to every green orc, white elf, ugly troll, pink unicorn, and purple hippogryph we read about if this argument has any relevance. There have been millions of new release fictional universes created before and after Star Wars that don't include homosexuality. Why does Star Wars all of a sudden get targeted?
Fighting for the rights of homosexuality in the Star Wars universe DOES NOTHING. Stop wasting your time fighting for fictional rights and get your ass outside to fight for it where it actually matters, then you might see some actual progress in world opinion and tolerance. Everyone arguing about this needs to realize that there needs to be a clear line where fictional universes do not meet or equal reality, otherwise it's not very fictional, is it? Apparently gay society in Star Wars either hasn't come out of the closet, or doesn't exist. So what? The author of fiction can do whatever they want with their universe, including making every character in the book blonde-haired, white as paste, straight as an arrow, elves that ride elephants. Get over it, or don't play it if you want to see gay Jedis.
I cant make sweet love to my wookie... OMG THIS IS BS!!!!!!!
Remember Old School Ultima Online
Yeah, I agree. There are a thousand things that people could get offended about. I was just trying to point out that if any thought went into this it was likely from a business standpoint, not a moral one. I probably should not have said that "I understand why some people are offended" because my whole point was that they shouldn't be.
LOL I know, right? I wish LucasArts and Bioware would let us have sex with Ewoks. Those furry little midgets are sexy beasts.
This is a game going for a TEEN rating......Could all of you NAMBLA people leave....................NOW!
Yeah but I bet they'll let you have a relationship with your Twi'lek companion... This game isn't just Homophobic it's Racist as well!!!
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
ToR=Scam.
john riccitiello/Elevation Partners/EA.
I find it funny that NOT having a same-sex relationship is controversy. WTF? I'm offended that Christianity and Islam is not represented in SWTOR. I'm offended that those with physical and mental disabilities can't become Jedi. I'm offended that Darth Vader dressed in all black. I'm offended that the driods are sold into slavery in Star Wars.
Exactly. I hear ya.
Point 1 : How can you be offended about something thats non existant? What I mean by that is I could totally understand homosexuals getting offended if they put it in the game and it was presented offensively. But its not even IN THE GAME !
Point 2: Where were these people when Kotor came out? Where were they when Kotor 2 released? I dont remember any friggin controversy then. And it was the exact same deal. Oh but of course when an mmorpg based on Kotor (basically Kotor 3) comes out, and it does the EXACT same thing the past two games did, suddenly its a damn controversy???
says you...i am finding beta alot of fun.
I'm not gay and I agree wuth you completely.
To all those who are glad of this decision and who constantly shout down those who oppose it, I would like to make a few observations:
First of all, this is providing less options into the game when the goal should be more options to allow people to be an unique as possible and to have as many game choices as possible.
Second, those who oppose this idea are trying to tell ME and EVERY OTHER PLAYER of SWTOR how to play the game. YOU have no right at all to tell me how to play my personal storyline with my companion characters in the game. It isn't as if you will be forced to watch my character have a gay/lesbian relationship with one of my companions. You will be blissfully unaware of the relationships I engage in in private, so why even bother commenting on MY game experience?
It's just sad to see the outright dismissal and often downright condescanding behaviour from a certain subset of the video game community on this matter. People are opposed to providing MORE OPTIONS in a video game on how that game plays and how people play that game? Why? Isn't this the exact opposite of what the sandbox-lovers around here and gamers in general want? {mod edit}
I'm just going to put this down here. Was going to say it on the OBoards but useless exercise is useless.
For one this is what BW is reaping by treating this game like it's the Manhatten Project. The OBoards are like that because BW has zero interest in keeping the now paying (VERY important) customers informed. They could kill at least 50% of the (useless) threads there if they would just respond. So rumors run rampant.
As far as the SGR thing, if BW wasn't hiding in Area 51 as I posted above they would have given people a definitive answer to shut them up. I think the answer is simple. Voice acting. If they included SGR they would have to create a lot more VO than they have now. That's a lot of new scripting and coding and all that stuff they do to keep us entertained. So they left it out. Prolly to be part of the first expansion. Better things to focus on, like Huttball I guess...
Can we at least wait for the game to come out before we start crucifying it.
Oh yeah a release date WILL NOT be announced until after the Beta is well over. They are waiting to see how the servers and whatnot hold up with the Beta/stress testing going on. If their are no problems or when the problems are fixed then they will launch a few weeks after that. Looking at Q1 2012. Trust me.
Bartoni's Law definition: As an Internet discussion grows volatile, the probability of a comparison involving Donald Trump approaches 1.
How, exactly, are same sex relationships NOT "family friendly?" How is a heterosexual relationship any more family friendly than a same-sex relationship at all?
What answer? I simply do not see how one form of relationship is more "adult" than the other. If both are aduklt relationships that involve adult feelings and an implied sexual relations then they are both "teen" rated materials. How does the change of gender in any way change this basic formula?
Bioware didnt invent these laws, they just have to work with them, if that means they have to place some limitations in player/npc conduct because of the age ratings system, then so be it.. instead of having a go at Bioware, try lobbying congress (in the USA) or whatever passes for such in the EU.. ... and good luck with that
What laws? The Sims has same sex relationships and it is rated "teen," it seems to me that the ERSB thinks same sex relationships deserve the "T" rating.
How would this change the rating?
From the ESRB:
TEEN
Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.
To get a teen rating the "straight" relationship thing is already going to have to be very tame anyway, making same sex relationships equally as tame would not change the rating.
There are many homosexual couples now that have adopted children.
However a very vast majority of children are raised in a home where there is a man/woman spousal system. Or a single parent. Regardless, whether it was a single parent or a married couple raising their child, outside of the adoption system, these children were born to a man and a woman, who is now raising them.
In a traditional and typical family there is a heterosexual relationship going on directly in front of the childs eyes. Its called "parents". I say parents in the the most traditional sense, which is still likely the most common.
The traditional family is : Husband (father), Mother (wife), children.
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So a foreign thing like homosexuality (as far as they are concerned) being displayed openly in the home, particularly in a video game of all things, may not be considered family friendly.
If this doesnt make sense to you, it may one day. If not, I apologize for wasting your time. Ive tried to make it as clear as I can make it.
And it's not like the 3 hetero relationships presented in the 6 movies were healthy:
1. Brother/Sister lovefest only prevented by AT-AT assault.
2. Admitted drug runner forcing himself on said sister.
3. Mentally and emotionally ill "kid" fatally injures his wife in a fit of rage.
Two guys kissing doesn't seem like such a threat after all that.