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Hope this ends the controversy
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Bioware has always utilized top notch talent for VO work.
Anyways, if you are interested you can see the VO cast for the game @ IMDB.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320395/
Neil Kaplan is a personal favorite of mine, he is a very talented voice actor.
Good. LGBT friendly is good for RP and thus business and we're really at a point when otherwise is possible bad press. I hope they dont spend too much on this or the hetero romances either, cause i dont think it is a big draw for the game Straight, L, G, B, T or other.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
gonna be one of them darned if they do, darned if they don't things with these relationships, seeing as by now this relationship thing has pretty much become a standard with Bioware (did it start with kotor?) they are kind of forced to have these situations in their games or people go up in arms about it not being in there and cutting out a staple, then that just puts them in between a rock and a hard place. If they put SGRA in then the people opposed to it and yell (like they are diong now) if they leave em out, then the people who support it yell saying we aren't being represented and your being prejiduce towards our way of life and not giving options.
For me i'd rather they'd leave the romance arcs out. Not because I feel it's a waste of money, nor do i feel they are making a statment.
It's because people don't know how to handle things when they come up in games, This is going to sound harsh but people it's just a game...really need to get over it. I see frequently in games where religion comes up and i brush it off, even if i am agnostic about it (IRL) and the player i'm playing is not, that doesn't say i am nor do i expect everything to revolve around my real life.
This thing as it sounds is easily avoidable if you really want. If you want to stand on prenicples then fine, but no reason to go bashing Bioware for it. Each game is going to be different and by now if you've been following Bioware games, you know they have the following
Companions
Romance story arcs (same gender or otherwise)
Choices in dialogue
Cinematic story telling (somewhat recently)
These are staples, so to expect them to not appear in a bioware game is kind of odd to me. But whichever people will yell and cancel their pre-orders if there are SGRA and others will cancel if there aren't, me? i don't do romance arcs so it doesn't affect me. None of the characters ever came on to me and i had alastir (did i spell it right?) make it so i wouldn't die when i killed the dragon at the end.
If anyone is curious i stand closer towards having SGRA for equality purposes, but i won't go seeking them out. In my mind better to be called a gay loving company, becuase then you can stand on the fact that you believe in equality for all, then to be calld prejiduce at least from company stand point.
Final note: this issue as i'm sure the mods are aware is a hot one so either stance Bioware takes is going to cause some kind of controversy, the best thing they can do now, is now that they stated it will be in game (at some time) is to leave it at that.
Much as Bioware wants to please everyone here, that just simply isn't going to happen, but for me they get a plus one here, i'm all for equality for all..sort of what the US was suppose to be about.
Okay i'm getting way way to into politics and hot issues when i swear to myself that i would dedicate my life to having fun, so have fun all i'm off to play some more Sims 3.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Yeah, I know. I meant that I don't think the voice actors'll stand in the recording room and laugh just because they have to do voice acting for same gender flirting. Anyway, I really liked Jennifer Hale in ME. Especially when you go renegade. She nails the bully voice IMO.
<childish, provocative and highly speculative banner about your favorite game goes here>
Bad press? It wont happen for awhile. But I think conservative news outlets like Fox, who get wind of this once its actually IN the game will be all over it like flies on *****. It may never see any backlash. At the same time I could see bad press going out of control on this game in a year or so. If it does it wont be pretty.
All it takes is one news source deciding to make a big deal about it and then bam. Its all over the place. Then you'll have conservative boycotts and religious boycotts of the game and all sorts of rediculous mess. Im surprised it didnt happen before now with Biowares other games. But I can see it happening now when a developer goes out of its way post launch to add just this.
Might be a quiet transition and for the good of Swtor I hope it is. But I wouldnt be surprised if it turned into a media poop storm instead.
Agreed, Jennifer Hale is also a very talented individual. I thought she did a great job in ME, and I also enjoyed her work immensely in Metal Gear Solid 2 (she did the voice for Emma Emmerich) and in Metroid Prime, where she did the voice work for Samus Aran.
I dont understand what the big deal is anyway? It's not like they are going to show anything eithier way so what you get a kiss and a fade to black? Oooh controversy.
In Bioware we trust!
I'm not getting the controversy. People actually get upset about this? It's the 21st century for...petes sake.
The ends never justify the means. Oh and to the fellow above that says that they haven't seen any bad press. You should have seen the announcement thread on the Bioware site. LOTS of people are upset at this. Bioware has been removing any post that didn't agree with this sort of content going into the game.
Banegrivm
Leader of the 1st Fist of Light
www.1stfistoflight.com
Finally it's been addressed. I don't think Bioware has to include same gender attracted characters in every one of their games. But in a game this large? With hundreds of NPCs with speaking roles? I think not including them was a huge disappointment.
It's without a doubt revealing that some of the same posters who have for months written posts saying "This feature is trivial. It's not needed in the game. I don't care either whether it's in or not, just stop complaining about it," have now started making comments about how they will cancel their subscription if it's added. It's chuckle-worthy.
And the posters that were branding everyone as bringing politics into their gaming by asking for this feature (even though the feature is in most Bioware games) are now bringing politics into the discussion by talking about religion and their views on homosexuality.
To be honest, the 35 or so threads in support of same gender options in the game have received many posts gloating about the perception that it won't be in the game. I imagine many of those same people are leaving upset posts about this current decision. From what I've seen in the current thread, taking into account the posts that are deleted, the majority of posts are positive.
I'm so proud of BioWare right now. I'm glad to see you guys made a post about this in support of their decision over here too. There is still much work to be done. They need to tell us a date when this will happen and BEFORE boxes go on shelves. Some of us would also like to know if they will create different age groups for companions to role play with.
Things are not as bad as people are making it sound. Most are in support. Those who do not agree, still seem to be setting aside their priciples and will continue to buy the game. So I thank everyone in the SWTOR Community for supporting progress.
My only worry is that people will become targets of harrassment in game. ex repeatedly killing us and using negative words creating a poor and unsafe atmosphere. These people should be reported on day one so we can set a presidence that hatred will not be tolerated in SWTOR.
If any of you have time, please spend a moment on the Offical forums and show your support and continued support for the other things we need in game that I mentioned earlier.
thank you thank you thank you for sharing this news here.
ConsularAmy
Light Jedi Consular of the 31st Rebel Fleet
Just wait till Fox News hears about this....
Let the hilarity commence.
I think 5, 10, 15 years from now companies like Bioware, Maxis, Lionhead are going to be respected because they had the courage and the wisdom to do the right thing. As opposed to other developers who make game, after game, after game that refuses to acknowledge that there is a significant population of lgbt people and gamers. Lgbt guilds, clans, gaming sites. There are some game companies that are on the right side of history in terms of treating people right and some that are just plain wrong.
That's great. But what about us who wanna have 3 ways. And maybe date more than 1 partner. What about us.? J/K This is the biggest..waste of space in an MMO there could ever be. Romance works in MMO without this dumb stuff. Happend in EQ without romance options and If you wanna play a female toon and still have romance...ahhh maybe play a male toon.
Jymm Byuu
Playing : Blood Bowl. Waiting for 2. Holding breath for Archeage and EQN.
I don't respect Bioware now, I won't have any respect for them in the future.
Banegrivm
Leader of the 1st Fist of Light
www.1stfistoflight.com
I can't believe people actually care about this. Amazing. Not in a good way nor a bad way, it just makes my head spin.
By this time tomorrow, this thread will be up to 300 replies. And by the same time two days from now, MMORPG.com will post an "official" article about this news and we will start all over again with the back n forth. So no, sadly, this will not end the controversy.
edit: I almost forgot. Finally, three days from now, another mmorpg.com writer will post an opinion column on the whole thing and then we start the cycle over yet again.
Just so you're all not fooling yourselves, they're not doing this for the gays. They're doing it for the straight people who are playing as the opposite gender. Bioware's "romance storylines" are just softcore you-know-what, and straight men are the primary audience of lesbian "erotic films," just as women are the primary audience of yaoi. They're just being smart. Sex sells, as my journalism teacher says.
Internet dude #1: Hey, bro. Why do you play SWTOR?
Internet dude #2: Man, didn't you know? I can play a female and have relationships with a female...
I'd probably be naive to not believe that this is part of the equation.
But then it's a little cynical too because Bioware has included quite a few gay male NPCs in their games. And there's definitely more men that appreciate that additional story entertainment then women. It just seems to me that it's part of Bioware's outlook, to include diversity. If you look at Baldur's Gate wayyyy back in the day, there were at least three characters who were not caucasian appearing: Dynaheir, Valygar, and Yoshimo. Compare that to the other contemporary games of that time and you'll see that it was an incredibly diverse makeup of NPCs.
It was the same with BG2, KOTOR, Mass Effect 1 and 2. It just looks like mostly Bioware wants diversity in their games when it comes to race, gender, and sexual preference. Their games usually make other games look small minded and sheltered. Especially the ones where the only minority in the game happens to be the one of the villains or boss fights. I'm not naming names...
This sudden "post-release addition" smacls of "We caved into the controversy". If they planned on it from the start they could have put it in.
Not that I care much one way or another, but call a spade a spade. Don't claim this is something you had planned.
Nope. I'd say the same thing. Don't get me wrong it IS listening to the community. My point was that they seem likethey're trying to claim they planned it this way from the start. It's not what they're doing or why, so much as how. I mean I don't care, I'm glad they're putting it in regardless.
EDIT: Also, don't be quick to judge someone a hater or fanboy. While I have a lot of concerns about this game, I'm a huge Bioware fan and have hopes that a success here could lead to better MMOs in the future (looking at you, Mass Effect)
funny how if this was a game or dev you liked youd probably call it "listening to the community"
Nope. I'd say the same thing. Don't get me wrong it IS listening to the community. My point was that they seem likethey're trying to claim they planned it this way from the start. It's not what they're doing or why, so much as how. I mean I don't care, I'm glad they're putting it in regardless.
sure thing bud. where did it say that they said they planned this all along? im taking your advice and calling a spade a spade.
From the official release statement in the first post:
"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. "
The way that's worded, it implies they made a design choice when coming up with the game initially about what made it in pre and post launch, and they for some reason chose all same-sex relationships to be post launch. Personally, I'd say it was more they chose to make the change after the massive amount of fire they took from gamers. Which is fine. Can't blame em, I'd have done it too. Even though I 100% understand why they didn't want to include them in the first place. But all the same, they could just say that, and not make it a "we planned this all along" retcon.