Family Research Council Warns of Gay Relationships in The Old Republic

Mar 30, 2010
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CapitalistPig said:
apologies. Sometimes the forum faux pas allude me. My point stands however.
No worries fella.

You point does indeed still stand, but I would perhaps argue (more for the sake of it than anything else) that there is a significant difference between non-believers and believers impressing their views on the younger generations. You're absolutely right in what you say in that both sides are as guilty as the other, but the believer side of things impresses a mentality of 'take it as read, this is what happened' on kids, whereas the non-believer side at least promotes the scientific method of 'question everything'. A person brought up by non-believers is much more likely to make up their own mind (whatever that may eventually be) than someone brought up on faith, who is more likely to believe what they have always believed (because book X is the unequivocal truth).

I am all in favour of people making up their own minds, I know I did, but it seems to me that people have a better chance of doing that if the foundations of unquestioning belief haven't been drummed into them since age dot.
 

CapitalistPig

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Grouchy Imp said:
CapitalistPig said:
apologies. Sometimes the forum faux pas allude me. My point stands however.
No worries fella.

You point does indeed still stand, but I would perhaps argue (more for the sake of it than anything else) that there is a significant difference between non-believers and believers impressing their views on the younger generations. You're absolutely right in what you say in that both sides are as guilty as the other, but the believer side of things impresses a mentality of 'take it as read, this is what happened' on kids, whereas the non-believer side at least promotes the scientific method of 'question everything'. A person brought up by non-believers is much more likely to make up their own mind (whatever that may eventually be) than someone brought up on faith, who is more likely to believe what they have always believed (because book X is the unequivocal truth).

I am all in favour of people making up their own minds, I know I did, but it seems to me that people have a better chance of doing that if the foundations of unquestioning belief haven't been drummed into them since age dot.
While I know the role of being the devil's advocate (one I often take myself.) being a conservative that supports gay rights and blah blah blah (for my own reasons.) I would promote that a nonbeliever is just as likely to fall into whatever the failed roads of life are as a believer (first year freshman kiddie off at college) I myself am a junior at my university in the major of chemistry and appreciate much more then most of my liberal arts majors the importance of embracing the scientific method. I just hope that people realize that arguing for or against something has its own pros and cons. Its easy to say something is ridiculous to believe in. But on the other hand I understand why people would be afraid of the world they bring their children into since it offers a world they were unprepared to accept. Once again I'm not expressing an acceptance of the views of those who fear that which they do not know but we should acknowledge those who do not think like us. Otherwise we are no better then those who think ill of us. I'm straight BTW and a tea party member.
 
Mar 30, 2010
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CapitalistPig said:
Grouchy Imp said:
CapitalistPig said:
apologies. Sometimes the forum faux pas allude me. My point stands however.
No worries fella.

You point does indeed still stand, but I would perhaps argue (more for the sake of it than anything else) that there is a significant difference between non-believers and believers impressing their views on the younger generations. You're absolutely right in what you say in that both sides are as guilty as the other, but the believer side of things impresses a mentality of 'take it as read, this is what happened' on kids, whereas the non-believer side at least promotes the scientific method of 'question everything'. A person brought up by non-believers is much more likely to make up their own mind (whatever that may eventually be) than someone brought up on faith, who is more likely to believe what they have always believed (because book X is the unequivocal truth).

I am all in favour of people making up their own minds, I know I did, but it seems to me that people have a better chance of doing that if the foundations of unquestioning belief haven't been drummed into them since age dot.
While I know the role of being the devil's advocate (one I often take myself.) being a conservative that supports gay rights and blah blah blah (for my own reasons.) I would promote that a nonbeliever is just as likely to fall into whatever the failed roads of life are as a believer (first year freshman kiddie off at college) I myself am a junior at my university in the major of chemistry and appreciate much more then most of my liberal arts majors the importance of embracing the scientific method. I just hope that people realize that arguing for or against something has its own pros and cons. Its easy to say something is ridiculous to believe in. But on the other hand I understand why people would be afraid of the world they bring their children into since it offers a world they were unprepared to accept. Once again I'm not expressing an acceptance of the views of those who fear that which they do not know but we should acknowledge those who do not think like us. Otherwise we are no better then those who think ill of us. I'm straight BTW and a tea party member.
I hear where you're coming from, and I hope I didn't come across as saying that believing in Christianity was "ridiculous". I made my choice to leave the fold, just as you made your choice to join it. Neither choice should reflect badly on the person that made said choice - we both made our individual decisions for our own individual reasons. I just suppose I resent organised religion for imprinting itself on my formative years now that I am not a believer, just as you feel that both sides are wrong since you saw it from both angles.

I'm a straight guy by the way. I don't think this debate was really about sexual orientation, more it was about this religious groups' opposition to sexually free characters and their belief that their belief should apply to everyone. And please forgive my ignorance but what is a Tea Party Member?
 

LadyRhian

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May 13, 2010
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It's funny that most of these organizations are against the homosexual "lifestyle" (whatever that means... wanting to be treated the same as everyone else?) Having to treat homosexuals the same as heterosexuals is so bad and horrible! (shock, horror!) I read a comment recently on a website that explained that the reason these sorts of people don't want gay people to get "married" as opposed to having "civil unions" is so that they can be happy that gay people still can't get "married". That a civil union is less and not as legitimate as "marriage".

Incidentally, these people from the FRC show up at the Website "Right Wing Watch" in 704 stories: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/groups/family-research-council

I'll not warn you not to read, but these people can make you sick.
 

Nurb

Cynical bastard
Dec 9, 2008
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Dr. James Dobson
That's all you need to know. A man so full of his own BS the fights for "the family" and supports political candidates that commited adultery and have gotten divorces.

I had to read a book by this guy in school... he's a nut, a religious whacko spawned out of the Reagan area and thinks Jesus would stand for everything the republicans do.
 

Comando96

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May 26, 2009
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Thats interesting.

What characteristics do I hate about the Republican Party:


This... just this... and common insanity typical of those who run.

Family Research Council.
Discrediting the word(s): Council, Family and RESEARCH.
Global warming... we're running out of oil you dip shits... we need other energy sources, but your claiming "nope, still use oil". argh....
Freedom of religion: Its Free!!! However unlike in the past it is not free to oppress people.
Homosexuality... therefore cannot be oppressed by you lot...
(Over population, too many people not enough resources...Homosexuality rate of 25% can help that shit!)

--------------------------------------

OK... this game is a 12... right?
Romance options? Bit soon... however the demand is created by the age of the fan base for the game, which will be older than 12...

Therefore allow parental controls to turn Romance options ON or OFF.
If they are on...they can do what they bloody like as like in real life >.> If not, then nothing.

My opinion.
Gay relationship, cool whatever.

To quote the wiki:
http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Companion_Character#Affection_System
It's notable that romance aspects are not required in order to play through a class storyline; however, they will likely add to the depth and tension of the narrative.
Not required therefore does not effect story except in Role Play, but age allowing. Can, therefore be turned off.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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What's the bid deal? It's not like the game can change your sexuality. You can choose any kind of relationship but that doesn't mean that you're gay or hetero in real life. It's just a game for fuck sake. It's not real.
 

CapitalistPig

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Grouchy Imp said:
I hear where you're coming from, and I hope I didn't come across as saying that believing in Christianity was "ridiculous". I made my choice to leave the fold, just as you made your choice to join it. Neither choice should reflect badly on the person that made said choice - we both made our individual decisions for our own individual reasons. I just suppose I resent organised religion for imprinting itself on my formative years now that I am not a believer, just as you feel that both sides are wrong since you saw it from both angles.

I'm a straight guy by the way. I don't think this debate was really about sexual orientation, more it was about this religious groups' opposition to sexually free characters and their belief that their belief should apply to everyone. And please forgive my ignorance but what is a Tea Party Member?
Lets see if I got the quoting right this time :p. You came across quite well no worries. I agree you have a right to resent them. As do I, my story about Catholic school started when I was 10. Think of this though, you are all the better for it. Those who don't know don't even understand. Having been a part of it and left it you have perspective of all sorts. You stand in the middle of a battle speaking sanity while one side blindly kills science, and free expression and the other flaunts its new ideas to those that grew up in an entirely different world where their ideas are taboo (kinda like if you went to Japan and made eye contact and tried to shake hands instead of bowing.) Those extreme viewpoints implode upon the world, it is our newer generations that will take perspective into our lives. Hopefully anyway.

Well I think we nailed this one home. Except, oh god no I'm not christian! Haha, yea I don't like that particular religion. Really an Anglo-Judaic religion leaves a bad taste in the mouth for me. They are steeped in ritual and history. I'm Zen Buddhist if anything, but in beliefs only. I don't practice organized religion. I just have a healthy respect for the unknown as I'm sure you do too. And I agree the debate was not about orientation that was just to give perspective. Heh, well the Tea Party is a raising political party in the U.S that follows conservative values but supports the libertarian viewpoint that our civil rights should be exactly interpreted from the constitution as written. Versus the rather liberal stances people take today in which the interpretation of our constitution is "up for grabs" some might say. Which is a rather ironic statement to make given our current topic of discussion.
 

grigjd3

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Mar 4, 2011
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This and nothing about same-sex marriage in Skyrim? I mean, if you're going to be a bigot, you should at least be a well-informed bigot. Also, this guy uses the phrase, "threat to the empire" as if its a bad thing. I guess he doesn't realize that the empire was run by Darth Vader and the Emperor in Star Wars. I'm used to bigots in the world and hearing stupid things come out of their mouths. What really offends me is this guy's inadequate knowledge of such an important part of American culture. Clearly our schools are not doing their job if the bigots of this country don't know the slightest thing about Star Wars!
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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I have mixed opinions on the subject.

I am one of the few vocally anti-gay posters on these forums. Albiet I'm middle of the road on the issue compared to many extremists. My thoughts on this specific issue are mixed.

My basic attitude is simply that I don't think homosexuals should be added to the game in response to political pressure, which seems to be the issue given the original design statements and intent. The pro-gay stance being taken here largely being in backlash to Bioware having said "no" when asked about homosexual content in the game, and then ceding to pressure from liberals, which in turn lead to the anti-gay backlash, making this entire thing a political issue rather than one of what is actually better for the game.

The bottom line is that in adding homosexual characters into the game at this point, it's akin to tossing in token minorities in response to complaints or political pressure. That rarely benefits anyone, and the additional characters always come accross as outsiders since they were never intended, and lead to other complaints about whether they are stereotypes (having been written to appease a specific audience) or in the other direction not
indicative of the group they represent enough. It opens up a giant no-win scenario.

This is a situation where neither side is right, the only way this could have turned out well is if Bioware had chosen to do so on their own. They have proven they aren't bigots given the content in their other games, but I think right now there is an increased perception that they are somehow morally obligated to cater to a minority group they have involved in their games before.

Speaking for myself, I don't mind girl on girl action, and I've said before I see gay men and lesbians as two seperate issues (and if I didn't, I wouldn't find that image occasionally appealing). As much as my inner perv might enjoy say romancing Mako with my female bounty hunter, does this really add anything to the game? Does it in any way expand Mako's storyline or the existing Bounty Hunter plotline? Not paticularly.

Let's say they add in new characters as they imply, and all of a sudden a gay and lesbian token character suddenly show up on your ship and insinuate themselves into your crew. If these characters act openly homosexual all the time, then they will be viewed as either obnoxious stereotypes or as harassment to people who find such things gross, not being wired that way. If they don't act that way though the same complaints will happen with them not being "gay enough" the way certain minority characters might be accused of not being black enough, or twinkies "that new asian character is yellow on the outside, but white and gooey on the inside" (for those who don't get the referance here) or whatever else. That's the problem with pandering politically in either direction instead of just using the characters you intended to begin with.

As far as comments about the motto of "The Family Research Council" I disagree with them on many things, but to be entirely honest a big part of their arguement is that "freedom" includes the freedom to not be exposed to things that hit your personal yuck buttons. Like it or not the vast majority of people out there are NOT gay, indeed homosexuals despite how vocal they are, represent a truely insignifigant portion of society. Various sexual paraphillias (many of which can overlap with homosexuality) outnumber homosexuals in their heterosexual form by vast numbers whilre remaining minorities. Things like hardcore BDSM, Scat, etc... if your not wired to enjoy something sexual that other people DO enjoy it can actually be offputting. I tend to agree that people have the right to not be exposed to outlandish sexual behaviors, if they choose to seek them out it's onw thing, but it's quite another when they are pretty much brought out and waved in front of people. To put things bluntly, by the numbers we should also have a scatologist on our spaceship if we're going to have one of each flavor of homosexual just by the numbers, and honestly I'd rather avoid watching someone "erotically" rubbing feces all over themselves every time I enter my ship. Even if the NPC is confined to living in the bilge or something, just knowing it's down there wouldbe kind of offputting.

Of course then again I would find it kind of amusing if we did see video games get to the point of "we are the world" political correctness except on a sexual level. I can just imagine Bioware deciding to "be fair" and coding a castle or space ship with a room dedicated to every fetish, sexual orientation, or paraphillia in existance with a male and female NPC for each present just to make sure nobody is excluded. I have images of a player character dancing through the rooms towards the quest door/terminal like Elton John in his "I'm Still Standing" video. :)


I know a lot of people won't like what I'm saying, and will argue this every which way with all kinds of differant logic and strawmen, but I figure I'd give an alternative viewpoint on the issue. I probably won't argue it, as I've said what I think needs to be said, and this isn't exactly a friendly audience to non-left wing sentiments. :)
 

bossfight1

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See, its shit like this that's driving me to the verge of atheism. I do believe in god but I refuse to believe that an omnipotent being would give have a shit if mortals of the same gender would sleep together.
 

Zen Toombs

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Nov 7, 2011
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*twitch* I won't even dignify this with a lgbt-themed *twitch* nerd rage. Not *twitch* even *twitch* worth the effort *twitch*.
 

DAAANtheMAAAN

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WHAT?? THEY PUT THEM THUR GAY TYPES IN THA VIDJA GAMES?! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!

... That's all I hear. It's amazing, really. People jump so far into their conclusions, forgetting that this homosexuality is a game OPTION. It's not a required experience to the core gameplay, just like the sex scenes in Mass Effect and the homosexual relationship in Dragon Age 2. They are not necessary to the game mechanic, just there to satisfy the whims of the audience that actually IS part of the demographic that wants to use them. It will never bother you if you don't try to seek it out.

But no. They raise the torch and pitchfork. No attempt of understanding, they just find a bad thing, and attack it full force.

I think Moviebob said it rather well... "It is the 12th year of the 21st century. Anyone in the civilized world - child or not - who does not already know that gay people exist is not innocent, they're ignorant. Big difference."
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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DAAANtheMAAAN said:
WHAT?? THEY PUT THEM THUR GAY TYPES IN THA VIDJA GAMES?! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!

... That's all I hear. It's amazing, really. People jump so far into their conclusions, forgetting that this homosexuality is a game OPTION. It's not a required experience to the core gameplay, just like the sex scenes in Mass Effect and the homosexual relationship in Dragon Age 2. They are not necessary to the game mechanic, just there to satisfy the whims of the audience that actually IS part of the demographic that wants to use them. It will never bother you if you don't try to seek it out.

But no. They raise the torch and pitchfork. No attempt of understanding, they just find a bad thing, and attack it full force.

I think Moviebob said it rather well... "It is the 12th year of the 21st century. Anyone in the civilized world - child or not - who does not already know that gay people exist is not innocent, they're ignorant. Big difference."
Well, understand that MovieBob is also a pretty radical left winger when you get down to his positions on a number of subjects, but that's an entirely differant subject.

I wrote a lengthy post on the subject, but it basically comes down to the issue of niche sexuality, and the simple fact that niche sexuality to someone who is not wired for it is pretty gross.

The issue here is that Star Wars is going beyond the whole bit of saying "gays exist" to the point of "you need to interact with a gay relationship". By definition this means your going to have a companion attached to you of the same gender, who presents an omni-present romantic option should you ever decide to pick it up.

To put things into perspective, in what is hopefully a less contreversial example due to less media exposure and polotics. Fecophilles/Scatologists outnumber homosexuals simply by the numbers (even if there are homosexuals with that kink), to someone who is into that the idea of being pooped on, or smearing themselves or someone else with feces is a turn on. To anyone who isn't into that it's bloody disgusting. You might not care to the point of wanting to hunt them down in their homes and kill them, but you sure don't want to be exposed to them in public or have to hang out with someone you know does that. Now granted I am using one of the grosser, but yet common enough to be well known sexual lifestyles intentionally.

People do have the right to not be exposed to stuff that just grosses you out. You don't want to have some guy in your escapist video game come running up and tell your female character he wants to smear himself with scat and french kiss you with a turd under his tongue. Nor do you want to be forced to have this guy in your ship periodically reminding you that he's into that in case you know.. you change your mind. The same exact thing applies to homosexuals.

See, with a video game it's not a matter of "I don't care what you do on your own time" because the limited game enviroment means that it's ALWAYS on your time since by definition this is being built around you, and actively seeking you out and inserting itself into your gameplay experience.

There is nothing wrong with someome from the overwhelming majority of people saying "you know, I really don't want to be exposed to this". The spam from my protocol droid on my ship is bad enough without some gay dude I am not interested in constantly making innuendos and reminding me he's there and he's gay for the benefit of a very tiny group of people.

We might have to agree to disagree here, but understand the arguement isn't simply one with being upset that gays exist or whatever, and heck, if you want to get technical there are plenty of more numerous fringe heterosexual orientations that just don't represent themselves politically which should be in line before homosexuals for fair represensation if we want to get technical. Once you start saying that we need to start doing full politically correct representations of alternative sexuality... that just opens some crazy doors.

As I also said before token characters are NEVER a good idea. See, it might be a little more defensible if Bioware had intended to write some gay and lesbian characters into the game from the very beginning, but they didn't. This is all about political appeasement, and just like inserting token minorities into established properties, no good is going to come of it, even the people who wanted the character are going to complain about it being too stereotypical, not ethnic (or representitive of the minority in question) enough, being given too small a role, or perhaps even growing to overshadow what the show is supposed to be about entirely.

Whether your pro-gay, anti-gay, or somewhere inbetween the two extremes like me, there is nothing good about what Bioware is doing.... and yes, this never ends, you see groups like this one coming out to complain BECAUSE Bioware is pandering to a political position, so by definition the opposition is making itself heard. These guys didn't come out to oppose Dragon Age in the same way (for example) even if they mentioned it, because there wasn't any activism from the other side responsible in having the homosexual options in that game added in after the fact for purposes of appeasement.

What's more if this goes through, it's going to encourage gay activists to try and push every property they can, whether it makes sense or not, simply to get the press.
 

kouriichi

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Sep 5, 2010
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"Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that 'gay' and 'lesbian' don't exist in the Star Wars universe".

They dont. Its not labeled "Gay" And "lesbian" because they are far more open with the ideas of sexuality then most humans are today. For Nurgles sake, a Giant Slug Monster took blue tentacle head women as sex slaves, and fed them to a giant nude beast living in his basement.

People like this just need to be zapped a few times with a taser so they can get these archaic ideals out of their head, and see that the world isnt dictated by a book written by people OVER 9000! years ago.

Ive never seen anything wrong with homosexual relationships. The fact that they were willing to put them in the game at all shows a step in the right direction. Discrimination is wrong. Short of Cows. I hate cows so much. Always moo'ing, and standing on my newly build mansion in minecraft. YEAH I GET IT YA SPOTTED F*CKER D:< Your a cow. You moo. Now get off my house before i bust out the diamond sword of sharpness 4!
 

Dascylus

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May 22, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
"In a new Star Wars That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that 'gay' and 'lesbian' don't exist in the Star Wars universe."
Now I wouldn't want to accuse the christian right of taking anything out of context but I would like some clarification as to whether Bioware said that homosexuality is nonexistant in the Star Wars universe or whether the terms (read "labels") Gay and Lesbian do not exist in the star wars universe.
 

awsome117

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Jan 27, 2009
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Think I'll take a crack at this;

Therumancer said:
Well, understand that MovieBob is also a pretty radical left winger when you get down to his positions on a number of subjects, but that's an entirely differant subject.
True, but the point he made was valid and I may not agree with MB a lot that quote I agree fully with.

Therumancer said:
I wrote a lengthy post on the subject, but it basically comes down to the issue of niche sexuality, and the simple fact that niche sexuality to someone who is not wired for it is pretty gross.
That's true of anything really. Food, shows, movies games, sex etc. Should we exclude certain things because some people might not like it? I don't believe so.

Therumancer said:
The issue here is that Star Wars is going beyond the whole bit of saying "gays exist" to the point of "you need to interact with a gay relationship".
No you don't, as all romance options are completely optional. You could be this crazed sex addict smuggler who woos all the ladies or you could be just a gun for hire who focuses on the job. It all pertains to what you want the character to be.

Therumancer said:
By definition this means your going to have a companion attached to you of the same gender, who presents an omni-present romantic option should you ever decide to pick it up.
Much like the omni-present "good" or "bad" option to do to your character. It all pertains as to how you want to play, and what you want your character to be. This is made all the more immersive when you have more options available.

Therumancer said:
To put things into perspective, in what is hopefully a less contreversial example due to less media exposure and polotics. Fecophilles/Scatologists
That argument isn't valid as those are fetishes as opposed to sexuality. Gay isn't a fetish, it's who they are. Much like a man who likes to get dominated by a woman. He's still straight, he just has a certain fetish which does not define his sexuality (despite what some might say).

Therumancer said:
outnumber homosexuals simply by the numbers (even if there are homosexuals with that kink), to someone who is into that the idea of being pooped on, or smearing themselves or someone else with feces is a turn on.
It seems you're going for shock value or a "smear" campaign (yes that was a pun, and yes you will laugh at it). You're instantly going for the "gross out" aspect, and it seems you're trying (as it seems, I don't know if you're doing this on purpose or not) to scare us into thinking one way.

Therumancer said:
To anyone who isn't into that it's bloody disgusting. You might not care to the point of wanting to hunt them down in their homes and kill them, but you sure don't want to be exposed to them in public or have to hang out with someone you know does that.
Because it's a fetish, not sexuality. We all have fetishes that we don't want to share with others because it is a private thing that we do in the bedroom (or other places depending on said fetish). However, sexuality is different as outside of the bedroom, you still remain whatever sexual orientation you are. Whether Straight, Bi, Gay/Lesbian, Pan-sexual, Asexual etc. If people can be straight out of the bedroom, then shouldn't everyone else have the same right/respect?

Therumancer said:
Now granted I am using one of the grosser, but yet common enough to be well known sexual lifestyles intentionally.
Again, made invalid because fetish =/= sexuality.

Therumancer said:
People do have the right to not be exposed to stuff that just grosses you out.
Again, stuff that stays in the bedroom remains private for those involved. Also, people have the right to be who they are, you just have the right to ignore them not exclude them.

Therumancer said:
You don't want to have some guy in your escapist video game come running up and tell your female character he wants to smear himself with scat and french kiss you with a turd under his tongue.
Well no, as that would probably get him banned as the rules of the escapist are different than the rule world. BUT if they were the same, he does have the right to say it, as it causing you no harm what-so-ever and you have the right to ignore him. Again, you're playing on the character choices, which if you didn't choice to have... that then you won't get... that.

Therumancer said:
Nor do you want to be forced to have this guy in your ship periodically reminding you that he's into that in case you know.. you change your mind. The same exact thing applies to homosexuals.
And what's wrong if you change your mind? You're free to do what you want with who want (as long as both are conceptual). In the game, if you did pick the option and you really didn't like it, don't pick it again. Much like life, don't like it don't do it. Also, if you don't like that character you can also switch him/her out for another of your companions. Or the robot. Trust me, you won't want to get freaky with them (annoying bastards). And no it doesn't.

No one is forcing Homosexuality on you, just giving you the option. Much like if a women comes up to you and asks for a one-night stand with you. You have the choice to say Yes or No. It is no different if a man came up and did that (although you might say, sorry I don't swing that way).

Therumancer said:
See, with a video game it's not a matter of "I don't care what you do on your own time" because the limited game enviroment means that it's ALWAYS on your time since by definition this is being built around you, and actively seeking you out and inserting itself into your gameplay experience.
Real life is exactly the same. It's your time to use how you want it. If you want to make it a gay environment, then you should have the choice.

Therumancer said:
There is nothing wrong with someome from the overwhelming majority of people saying "you know, I really don't want to be exposed to this".
And there's nothing wrong with someone responding "You don't have to be, it's just a choice that's completely optional".

Therumancer said:
The spam from my protocol droid on my ship is bad enough without some gay dude I am not interested in constantly making innuendos and reminding me he's there and he's gay for the benefit of a very tiny group of people.
He wouldn't remind you he's gay, he would just a small option that would probably be [flirt], same as the females that do the exact same thing, only for men. It literally chances nothing. And I for some reason don't believe whatever companion mission he would have would involve gay sex in any fashion.

Also, you don't even see the sex (or kissing by the way). They just make a remark (and stretch for some reason) and you go about your day.

Therumancer said:
We might have to agree to disagree here, but understand the arguement isn't simply one with being upset that gays exist or whatever, and heck, if you want to get technical there are plenty of more numerous fringe heterosexual orientations that just don't represent themselves politically which should be in line before homosexuals for fair represensation if we want to get technical. Once you start saying that we need to start doing full politically correct representations of alternative sexuality... that just opens some crazy doors.

As I also said before token characters are NEVER a good idea. See, it might be a little more defensible if Bioware had intended to write some gay and lesbian characters into the game from the very beginning, but they didn't. This is all about political appeasement, and just like inserting token minorities into established properties, no good is going to come of it, even the people who wanted the character are going to complain about it being too stereotypical, not ethnic (or representitive of the minority in question) enough, being given too small a role, or perhaps even growing to overshadow what the show is supposed to be about entirely.
Want to reply but have class so I'll do this last one fast.

Therumancer said:
Whether your pro-gay, anti-gay, or somewhere inbetween the two extremes like me, there is nothing good about what Bioware is doing.... and yes, this never ends, you see groups like this one coming out to complain BECAUSE Bioware is pandering to a political position, so by definition the opposition is making itself heard. These guys didn't come out to oppose Dragon Age in the same way (for example) even if they mentioned it, because there wasn't any activism from the other side responsible in having the homosexual options in that game added in after the fact for purposes of appeasement.
This is very good, as it shows there are more than straight people in the world, and we should take notice of them. Would have more, but class :(

Therumancer said:
What's more if this goes through, it's going to encourage gay activists to try and push every property they can, whether it makes sense or not, simply to get the press.
No, just... no. Dear god just no.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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awsome117 said:
Therumancer said:
Now granted I am using one of the grosser, but yet common enough to be well known sexual lifestyles intentionally.
Again, made invalid because fetish =/= sexuality.


Therumancer said:
There is nothing wrong with someome from the overwhelming majority of people saying "you know, I really don't want to be exposed to this".
And there's nothing wrong with someone responding "You don't have to be, it's just a choice that's completely optional".


Therumancer said:
What's more if this goes through, it's going to encourage gay activists to try and push every property they can, whether it makes sense or not, simply to get the press.
No, just... no. Dear god just no.


Okay first off you need to understand something. All sexual behavior is governed by chemical reactions and pheremones. This is why things like castration work, you remove part of that chemical system and someone cannot become aroused by anything remotely sexual.

Someone who is into scatology is chemically reactiong to those acts, just like someone is gay is responding to the chemical signals of their own gender. A lot of things can cause the same symptoms so I'm not going to get into all the things that could lead to this, from being born that way, to psychological adaption, to other medical conditions that happen to influance those systems.

This is not "junk science", this is not "pseudo science" it's how things work. We don't understand all aspects of this system, but we DO know it exists, and again we are able to modify behavior through things like castration, and understand why it works.

Someone who is into scatology, beastiality, or heterosexual are all reacting biologically and it's something inherant to them, the same applies to gays. There is literally no differance between a fetish or sexual orientation since it all comes down to sexual arousal.

What turns someone on is natural to them, literally wired into who they are, and their personality and desires build around their biological drives. To someone who is not wired that way such behaviors are frequently abhorrant or gross. This is incidently why sexuality is not a choice, because you do not get to choose how your body's chemical signals are going to react, and various medical conditions that can lead to pheremonal and chemical changes are not something that are consciously regulated.

The thing is that catering to people with a deviant sexual makeup tends to disgust or repel those who are not wired that way. Even if your not someone who say wants to bust into houses and murder everyone wired that way, you generally do not want to be exposed to this kind of thing. When your dealing with tiny minorities vs. the overwhelming majority the right choices are fairly obvious.

As far as the inclusion of such content in the game, understand that it's NOT optional. Actually pursueing a romance with the character in question is, but not their inclusion. No matter what, the homosexual is going to insinuate itself into your crew, and make it clear that option exists if you want it, for the benefit of the people that are wired that way. Having a sexual deviant present, who does something you find gross, is pretty off putting, especially when you don't really have a choice in the matter. Oh sure, maybe I'm not participating in scatology, but just by knowing this guy does that and that he's always going to be hanging around and behaving vocally can be quite off putting.

Likewise, it should be noted that if they do provide an option to get rid of the character it effectively gimps anyone who doesn't want that. After all you have one less companion to send on missions, and one less person for whatever role that character fills outside. Basically giving someone a tangible game bonus for being gay.

As far as the political aspects go, that's 100% accurate. The bottom line is that any person is going to crusade for something that benefits them given the oppertunity. The gay rights movement has inertia which is why it's pushing for everything it can get, as opposed to equal, or more numerous groups of sexual deviants who don't have the same kind of political prescence. We'd probably see crusades by a United Scatology Front, or Diaperboy Coalition, if they got organized and managed to win some public attention and a political victories.

The thing to understand about political movements is that they do not stop, unless they are stopped or ignored. The more victories they win, they more they decide they want, as power corrupts. I actually remember when the gay rights movement was all about not being arrested or effectively hunted down. When that was won it turned into the right to be openly and flamboyantly gay, now it's all about being represented in everything, with at least a token character, despite the small numbers. Basically saying that you HAVE to have a homosexual character or option, or should be viewed as a bigot, and that everyone should have to create in their direction whether it fits their plans or they are wired that way or not. Or in short that everyone I do or experience should have homosexuality in it, to bring it into my home, and the schoolplace of my children, and that right there is going too far. Honestly when it comes down to a minority forcing itself upon you, that tends to lead to as much or more bigotry than whatever it was trying to overcome to begin with. Truthfully I think there would be less anti-gay sentiment (which has less to do with religion or morality than you think) if it wasn't for crap like we're seeing with ToR. It's not about who does what with whom behind closed doors anymore, it's about screaming their existance (like we didn't know about it) in my bloody video games, and my children's schools or whatever else, and saying I have to like them and they should force approval, and that's obnoxious. It's like me saying that since I was born with brain damage and can't help it, that everyone should have to spend so much time every day acting like me with my problems, or that there should be a brain damaged character in every piece of media everywhere.. I mean it's biological, it happened when I was a baby, couldn't bloody help it, it's who I am too.