Where Miiquality is going next or: Why you should buy Tomodachi Life

[Nouw]

So, unless you've been avoiding the internet and the news the past few days you would know about the big Tomodachi Life controversy. This thread isn't about what happened, go watch the latest two Jimquistions or read the IGN [http://au.ign.com/articles/2014/05/05/nintendo-on-gay-marriage-and-tomodachi-life] article to catch up on it if you're curious and if you want to discuss it go to the respective news and video threads. They're not going to get closed but this one might so please take it over there if you desperately need to share your two cents.

Anyhow, this controversy has been supposedly resolved by Nintendo issuing an apology and we all seem to be rather content, at least that's the vibe I'm getting from the discussions I've read. I find this rather perplexing given that they pledged that "if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players." The lack of buzz and enthusiasm for what should be done next is downright jarring considering it's the next logical step.

Spoiler: Hint, maybe buying the game?

This was the point of Miiquality wasn't it? Aren't we now closer than ever to having these options included which we, I included, desire?
I don't know, maybe we're all going to secretly suppourt this game but that's not the message I'm getting from the internet as a whole. Considering how passionate people were about this issue I would have thought the move to buy the game and make sure these options do get included would be more heavily pushed but it seems that news-sites including the Escapist seem inclined to just move on. If enough people buy this game, Nintendo will develop and localize another Tomodachi Life which will this time have gay marriage and other such excluded options. Even if they don't, we can just create another, even bigger controversy.

So is this just going to be another 'flavour-of-the-month' discussion or are we actually going to try and make a difference?

I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong. After this epiphany that if enough copies are sold there can be a proper happy ending I'm keen to buy the game and properly suppourt Miiquality.

 

[josemlopes]

lol, how retard is that?

"Buy or game that doesnt have that thing you like for us to then to make the one with that thing you want"

If they want these people to buy the game then make the game with those features from the start.

Its the same as if I wanted co-op in a single player game (I really like co-op and sometimes is enough to make me buy a game I was on the fence about) and they wanted me to buy the game without co-op for the next one to have it. No, I will buy the one with co-op when its released and I am not going to buy the one without it to have it as paperweight.



That Miiquality thing wasnt started by Nintendo was it? If it wasnt then a lot of what I said isnt valid

 

[doxydejour]

On the one hand, yes, I can agree with the OP - Nintendo have said they will make the next game in the series inclusive and therefore if the first game sells poorly, there will be no second game. So it's helping development there.

On the other hand, the game should really have been inclusive from the start. I know people are going to say "BUT IN JAPAAAAN..." Well, fair enough if that's their culture (the vast amount of Yaoi/Yuri they produce seems to contradict that everyone in Japan is straight ;-)), but if they knew this game was always going to be exported to the West, they should have done their research about the clientele they're selling to. Keep the Japanese version heterosexual only and include the possibility of same-sex relationships in the international version if you're really concerned about offending the home market. It can't be that difficult so early on in the design process.

Homosexuality isn't an add-on or life choice and homosexuals asking for visibility in video games isn't special treatment, it's a thing that just should be happening by now. Well, I say "should be happening by now", Sims 2 had this shit almost 10 years ago.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Interesting idea for a thread, OP.

Personally, I will not be buying Tomodachi Life because I do not own a Nintendo console, and whilst I do believe in "voting with your wallet", this has only extended to me not going to see a movie or not playing a game.

I believe that games are already making enough strides to become more inclusive, is Tomodachi Life the game to spearhead that future? I'm not entirely sure. If anything, I think that the Sims has been doing this for a very long time, and if I actually liked life simulators, I might have bought the Sims(EA's questionable business practices notwithstanding).

As for everything else that is actively pro-LGBT, well, I can only do those things passively: I tell my friends off when they make a crap joke or the like about that stuff, etc. I do not have the financial liberty to be able to finance a cause per se, as I will not lie, I do not have enough personal investment in it. I am glad to see people get rid of their prejudices, but I am not one of those people, I cannot claim to speak for them. I admire their struggle, and I do root for it, but not to the degree that I would finance things to further that cause(at time of writing; am a student).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Easy call for me, I haven't owned a Nintendo system past the Game Boy and I'm not interested in owning one or playing a life simulator. Also I don't believe in fostering the development of better games by buying games we don't like or don't agree with on an ideological level. What message are we sending? "I'm buying it anyway"? Why change anything at all then?

 

[Imp_Emissary]

I see where the idea is going and I'm for it.
Don't get me wrong, it also kind of has an air about it like Nintendo is asking for a bribe to be inclusive, but as they say: "money talks".

I'd like to help out the cause financially, :/ but I don't have a Wii or WiiU.

I wish it luck though. It'd be good for the gaming community and Nintendo for this to go that way.

 

[nevarran]

How about... NO?

Let me first say, that I don't give a flying fuck about Tomodochi Life and whatnot, but your entire logic is plain stupid. You want me to buy something bad, because it may eventually improve...

Wouldn't making a stand and not buying the thing be more effective?
I mean, tomorrow they'll make a game where you cannot play as a black sim, but promise you to include the feature in the next installment. Are you doing to support this one too?