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Uluain

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  • Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Interests
    Humanities - literature, history, philosophy, counterculture, occultism, erotica, roleplaying games
  • Occupation
    clergy/elder care
  1. People who come into a thread about content of no interest to them to harrass those sincerely concerned for it to tell them their opinions are invalid are at best inconsiderate. And I don't see how I can be expected to accept statements opposing this content on the basis of someone else's opinion on sexual orientation any more than I would have to accept another player's stated objection to the Sith Warrior story because he doesn't believe he should be asked to take orders from Overseer Tremel, a black man, or objecting to Sith Inquisitor because it is not proper for a woman (Lord Zash) to instruct men. Have you voiced any objection when BioWare has specifically promoted existing romantic content as a feature of the game? Have you posted in threads regarding existing, opposite gender romance options? No? Then is your opposition to the inclusion of this content based on anything other than conceptions of sexual orientation as such? If so, how is voicing that in a venue where support of that content is to be expected not an act of aggression? And if it is that, how is that not meant to be intimidating or, in another word, bullying?
  2. For my part, I am all out of polite. I am sorry if that takes discussion in a negative direction, but trying to be nice, to extend benefit of the doubt, has gotten us less than nothing. I have been chastised for disregarding guidelines intented to make the forums a safe place for community discussion, but I maintain that the lack of any vocal support for this content from the community team whatsoever itself encourages an unsafe, bullying environment which tacitly supports hateful and discriminatory speech opposing same-gender content. Some might say that the moderation team and Community Team must remain impartial, but if BioWare does intend to include same-gender romantic options, as previously advertised, then they have already taken a side. To abandon us without any support is cheap at best and malicious at worst. We don't know who has made that call. They are the ones responsible, ultimately. But ethically, the Community Team must accept some personal responsibility for the results of that policy as it is they who choose to implement it. One cannot dodge culpability by saying "I was only following orders". That may be true, but if one believes the orders are wrong, one ought not to obey and if one does follow the orders then one is expressly endorsing them. A hard line, but no one ever said what is right is what is easy or convenient.
  3. Actually, that was from the Guild Summit and just last week, in a Livestream Q&A, we were told that since so much has changed both within the studio and in the direction of the game, not everything promised at the Guild Summit is to be relied upon as still holding true, and that many things have been put on a back-burner. Naturally, there was no indication whether SGRs are in this category or not, so we no longer have the "this year" promise. In fact, we have no information ever since launch. We have less information than we did eight months ago, in spite of having specifically asked, more than once, whether these changes had effected the time-table for or scope of this content. We have in effect never been told anything. That's why we're asking.
  4. Further, as of the most recent Livestream Q&A (see dulfy.net for a transcript), that comment in March has been pretty much taken back. What we had last were Daniel Erickson's comments at the Guild Summit and since then Erickson has left the studio and there have been significant changes to the direction of the game. We expressed concern several months ago that these changes might affect the timeline or scope of this content and voiced those concerns where we had be told was appropriate, and never heard a word. Now we hear, generally and nonspecifically, that not all of what was said at the summit is still current, but without being told whether or not same-gender romantic content is in that category. The only statement remaining was made pre-launch, by the then Community Manager, Stephen Reid. He also is no longer with the studio, and his comments were made to a pre-launch audience, in September of 2011. Since launch, then, we've had one statement and it has been rescinded, leaving us with nothing at all. So yes, for those not so totally disappointed and angered at how information is being selectively withheld in a deliberate and discriminatory fashion that we have ceased to play, this clarification is a priority.
  5. Actually, he only said that, due to changes at the studion and in the direction of the game since then, some of what was promised at the Guild Summit no longer holds true... without clarifying which. Note that we have been wondering for months now whether, with changes in the direction of the game and at the studio, Daniel Erickson's statements still hold true, and have specifically requested clarification on that particular point for months now. So now we have the official word: Yes, Daniel Erickson's statements regarding same-gender content may or may not hold true. That is where the information we're getting through the Community Team became the proverbial slap in the face. That's why I blew up. Can they possibly have been surprised?
  6. You can piggy-back your questions on this thread on General Discussion, if you like.
  7. Giving this a bump on my way out the door, as this is where I think future SGR discussion should continue, more visibly than in the Story & Lore ghetto where we've been enouraged to stay out of the way and be low-key and low-profile. That has done nothing to help us, so to hell with low-key and low-profile. Post here. To the initial question of the post, there has been no response of any kind from BioWare, the devs, the producers, the community team, from Gabe Amatangelo or Hall Hood himself. The retracted tweet remains the last word we have heard on the subject, if you can count retracted words. Before that, the last word was from then Lead Writer Daniel Erickson at the Guild Summit, but Erickson has parted ways with the studio, and a recent Livestream Q&A told us that not all Guild Summit statements still hold true, although no mention was made of whether his regarding SGRs does or not. That leaves us with Stephen Reid's announcement of Sept. 2011, which is the boilerplate response CS hands out to anyone asking. Reid has not been Community Manager for many months, and the statement he made was pre-launch, to a pre-launch audience. Which leaves us with what? That's right, kids – NOTHING. We know nothing about whether or not BioWare intends to ever implement any sort of same-gender romantic content at all. We've asked politely, for months and months, to hear if this is even still on the drawing board. Those questions have never been answered here, ever. I grow tired of asking, so this will be the last time. What is the status of same-sex romantic content?
  8. You might want to re-make this topic on Suggestion Box or Genernal Discussion, where it will be more visible than on Story and Lore which sees few visitors, but thanks for speaking in favor of such an innovation.
  9. A parting word of advice: abandon this thread. Let Natashina, or whoever has an FAQ link in their signature, finish it off. Then post elsewhere. Anywhere else. Start a thread on General Discussion (or hijack "Did I hear this right?") and post there from now on. Staying in your cage isn't helping you at all. Don't behave. Don't play nice. The only way we have ever heard anything, ever, is by being too much trouble to ignore. Remember that, and may the Force be with you.
  10. I emailed GLAAD. Sorry for not having said something sooner, but there were complications regarding my ability to post. I didn't mean for my exit to be quite that dramatic, but a Livestream Q&A that not only failed to address any of our longstanding questions but actually subtracted from the information we have, by saying that not all Guild Summit statements hold true without specifying which, was the last straw. My current subscription ends in a week or so. I do not have any plans to renew it. At this point, I doubt even the implementation of SGRs will bring me back as it was the abyssmal disregard for player concerns that ruined it for me. Good luck to all of you. I'll be putting on my pointy ears and brushing up on my Sindarin to go play another game altogether.
  11. The thing is, Natashina, our community peeps talk to designers, writers and developers every day. The Dev Tracker has not been as busy lately, but most weeks there are at least a few posts from Allison Berryman relaying what she has heard from Developer Y or Designer X. The community team does have access to that information, and the writers, devs et al do have it. Fourteen months ago, then Community Manager Stephen Reid said that the situation of this particular content made it something worth mentioning well in advance. Eight months ago, when Daniel Erickson spoke about this content, he did so in terms implying that they had been addressing it often, which they hadn't, and complained that they couldn't address it as often as it came up. Since they had addressed it exactly ONCE previously, this seems rather disingenuous, a way of mis-stating the circumstance rather than squarely facing the issue. Since then, of course, we have heard nothing. And so far as these forums go – I am talking about the post-Launch forums, the beta forums being unaccessible – this topic has been addressed by the Community Team just once, in Joveth's post to this thread. Seeing as other topics have gotten multiple "we don't have anything to tell you" updates over a much shorter span, and some have received much more substantial status updates over less time, I don't think I will give the Community Team a pass on this one. Nor do I feel any need to keep my mouth shut just because I am out of patience, and because my manners are shot. Using good manners, being helpful and counselling patience got me jack all. This content is being handled differently for the convenience of the community team, not for us. It has been routinely and uniformly passed over for comment whenever the community has been invited to ask questions of the development team, in spite of consistently being asked after by many forum members. That is dismissive, it is rude, it is insulting. And by refusing to say anything, the Community Team is complicit with the trolls and naysayers who thus feel free to crap all over the idea. "Ooh! This is a hot-button issue!" The hell it is. EA and BioWare have been including it as a matter of course for years now. "Oh, I don't want my kids to see it!" Don't let them play the game. "Oh, I don't want to see it!" Then don't play the game. If BioWare has decided to include this content, it should be on them, not on us, to defend its implementation. They won't. Nor will they tell us what they can. Neither of those leave me well-disposed to the company. Can anyone tell me why I should be?
  12. No. I suggest that it is possible that they could. Rather than taking your stance that obedience to the rules is the only applical guide to ethics, I follow a school of thought which observes that rules and laws can in some cases be wrong and that, in such circumstances, an individual must be governed by personal conscience. This can hold true even within the limited sphere of professional responsibilities, if one is given a directive at variance with one's overall duty. I cannot and do not say what other people ought to discover when consulting their own conscience. I cannot even say that this is such a situation, because we have been told nothing about it. But I do say that if it is such a circumstance, and if conscienteous reflection results in finding that a directive is harmful to the interests of the game and its community, that one should do what one believes to be right, regardless of penalty. Further, I would posit that if one's livelihood is at risk from doing what one believes to be right, then one does not yet have one's right livelihood. To summarize then, I don't think they should do this to placate me or anyone else. I suggest that they should do it if, in their understanding of the situation, it is the right thing to do. Is that serious enough for you, or do I need to cite sources and footnotes from the five thousand years human minds have been weighing the idea of ethical conduct? Also, why are you still here trolling this thread?
  13. Time is short today, so just a few points I'd like to touch on. I was about there, oh, two months ago. I got just enough of a reply from Joveth (see the BW post in this thread and more to the point, my post of his email above it) to make me feel that maybe things were looking up, info-wise. And while I have not been eager to share this before, I'll now reveal that what got that response from Joveth was filing a CS ticket reporting the community team for discriminatory behavior. That was kind of an A-bomb for an ant-hill, but also kind of not because to all appearances, all that differentiates how this content and discussion of it from any other content is sexual orientation. And quarantining this discussion on that grounds alone is discriminatory, and there are rules of conduct against that, and I think the Community Team is also obliged to observe those. So that got us what it got us, which isn't much. But we have repeatedly, tediously, disheartenlngly told that they are aware of the interest in this content and they are working to bring us new information as soon as they can. Pressing harder for this information is counter-productive to me at this point because if they know how we feel and are not responding now, then that tells me all I need to know about my value to the company as a customer, and shows their "inclusive" ethic for the thin, feeble charade that it is, or else this would be addressed already. Maybe not in game, because things take time, but talked about frankly. So too late for me, unless it comes out with a big, fat "We're sorry!" in front. Yes, it's just a game, but I see no reason to accept from an entertainment venue what I would not stand for from an employer, a landlord or a place of worship. We have been led to expect same-sex romance with companions we already know. And sc****** up CC to unlock it, when those could be invested elsewhere, IS Pay-to-Gay, because no one had to do anything like that for OGR. It was just there, part of the content with the companions one met along the way. I want the same thing for SGR. Anything less and I will turn around and walk away rather than accept more of a second-class experience than we have already been subjected to.
  14. So, either 1.6 is not the last content patch of the year, or 1.6 will include content not on the PTS, or Makeb is, in fact, delayed. I'd love to know which. Too bad BW won't talk about it.
  15. It happens to the best of us. And I do believe that SGRs are still coming... eventually. But if they last we heard is "this year" and that is no longer the case, then they really should tell us that. But with how they have handled this discussion, for me personally, at this point anything now is going to be too late. Implementing Makeb tomorrow with all the SGRs in would not fix this for me, because they've had all the time in the world to assess our questions here – which have to do with knowing how best to approach existing content as we wait – and they haven't. I do believe there is a draconian corporate gag-rule on this. I don't think that pardons the silence. Either the Community Team ought to have gone toe-to-toe with corporate to get cleared to talk about this, or they could have found a loophole to speak through, or just taken a huge risk and simply defied that directive in the interest of promoting the game to its community. They haven't. So I conclude that in this case "can't tell you" really does mean "choose not to tell you". Well, that's their choice to make. Mine is where to spend my money. It won't be here.
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