Oh, of course. They've ignored us entirely in this thread, so this new not-Q&A is at the moment our only option. Frankly, if they don't address our question (given that it's been asked three times and could be dressed up as "paying for companion story content for existing companions") it will likely be deliberate. I think Bioware are sick of us. Let's grab a chinook and glitter bomb them.

Interestingly for anyone who uses Facebook the official Tor page posted this question half an hour ago;

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Question of the day: If you could choose any companions to romance who would it be and why?

 

I haven't responded to it as I don't generally tend to like posting on things with my facebook account but it's there if anyone else wants to?

Vette with my female Juggernaut, because of the Quinncident, Pierce being generally emotionally distant and DS Jaesa being... insane.

 

Oh, and Vector with my male Imperial Agent. I think it would probably be a case of finding another loyal Imperial who has sacrificed so much and being sick of Kaliyo's... Kaliyo-ness. I'm not saying that they'd be a very good couple, but that my Agent might find comfort with someone who understands what it's like to be stuck in the Imperial machine. (Lokin's very much like a father figure to the Agent, and I'm not one for Freud.)

Edited October 24, 2012 by Tatile

For SGRs, when they go active and if Kira is available.... Kira for my female Knight. She's top priority for me.

 

Oh, and if I make a female Inquisitor, DEFINITELY Ashara. Btw, Azura Skye did a great job on that episode of Grimm last season.

As I fully expect Bioware to announce 'Pay2Gay' (ok, maybe not fully) I've just looked into how to contact the Beeb. Nothing truly helpful (though their feedback page is nicely categorized) there, though it is something I'll do if I think it's necessary. I imagine there'd be people in the Beeb who would consider it, at least.

 

Thoughts?

For SGRs, when they go active and if Kira is available.... Kira for my female Knight. She's top priority for me.

 

Oh, and if I make a female Inquisitor, DEFINITELY Ashara. Btw, Azura Skye did a great job on that episode of Grimm last season.

 

Yes, yes, I like your taste

 

I'd add Kaliyo for Fem!Agent too. But, having my Fem!Agent hopelessly in love with Watcher 2 is also appealing for some reason.

Appropos, today's Facebook & Twitter daily question is "If you could choose any companions to romance who would it be and why?"

 

I pointed out (on Twitter, on Facebook and in a new thread I started for the purpose on the Community forum) that this is kind of a crappy thing to ask since a.) nothing we say can affect which companions will be SGR enabled and b.) after over a year of asking, we still have no idea which ones will be, even though the development team must can't not know.

 

You can see my vitriolic thread here. Now taking bets on how soon it is locked, as I have zero expectation of it actually being answered at this stage of the game.

Vette with my female Juggernaut,

 

There is a picture of that on deviantart, a Pureblood female, I'll admit to having stared at it for at least five minutes.

Saw you there, said 'hi', give it about half an hour before it becomes a troll-filled homophobic cesspit that they allow to fester for the night and then they delete it about 0800BST.

 

Edit: Rayla, link?

Edited October 24, 2012 by Tatile

Edit: Rayla, link?

 

I'd prefer not to get banned or if I'm lucky get a serious infraction lol.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Rayla_Felana

Sent a PM to Ms. Berryman and Mr. Gonzalez with regards to Uluain's latest thread:

 

Hello Mr Gonzalez,

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=547395

 

It may interest you to know that the latest question of "If you could choose any companions to romance who would it be and why?" is particularly insensitive to those of us who have been campaigning for the addition of same-gender romances as it reenforces the fact that it is not possible for male characters to romance male companions or female characters to romances female companions.

 

As you can see Uluain has posted a public letter addressing these concerns, but as we can expect of the community it will soon be filled with homophobic vitriol which will be allowed to continue until one of the forum moderators decides to delete the thread. As such I will provide you the initial post, so that you can see if before the meaning is lost:

This was initially going to be a private message to the bigwigs on the Community Team, but you know what, I am tired of being polite so to hell with it.

 

I keep an eye on the official SWTOR feed on Facebook and Twitter, and one of the regular features is a daily question for fans to answer.

 

Today, the question was "If you could choose any companions to romance who would it be and why?"

 

I have no idea who came up with this as something to ask. But really?

 

Seeing as there are players still waiting to begin romantic stories whenever same-gender options make it into the game and seeing as in spite of the question having been current prior to Stephen Reid's announcement of same-gender romantic options a year ago last month we still have not been told which companions will be available as same-sex romantic partners, the Community Team is still pushing companion romance as a story feature.

 

Worse, whatever my answer, it couldn't possibly affect the outcome of the content in development. The design team already know which companions are having these options written, voiced and animated. Whether I said Pierce or Quinn or whoever, it would make no difference in the development of the game.

 

So just tell us already. Quit shoving the fact that there is content from which we were deliberately and unapologetically excluded at launch in our faces while ignoring questions we've been asking about this content for over a year. This is a pretty crappy way to treat players you claim to value. And we've been more than patient. I am done being patient. Tell us, or tell us why you won't.

 

I imagine with Free2Play you will force us in the LGBT community to pay for content which should have been available at release. Such a thing would be quite unacceptable.

 

Regards.

Well, that was quicker than expected. I guess at least they apologised? Either way, I hope Uluain also contacted Ms. Berryman and Mr. Gonzalez.

You can see my vitriolic thread here. Now taking bets on how soon it is locked, as I have zero expectation of it actually being answered at this stage of the game.

 

Answer, 35 minutes to lock a thread. Nine months to reply to one without answering any questions. Like, ever.

 

Good job.

Answer, 35 minutes to lock a thread. Nine months to reply to one without answering any questions. Like, ever.

 

Good job.

 

It certainly shows you their priorities.

 

"We aren't out to offend people, except when we are."

Well, here's my optimistic thought of the day. We'll start hearing more about future expansion content starting in December, being the game's 1 year anniversary. Perhaps some answers for SGR will come up then. If not, then I really don't know I'd say at that point we can safely assume that whatever was being planned that Daniel Erickson referred to, it's been pushed back, or worse. Ok that was part optimistic, part pessimistic.

My reply, by private message to Joveth, Allison, Courtney and Amber:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=547395

 

35 minutes to close a thread that redirects to one it took you 9 months to reply to – without ever having addressed its questions.

 

here's the summary of Things We'd Really Like To Know (and notice I am no longer saying "Please". I don't care whether it pleases you or not. You plainly don't care what pleases us):

 

 

• Will same-gender relationships be available with current companions?
  
• If so, with which?
  
• Will same-gender relationships be available for all eight classes?
  
• If not, with which?
  
• Will new relationship options be available to characters who have already fully progressed companion stories?
  
• Is the awaited same-gender content on the schedule to be released with Makeb?
  
• Are we still on track to see that content this year?
  
• Will same-gender romance require an in-game credit or cartel coin (or any other similar) expense to unlock?
  

 

Some of these questions date back to beta testing. Others are more recent, arising from changes at BioWare Austin and in the direction of the game.

 

As a further question: Who determines what questions you are permitted to answer and how do I contact them? I'll direct my concerns to General Manager Matt Bromberg, barring more specific information, and will encourage others to do likewise.

Aaaand it's shut - so glad I took a week away for a deep breathe and perspective. (Plus I felt like a quitter, still got enough time on my sub to rattle the cans.)

 

Just to see they still have absolutely no interest in trying to quell the growing disatisfaction. "We... encourage you to continue the discussion in the already-active thread asking for more information" Really? It's been made pretty damn apparent our questions are falling on (selectively) deaf ears - at this point, it'd be kinder to just lock the threads then pretending to encourage the one-sided conversation we've got up in here.

 

... Ugh - I feel the urge to dunk my head in ice-water.

Mr. Gonzalez,

 

With reference to my previous message informing you of Uluain's thread, it has been locked some thirty-five (35) minutes after the thread was first posted, with a link to the current SGRA thread.

 

I do not whether or not to commend your team on their swift action on closing such a terrible thread, which only asked for you to consider the part of the community you have been happily ignoring for so long (when it took near nine months for someone of note to post in the SGRA thread).

 

As I said upon noticing the thread had been locked, it surely is a true show of Bioware's priorities.

 

I'm really getting sick of their pathetic little games.

 

Chuixupu - I am really thinking now that they have decided to shelve SGRA's.

 

Uluain - how does one contact Mr. Bromberg? The Community Team clearly isn't working for the community, so it would be best to start ignoring them as they are us.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Tatile

<tired waves and hugs, and a special \o/ to Captain Zone>

 

Haven't had much of a chance to write or even play the game over the last week. Training an 18 mo old terrier not to bark has been a full time job, especially when you usually work the midnight shift. I don't know what sleep is half the time anymore.

 

I popped on to say that maybe it's time we write to people outside of BioWare's staff. We've got enough information, links and wonderful posts/letters to start writing blogs/news groups. I'm not 100% sure where to start, but it's the next step at this point. Nothing against the mods, but I'm pretty sure they are as much at their wits' end as we are. Between the articles that the people in this forum had to write to correct, and the overwhelming silence on EA/BW's part, this is really seeming out of control. The Powers That Be seem really happy to let the press and the LGBT community assume this content is already in the game. And I know that the moderators are exhausted with trying to get around this NDA.

 

I agree with the idea that most of this NDA around same gender romance is related to the fact that it's all story content. They are keeping hush hush about it, which is understandable to an extent. However, a few inconsistencies are really starting to bother me. First, we at least know Makeb is coming soon, and we know probably even further in advance that Cathars will become a playable race at some point. This would be the time to remind the playerbase that SGRs are coming, even if it's far in advance.

 

I was talking with Doup (my SO) about this and he agreed with a theory we've had as a thread for some time now. When SGRs were first announced in September 2011, things were looking rosy and they felt strong as a company for BW-Austin. They weathered the negative reactions from well-meaning but extreme family groups quite well. Now, Doup and I both think that since things aren't as bright, that The Powers That Be are shy about announcing SGRs. Neither of us believe EA/BW is going to drop SGRs, but they really don't know how to approach this with the rest of the world.

 

My personal take is that if they could do it with ME3's relationships, they should have started talking about ToR's role sooner. Not go onto LGBT friendly game sites and let stuff like, "Same gender romance is a staple of SW:ToR" go to print. Not by denying the poor moderators (and some of the writers too, if Mr. Hood is any indication) information to the player base.

 

I've stopped writing the mods for now. I'm starting to look at other sites. Perhaps the only way anything will at least get confirmed for this year is if there is some outside pressure from the gaming community.

 

The question of the day is always meant to be fun and certainly wasn't meant to offend or frustrate anyone, so we apologize if it did.

 

I just wish BW's higher ups would think about questions like the one on Facebook. I can understand the fun aspect, but a little research would have found that came off in poor taste. It's not the mods or the devs at this point I'm getting angry with, its with the ones that ultimately okay the release of updated information. I figure if we can't get their attention via through the company, I wonder what some other more professional bloggers and news sites can do. Although sending them a red velvet cake is sorely tempting

 

Say, didn't they send something like 300 cupcakes to BW in protest of ME3's ending?

Edited October 24, 2012 by natashina

Well, perhaps if we go back to those two sites we had to correct? They were pretty happy to run articles about pro-LGBT gaming companies and perhaps they may be interested in why we told them that SGRA's are not in SWTOR?

 

Not sure if I'd want to contact them and cite my own posts, however. That just seems like an exercise in intense navel gazing.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Tatile

Uluain - how does one contact Mr. Bromberg? The Community Team clearly isn't working for the community, so it would be best to start ignoring them as they are us.

 

All I can garner is a street address, and a phone number that presumably goes to the front office:

 

Matthew Bromberg

General Manager, BioWare Austin

3110 Esperanza Crossing, Ste. 110

Austin, TX 78758

 

(512) 382-8682

Snail mail or a very expensive phone call. I'll give Google a poke when I'm not suffering the on-set of a tiredness headache.

Well, perhaps if we go back to those two sites we had to correct? They were pretty happy to run articles about pro-LGBT gaming companies and perhaps they may be interested in why we told them that SGRA's are not in SWTOR?

 

Not sure if I'd want to contact them and cite my own posts, however. That just seems like an exercise in intense navel gazing.

 

 

I was thinking that we could all get together and try to organize our thoughts and feelings about the handling of this situation. Not just site one post, but try to write an open and collective letter, and I'm aiming for a little longer than Uluain's excellent post. (grumbles in the direction of yellow text, gives Uluain a hug) Also, send them the link to the faq as well. It would be a productive project. And good call Tatile; going back to gameindustrybiz and trying to write them would be a great place to start. Trying to play nice doesn't work.

 

And I've got a letter to write this week from the looks of it. Gonna start with snail mail before I start the phone calls. Plus, I can't help but wonder what those in LGBT gaming community (especially ones that are not on the forums, quietly hoping for SGRs) would feel about the responses from BW.

Edited October 24, 2012 by natashina

I'll try to figure out what it is I actually think about this and how I can put it into words, Natashina. It could take me a while, but perhaps it might be useful.

What responses?