A new thread will only serve as food for the trolls.

A new thread will only serve as food for the trolls.

 

I can't argue with this either. Maybe just bumping the old thread would be a wiser course?

 

Oh and I wanted to ask: What did you all (or ya'll) think about GLAAD's response from today?

 

Edit: Given as it is GLAAD and they have political pull, how should I even word the post? The trolls know who I am now and I'm sure they'd love the chance to report my Jedi butt.

Edited December 5, 2012 by natashina

A new thread will only serve as food for the trolls.

 

Yes and it will likely get deleted and we'll get directed back to here, again. And again. And again.

 

But what do we do? Huddle down here in fear of the trolls, of the detractors and nay-sayers? I admit, I don't like coming into what I feel is one of the two 'safe-threads' on this forum, one of my threads, and seeing random strangers attack people I like, attack a subject that's dear to me and just generally get the bigoted spunk all over our nice picnic. But moving the picnic table to the far corner of the field where it's too far for most of the trolls to walk isn't the answer. I want to picnic in the sunny spot, damn it, and if they don't like the rainbow cupcakes they can just sod right off.

 

On GLAAD:

got it there:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=5527728&postcount=3686

 

and there:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=5527824&postcount=3692

 

adding:-

If GLAAD are contacting Bioware/EA on this matter, at least they're taking us seriously and that's something. It's nice to have someone who listens for a change.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Tatile

I think we need to leave GLAAD outside a discussion. This is about us, and what we want. I also don't think that we need a thread that's troll proof, derailing ready. It doesn't so much matter what we say, we just need to make a lot of noise while saying it. The FAQ, Timeline and so much else is in this thread. It won't go anywhere. But the point is that we make noise where people can actually see it, the trolls and derailers won't read any real info anyway, not unless they get a cookie. Plus every question or derailment can be answered to, that's a bump. If the trolls will attempt to silence, they achieve the opposite. Posting on general, is posting gloves off for me at this point. But I understand that maybe natashina, you want to refrain from that and simply quote from the faq and remain nice (I mean that). Others who are at a point of maybe not returning anyway, can be the bad cop.

Yes and it will likely get deleted and we'll get directed back to here, again. And again. And again.

 

But what do we do? Huddle down here in fear of the trolls, of the detractors and nay-sayers? I admit, I don't like coming into what I feel is one of the two 'safe-threads' on this forum, one of my threads, and seeing random strangers attack people I like, attack a subject that's dear to me and just generally get the bigoted spunk all over our nice picnic. But moving the picnic table to the far corner of the field where it's too far for most of the trolls to walk isn't the answer. I want to picnic in the sunny spot, damn it, and if they don't like the rainbow cupcakes they can just sod right off.

 

Coffee's brewing and I don't go cheap.

 

My whole take on this is to wait out the week. I know, me outta all people advising patience in here. In my very humble opinion, I feel we need to wait to get some more info from GLAAD before taking this out in public.

 

I'm a huge believer of "links or it didn't happen," so I want to come in there armed and ready with facts. It won't stop the trolls (nothing does short of bans,) but it will give our stance some more solid ground to stand on. That's where I stand on this.

 

Trust me, I'm not entirely thrilled this course of action.

 

However, if we come in there armed with links and support, then we have a chance. We probably should try to bump Uluain's thread to start.

 

 

Edit: Fabiyun(and others) how would you start the post?

 

Also, I got your pic of the Derailment Bingo.

 

Damnit, I need a B for Bingo this week! So close this morning, but oh well.

Edited December 5, 2012 by natashina

Coffee's brewing and I don't go cheap.

 

My whole take on this is to wait out the week. I know, me outta all people advising patience in here. In my very humble opinion, I feel we need to wait to get some more info from GLAAD before taking this out in public.

 

I'm a huge believer of "links or it didn't happen," so I want to come in there armed and ready with facts. It won't stop the trolls (nothing does short of bans,) but it will give our stance some more solid ground to stand on. That's where I stand on this.

 

Trust me, I'm not entirely thrilled this course of action.

 

However, if we come in there armed with links and support, then we have a chance. We probably should try to bump Uluain's thread to start.

 

 

Edit: Fabiyun, how you you start the post?

 

Also, I got your pic of the Derailment Bingo.

 

Damnit, I need a B for Bingo this week! So close this morning, but oh well.

 

Haha! That's a great way to keep our heads cool! Play Bingo while we're at it . In case some wonder, Bingo is often used in the battle against privilege and discrimination. I got acquainted with it through Derailing for Dummies (.com), great read if you're ever up to it.

 

For me going to general where we're not supposed to go, it is only for privileged people, is breaking my chains (enter other sith code parts here). That in and of itself is something that is powerful. But it is also a tradition to be visible, sometimes not with a particular message that means more than, we're here, deal with it. If they delete a thread, I don't care, start another. Trolls will come in, I don't care for their opinions. You can never have enough armour. This is about me shoving my agenda through their throats (LOL). I think that honestly humour is the only armour we can have.

 

Edit coming in a bit, to add -how to possibly go about it- making coffee

LOL yeah they are "watching us" now. Of course its only to reprimand and not to receive feedback but I guess that is actually better than what we've gotten the last 9 months. Take what you can get right?

 

Edit: Oh and yeah, I made a few posts in Uluain's old thread, just fyi (and the point of my last post actually).

Edited December 5, 2012 by Nozybidaj

Good thing I have coffee...

 

Anyhow, I'll say that we are definately going to need more concrete information from GLAAD before we take this to General forums for sure.

 

Don't fret guys. The trolls will come in, do their thing, get flagged/reported and life will move on.

 

Edit: Aww Fabiyun, welcome to the club!

Edited December 5, 2012 by natashina

Good thing I have coffee...

 

Anyhow, I'll say that we are definately going to need more concrete information from GLAAD before we take this to General forums for sure.

 

Don't fret guys. The trolls will come in, do their thing, get flagged/reported and life will move on.

 

I don't think so. Moving out to general is about the best idea I've heard here in a long time. Whether any thing ever pans out from GLAAD is irrelevent. Just moving the discussion to a more visible venue is a statement in and of itself. Just remember to ignore the trolls, flag and move on.

I don't think so. Moving out to general is about the best idea I've heard here in a long time. Whether any thing ever pans out from GLAAD is irrelevent. Just moving the discussion to a more visible venue is a statement in and of itself. Just remember to ignore the trolls, flag and move on.

 

^That! It's really not about the content of posts, it's about visibility.

And we can't make comments for or about GLAAD, they do their part. We do ours. And that is telling BW what is needed. Be visible. Make noise. Nothing more to it.

^That! It's really not about the content of posts, it's about visibility.

And we can't make comments for or about GLAAD, they do their part. We do ours. And that is telling BW what is needed. Be visible. Make noise. Nothing more to it.

 

I will, but man...what a thing to wake up to.

 

It's nice to see some small results of our work already. Let's keep the emails/messages coming guys! If you get a response from GLAAD, throw it up here. Facebook seems to be the way to get to them the quickest. There has been some outright touching and beautiful letters here, and they need to be said.

 

If you (general) want to contact GLAAD and try to get clarifications for this answer (hence the thread title to whomever is lurking,) here is the information: http://www.glaad.org/contact

Edited December 5, 2012 by natashina

I'm either crazy or a masochist. I decided to put this up in Uluain's thread:

 

 

 

 

Okay, I think I'm just awake enough to do this.

 

Say that a new Battlefield game was coming out that was not able to offer multiplayer at launch, but it was going to be available as a free DLC later.

 

Then, for better part of a year, they don't talk about it and dodge any/all questions about it.

 

Then all the employees that talked about this content are gone and the players are still left without a word.

 

Then a thread is started, understandably looking for an answer.

 

You are told over and over again that only a small percentage of the playerbase wants multiplayer, and the game has more important things to work on. I'm betting the percentage of players in this example isn't as small as others might think.

 

Wouldn't you(general term,) want to find out the answer after nine months? Even if it was no/delayed/scrapped/has an ETA? At least something.

 

As a customer, I feel deceived by EA/BW. That's why I'm taking the route I have.

 

Please, join us in writing to GLAAD and other sites. Let's try to get some answers!

 

I am prepared for it to possibly be a "No," so long as they publicity come and tell us such.

 

 

Publicity is the key word here.

 

They haven't said a word on a public scale since March. Nine months is a very long time in the world of MMOs. The LGBTQ posters don't necessarily want this right now, they just want an official word from BW/EA.

 

We are players too and I for one would like to see the Win-32 memory leak crashes get fixed first. I'm all about bug fixes before new content, no matter what it is.

 

I don't think an official and public word is too much to ask.

*carefully worded*

 

What happened while I was at dinner?

 

~JC

We decided to take this back into the fray, aka the General Forums. We've begun posting in Uluain's "Did I hear this right?" thread.

 

I'll be the first to admit that I won't be posting there often. It isn't good for my blood pressure or Doup's.

 

I've been addressing a few points here and there. One of my favorites was, "There is no examples of gay relationships in the Star Wars IP." Yeah, I quickly disproved that.

 

I also mentioned the whole thing on Battlefield. I honestly don't think the detractors and trolls (which I consider two different things,) have any room to speak without looking really bad.

 

Detractor =Someone opposed to the content, but with a level headed approach and at least a little respectful in their responses.

 

Troll=Someone opposed to the content that is disrespectful and destructive with their posts.

 

Hmm, would the whole, "gays aren't in SW" qualify as "You're arguing with opinions instead of facts?"

 

In that case, I call BINGO!

 

And it's only Wednesday.

 

Edited December 6, 2012 by natashina

Even if "gays weren't in Star Wars ever" was the case. it wouldn't really apply. It would have to start somewhere, and they already said they'd go through with it. Besides, BioWare's done stuff with things that weren't their IP before. *cough* Juhani.

Just wanted to pop in and say I emailed GLAAD to lend my support for this issue. I was a beta tester and subscriber that came to SWTOR only because of the promise of same sex romance options and the positive experiences I've had with previous Bioware games. I unsubscribed a few months after release because of the way this issue was being treated and I'm back to see that not much has changed.

 

The only reason my partner and I even came back is because we were not happy with that other mmo anymore and wanted a change. Its not all bad though, we were recently able to join a LGBT friendly guild with our Imperial characters on Jedi Covenant that has been a positive experience for both of us.

 

Honestly if same sex content is still on the board I don't mind waiting, I am enjoying the game for what it is right now, but if they have decided no to include it anymore I will unsubscribe, I won't continue to give money to a company that strung me along and milked me for my hard earned cash with empty promises.

Even if "gays weren't in Star Wars ever" was the case. it wouldn't really apply. It would have to start somewhere, and they already said they'd go through with it. Besides, BioWare's done stuff with things that weren't their IP before. *cough* Juhani.

 

If you ever need further ammo, check out the FAQ. That's where I got my information to copy about SGRs in Star Wars.

 

I like how the good ol' chestnut has returned: "Disney would never allow SGRs."

 

Thanks to some of the confusing policies, I'm not allowed to add links or quotes to back up the counterpoint.

While the company in question got some backlash about the quality of the product they produced, it wasn't nearly as high as Bioware is getting... even in this thread only.

 

Companies only do that when they care about their customers beyond how much money they can squeeze from their wallets. There is a reason EA got the Worst Company in the US award.

Just wanted to pop in and say I emailed GLAAD to lend my support for this issue. I was a beta tester and subscriber that came to SWTOR only because of the promise of same sex romance options and the positive experiences I've had with previous Bioware games. I unsubscribed a few months after release because of the way this issue was being treated and I'm back to see that not much has changed.

 

The only reason my partner and I even came back is because we were not happy with that other mmo anymore and wanted a change. Its not all bad though, we were recently able to join a LGBT friendly guild with our Imperial characters on Jedi Covenant that has been a positive experience for both of us.

 

Honestly if same sex content is still on the board I don't mind waiting, I am enjoying the game for what it is right now, but if they have decided no to include it anymore I will unsubscribe, I won't continue to give money to a company that strung me along and milked me for my hard earned cash with empty promises.

 

Thanks for emailing GLAAD! Make sure you send them a message via FB too.

 

Since we now have some more lurkers in the thread, I'll post both messages I've gotten from GLAAD in the last 24 hours:

 

This was from last night:

 

Hi Real Name,

I have passed this on to our Entertainment team, and they are looking into it.

Thanks!

 

And then this message from this afternoon:

Hi!

Thanks for your message. We reached out again today to EA/BioWare for more information on this.

Thanks!

 

Emphasis on the word again mine. I have a sneaky feeling EAware is trying to dodge them. I sent them an email as well as a Facebook message and the FB message got a very quick hit.

 

I wouldn't be too terribly surprised if we got an article and/or official statement by the end of the weekend at the most.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has kept this thread going. I tend to be a lurker mostly, but it has always been nice to check on this thread and remind myself I am not alone in feeling marginalized by the heteronormative environment of this game. It would be really nice to feel like I was free to play the character I want to play as I expected when I pre-ordered my copy.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has kept this thread going. I tend to be a lurker mostly, but it has always been nice to check on this thread and remind myself I am not alone in feeling marginalized by the heteronormative environment of this game. It would be really nice to feel like I was free to play the character I want to play as I expected when I pre-ordered my copy.

 

You're not alone and always welcome here.

 

We try to band together against the hatred that spews from the gaming community at large over this.

 

Hopefully you sent off messages to GLAAD. Contrary to some of the...less enlightened posters have to say, there has been a ton of emails I've had the pleasure to read in this thread. This is certainly more than a few people and I know there is probably supportive lurkers that didn't post on here, but sent out those messages nonetheless.

Edited December 6, 2012 by natashina

You're not alone and always welcome here.

 

We try to band together against the hatred that spews from the gaming community at large over this.

 

Hopefully you sent off messages to GLAAD. Contrary to some of the...less enlightened posters have to say, there has been a ton of emails I've had the pleasure to read in this thread. This is certainly more than a few people and I know there is probably supportive lurkers that didn't post on here, but sent out those messages nonetheless.

 

Thanks for the welcome!

 

I sent an email to GLAAD. Hopefully, a little outside attention will at least make them acknowledge that we are here.

Thanks for the welcome!

 

I sent an email to GLAAD. Hopefully, a little outside attention will at least make them acknowledge that we are here.

 

 

Anytime! It's always great to see supporters delurking for little ol' us.

 

I have a distinct feeling that we're no longer ignored. Since GLAAD stated that they're trying again to contact EAware, I'm betting all hands are on deck now.

 

I might be wrong...but I think within the next few days we'll hear a statement from the BW/EA team. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an article about it too.

 

You can bet when that article comes up I'm once again emailing any/all gaming or news sites that might give a flying flip.

Edited December 6, 2012 by natashina

So EA is ignoring GLAAD, so much for the GLAAD will take care of things. EA doesn't care about it's customers on any level. The fact you think that GLAAD will suddenly force BW to add SGR may just not happen.

Ah, I love Google. Shame that more people don't use it.

 

Proof that GLAAD has done this before:

 

GLAAD's support for SGRs.

 

So if anyone thinks GLAAD has no pull/doesn't care, they are in for a rude shock.

 

Ignored the ill formed and keep the letters coming folks!

Edited December 6, 2012 by natashina