To all of you supporting this:

I'm so glad to see so much support. Keep it up. Natasha, keep up your good work. The fire rises.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAj3bFTRMDQ

 

PS: Ok, not exactly Star Wars. But it fits!

Needs more Anne Hathaway

First, the only Evan Thomsen-s I found was a high school kid and a professional fitness trainer. Whomever this guy is, he's a passionate fan but alas, does not work for EAware.

 

Secondly, for those that didn't see, I got gamesindustrybiz.com (games industry International) to respond to this matter last night.

 

 

So that's another route we can take. Make sure you send out the messages and emails to them as well. They are the site that has the now-infamous EA/Zynga article that we edited, so I listened to my gut and wrote them. Glad I did.

 

Third, I've literally gotten that exact same CSR message about the Guild Summit when I came back to the game in September. After the Livestream, I would take that with the smallest grain of salt. I'm not trying to be negative, but I saw Uluain get the exact same message a few months back.

 

Finally, Uluain wanted me to say good bye to you all. Last night was utterly insane, and left a lot of us limping into this thread by the end of it.

 

He'll be watching, but man, he'll be missed. <hats off>

 

I'm going to be a little scarce over the next few days. My guild is wondering if I'm okay at this point, since I haven't logged in since Sunday.

 

As always, I'll be lurking, reading and reporting if I need to.

 

**hugs**

 

Edit: For those of you about to give up, contact GLAAD via email or facebook. The reason why GLAAD was contacted over this matter is because I found out that they had helped this very community last year. Rewording some of the angry letters to BioWare in order to send to GLAAD would be the way to go. Voting with our wallets didn't work, so maybe some media pressure will do it.

 

http://www.glaad.org/contact

For the record, I'm the Evan Thomsen that often posts on their Facebook page. Although I am neither a high school kid nor a professional fitness trainer, I also don't work for EA games or Bioware in any capacity. Passionate fan probably is the best description of me.

Anyway, I got bored and did a Google search on my own name, just to see whom else might come up under my name, and found this thread.

For the record, I'm the Evan Thomsen that often posts on their Facebook page. Although I am neither a high school kid nor a professional fitness trainer, I also don't work for EA games or Bioware in any capacity. Passionate fan probably is the best description of me.

 

Anyway, I got bored and did a Google search on my own name, just to see whom else might come up under my name, and found this thread.

There are worse places to find your name being uttered. It's nice to see you drop by May you be forever shrouded in mystery.

There are worse places to find your name being uttered. It's nice to see you drop by May you be forever shrouded in mystery.

Thank you. I was more amused if anything that I got mentioned based on a Facebook post. That and when I saw that people were wondering if I did work for EA or Bioware, that I should clear that up, even though people did come to the conclusion that no, I probably don't.

Thank you. I was more amused if anything that I got mentioned based on a Facebook post. That and when I saw that people were wondering if I did work for EA or Bioware, that I should clear that up, even though people did come to the conclusion that no, I probably don't.

By virtue of the fact that you spoke about SGRA's, it's highly likely that you don't work for Bioware/EA Everyone knows that Bioware/EA employee loses their voice as soon as that topic comes up.

Sigh...I'm having a hard time playing TOR right now.

I really want two things- first the ability to change my companions. That is, I'd like to be able to rotate them out. Secondly, I really want to have SGRA because I'm tired of having to wait for it.

I really would prefer to have an all female crew. It would make me feel more comfortable over all in game.

I really would prefer to have an all female crew. It would make me feel more comfortable over all in game.

My Sorceress and Juggernaut would be all over this idea. I know the reasons why you want it, but I just think it's an awesome idea in general. The addition of new companions would be nice - especially if it coincides with a 'home base' idea: stick some companions at the base to do... stuff and have your other companions that you actually like with you all the time!

Would be awesome.

My Sorceress and Juggernaut would be all over this idea. I know the reasons why you want it, but I just think it's an awesome idea in general. The addition of new companions would be nice - especially if it coincides with a 'home base' idea: stick some companions at the base to do... stuff and have your other companions that you actually like with you all the time!

 

Would be awesome.

An all girl posse for my Sith Jugg. Like Bad Girls but with space ships, lightsabers, and droids!

Oh just imagine those few cutscenes where the whole group gets together!

I would totally be behind a Quinn's mute sister switcheroo (hate that little wiggler!).

My Sorceress and Juggernaut would be all over this idea. I know the reasons why you want it, but I just think it's an awesome idea in general. The addition of new companions would be nice - especially if it coincides with a 'home base' idea: stick some companions at the base to do... stuff and have your other companions that you actually like with you all the time!

 

Would be awesome.

Yeah. Part of why I love my Sniper is that her crew is 3 female/ 2 male. I usually run with Kaliyo. I have both of them set up with similar clothes and I love it.

By virtue of the fact that you spoke about SGRA's, it's highly likely that you don't work for Bioware/EA Everyone knows that Bioware/EA employee loses their voice as soon as that topic comes up.

Well yeah. Bioware has been slow with promised content in general, but even so they have been very tight lipped even for them on the issue of same gender romances. Me, I'm all for player choice. I'm only half joking when I say I'd have my female smuggler romance Guss Tuno. Sure he's a Mon Cal but he has such a great funny personality that I'd at least consider it for that character. Anyway, I'm risking starting to derail this topic so I'll stop here for now.

So, just saw this:

Hall Hood, @hallhood

@Natashina Much appreciated. Please understand, I have done everything within my power to address your concerns.

~05:47 15/12/12

He's speaking about SGRA's there and I feel this explains a fair amount about his lackluster Developer Blog. The much maligned "mug question" is something that usually comes up in developer interviews - they like to answer cute questions after having done a lot of talking about more heady issues (kind of like having pictures of kittens at the end of the news after you've been told that the world is a terrible place), which makes me wonder that perhaps Mr. Hood did originally address our concerns about SGRA's in his Developer Blog response, but that they were cut from the finished product.

I do find it somewhat disgusting, then, that talks with the community are being censored in this manner.

Do you guys realize that this is an MMO and creating and re-writing the script for every quest to add different options with the gender change will probably take a long time.

Yes.

We've discussed the lead time on story writing and recording many times in this thread. Perhaps you should read it.

I agree they should add it, and no i think I'm going to pass reading over 400 pages.

We do get sidetracked a fair amount.

Unfortunately, what most people aren't clear on (whether through bloody minded ignorance or just being new to the subject) is that we are not necessarily demanding that this content be introduced now*, but that we are asking for Bioware to be open and give us information about this content. People already have an inkling that 1.7 will be the Ilum reboot. The PvP crowd were told about a month before 1.6 was dropped to the PTS that their new warzone would be in the very next patch and that that patch would be the last for the year. The Hood Toggle crowd have been told that the toggles are being worked on and that it requires new art to be created.

This is story content - story supposedly being the unique aspect of Star Wars: The Old Republic - and we don't even know if it's still something Bioware intend to introduce, due to Hickman's comments in the LiveStream (between the moments when he was laughing at the player base). Mr. Erickson had stated back in March that story content would be in "this year" and, well, we can see how that went.

*though it should have been in at launch, but that was Bioware's decision to be discriminatory during production and not something we can do anything about now, unless someone has a time machine and truckload of glitter.

So, just saw this:

 

Hall Hood, @hallhood

@Natashina Much appreciated. Please understand, I have done everything within my power to address your concerns.

~05:47 15/12/12

 

He's speaking about SGRA's there and I feel this explains a fair amount about his lackluster Developer Blog. The much maligned "mug question" is something that usually comes up in developer interviews - they like to answer cute questions after having done a lot of talking about more heady issues (kind of like having pictures of kittens at the end of the news after you've been told that the world is a terrible place), which makes me wonder that perhaps Mr. Hood did originally address our concerns about SGRA's in his Developer Blog response, but that they were cut from the finished product.

 

I do find it somewhat disgusting, then, that talks with the community are being censored in this manner.

I think that's reading a bit much into his words. A bit ago, I tweeted him about SGRAs and encouraged others to do so as well, and on that day he got quite a few tweets about it. All he was really able to say was that the forums were the best avenue for feedback and he also made a reference like the one you quoted where he indicates he's done everything in his power to help.

It's entirely possible what he's referring to, having "done everything within [his] power to address [our] concerns," merely means that the only answer he can give us is to direct our feedback to "proper channels." Reading anything into it beyond that is pure speculation.

I think that's reading a bit much into his words. A bit ago, I tweeted him about SGRAs and encouraged others to do so as well, and on that day he got quite a few tweets about it. All he was really able to say was that the forums were the best avenue for feedback and he also made a reference like the one you quoted where he indicates he's done everything in his power to help.

 

It's entirely possible what he's referring to, having "done everything within [his] power to address [our] concerns," merely means that the only answer he can give us is to direct our feedback to "proper channels." Reading anything into it beyond that is pure speculation.

It is speculation, but unfortunately speculation is our only avenue at the moment. I've mentioned the stain on the floor a few times, but the room happens to be devoid of other furniture. I've read into this particular tweet because of what Mr. Hood has said previously - which I now can't *********** find - wherein he stated that he sympathized with our situation (he was speaking to SamyMerchi, one of the posters here).

While Mr. Hood might only be able to direct us to the so-called proper channels, but I do not think that means that he has not attempted to communicate with us (the deleted tweet, for example), but rather that he might have been censored for having done so.

But then I am a terrible optimist sometimes.

With the @hallhood 's tweet as well as some of the responses we've gotten elsewhere (GLAAD etc) it really sounds to me like this mos more of the kinda standard EA/Bioware blackout on features that are not fixed in timeline or system.

I know during Beta and prior they were very very closed mouth about anything they were doing until it was basically ready for release or at least test/demo. So with SGR I would guess they are either uncertain where in the timeline it'll fall or uncertain of how it will be implemented.

The fact that no one has popped in to say "Oh yea it's still on our scheduled but we don't have a firm release window" is a little odd though. Dependent how EA the office has gone at this point they ma just be muzzled form admitting such a 'minor' feature has dropped from the schedule. gotta have more time to make ugly holiday junk to sell on the cartel market after all.

The fact that no one has popped in to say "Oh yea it's still on our scheduled but we don't have a firm release window" is a little odd though. Dependent how EA the office has gone at this point they ma just be muzzled form admitting such a 'minor' feature has dropped from the schedule. gotta have more time to make ugly holiday junk to sell on the cartel market after all.

Well that and if they admit that they didn't think that same-sex content was important enough to be developed for this game, then their standing with the LGBT community could be damaged and we wouldn't want that

You're either inclusive or you're not.

While Mr. Hood might only be able to direct us to the so-called proper channels, but I do not think that means that he has not attempted to communicate with us (the deleted tweet, for example), but rather that he might have been censored for having done so..

I can't believe how complicated such a little thing has become. They simply should have put SGR in at launch, period. Now everything they do, including gag orders and no-info policy seems so awkward, silly and really untrustworthy. And I do consider myself a diehard fan.

But this seriously puts me off. Not the fact SGRs are not in (yet), but how crappy they handle all of this.

You're either inclusive or you're not.

The only thing we can judge them on is actions at this point (do to there silence that is all there is). From that perspective it is pretty clear which side of the fence BW-Austin and SW:TOR fall on.

They can't just come right out and say "no we aren't doing this" even if this is what they decided internally. It would just add too much fuel to the fire and really get the interest of groups like GLAAD and likely even the major gaming media.

While I don't think they mind misleading folks I don't think they want to come right out and lie about it either. So they won't come here and say "yep still on the schedule" or "its on the list more on it later". This is EA however, they might "leak" comments to keep people interested and paying in ways that they can later claim as 'unofficial' and there by keep their hands clean, but I don't think they will make an "official" statement on it even confirming it as on a future feature list. It simply isn't.

So their only real option is silence. To say and do nothing and hope we all just go away. Which is exactly what they have done so far.

They simply should have put SGR in at launch, period.

TOR needed another year in development, in retrospect. It's a shame they pushed it out to avoid having to compete with a WoW expansion's release year, eh? >_>

Whats amazing is how simple this is. Yes, it should've been in at launch. Its also something that doesn't require much to put in anytime they feel like it. Its not like they have to do any new writing at all, the romances are already in the game, its a simple case of the romance options having been disabled for certain players, so un-disabling them would solve everything, with the possible exception of any need to change pronouns (and having not had the opportunity to play the romances, the wording may already be gender-neutral so even that might not be necessary). Its one of the simplest improvements to the game they could possibly make, thats why you have to assume they arent doing it because they simply dont want to, certainly they've had over a year to do something that should take more like hours, maybe a couple days if there's a fair number of pronoun-changes necessary in a given romance storyline. Thats why this pressure is key, to get them to change their minds. Without any of us speaking out, they'll never ever do it, they've made that perfectly clear. And that doesn't mean that most of the folks that work on the game don't want it in.

We know the team that made ME2, for example, wanted SGR, and they put it in the game, but the head of the team overruled them all and made them remove it (they left parts of certain romances in, either by accident or, more likely, on purpose to show they wanted to and tried to put them in). Thats the general attitude of the VAST majority of the folks at Bioware, inclusion and freedom for the players, Its most likely the same deal here, just one or two people at the top keeping the good folks who want to put it in, from simply adding it in. Its really just extreme unluckiness on our part, that the few folks at Bioware who are against us happen to be the ones at the very top of certain games, specificly ME and SWTOR, I don't know enough about SWTOR's higher ups to even know their names, but if you know who the head guy is, he's almost certainly the one who doesn't want it, and won't let anybody put it in. Anybody else you talk to is probably on our side and just can't say so publicly, because they like having a job, and being able to pay their bills and such. So let's be sure to be nice to whoever we might speak to, that person probably would add it in tomorrow if they were allowed to, and everybody here would be happy, and they would be as well. I do believe that the pressure we're applying is going to cause the head guy to relent and at least give us something, whether its the full treatment that we want and deserve, or just a small token something that he hopes will be enough to get the pressure off, remains to be seen (though the logical guess is it'll be the latter, of course I'm hoping for the former), but clearly the more pressure we apply the more we'll end up getting, so let's keep up the great work, and kudos on all the awesome stuff that everybody has already done.

TOR needed another year in development, in retrospect. It's a shame they pushed it out to avoid having to compete with a WoW expansion's release year, eh? >_>

What is unfortunate is the number of times I've seen this, and the number of times it has resulted in horrible games is unfortunate. Honestly, Mists of Pandaria is not that great an expansion despite what the reviewers say. I beta tested it and have now let my subscription lapse there. I just could not get into the game at that point. I mean, it's not bad, but it's not spectacular.

TOR like STO needed a lot more polish before release.

Wow..um...yeah....

Sorry I haven't posted much. Hi to Evan!

What else...oh, thanks for the PMs guys!

Um

MERRY LIFE DAY!!!

Hi Natashina!

 

We just got done recording this week's podcast, and your email features prominently. It was excellently worded, extremely well communicated, and otherwise extremely thoughtful. I'm sure we didn't do it service (clods that we are), but we gave it a good shot. I hope you like it.

 

Jeff

TORWars.com

This was not one of the sites that had directly replied to me before.

It may not be an answer.

But we did it. We showed a lot of people that enough of us care to know.

Look for the podcast next week.

LINK IT ANYWHERE YOU CAN! I'll talk more later.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go faint with shock. :eek: