I think it has been cancelled because Bioware won't comment on it, if it is cancelled they are keeping quiet in the hopes of retaining subs of the people that would quit over such an announcement. I hope I am wrong because I would like to see SGRA added.

I very much hope this isn't the case, but unfortunately Bioware commenting on it or the feature being added are the only ways we'll clear up for sure whether this silence means it's cancelled.

I think it has been cancelled because Bioware won't comment on it, if it is cancelled they are keeping quiet in the hopes of retaining subs of the people that would quit over such an announcement. I hope I am wrong because I would like to see SGRA added.

I have been thinking about that, and I really think your view is unecessarily pessimistic. We were warned with out last big info-dump at the guild summit in March that further updates would be few and far between until things got close to when they were ready to go. And that's what we are seeing. News is about upcoming content - they want to focus on that, understandably.

That said, this thread is about due for a new version, and those always begin with a post by the Community Team reminding us of the rules of this thread and - more to the point - the famous September Announcement by former CM Stephen Reid which states that same-gender content will be coming to SWTOR. That's never wavered.

The delay and informational limbo are frustrating, but I don't think the content's been scrapped.

I have been thinking about that, and I really think your view is unecessarily pessimistic. We were warned with out last big info-dump at the guild summit in March that further updates would be few and far between until things got close to when they were ready to go. And that's what we are seeing. News is about upcoming content - they want to focus on that, understandably.

 

That said, this thread is about due for a new version, and those always begin with a post by the Community Team reminding us of the rules of this thread and - more to the point - the famous September Announcement by former CM Stephen Reid which states that same-gender content will be coming to SWTOR. That's never wavered.

 

The delay and informational limbo are frustrating, but I don't think the content's been scrapped.

One the bigger issues I have is that everything we've heard has been vague off the cuff remarks by devs that can be read a few different ways. If they'd actually do a prepared statement that clearly states whatever they want us to know that would go a long way with me. I doubt they will though, because, either it is fairly close to done and they don't want to give people trying to stir up controversy a chance to prepare or it is still a long term project that is part of overall work on padding the story and we shouldn't expect anything until like next year, in which case they'd be worried about losing subs over it.

One the bigger issues I have is that everything we've heard has been vague off the cuff remarks by devs that can be read a few different ways. If they'd actually do a prepared statement that clearly states whatever they want us to know that would go a long way with me.

Yep. We need clarity. We need them to actually state outright what's going on with the feature. Until they do - or until the feature is added - we'll be stuck in Development Uncertainty Limbo.

I have been thinking about that, and I really think your view is unecessarily pessimistic. We were warned with out last big info-dump at the guild summit in March that further updates would be few and far between until things got close to when they were ready to go. And that's what we are seeing. News is about upcoming content - they want to focus on that, understandably.

 

That said, this thread is about due for a new version, and those always begin with a post by the Community Team reminding us of the rules of this thread and - more to the point - the famous September Announcement by former CM Stephen Reid which states that same-gender content will be coming to SWTOR. That's never wavered.

 

The delay and informational limbo are frustrating, but I don't think the content's been scrapped.

I don't think my view is unecssarily pessimistic, pessimistic yes, uneccessary no. Alot of features that this game had got me excited for has been removed or scrapped at every turn, what is to stop that from happening to another feature that I am looking forward to? Anyway I hope I am wrong, I really do.

I don't think my view is unecssarily pessimistic, pessimistic yes, uneccessary no. Alot of features that this game had got me excited for has been removed or scrapped at every turn, what is to stop that from happening to another feature that I am looking forward to? Anyway I hope I am wrong, I really do.

I wish I could say this view actually IS unnecessarily pessimistic. It worries me that I can't honestly do so. I just don't know if it is or not; we don't have enough to go by at this stage.

But I'm largely optimistic in my outlook so I think the evidence (that BW:A has never once outright stated it's not going to be included) is reason enough to hold onto hope.

We're coming up on one year since the September Announcement C&Ped in post #3 of this thread. I think some kind of status update would be a thoughtful anniversary gift, and have suggested as much to the lead writer. It may not actually be his call, however, as writers typically work under non-disclosure agreements. That said, I'd imagine there is someone who can okay the release of some information and hope the request would be brought to their attention.

We don't know, and can only suppose at this state. At the moment, I lean toward optimism, but I can see where doubts arise and would like to see those allayed as much as anyone else.

I wish I could say this view actually IS unnecessarily pessimistic. It worries me that I can't honestly do so. I just don't know if it is or not; we don't have enough to go by at this stage.

 

But I'm largely optimistic in my outlook so I think the evidence (that BW:A has never once outright stated it's not going to be included) is reason enough to hold onto hope.

Ah don't forget that they did originally say it wasn't going to be included. Took some weeks for them to reverse their statement :/

I'm trying to remain optimistic but the nearer and nearer we get to the end of the year and the more we hear of lack of upcoming story and other features being ditched, the harder it becomes.

Ah don't forget that they did originally say it wasn't going to be included. Took some weeks for them to reverse their statement :/

Really? I've never heard that, only that it wouldn't be included at launch.

Here's a link to it. It was back around August last year. The SGRA thread of those days was on it's 30thish incarnation and it literally exploded after the announcement spanning another 6/7 threads in about a week or two then we eventually got the September announcement that they would be in.

Edit - Just checked the vid link and it's not there anymore, I'll try and find another link to it.

Edit 2 - The actual videos featuring the interview with Corey Butler where he stated it wouldn't be happening all seem to have been taken down after the Sept announcement that they would but here's another link to a site where they briefly mention it.

Really? I've never heard that, only that it wouldn't be included at launch.

It was more of the Dev team being moronic about public statements. The original statement about SGR would take some serious effort to track down since it was on the per-launch forums, but originally they said something like "due to the time constants on our goal of getting the game to players by the end of the year we had to drop a lot of things we wanted to include, like SGR." It took about two weeks to get them to clarify that they weren't permanently dropping it.

It was more of the Dev team being moronic about public statements. The original statement about SGR would take some serious effort to track down since it was on the per-launch forums, but originally they said something like "due to the time constants on our goal of getting the game to players by the end of the year we had to drop a lot of things we wanted to include, like SGR." It took about two weeks to get them to clarify that they weren't permanently dropping it.

Interesting. Perhaps how that exploded last year explains their kid-gloves and ice-tongs approach to handling it at present.

And 1,000 posts. Again.

It was more of the Dev team being moronic about public statements. The original statement about SGR would take some serious effort to track down since it was on the per-launch forums, but originally they said something like "due to the time constants on our goal of getting the game to players by the end of the year we had to drop a lot of things we wanted to include, like SGR." It took about two weeks to get them to clarify that they weren't permanently dropping it.

The actual original statement came in Corey Butler's interview with someone I can't remember. He was asked will SW:Tor feature same-sex romances and quickly replied with just a "No" before changing the subject. I've looked around for the video but its been taken down from everywhere.

And 1,000 posts. Again.

Nuh-Uh! I got lucky number 1,000!

Nuh-Uh! I got lucky number 1,000!

Yeah - I was just marking our having passed the watershed post.

And grats!

The actual original statement came in Corey Butler's interview with someone I can't remember. He was asked will SW:Tor feature same-sex romances and quickly replied with just a "No" before changing the subject. I've looked around for the video but its been taken down from everywhere.

I don't remember but I don't think that was the original statement, was it? that was from PAX east wasn't it? I swear I remember it being one of the old community support people that made the first statement.

Checking around the only statements I can find that Bioware released regarding Tor and Same-Sex romances before the Sept announcement were the first community manager Sean Dahlberg with his well known "As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars. Thread closed.", which wasn't directly related to SGRA's but weighed in on the discussion of whether they would be present and Butler's interview which it turns out was with Bioware Pulse. In the actual interview which is nowhere to be found now, his only response was no and to change the subject. I can't quite remember if it was updated on that before the Sept announcement, the thread got recreated so fast back then it was hard to keep track of, but they're the only references I can find.

I do remember Butler's "No" being all we got at the time though as there were a lot of posts asking why he wouldn't explain more and too many victorious posts from people against the content.

Edit - Having said all that I just found this old article on Gay Gamer that mentions the bit you mentioned

Around the 3:00 mark starts the following question posed by a user on Twitter, as asked by Deeka Macdonald, "Same-gender romance in/out, or not decided yet in Star Wars: The Old Republic?" The response is, "Same-gender romances are not in Star Wars: The Old Republic." Topic shifted.

 

Further, in the message boards, Senior Community Manager Allison Berryman explicates a bit more, stating:

 

We understand that this topic is one that's very important to many of our community members, and we appreciate everyone posting their feedback. At this time, there are no same gender romance options available in the game, as was mentioned in the interview linked earlier. We know you're interested to hear more on this subject, and we will provide more information as soon as we are able. Thank you for your patience and for helping keep this thread on-topic and appropriate for the forums.

I think the comment from Allison came a few days later. Here's a link to that article.

Yeah, it took me a minute, but I remember the flat "no" now too.

Rather glad I didn't see that, I'd probably have written SWTOR off as a waste of my time right from that point.

Yeah it wasn't a fun time to be in the SGRA threads. You couldn't move for people coming in and gloating and half the time when you went to reply to something the thread had been locked to be cleaned up, which usually took a couple of hours and when it was finished about 3 or 4 pages of posts would have been deleted. Was very relieving when Reid later announced they would be in (hint hint Bioware )

Some of the crazy optimism was pretty funny too. My favorite was the idea that some people who only joined around the open beta thought BW were just keeping SGR out of the boxed game as somehow that would avoid a ratings hike by the ESRB.

Rather glad I didn't see that, I'd probably have written SWTOR off as a waste of my time right from that point.

then you would have hated to be here for Sean Dahlberg (first community manager) and the infamous "no gays in Star Wars" that caused the first set of threads. if you think the explosion from the "no" was bad that one blew it out of the water.

then you would have hated to be here for Sean Dahlberg (first community manager) and the infamous "no gays in Star Wars" that caused the first set of threads. if you think the explosion from the "no" was bad that one blew it out of the water.

Yeah, I didn't see that either. From what I gather, though, it was a very poorly worded attempt to explain that while we have terms for non-heterosexual people, the Star Wars world doesn't because they're not as hung up on it as we are. So, boys could still bonk boys but there was no term 'gay' because it never occurred to anyone to call them anything different.

At least, that's what I understand from it.