LGBTQ vs Realism

Sometimes, it isn’t about you. In this case, maybe she wasn’t ready for a friendship with a person of your nature. The only thing you can do, is the same for any other friend: be there if they call on you and not be judging. Perhaps one day she’ll seek you out on her own but if not, that is on her to decide.

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Yah, that’s true and I appreciate you making that clear. I came off kind of douchey :confused: and I think I am/was.

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For the point of this thread it does depend on the setting. are you the author pushing for a serious back setting or a light one? because if you’re going for a serious back setting aka historic it’s a little bit hard to wiggle with the known facts of the time in parts of the world tho that in its self would be challenging but if your going with a light one say just using history as a stepping stone or just making up a world then no it doesn’t have to be very realistic towards how you play or whom you choose to RO as a mc. ultimately I think it comes down to weather the games about the challenges of your sexual orientation or if your sexual orientation is just a side note in the overall gameplay

If its not too late ill just add my 2 cents as a gay guy…

I think alot of the whole discrimination and unconfortableness (is that a word? Lol) comes from a lack of education and exposure. Modern society now, thanks to easier access to information, has become light years ahead in terms of civil rights in the last century vs the rest of human history. Even now theres still much to be done but thats gonna take time. Its a lot like what happened with african americans in the us. Slaves were freed officially jan 1 1863 but it wasnt until the mid 1900s before segregation was challenged and 2000s where a lot bias has faded (not entirely but still).

Unfortunately for th lgbqt etc. Its still gonna take some before we are fully accepting and video games as a visual medium will help us change public opinion one at a time.

(sorry about spelling - doing this on my phone)

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Where did you grow up in America brother? I was in the military and I was never as bad least what what you’re describing.

But that’s just the point there are far more unknown than known facts about most periods in our history. Even at the height of Victorian moral “sensibilities” a period we do know relatively much about most high status or wealthy men were able to get away with homosexual relationships relatively well. As for other periods we must remember that most of what survives of the historical record survives because it has been allowed to survive by subsequent generations of historians or more rarely because it has eluded the grasp of anyone seeking to destroy or re-write it. I’m sure the actual historians on this forums such as @Cataphrak can be more illuminating on this.
Suffice it to say history for the most part chronicles the exceptional not the ordinary and has been twisted by generations of subsequent historians all viewing it through their own tainted lenses. For all the hyped up glamorous modern depictions of the “gay elite” homosexuality has always been an ordinary fact of life and consequently not all that worthy of chronicling in historical periods where it might have been more accepted or at least tolerated then we know of.

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Did a little clean up. If you @ someone and they don’t respond, don’t try to call them out a second time. Sometimes I tell people not to step back into threads, and sometimes they’re just suspended.

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A semi large town with large white supremacist gangs super high drug rates and crime rates etc. a really bad town in central California, a few hours from the coast

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We will agree to disagree here - this is very much in disagreement, even in this community. Well developed characters with set preferences are something that I’ve seen asked for multiple times today, alone. All bi characters are as a bi person themselves put it a bandaid-mechanic that is used to cover a true problem - and it is something that disservices bi people as well. This is taking the thread off-topic, so I’ll stop here.

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Of course all writers should usually endeavour to make all characters and particularly all ro’s as well-developed as possible as their position and role in the story warrants and again ro’s being quite critical to our enjoyment in many games should generally be well-developed.

Except when “set preferences” become just another excuse to drastically limit what is available to non-straight players and mc’s. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard “Well since at most 10% of the population is some form of gay (according to modern medical/scientific consensus), so obviously only one in 10 ro’s, at most, should be gay, bi or otherwise non-straight or non-hetero normative, lulz!”

If they’re written badly, sure, but then so are badly written and ill-conceived straight or asexual characters.

We should maybe take this to one of the gay (romance) issues discussion threads.

@Eiwynn could you move your last post and Urban’s and this one of mine to the LGBTQ versus realism one, thanks.

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Do you remember where that post is? I’d like to read it because of the disserve part, unless it’s too much of a hassle to recall.

Set sexualities can make a work seem more promising and there’re characters who’re helped by it, but it’s so overrated on this forum. I’ve seen plenty of stories whose flat characters were interested in a single gender. Sometimes that feels like the only trait the character has. So I lean towards bisexual ROs, but if it’s bad for bisexual people, that’s different.

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I believe it’s this one.

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Referencing the quoted post where this is said:

i’d like to ask how you feel about Jaal being reworked slightly to be bisexual? Do you feel that it is a betrayal of his character or just a better representation of his cultural identity, as the devs are claiming?

Aside the point, I haven’t read this entire thread and will go back and do so now, so I can actually contribute effectively to the discussion.

You should mention @KingMe since he is the one who made the quote.[quote=“ashestoashes018, post:80, topic:27311”]
ust a better representation of his cultural identity, as the devs are claiming?
[/quote]

Isn’t his culture obsessed with family? Isn’t dating outside his species unlikely in the first place. Discounting Asari.

As a straight minority man, I feel better about it than say Anders (since he was definitively straight in Awakening but bi in II, in a culture with no reason to hide it) Since they changed it in the game he appeared, and again him dating us in the first place doesn’t make sense. Though sudden sexuality annoys me in general if they already had something established unless it’s a reboot or a gag.

On a semi unrelated note I have the same problem with (animated) race lifts, just because I loathe double standards.(part of my problem with sudden sexuality)

There was a WIP before where the player is raped in explicit detail. Though it wasn’t based on gender or anything, and they lampshaded it if you picked a guy, wondering if you’re trying to prevent it.

Though the way you worded kinda sounded to me like excluding male victims, since it seems like you changed focus from discrimination to rape.


I have argued this stance many times. I am a heteroflexible (perhaps bisexual, I don’t know) woman who has been fetishized for her race (though I am not a minority in the US). I love when my identity is represented with a nominal amount of bigotry. To me, it gives me the chance to respond in-game how I wish I had the guts to respond in real life. Or it gives the the chance to prove these bigots wrong in ways I have no ability to do in real life. Or, it gives the chance to play a complex player character that comes to realize their bigotry and become a better person. When done properly, implemented bigotry can do so much good for a plot.

Factually incorrect, even as recently as the Wild West and early 1900’s. Ancient Greece and Rome, etc. LGBTQIA+ folks have not been victimized since forever. We have been victimized recently, but it is factually incorrect to claim it has been since the dawn of time. You even contradict yourself a few sentences later, when you state “…like a nation like Rome.”
However, I do agree with the meat of your statement.

Another side to the argument that I agree with, yep yep.

I sort of agree, though I feel there are some limitations to this that I’m far too lazy to type out at the moment. The bit about unrealistic and unbelievable is a good enough explanation.

I’d also like to say it is subjective and variable for reality as well. I like to reference the culture that eats the brains of its people to honor their memory a lot. For them, it is immoral not to, but to us it is cannibalism and some Dahmer-level crap.

I strongly disagree with the bit about it being best not to. I really think it makes the story more interesting and more relatable for me. I will never experience a day where I am not discriminated against for my gender or fetishized by the people of foreign countries for my skin tone and how “easy” my race supposedly is. There is nothing more fulfilling for me, in a game, than when I actually see women’s experiences portrayed properly. Cat calling, the minor, underlying sexism, friggin’ periods. It’s such a nice touch when I see differences in the storyline when playing as a female versus as a male (see Broken Lenses).

This is not to say I mean it in the major ways. I like the small things. The minor sexist or racist comments, the microaggressions. I do not want to play a game where it’s not safe as a woman to walk alone at night, because there are rapists in the area. I could see it not being safe because of muggers, but not because of the other thing. That is a purely female (and trans) issue that I would much rather not see in a work of fiction.

I don’t feel that way. I think there should be a character or two who don’t understand it, but for the most part, people just respect it and move on - unless the society is past that point. Same with sexism or racism. Small, microaggressions that make your feelings about the real world have some sort of validation without being triggering. Obviously this wouldn’t work in every game, but like…

The Office (US) type of stuff…not heavy stuff, unless that’s the basis of the entire game (Moreytown).

I don’t like the lack of historical accuracy in regards to racism or sexism, either. I think it does a disservice to the problems faced by these groups.

This. :upside_down:

It wouldn’t have to be heavy or serious. Look at The Office. There are a lot of times Michael makes ridiculous remarks that everybody is super uncomfortable with, which he slowly gets better about over the course of his time on the show. He slowly gets better about sexism and racism and homophobia - some items faster than others. He is portrayed as ignorant but well-meaning. That is widely regarded as one of the funniest shows in the history of television.

I’m LGBTQIA+ and a woman, and I dislike it when issues aren’t brought up (again, reiterating: mildly or lightheartedly). I feel like it does a disservice to my experiences and the experiences of my peers and my forebears.

I think you misunderstand some of us a good deal. I don’t doubt that many people who complain about accuracy do so out of sexism, racism, or homophobia, but some of us feel it is important to our representation.

Hermione is black, Cho Chang is Asian, Zambini is black…many of the main characters are white, and nobody is openly LGBTQIA+, but there is diversity. UK, and Scotland, in particular, are very white areas.

Me me me me me.

Not caused by. It’s society as a whole, imho. But that’s a difficult subject that I’m not up to getting into at the moment. Don’t ever feel bad for being born straight, male, and white. That is not what equality is about.

I agree with most of this statement, but women have had utter shit quality of life until the last few decades. We used to use dirty cloths to care for our feminine areas during menstruation. Talk about low quality, ick ick ick ick ick. I used to choose to ignore those aspects in high school, though, and just think about the clothing and politics and pretend I’d be tracing back my family line and be royal (#tudordescendant) rather than be a rando.

I’m not a fan of SU (mostly due to the fanbase), but I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. This is exactly how I feel about my point of view on these forums. A lot of people seem to think I’m anti-LGBT or don’t understand the trials and tribulations.

This is true to some extent, but a lot of recent studies have proven that homosexuality was far more widely accepted than we give human history credit for. Until recently, I would have agreed completely, but some studies that have been posted (on these forums, in fact!) have swayed my opinion greatly.

Yes, very much so. What is the point of including a minority if they’re just a stereotype? For instance, why include Asians if they’re just going to tawk rike dis? Yes, accents are realistic, but it’s nice to see representation of Asians and French people and Africans without strong, stereotypical accents.

okay, I’m gonna stop responding to various posts here, as I feel like I’ve just responded to about thirty. if I want to add more, I’ll either respond separately or edit this post beneath this line.

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Now that’s atrocious atrocious my friend I am sorry to hear that. Thanks for a break the illusion of California. I was born and raised in New Jersey a lot reputation I grew up a little odd versity in my population.

She is??? This is news to me.

Trust me the huge debate among the fandom.

Source: https://thinkprogress.org/j-k-rowling-shuts-down-backlash-to-black-hermione-cb6faddfe847

Emma Watson is not the end-all be-all, and Hermione is only even remotely described as white once within the books, when her face “pales”, but black people can pale in fear, too. It’s just the blood leaving your face.

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Huh.

It doesn’t really matter to me, I like Hermione no matter what race she is, I’m just surprised because, you know, Emma Watson. Also surprised this is the first I heard of it.

But yeah, black Hermione. That’s cool. Thanks for the link.

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