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(08-10-2013, 03:28 PM)Reppu Wrote:True, though, as brought up multiple times already, this game isn't launching with it either. While it being rumored that it "might" have it down the line could create some bad PR in these countries, without it specifically listing it as a feature to come, most rulesets for banning video games on this basis will require to actually be in the game already.(08-10-2013, 03:26 PM)Eve Malusion Wrote: So I would appreciate someone correcting me if I'm wrong on this, but there's one thing that is kind of bothering me about the earlier arguments about same sex marriage risking the game getting banned in some countries.
What exactly is the evidence of that happening at all in an MMO in the past? I've been trying to look it up but the only cases of middle eastern countries ever banning a game for same sex relationships has been for single player titles. No matter where I've looked I couldn't find a single case of a MMORPG being banned or having it's age rating increased due to same sex relationships. As for Russia, I haven't been able to find a case of them ever banning a video game at all.
Sorry if this has been addressed earlier, I did read the entire thread but I might have missed a post on it in passing.
No MMO has currently launched with gay marriage as a feature, confirmed or implemented. The reason why one can consider it as a risk to FFXIV to confirm it before launch, is because there are games (Remember, MMOs are still -games-) that are either flat-out banned, or made into an 18+ and thusly highly inaccessible title in these places.
If an MMO HAS done this, please correct me. My research is not always correct.
I also realise that one can't completely overlook that games, even if single player, have been banned for it. Though, I still feel it worth at least noting that in the scenario of an all the time online multiplayer game coming out, then later down the line introducing same sex marriage, there has never been a case of them going back to it and banning it for it.
When it comes down to it there really are some things that I feel have to be looked at differently for it in a MMO however. First thing being a general way of the game being handled: This is not a game belonging to you in the same way it would be with a single player title. You are subscribing to utilise a service, rather than actually being the owner of the game.
Second: In the case of a single player title, for example in Mass Effect 3, the developer has to put in a character that is there for the purpose of having a same sex relationship (just for the record, I'm not trying to say the characters are just there for the romantic option, but their story purpose is redundant to this point). This meaning that there is only the one player involved in the fantasy of the same sex relationship in that game. In the MMO scenario, the fact that there are two humans who have to agree to it and have a same sex relationship with eachother.
While one scenario has a ready, set, complete story involving a same sex relationship on the disc, the other having two humans involved and the relationship and story around it will be formed by them, rather than what the developers themselves have programmed in. The important thing about that being that there are two people subscribing to a service who happen to be in a same sex relationship, rather than someone in a game that has a NPC made with a same sex relationship in mind available for anyone that has the game. It is much harder to ban a game for two people subscribing to it as a service happening to have a same sex relationship, rather than the single player alternative.
Sorry if any of it comes across as blunt or patronizing in any way, English isn't my first language so when it comes to more complicated things than everyday conversation my vocabulary is very limited.