
(08-09-2013, 04:48 PM)Twinflame Wrote:I think that is a little bit of an extreme way to say it.(08-09-2013, 04:25 PM)Felix Sideris Wrote: You are forgetting the fact that Japanese culture does not support homosexuality. A large part of their player base is Japanese. In fact the only country that supports it to a 'completely normal' level, or comes even close to that, is the United States.
Treating it as completely normal is also an opinion. Some people view it as the complete opposite. Going ahead implementing it with no restrictions completely disregards the opinions of those who are against it. Which is why they have taken the neutral role of putting that discussion on hold and implementing opposite-sex marriage until they can get time to consult the player base to know what they want, as a whole.
You are forgetting the fact that large swaths of the playerbase not only support homosexuality, but are homosexuals who are married to their partners. It is untrue to say that the US is the only country that sees this as normal; many countries are far ahead of the US in respecting homosexual rights and see us as backwards. To those countries, Japan is downright primitive.
Treating it as abnormal is an opinion and many people see that opinion as aberrant and divisive. Going ahead and implementing it with restrictions completely disregards the opinions, lifestyles and in many cases the actual irl status of those who are in favor of homosexual marriage. Which is why "putting off" that decision is in NO WAY neutral. If they do not implement same-sex marriage they are actively disallowing it. They are actively stating that the beliefs and lifestyles of many of their players are strange, unusual, and will not be accepted until divisive elements in the playerbase agree to it.
Given the tone of a lot of their commentary, this seems to go completely against Yoshi's paradigm. They're afraid of the vote-kick function being used to troll. Their afraid of whispers in raids being used to say cruel things. They're afraid of people rolling need on things they don't need because it is rude. And then they turn around and actively speak down to a large element of their customers, as if there's something strange and unwanted about them.
And I'll admit that the thing about the US was a bit of an uneducated exaggeration on my part.
And I am not forgetting that some people are homosexual's married to their partners at all, actually. I have a friend that is(not married though) and will likely be playing ARR soon after release.Â
However, I think it is more important to release their game and get it stabilized and some income flowing in before they can direct full and proper attention to it.
It isn't like they are sitting there drinking beers, feet up on their desk talking about the weather. They are preparing a release of an MMO that pretty much crashed and burned because the last development team didn't listen to the player base telling them not to release the game because it wasn't ready.
Do I think they will give the full attention this subject deserves and implement it in the near future, likely by 2.1? Absolutely.
I wouldn't go as far to say that they are disregarding the opinions and life styles of their players by taking this course of action on a Video Game.Â
I don't think anyone has to worry, though, honestly. There is pretty much a 99% chance this will get implemented in 2.1. Too many people support it for them to push it off any longer than that.
Felix Sideris
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