
(08-10-2013, 06:42 AM)Ashren Snow Wrote: I'm sorry, I just don't see how them implementing a system into the game that most likely will not offer any benefit and will probably only be used by a fraction of the player base as being irrationally prejudicial or  lumping people into an arbitrary category.
The benefit offered is irrelevant to deciding whether or not it's discrimination. A candy shop that disallows black people is just as discriminatory as a hospital that disallows black people: The only difference is in the effects of their respective acts of discrimination.
As for why this is lumping people into an arbitrary category, disallowing people from using the marriage feature because their characters are the same gender is, well… entirely arbitrary. The only reason they may disallow it will be because of irrational prejudices present in Japan and other countries around the world.
Note that whether or not Square-Enix needs to do this from a business or ratings standpoint has no effect on whether or not it is discriminatory. A shop in the early 1900s that only serviced white customers because servicing black customers would have hurt their business was just as discriminatory as one that did so out of the owner's hatred. There may be a difference in moral culpability, but there's no question that the discrimination applied is identical.