Massive Chalice and gay marriages

[Wolfe1759]

3 pages to bewbs - youre slipping fellas

It was worth the wait though  :)

[LongBlade]

Apologies Longblade for taking your intent wrongly. And love your picture of the Chinese patriot facing-off the tank.

No offense taken. The written word can be difficult to discern at times :)

[Arctic Blast]

Im pro-gay marriage.

Could give a rats ass whether it is introduced into a game or not. Unless its relevant to the storyline or time period, who cares.

If I am playing say a game with Monsters, and the game doesn't have The Creature from the Black Lagoon, but they do have the Mummy, should I be pissed?

SOAP BOX:
Im sick of minorities of every type thinking that there should be equal representation of themselves when it comes to EVERYTHING. You watch TV, you would think half of America is gay (actually 4%),  25% black (12.6%),  25% Asian (4.8%) 25% Hispanic (16.4%) and 25% White (63.7%). 
Sort of like Spike Lees criticism of the movie Flags of our Fathers. There were no blacks in it he complains. Should Eastwood have added a scene on the beach just to show the very small contingent of blacks unloading munitions?  Wait, what about the Korean laborers that built the defenses on Iwo Jima, they should have their own scene as well.  Its just ridiculous what happens when political correctness trumps common sense.

Thanks, bboyer. Now I don't need to really say anything beyond +1.  :)

[panzerde]

<looks up from gaming the First Mithradatic War, frowns in a puzzled fashion>

Well, I guess the Massive Electrum Codpiece discussed last week in reference to this game may turn out to be of greater interest to some players than initially anticipated.

</returns to pillaging Asia Minor>

[Staggerwing]

Grogheads can be very prescient at times.

[son_of_montfort]

No that's why we need to have the freedom to chose whether or not to have any system a designer wants to put into or left out of a game without fear of a political correct backlash of accusations of bigotry or in this case homophobia.   ;)

Given Tim Schafer's personality and attitude, I'm fairly certain he and Brad Muir did not get pressured into including gay marriage. In fact, it seems like Brad and Tim brought it to the community to discuss it, not the other way around.

"One of the cool things is we have the opportunity to think about it and address it because we brought it to the community," Muir continued. "We brought it to a broader group of people, and then there were some people who brought it up and wanted to talk about it. There's a raging thread on our forums."

Muir previously expressed a desire to have an equality between sexes in this video discussing Massive Chalice's design. "We wanted to make [gameplay] sex-agnostic," Muir said. "[Both sexes are] both going to be super-badass on the battlefield, killing demons together."

Muir notes that same-sex gameplay aspects may have never been considered, had Double Fine opted for traditional publisher-driven development. "We might just overlook something like same-sex coupling all the way until we announce the game." he told RPS. "If somebody did think about it during that whole thing, they would've probably just killed it because it is such a controversial issue. They'd probably not want to have it associated with the game at all."

What he was saying is that, had they gone with a traditional publisher, they would not have brought it up. But since they decided to self-publish, they discussed the idea with the "publishers," i.e. the fans.

And remember, the majority of games out there absolutely exercise their right not to have gay marriage or any gay aspects. Unless there is a special mode to Call of Duty or a secret gay relationship in Metal Gear Solid, I did not hear about.  ;D

[Nefaro]

If the creators had wanted to add it in as an option, then it doesn't bother me.

I was under the impression that a very small amount of customers had pressured them into doing it, however, with accusatory threats.  Are you saying that's not the case?

[son_of_montfort]

If the creators had wanted to add it in as an option, then it doesn't bother me.

I was under the impression that a very small amount of customers had pressured them into doing it, however, with accusatory threats.  Are you saying that's not the case?

I'm not saying that. Brad Muir, the developer, is the one saying that in the quote.  ;)

If you want to read exactly how this all went down, Rock, Paper, Shotgun had an interview with Muir. In no way does this sound like a beleaguered developer who was forced to bow to a small special interest group against his will.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/06/how-kickstarter-got-gay-marriage-into-massive-chalice/

It is fairly clear that, although they did not initially sell this option, because they are self-publishing they decided to put it in (after getting fan feedback).

[Bison]

Well at least the greatest issue facing the future of humanity is getting some love....

[son_of_montfort]

Well at least the greatest issue facing the future of humanity is getting some love....

::)

It's more people getting bent out of shape over nothing than any issue "getting love." This thread had all sorts of conspiracy theories about pressure groups and motives for the option in the game. Always go back to the source to get the answer.

It's too bad that the straight white male is so under-represented in gaming. And on the world political, social, and economic stage.  :P

[Bison]

There exists no pressure from political correctness at all.   ::) 

Nor do I suffer from white guilt just for the record.   

[undercovergeek]

they decided to put it in (after getting fan feedback).

and thats precisely the reason for the discomfort - fan feeback suggested he put it in, not him or his design team - now admittedly the reaction may have been overblown, but it wasnt a concept idea and in todays day and age is it in now because it was too controversial to say no - i get the feeling thats the reason for the disquiet

[son_of_montfort]

Bison, read the interview before making baseless assumptions. Muir does not seem the type to be opposed to the addition and succumbing to political correct pressure. This looks like something in line with his artistic and personal values.

Geek, it is fairly clear that he both wanted to do it and the dev team was the ones who fielded it to the fans for "focus-testing." Muir seems quite happy with the addition, lauding the KS route for allowing the the creative freedom to do it (when a publisher would have rejected outright).

I don't follow the "it is too controversial to say no" argument. Most games do not have a gay option and many dev teams do not broach it because of the controversy that it causes to add it (see the reaction to Mass Effect and Dragon Age). If there is a pressure to add in gay characters, then it is not effecting much of gaming media.

[Bison]

[It's too bad that the straight white male is so under-represented in gaming. And on the world political, social, and economic stage.  :P

So this isn't a broad and baseless assumption?   :o

[undercovergeek]

im either stupid or i dont understand some people's role in this - i cant find it anywhere where it states DF had the idea first before the KS crowd suggested it. If i go to DF's forums the original post before all this started is there on the forum and thats from a forum user (unless hes also a developer) but the way hes referred to doesnt seem that way - TBH that doesnt matter

i think its slighty naive to suggest its not controversial for him to slap down the gay marriage request

but im easy, storm in a teacup, if the game turns out to be great ill buy it