BioWare discriminates upon sexual orientation?

[img]http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/04/3p0.jpg[/img] [i]BioWare take their Star Wars role-playing seriously. So seriously that the developers are shutting down talk on Old Republic’s message boards about homosexuality, because it’s a term that does “not exist in Star Wars”.

Yes, if you care to trawl around the site, there are a few threads that either began as, or devolved into, discussion of how the game - or the game’s future player base - would handle gay relationships. And those threads are now locked. A thread complaining about those threads being locked (along with the words “homosexual”, “lesbian” and “gay” being censored on the boards) has now also been locked, with BioWare’s community manager Sean Dahlberg posting succinctly:

As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.

Thread closed.

OK, but...they do, uh, realise that the people actually playing the game do not exist in Star Wars either, right? They’re real people?[i]

[url]http://kotaku.com/5230325/there-are-no-gays-in-star-wars[/url]

WTF?

Cid or Luscious or Sheogorath wrote: [i]BioWare take their Star Wars role-playing seriously. So seriously that the developers are shutting down talk on Old Republic’s message boards about homosexuality, because it’s a term that does “not exist in Star Wars”.

Yes, if you care to trawl around the site, there are a few threads that either began as, or devolved into, discussion of how the game - or the game’s future player base - would handle gay relationships. And those threads are now locked. A thread complaining about those threads being locked (along with the words “homosexual”, “lesbian” and “gay” being censored on the boards) has now also been locked, with BioWare’s community manager Sean Dahlberg posting succinctly:

As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.

Thread closed.

OK, but...they do, uh, realise that the people actually playing the game do not exist in Star Wars either, right? They’re real people?[i]

http://kotaku.com/5230325/there-are-no-gays-in-star-wars

WTF?

for u and WTF!?!?!

“To sing when you hurt,and to sing when you cry,to sing when you live and to sing when you die”

Wow weird. That’s political correctness for ya.

Zucas wrote: Wow weird. That’s political correctness for ya.

Best kind of correct filled with creamy biased.

Hijacc wrote:

Cid or Luscious or Sheogorath wrote: [i]BioWare take their Star Wars role-playing seriously. So seriously that the developers are shutting down talk on Old Republic’s message boards about homosexuality, because it’s a term that does “not exist in Star Wars”.

Yes, if you care to trawl around the site, there are a few threads that either began as, or devolved into, discussion of how the game - or the game’s future player base - would handle gay relationships. And those threads are now locked. A thread complaining about those threads being locked (along with the words “homosexual”, “lesbian” and “gay” being censored on the boards) has now also been locked, with BioWare’s community manager Sean Dahlberg posting succinctly:

As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.

Thread closed.

OK, but...they do, uh, realise that the people actually playing the game do not exist in Star Wars either, right? They’re real people?[i]

http://kotaku.com/5230325/there-are-no-gays-in-star-wars

WTF?

for u and WTF!?!?!

That’s fucked up...

I see nothing wrong with it.

I am, Forever Gone.

“I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”

No gay characters? Why?

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

“To sing when you hurt,and to sing when you cry,to sing when you live and to sing when you die”

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

Why would there be a gay character in star Wars? That’s just stupid.

I am, Forever Gone.

“I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

Why would there be a gay character in star Wars? That’s just stupid.

I mean why not?

I don’t see anything wrong with it...

It doesn’t have to be a main character....but what if I wanted to make my character gay?

“To sing when you hurt,and to sing when you cry,to sing when you live and to sing when you die”

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

Why would there be a gay character in star Wars? That’s just stupid.

I mean why not?

I don’t see anything wrong with it...

It doesn’t have to be a main character....but what if I wanted to make my character gay?

It’s a completely unnecessary feature people would only want to feel 'equal'.

Again, completely unnecessary considering other, more useful things that would be added.

I am, Forever Gone.

“I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”

Changing the race or sex of your character could also be considered unnecessary. They might as well take out those options.

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

Why would there be a gay character in star Wars? That’s just stupid.

I mean why not?

I don’t see anything wrong with it...

It doesn’t have to be a main character....but what if I wanted to make my character gay?

It’s a completely unnecessary feature people would only want to feel 'equal'.

Again, completely unnecessary considering other, more useful things that would be added.

Yeah but telling them they cant talk about it because there are no gay characters in the SW’s universe is retarded.

“To sing when you hurt,and to sing when you cry,to sing when you live and to sing when you die”

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

Why would there be a gay character in star Wars? That’s just stupid.

I mean why not?

I don’t see anything wrong with it...

It doesn’t have to be a main character....but what if I wanted to make my character gay?

It’s a completely unnecessary feature people would only want to feel 'equal'.

Again, completely unnecessary considering other, more useful things that would be added.

Yeah but telling them they cant talk about it because there are no gay characters in the SW’s universe is retarded.

Depends on how strict the site is.

I am, Forever Gone.

“I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote:

Hijacc wrote:

Kagrenac wrote: I see nothing wrong with it.

That they wont let them talk about the possibility of a gay character?

Why would there be a gay character in star Wars? That’s just stupid.

I mean why not?

I don’t see anything wrong with it...

It doesn’t have to be a main character....but what if I wanted to make my character gay?

It’s a completely unnecessary feature people would only want to feel 'equal'.

Again, completely unnecessary considering other, more useful things that would be added.

Yeah but telling them they cant talk about it because there are no gay characters in the SW’s universe is retarded.

Depends on how strict the site is.

Well, it probably has quite a bit to do with the fact that...

“Because there are no gay characters in Star Wars, you can’t talk about gay characters on this forum. We’re even going to censor the words 'Gay, Lesbian, and homosexual' just because they don’t exist in Star Wars."

Seems really freaking messed up. That is straight up sexual discrimination. Not some shitty little thing like we have here “You can’t call anybody a faggot cause it’s ovenceif” they’re straight up telling people not to discuss homosexuality in any form.

That’s fucked ^

huh?

Today, Bioware reversed their decision on this matter.

Yesterday, members of the official Star Wars: The Old Republic asked developer BioWare to “rethink” its policy on filtering the words “gay” and “lesbian” from posts. The official moderator response was not exactly... elegant.

Star Wars: The Old Republic community manager Sean Dahlberg quieted talk of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes in the forthcoming MMO by writing “As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars” and locking the discussion thread. That lead to further allegations of GLBT “discrimination," with knowledgeable fans pointing out instances of same sex relationships in the extended Star Wars universe.

Gamers looking forward to the new massively multiplayer Star Wars game were largely civil in their requests for BioWare to reconsider its stance.

“I understand where it comes from, but my advise to Bioware is to rethink this," posted user Elikal. “Blizzard got some really bad press when they tried to forbid the usage of these words, and it would be really disappointing if Bioware would follow such a conservative policy in their forum - and their game."

Today, BioWare reps have decided to remove any filters that bar homosexual topics of discussion, reopening the thread and issuing a mea culpa. Star Wars: The Old Republic community manager Sean Dahlberg issued the following apology and explanation:

I would like to personally apologize to “Elikal” and anyone I may have offended. My intention was not to demean anyone but simply to help promote a community that could discuss topics in a mature fashion. When I first built the word filter list, I added a variety of terms to the word filter that have been used numerous times in derogatory messaging. There were some words added to the filter that should not have been – we corrected this today.

I apologize for the confusion that this has created but I would like to be clear that there was never any intent to limit discussion. That said, I have overstepped my boundaries in my original statement and I sincerely apologize for doing so.

Dahlberg went on to clarify that no Star Wars: The Old Republic forum members were banned for discussing matters of a gay or lesbian nature “with the exception of individuals who were being derogatory and insulting to others.“

http://kotaku.com/5231521/bioware-lifts-filter-on-gay-lesbian-star-wars-discussion-issues-apology