No same-gender romances in SWTOR.

Interview with Cory Butler. Question is asked at 2:49


Needless to say, the SGRA thread on the SWTOR website is on fire.

Will I cancel my CE pre-order? Right now I just don't know.

Hmm. This is a classic example of "it's not what he said, but how he said it". To me that answer was so definitive like they talked about it and decided they weren't going to re-explore the option later.

But honestly I can't say I'm surprised. Star Wars always gave off this stigma to me like Star Wars is for the men, Star Trek is for the boys.

This is truly sad and unfortunate. It becomes a very heteronormative affair, whether it means to or not. And whether intended or not, it comes across, to me, as saying that this MMO is only available to heterosexual folks. When we throw sexuality into a game, especially with options, we are making a statement about what the world/mmo is saying to some degree. So it comes off poorly for me, as a person that was really looking forward to making a character that I wanted, like a dude rogue that could flirt his way around the galaxy, alien, male, and female alike. It hampers my enjoyment to a margin and all the above just makes me have difficulty overlooking.

Enough that, unfortunately, I'll be canceling my preorder.

I'd figured this was the case from the moment I heard there'd be romance arcs in the game, but I'm still really disappointed. Perhaps if there's enough backlash they'll reconsider at some point down the line, but given the way he said it, I doubt it.

I'm pretty disappointed. This was an opportunity for Bioware to show they'd come around on the issue since the days of their (since recanted) "There are no gays in Star Wars" spiel on the forums.
I guess I should have taken that as a promise instead.

It's particularly disappointing given that, per the recent presentation on the Sith Warrior given at Gamescom, male characters, at least, have [flirt] lines with random female NPCs. So I guess there's plenty of the sexy power fantasy bit going on - it's just a matter of who gets to partake of it.

Right now I'm holding out for the possibility of there being some sort of explanation forthcoming, but I'm eyeing the cancellation button as well. I can always use the money on another game. ...More like five games, actually.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the business relationship with LucasArts that has tipped the scales in this direction. Mind you this is purely me thinking out loud.

BioWare has proven they aren't afraid to be inclusive with their games. Both Dragon Age games have had same sex romance options, and according to Casey Hudson (Executive Producer), they are even adding same-sex romance options (finally!) in Mass Effect 3.

Why do straight guys always get all the fun?

Quote by maxvinyl

Perhaps if there's enough backlash they'll reconsider at some point down the line, but given the way he said it, I doubt it.

I don't think they can add gay romance arcs later on, they would need to re-hire the voice actors.

The only backlash i noticed on the forum yesterday where a lot of homophobes. This thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=438741&highlight=same-sex scared the hell out of me, it's now been cleaned up, but the post left are still scaring me.

I joined this guild because i wanted to play with like minded people. I live in Europe. There are no European GLBT guilds so i joined up with this US one. Based on what was said in the above mentioned thread, playing on a US server is scaring me. Most people here in Europe are homophobic too, but they try to hide it.

This is extremely unfortunate. I was actually looking forward to this. I thought it'd be very unique, most MMOs don't have romance arcs, let alone same sex romance. Sad to see we will be excluded from this feature.

Quote by nniicc

I joined this guild because i wanted to play with like minded people. I live in Europe. There are no European GLBT guilds so i joined up with this US one. Based on what was said in the above mentioned thread, playing on a US server is scaring me. Most people here in Europe are homophobic too, but they try to hide it.

We're not a US guild; we're an international guild. We'll have an EU section in-game, as well. I'm also trying to help us work to create a 'gay server' that hopefully would be more accepting and have a more world-wide user-base.

Quote by NicholasJohn16

We're not a US guild; we're an international guild. We'll have an EU section in-game, as well. I'm also trying to help us work to create a 'gay server' that hopefully would be more accepting and have a more world-wide user-base.

I agree that a US/EU/rest-the-world mixed server would be wonderful.

Off-topic: This makes me wonder how many non-US players are in this guild. Tried to look it up on http://www.swtor.com/guilds/7466/knights-stonewall/roster but for most people there is no location info.

This is such an unfortunate turn of events and will greatly affect my enjoying of the game that I'm supporting and have bought the CE. I think a harshly worded complaint via their support shall be written.

Quote by NicholasJohn16

Quote by nniicc

I joined this guild because i wanted to play with like minded people. I live in Europe. There are no European GLBT guilds so i joined up with this US one. Based on what was said in the above mentioned thread, playing on a US server is scaring me. Most people here in Europe are homophobic too, but they try to hide it.

We're not a US guild; we're an international guild. We'll have an EU section in-game, as well. I'm also trying to help us work to create a 'gay server' that hopefully would be more accepting and have a more world-wide user-base.

In principle Nick, I agree that we're an international guild, but after being in the fleet for quite a long while I think the practicality is very different at my own play times.

What a pile of WA*K!

It really does suck and I struggle to understand why they wouldn't include it when they do in their other games. Seems a strange decision to make.

Quote by Solari

It's a shame but we'll get over it :) If anyone wants to romance my in game character go right ahead ;)

I have to go first!! After a few weeks you wouldn't be able to feel my little lightsaber in your wizards sleeve :lol:

Well phoey this is a sad thing to read right after breakfast. I was hoping for a "buddy" to fly around the galaxy with but it seems I'll just have continue to fly solo. :(

Quote by nniicc

I don't think they can add gay romance arcs later on, they would need to re-hire the voice actors.

Well, I imagine all the voice actors have been hired long-term; there may be little things that need tweaked, plus whenever they add new content they'll probably need them for more VOs. I doubt it's something they'll ad later on anyway, mostly just wishful thinking.

I find his response a bit disheartening, but I doubt that will be the end of it. The very least they will have to do is explain why and justify how they can claim that characters will be fully customizable and that we choose where our characters path leads them, when they are excluding one of the most basic elements of people, who they are attracted to.

I'm quietly optimistic that his short reply only meant that there would be no strictly same sex elements to NPC interaction and that all NPCs are fair game to flirt with. However if that's not what he meant and they are deliberately excluding GLBT elements from the game, then I don't think just cancelling our subscription is the best plan. If we give up and leave they won't learn that their attitude is wrong. I think that continuous lobbying and a show of force and unity in the GLBT community would be more effective. If we can politely remind them of the power of the Pink Dollar/Pound they might realise their mistake and adapt if they want to keep our money flowing. Hopefully then other game makers will not make the same mistake.

This is quite disheartening, but not something that surprises me. Bioware didn't shy away from same sex relationships in some of their biggest games (Dragon Age 1 & 2). And in both of those cases, they got a lot of negative backlash from homophobic gamers. It may be that they've decided to shy away from that sort of negative publicity, but it still leaves me to wonder why they decided to go this route rather than the easier path of simply not including romantic subplots in the story line. All of the major Bioware games include romance story lines, so perhaps they couldn't just leave it out of this one?

Quote by Seraph01972

It may be that they've decided to shy away from that sort of negative publicity, but it still leaves me to wonder why they decided to go this route rather than the easier path of simply not including romantic subplots in the story line. All of the major Bioware games include romance story lines, so perhaps they couldn't just leave it out of this one?

I don't think this is the case at all. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the Executive Producer on Mass Effect 3 has confirmed that for the first time in the series' history, at least ONE male same-sex relationship will be possible (female on female has always been possible).

Given the statement they made (linked elsewhere in the Stonewall Forumes) to the homophobes complaining about DA2, and the fact that they are finally including the SS relationship in ME3 tells me they aren't shying away from the issue.

Again, purely my mind seeking reason, but I wonder if the fact that they ultimately answer to LucasArts has anything to do with it.

Girl romance only.......I'd rather kiss a Wookie!

Not very forward thinking, which is a shame for such a big franchise.

Will I keep playing after a month? This guys attitude doesn't make me want to to be honest.

They've certainly created an issue out of this. It does seem odd to go to the effort of introducing romance and then only allowing it in restricted ways.

The trouble is, if they are really reluctant, but later bow to demand, I can half imagine them saying "oh alright we'll introduce it, but only on these servers."

Will avoiding romance completely effect the gameplay? Would it place your character at a disadvantage?

Lucky I have all of the romance I need in my life. I also am fortunate that my fiance' wants to play this game with me. To those who aren't as lucky yet I say play the game as you would any game.

Would you stop playing Zelda just because you rescue a princess and not a prince...even though the elf man is clearly gay? No.

May the Force be with us all!

-Kevin