Comments on: “I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, Lord Vader?”

By: Owain

Owain — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:19:19 +0000

At this point, I feel it’s only appropriate to quote some dialog from Aliens:

Frost: Hey, I sure wouldn’t mind getting some more of that Arcturian poontang! Remember that time?

Spunkmeyer: Yeah, Frost, but the one that you had was a male!

Hudson: It doesn’t matter when it’s Arcturian, baby!

In an entire galaxy, I’m sure there are combinations and permutaions stranger than we can even imagine, so I don’t think I’ll be worrying much about it myself.

By: Gx1080

Gx1080 — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:40:40 +0000

And to the drama queens, for me and many of the players in any MMO you saying “Im gay” its like saying “the sky is blue”. Nobody cant forbid people of saying “the sky is blue”, but its not that important. You arent that important. You are just another player. Let your actions as a player be the ones that speak.

The 13 year-olds are not going to change, no matter what i or anybody does so im not advising them.

By: Gx1080

Gx1080 — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:33:44 +0000

Oh, this is still ongoing? Jeez, the PR guy was an ass, thats clear.

We dont know if there isnt gays in Star Wars because is a huge galaxy in war, aka nobody cares of whats between the legs of the guy/girl that you like. Thats also clear.

You cant eliminate the words just for stopping the drama queens and the 13-year olds idiots. In fact, this is the Internet, you cant eliminate drama queens and 13-year old idiots period.

By: TPRJones

TPRJones — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:40:36 +0000

There’s a third group, Jeff. Those of us that don’t care about the sociopolitical agendas either way but still think the PR guy was being an idiot and an ass.

Besides, Alec Guinness was gay, so get over it already.

By: Sanya

Sanya — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:32:01 +0000

@Jeff

Since when is “you’re wrong” an agenda?

The idiot “group two” is castigating is saying homosexuality is a choice (wrong) that teh childrens need to be shielded from (wrong) and that not catering to such bigoted nonsense is somehow a bad thing (wrong again).

That’s not an agenda. That’s reading comprehension combined with a little common sense.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:39:22 +0000

There are two types of people in this thread. The people that “get” what the PR guy said, which like me just want to play a Star Wars game without diverse interest groups shoving their sociopolitical agenda in our faces, and group two.

In case you have not figured that out, group two are the proponents of said sociopolitical agendas, and want to make sure it is everywhere, even in space operas where it never existed in the first place.

Jesus may not exist in Star Wars, but religion clearly does. Just like relationships clearly existed, just not homosexual ones. The point is still valid. But I am done debating, because group two is too wrapped up in their agendas to even consider the factual or rational.

By: Ardanna

Ardanna — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:29:54 +0000

Personally I think this was a ham handed way of dealing with this. It was a dumbass response and that’s what’s most disappointing to me. This person is supposed to be a PAID communications specialist who made a fairly sweeping political comment (he/she had to knew it would be a charged political issue) flippantly.

That’s one of the most disappointing things to me and I’ve seen it with all kinds of community representatives, they’re not actually professional communicators in a corporate sense and have little or no training in that regard BUT are in a position to speak for the company to “the masses”.

If this were some other corporation (not some gaming company where product and other customers expectations can be low apparently) you can bet they would have had a much more polished and well-reasoned response.

By: IainC

IainC — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:51:33 +0000

Jeff : Let me put this another way. If someone wanted something to do with Jesus, as in the Christ, put in the game, and a Bioware Developer or PR guy said “Jesus doesn’t exist in Star Wars,” would there be this big of a bruhaha going on? I think not. Because the simple fact is, other than some religious overtones in “the force”, JESUS DOESN’T EXIST IN STAR WARS.

This is a false equivalency. Jesus doesn't exist in the Star War universe but relationships do. Your analogy is absurd.

By: Guy

Guy — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:26:36 +0000

Facts can serve perfectly well as excuses. The point is it can be an irrelevant fact, unrelated to the actual decision process used, despite being a fact. In this case, the real decision process is “let’s not antagonize potential players who might feel uncomfortable about gays, because it would cost us money”. See, had nothing to do with the fact there have been no gay characters or gay themes in Star Wars.

The reason they recanted was *identical*. They accidentally pissed off another group that could be potential customers. There are many squeaky wheels; both those not wanting any whiff of gay issues and those objecting to its being blocked have demands. In this case they are mutually exclusive, and so the company, as Lum said, is in a lose-lose situation.

Accepting his excuse at face value and basis for decision-making is a poor choice.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:44:44 +0000

Let me put this another way.

If someone wanted something to do with Jesus, as in the Christ, put in the game, and a Bioware Developer or PR guy said “Jesus doesn’t exist in Star Wars,” would there be this big of a bruhaha going on?

I think not.

Because the simple fact is, other than some religious overtones in “the force”, JESUS DOESN’T EXIST IN STAR WARS.