• Guild Wars 2 adds Sya, a transgender character, to its NPC ranks
    19 replies, posted
[url]http://www.pcgamesn.com/guild-wars-2/guild-wars-2-adds-sya-a-transgender-character-to-its-npc-ranks[/url]
At this point it's just pandering. Not even diversification. Give a character a paper-thin story, say they're trans-gendered, and call it a day.
It's really not that big of a deal, why are people kicking up a fuss over an NPC that isn't even important/most people would easily miss?
Have PCGamesN even posted an article on the update in general? It's one of the biggest updates GW2 has had in so long and it seems all they've mentioned is a hardly significant NPC despite specializations and Lion's Arch being rebuilt. I mean, great and all what have you, but y'know, massive update!
[QUOTE=HyperTails;48039638]It's really not that big of a deal, why are people kicking up a fuss over an NPC that isn't even important/most people would easily miss?[/QUOTE] Yeah I don't see how this is really notworthy either. Neither are politics pushed into people's faces nor are some progressive strides made. Seems like a very trivial change to me. Tho I guess ideally including LGBT chars should be that trivial, without being a big political message.
There's multiple LGBT characters already in Guild Wars, heck one of the main story quests involves a lesbian, and there was another quest where you have to rescue some guy's husband. They don't shove it in your face in-game they just pretend it's normal. (because it is)
[QUOTE=Higginz511;48039844]There's multiple LGBT characters already in Guild Wars, heck one of the main story quests involves a lesbian, and there was another quest where you have to rescue some guy's husband. They don't shove it in your face in-game they just pretend it's normal. (because it is)[/QUOTE] This. They didn't make a deal out of it, just like this thing isn't made a deal out of in-game other than acknowledgement until this article made it one. But, on the other hand, I suppose it's nice to hear for LGBT people who don't play Guild Wars and love hearing about proper representation in media (which there isn't a lot of by a long shot, to the point where it's seen as normal as it is in GW2 at least).
[QUOTE=Mr. Zombie;48039588]At this point it's just pandering. Not even diversification. Give a character a paper-thin story, say they're trans-gendered, and call it a day.[/QUOTE] "wow they blatantly put this in your face so you KNOW ALL THE TIME" or "wow they barely made an effort to emphasize it almost like they don't care" what a fucking ironic situation.
And the internet loses its minddd
It stops being a 'trend' and becomes more normal and accepted when people stop giving a shit if they are or not transgendered, just like homosexuality. If you want it to become 'common' don't make a big fuss every time something like this is made.
It's not like they're shoving it in your face. You don't even have to talk to this NPC.
[QUOTE=Theportalmaster;48039643]Have PCGamesN even posted an article on the update in general? It's one of the biggest updates GW2 has had in so long and it seems all they've mentioned is a hardly significant NPC despite specializations and Lion's Arch being rebuilt. I mean, great and all what have you, but y'know, massive update![/QUOTE] I've got a huge interview with the devs that I did at E3 that I'm working my way through transcribing. We'll have something up early next week-ish.
[QUOTE=Higginz511;48039844] (because it is)[/QUOTE] No, it's not normal. I'm not saying it's bad tho.
What is with the negative response to this? Even if there's no risk for the studio to do this for NPC characters, it's still a nice bit of detail.
[QUOTE=3noneTwo;48047134]What is with the negative response to this? Even if there's no risk for the studio to do this for NPC characters, it's still a nice bit of detail.[/QUOTE] IMO, this shouldn't be news. Or else, writers for magazines will be so lazy to think of good news piece they will start writing "Look, they added NPC #416 who sings like a duck if you clap next to him 3 times!"
[QUOTE=Dark RaveN;48048242]IMO, this shouldn't be news.[/QUOTE] I'd rather the news be oversaturated with stories that normalise LGBT individuals, than it be completely devoid of such stories tbh
[QUOTE=Higginz511;48039844]There's multiple LGBT characters already in Guild Wars, heck one of the main story quests involves a lesbian, and there was another quest where you have to rescue some guy's husband. They don't shove it in your face in-game they just pretend it's normal. (because it is)[/QUOTE] It is kind of weird how the writing highlights the sexuality of characters when they're gay but barely ever mentions it when they're straight.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;48048720]It is kind of weird how the writing highlights the sexuality of characters when they're gay but barely ever mentions it when they're straight.[/QUOTE] Why do people in 2015 still not understand this, straight people are rarely discriminated against so there's no reason to put them in the spotlight. I was fortunate to live in a place where most people were very understanding about the whole thing but a lot of trans people face intense discrimination and their relative rates of suicide are quite high. Highlighting gay/trans/etc people in media is an attempt to make their identities seem more normal. A small side character isn't too big of a deal though, of course.
[QUOTE=Higginz511;48039844]There's multiple LGBT characters already in Guild Wars, heck one of the main story quests involves a lesbian, and there was another quest where you have to rescue some guy's husband. They don't shove it in your face in-game they just pretend it's normal. (because it is)[/QUOTE] I guess I was the only one who found the flirting between the two lesbian characters during the whole living story incredibly painful to listen to. [editline]25th June 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Elspin;48049806]Why do people in 2015 still not understand this, straight people are rarely discriminated against so there's no reason to put them in the spotlight. I was fortunate to live in a place where most people were very understanding about the whole thing but a lot of trans people face intense discrimination and their relative rates of suicide are quite high. Highlighting gay/trans/etc people in media is an attempt to make their identities seem more normal. A small side character isn't too big of a deal though, of course.[/QUOTE] The issue is that from a writing perspective, making one part of their character something inherently important to their character makes them one sided. Very, very very quickly. Its why the Token Minority is offensive. If you wanna make them normal, actually, make them normal like in Orange is the New Black. Don't make that painful conversation. As much as I hated ME3, the gay dropship pilot was done right up until you could fuck him. Because for some reason that's a good idea apparently in writing. Just write the character. Don't make it a big deal, just make it a thing that exists. Writing like this doesn't make it a thing that exists but instead highlights it out and makes it not normal.
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