Guild Wars 2

I fully support the community driven Pride March to support the LGBT community’s pain over recent events. While players themselves have taken the steps to show their love to our fellow man, I’d like to see Anet take a step with us and show how great a company they are. I have two main ideas:

• 1) Pride Capes. We need colorful rainbow capes. Yes I know that the Devs have a hard time introducing capes due to charr body shape mechanics, so a compromise would be a Pride Flag backpiece! It would be similar to the Guild Back or Mist Herald Back. Imagine all the players showing their support with free rainbow backpieces! Or instead of it just being given out, maybe there would be an event tie-in with Sya. Complete quests and get tokens to exchange for rainbow goodies with Jory, Kas, and Sya. Be sure to include rainbow party poppers and fireworks!

• 2) Rainbow Loin’s Arch. Anet should consider putting up rainbow flags and banners all across the city for a week. The splash of colors would be uplifting and full of love.

Anet is one of the most welcoming game companies out there. I hope MO puts my ideas on the table.

So first of all, No.

Second any company taking a definitive, publicly stated, stance on a politically charged issue is big no-no.

Third, topic like this is just going to bring more hate at you.

Bronze Knight.9231:

So first of all, No.

Second any company taking a definitive, publicly stated, stance on a politically charged issue is big no-no.

Third, topic like this is just going to bring more hate at you.

Why would you hate “equality”? Is there’s something wrong with wanting fairness for people, or show support to those that hurt?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Bronze Knight.9231:

So first of all, No.

Second any company taking a definitive, publicly stated, stance on a politically charged issue is big no-no.

Third, topic like this is just going to bring more hate at you.

Why would you hate “equality”? Is there’s something wrong with wanting fairness for people, or show support to those that hurt?

You have not proposed equality for him to hate. You have specifically proposed inequality.

Will never happen. Like user Bronze Knight said, a company can not take a political stance on things with out effecting someone else. It would actually hurt them if they started putting up rainbows all around LA or sold rainbow flags in the gem store. It wont happen and honestly it just doesn’t belong in game.

Showing love to those that are hurt is not political. With the Pride March, Anet Devs responded positively to that. France lit up the Eiffel Tower to show support. It’s people being human.

You may be interested to know there is a player driven pride March planned for the 25th at 5pm PST (I think).
Feel free to join that if you’d like.
That being said, I think showing support and all is great, but would be in everyone’s best interest to keep these things player driven. The company can show support or even endorse such events, but would probably not benefit from doing anything official.
Reading up on your post history, I can see that this probably won’t sit well with you, as you seem to REALLY be into what people refer to as social justice (with an often unnecessary negative connotation), but you have to accept that not everyone has the same beliefs as you. And Anet probably does too. So understand that if Anet doesn’t make any official event or item, it’s not a slight against you or your views. It’s just a company doing its job and being inclusive to ALL of its customers. Not just the ones that agree with you.
Also, there’s the often brought up issue of people just wanting an “escape” in their games. So please stop assuming everyone who disagrees with you is just “hating fairness” and equality or whatever. That doesn’t help your cause. Just makes people think you just can’t handle other people’s views, which is exactly the kind of mindset that makes life hard for the LGBT community.

Bronze Knight.9231:

So first of all, No.

Second any company taking a definitive, publicly stated, stance on a politically charged issue is big no-no.

Third, topic like this is just going to bring more hate at you.

Many companies take definitive stances and we don’t have to eat at a certain chicken place knowing it.

What’s wrong with taking a definitive stand against injustice?

Someone should notify google. Every time I go google there are supportive images for all sorts of causes.

Of course, at the end of the day, it’s really up to Anet to do something official or leave it to the players. I’m just saying, don’t expect it to not get a lot of complaints. And not just because bigots.

Edit: a lot of them will be bigots though. Or trolls. Or…bigot trolls I guess. And if you participate in the pride March thing, expect said trolls to be there. I suggest ignoring them. And the neat thing about player made events is that there really isn’t anyone who can tell you you can’t do it. What are they going to do? Stop talking to you. Big loss there :p
If you disagree with the player driven march simply don’t attend it. Problem solved

I understand Squee. I merely suggested it, and even said in my OP that I hope they put it “on the table”. Yes a company doesn’t have to take a stance on anything. But with this game’s previous decisions, you see a lot of inclusive content. Homosexual NPCs in the main story. A transgender NPC in a major town. Social justice isn’t just about shouting fairness, it’s about showing it. That’s why I love Anet and its management team. They weren’t afraid to include different types of characters. And that’s why I make these suggestions to help further recognition. If it happens, great. If not, I still love Anet. Win/Win.

I suppose it won’t hurt anyone to make a suggestion.:D
And I wouldn’t be surprised if some Anet people showed up at this marching thing to show support. I think that’d be nice.

@smooth penguin

I understand your good intent, but player driven events are more then enough. It would not be appropriate for Anet to get themselves involved with things like these. Show your own personal support to the event.

I’m not going to mince words here so I’ll say this… Your topics are triggering to some. There are posters who have been greatly insulted by these types of threads, myself included with your previous thread about mental health stuff… There are thousands of topics around the world to discuss and thousands of tragic events that have taken place, so please use the appropriate mediums to get involved and show your support.

Over the course of GW2 lifetime there have been a plethora of hurtful and awful world events, each one is truly painful and tragic. Please stop meddling into issues you don’t know about and please start to learn from player comments in your previous threads.

GW2 is a sanctuary and escape, not a place to push any agenda or attempt to represent any particular RL topic. Anet is not going to open Pandora’s Box.

As I said, I know you have good intent, but unfortunately you are being more insensitive than anything else.

Gay people are people too, so here’s a thought: how about something in memory of the people that were lost.

Who is to say all the people were gay that got murdered?
Straight women have been known to frequent gay clubs.

So I think it would be cool for anet to do some Little thing… kinda symbolic like a flag at half mast. It doesn’t need to be a rainbow thing. All life is precious. Parents lost children, brothers lost sisters and sisters lost brothers.

What really should be the universal memorial here? I think it should be that life is precious.

I think a good compromise to real life events and social justice would be having flags at half mast. That was a great idea Cobra. It shows support without having to make it obvious. No need for press releases. No explanations. Just something in game that shows someone cares, and players who see it can make their own conclusions as to what it means. Sorta like how we find Easter Eggs that Devs put in, and we only find out about them 3 years later.

I am curious as to how many people (gay, straight, citizen, soldier, resident, foreign) that it should take before a flag should be lowered or a cape to be worn? Because we weren’t talking about the political aspect of this instance, just human life right?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I think a good compromise to real life events and social justice would be having flags at half mast. That was a great idea Cobra. It shows support without having to make it obvious. No need for press releases. No explanations. Just something in game that shows someone cares, and players who see it can make their own conclusions as to what it means. Sorta like how we find Easter Eggs that Devs put in, and we only find out about them 3 years later.

The best compromise from Anet to players is to leave all issues behind at log in.

I don’t particularly oppose initiatives like this, but they’ve always seemed trite to me. Bordering on insulting even. A way for people to feel good without actually doing anything of consequence. Maybe I’m too much of a cynic, but tragedies like this deserve far more serious and meaningful responses.

Then there’s always the issue of ‘who’ and ‘what’ gets official recognition in game. Is it a first world countries only thing? Most media coverage? Would be tricky to start along this path without stepping on some toes in the process.

Thirdly, …..there’s no other way to put this – that time and effort would be better spent creating content that adds to Tyria, not to serve as a reminder of the horrible kitten out there in the real world.

This is best left in the players’ hands.

What happened is absolutely tragic, but can we please leave the problems of the real world in the real world.

I play to escape reality. So, once I log in, a crisis is something like one of the following:

oh no…dragon minions are attacking, or…

quick, the undead are marching on… *insert town name, or…

centaurs are attacking the human camps…to arms

I really like to use my game time to escape how horrible the situation with humanity is right now.

Datmike.2416:

Will never happen. Like user Bronze Knight said, a company can not take a political stance on things with out effecting someone else. It would actually hurt them if they started putting up rainbows all around LA or sold rainbow flags in the gem store. It wont happen and honestly it just doesn’t belong in game.

Yeah they dont belong in-game because they dont have a legendary staff that produces rainbows, and a short bow shooting unicorns, and not to mention a unicorn rainbow finisher.
Your argument is invalid.

Chiccotot.7296:

Datmike.2416:

Will never happen. Like user Bronze Knight said, a company can not take a political stance on things with out effecting someone else. It would actually hurt them if they started putting up rainbows all around LA or sold rainbow flags in the gem store. It wont happen and honestly it just doesn’t belong in game.

Yeah they dont belong in-game because they dont have a legendary staff that produces rainbows, and a short bow shooting unicorns, and not to mention a unicorn rainbow finisher.
Your argument is invalid.

The fact that there are rainbows and unicorns in the game probably has very little to do with LGBTQ people and more to do with the fact that lots of people just really like rainbows and unicorns.

His argument isn’t invalid. Just not worded as specifically as you want. I’m pretty sure his problem with rainbows and unicorns has nothing to do with the fact that they’re rainbows and unicorns. His problem was with tying such things to events he’d rather not deal with in video games.
It’s a good thing you don’t decide which points are relevant or not.

First, this isn’t a political issue. It is a social justice issue. Second Anet already made a fair amount of decisions that advocate awareness and acceptance of LGBT. Third there is nothing wrong with Anet combating homophobia more by doing something purposeful in game to show support.

I mean, by your logic. ‘Pride’ flags are so very far back on the list of things ANet could do if it wants to show support after tragedy.

Unfortunately, while what happened in Orlando is tragic, it’s hardly the worst thing to happen in the world in recent times.

I’m pretty sure that if ANet could make good capes in this game, we’d have a dozen or so in the gemstore by now. And I doubt that something they’ve been unable to deliver for years will suddenly be figured out in the next few days.

They could, maybe, make crystal wings that leave a rainbow trail. But (and I’m being serious here), I’m sure someone would get upset if they heard of an MMO where they wanted all the LGBT supporters to gather on the highest ledge they can find, and jump off.

Palador.2170:

I’m pretty sure that if ANet could make good capes in this game, we’d have a dozen or so in the gemstore by now. And I doubt that something they’ve been unable to deliver for years will suddenly be figured out in the next few days.

They could, maybe, make crystal wings that leave a rainbow trail. But (and I’m being serious here), I’m sure someone would get upset if they heard of an MMO where they wanted all the LGBT supporters to gather on the highest ledge they can find, and jump off.

Oh god, that would be hilarious. I fully endorse this idea. 100%.

(I’m a terrible person, I know, but the way you phrased it… priceless!)

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Why would you hate “equality”? Is there’s something wrong with wanting fairness for people, or show support to those that hurt?

Your assuming I hate equality because I don’t agree with you? How blind are you to other points of view?

Furthermore, there is nothing necessarily wrong with “wanting fairness for people” (other than showing an incredible level of naivete about human nature) but this is a fantasy game, not your personal soap box.

If you want to fight this injustice, why not do something on your own life, join your local pride marches and events, or if you’re local in Orlando go and give blood.

Anet making and selling whatever’s doesn’t actually fight anything. Lets leave real life problems outside of fantasy games. I play to escape.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Smooth Penguin, I can see that your heart is in the right place and I can’t express how much that means, but… please… stop it.

I speak solely for myself in this post; I do not have the hubris to claim to represent any portion of the LGBT community, even though I am a gay male.

Your request reminds me of the empty gestures that took place after the 9/11 attacks… the flag-waving and ‘I support the troops’ bumper stickers that were all words with little substance. I’m sorry to be so harsh, but your suggestion means little to me except the good intentions behind it.

As a son, as a brother, as an uncle, as a nephew, as a video gamer, as a board gamer, as a lover of Hemmingway, of Terry Pratchett, of Garfield, as a GW2 PvEer, lover of the Warrior profession and Charr race, as a coffee addict, cheese lover, as a former vegetarian, as a medical clinic employee, as an apartment dweller, as a college graduate, as a cat owner, and as a gay man, and as of so many other traits…. Please stop singling me out by a single facet of who I am… whether it be praise or condemnation it does not matter.

For me this is a humanities tragedy, not a LGBT tragedy. From where I stand, if you or anyone else truly wishes to take something away from this tragedy, to do something, then the best you can do is remember: We are all people, so please treat other people as you would wish to be treated. When you feel at odds with another person, try to remind yourself that they are much like you before you take any action.

To approach your fellow man as a person instead of any type of label will do more good than I think you realize. See me as a person, and not as my sexuality; see these events as a crime against people and not as against a category of people. That is what you and everyone else can do.

I need to close this post… It’s becoming difficult to hold back my tears.

~EW

This ^ Brilliantly spoken EW, I get so tired of the empty Virtue Signalling that so many of the Social Justice crew indulge in.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Smooth Penguin, I can see that your heart is in the right place and I can’t express how much that means, but… please… stop it.

I speak solely for myself in this post; I do not have the hubris to claim to represent any portion of the LGBT community, even though I am a gay male.

Your request reminds me of the empty gestures that took place after the 9/11 attacks… the flag-waving and ‘I support the troops’ bumper stickers that were all words with little substance. I’m sorry to be so harsh, but your suggestion means little to me except the good intentions behind it.

As a son, as a brother, as an uncle, as a nephew, as a video gamer, as a board gamer, as a lover of Hemmingway, of Terry Pratchett, of Garfield, as a GW2 PvEer, lover of the Warrior profession and Charr race, as a coffee addict, cheese lover, as a former vegetarian, as a medical clinic employee, as an apartment dweller, as a college graduate, as a cat owner, and as a gay man, and as of so many other traits…. Please stop singling me out by a single facet of who I am… whether it be praise or condemnation it does not matter.

For me this is a humanities tragedy, not a LGBT tragedy. From where I stand, if you or anyone else truly wishes to take something away from this tragedy, to do something, then the best you can do is remember: We are all people, so please treat other people as you would wish to be treated. When you feel at odds with another person, try to remind yourself that they are much like you before you take any action.

To approach your fellow man as a person instead of any type of label will do more good than I think you realize. See me as a person, and not as my sexuality; see these events as a crime against people and not as against a category of people. That is what you and everyone else can do.

I need to close this post… It’s becoming difficult to hold back my tears.

~EW

This. So much this. I rarely post on this forum, but I have to say EphemeralWallaby has put it quite nicely with this post.

Nicely put EW.

EW! A well written point! (And saying your initials as your name makes sentences fun)

No politics in MMO. Please. Once you do, you will start earning money on it which is a mockery.

Thanks.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

I speak solely for myself in this post;

You speak for me too. Thank you.

I think real life events should be left out of the game.

Otherwise, if Anet choose to do a tribute ingame for this event, why not doing one for all the other tragedies that happens elsewhere in the world?

Such as :

- Close to 100.000 Syrian civilians were killed so far in the civil war that goes on there.

- on March 6, 2016, a bomb explodes in Hilla (Irak), killing at least 60 people and injuring 70 others.

- on 31 October 2015, a bomb explodes abord the Metrojet Flight 9268 , killing a total of 224 people, consisting of 217 passengers, of which seventeen were children, and seven crew members.

All those death are also victims of injustice, they all had family, relatives, friends. They too deserves recognition. Should something be done ingame for every such saddening event that happens IRL?

Pengi-san, if you want a color guard as a show of support, you and all your friends should buy macaw wings and fly over Lion’s Arch. There’s a lighthouse or a tall cliff you can jump off of~
(..o_O I just realized that last part looked wrong. I mean to fly from!)

And, EW, very well stated.

I would prefer the game remain a game with it’s own issues and lore. I specifically don’t want a reflection of our own cultural distinctives and imperatives.

OP is always trying to do things like this to make a hot topic. OP if you were genuinely serious about your intent of representing people who are hurting. How about we represent missing and exploited children who are beaten, killed, kitten d every single day? Haven’t seen you mention one thing about representing them. Are they that much less to you than LGBT?
I say your post is nothing more to get attention. Because if you were serious you would have been posting to represent many other groups who suffer everyday. Maybe I’m wrong maybe the LGBT is the only group you care about and all the other groups who suffer every single day simply don’t matter to you.

Without straying too far into it.

Yes the attack did happen in an LGBT establishment, not just LGBT go to these bars.
It was a loss of many lives.

As many has stated, there are tragedies happening around the world. We can’t pick and choose which has more importance. If they wanted to show support, it would have happened since Pride happens every year.

And I’m with EW, I am also a gay male…It is just a very small detail of WHO I am. Such as having brown eyes. That’s the problem! People focus too much on the small details of what makes a person a person. People lost their lives due to violence, from a sick individual.

A few things: Companies can and HAVE taken definite stances on relevant political, religious, gender and equality issues. Oreo having rainbow-colored cookies comes to mind.

Also, this is NOT a political event. It’s being made political by certain individuals. Some people got killed by a hate-motivated person; no need to single them out, because, hey, surprise, the word “gay” (or any other denomination) does NOT describe even the smallest portion of what or who that person was.

However, I feel that an event with “quests” or scavenger hunts present in-game would be sort of a bad idea: Kasmeer and Jory’s relationship was not portrayed as shocking or, “first gay couple” in Tyria; in fact, it was just another relationship and no one reacted like it was something out of the ordinary.
So why do Tyrians suddenly need a “Pride” parade?

As a gay male, no thank you.

Blanche Neige.7241:

Otherwise, if Anet choose to do a tribute ingame for this event, why not doing one for all the other tragedies that happens elsewhere in the world?

Such as :

- Close to 100.000 Syrian civilians were killed so far in the civil war that goes on there.

- on March 6, 2016, a bomb explodes in Hilla (Irak), killing at least 60 people and injuring 70 others.

- on 31 October 2015, a bomb explodes abord the Metrojet Flight 9268 , killing a total of 224 people, consisting of 217 passengers, of which seventeen were children, and seven crew members.

All those death are also victims of injustice, they all had family, relatives, friends. They too deserves recognition. Should something be done ingame for every such saddening event that happens IRL?

“Good morning! What are you doing?” The young man paused, looked up and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I guess I should have asked, Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

“The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”

“But young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. “It made a difference for that one!”

The Star Thrower

Smooth, some have stated that they understand that your heart is in the right place while others have claimed that constantly bringing up these “hot button” issues is only a self-serving desire. I’m not going to agree with either, but I can see the possibility of both seperately.

What happened in Orlando was tragic and many people of both the hetero and homosexual communities have been impacted by the hatred and violence surrounding it all.

As for ANet, I think that for them to take action leads to a very slippery slope. It would set a precedent for them to have to respond to every issue and every tragedy. It would lead to a perception of bias towards or discrimination against other equally important issues. And honestly, with as messed up as our real world is, they would have to spend every single moment devoting their time are resources to doing “something special” to appease everyone. If you truly want to raise in-game awareness or show support for a cause, let it fall upon the players (or yourself) to organize something. An in-game Pride march is a wonderful example.

Meanwhile, out of game, there are other ways to show your support. Donate to the Red Cross or visiting your local blood bank are notable examples. Perhaps you could organize a charity drive for the families. There’s so much that can be done to help and all it takes is a little initiative or a Google search to get involved. There are better ways to do something than asking for a symbolic item on the Gem Store.

I still don’t understand how it fights injustice, but capes are cool and so are rainbows :P

It’s not a gay thing, it’s a gun thing.

If you want to change the world then march against the craziness that is the right to own an assault rifle, a weapon designed specifically to kill many human beings in a short space of time.

If you don’t want to change the world then march for EW, the cheese lover. (Um, do cheese lovers have a flag?)

YouTube, Bethesda at E3, and others had ribbons. I thought that was in good taste. I don’t think there’s much time to make a ton of in-game assets to do what Penguin is asking for in the first place. But I don’t think it would be inappropriate for Anet to express acknowledgement and support for the victims.

I also don’t think it’s a political issue to take a stance on, I think it’s a human tragedy. But if there’s an LGBT political stance to be made here Anet has already made it since launch anyway.

I won’t think anything less of Anet if they decide to do nothing, or can’t afford the resources to do anything. But if they make a kind gesture I think it would be a wonderful sentiment.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I think a good compromise to real life events and social justice would be having flags at half mast. That was a great idea Cobra. It shows support without having to make it obvious. No need for press releases. No explanations. Just something in game that shows someone cares, and players who see it can make their own conclusions as to what it means. Sorta like how we find Easter Eggs that Devs put in, and we only find out about them 3 years later.

If this is to be asked for, then I ask only for flags in the game be set at half mast on Memorial Day.

DoctorDing.5890:

It’s not a gay thing, it’s a gun thing.

If you want to change the world then march against the craziness that is the right to own an assault rifle, a weapon designed specifically to kill many human beings in a short space of time.

If you don’t want to change the world then march for EW, the cheese lover. (Um, do cheese lovers have a flag?)

Changing the world starts with striving to live as the example you want to see the world reflect.

Though my passion for cheese is legendary, there is no flag of which I’m aware. Thank you for the chuckle… I needed it.

~EW

LMAO.

People like the OP (who is not even gay I bet) are the reason why the LGBT community is still not considered a part of normality.
If everyone would treat them as being non-special normal human beings instead of special snowflakes then there wouldn’t be any issue.

You can see that most of they gay persons are totally against this useless suggestion, because it does more harm than good.