Guild Wars 2

I would like to put out a suggestion for an Aid Worker Sya storyline to be added to a future Living World arc. Sya made news outside of the game by being an openly Transgender NPC in GW2. As a beacon of hope for a small minority group of players, I think it would be a great gesture for Anet to expand her role in the game. Please consider it.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aid_Worker_Sya

I would LOVE to see her role expanded! Right now that role is her saying a canned bit to you and saying pretty much the same thing to Helena.

One of my characters, Sya Kello, is a homage character to her and also a human mesmer. As close as possible to the color scheme. Same outfit (except for the pauldrons). In the backstory for her (which I write for all of my characters) she transitioned because she had the soul/spirit from Kess (using the mythology that reincarnation is time-independent).

The person who created her tweeted that she did not think many people would notice. I think she was a bit wrong on that point.

I’d really appreciate it if we just stuck to core plot lines that are more relevant to our own characters in stead of another living world season that’s all about NPC backstories.

We don’t need another long drawn our romance, another NPC a reconciles with NPC B, or another “hey player character, ride in the back seat while we go all expository on an NPC”

Nothing against Sya, but I kinda thought the whole point was that she was just a normal person, not another Marjory/Kas 2.0 where we sideline the plot just so anet can prove how progressive they are.

Like, can we just move on and treat the trans/gay/bi/whatever characters like normal people in stead of taking all the time in the world and a giant flashlight and saying “LOOK HOW NORMAL WE ARE TREATING THESE PEOPLE! WE ARE SO PROGRESSIVE!”

It’d be different if someone actually important to the plot was trans, and brought it up and then we moved on to actual plot things. Now that we’ve got the lesbian exploitation chapter over it kas and marjory are great characters in their own right but the entire time they were derailing my mission just to talk about how in love they are all the time was pretty annoying. Contrast this to Caithe/Faolan, who are actually important characters, who happen to have an LGBT relationship, but don’t railroad the plot constantly to talk about their relationship because there are more important things going on

I don’t need a kas/jory stop the plot for a sermon on tolerance version 2.0. You can have LGBT characters without making the whole story about the fact that they’re LGBT characters, and I honestly find it a little insulting to the audience when they do that. You wouldn’t pull the plot train over to showcase the lifestyle choices of a non-LGBT character and make this awkward sermon, why can’t the LGBT characters be given the same respect as everyone else and just be treated as everyday heroes or people of tyria as well in stead of like animals in a zoo that we’re all expected to point at and go “oooohhh, aaaaahhh”

Yes and no.

No because there’s no need to put the spotlight specifically on a side-character that happens to be transgender. (Honestly, this was one of the few times something like this was handled reasonably well by a dev team that I’ve seen rather than feeling it was simply a PR/image move, simply because the relevant character was just some random NPC in the world.)

If they have a logical reason to bring her back into the fray, I’m obviously fine with that, but considering how they’ve been with the prior character cameos in this section of Verdant Brink, I don’t have a lot of faith. >_>
I just don’t want to see them specifically try to create a larger role just so they put her in the spotlight.

The ‘Yes’ part is because we have a severe dearth of NPCs in the world that legitimately make it feel alive. There aren’t many NPCs we interact with that feel like real characters in the first place. Dialogue tends to seem rather dry where its present, the game doesn’t really promote talking to NPCs for the most part, and for story stuff, it generally feels like were being talked around, rather than to…
If they wanted to introduce something akin to the FFXIV Moogle Mail quests which were specifically designed to be side quests that allowed you to become better acquainted with and learn more about side characters, that could work.

I think having her as one of the minor outpost NPCs is fine but no real need to get a full story as she is just a regular citizen of Lion’s Arch.

It makes sense for her character to be part of the relief effort with the Pact Airfleet, just helping out the wounded at a camp, having her there just doing her duty.

Sya should take over high command of the Pact while Trahearne is MIA. This would be a clear victory for diversity and representation and is an essential step to raising awareness and acceptance for a small minority of players.

I wouldn’t mind seeing it as a minor storyline or even a biggerone , but there is an important danger, and it lies in your very own reason why you would want to see it. Any storyline involving her should exist because it fits the bigger picture and the character needed for that storyline. Otherwise she would be put in just because she is transgen.
You so often see storytellers incorporate minorities into their story cause it is political correct. But minorities should always be there cause they support the story, not cause they are a minority.

Unless the HoT zones change over time and lose the constant Mordrem attacks, I don’t see why an aid worker would be on the front lines in a war.

Courtesy of Evon Gnashblade, her change of sex is nothing new in Tyria and is a less notable (read: expensive) feat compared to her change of name.

Make it a sylvari since their sexuality and gender roles are much more fluid and not as much set in stone too.
Sounds like an opportunity to build upon a characterictic the race already possesses anyway
That said i’m also with Mercury Ranique on this one.
The story revolving said character has to serve more purppose than just wanting to be politically correct.

Finding it ironic that people’s reason not to see Sya (taking the focus off the main character) while people in another thread are fine with another NPC (Dougal) having a role.

Plus, it’s kind of like going "Why does the bonus mission pack have crap for Saul D’Allesio and Master Tohgo, but nothing for Elly Rigby or Old Mac!?

Dark Saviour.9410:

Yes and no.

No because there’s no need to put the spotlight specifically on a side-character that happens to be transgender. (Honestly, this was one of the few times something like this was handled reasonably well by a dev team that I’ve seen rather than feeling it was simply a PR/image move, simply because the relevant character was just some random NPC in the world.)

If they have a logical reason to bring her back into the fray, I’m obviously fine with that, but considering how they’ve been with the prior character cameos in this section of Verdant Brink, I don’t have a lot of faith. >_>
I just don’t want to see them specifically try to create a larger role just so they put her in the spotlight.

The ‘Yes’ part is because we have a severe dearth of NPCs in the world that legitimately make it feel alive. There aren’t many NPCs we interact with that feel like real characters in the first place. Dialogue tends to seem rather dry where its present, the game doesn’t really promote talking to NPCs for the most part, and for story stuff, it generally feels like were being talked around, rather than to…
If they wanted to introduce something akin to the FFXIV Moogle Mail quests which were specifically designed to be side quests that allowed you to become better acquainted with and learn more about side characters, that could work.

This is my view.

Adding Sya as the main focus just because she is transgender is, imo, a bad move because it’ll feel like a PR move. Having a storyline that just happens to involve her is, however, welcomed, especially since the Living World is hardly standing up to its name with its singular focus on just main plots.

I’d like to see small updates across the game’s open world rather than just LA and the main plot. If Sya was involved in one or two such plots then that’s fine, better if it’s a plot that would involve someone of her role. But don’t make her a spotlight just because she is transgendered. That just ruins the feel of it.

For example, perhap Sya goes to Fort Salma to help it rebuild, with the secret OoW task of establishing a base of operations in the retrofitted fort and recruiting for the order.

I am curious how Simon’s personal life would ever be relevant in a story line quest without being incredibly obnoxious and on the nose. Frankly I want to punch half the characters through the screen already when they go on their silly monologues. Simon has cast a spell on himself, as far as the rest of the world knows he is Sya and has always been Sya. If we see him again elsewhere it will be as Sya and no one will be any the wiser.