I'm LGBT and I don't think the vanlentines quest is offensive.

[LoLo]

this so much. honestly. I don't care if anyone is LGBT. When you make it known to the point that you feel it should be game altering or to let the world know that you are LGBT is ridiculous. You are L,G,B or T. I could honestly care less as long as you are a good person, player, and friend.

Is it really necessary to shout to the world that you are different? As I've said in another thread...It is naive to think that the majority of the human race would be willing to accept such ideas despite the time we live in. Some may be open minded and accepting, but the majority will be unwilling to accept. I am not saying the LGBT community should live in hiding...but they shouldn't make a conscious effort to blatantly differentiate themselves from everyone else. Read into it all you want and keep trying the "love" argument but it will always remain that man and woman is the natural order of things...that is procreation.

There. I said it.

What you wont say is that even when the person in question doesn't tell you what makes them different they better believe you are trying to figure out if they are this or that behind their back. Figuring out if a female character is really female, wondering why this person sounds a certain way on a voice chat program while you are in the middle of a fight, etc. Seen it happen a million times.

[Ricky]

The only borderline offensive thing about it is that the NPC that gives you the final quest says something along the lines of "hooking up with a strapping young lad" if you're female and the opposite if you're male.

Basically they are saying if you're female you can only hook up with a guy on valentines day.

But I'm probably the only one playing this game crazy enough to actually read quest dialogue so it's likely that nobody else noticed this.

Nah dude, they are making assumptions based on biology instead of writing twice the quest text to accommodate people who probably don't care

[Ricky]

There. I said it.

Wow the funniest part about this is you are sporting the Lightning hairstyle, you really are the epitome of "everything should be standard with no imagination or variation"

[Naunet]

I am not saying the LGBT community should live in hiding

That's actually precisely what you're saying, and you should feel ashamed.

This isn't about preserving some kind of hallowed "creative vision", guys. Whether or not your character has to find a guy or a girl character to get chocolate from is not some fundamental theme of the story. Those trying to paint it as such are really going out of their way to justify Squeenix falling into the heteronormative trap when they simply should not. "Complete a trade for a bitter or pure chocolate with another player" could just have easily been the quest objective and nothing about the holy story of Valentione's holiday would be altered, but it sure would feel less excluding to a lot of people.

[Lumiin]

Hmmm it's a LOT of mmos and games in general that won't let me make my character black, I'm African American. So I made a character with white/pale skin and I'm still alive....wow.

[frostmagemari]

I am not saying the LGBT community should live in hiding...

I'm sorry, but that's exactly what you are saying. Your whole paragraph can be summarized by saying "You don't have to live in hiding, but don't be yourself out in the open. You're not normal, don't act like you should be."

I should go into all the reasons that you're wrong, but i doubt that would impact the future of the thread very well by carrying on this kind of debate. So i'll simply agree with Naunet, in that SQE could have avoided and and all backlash of this (And future romantic events) by changing half a sentence to be gender-neutral instead of gender-biased.

[Doo]

Is the LGBT community really that big that they need to be catered to specifically? Bigger than the FFXI community? Seems like just the vocal minority (Yes those dreaded two words!) trying to make a small issue into a big one.

[SummonerSenah]

Read into it all you want and keep trying the "love" argument but it will always remain that man and woman is the natural order of things...that is procreation.

By this criteria, should infertile people also not get married, even if they are heterosexual? Heterosexual couples that don't want children? What about old couples past menopause? Should they get divorced now that they cannot procreate? Because in your words, love doesn't matter? Using procreation as justification is a flawed argument.

[Ramzal]

Remember when video games were a place to just have fun and not push your personal lifestyle of believe system into it? Those were good times.

[Demetirus]

-snip-

I think that, in this case, it's not so much a matter of their size that means that they 'should' be catered to but as a simple matter of respect to our fellow players who are a part of the LGBT community. I consider everyone here either a friend or a neighbour and I'd want either of those to be happy and comfortable as much as I can. As such, a compromise like a more neutral wording on the final dialogue would have worked for everyone I think. I do think it's unfortunate that some are outright offended and angry, but I'm happy to see how many folks are instead just a little disappointed and are calmly asking for some further consideration in the future.

As several have pointed out, coming forward with an open mind and an accepting and welcoming nature goes a long way. It won't always get results, but time has shown us that peaceful and civil protest/disagreement with reasoned voices and solid facts can have incredible and significant impact.