As it's Valentione's Day, I ask do we even need in-game marriage; period!

[Alaray]

I'd be happy to have a fluff system in place that doesn't detract from the game experience itself and rather adds something neat and fun to the world that gives it a little bit of life. It's not like marriage, or similar concepts like romance in general, are foreign to fantasy, additionally; it's something RPers might have fun using between their characters and making the experience more immersive.

Of course, I only think it appropriate Square Enix allows anyone and everyone equal access to the marriage system when it's implemented, rather than imposing silly rules like... only opposite sex characters may use it... for a lot of reasons. Granted, on one hand, there are players who would use it simply for fun and both might play male characters (disregarding any real life anything) and that doesn't hurt, or tear anything for anyone a part game-wise. On the other hand, there might be RPers who have (fe)male characters that are romantically interested in a different (fe)male character, and allowing them to use the marriage system hurts no one (although, disallowing use does put a damper on those RPers, granted Eorzea doesn't seem to have anti-gay sentiments running rampant amongst its people, whereas imposing a sentiment into that world that isn't actually there would be dragging real life crap into a fantasy world).

On a bigger note, though, there might be players who are gay, or bi, or lesbian and so forth who have a same-gender partner IRL and play with them actively in the game. Why shouldn't they be allowed to have their characters marry if their characters are the same sex? Sure, one could recreate a whole new character and lose all progress to do so, but that's a little extreme and imposes a really stupid restriction on players (not all players are heterosexual, you know). Not like straight players would care, granted they get everything handed to them on a golden platter in everything else regarding things like this (and pitch some incredible tantrums when other people are given something they already have).

Allowing it hurts absolutely no one, allowing it without any silly restrictions hurts absolutely no one. Disallowing it completely puts a damper on world depth and fun RP fluff, only allowing F/M pairings to use it impose unnecessary restrictions that serve no purpose than to appease people who find M/M pairings or F/F pairings icky. (Seriously, it's not like anyone would be forcing heterosexual players who wanted to use the feature to have a same sex character thing). To those who find M/M or F/F pairings icky, grow up and act like an adult.

[Sagittarian]

You know that the article discriminate roleplayers in some way (because it ignore them total as if they don't exist in the game)

I'm sorry that you've come to this conclusion. I made an effort to include *snip*.

I totally missed that you were the author! I also failed to read your bio. Seeing that you are from the UK gives the article a different impact for me, being used to seeing everything from the US point of view. Being a fan of Alan Turing, I am always happy to be reminded how much things have changed since then. I'll be raising a toast to my across-the-pond peeps on 29.March

Move to CA we let all get married here:P

West Coast (US) represent!

Allowing it hurts absolutely no one, allowing it without any silly restrictions hurts absolutely no one. Disallowing it completely puts a damper on world depth and fun RP fluff, only allowing F/M pairings to use it impose unnecessary restrictions that serve no purpose than to appease people who find M/M pairings or F/F pairings icky.

Agreed.
What I find ridiculous about this argument is that the forum is full of threads complaining that the game needs more customization options. But this is the one OPTION people don't want?
That being said, I understand SE/Yoshi may have business decisions restricting/guiding them. I have no idea what pressures/concerns are on them.
What I don't understand is the players arguing about whether they want the option or not.