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

[Fiorana]

The amount of money SE might get from, say, Russia compared to the US/Canada/Aus/Europe is negligible at best. That's like saying, "SE shouldn't implement same-sex-enabled marriage because it might ruin their chances at a market in Afghanistan." The Russian MMO market simply does not intersect with the kind of game SE is putting out (pay to play, especially).

You're forgetting about that Japanese home market though, and the fact that the people that run SE are older more traditional japanese. To add in same sex marriage would not be as easy as you think for them, I'll leave my opinion out of it this time since those who frequent these threads know it by now. Thier home market is roughly half of the game so they have to thread lightly.

[Alaray]

"Doing what is right" really depends on what side of the topic your on. There is no right or wrong. Just difference of opinion.
Making money, however definitely points towards hetero weddings since other parts of the world are not as open minded as others.

Um um... no?

There is no "~opinion~" here. What is right to do is to treat people equally and respectfully, what is wrong to do is get up on a high horse and get all "Your type doesn't deserve this." Of course, SE hasn't done that, but that's how so many people come off as in this thread and on this forum. Discriminating against people's sexual orientation (or gender identity) is about as valid an opinion as being a racist is. It's a stupid opinion that does a crap load more harm to people in the real world than it needs to, and it doesn't deserve to be recognized as a valid reason for not allowing such a thing in a fictional world that doesn't have a society that feels like gay people are some scourge to be dealt with in the first place.

Your "~opinion~" ends when your opinion starts taking things away from other people, that you get by default, because you can't be bothered to share (and hide behind "it's my ~opinion~" so you can laugh off claims about it being rather bigoted).

On the money thing, though, Pokemon X/Y did really well in Japan with 1.8 million sales debut week. Pokemon X/Y does have LGBT characters in the game (they are side characters, but there's more than one and they're a bit more upfront about it and aren't offensive stereotypical caricatures-- like that duo of dudes on a date in one of the restaurants, or the dialogue from one of the game's restaurant workers, or the fact they have an out trans character in the Battle Mansion, all of which are common knowledge... and yet sales for those games haven't plummeted to the depths of the abyss).

[Zaels]

The amount of money SE might get from, say, Russia compared to the US/Canada/Aus/Europe is negligible at best. That's like saying, "SE shouldn't implement same-sex-enabled marriage because it might ruin their chances at a market in Afghanistan." The Russian MMO market simply does not intersect with the kind of game SE is putting out (pay to play, especially).

It might ruin their chances for their own Japanese market, and SE is taking a lot less risk by not stirring up controversy with them.

Ultimately I agree with the article though. The game does not need an actual marriage system. IMO a good alternative would be to release wedding outfits (including a pastor one) and a wedding hall somewhere that would include interactive wedding bells, music, etc. Let the people roleplay their weddings.

[Zumi]

They eventually put it in FFXI, you could buy a wedding dress and a tux, and get rings with the other persons name on it. They could easily do something similar in FFXIV.

[Naunet]

If you know it's re-opening the debate...the very same debate that gets shut down by GMs most the time...why on earth do you think it's a good idea to post another thread about it?

It only "spirals into disaster" because people (a lot like you) can't leave well enough alone and want to insist that our expectations of equality from SE are nonsense. This topic is clearly worth something to many people, and that is why it keeps coming up. It would do much better if folk didn't come in and try to tell people to "shut up" and "here we go again" - inadvertently (or perhaps deliberately) sparking the very spiral they claim will occur.

Back on topic: SE's already said they want to implement a marriage system. I am all for it, as long as they do not put gender restrictions on it. I think a day like this was an excellent opportunity to revisit the subject, especially as Yoshi & co. need repeated reminder of its importance to us so that they don't decide to forget we exist come development day.

It's their game, and nothing is set in stone. If in the end they decide that there wouldn't be same sex marriages, it's their call to set that in the lore and even change it later if they want. That's the whole point of it, it's their fictional world.

Yoshi has actually literally said that same-sex relations are not viewed at all differently in Eorzea than opposite-sex relations.

[L-D-Omlette]

Stuff

You are absolutely right. It is a fictional world. If one creates a fictional world, they have complete control over whom they choose to represent. As such, not representing a group of people is also an active choice. If they include a same sex only marriage system (if one is created at all) they are making an active choice that explicitly states "In our world, not all people are equal." How is this ok?

Santa being white and married to a woman doesn't make Christmas racist or homophopic. Individuals saying that he can't be portrayed any other way would be.

You mention that it would be ok if the creators decided not to have black Elezen, and that would be ok. What if they made the decision that all characters had to be white? Would that still be ok? What if they all had to be males? Still ok? At what point isn't it?

[Ed_N_Ants]

If we can get married I hope we can get divorced too... Maybe they can code it so the man loses half his stuff and has to pay extra gil every week or so...

[Noahlimits]

On the money thing, though, Pokemon X/Y did really well in Japan with 1.8 million sales debut week. Pokemon X/Y does have LGBT characters in the game (they are side characters, but there's more than one and they're a bit more upfront about it and aren't offensive stereotypical caricatures-- like that duo of dudes on a date in one of the restaurants, or the dialogue from one of the game's restaurant workers, or the fact they have an out trans character in the Battle Mansion, all of which are common knowledge... and yet sales for those games haven't plummeted to the depths of the abyss).

LGBT isn't as big of a deal in Japan, it's them getting married that they have more of an issue with (at least, from what I've read and heard from friends in Japan). A lot of people don't have any issue with people of that orientation, they just think of marriage as a do-not-touch type of thing.

I don't agree with that whatsoever, but it's the reasoning behind it.

[shadowrell_d-_-b]

What is wrong with ppl this is a GAME, I personally don't care if they do or do not allow same sex marriage but for crying out loud none of this even matters if SE decided the world they created will only allow for hetero marriage there is nothing wrong with that!

it is not a hit at any that choose to live differently just like this V-day event isn't a hit at same sex players! simply put its not SE's job to cater to any and every type of player in the world they make games, period. If you can't see yourself playing an MMO (based around combat party content with other players at its core) just because SE didn't add the ability to marry in game characters of the same gender in (and this is the best part) "THEIR" AS IN THEY CREATED AND CAN DO WITH WHAT THEY PLEASE game then you have a serious issue and should probably not play games made by this company.

what I find so funny about this stupid debate is that SE's history of games even back when they were just Squaresoft, has almost always had characters in their games that shared some kind of relationship and said relationship has always been hetero in nature (this was never to hit at players of other lifestyles).

why can't you ppl just enjoy the game these Dev's work hard to provide you no matter what the in game world may be! if they add in game marriage I think it would be awesome for immersion both hetero and same sex if they don't add it due to everyone complaining I find that to be just stupid!

[Duelle]

What they need to do, to give players something, but avoid any controversy, is just not call it marriage.

What they need to do is give players a ton of items related to marriage but implement no system. Leave weddings to be something entirely player-run, because the less involved SE becomes in the matter, the less they have to worry about saying the wrong thing.

I've said it before, but at most SE should write articles on the Lodestone on how the city states run weddings to give players a sort of guidelines depending on what type of wedding they want. Lorewise Arcanists, Conjurers and Thaumaturges most likely have enough authority to preside over a wedding, so it'd be real easy to find a player to run the ceremony.