Proove same-gender marriage is controversial: Hold A Vote!

[Azurymber]

Today another 45+ page long thread on same-sex marriage vanished.
And like always, some people were arguing that disallowing it violates equality, while others were stating their disgust and disapproval of it.

The main argument against allowing same-gender marriage is that it's controversial.
But how does SE know that?

Forum threads are full of biased opinionated people stating their views. They aren't necessarily representative of the entire game community.

And SE says they want the opinion of their players.

So here is an easy solution to ending 100s of threads.

Hold A Vote

step 1. stick an NPC outside the marriage area in game.

step 2. Ask : "Should same-gender marriage be accepted in a church of the twelve"
1. yes
2. no
3. indifferent

step 3: offer a reward for answering (e.g. vanity earring) just so that you don't get a biased sample (a reward incentivizes people not interested in the subject to answer)

step 4:
Tally it up
See what the community really thinks
Make it public (I'd argue show the results by region like in previous polls)

step 5:
Decide based on the results

Why Do This?
Removes the debate and negativity from the community
Creates a justification for the final decision
Allows you to implement the decision straight into the lore of the game (instead of basing it on real life controversy which may offend people)

Why This Suggestion (A Response To Criticisms)

OP looking for attention again.

Don't see how this gets me any personal attention. No private messaging and no one knows who I am outside the boards.

How do they know it? Maybe they watch the news every once in a while. Or read these forums.

40+ pages long threads that get nowhere and are full of personal attacks are more than enough proof that it's controversial.

How do they know it? Maybe they watch the news every once in a while. Or read these forums.

I live in Canada where gay marriage is legal and a majority of the country (fairly strong majority) supports it. It's not controversial here, or in many other countries.
A few extreme opinions on a forum does not = the entire community
Sociology studies show people who use the internet are generally more liberal. People who play MMOs are even more so. Likelihood is the majority of "western" players in this game either support same-sex marriage or are indifferent.

Sorry but this is a terrible idea. Simple numbers do not equal what is the right & equitable thing to do.

The subject title is wtf, no offense.
Everyone knows that this stuff is very controversial....obviously, that is why these threads get deleted every single time we turn around.
I personally reported that thread myself, and asked for it to be deleted because these forums cannot handle a debate
of any kind really.

Numbers never equal what is ethical or moral. The ethical or moral avenue here is to make the maximum number of people happy. Some people getting same-sex marriage without it effecting others allows for that.

However, SE is a company. Publicly traded. In it for profit, and not ethical aptitude. If 70% of the player base is for/indifferent to same-sex marriage, then it will be a clear message to them that by not including it they are alienating a number of their customers. There is no way to "guess" the opinions of customers. And forum posts generally only show extreme attitudes.

who bloody cares, it's a videogame, stop dragging issues into it.

It's a game, not real, virtual, so why arguing about whenever or not same gender mariage is alowed or not?

Making a big deal out of nothing. Forgot these forums are a bunch of drama queens/kings.

Imagine if someone told you that due to a factor you can't control (like your height, race, gender, body part size, weight, skin colour, where you were born, etc), you aren't allowed to do something.

For example "You're green and in our country we believe people with green skin are different. Therefore you can't use the same bathroom as everyone else"
or "You're over 6'3 tall so you can't marry someone you love because if you get married you might corrupt our society"
or in this case "You're gay, so you can't marry other people because gay rights are controversial"

It's not the "gay marriage" part that offends people. It's that stating gay marriage is controversial is publicly justifying treating gay couples as different from hetero couples. And in turn, promoting the idea that people who are gay are "different" and don't share the same rights.

Equality is Equality.
Telling someone they aren't equal because of X, Y, or Z, is hurtful.
Taking an extra step in the code to prevent 2 characters from getting married based on their gender is a statement, rather than a way to save time.

So why does this topic matter to people?
Because people want to be equal.
And when people use "controversy" or the "beliefs of a few" to discriminate against a group of people, it is damaging that concept of equality.

Nobody wants to be told "You shouldn't be allowed happiness because you are different from me"