Quote Originally Posted by Laiferr View Post
My counter-point would be that Square Enix are a part of society. They are a form of media. They set an example, albeit within a 'fantasy' game and within the gaming industry. They are our 'leaders'.
Well, that certainly is a valid point, but as many before me have stated, at the end of the day we have to accept the fact that Square Enix wants to sell games by appealing to as broad of an audience as possible. It would be great if they were good role models and did things against the norm, but that's simply not a money-making strategy. And after the failure that was 1.0 they need all the money they can get to make up for it. Sure, they are a PART of society but they weren't the ones who started/defined these trends. All they've done is attempted to reach people by giving them what they want to see (in this case, it's sexy gear, which is a part of virtually every MMO anyway).

Mind you, I'm not saying complacency is the answer. For example, if gay people were complacent with not getting married and hiding their sexual preferences our country (I'm referring to the USA since that's my native country) would never make progress. There's a reason why the approval rate of gay marriage is increasing by the year: it's because the gay community is constantly fighting for equal rights. So yeah, I suppose it makes sense to voice such opinions on these forums, since even the smallest voices can be heard.

I suppose I just wish we didn't have to delve into such political discussions. It does technically have to do with the game so I guess I can't say it doesn't belong here. It's rather ironic, but the fact that this thread made the front page proves my point. It seems like the only threads people want to contribute to are those that are controversial in nature. Personally I've started numerous threads about specific gameplay mechanics/features that I wanted to discuss with others but those threads received next to no attention, despite the fact that they're much more relevant to what this forum was originally intended for. So I guess I should change my original question to this: Why must we spend our time having politically-charged debates when there are so many more interesting threads that get swept under the rug?