Well as a member of the LGBT community I can definitely talk with some authority on the topic. I also am fairly educated on issues facing the LGBT community and from my experience working in the entertainment industry for the past 5 years have a bit of knowledge on how the media portrays gay relationships.
I still am and have always been speaking for myself, just as you have. Just because I’m backing up what I believe is true with ideologies associated with the larger community doesn’t change that.
As of now, there still isn’t 1. So regardless of what people will or won’t say in the future, I’m just trying to get to step one. Also, what’s wrong with someone spreading an opinion that 1 or 2 wouldn’t be enough?
Sorry if I wasn’t clear here, I was getting a little aggravated with the other commenter arguing this point which I STILL believe to be moot. The trope of gay men only ever having forbidden and illicit sexual encounters is actually a huge issue in the LGBT community and has been for decades. While Blizzard didn’t write an illicit scene between Marcus and the other two participants, I’m merely commenting that it lends itself to fall into that trope of secrecy, and that homosexuality only exists in spaces where something sexual is occurring. Regardless, Marcus in Highmountain isn’t ever made a part of the LGBT community, just as a straight man having a threesome that includes another man doesn’t make him bisexual.
God, reading this thread sent me back in time by a decade.
Who’d a thunk this is still going on in this, the year of our lord, 2020. Some of ya need to get out more if you’re this concerned about LGBT couples in your game.
(Commentary): I think the issue with Marcus and the Steamy Romance Novels is that, as an in-universe document, it’s quite probably fiction, and from that perspective, fiction within fiction hardly feels like representation. The Steamy Romance novels could be an earnest appeal by an adult writer to appeal to a specific audience, or they could be hyperbolic literature meant to make satire of such things, which itself is closer to marginalizing and mocking LGBTQI than support it. One need only look at, for an example, the Scarlet Crusade’s most recent batch of propaganda to understand some in-universe documents are not accurately reflections of the story.
And that’s not what I said! I encourage you to re-read my comment if you’re comfortable doing so. Your definition of sexuality seems to be skewed from mine and I’m not sure how to find the disconnect without making you more upset.
There’s two duos that mainly come to mind: Quae and Kinelory, and Tholo and Anren.
The first duo aren’t smooching on-screen, but they clearly care greatly for each other, are long-standing companions and even have pet names. Kinelory does insist about how the Go’Shek Farm personnel won’t stop her from getting back to Quae, and Quae says that she won’t be accountable for her actions if something happened to “Kin”. But overall it’s still fairly subdued compared to the next one.
The second one are best friends who’ve been together a looong time and insist on how they wouldn’t know what to do with the other, scream each other’s names at one another when they get split off and are very, very close. Closer than Quae and Kinelory. One could mistake Quae and Kinelory for being merely close friends in the more subdued way they talk to and about one another, but the way that Tholo and Anren talk about one another seems way closer than just merely best friends, at least to me.
There’s another duo that I find interesting, and it’s Asric and Jadaar. Unlike the above, it doesn’t seem as obvious, as they constantly throw insults at one another and blame each other for the loss of their jobs in Shattrah City. Though at first it was anger at losing their jobs, the longer it goes on it seems more like they’re arguing like an old married couple, and even make games about their insults like going in alphabetical order (arrogant, braggart, craven, dolt, etc.).
There are probably a few ways to do it, theoretically:
Use a “jaina type situation”, lets say night elf A, who lost nearly everything in Teldrassil, decided he wanted to revenge and plans to poison everyone/use a bomb/whatever to kill a bunch of Horde citizens in a small town. Night elf B tells the player this and asks him to help him stop A. You go do so and what ultimately convinces A to stop is B apparently loving him.
We could go the Yrel route. Two gay guys love each other, one dies due to Villain of the expansion and it prompts the other to become stronger and ultimately defeats other villain. Admittedly it is abit bury your gay but that is the sort world WoW is.
There is this thing called adoption. Using your Turaylon/Uther example Arator would simply be a human(or if you want even elven) boy they end up adopting and raising.
Using your Moira example we could have surrogacy, we could learn Magni chased her out due to being homophobic(instead/on top of being misogynistic) and we learn that she ended up with Queen Thaussurian. Moira still end up pregnant via surrogacy from lets just say Thaussurian’s newly created brother. Boom, you still have a half dark iron/bronzebeard dwarf and bonus you have a potential evil uncle added to the mix.
I have already answered this with either surrogacy/adoption or hell, considering they live in a semi magical land maybe found a way to procreate with two women(this would actually be easier to explain in a sci fi setting but could work as well in a magical one).
I think it can influence the narrative differently with its own unique points of view but I would say for a good 90% of the scenarios it could easily have the same effect.
Let’s use Malfurion/Tyrande, would anything be different storywise for them if they were both Men/women? I’d argue every story beat they have so far could follow the same pattern with little if any change.
Or he could have been “comforted” by a gay guy thus not wanting to marry a Frey girl even though her mother would warn him how acting so impetuous could cause him dearly. Assuming a tradition of gay marriage is allowed in said fiction it could still follow the major beats and end up with a Red Wedding of its own.
If they are looking for tips how, they should look to Paizo Publishing who’s been writing inclusiveness to Pathfinder, their successor to D+D 3.5 for almost a decade and a half now.
One of my favorite characters was Miss Flowers, another about how the heroes recover a holy sword sold by a Paladin who bought an elixir so that her partner could complete her transition. (Guy she sold it to was a complete scumwad who vastly overcharged her.) I felt very satisfied in getting it back to her.
Jeez, why do people have to bring their political agenda into the game? I hate politics and I play this game to forget about the world. If you’re gay lesb commie etc who gives a damn? why you guys have the necessity to reminds us about your sexual preferences every minute? And why do you care if a bunch of pixels sleep with a girl or a man, it’s just a game.
They make up 4% of the population. That is 1 in 25 people. As WoW’s cast grows, it will become a political statement to NOT include representation of them.
I believe they should at least try to give some representation, though they shouldn’t make it completely obvious and put ads everywhere about it or anything. Just a small quest or shortstory of a couple somewhere.
While that’s small and maybe somewhat unsatisfactory for some, I would find it pretty fitting with how Blizzard deals with relationships in general. Like, for example, the relationship between Lor’themar and Thalyssra. We need more like that one, than the ones like Thrall and Aggra.
DISCLAIMER: I know this is a complete and utter hypothetical but i can envision this happening which makes me laugh. Don’t take it too seriously.
Players campaign for LGBT representation.
Blizzard finally provides representation.
Outside forces catch wind of this and are not satisfied.
Outside forces campaign for more Blizzard employee representation.
Blizzard provides more employee representation.
Blizzards new writing staff shifts to referencing real world politics. Factions, Races, Heroes and Villains become stand-ins for real world issues and people.
Forums devolve even further not liking this direction, players become hostile, sweeping censorship becomes the norm.
Blizzard accuses player base of being bigots and Yahtzees for not liking their content.
The drama becomes a hot topic for Twitter, Youtubers and streamers for a minute.
Blizzard doubles down by making many female and gay characters strong at the expense of the straight male ones.
Drama, Drama, Drama some more on the web.
Many players leave from the headache to play something else.
Forums eventually stabilise but turns into a Tumblr-esque shipping forum from an influx of new players due to the drama.
Blizzard obliges the new player base by being agenda focused, putting relationships, sexuality, racism, misogyny etc… as primary plot points. Saving the world and faction warfare is now background noise to the main story.
Blizzard subscriptions at lowest point ever, even with this new player base.
Other MMO takes off in success. Many people happy.
A thread appears on other MMO forums… ‘We Need More Representation’.
The cycle continues.
Seriously though. If done well and Blizzard doesn’t make a big deal out of it (which could look like them pandering for positive PR), it can totally be done and i think no one would truly have a problem with it except for an extreme fraction of the player base.
Just listen to your players and ignore those outside forces
One of the few ways I’ve seen people discuss that could actually fit as a WoW plot would be Anduin being gay and grappling with a succession crisis and his need to sire an heir. But that one goes against his previous characterization as having a thing for Draenei women if I remember right.
I think I remember him having a crush on a dwarf woman back in The Shattering. Though I wouldn’t doubt him liking draenei. Few among us can resist the waggle.
