I finished the night fae campaign and I really enjoyed it. I saw a thread the other day talking about “why did you make night fae op” or something like that and it basically devolved into a thread about if the gay deer spirits were forced inclusion or not. I, like many others, agreed it was just something that they were and didn’t interfere with the story. But there were some people that said it was forced. So when is it not forced?
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The question is whether or not Blizzard had meetings on it.
We dont know for sure. But if there were meetings to determine whether including the trans and gay stuff. Then it was forced. Because if it was just normal course of business, there wouldnt be special meetings for it.
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People hold gay / trans / minority characters to a far higher standard for some reason.
You’ll hear a lot of “they’re included just because they’re X” or “I don’t mind X characters if they’re good characters, not just pandering”.
There are plenty of boring or terrible straight characters that no one gives a second thought to, or criticizes for pushing an agenda.
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Or they could just say “hey looking at the story, we don’t really include any gay characters” sure that can end up with a problematic character, but there is nothing wrong with realizing you left something out and then putting it in if it’s written well and doesn’t randomly change the stories course.
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As a stiff critic of forced inclusive characters (at least to me), didn’t really feel forced. Was just casually stated they were partners and that was that.
The Shaw thing felt far more forced IMO, probably because it was like “o yea btw” (don’t even remember in game if at all it came from), versus “my loved one is still going through some stuff, let me talk to him”
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People only say it’s forced because inclusion hasn’t been done naturally for the last couple decades which is the real problem. That’s why people aren’t use to it. No one screams forced agenda when its generic straight white male antagonist number 7262648499228. Diversity is always a good thing.
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Tom Cruise in the mummy was forced.
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When I first went through the campaign I didn’t even see it like that.
I just thought of them being animal friends or something along those lines, not really thinking as lovers. Like, they were just souls that were alike so it doesn’t really count for anything sexually.
But even if that’s the case, it’s what, only the 3rd or 4th non-straight relationship in WoW’s 16 year lifespan?
Forced or not, I honestly expect a lot more by now.
Lots of single characters in WoW, I guess relationships/marriage is not really as much of a thing.
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I have 3 NF toons and dont have a single clue about the lore
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Honestly didn’t even notice doing the campaign. So exactly why did you notice? 
Because I read the texts…just because you didn’t notice doesn’t mean I overanalyzed?
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Means maybe you are a little sensitive. Js. You do you.
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I forgot that movie even existed.
It’s an ill defined and arbitrary term (since the genesis of the argument is from people who want to argue against LGBTQ+ inclusion while claiming, amusingly, that they aren’t actually against LGBTQ+ inclusion), but the general gist seems to be “inclusion that calls attention to itself”. This is mostly, though not limited to, either a new character whose trait the story obviously calls attention to, or when the trait is added to an existing character.
So Pelagos is “fine”, since if you didn’t talk to him at a specific point you’d never know he was considered a woman in his mortal life. Mattias Shaw is less so simply because he’s a major lore character, even though it’s at best implied in game and only confirmed in ancillary material.
While it’s a victory that the Overton window has moved such that inclusion is possible, the fact it’s only tolerated so long as said inclusion doesn’t make much of a presence shows we have a long way to go.
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why is it even being talked about forced or not who cares. deal with it and play i don’t care what they put in this game cause everyone finds something they don’t like somewhere on the game.
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It would be the same if let’s say Mayla and Blaine suddenly were a thing. Show respect for each other, but if it’s just suddenly said in patch 9.1 that they loved each other deeply and you had a quest to see a marriage ritual out of left field you would ???.
Forced can work with anything, BFA for example many people considered “forced” faction war due to how it came about.
Seriously, do you people that have a strong opinion on this, one way or the other–do you evaluate the sexuality of every individual you pass in daily life? Does it offend you if their preference differs from yours? Because what people do–that does not affect me, or harm anyone I care about–is up to them. Not sure why anyone, on either side, would be such a sensitive little snowflake that this is an issue.
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It’s just nice to see people like yourself in media 
if anyone’s being sensitive it’s you
Are you assuming my sexuality? That’s awfully bold of you.
Because Blizz didn’t put any gay characters in their games until recently, it is going to be viewed as forced and pandering no matter how it is implemented.
Unfortunately there’s nothing to do but just wait patiently for LGBT+ and minority characters to be considered normal and not worthy of note. (Or be very vocal for representation if you can handle the fighting).
The story of the two spirits in Ardenweald is in my opinion well done. It’s not “my husband this, my husband that” literally he just references his husband once, and its two male voice actors (at least one of which I know is pro LGBT himself). It’s not in your face, its not a huge quest chain, and the fact that they are gay has no bearing on the story it all. It’s literally causing no one any harm whatsoever, yet people complain.
There is no way Blizz could have done it differently so no one would be bothered about it. And making threads about it does nothing but cause people to come argue about it.
It’s a lose lose situation.
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