Sylvari and Sexuality

[Moiraine]

I apologize if this has been brought up before, as I am new to the forums.

While reading over some information about the sylvari over at www.guildwars2.com, I couldn't help but be surprised when I heard the name of Duchess Faolain's (the sylvari leader of the Nightmare Court) lover: Caithe. This was back when I didn't know who Caithe was, and the name sounded rather feminine, but I didn't really think Caithe could be a woman. Few games, especially games that aim to be largely successful, have ever been so open about same-sex couples, or homosexuality in general, if at all. So I decided to look up Caithe immediately, and I was ecstatic when I found out that she was indeed female.

The following was said during Sylvari Week on the ArenaNet Guild Wars 2 blog:

Sylvari fall in and out of love, just like other races do. They have a romanticized view of devotion, and they're curious about passion in all its forms. There are male and female sylvari, but none has ever produced a child as other races do. Because of this, traditional human-style gender roles have no meaning to sylvari, either in their society or in their romantic relationships. Often, a sylvari's ardor is expressed with courtly zeal--emotional, empathic, personal--and is not necessarily defined by gender.

I truly admire ArenaNet for being brave enough to be inclusive of homosexuality. In truth, the sylvari can't be defined as such, but nor can they be said to be a heterosexual race. If anything, I would say that they are pansexual, looking beyond gender where it concerns romantic relationships. They said that they wanted to make this the most absolutely perfect MMO, and personally, this aspect of the game is really just the icing on the cake for me.

Feel free to share any thoughts!

[Centaur]

Yes, following in the footsteps of companies like Bioware, ArenaNet love to innovate, and they are not afraid to take on controversial topics in doing so. As you already remarked, in the case of the sylvari it's not about physical attraction or sexuality, it's purely an attraction on personality level. And ArenaNet have already stated that there will not be any options to become romantic with npcs, so it's unliekly that we will see this go any further that that, but still, the fact that they acknowledge that love interests don't necessarily have to be of the heterosexual type, is a nice step forward in our current society.

[Versoffen]

I disagree, I've seen too many fem guys and tasteless homosexuals in general to give a broad stamp of approval even to my own people. I think it'd be best if there was a nice continual stout dislike towards us that weeds out most of the riff-raff, as harsh as that may sound.

On the otherhand, I do like sylvari nonetheless.

[Olruna]

I heard about this! A small but welcome change to the way games are regularly setup. I also admire ArenaNet for going that direction. and, considering the non-birth thing, it would be weird if they didn't! Makes total sense.

[Amei]

Who you do, should never have any bearing on any MMO you play.
When gaming companies do as media does and force feed sexuality down peoples throats, then its time to stop playing games, just like watching TV.

Steping on ones beliefs in not a step forward, it is trampling on them.

[Vayne]

Amei, not quite sure what you're saying here, but the fact that a same-sex couple exists or doesn't exist in a game shouldn't really matter to anyone, because we're not even talking about Earth. We're not talking about animals, even, we're talking about plants...and most plants have both male and female sex organs.

In any event, same-sex couples not only exist now, but have existed for thousands of years. If a game world were to reflect reality, they would include them. Leaving them out, would be force-feeding another type of myth. Either way, you're bending someone's reality.

Anyway, saying something exists in a world, doesn't necessarily have any bearing on what game you play or how you play the game.

[Amei]

Plants are self germinating for the most part. would take another faction all together.
Reproduction has nothing to do with MMOs, its all about hack and slash.
Being force feed homosexuality does nothing for any one or anything having to do with gaming.
Its just pushing an agenda.

[ComplexNuber]

Honestly, it's not.

It's not an agenda because a minority of people decide that they want to start being offended by something. They are providing lore, something that Guildwars is very rich in. Some people like following lore, it lets you enjoy the world significantly more. If you don't want to acknowledge it, you can ignore the lore and play the game for its' hack and slash. Further, do note that it's a small pocket of the *community* that is making a big deal of this. Arenanet has never emphasised this point and it was only ever mentioned as an aside. Someone casually watching Guildwars videos is unlikely to even know of this, though it hardly should matter.

[Centaur]

Actually, Amei, I disagree with you there... and you should know better, if you're following the anet blog as closely as you claim (I saw your post in another thread where you're accusing others of not reading those blogs). ArenaNet have made it clear that they Sylvari have no need for sex, as they're all created by the Pale Tree. So for them it's not about reproduction at all. For them it's all about love and affection. And they can love a same sex person just as much as they can love one of the opposite sex. A lot of other games won't even allow that much. I think it's a good thing that ArenaNet doesn't censor or prohibit love between people of the same sex and gives you the liberty. It's not a matter of force feeding anything, it's just a matter of acknowledging the existence of it, and acknowledging people's right to choose. It would only be force feeding if you didn't have a choice and you yourself were forced into a homosexual relation to be able to complete the game... or if every relation in the game would be homosexual. But that's definitely not the case here.

Also, in a game such as Guild Wars 2 (or SWTOR, for that matter), story, immersion and the society you're in is just as important as the hack and slash part.

[H azel]

Plants are self germinating for the most part. would take another faction all together.
Reproduction has nothing to do with MMOs, its all about hack and slash.
Being force feed homosexuality does nothing for any one or anything having to do with gaming.
Its just pushing an agenda.

That's nonsense.

Accommodating and forcing are two very different things. There will always be some sexuality in anything where game characters immitate real life. Unless you suggest we remove anything that computer game characters don't need to do? In which case, we should probably delete most of the game.

You sound pretty homophobic to say the least. Do you think the heterosexual elements in fantasy are standard, but the homosexual parts are a forced agenda?