Is LGBTQIA+ inclusivity/protection a priority to KingsIsle or not?
I stumbled upon a thread recently where a member of the LGBTQIA+ community was apparently reported and given a warning for using the word Lesbian in open chat?
They allowed some discussion on the topic, but unfortunately it was already locked by the time I came around to it. The last post was in June, so that was probably to avoid somebody from using necromancy to bring it back to life.
Well, I have my own concerns regarding this, and as a gay man, with pansexual/nonbinary nieces and nephews, a bisexual sister and cousin etc. I need to discuss this further.
One of the most common defenses of the censorship of LGBTQIA+ people was that it's "a game for children" and "we play this game to escape to real life".
For starters- this mindset that LGBTQIA+ people are somehow lewd/sexual/deviant and therefore inappropriate to children is inherently wrong. It's a common double standard.
If a story has a heterosexual relationship depicted (a character has a crush on a member of the opposite sex, a boy and a girl share a romantic kiss, a king offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a brave knight who slays a dragon in a fairy tale etc.) nobody ever cries think of the children.
But if a gay couple and their adopted son simply exist on screen for a commercial about soup, doing nothing sexual whatsoever, people react as if they witnessed them have intimate intercourse on screen.
They literally just gathered around the table to eat soup like a loving family. But because they were a gay couple, existing, it was considered scandalous and incendiary.
It's called the sexualization of LGBT people, and it's not a healthy or acceptable mindset.
By treating these parents, uncles, aunties, mentors (et cetera) and the kids themselves who are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community that this part of their identity is something shameful that needs to be kept mum, you're actually doing them immense psychological harm.
It was compared to discussions of religion and politics in the last thread- but it is actually more comparable to race, ethnicity, age, and other factors that a person has no say in.
There was also some discussion of "predators" in the original thread, and I'm not even going to begin to discuss the long history of people trying to link LGBTQIA+ people with sexual predators. I will not dignify it. I will say however, that is a part of the sexualization of LGBT people I discussed earlier.
There have been so many laws and regulations censoring LGBTQIA+ people throughout history, all around the world. Preventing us from being depicted on television or in movies. Games and anime that have included LGBTQIA+ characters abroad were censored when ported to the United States.
To this day in the United States, there are states with "No promo homo" laws. Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana all have them.
In Texas: "The materials in the education programs intended for persons younger than 18 years of age must: (1) emphasize sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage as the expected standard ... and (2) state that homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code." Tex. Health & Safety Code § 85.007.
"Course materials and instruction relating to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include: emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code." Tex. Health & Safety Code § 163.002."
We already face erasure, persecution and even criminalization just for being who we are in the real world. Why must we suffer similarly in-game?
I hereby assert that not only should KingsIsle Entertainment enact strict protections for it's LGBTQIA+ community (as opposed to censoring them for even talking about themselves) but to strive to represent more LGBTQIA+ characters in their game's rich lore and story.
Both in Wizard101 and Pirate101!
(What's more LGBTQIA+ inclusive than witchcraft and wizardry? Not much if you actually look into it's pagan roots! Gay marriage among pirates was common- it was called Matelotage!)
Re: Is LGBTQIA+ inclusivity/protection a priority to KingsIsle or not?
Necromancer Chris on Oct 10, 2020 wrote:
I stumbled upon a thread recently where a member of the LGBTQIA+ community was apparently reported and given a warning for using the word Lesbian in open chat?
They allowed some discussion on the topic, but unfortunately it was already locked by the time I came around to it. The last post was in June, so that was probably to avoid somebody from using necromancy to bring it back to life.
Well, I have my own concerns regarding this, and as a gay man, with pansexual/nonbinary nieces and nephews, a bisexual sister and cousin etc. I need to discuss this further.
One of the most common defenses of the censorship of LGBTQIA+ people was that it's "a game for children" and "we play this game to escape to real life".
For starters- this mindset that LGBTQIA+ people are somehow lewd/sexual/deviant and therefore inappropriate to children is inherently wrong. It's a common double standard.
If a story has a heterosexual relationship depicted (a character has a crush on a member of the opposite sex, a boy and a girl share a romantic kiss, a king offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a brave knight who slays a dragon in a fairy tale etc.) nobody ever cries think of the children.
But if a gay couple and their adopted son simply exist on screen for a commercial about soup, doing nothing sexual whatsoever, people react as if they witnessed them have intimate intercourse on screen.
They literally just gathered around the table to eat soup like a loving family. But because they were a gay couple, existing, it was considered scandalous and incendiary.
It's called the sexualization of LGBT people, and it's not a healthy or acceptable mindset.
By treating these parents, uncles, aunties, mentors (et cetera) and the kids themselves who are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community that this part of their identity is something shameful that needs to be kept mum, you're actually doing them immense psychological harm.
It was compared to discussions of religion and politics in the last thread- but it is actually more comparable to race, ethnicity, age, and other factors that a person has no say in.
There was also some discussion of "predators" in the original thread, and I'm not even going to begin to discuss the long history of people trying to link LGBTQIA+ people with sexual predators. I will not dignify it. I will say however, that is a part of the sexualization of LGBT people I discussed earlier.
There have been so many laws and regulations censoring LGBTQIA+ people throughout history, all around the world. Preventing us from being depicted on television or in movies. Games and anime that have included LGBTQIA+ characters abroad were censored when ported to the United States.
To this day in the United States, there are states with "No promo homo" laws. Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana all have them.
In Texas: "The materials in the education programs intended for persons younger than 18 years of age must: (1) emphasize sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage as the expected standard ... and (2) state that homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code." Tex. Health & Safety Code § 85.007.
"Course materials and instruction relating to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include: emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code." Tex. Health & Safety Code § 163.002."
We already face erasure, persecution and even criminalization just for being who we are in the real world. Why must we suffer similarly in-game?
I hereby assert that not only should KingsIsle Entertainment enact strict protections for it's LGBTQIA+ community (as opposed to censoring them for even talking about themselves) but to strive to represent more LGBTQIA+ characters in their game's rich lore and story.
Both in Wizard101 and Pirate101!
(What's more LGBTQIA+ inclusive than witchcraft and wizardry? Not much if you actually look into it's pagan roots! Gay marriage among pirates was common- it was called Matelotage!)
Hello Necromancer Chris,
As a gay man myself, I can absolutely tell you that we care for everyone in the community regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. If our company had issues with that sort of thing, they could have picked any number of other community managers for the job, but they didn't, they chose me wholeheartedly.
I hear you on keeping things open and available for discussion, but for these numerous reasons we have to remain more neutral and also protective of our community from those who wish to abuse the system. Unfortunately that automatically puts limits on what can exist. Part of the reason we have limits in-game is to protect underage from the abuse of these words, not necessarily from the words in and of themselves. This is the same for religious and other topics that tend not to be part of the game's atmosphere.
I should also mention that while parts of the moderation system for these areas isn't perfect, we are continually working to improve it. This may also mean the lessening of restrictions on certain words in the future. If there are any words, phrases, or actions that you feel should still be included in the game, please contact our community team at community@kingsisle.com and we will be more than happy to hear from you and anyone else that wishes to do so. It is your feedback and continual recommendations for change that help us to guide our policies.
In the meantime, we'd like to keep the forums free from these sort of debates to focus on game discussions. This is why we do not have an Off Topic forum. Please feel free to continue the discussion with us 'offline' or elsewhere in the community. We definitely want to hear from you.
