#ik this is all user based and such but goddamn

[sayitwityachest]

i scrolled on here for a concentrated amount of time and it immediately took me back to the place of paralyzing panic (oh my gOD the alliteraaationnnn girl) i was in for so long lol

[segadores-y-soldados]

I'm honestly frustrated by people complaining about getting lore through "secondary sources", esp. When Tracer was revealed as gay. In nearly any other situation this would be fair but in OVW? Where would that reveal have worked? In easily missed ingame dialogue?

I’m going to go on a personal story here.

(Long personal post under the cut)

My first console was the Gamecube.  I was in my early teens, rapidly becoming very confused by increasing gender dysphoria, though I did not know the term for it at the time.

In late 2005, Nintendo of America released Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.  It was not my first FE game - I had played through The Binding Blade (FE7) and Sacred Stones (FE8) - so I expected nothing different here.  Core mechanics were the same, basic plotline felt the the same: Ike, a young mercenary, must choose between helping the distressed Princess Elincia reclaim her country after a neighboring country attacked it.  Ike and his band of mercenaries choose to do the right thing, they help her - the whole story is about their efforts to secure an army for her, and then go on the counterattack. Along the way, there are implications that Elincia is developing implied romantic feelings for Ike.

Incredibly, Ike does not.

Despite the efforts by Nintendo of America to “scrub the game” free of this content, the largest subplot in the game is about Ike getting his male best friend, Soren, to open up and trust him.  If this plotline is pursued, Soren dedicates his life to Ike.  In Fire Emblem, this translates to an A relationship status, which can then be carried over to the sequel game, Radiant Dawn.

If a game file with an A relationship between Ike and Soren is achieved, you can unlock special bonus content in Radiant Dawn, including another large subplot storyline about finding out more about Soren’s personal history.

At the end of the game, they literally run off into the sunset and go on what is effectively a lifelong honeymoon.

When peace had settled on the land, Soren packed lightly and set off with the only person he had ever trusted.

---

Once he saw stability returned, Ike left on a journey to lands still unknown. He was never seen again.

In 2018, most people would accept that this is a gay relationship.

In 2005 to 2007 (when Radiant Dawn was released), this was not the case.

I have seen slurs, mockery, harassment, and threats against people for advocating that two fictional male characters loved each other.  Two years ago, I essentially left a Fire Emblem community that I had been a member of for years because the moderators would not stop another user from harassing me for being openly LGBT and for supporting this ship.

I would probably not be as hardcore in the Overwatch fandom if I was still a part of that community.

...Even now, thirteen years later, I would sell my soul for anyone from Nintendo to say:

“For those who have specifically asked, Ike identifies as gay.”

...

I’m not saying that tweets by the lead writer are the best way to reveal these details, nor am I saying that the pacing of Overwatch’s releases are necessarily good or efficient or amazing.  Do I wish we got to see the other MEKA pilots in the short?  Absolutely.  Would I love a comic about them?  Of course.

But you know what?

Sometimes just stating something openly and honestly IS an acceptable way to reveal something, whether that’s D.Mon being from the same esports team as D.Va or Tracer’s orientation.

I think people in the OW fandom sometimes forget that a number of things have been revealed or confirmed - concretely - by developers and writers in tweets, or interviews, or con panels.  Sometimes, you don’t have the space to write it into a short or comic without the dialogue feeling stiff or wooden (imagine how incredibly awkward it would be if Winston was like, “Oh, Lena, you’re a lesbian?”).  Sometimes, you simply need to reaffirm a basic fact (“these guys loved each other” comes to mind) or make a statement of clarity:

Michael: Moira is a scientist. She is not so much interested in conquering the world, even though she has allied herself with people who might have proclivities in that direction. She is really just into the actual science. She wants to understand the fundamentals of human life, and how they can be manipulated. She is a geneticist, and that is her primary goal, and that is all she wants.  But the thing that makes her villainous is that she doesn’t quite have like some of the morals that the rest of us have.

(Michael Chu on the Moira reveal panel at Blizzcon 2017)

We can look at things like “Captain Myung” and go, “That’s ridiculous. Why won’t they just put that in the game somewhere?” and completely forget that sometimes, decisions to make content as simple as the leading female protagonist kissing her girlfriend can still have real world repercussions, both good and bad:

The “Reflections” comic is blocked in Russia.

So sometimes, stating things open and honestly is the answer.

Yes, not everyone has access to Twitter, or Reddit, or the Blizzard forums.  And on the flip side, not everyone has access to Youtube, Twitch, or even the comics.

I’m using big examples, but the semi-open dialogue between Overwatch fans and the developers/writers can still be important on smaller levels.  Someone on reddit posted that the memorial stones in the Busan shrine map have some inaccuracies, and in less than a day, Michael has already commented that:

I did (see the post)! We're going to try to get it fixed for Busan's release.

Another example, people are pointing out that the mech garages in the MEKA base map is missing one for D.Va’s mech Tokki.  When Michael said that they decided against it for level design (as in, they were worried that players would get confused by an “extra D.Va mech” on the map), people commented with, “Maybe just make an empty pink garage?”

I’ll pass the feedback on to the art team!

...Being a conscientious consumer - and a conscientious fan of something - does not mean you can only react with praise or criticism.  And sometimes, being a conscientious creator - and a conscientious writer - means simply “telling” and not always “showing.”

Again, this does not mean to NOT critique or engage in critical discussions.  We should, we always should.  But maybe, sometimes, it means not sending out that petty “Get off twitter and go do your job” reply and instead thinking, “Here is the lead developer or writer for this game.  Maybe I can ask something instead.”

And you never know what answer you might get.

I don’t like sounding like a shill.  This company does not need me patting its goddamn back.  But in light of another major, non-game fandom currently having a major community discussion on bad LGBT tropes (you can probably guess which one), a tweet listing the mech names is pretty solid.

And there’s probably a few people out there who are happy to see something as simple as “they loved each other” and “matching gaming handles” get a tweet.