Blizzard and LGBT community -_-

[Preston Garvey]

For starters, yes, this is a very long post requesting that Blizzard stop adding LGBT characters into their games (so many people request to include them, why can’t I request the opposite?). However, no, this is absolutely not a hate post, nor a post in any way designed to bash any individuals. I do believe, based on numerous facts, that the addition of LGBT characters into Blizzard’s fantastic games is not only in poor taste, but also potentially very harmful to people. I will present said facts below. It will be a long read, and I can’t really give a TL;DR. There will also be lots of links to articles about studies and research (backing the facts), which I would encourage you to read. So, if you stick it out to the end, you have my deepest appreciation for your time and consideration.

For any who still don’t know, Tracer of Overwatch was confirmed lesbian in the Reflections comic; and in World of Warcraft, enchanters in Legion go through a quest chain which involves reuniting Enchantress Ilanya and Priestess Driana, who are clearly a lesbian couple as conveyed through quest dialogue (and you could also include Marcus, who used to be only a character in the “Steamy Romance Novels” but in Legion made his first physical appearance).

Now, as of this writing, BlizzCon 2017 just happened last weekend. It was amazing! As a three-time personal attendee and massive fan of Blizzard, I am thrilled with the whole Virtual Ticket setup. Anyway, despite the gay characters Blizzard has already included in their games, it’s apparently not enough (it’s never enough). During Q&A after the Overwatch – What’s Next panel, an “LGBT identified man” stepped forward to ask if we would be getting more LGBT characters in the game, because Tracer is not enough. Michael Chu confirmed we would be. This isn’t the first time this exact thing has happened. Back at BlizzCon 2015, before we knew about Tracer’s sexual orientation, a guy came forward during Q&A after the The World of Overwatch panel and asked “if any of the characters are gay…” Bill Petras and Chris Metzen informed us that some are, but Chris said they specifically didn’t want it to “feel contrived or pandering.” Going even further back, at BlizzCon 2011, during the World of Warcraft Open Q&A Panel, a lesbian woman came up and asked the same thing: “are there any chances to [get LGBT characters in the Warcraft lore] in the future?”

So, what’s the issue here? Let’s start with what’s weird about this. Why do we even need to know about a character’s sexual preferences? If I’m playing Tracer, and my goal is to shoot people with machine pistols as Tracer, why does it even matter if she’s gay or not? What does that have to do with the game? Well, Blizzard says they want inclusivity, so that all players can feel some level of relatability with at least some of the characters. Why does anyone need to be able to relate to a character based on their sexuality? Are we saying that gay people are nothing more than the sum of the intercourse they take part in? I tend to think of people, all people, as more than just sex objects – and I certainly don’t think of myself as one. My favorite character happens to be Genji. My reasons for that are my own, but I will tell you one thing: it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a straight guy and I’m a straight guy. Not even a little bit. So, if that’s the case, why do gay people supposedly need sex to be able to relate to a character? Why would anyone?? (Please think about that for a bit, but the real issue comes later.)

However, here is what’s even weirder (brace yourself): we see so many requests for more gay characters like this at BlizzCon (and even more on the forums and Twitter over the years), but only 1.6% of American adults identify as homosexual (both gay and lesbian). If you were to add up Americans who identify as homosexual or anything other than straight (all parts of the LGBT), you would get 3.4% of the population. Yes, these are facts, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which is part of the US government. 1.6% of Americans are gay. Here is the CDC’s statement on that, broken down on page 3 under “Results”:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr077.pdf

Now, you would swear that it’s more than that, but that’s simply not the case. I will talk more a bit later about why it seems like it’s so much more. Also, gay activists (the real movers and shakers) know that it’s only 1.6% - they can’t deny it. Gay rights groups tried to argue that it was actually 1.9% of the American population that identified as gay instead of the CDC’s 1.6%. However, they knew full well that the percentage wasn’t nearly what most Americans assumed the number was, which was about 25-30%. More on that here, with link to the 1.9% argument:

https://www.onenewsnow.com/perspecti...-50-not-1-in-4

OK, so the reality is that only 1.6% of Americans identify as gay. For the sake of argument, someone might say, “Well it would be more if only we weren’t so intolerant in America.” Someone might also say, “People play Blizzard games all over the world, not just America.” The second statement is true, but the first one is not, and here’s why. The Netherlands is one of the most pro-LGBT countries in the entire world. You would think, surely with more support for the LGBT community, there would be considerably more gay people there, right? Wrong. Only 1.5% of adults in the Netherlands identify as gay or lesbian. It’s close to America’s 1.6%, but doesn’t quite reach it. You can find that figure here:

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi...PH.2004.058891

Now that you know the real numbers, and how small a portion of people are even gay to begin with, it’s finally time for me to explain why there’s an actual problem here. It’s simply this: homosexual behavior should not be encouraged/publicized/normalized because it is extremely dangerous to every aspect of the health of those involved in homosexual activity. Yes, it is literally harmful to their physical and mental health. People who consistently have gay sex lose roughly 20 years of life expectancy on average. STDs are rampant. Severe psychological trauma occurs. Suicide rates are much higher for gay people. Large resource on all of that found here:

http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/hea...ual-lifestyle/

That should be reason enough to not encourage people to live a gay lifestyle, much less celebrate it. How awful does someone have to be to knowingly encourage people to do such serious damage to themselves...? I’m not writing because I hate anyone. I’m writing because the opposite is true – I care greatly for them.

At this point, it’s important to address what anyone reading this has probably already thought: how can you tell people to be something they’re not, since they’re born gay? Well, the science says no one is born gay. Science says that being gay is a choice, and truly honest gay people admit the same. As with the rest, I’m not making this up. More about that here, links included:

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/fo...s-are-born-tha

Homosexual behavior is also extremely harmful spiritually, and I’m bringing this up because opponents will undoubtedly bring the Bible into this if I don’t (trust me, happens every time). All I’m going to say about this is that, according to the Bible, God is not OK with homosexual behavior of any kind. If you’ve heard some “pastor” or “Christian” say that God is accepting of homosexual behavior, then they’re not even reading the Bible and thus are not Christian at all. Also, Blizzard please note: a much larger portion of your player base is probably Christian than gay (statistically speaking). As the title says, not everyone wants or likes the addition of gay characters. I’m not writing this to tell you what to believe or to prove the Bible to you (that’s a whole other topic entirely), but here’s a small article that talks about some of the places where the Bible addresses homosexuality:

https://www.gotquestions.org/homosexuality-Bible.html

One final thing I need to address is something I alluded to earlier. Despite seeing the CDC’s numbers, you might still swear that there are way more gay people in our population than that – or so it would seem. Why does it seem like that? If it’s true that only 1.6% of Americans are gay, why are we always hearing public requests for more gay characters in Blizzard’s games? It’s because we’ve been tricked. The American public – not entirely, but at large – has been duped into thinking we need to support homosexuality at every turn. I noticed while watching BlizzCon that Michael Chu was wearing a Blizzard pin with rainbow-colored letters. I have no idea if he personally identifies as gay or not, but clearly, he feels a need to visibly show his support for the LGBT community. That’s by design, but not his own. Of all these articles I’ve included, this one may be the most pertinent to the subject, so please give it a read. I’ll summarize after the link. It’s an article from 1987 called “The Overhauling of Straight America” written by two gay activists, Marshall Kirk and Erastes Pill:

http://library.gayhomeland.org/0018/...g_Straight.htm

Basically, this article is an attack plan to change the minds of Americans on a wide scale. And it has worked! Let me just quote for you how the writers summarize its content, near the end of the article:

~
We have sketched out here a blueprint for transforming the social values of straight America. At the core of our program is a media campaign to change the way the average citizens view homosexuality. It is quite easy to find fault with such a campaign. We have tried to be practical and specific here, but the proposals may still have a visionary sheen.
~

Now that you know what exactly “The Overhauling of Straight America” is, here’s the abbreviated version of how the plan works (and how it has been successfully carried out over the past few decades):

~
The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. Ideally, we would have straights register differences in sexual preference the way they register different tastes for ice cream or sports games: she likes strawberry and I like vanilla; he follows baseball and I follow football. No big deal.

At least in the beginning, we are seeking public desensitization and nothing more. We do not need and cannot expect a full "appreciation" or "understanding" of homosexuality from the average American. You can forget about trying to persuade the masses that homosexuality is a good thing. But if only you can get them to think that it is just another thing, with a shrug of their shoulders, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won. And to get to shoulder-shrug stage, gays as a class must cease to appear mysterious, alien, loathsome and contrary. A large-scale media campaign will be required in order to change the image of gays in America. And any campaign to accomplish this turnaround should do six things.

[1] TALK ABOUT GAYS AND GAYNESS AS LOUDLY AND AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.
[2] PORTRAY GAYS AS VICTIMS, NOT AS AGGRESSIVE CHALLENGERS.
[3] GIVE PROTECTORS A JUST CAUSE.
[4] MAKE GAYS LOOK GOOD.
[5] MAKE THE VICTIMIZERS LOOK BAD.
[6] SOLICIT FUNDS: THE BUCK STOPS HERE
~

Those six points are all explained in detail in the article. Then Kirk and Pill go on to talk about getting into the most popular forms of media, which at that time was TV. They go as far as to outline some ideas for pro-gay TV ads, designed to make viewers feel bad about disagreeing with or not wanting to celebrate homosexual sex. Activists have followed this plan to the letter. We are currently living in an America that is slowly becoming more and more like the one they envisioned, and I’d say we’re already over halfway there.

Yet, we’ve already covered how destructive homosexual behavior is for those who practice it. Why on Earth would we push that? Blizzard including more LGBT characters in their games only serves, if nothing else, to normalize the idea of homosexuality (exactly as Kirk and Pill planned it) in the minds of young people, and anyone who plays their games. This is all for the purpose of getting everyone to support and celebrate homosexual behavior, and the ones who end up losing are the people caught up in the snare of homosexuality.

Not all of Blizzard’s players want to support the LGBT community, and I hope you can understand why. For most of us, it’s not because we hate anyone. Rather, looking at the facts, we can see that the homosexual lifestyle is harmful. Let me be clear, I am not saying that people shouldn’t have the freedom to make their own choices. They certainly should have the freedom to choose their own path in life. That’s what makes the USA what it is. However, at the same time, we should also not be looking at homosexuality as something positive. Scientifically, biologically, factually – it is not a good thing, and it is not healthy for people to be involved with. Helping people feel better about hurting themselves does not help anyone.

I’m expecting to receive mountains of heat (would that be volcanos?) for this. It’s predictable. I have received immense hate simply for sharing these views and facts in the past; I don’t exactly expect this time to be any different. It would be so much easier for me to just stop caring about people, stay silent, avoid the flak. However, the right thing is almost never the easy thing.

“The world could always use more heroes.”

<Infracted, forbidden topics>

[Calfredd]

This thread is definitely (and rightfully) going to be closed. Also you kind of already lost the argument linking a religious site.

[ShimmerSwirl]

Waaaayyyy TL,DR.

[Zethras]

Thinly veiled homophobia, using passive tolerance as a shield, while citing numerous religious sites as reasoning why it's a bad thing.

Par for the course. You should honestly just keep opinions like this to yourself, LGBT in fiction is a thing, and it's not going to vanish simply because your holy book says it's evil.

[Sylvaeres]

This is absolutely the most absurd post I've seen in a while. Who gives a fuck about any of this? Especially enough to write out this long winded bullshit

[Deleted]

why should i a normal stright white dude care what race/sex a char is ?

in wow there not gonna be having bum sex on screen and in overwatch they could be flying hippos in tutus for al i care as long as they kill shit.

eod all i care about is that i have my rights and can live how i want to. there free to do w/e as long as i am free to do w/e. and if that line gets crossed and rights get lost that's why you have guns and and us English have angry letters.

[Treeskee]

Unless it's relevant to the story just leave genders and sexuality out of it. If it adds something worthwhile to the story then good on them and in that case who cares about gender/sexuality.

[Calfredd]

Why would it rightfully be closed? Let me guess, statistics are triggering.

Because sexuality threads are against the rules? Did anybody read the site rules before hitting Create Account?

[oldgeezer]

Let me sum up the OP as a TLDR - absolute, complete twaddle.

What is this, the 1940s?

[Deleted]

I was expecting to hate this post based on the title, but this was really well put together and a good read. That's probably a first for me on any of these forums. The issue with the LGBT community or any other leftist community is that people that participate in politics are never satisfied. There will never be enough representation to satisfy any of these groups. Once they force out the actual majority of this nation (straight, white people) in the media, they'll move and start to turn on each other. Not to mention the fact that most of these people are mentally ill to begin with. So, identity politics and mental illness go hand-in-hand. The unfortunate thing is companies like Blizzard are more concerned with appeasement than they are about taking an actual reasoned stance on being force to include more and more immoral lifestyles in their games. Anyway, really good post.

- - - Updated - - -



Why would it rightfully be closed? Let me guess, statistics are triggering.

Statistics from religious sites LMAO

[Shiekyerbooty]

I have also wondered why it is important to know the sexual preferences of video game characters whose sexual preference has no bearing on their performance in said video game.

Is it simply social engineering, and an attempt to normalize said sexual preferences ?

[Time Sage]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah. Oh wait... You're serious? Let me laugh even harder.

[Sovich]

Then 1% or so of WoW npcs should be homosexual or etc. You're complaining about just the two of them??

[TheEaterofSouls]

Blizzard can add whatever they want. Who fucking cares if Tracer is gay? Nobody cares. Also if your country is against this stuff, you're behind the times. Caring so much about something as petty as a sexuality. So basically, deal with it and if they don't make a character lgbt, dont bitch either.

FYI: Screw your backwards religions.

[david0925]

I find it quite humorous that your title is "Blizzard and LGBT community" when your entire post is about homophobia even when you completely remove Blizzard game from it because all you're using is "Blizzcon" as the premise of your story before jumping into another very generic albeit long Christianity-inspired homophobic post.

I do agree that we don't really need to have sexual identification in games, but also have zero issues if they decide to give characters one to identify with.

[snackfeat]

Why would you bother writing this huge wall of shit that literally no one is going to give a damn about?

[Giogib]

Hey, before this gets shutdown.

Could you please inform me on how to switch my sexuality? because It's something I don't enjoy, nor care to be a part of. It's something I've had to accept. I can promise you a majority of the LGBT would confess to similar feelings. If I could flick a switch, I would, not because of any concerns of the world as a whole, but because of how hard and limiting it is. Why would I willingly to shoot myself in the foot?

Also, you had me going for your argument until you started mentioning spirituality. If LGBT representation has no place in blizzard games, then neither does religious zealotry. Religion in blizzard games are fundamentally grounded on vague and over-arching themes.

I'd like to preempt your reply and say that no, the "Light" is not a reference to Catholicism or Christianity; or any religion per say. As blizzard has stated that the "Void" would see the light as evil; also what happened to Illidan was a little sketchy. And if you were to continue referring to the light as a video game representation of a world religion, it would also indicate that you also believe that your religion is seen as evil by many others; which quite frankly this conversation has no place in video-games, as video-games should strive to be inclusive. A form of escapism if you will.

I also notice that you refer to overwatch predominantly. People want to play characters that resonate with them, if you see yourself as a mechanical ninja, great! I'd rather see myself as a mechanical monk with balls floating round his face (Irony? Foreshadowing? Both?).

But I really do mean this with all the kindness I have, which you may find hard to believe, but shut the fuck up and let the gays have people they can resonate with. It's something that's apparently close to their heart. (Notice how I say they! I personally couldn't give a shit. If anything I'd pick the not gay character because I use video-games for relaxation and escapism!)

Also as lore-wrong and morally-wrong as it is. I'm still team Wrathion/Anduin.

[Time Sage]

Also... by one of your own arguments... Straight relatonships are no longer allowed. We can't talk about a charcter's sexuality afterall, everyone is now required to be portrayed as Asexual.

See how silly it sounds in reverse?

Guess we have to remove Pharah and Anduin from the games. They have on screen parents, we can't know their parents were straight.

[TheEaterofSouls]

Is there even any reason beyond fictional religions as to why being gay is wrong? It all seems like a bunch of crazies trying to make others believe the words of fake mythical creatures. Maybe they got butthurt after a bad experiance with a gay guy?

[Brewhan]

cocaine is a hell of a drug gj OP