Homophobia in roleplay needs to cease

And why should there not be a zero tolerance precedent set for behaviours that could be harmful to the person behind the screen? Would you not wish for a zero tolerance attitude adopted to people who roleplay IRL racist ideals through their characters also?

I think this is actually a valid point. I have seen characters - primarily void elves - who treat mental health like it’s a quirky, humourous thing to have. And I dislike it, and I do not advocate for it. Similarly, characters who have suicidal tendencies I don’t feel should be roleplayed in public, because it does hit a sour note, and can be legitimately upsetting to people who have gone through that, or sadly happen to know others who may have acted similarly.

And I’d wager there’s a valid conversation to be had there, however you framed it incredibly poorly with your initial post. But personally, I hold a similar belief for characters who act in misogynistic ways, a similar belief for IRL racist ideals making their way into the game (Mostly with humans, but I’d not count out other races in case a dwarf player brings in the same human racial biases that some people posess into their roleplay), obviously not including IC racism between species, that I feel is different enough to feel detatched from reality, and as I mentioned above, people who roleplay characters who are mentally ill without any sort of tact.

Admittedly I think there is more of a grey area for characters of mental illness, but generally speaking it’s probably not wise to do so if you’re basing said illness off of exagerrated and cliched TV and film tropes.

Perhaps there were good intentions in there. But go back and read what you put before - those intentions were difficult to find, to say the least.

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The comparison is that they are not a life choice, but something born with.

But I am glad that you are still here on the forum trying to stir up drama as always.

I mean, personally I see a pretty easy solution to this problem.

We can’t physically force people to do something, but things like Homophobia for example is actually not allowed to type within WoW’s chat, so it’s already solved, it doesn’t belong within WoW RP because it is breaking the chat rules.

So therefore having a zero policy on it in guilds or reporting it when seen is kind of a no-brainer for me personally.

Other than that, it’s basically: Don’t be a jerk to people, and take a few extra seconds to think if this sensitive subject being added to your(your in the general expression, not you specifically) new character really is something that is needed?

Perhaps something less controversial can be there instead to make the character a villian, for example?

All in all, my own point and view on this whole thing is, roleplay is a hobby for many people, and something fun to do to unwind. Of course people like to roleplay diffrently, but I see no point in purposly roleplaying out sensitive or controversial topics in the public eye/setting. OOC will always impact IC as our characters have no free will and it’s ultimatly a weak excuse/bit pretentious for someone to claim that they have no control over their character.

And I mean, fine I guess if someone -truly- needs to have their character for example be homophobic(I dont see why though) but maybe don’t roleplay it out in public or at all? Just because people can do something(in this case they cant do as it is against chat rules) doesn’t mean they should.

I hope that clarifies a bit on where I am coming from myself, and sorry for a bit of a lenghty post, and it wasn’t meant to be a rant towards you as much as just explaining myself a bit better.

TL:DR, if it is against the chat policy anyway, it doesn’t belong in rp especially when it’s also something like homophobia that doesn’t belong at all in general. And I think it’s fine to tell people off for using it/doing it.

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I’d argue that IRL race would be a better comparison since that is something similar where there is a zero tolerance treatment of it.

perhaps angelus should quit the analogy-making business altogether tbh

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Maybe when someone points out something you say that comes across as incredibly crappy, just accept it, apologize and move on. Y’know, rather than… whatever this is that you’re doing right here.

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So you are completely fine with people making fun of autism and other mental disabilities IC then?

My question towards the OP was how to proceed onwards with the ‘‘Zero Tolerance’’ treatment when it comes to server wide events, communities and so on when there are more groups that also suffering from people being douches.

I don’t think anyone is.

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Ah, my bad. Let me rephrase my earlier point.

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I know I’m not the OP, but personally I think with this, if the people can’t behave and play nice with everyone else then perhaps they shouldn’t be allowed in on further events/communities until they learn to behave?

Basically, if there is a server campaign and a guild rolls in with bad boys spamming homophobic remarks IC or OOC, give them the boot and dont invite them in next time until they’ve stopped doing that atleast in public.

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The issue is that LGBT people’s gender identities and sexualities are often called mental illnesses by actual homophobes. This post is the equivalent of comparing people of a certain race to monkeys and wondering why they are offended by it.

Note: It probably was accidental on Angelus’ part so don’t hold it against him.

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Question to the OP.

How have you spoken with some of the major discord servers for Argent Dawn and other Communities how they handle situations regarding these type of behaviour?

I am just curious to know how policies and so on works I gladly poke them myself too but thought maybe you been in contact with some of the admins out there?

I can’t say that I have done so. The forums are what I know to be the most widest-reaching platform for Argent Dawn, where the community servers I’m in often focus on specific roleplay scenes. That being said, I would implore any GM or event host who knows of homophobic characters, to reach out to those players, ask them politely to stop, and if that can’t be reached, to then tell them that their behaviour will bar them from further participation.

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Ironically this can be said for a lot of “popular” characters on Argent Dawn, insufferable and largely would be considered a pariah but because of their nudge nudge and wink wink connections they still get a pass.

That said I think it’s a dangerous territory to let our real world, 21st century ideas of propriety infect a fantasy setting that honestly has shown very little (obviously for marketing needs on Blizzard) reference to controversy baiting. Outside of the already mentioned race, although the idea of race on Azeroth is an entirely different species of creature, not hues of skin colour and there is contextually a lot of understandable malice from some races to others.

Personally as a gay man myself I wouldn’t be bothered if someone was homophobic as a point of someone’s character. If it’s possible for a character to be gay in Azeroth its entirely possible for someone not to like it - for whatever reason.
The Blood Elves have a dwindling population, they need procreation not fornication. Orcs might see it as dishonourable/unmasculine. Goodness, even the Tauren might see it as against their interpretation of the Earthmother’s will, being the natural cycle and stuff.

Again, other races might have less to no problem with it. Gobins? Gnomes? Clearly have been shown to be the more “progressive” from our interactions in lore. Undead? Why would an Undead care? It’s not like they can procreate anyway so their choice of romantic (please specifically note romantic) partner should be of absolutely no consequence from even a biological point of view.

Now if said homophobia was directed on a player to player, out of character basis? Yes that’s awful and needs to be ground out, along with other forms of bigotry on the server which alas have worryingly risen to new highs over the last few months.

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While on this topic, I’m wondering if races that suffer from a lack of population (blood elves as an example) were to silently judge their own kin for not procreating, would that be alright? That is to say, no slurs, perhaps just them questioning why the person in question isn’t doing their “duty” in keeping the elven bloodline going, or something like that.

I mean it’s entirely possible for your character to personally think that as a Blood Elf, their fellow Blood Elf should not be fornicating behind the bars in the Bazaar when they should wed a good man/wife and make many children to help repopulate their kind.

They are a proud race after all, so the open acceptance of same-sex relationships? Acceptance on the same level as marriage? Honestly I find them one of the least likely races to be so.

Despite of course the obvious situation Argent Dawn has with its Blood Elf population.

I am not a person to restrict someone’s creative rights with their character. Sure in cases where them being a homophobic nutjob is the crux of their character is just boring and poor form, same can be said for anyone who puts the sexuality of their character as their main character defining trait.

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I kinda wish Blizzard would actually go the extra mile to flesh out their setting and actually expand on societal issues such as how accepting X culture is of Y stuff (i.e, non-heterosexual marriages, gender roles, etc), but I don’t think nu-Blizz are willing to risk the possible drama that comes with dealing with said issues w/out the modern internet going crazy. It would be cool lore to (tastefully and within the theme of the setting, no slurs or anything like that) explore what Blood Elves, as you say, think about people potentially shirking their duty to procreate and save their dying race.

The problem is that WoW is just some mass pop culture product that needs to appeal to the broadest customer base possible, written by committee (and therefore should never be mistaken to be Actual Art™) and can’t ever do anything that might be a potential minefield; it’s probs why no major characters are overtly homosexual / bi, as that’d make far-right goons go crazy, too.

We saw some interesting stuff in Warcraft III with the Night Elves having strict roles when it came to gender for priests / druids, and I honestly wish they had actually had the gonads to lock the classes based on that for the MMO. I’ve personally felt that not doing so eroded some of the unique flavour of the race, imho. Some book series I read recently (Stormlight Archives) did this thing in which only women of a certain culture learned how to write, and scholary pursuits were seen as ‘feminine’ - stuff like that can really flip the script and add verisimilitude to a setting.

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The thing with the “maintaining the bloodline” thing is =/= homophobia.

Whether someone rears children or not is different to their sexual preferences. Unless said heritage obsessed character is in the habit of drilling every single character as to why they’re not repopulating the race irrespective of their sexuality, it just comes across as a weak IC base to poke at LGBT people.

I mean, our races have civilian populations in most cases. Seems to wierd to lay the onus of repopulating on that one gay tauren hunter and ignore the fact there are a healthy amount of tauren having children in mulgore. As said it is a “weak” justification for me.

I’d also see it as a value (where it is held) primarily by traditional figures or perhaps individuals whom play wider civic roles in their races. Barry the shopkeeper being massively concerned with the repopulation of their race to me is no different to the random unremarkable figures on the dark corners of Reddit whom has decided to make focusing on racial purity and identity their life’s work as a shield for their views despite the fact they work in a Walmart. It’s plausible, sure, but beyond a point it comes across as a reach.

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I wouldn’t say drilling in my example, I meant it more as in “Oh, you’re not planning to have children then? Alright”, with a small judgemental look coming across, not taking it any further than that. Much like how people show disagreement irl by simply being dismissive or just shrugging their shoulders, not straight out arguing or questioning someone to great extent.

Edit. Guess you could compare it to a microaggression.

Yeah I wouldn’t call that homophobia though, that’s a totally different issue and tbh that’s perfectly legit

It’s only where it goes into “oh so you’re not having children? Too busy getting up to no good with young men huh?” Disapproving look that it does, but tbh the second comment doesn’t add anything there, the concern of the character for repopulating is carried without reference to sexuality at all.