So there are 4 explanations for this:
on topic, IF i was to play a character who is that way inclined, i would do it the way belok suggested above;
but honestly its not something i’d do because i have gay characters, of both genders.
Hence why I mentioned before that I usually approach the person OOC, first. If they were to say no, then obviously I would not plough ahead with roleplay, because the person behind the screen is far more important than the person on it.
I suppose it’d be more valid if you took the same approach to straight characters who don’t have any interest in raising children. Still, as a counterpoint, it’s a world in which there are a lot of orphans, so a gay couple could still help ensure their people’s survival by raising children who’d be dying on the streets otherwise.
While I agree with keeping this thread alive and well for the sake of those slighted by these kinds of insults, I also believe the best thing you can do is to call this sort of thing out and disavow it collectively.
True enough.
Sadly, it’s a stretch to call them ‘characters’.
When are blizz going to canonise my Vanessa VanCleef x Tess Greymane ship? I need my princess-turned-anti-monarchist development. I need it.
Vanessa taking after her dad then. Edwin x Baros Alexton, now that’s a ship.
Hinted-at cameos is all we got. In WoW, anyway. For some reason the Overwatch team has way more guts in that regard.
Koltira and Thassarian, but they’re also asexual and very valid.
Asexual erasure is depressingly common too. A lot of people think you are broken/unnatural somehow.
Man Xulshak you have been SMOKED by Koiffen
" Perhaps you should let that [sniveling son of yours] be king. I will march on [Stormwind] when the [kraken] have reduced your mighty ships to kindling. I will take your precious boy, slap him in chains, and parade him through [Orgrimmar]!"
Damn Garrosh…
I would love for Koltira and Thassarian to be confirmed outright. That ship’s been stuck at harbour for far too long.
I’d argue that a character so pragmatic would not risk openly commenting on the matter negatively for the same reason. It’s the same as when you see characters who are supposed to be smart acting racist towards the faction’s other races. From a purely war focused standpoint you want as cordial a relationship with your allies as possible and want to minimize risk of conflict.
I’d consider the character homophobic but not the player.
You could have gone with “I am sorry for what my character said and it was a mistake, the opinions my character blurted out are not like my own.”, but instead your response reads more along the lines of “I could not stop my character from acting in this way, the narrative around him forced me to write those words.”. That being said, you are a complete stranger to me and I would rather not start assuming things right away.
When it comes to Homophobia in RP? Yeet it out of the window. It’s not established and often such remarks/using slurs can just result in people feeling bad about themselves OOC, even if you did not mean to “Incite hate” outside of IC.
For me, it’s about presentation. The concept isn’t inherently homophobic (from an OOC perspective), because it’s grounded in realistic concerns for most Azerothian races. However, if a player-character were to use this as justification to aggressively and openly slate / attack homosexual characters, then I’m going to start doubting their OOC motivation.
Because it sounds reasonable, I have no doubt it can and is twisted to be a socially acceptable means of presenting bigoted views without any recrimination. Not accusing anyone here of doing that – it’s something I would only presume to consider after seeing it for myself.
In light of Pride month and my respect for the LGBTQ+ community, I’ll try and be completely honest here. I ask that you don’t take this as an insult.
You could say I avoid LGBTQ+ characters IC. Or to be precise; I avoid TQ+ characters. In the years I spent roleplaying on various platforms such characters have shown themselves to be one-dimensional and almost always mary sues / attention grabs / self inserts.
I cut the LGB out of the above because cringe LGB characters 99% the time fall into the “butch draenei” or “flamboyant strongman” categories and they are easy enough to sort away from the meaningful characters.
This aside; there is no OOC homophobia from my side, thus I don’t take it IC. It is more a pre-caution with regards to /specific/ characters. If I see a well-designed trans character TRP I don’t think I’d shy away and/or avoid roleplay. It’s just that I have not seen such so far; only the opposite.
And here I’ll also want to note that the archetypes I avoid are archetypes I think many from the LGBTQ+ community would find offensive themselves.
…are the burning blade noted homophobes because I don’t think there’s any lore on that.
While I don’t personally agree with this, I at least respect it. There are people who roleplay characters who might read more like stereotypes than fleshed-out concepts, but avoiding roleplay with those characters because you don’t personally like them is not taking OOC to IC. It’s quite literally doing the opposite given that you’re avoiding the situation.
And frankly, we’ve all been in roleplay that we’d rather not be in, for any number of reasons. Deciding to spend your time elsewhere where you might be happier will not only make you feel better, but potentially the others too who might be able to suss out that you’re not fully invested in the situation. I’ve certainly been there myself, albeit not with LGBT characters.