Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Gay marriage possible in AoC EU with My.com being a Russian company?
ArchivedUser
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Does anyone know if My.com will allow gay marriage in AoC EU? I know Russia has very strict anti-gay law going on. My.com, being a Russian company, will probably have to adhere to Russian law. What are your thoughts?
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Last time I checked Europe wasn't part of Russia
Just like killing someone in game is not reality nor is marrying someone in game.
You don't quite seem to understand how laws in other work.
Monster Hunter World is no longer for sale in China because Regulators have pulled its license.
(https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/13/17683722/monster-hunter-world-china-ban-tencent)
Why? Well, because China can. Some of it has to do with issues between Tencent and the government, but also it received a lot of complaints about being offensive due to skeletons. Yup, that's right skeletons
Wrath of the Lich King was also banned in China originally, until they covered up the skeletons
(https://www.businessinsider.com/new-world-of-warcraft-banned-in-china-2009-3)
Revelation Online has a marriage system, but can't have gay marriages in the Russian version
Check the last line.
Now, my.com may find it offensive, but since the EU doesn't have a law preventing it, you'll most likely see it in the EU version.
The Russian version however would have to have it removed, or Russia (like China) will just say no you can't publish this game. Probably won't see mail.ru with 2 different versions of the game (but you could, anything is possible)
this, being able to marry a same sex character is nothing. If the EU game does NOT include this possibility it would actually hurt the fantasy aspect of ‘everything being possible’. Also for reasons of character identification it is important to have this option. Not everyone is straight and being able to live a ‘gay life’ in game adds to the immersion of role players.
All Russia or China could do is prevent the game being published in their own countries. The same would apply to anyone else that is not part of the EU/EEA. Even if the parent company is Russian as it is in the case for my.com. The publishing company my.com is registered in the Netherlands and subject to European law.
You could argue the Russian government via the parent company would want to apply pressure to remove gay marriage from the game as it does not conform with "their values".
On a personal note I dont know why we would want to subject anyone to the misery that is marriage in game whether it was gay or straight, but I am live and let live so each to their own
I suppose the question is: "Can two male or two female toons get married in game?"
Again, either way it goes, this would surely be a small, tiny part of the overall gameplay experience.
Would more than a handful of people actually quit playing a game they otherwise enjoy over and issue like this? Particularly if the designer & publishers hands are tied by a country's law(s)?
Games are supposed to be for escaping reality. I try not to drag real life social issues into my games.
If an RPG has gender-locked classes and roles, that intrinsically impacts real life.
If RPGs exclude real life races, the way Asian games often exclude black people, that intrinsically impacts real life.
Equality and fair representation of diversity is important for all mass media entertainment.
Not dragging "real life social issues" into your games indicates you have the privilege of being a member of a demographic that always has adequate representation in mass media entertainment.
I remember getting married way back in the original Everquest to my (then) real life girlfriend. It was pretty cool and a big deal to us.
If I was in a same-sex relationship and couldn’t be married in game that would suck.
But I can see how this would be very frustrating for the players affected.
I know steven is 100% supportive of the marriage system for all.
To say you personally don't find it a big deal does not mean it's not a big deal to those who live with the persecution/discrimination in the real world but then to have that same oppression translate over into their virtual world is a demeaning experience.
Though it is a video game, it's a social platform as well. It's our duty to educate. So if nothing comes from it, at least stand for social reform and a betterment within your own community of gamers. Support one another.
Though past has shown that it can be a really difficult thing in certain regions. Good luck
MMORPGs are about roleplaying characters in a world which includes social activities like marriage. If there are mechanics for male/female couples to marry in the RPG, those same mechanics should apply to same-sex couples.
I wonder why an RPG that excludes women seems like an extreme to you, but an RPG that includes marriage for male/female couples while excluding marriage for male/male couples or female/female couples does not feel like an "extreme".
If people want to marry in the game they can. Role playing is a totally acceptable way to accomplish this. However I do not think they should delegate much in terms of system/mechanic designs towards this.
Seems easy.
I stand by what I said. I'd really like to, in this instance, just take the in game marriage system completely out of the game and just let people who role play pretend what they want to pretend.
We will be having in game Node v Node conflicts and in game elections to govern the node. Let's just keep it at that and move on.