Fluffle

That made me look it up.

It's true enough that the game asks you for your "sex" and not your "gender". Those two are not the same and should not be confused. There is not an option to choose your gender identity in the game. Just as you cannot choose to be "cisgender", you cannot choose to be "transgender" in the game. Now back to sex. Sex is not clear cut binary as some may think, the keyword here is "intersex" But being an intersex person and a transgender person are two different, separate things.

Before the developers do this, I would like them first to flesh out how the different cultures and societies of Eora treat this subject in general and how they treat people who see themselves as non-binary specifically. If the developers don't do that, then many gamers may be tempted to expect that the societies and cultures of Eora treat this whole topic like we do here in our world. So, for me it's more than just offering a non-binary option and a change of a pronoun. Thinking about this, some questions come to mind: How do you expect all the NPCs to know that you would like to referred to as "they" ? What if an NPC called you "he" or "she" instead? Would you want to be able to call them out on it?

Same question. I tried finding it with the search function but I can't seem to find it. Hey guys, this was explained in Update 34.

Hi guys, I'm playing the game with patch 3.03 and this just happened to me. So in 3.03 the bug has still not been fixed. Since I'm playing with the backer DVD 3.03 is the latest version :/ But I just found out that they fixed it for the other versions of the game: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/92761-306-live-on-steam-gog-and-origin/

@rjshae For a very long time I have thought that the developers would invent their own fantasy world and that they'd be free to do whatever they wanted with it. And of course I still think that. BUT... that fantasy world is going to be judged by people from THIS world. And people from this world will judge it by the standards of this world respectively the cultures of this world (respectively their upbringing). For some naive reason I always expected people to judge a fantasy world by the standards of the fantasy world, not by our world. And I admit that that is hardly possible. It's a very naive, unrealistic thought. So I don't think anymore either that your point (1) and (2) can be treated independently. I think, they cannot. Just as the developers are free to design their fantasy world however they want, the players of their game are free to have an opinion on that world. And that opinion is of course influenced by our world's standards, societies etc. And yet... in the end it's a game. And as such it is, ultimately, a part of our world. So it may change and influence our opinions. I wouldn't want any game to make someone feel like the game has an "agenda" or that the game tries to brainwash them. Maybe just make someone start to think about things. And you are always free to not change your opinion. All in all I believe it's a very thin line of balancing if you introduce modern topics of equality into a game. There are a lot of people who like that, and a lot who dislike it. And if you as a developer fail to balance that thin line, you may very well experiment harassment and threats (going even so far as death threats in the most extreme cases).

Somehow this conversation starts to be interesting. I do not think, you are right. I think (I can only guess, as I am not gay and can only take my experience with women into account), that those two Eders would be different, or at least would act different depending on the MCs sex. I really try to act towards women as I would try to act towards men. Meaning, if I work together with a woman as my boss or coworker I'm trying to treat her with the same respect or disrespect as I would treat a man. When it's about hard work, I try not to spare women too much if I think they are able to do it and so on. But: I never have the impression that I am fully sucessful. I do treat women differently, no matter how much I try not to. I think if you see a person as a potential partner you will always do that. So I think the gay Eder will behave differently towards male or female characters than the straight Eder. Unless of course he lives in a vulcan world, were emotions dont interfere with your normal behaviour. This is what I tried to say here: I said "apart from his sexuality" because obviously I agree with you that you would treat men and women differently if you are either gay or hetero. (Which would raise the interesting question about how and if bisexual people treat genders differently). So I would want to talk about the differences in the personality of a hetero and a gay Edér APART from his sexuality. So in disregard of it. Let's say the fantasy world was one which treated gays and heteros equally. Now you have a gay Edér and a hetero one. Let's say Edér liked animals (which he in fact does), would that change if he changed his sexuality? If he had a favorite dish, would that change? If he believed in a certain God would that change by changing his sexuality? Would his intellect change? His charisma, his wisdom? Etc etc. How much of a person would change, APART from the sexual behaviour, when you replace their sexuality, in a world where different sexualities are treated equally? How much of a person is defined by their sexuality in a world that treats the sexualities equally? How much of that person OTHER than the behavior that is immediately linked to his sexuality? Of course you would treat mean and women differently based on your sexuality. I mean in disregard of that. I mean everything of a personality that has nothing to do with that. How much would change?

This is, in my opinion, why "player sexuality" does not work. Imagine Edér was player sexual. Meaning, if your main was female Edér was hetero, if your main was male, Edér would be gay. Now imagine you play with a female char, I play with a male char. The Edér in your game is hetero, the one in my game is gay. To many people, there can be only one explanation that makes sense here: He MUST be bisexual. Because the Edér from your game and the one from my game must be the same person. All the Edérs from all different playthroughs must always be one and the same person. Because of this line of thinking, many people misunderstand player sexual as bisexual. That's why many people think the romance interests in Dragon Age 2 are bisexual. And that's why I think player sexuality does not work for many people. A more important reason for me would be: Under what circumstances can you switch the sexuality of a character and he still stays the same? How can a gay Edér still be the same person, apart from his sexuality, as a hetero Edér? And I would say a huge factor in that is, apart from family plans, how your environment reacts on the topic of being gay. If you live in a world where being gay is considered a sin, shameful or even that gays should be killed, it will have a massive effect on your personality if you are gay. But in a society where gays and heteros are treated equally, and no one would raise an eyebrow, I don't think the gay Edér and the hetero one would be so different, family plans aside. That will always be a factor, like when he would want to start a family on his own. Still the thought that you could take a characters sexuality, replace it, and that character would largely stay the same is rather very hard to imagine for me. I am speaking for myself here, but I think, that is because heterosexual and gay people are treated very differently in this, our world. It's very hard to imagine that there could be a world where heterosexual and gay people are treated equally to such a degree that, they would largely be the same person (again: apart from their sexuality), whether they'd be gay, bi or hetero.

On that note, taking Aerie and Viconia as an example, if they were Deadfire characters I would want to be able to show them the beauty of the world without having to romance them first in order to do that. Of course (very deep) friendship is not the same as actual romance and they should have different effects on characters. And I can see that romance can make feel Aerie like she's flying again which actually helps to overcome the loss of her wings. Still I would want to be able to show empathy to Aerie and Viconia without necessarily having this to lead to romance . And I would want them to acknowledge that.

Now I'd like to share my view on same-sex romances and relationships. When you do go the romance way, what I often found is that players actually expect LBGT characters to be treated in the respective fantasy world the very same way as in our world. Meet a transgender person in Baldur's Gate? Has to be treated like transgender persons in our world. Meet one in a futuristic setting of Mass Effect? She has to act and feel the same way as transgender persons do here on earth in our time. Meet a gay character in a fantasy world? They have to be treated like in medieval times on our world. What many, many, many people fail to understand is that fantasy worlds and science fiction worlds do not have to abide by how we treat "different" people here on our world or how we treated them in the past EVEN IF the fanatsy/sci-fi world may have been inspired by our world. The designers of fantasy/sci-fi worlds are free to set up their own rules how LBGT characters are treated in their worlds. And that is what the developers should do first. Because players from this world do have certain expectations how LBGT characters and LBGT topics should be treated. Because they have witnessed how they are treated here. So please, as a developer, make sure to deliver that message clearly, how LBGT characters are treated in your world. And do that first. And only then, afterwards you can think of designing such a character. And in any case it might be quite helpful to talk to authors/designers who are familiar with designing/telling the stories of LBGT characters. Over the years I have heard so many many arguments how that LBGT character CANNOT act that way in that fantasy/sci-fi setting because they would never act that way here in our world in our time. Ugh. Or they would never be treated that way by other people because that's not what we do here on earth. Ugh. Anyway, another topic would I find worth exploring is same-sex relationships (as in friendship, "bro"). Especially between males, I would like to see that. The reason is that, to my opinion, two males in a very very close and deep friendship (but not romance) are in danger of being stigmatized for being gay. In our world women seem to be fine cuddling with other women, or holding hands and what not (maybe even sharing some few innocent kisses) and few would think they might be lesbians. But guys doing that? Must be gay! Has to be! Can't be another explanation! If the developers would first set up and define the rules how these things work in their world (respectively in the different cultures in their world) and then manage to play a bit intelligently with the expectations from our world. That would intrigue me. Also please don't include anything just for the sake of inclusion. If you include an LBGT character just so you can say you are inclusive the chances are high the character and their story feel artificially tagged on. I don't think anyone would like that

What I have always failed to understand is why quite so many people fear that Obsidian Entertainment would do romances the same way (the new) Bioware has done. You really think Sawyer would look at modern Bioware titles for how to do romance? I would guess he would look at them for how NOT to do them. Seriously why do you (if this applies to you) think there either can only be modern Bioware romances in a video game or none? Does Obsidian Entertainment mean so little to you that you would think they cannot do romance in a better way? Obsidian is not Bioware. Disliking Bioware romances and then concluding that no game should have romances... I do not understand this line of reasoning. That's the one point. My other point is that I can understand if some people are simply fed up with this demanding attitude. There are so many people who do not only say that they like romances. They directly, outrightly demand romances in a game and get angry or offended if they don't get what they - in their eyes - rightfully deserve. Expressing that someone likes or dislikes romances is fine. But this demanding attitude is so annoying at least to me. I myself I do enjoy modern Bioware romances but - here comes the catch - in modern Bioware games only. They would not work in Pillars of Eternity, in my opinion. They would in fact ruin the characters, I fear. But I have no reason to believe that Obsidian would make their romances just the same way as modern Bioware has done. I would be very grateful to the devs at Obsidian Entertainment if they found a new way mechanism to incorporate romances into a game. And if I was asked where they could find inspiration from other games I would point them to Planescape:Torment and Mask of the Betrayer (Safiya) for once.

Huhm, there seems to be a lot of nitpicking going on here In disregard of whether I share some views or not. They are portraits. They are really just drawn portraits. Just because the portrait of someone from PoE1 is drawn, for example, let's say with a different jawline or nose, that does not mean that the actual character changed his jawline or nose between PoE1 and 2. It's not like the artworks are accurate photos taken with a camera. They are an abstraction/interpretation of (different, I assume) artists. So you look at Edér's portrait from PoE1 and then 2 and then you think "Whoa, totally different person. I cannot recognize him. Must be someone else. Breaks immersion for me." To me the changes of portraits from Baldur's Gate 1 to Baldur's Gate 2 were much more drastic. Jaheira? Imoen? Just comparing the old and new versions, without any knowledge of the games, could you still say "Yes, I recognize them from the other version." ?

Well she's an Avian Godlike and she has feathers... maybe Avian Godlikes actually do lay eggs

Now let me show you two much more compact design alternatives. I only made them very quick, so don't mind any quality issues due to quick 'n' dirty photoshop. My point is about the layout. Alternative Design 1: Or, if you wanted to show the badges to everyone with each single post (which I am NOT in favor of): Alternative Design 2: As I said I'm not a fan of displaying the badges with every single post. Instead they should be visible on the profile page. I mean the actual graphics. At the moment, the graphics are NOT displayed on the profile page, only the names of the badges.

Seconded!

Look at my previous post. I only posted one line and look at much space got wasted by that post: It is because of my avatar, some information about me and the badges. Is is really necessary that everything below the avatar is posted again - time and again - EVERY SINGLE TIME I make a post? I would say ALL of the information on the left side belongs on my forum profile page but should not be displayed with every single post I make. Optionally, if you wanted to take this to the extreme, you would even replace avatars by much smaller thumbnails of them. And you would disable signatures. All of which would be visible on the profile page.

The next issue I would like to address on this forum is the HUGE waste of space. This post serves as an example.

My thoughts on the forum reactions: The e-peen is only that on each forum member's site you can see the overall number of likes. I agree that that only serves as an "e-peen" so to say. And I would not mind if you got rid of the overall likes counter on the profile page. That has nothing to do with being able to "like" a post. In my opinion you should still be able to just press a button to express your support of a post. Just take away the information how many likes a forum user has gathered so far all in all. The second matter would be what types of buttons should be there and is "like" sufficient? If you ever would fear that someone could misinterpret you giving a "like" to someone, maybe you should write your opinion on that matter rather than giving only a forum reaction. So it would be possible to live with the "like" reaction button only. But I agree that additional buttons could help you to avoid to have to write a lengthy reply or being misinterpreted when you give a "like". However, whatever kind of buttons you use, do not use negative ones. Only use buttons that are encouraging in a positive way. You already seemingly addressed this issue by calling the disagree reaction "respectfully disagree". That will not work in my opinion. We are on the Internet and people just don't disagree respectfully here Negative reaction buttons should never be used because they will lead to backlashes. People would give someone a negative forum reaction because they received one themselves. Out of vengeance. Yes, on the Internet it works like that. Calling a disagree button "respectfully disagree" will not help with that. If you disagree with someone or something you should really write it down - and then others can give an "agree" reaction to your disapproving opinion. TL;DR I favor separate "like" and "agree" forum reactions. Do NOT use any "negative" forum reactions. Disable the reaction counter on forum members' profile pages.

Thank you guys, I'm already feeling better And I have just handed in your recognition entries, there are 27 of them. It's Obsidian's turn now. I have given them all the input we gathered here, our ideas of the Black Isle Bastards, our ideas of the item and the recognition entries. I would like to reiterate again, that Obsidian is free to change the recognition entries as they see fit. They can request also different entries or simply reject entries altogether without replacement. Above all else, the integrity of the game is most important. Our entries should not disturb that. They should not break the 4th wall. So I asked Obsidian to check them thoroughly. About the Black Isle Bastards and the item, as I said I did present our ideas, but at the same time I told Obsidian that we believe that they know best how to tell the stories of their games. Therefore, of course, there are also free to deviate from our ideas for the Black Isle Bastards and the item. I'm curious and excited about what they are going to do with our Black Isle Bastards I'll keep you updated should there be any news

Hi everyone, just informing you that I have been sick. I'm on my way to recovery but still feeling a bit weak (I was having an ear infection, very painful btw =_=) . That's why I have not yet sent in your submissions, but I will do so this coming weekend. Yes the donation campaign for the Black Isle Bastards is over, thank you for your interest I do not know if the backer portal is still open, if it is you could still make a donation to Obsidian. But as I said, this campaign here, is closed.

I have sent out yet another email (Geez, sorry for the spam to those to who the content does not apply ) If you send a submission you WILL get a confirmation email. If you have NOT received a confirmation email yet, then contact me per PM on this forum or send your submission to my web.de address. In your case, Lord_Mord, no I actually have NOT received your submission.

What I will do is this: The deadline will be postponed to next Monday 11:59 PM (GMT +2). I sent a reminder mail to everyone (sorry, yes to EVERYONE, because that's easier for me than to single out those who haven't sent a submission yet, please don't mind the spam if you have already submitted ) and I also officially opened this to backer who donated less than 10$. On the other hand, I would really dislike to allow more than one entry to a single backer, or more than 80 characters. The 80 characters and the 50 entries are upper bounds. Remember this offer was voluntary by Obsidian. It was a nice gesture. It is not included in any tier of the FIG campaign. So doing this will cost them additional resources. Not to mentioned that it also costs time and effort for me So if we stay below those upper bounds I see that as a polite way of causing less work to Obsidian than necessary I hope you understand

Nope, there haven't been any groups yet.

Well I said that our first choice was a melee weapon made out of Obsidian. I also said that if there were already many (i.e. too many) "special" melee weapons that we would then also be fine with an obsidian amulet or an obsidian ring or even a pirate hat. Notice though, in the survey I had to choose the type of the item and there were only 4 options! Those were: "Amulet", "Ring", "Shield", "Weapon" Of course I didn't know that when making this poll. On the other hand I would imagine that Obsidian would be open to designing a different item other than from those categories. Then I said that speaking of the capabilities of the item, the properties of obsidian should be taken into account. Obsidian blades are the sharpest in our world and it would be nice that that could be reflected somehow as a capability of the weapon. In the end Obsidian chooses the finer details such as a name for the item, its history, etc etc. But I made it clear that is had to be linked to our pirate group.

Alrighty everyone, thank you for your praise 1.) When I mentioned troubles with gmail that referred to sending out mass emails only. So you should send your submissions to the gmail address. But if you sent it to the other address then there's no need to resend it again because I forwarded it. It was a bit chaotic of course. So I have sent everyone a confirmation email from the gmail address. So if you read this and you still have not received your confirmation email, then please leave me a message here on the forum. 2.) Remember the deadline is in TWO DAYS ONLY And please remember the rules for the submission They are on the second post of this thread!