Poor IGN. They're trying, they really are. They conducted a survey that shows seven in ten of gamers (well, gamers that respond to IGN surveys) have no problem with gay relationships being an option in video games.
All well and good. Unfortunately, they made the mistake of posting it on the Internet and letting people comment on it.
Normally, I complain a lot about how everybody thinks the hobby that I love is chock full of ignorant bigoted morons. And then something like this comes along, and demonstrates that, oh wait, there really are plenty of gamers who happen to be ignorant bigoted morons. And even more people who think pretending to be an ignorant bigoted moron is funny. And even more of them who are apparently just completely clueless, whether they mean well or not.
And then we all get lumped in with the ignorant bigoted morons. So thanks, guys. Thanks a lot.
Well, except for the troll pretending to be a virgin who does nothing but play PS3. That dude's just funny. He is trolling, right?
A few of our "favorite" comments, under the cut.
...this is trolling at a truly incredible level, for we're not quite sure whether this guy is serious. Well played, sir, well played.
"I don't hate gays. I just want them to be treated like second class citizens because of my personal beliefs."
Yeah, we missed that one in our playthrough.
No, no, people think you're a bigoted moron for reasons entirely separate from their ego.
You know, because heterosexuals are so oppressed.
If that's the most reasonable thing you've read today, dude, what parts of the Internet are you hanging out in?
The fun part is that if you ever actually sit down and read, say, Leviticus, there's a lot, and we mean something like twenty lines or so, about not humping your relatives. Like, they get into granular detail about it. Don't hump your dad. Don't hump your mom. Don't hump their sisters or brothers. Don't hump YOUR sisters or brothers. And then the parts about not showing them to each other naked kick in. Consider that homosexuality gets two lines.
Considering that Leviticus is, among other things, a bunch of rules about sanitation and general behavior, it really makes you wonder just what the hell our ancient ancestors were actually getting up to, back in the day.
"Gays are great provided I never have to see them, acknowledge them, or admit they exist!"
Because really, what this debate needed was some good old fashioned console warring between two people who can barely speak English.
We're pretty sure that if you ever escape the confines of your suburb, you'll never get the chance.
Ten bucks says none of these guys talking about how awesome lesbian sex is has ever actually met a lesbian in real life.
I'll actually take a moment amid the mockery here to make a sincere point:
There's a difference between social goalposts changing and peer pressure. People aren't for gay rights because it's the hip thing, necessarily. Some are, of course, but that's always been the case.
Really, it's a question of civil rights. If we as a society have rights, those rights come with obligations. For example, we have the right to freedom of speech, but that comes with the obligation to let others speak. So it's not really a question of liking, well, anybody: your civil rights come with the obligation to not try to block or otherwise deprive other citizens of their civil rights.
Once you go to college and learn what a false equivalency is, dude, your mind will be totally blown.
SCIENCE IS FALSE! MY CONSOLE WORKS ON MAGIC!
Somewhere, Kinsey is laughing.
It's terrible how people will sometimes express a sexual attraction in a veiled way verbally.
Another commenter said it best: "When somebody separates out 'science' and 'Darwinism', that really tells you all you need to know."
Dude, you are aware you're implying everybody raised by a single parent is a warped psychological freak, right?
You know, if it weren't for the fact that you think homosexuality is a sexual fetish, when it hasn't been classified as such in decades, and ended this comment with a big dose of both misogyny and a dig at the social sciences, you'd still be missing the point entirely.
I know somebody who's never played a Mass Effect game!
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YOU’RE PIONTLES!
I enjoy a good bottle of piontles noir.
Nwhy?
Air something on television that has a vaguely controversial moment and thousands love it, one person hates it. That person is the one who writes into the network. Pretty soon the show gets changed because “America spoke against it”.
Same thing here. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. LGBT folks have wanted equality, and the only people noisier are the handful of bigots. The rest of us sit back.
Actually, it’s worse: the Parents Television Council or whatever Brent Bozell calls his censorship group this week runs a deliberately orchestrated campaign to send in protest letters over anything they don’t like.
“Unfortunately, they made the mistake of posting it on the Internet and letting people comment on it.”
Ay, there’s the rub.
I think the issue with this (and other topics that always seem to bring out the extreme morons) is the fact that the majority of people don’t care. The majority of people think: “You want to have a same-sex relationship in a game? Meh, okay that’s cool, doesn’t affect me.” Most people who think that aren’t going to comment about it in articles (or blog posts, or boards, or pretty much anything else that the internet is made up of that doesn’t involve porn) because they see it as pointless to talk about how much they don’t care.
What you get unfortunately is what’s left, which can be broken down for the most part into three groups: (1) The minority that this actually does affect and who feels generally that it is an important subject to them, (2) the minority who thinks that the first side is so wrong and/or trying to destroy America that they feel like they have to express how wrong the side is (and thus naturally how right they are) and the final (3) the group that really doesn’t have a pony in this show, but they feel it is important that everyone within shouting distance knows just how “tolerant/progressive/other buzz word” they are about the subject.
You’re replying to comments left on another site. Don’t you realize how pathetically stupid that is?
You’re commenting on comments replying to comments left on another site. Don’t YOU realize how pathetically stupid THAT is?
*BRAHHHHHHHHHM*
Well, I had to find something to do while your mother was trying to please me orally.
*SPOOOOOOOOON!*
And with the “your mom” joke: you lose.
Eh, I rip on professional critics if they say something stupid and tone-deaf. Besides, if gamers don’t hold each other to a higher standard, who will?
Uh huh. The way your mom lost her virginity to me.
*SHAKALAKABAM!”
That’s nice. You’ll find Newsarama over there.
-#2 is a genius. I don’t know if that’s sarcasm or not.
-#14 isn’t so much a false equivalency as it is simply irrelevant.
-I love how #15 says evolution is false (which has nothing to do with the question at hand) and posts links to creation.com to prove it.
-#18 is a pussy. If homosexuality is wrong in every conceivable way, then have a fucking spine about it and say they should be killed for it. I mean, if you’re gonna allow them to live, then why draw the line at marriage and adoption?
-#20: yeah, an online “yes/no/sure” survey is really “over-thinking it.”
-Does #21 think that actors are robots?
Glad the survey returned reasonable results anyway. Assuming that the vote didn’t just go that way because there are a bunch of horny gamers who get off on seeing girls kiss.
I am now dumber for having read those comments (not here, IGN… well ok here too)