The LGBT thread (Revisited)

[Dante9]

About the whole TLO2 thing..
I know there are crappy people who have a problem with minorities, of course there are. However, I'm fairly confident in saying that especially in gamer culture, the overwhelming majority does not have a problem with that. The whole backlash is mostly not about that, albeit there are parties who naturally blow that aspect up and run with it, for political reasons. Even if every single character in TLOU2 were straight white people, it would not be any better. The handling of the main characters - that made the first game what it was in the first place - is so crappy that there's just no excuse. It baffles the mind. It's just poor writing. If you're not exactly a fan of the first game, then you might have to substitute your own favorite franchise and imagine the same to be done to those characters. Just close your yes and visualize it. See it? Good.
Here's my perspective as a straight white male devil. I already knew that Ellie was gay, having played the DLC from before, so it was not a surprise in any way for me, nor was it shocking in the first place. Ellie's sexuality is probably the least interesting thing about her or any other character for that matter. It's just not important. (Although I understand it its important for you guys to see that every once in a while, I get it). For me, the DLC was a little boring because of the teen romance stuff, I mainly played it because I wanted to see how Ellie managed to save Joel. But it was all fine and good, no problems there. I eagerly anticipated for the sequel.
Then come the first sneak peeks of the sequel. Ellie kissing a girl, nice to see what her life is like as she has grown up. No idea what the fuss is about the kiss and all. Not much of Joel anywhere, is the dynamic of the pair that made the first game great in jeopardy? At this point I'm a little worried about the direction the game is going, because it seems like the sexuality thing is going to be a major focus and that stuff is just irrelevant to me. Knowing that Neil Druckmann is heavily into the whole diversity thing is not helping, it is increasing my worry that this is going to be an agenda driven game and the story will suffer for it. But I cross my fingers that Naughty Dog will deliver a sequel in the same vein as the first game. A good story with great characters familiar and new, that's all I'm asking for.
And then the leaks happen. I can't comment much on those because I don't want be spoiling anything, but those of you who have seen them can guess that I'm not happy. Probably not going to buy the game. For me, I'm not really sure if the diversity politics in themselves are to be blamed here, although they are not helping the situation. This is not exactly going to help the cause in the eyes of those who despise minorities, I can tell you that much. And what's ironic is that even the minorities that this is trying to speak to seem to be mostly against how this sequel has turned out. If you're a fan of the original game, this is just bad all around. What a waste. Nothing gained but so much destroyed.