spartaxoxo wrote: »

Ideally every quest in the game would be well-written. So, I agree with you there.
For me, the main deal breaker is when they break the lore. Like that awful business with Dark Brotherhood characters and Eveli back in Blackwood. I can't play Tanlorin yet but I hope that their story isn't awful like that.

Tanlorin's story isn't awful at all. I found it rather engaging, dealing with the perspective of an oustered Altmer. As someone else said in this thread, their gender identity doesn't come into it.

Syldras wrote: »

When I wrote about it, speaking against stereotypical depiction of minorities (which does concern me personally as a gay man) I was heavily criticized. I don't care, I still dislike this character design and it feels more like wanting to show progressiveness than actually caring about how this portrayal might affect LGBT people in the end. I personally believe that a natural, normal depiction would be much more helpful. ZOS managed that with many characters before, from the base game on, so I do find it especially concerning that suddenly the approach to this is completely different.

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

Part of what I have always enjoyed about the world building in ESO was that the LGBTQ+ characters depicted were simply built into the world naturally. They exist as a fact of life, which is largely accepted by the various cultures of this world, instead of being treated as some kind of unusual anomaly or special exception. The world building depicted them as PEOPLE, as characters first, with backstories, fears, joys, needs and wants- not as an advertisement for their sexuality or identity. Those things are a -part- of them, but they are not the whole of who they are. Even when they struggled, the struggle was depicted with realism, and compassion.

I agree.

When I first started playing ESO all the way back at launch and came across the Bosmer fellow mourning the death of his partner, I thought was so cool. It didn't make any kind of fuss about them being gay. It was completely normal and ordinary.

Brilliant.

On the other hand, I can sympathise with the developers feeling forced to go a different way. Gaming and social media can be very narrow minded and also short sighted when it comes to inclusion.

If you're not waving the rainbow flag at arm-breaking speed then you're an enemy to the cause.

Entertainment can be a powerful tool for helping people to look at issues in new ways and wonderful shows like Star Trek (of old) and The Orville are very dear to my heart in no small part for cleverly and kindly doing precisely this.

But I also love fictional settings where it's just accepted and normal. I grew up back when the word "gay" was a dire insult. Being able to slip into a different world where no-one cares at all about that has real value.

After being absent in the thread for some time reading new responses and such gave me on-topic wish of sorts.

Zos does community things from time to time so it might be a great one to have a writing competition of sorts, where people could create and flesh out a character, a story or in-game lore concept. But not only for the competition sake, but for writers to have some inspiration from actual community, maybe to integrate some of those into the game as a reward also. Sorry to mention and paying particular attention but what Syldras writes always brings me back to what elder scrolls in essence is to me personally and there are should be quite a few people around with writing talent to give ESO writing if not new life (we're severely lacking now imo) but at least some new perspectives.

colossalvoids wrote: »

After being absent in the thread for some time reading new responses and such gave me on-topic wish of sorts.
Zos does community things from time to time so it might be a great one to have a writing competition of sorts, where people could create and flesh out a character, a story or in-game lore concept. But not only for the competition sake, but for writers to have some inspiration from actual community, maybe to integrate some of those into the game as a reward also. Sorry to mention and paying particular attention but what Syldras writes always brings me back to what elder scrolls in essence is to me personally and there are should be quite a few people around with writing talent to give ESO writing if not new life (we're severely lacking now imo) but at least some new perspectives.

Thank you! I don't even have that much writing talent, I would say. It's just that as a Master Wizard of Great House Telvanni historian in real life and someone who is generally interested in arts and cultures (and reads very much, especially older literature, as a hobby), I just look at the world of TES they give us in the game and get ideas what I would like to know more about, or I'm wondering about some topic that has not been decribed in the game yet (Necrom missed the chance to actually add more details to Dunmer funerary rites and ancestral veneration, btw - of course, we saw the city, a few crematory devices, and there are a few books about "dead Dunmer spirits somehow being with their living family members", but I found it superficial somehow? They could have made much more. Then again, funerary, mourning and memorial culture is one of my weird special interests focuses as a historian, so I guess I'm hard to please when it comes to this topic ).

Anyway, I think ZOS could make more of TES' unique cultures. Many stories lately are rather unspecific and could have taken place everywhere (and yes, I know that some are specific, but there are also very generic ones where some more background lore could have made them much more interesting). I was also bothered by how there was no bigger conflict between the Imperials and the Bosmer who just built their new settlements (but probably the Count was too busy playing with his pet bear or something)... but that's a different topic.

Czeri wrote: »

whitecrow wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

First is the they/them stuff. Every time I hear it, I'm looking around for where the (plural) others are. Every. Time. I don't know what the answer is. They/them is too confusing/vague.

I had the same problem with Tree Boy in High Isle.

Honestly that's not much different how taken aback I was at first by the Khajit speaking in third person. You just get used to it as you get more exposed to it, and you don't if you don't. Hence I'd argue it's a good thing there's a they/them using character in the game.

Same here with the third person thing, actually. I became more understanding of it and it's just another way of speaking now.