"I think it’s sort of hetero privilege that I didn’t see it coming"

[Ohio Joe]

I found this a very interesting article. Game maker, Double Fine, did a kickstarter for a new game they are working on. The community that wanted to back them pointed out an issue with the game... See, it has/had a mechanic where once a persons adventuring days were over, they got married, had kids and the kids continued the adventure. A nice idea but it seems they forgot about the possibility of a player being gay... Their design forced people to play against their nature.

There are a lot of ways they could have handled the situation and not looked like assholes... What they did instead was come out and tell the truth:

"“We did not talk about [the possibility of gay marriage] until we launched the Kickstarter,” he tells RPS. “We were so focused on pure pragmatic mechanics and how it would work and coupling and all these things that we hadn’t [considered it]. That was something I got kinda blindsided by. That was really unfortunate. It kinda makes me feel shitty that it’s not something I’d thought of. I think it’s sort of hetero privilege that I didn’t see it coming.”

It’s not that Muir doesn’t want his game to embrace people of all codes, creeds, and backgrounds, either. He just made a mistake. But then, that’s why Double Fine opted to bring the idea of Massive Chalice straight to Kickstarter instead of going with a stretch goal and prototype-oriented “pre-order model”: because they know they’re not perfect."

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/06/how-kickstarter-got-gay-marriage-into-massive-chalice/

In a world where privilege is denied with vigor and vehemence, it is nice to see someone admit they were blinded by it and do what they can to correct what they did instead of hiding and denying it.

[idwiyo]

1. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

This is the kind of outcome that things like Feminist Frequency are aiming for: not Ending All Games and Killing Fun but just getting people to think a little bit about different ways of representing people with more parity.

[Sheldon Cooper]

3. That's a great acknowledgement of privilege that I wish we'd see more often.

The problem never occurred to them, it was pointed out, they reflected on it and realized it was true, and made the changes. No one expects them to do penance, feel guilty, atone for their sins, etc. Just a simple, honest acknowledgement and then onward and upward. Way to go, Double Fine.

[Brickbat]

4. Awesome. Good for him.

K&R.

[sibelian]

5. As a gay man...

My reaction is...

Uuuuuhhh, what?