Nothing stopping you from being a gay character and gunning down all people who oppose to your lifestyle. BUT like you can see, it's a pretty sensitive topic.

You could also go to the UESP and read the unabridged version of the Real Barenziah, as it was in Daggerfall.

And then there is http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:36_Lessons_of_Vivec,_Sermon_14..

My bad. I should've quoted this for it to make sense.

One day, when it is no longer an issue in real life, it will find its way into video games and we will no longer feel insulted or hurt when we see it. Because we will know that whatever happens in the game relates only to the in game world, not to real life. Like racism or slavery in TES are not a political statement, only something that happens in the fictional world of Tamriel.

And quite frankly, I'll be happy to see it then - it will be another interesting aspect of the fictional society in question. But I have to agree with everybody who said that right now it's probably not the right moment to touch this subject in video games. We still haven't dealt with simple things like proper portrayal of women, we have a long road ahead.

Hear, hear.

Waiiiit. People aren't concerned by homosixuality in Westeros? We must be reading different books.

But nobody is killed or shunned like witches because of their sixual orientation; unlike now, in the modern time.

Not just now; unlike EVER in reality, actually.

I think you missed the point. Adding in gender or six/uality discrimination into the game would only serve to annoy and upset those who deal with such issues in real life. Sure if some awesome writers came along that wanted to make a statement, I could see them doing that to great success, but Beth? Beth are hardly great writers and I would absolutely expect any attempt from them to have sensitive topics like this in the game just to have them backfire.

All types of people play these games. Straight, bi, gay, lisbian, male, female, transgendered and all the other types of people. The whole point of fantasy games is to loose yourself to another world that you would rather spent time in for a few hours (in TES games cause, often 100s or 1000s of hours) than reality. To go throwing discrimination into the game in any large, very apparent way is only going to alienate a lot of players for no real gain other than a tagline of "we made an awesome immersive world. Some characters are homophobic, transphobic, etc".

Racism is one thing in the games as someone said above, it adds to and in some cases creates the storylines of the games. Discrimination on gender or sixuality though wouldn't because Beth will never go in that direction, so to add it in will only lose fans instead of making more.

I really don't see a difference between racism, sixism, or homophobes.

Renly Baratheon famously was gay.

Cersei seems of the opinion that this is a hindrance to slandering his name by connecting him to a woman.

In reality, no. In the context of the TES games racism can and is used to effectively impact and create storylines (Almeri Dominion for example). These are also entirely FICTIONAL races. Bring sixism and or homophobia into the mix without story relevance and its just there as a sore reminder of struggles that continue to exist with no real addition to the game itself.

I don't think so.

Depending on how you feel about violence, I would rather have some incredibly morally questionable character, then to have to option to bash their heads into a bloody pulp or completely humiliating them in some ways.

This directly address the problem, also directly answer it; instead of throwing the idea around and make the world seems like it lacks depth.

In the show he was famously gay. In the books? It's unbeknownst to the realm at large and any relations between himself and Loras are only very subtly hinted at, never confirmed.

But it would be fine with you if it had story relevance?

I would think it to be interesting.

It was quite, quite obvious to those that can read between the lines.

I hope I never again read a book where the writer just assumes that everything explicitly has to be told and that there is no room for inference. Because that is a hallmark of a bad writer.

The most explicit realisation inducing moment was Cersei's comment I mentioned.

A secret race of Breton lisbian Amazonian living in the Reach giving you a, ermm, quest? BLOODIEST BUTTCHEEKS IN THE REACH!!

I never said it wasn't obvious, nor do I really have an issue with the two Davids running with it. What they did with Pod on the other hand..

If the discrimination (of whatever sort) was presented in a mature fashion that was there to further add to the narrative, to aid in the characterization of NPCs or companion characters then yeah I would be okay with it because its there to serve a purpose. So yeah I'd find that interesting, so long as it was all handled by competent writers.

If its just there for the sake of being there, I think it would be a very poor idea and would alienate more than it would attract.

Morihaus and Alessia.

Any story, if isn't given time to completely mature, can be passed off as obscene or offensive; especially these days, when people seem to jump at ANYTHING that is just barely hinted to be "offensive"

I really can't comment on that because I purposely haven't seen the tv adaptation yet. I'm waiting till I've read all of the books.

But I must say that Podrick Payne is one of my favorite characters so far.

Good. I thought I was gonna have to get out da debate stick!

Aye. Apologists and panderers, all that stuff.

Oh indeed, Podrick is positively one of my favourite characters also (TV adaption liberties aside). He's the polar opposite of Joffrey in the sense that, where as Joffrey is very easy to hate, Podrick is very easy to find likable.