>I’ve been told once or twice that the bisexual or gay characters I wrote for Borderlands 2 were arbitrary and forced. This is one hundred percent true. I did not have any particular stories to tell about human sexuality — I just randomly chose a few characters and decided that they weren’t heterosexual. I had no “reason” to do so other than the belief that a cast of sexually diverse characters is better than a sexually homogenous one.
>Did it hurt the story? Maybe. Maybe it feels arbitrary that certain female characters mention their wives, or that certain male characters just happen to have several occasions to mention their boyfriends. I’d like to think that I knew this might have been a problem when I wrote the characters in the first place — that by making the cast more diverse and drawing attention to it, I’d be making the story worse.
>On the upside, though — and this is going to sound tremendously arrogant, but stick with me for a few more paragraphs – while arbitrarily diverse casts might make the story worse, they make world better. Not the in-fiction world, either; I mean, you know, the world. The actual one. The one you and I are in. Real life.
The more things like that are forced, the more people realize there is a far more natural way to include these things into characters or a story.
Most times homo/bisexual opportunities are passed by simply because the writer just doesn't consider it. The more the idea saturated itself into media, the more writers will consider "Would making this character gay enhance the character or story?" Sometimes the answer is yes.
But this is not a good place to ask. Sup Forums is mostly alt-right children who don't actually understand artistic work.
Jackson Phillips
Anthony was the original cuc.kold
Alexander Butler
he means he isn't actually polygamous or willingly a cuck he's just a sad degenerate that both genders find repulsive but just says he's into poly/cuckoldry to save face in front of all his pozzed druggie SJW friends.
Landon Edwards
So cucked it’s actually physically revolting.
Nolan Green
Nothing he said is wrong. Debate me.
Jack Sanders
>while arbitrarily diverse casts might make the story worse, they make world better. Not the in-fiction world, either; I mean, you know, the world.
There's no logic in that at all. It doesn't make the world better at all or worse. It's just dumb pandering.
Christian Rivera
If every non-straight, non-white were genocided tomorrow, the world would be a better place. Prove me wrong. Pro-tip: You can't.
Blake Rivera
Everything he said is wrong. Debated.
Jose Sanchez
> Debate
That usually implies the opposing argument would have an intelligent and thought out counter point.
And you know damn well they won't.
Angel Parker
Man that must have been ages ago. Anthony has very different opinions on LGBT shit now.
Lucas Morris
Being gay does not enhance the story at all unless you're talking about doing a story set during a time where being gay itself was not accepted. Does romance improve games? It almost universally makes them worse, except to people who love to ship characters.
Zachary Smith
He won't be able to play the next Borderlands game because it won't get made, lmao.
Jace Morris
...
Samuel Young
...
Aaron James
i respect this man for not faking his own death to make a fresh life for himself in southeast asia or something
Jackson Wilson
>Sup Forums hates a game >Sells millions anyway
>Borderlands 3 will come out >Sell millions >Repeat
Evan Smith
Everything he says is true.
He agrees it feels forced, when player read the dialogue they know that the writers just made them gay for the sake of it.
He agrees that it hurted the story because it drew attention to things he didn't want people to spend focus on.
He says that it makes the world better and I agree, it makes the world better as in, teaching people about acceptance is good because well that's something good to teach.
Benjamin Powell
No, it turns people far more against it. Everyone knows a decent enough gay person irl but is then progressively turned against the idea by odious media.
Zachary Bennett
Basically this.
The two questions that need to be asked when adding diversity are...
>Does this net improve the game, accounting for story, gameplay, worldbuilding etc.? If yes, what're you waiting for? Get that shit in there. If no, see next question.
>Would this be a net detriment to the game, accounting for story, gameplay, worldbuilding etc.? If yes, don't put them in. If no, then if you're adding it anyway, don't force it. Make it natural, like storytelling should be, because if you put (diverse/progressive aspect) on a pedestal (for no reason: if it's the focus of your game, fine), it'll come across as ham-fisted and we'll be less likely to enjoy those characters/more likely to hate them.
The example we keep citing is Arcade Gannon from Fallout: New Vegas. Gay character who isn't defined by his gayness, it comes up at appropriate times (like any sexuality should) and it even has an in-game mechanic like its heterosexual and sapphic equivalents (Confirmed Batchelor). That, and by what I can remember, he's well-written.
Brody Evans
>Gets called out for shitty logic when hes trying to explain his point >Digs a deeper hole
And this idiot was a writer?
Adam Miller
it's almost as if the people that hate borderlands 3 and the people that buy it are different people or something whoa
Henry Garcia
>tfw you're still not anthony burch
Levi Reyes
What his name?
Michael Moore
You know you are fucked when Burch is a source of reason.
Zachary Sanders
> Most menial labor goes undone. > Art takes a full on nose-dive into either horrid single perspective taste or logical design > Women grow more attractive for the rich, less attractive for the poor with races gone and class homogenized > Global War highly likely with no contrasting perspective against killing other humans subconsciously seen as inferior > No one knows how to fry chicken correctly anymore
Shit world, desu
Alexander Thomas
Friendly reminder that no matter how badly you screw up in life you'll never be an Anthony Burch.
Tyler Mitchell
He didn't make a goddamn thing
Michael Roberts
>its reasonable to say you can choose to be gay How is that any different than religious wackos who tells gays they can choose to be straight?
Anthony Flores
>If every non-straight
Only faggots left = nobody can reproduce anymore = human extinction
>the world would be a better place
This I agree with.
Jason King
...
Brayden White
By going into the "deep" things,
World will always change and evolve. Every small changes you make will make the world better on a scale so little, you might not even see the benefits during in your lifespan.
By the time your vision is complete, many generations will have another view on a world, and won't even care about what you did.
This is change is selfish towards those who don't believe in it, but there should be no shame in accepting it's selfish.
Christian James
You can absolutely choose to be gay - see prisons. You can also be born gay too but it can go both ways.
Nathaniel Richardson
>Did it hurt the story? Maybe. He even knows hes just pushing an agenda and doesn't care about the story. Its disgusting that these religious fanatics continue to influence media.
Dylan Kelly
that sure is a lot of words to say nothing
Brody Ramirez
>Artistic work
Do not worry child. One day you will be able to list video games as a hobby on your resume and not be laughed at.
Zachary Ward
I agree with him JUST because I can smell the absolute very tiniest trace of humility in it.
Mason Hughes
That is not true at all.
Sexuality is an enormous part of art, and a character's sexuality can be a very useful tool in story telling if done correctly.
Parker Cooper
Sounds like he is baiting for hate now. Like he knows people like to call him a cuck and now he is going "oh it is almost like you are directly cucking me if you buy the new borderlands™"
He either wants attention even if negative or wants people to buy the game to spite him.
Don't fall for it
Ryder Ward
But that isn't choosing to be gay, that's choosing to engage in gay sex. Do you understand the difference?
Grayson Sullivan
borderlands has some of the shittiest, stupidest, most unfunny attempts at humor ever put in a videogame
its not surprising that the guy behind it is a fucking retard
Christian Rodriguez
You'd think this feeling would diminish over time, but it never does. Fuck it feels good.
Josiah Thompson
>getting cucked so hard he turned into polyamory
SJW in a nutshell
Brandon Howard
What're you doing here keanu reeves
Lucas Perry
I assume you're a man so you should understand how men work. Outside of being drugged, men can't have sex unless they're turned on. If you're turned on by the idea of fucking a man you're gay.
Evan Wright
He just comes across as a miserable person.
I'll be amazed if he's alive in 10 years.
Joseph Barnes
They understand autistic work so I mean close enough
Gavin Moore
>most people are actually even stupider than this fucking assbrain
i want off this planet
Jordan Sullivan
>Outside of being drugged, men can't have sex unless they're turned on. Except for being raped.
Josiah Robinson
Video games are a creative work that affect culture. Creative works that affect culture are art.
Wyatt Baker
Look at this edgelord faggot
Lincoln Ross
So basically >Does a gay enhance the story? If Yes >A good reason to add them! If No >No reason NOT to add them! So is a shitty justification for tokenism.
a better story improves the world more than a bad story
Carson Lopez
If you try hard enough, maybe I won't think you're a big fat man child when you're playing with children's toys.
Justin Myers
underrated post
Hunter Edwards
He intentionally made a game worse to score SocJus points. No one should want to work with him or hire him.
Ethan Richardson
>having gay characters in the real world makes its a better place >no reason or logical proof >i just said so, therefore it is true
Nathan Ortiz
The first paragraph is ok. You have characters that are casually gay, because ~10% of the world population is gay (more or less doesn't matter). No big deal.
The last no. You don't do it to "change the world". Or, well, you can do it, but don't bitch if people that want a videogame to have fun don't buy your "world changing piece of art".
The second is meh. You don't push their sexuality down the gamers' throat, unless it is important for the story you tell. If it hurts the story, well, people will say your story is weak because you put in gay characters. You achieve the opposite at point 3.
People should really focus on delivering good games, with solid stories, without an agenda. There are gay characters that work, put them in. There a racist characters that work, put them in. Black/aliens/italians/vegan. Whatever. We are all adults here...
Jaxson Roberts
AT THE END OF HE FUCKING DAY WHEN BORDERLANDS 3 COMES OUT ALL YOU SHIT HEADS THAT HATE BURCH AND THAT KEK RANDY WILL TURN AROUND BUY IT AND JUST SUCK THESE FAGGOTS OFF WITH YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. NOTHING CHANGES Sup Forums
Ian Powell
It gets him imaginary goodguypoints in his ingroup so of course it's doubleplusgood in Burch's mind.
Nicholas Miller
this here
Cameron Harris
I think you misread.
If adding it does not enhance the story, do not add them. But if you're going to do it anyway (because at the end of the day, the writer will do as he pleases) for whatever reason, then try to make it natural. If not, it comes off as shitty writing.
But the point Burch was making was that he was aware that adding them made the story worse. He is admitting tokenism. His goal, as it seems to be from this excerpt, is that writers should at the very least consider whether a character should be gay/bi. There are times when doing so will enhance the story, but the majority of the world just has heterosexuality as a standard character trait, when it shouldn't be. Heterosexuality is average, not standard, and should be treated as such. This means not every single character should be straight.
Kevin Hall
...
Juan Baker
>tfw cautiously optimistic about Borderlands 3 because Burch isn't around
Then again, Randy Pitchfork is still in charge, and after the disaster of Battleborn things can only get worse from here.
Jack Sanders
I mean, kinda just sounds like you're in denial.
Do you actually block out the affect video games have had on American and Japanese culture? It's kinda huge. It's in our politics, our news, our movies. You have to either be living under a rock or knowingly choose to stay out of touch with society to think video games are strictly for children.
Aiden Peterson
If you can get and maintain an erection while having sex with a man without drugs you are a faggot.
Jack Jackson
>A hug Got cucked even on his own wedding in front of all his friends, wew
Grayson Torres
So basically, all Burch is saying is that he is a shitty writter.
Landon Sanders
Mike "You like cock? It's time for a shock" Pence
Julian Brooks
>mankind goes extinct
Leo Sanders
I could stick a finger up your ass and make you cum.
It is absolutely unrelated to your sexuality. That's anatomy. I can guarantee a 100% success rate in making you cum within 5 minutes.
Look up the prostate.
David Roberts
The problem doesn't lie with the fact that someone is gay but, if you make their entire personality and story revolve around the idea the character takes it up in the ass. It's in our culture and most other to be reserved on your fucking sexuality and not be fucking defined it. No one like the obnoxious faggot who can't spend no more than ten minutes quietly without moaning about he is a fucking homo who loves cock. People are defined more than just their fucking instincts. Designing a character needs to be who they are as a person so unless you are trying to make a character who is outright punchable it just becomes forced and bad story telling
David Wilson
That's not all he is saying, but yes. He is admitting to be a shitty writer.
Jayden Fisher
Mike "follow God's path or face Tesla's wrath" Pence Mike "gay medicine from Thomas Edison" Pence
Nathaniel Perez
> Reading comprehension
James Myers
Constantly forcing people to accept LGBTUVWXYZ+++++++ while shitting on them is one of the reasons Trump won, so i guess he is right about making the real World better.
Nathaniel Cooper
note that this can go the other way, where the sexuality is so insanely removed from everything else the character does that you wonder why the writer even bothered addressing the issue
Adrian Baker
I've seen it done well in movies and literature sure. But we're talking about games here. And the writing in the those games are usually somewhere in between shit and acceptable.
Isaiah Edwards
The other shit he is saying is basically "I am a shitty writer, but look I AM HELPING! I AM HELPING!"
I don't know which one is more pathetic.
Dominic Lopez
You're not wrong, but video games are a very young art. One that is becoming a true, meaningful art much faster than it's predecessors as a form.
Just because it doesn't have considerable quality in story now doesn't mean it won't in the future, or that it should never.
Jacob Brown
Except that he's still not wrong. Doesn't really matter how pathetic you happen to think it looks.
Jace Davis
Well yeah, he IS a shitty writter.
Thomas Kelly
>Another autist that can't into real life I assure men who rape men in jail aren't actually gay. It's a mix of lack of female interaction, testosterone, domination, and in many cases, punishment for sexual crimes against children and women. Also convicted cops get fucked dry too. And guards have no problem telling inmates who's who.
Source: guard at federal prison for 2 years.
Justin Young
point is that nobody is truly straight, dumbass. everyone who has had the slightest gay thought would be gone i.e. 99% of humans.
Jacob Rogers
Did you play Spec Ops: The Line? Because you should.
Jeremiah Hall
My bad, your reading comprehension is fine.
Your comprehension of human sexuality, however..
Owen Jones
Just because the majority of what you've seen isn't well executed doesn't mean it shouldn't be attempted.
Ian Martin
Nobody's 100% anything. When talking about human behavior there's no choice but to make broad generalization because everyone is different.
Eli James
>videogame developer >"I make shit games on purpose to make the world better" This doesn't make any sense.
Easton Johnson
he's propagating memes
Caleb Howard
Are you actively avoiding the point?
If you are, why? What is it you are trying to say? Just that he's a bad writer? Because literally no one is arguing against that, including Burch himself. So I don't get why you keep trying to hammer that particular nail.
Dylan Perez
Yes it's a good story. Great even. but how many have been on that same level since? And then how many have been forgettable trash?
Jackson Wood
Yeah a video game writer, sadly vidya still is will continue to be home for the untalented people to try to convince themselves they are just as good and serious as other forms of media, this is why games will be about gameplay, freedom and everything you cant have in a movie/show/book.
Jose Hill
shouldn't he be used to this by now
Hudson Gonzalez
It makes perfect sense. >Napoleon >I must be a shitty leader to make the world better >Hitler >I must make a shitty war to make the world better >Trump >I must be a shitty president to make the world better
Joseph Cruz
>while arbitrarily diverse casts might make the story worse, they make world better.
>It's okay that I'm a shitty writer, because I'm making the world better
Well Anthony at least you'll always be up your own ass even if you can't get any other men up in there