...unless they're hermaphrodites.
...in which case the labels of hetero- or homosexual can't really apply.
One thing I don't like about the "making it a social statement" thing, is that then you have to drag every social issue into the game, and for me at least it will cease to be fun, and become nothing but a lecture on political correctness.
Seriously, we have books and movies to give you a social statement. I don't want every time I open dwarf fortress to get a constant lecture on gay rights. I think even gay rights activists don't want the "message" infused into literally every form of media they ever consume.
And of course, it would be discriminatory to not include cross-dressing dwarves, and the social conflict that causes as part of the narrative of every single fortress, and about 100 other social elements where there is conflict.
Agreed.
That being said, dwarves/elves/whatever might organize their own lectures on gay rights, to be heard only by other dwarves/elves/whatever, before getting caught and punished/lynched/cleansed by some group against homosexuality, like a goddess of children*.
No "social statement" needed on Toady's part, only the dwarves'. By dwarves, for dwarves.
Point hammered in enough?
Do you really want to play a game where your dwarves beat each other up for being gay? I do not. And I think most gays would not.
Dwarves already beat each other up for much stupider reasons.
I hope you get where I'm coming from with that, it's like yeah, a movie or a book, you get the message once, but a game like DF which you play over and over, you really don't need that occurring every single time.
It's not a message, it's not constant. If there are homosexuals and a group that hates homosexuality, and they both exist in your fortress, they'll come to blows. Similar things could happen in worldgen.
Is having social tensions based on what race you are, or having goblins and kobolds always at war with elves, humans, dwarves, and each other a statement about racism? No, of course not, it's an expression of social tensions and cultural differences within the world.
Is having religious wars a statement about religion? No, of course not! Well, definitely not if they're fictional religions.
My point is, conflict =/= author making a statement about something. There's conflict IRL over homosexuality, why not IDF?
Considerign he stated in the recent Future of the Fortress that dwarven Society will remain un-abashadly equal, I doubr there will be much difficulty. Especially since he said tha tthe dwarves as a whole will be more culturally continguous then other races.
If there's conflict, it will be in the same vein as a regular male-female romantic conflict. So like Romeo and Juliet, but with 2 Romeos.
Alternatively, dwarven society may be about as equal as the modern world: Equal in the eyes of the law, but that doesn't stop individuals or groups from coming into conflict over stupid things. Suggesting otherwise suggests that dwarves achieved perfect social equality, something I doubt in a culture ruled by kings and other oligarchic nobles chosen with no real meritocical basis behind the appointment, surrounded by peoples with differences that make African- and European-Americans look like siblings, and full of stupidity and insanity that affect the settlement and individual on a daily basis.
Just make all the dwarves homosexual.
...This is a joke, right?
A 100% homosexual race or culture would die out in a generation.
You're forgetting that dwarves reproduce via spores. In the absence of sex being a necessity for reproduction (or even a thing that exists) it really doesn't matter who the ickle ones fancy.
You're joking. Statement, not question.
*Children was the first sphere I could think of with a legitimate reason to oppose homosexuality. More gays, less children you know.
