Again, this is not about romance or relationships, this is about graphic sex scenes that add no value to anything. You keep getting caught up on the interpretation of halfings having sex with full size humans being seen as pedophiliac in nature - which is in itself problematic - but really it's about all of it. We really don't need complex wire frame models of various races having sex with each other. What a waste of development time just to open a very bad can of worms.
And frankly the attitude of "well I just don't see the problem" isn't realistic or helpful. There have been plenty of people on this thread alone who have expressed discomfort at the images here. I would encourage you to maybe bring this to a larger community of people, and maybe take a poll on what they think.
Maybe r/parenting would have some insight. What do you think? You think they would look at this and be like "oh yeah, totally cool, I get it" or do you think they would get the torches?
You can pretend you don't live in a larger community of people that have strong opinions - and that will work fine - until they come knocking at your door. You can also pretend that this has been normalized but it really hasn't. No game, or movie studio has crossed this line.
Wtf are you even going on about by now? o.o At this point it feels like you are just getting mad that I do not share your view, assuming a whole ton of stuff doing so. :|
I already agreed that sexual scenes in general are unnecessary imo, for many reasons - just that I don''t think we need the medium x medium model either. So what are you even nagging that point over? :[
"The attitude" ? I am simply saying that I think your reasoning is odd, disagreeing and/or questioning is not an "attitude". :| If people want to draw a line between halfling and children, then they shouldn't just want to have the sex scenes cancelled but also have the entire romance option gone as well, cause romancing
children - sex or no sex -
is not okay. I am not sure how I could explain my point any clearer. It is really weird to argue "hafling looks like kids" = romance ok = sex not ok.
*If* you seriously wanna compare halfling to children, then you should be against them being romancable by medium sized characters as well. >.<
Otherwise you're being very inconsistent. As for the discomfort some people have been expressing - Niara already addressed that in the post so discussing her particular images is going against her wishes. Besides, the ingame halflings (I trust you actually seen them ingame?) does not look like that. They look more like dwarves, with wider pelivs bones and much larger chests (not just breasts, but entire upper body). More like hobbits. :] And the reason Larian went with that design is most likely because they were afraid people would be of your kind of opinion. :]
"Maybe r/parenting" Ah. Yes. Bring it to the parental forums (that I already engage in, mind you) where they will literally be ready to call the social services if you do not parent your child the *exact* way they do. In *every* aspect. -_- I assure you that if I did, and they decide to view halflings as children, then they will be against romancing them as well -
because, grooming is still a thing that is frowned upon in society just as well. And to be fair, that would at least be consistent. :] Though, I already know that the parental forums are swarmed by a giant hive-mind of individuals that step on others to raise their own ego so I wouldn't care much for their opinion to begin with. Maybe you do? That's all on you then. :]
"Pretend like I don't live in a larger community" ? Wtf? O.o Yes I do, and in this community grooming is just as bad as having sexual encounters with children. *thinking* Which is the entire god damn point I been trying to get across all along. q _ q If you make that parallel, then romance should be off the table too. Where I come from, drawing that parallel and being like "romance fine, sex is not" would be highly inappropriate. That is literally my entire point that I been trying to make all along. . _ .
And wtf is the "knocking on your door" supposed to mean? :| That part literally does not even make sense.
And please... "No game, movie or studio has crossed this line" ? Really? REALLY? X'D The entire loli-culture is all over internet. :'] Take a good look at the Steam Store anime department and come back. Although, that is COMPLETELY irrelevant, cause Larian is by no means participating in that. Their halflings look
NOTHING like children. They look like small people, to a point where a lot of critics (read the Halfling Feedback discussion thread) says it gets comical and surrealistic. Saying that their height alone is making them look like children is nothing short of insulting to short people. :|
And for the very last time, I don't disagree with the graphic sex scenes being unnecessary. >.< Like I already said multiple times, I don't really see any point in RPing my character's sexual relationships. That's not my thing. But I am pointing out that you're being INCONSISTENT when you're trying to compare halflings to children as an argument to stop *halflings
exclusively* from participating in the nudity, but yet for some reason you'd still be 100% fine with them being romancable like any other humanoid creature as long as clothes are on. That is really weird and inconsistent and would definitely not fly in the "bigger community" where I live (that you keep nagging about), which I have tried to say like a million times now. <.<
Anyways. This conversation with you is literally leading nowhere. I have made all of my points as clear as I can in English so if you still don't get it then there is no way we'll be able to converse anyways. And while I am trying to explain my process of thought in a friendly way, you're just getting more hostile with each reply. Have a great evening, happy holidays and a happy new year to you. :]
EDIT: Also, one final thing that I apparently forgot to include. If we're going to pull in r/parents, then we can also ask the r/little people what they think. My point is - depending on which audience you ask, you'll get different answers. I have read plenty of complains from the little people (
individuals suffering from dwarfism) minority that they think it is insulting to compare them to children (there are interviews on the matter with a stripper called Tiny Tinxie, I think?). It is all about perspective. In the end, making one part of the audience happy will always displease another one - and Larian will have to chose wisely in this time and age.
Finally, the difference between Larian and Bioware is that Bioware's NPCs has never been player sexual - they always had set orientations. Which is fine, imo. I even prefer it that way as it avoids complications like these ones. But Larian's NPCs are player sexual and *IF* you start excluding people based on racial features WHEN you've already stated your NPCs as player sexual then you're definitely also opening a can of worms. Regardless of where they go from here, Larian is taking a risk. If they put enough effort into not making the smaller races even remotely similar to children (which I personally think they succeeded in), then I believe they'll be safe. Obviously, like I said - I agree that I personally would have other stuff where I'd rather put this money* at (like day and night cycle... More companions... More source books etc). So at this part I agree, but for a different reason.
* This money being the money directed in the animation department for the different kind of nude scenes; because like Niara already showed us - smaller humanoids will definitely require additional work from the regular medium x medium.
