Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General A Shocking Experience

Imagine being labeled 'alt right' or 'troll' become one might dislike bestiality. I say let the game have it as I hate censorship, but criticizing bear sex is not nor should it be an 'alt right' or 'troll' stance. Of course, some people have trolled over its existence both pro and anti sides.

Anyways, the internet, you will have different people with their own beliefs. That's life.

I'm just here to discuss bg3. No other agenda.

I might just be missing something, or perhaps a post has been edited, but I’m not sure where “alt right” came from and can’t see anyone implying that everyone complaining about the scene with Halsin was a troll (as opposed to the publicity around it bringing out trolls).

But as I’m only going to be able to check in here intermittently this evening, I’ll just say it’ll be a bit embarrassing if we end up arguing in a thread where we’re also complaining how uncivilised other platforms are

In the interest of being open, I mentioned alt-right on the previous page, in the context of the stream forums going crazy after the bear incident. I was referring to a lot of the pearl clutching and "OMG BEASTIALITY, LARIAN HAS GONE FULL WOKE" threads as either alt right types or trolls. I differentiate between Conservatives and alt right if that makes it any less controversial

It is trolling in my book. And there is no pro and anti as there is no real bear. It is just some people trying to attract attention at a non-existent issue... and themselves.

The scene is great, full with irony and humor. On so many levels.

I strongly recommend those critics to watch the scene several times. Or is sex with every druid a bestiality? Oh, dear.

I hope they will never watch Bram Stoker's Dracula by Coppola. There are some scenes over there that are far more disturbing (and let's be honest, there are reasons one scene in particular is disturbing). Let's ban the movie and burn the records in a huge fire.

But like every other hysteria, it will die out. It is unfortunate that the steam forum was spammed with so many unnecessary topics. Time to move on.


I do not think it will come to that as the steam forum literally exploded with 20 similar threads on the same topic. In addition, I do not think I can add anything else to the discussion as I've said all I could on the topic in question. It is all personal opinion and I do not expect my opinion will be accepted by all.

Moderation is absolutely the key. No moderation, things become a cesspool in a hurry because the folks that want a real discussion self-select out, leaving the dregs.

We have *awesome* moderation here, and as a result, conversations are interesting and informative. Welcome.

I thought the bear debate on here was relatively civilised. I cannot speak for the rest of the Internet though. Of course, our topic eventually got locked, but I think ours was more substance and less flame.

Mods also understand most problem actors, how to steer discussion, and when to warn or lock. But that’s because we have Red Queen and Composer.

I for one, thought the Bear scene was there as a laugh, and actually carefully placed in the presentation strategically. With this, they got to show there's gaymance for the Go Woke, but veered away from that quickly and with a bang so as to avoid the Go Broke. It was rather clever, in truth. There was no way in the Nine Hells the audience would vote *anything other* than that option, good play. And it *does* create buzz, and at the same time, not spoil anything - It's not a choice many players will make [I suspect, metrics will tell a month from now]. That said. If I ever roll a Druid, though, and I will sooner rather than later - I'm anxious to see if it's possible to meet that Grizzly *as* a Grizzly. Now that, that would be fun and to me, and a lot less awkward than a humanoid taking that challenge.

Now, advocate of the Devil mode.

In defense of those who do find it in poor taste - I get it. I most assuredly do. The majority of folks on these Fora will have at least some understanding of what a Druid is, or that Halsin is, in fact, more Elven than the average bear. Those on the Steam Forums will, on average, have that a lot less. So, for a person looking in from the outside, there is very little nuance here. Can you have sex with a bear? Yes. Is that, besides lethal, disgusting? Yes. Is that the thing that stood out for me? Yes. I will say that on Steam, then. I get it.

Bear sex isn’t the topic of this thread, so let’s move on from that here.

I rest my case.

Because to start with framing it as bestiality is dishonest and inaccurate. Framing matters. An animal isn't an animal because of what it looks like, but because of the content of its mental faculties. While they experience emotions and sentience they lack higher order thinking and they cannot provide consent to an act that is probably going to be physically harmful. Adult human brains can and do consent to all kinds of things - even if its harmful.

The problem with people on that side of the argument is that they feel rather than think - which is a barrier to true adulthood - and a terrible way to approach the world. Imagine being an "adult" and being so completely subject to your own emotions that you can't help but simply react to every provocation thrown at you.

moving on!

😂

Oops, moving on.

Saw that too late

Please edit my post as needed.

Hope everyone’s now on the same page! There was a bit of a lag there.

But to make it fair on those keeping their fingers off keyboards, any further bear sex posts after this point in the thread will be deleted.

Also, unnecessary political discussion is very definitely not on. I’ll just review the latest posts and may delete those as well.

😂

I am happy that many seem to agree about keeping discussions civil on this forum, tells me I am in the right place. I don't expect you all to be little angels, but I do expect people to go for the ball (the topic being discussed) and not the person (me). The experience I had was that some people didn't care what I said, they just wanted to break my will to resist. Well, glad it is over, I think I did the right thing leaving the thread, and maybe I'll also leave the Steam forum alone altogether. Looking forward to chatting with you all on this forum about the game when the full release is here.

About moderation - I saw yesterday a thread on the Steam Forums about bear sex as always, troll more likely. Closed by moderators in 50 minutes. And Valve employees work there for moderation, they have a colossal load.
I myself was banned there once for provocations to violate the rules of the community.

It's really hard to moderate any community, and you don't want to stifle discussion, but even one really toxic person can derail conversations and even cause other people to be afraid to speak up.

One thing I love about these forums, and keeps me coming back is that they try to train you to confront the argument and not the person. Personal attacks are right out as that one dude found out real quick yesterday. I think that mentality is typical of the steam forums where they really don't uphold a particularly high code of moderation and so it trains people to respond in an "over the top way" to even mild criticism.

Lack of moderation is a death sentence to any online community as Twitter has been finding out recently. It also forces the conversation down to the lowest common denominator mentally - preventing people from exploring thoughtful ideas.

Yeah, I avoid the steam forums like the plague. I have plenty of really good forums to be part of (including my own Guild forums) - that I don't have any need to dip my toe into THAT cesspool.