The thing is, some visual novels are distinctly political or religious. That's going to naturally divide some people. I think it would be rude for an atheist to come into a thread for a Christian visual novel and start attacking it just because they don't agree. But at the same time, an atheist could read a Christian visual novel and still end up enjoying it, regardless of political/religious beliefs. Maybe not always, but it's possible.
Glad you brought this up. I used to be Christian but now I'm mostly atheist. I've met some awful people who were Christians, but some of my closest friends are Christians too. Some of my closest friends are also gay or trans. Politics and religion don't define a person's morality. So, while I acknowledge that someone CAN add people to their "do not collaborate with" list, I don't think it's a good idea to have one. Because instead of trying to find a common ground you just drive each other further apart. That's my opinion.Sapphi wrote: For example, I'm a Christian, and some of my best friends are atheists. Sometimes they make fun of religion or say things that hurt my feelings. However, at the end of the day, we can accomplish more together than we can alone. As long as I feel like they respect me, as long as they're not being toxic and negative towards me, then there is no reason we should not work together
I think it was obvious Quelcezot and I had similar positions and I didn't think it was right that I couldn't present a dissenting point of view. In my post before that (which didn't get a reply) I had written up something much longer, and it took me about two hours to cut down into something that I thought would get my questions across without being too offensive, but then I received the response I did and felt like I just wasted my time. It's hard to tell what is acceptable or not, "walking on eggshells" but with a blindfold or something. PyTom didn't shut down the conversation; it was already shut down when my post was made fun of (and I forgot to say this earlier, but thank you for intervening, PyTom).Quelcezot wrote:I stopped replying at this point because I simply don't agree with that. I understand that "crapping" is another spelling of "criticizing". That's fair enough, but since writing is a major part of creating a visual novel, I think creators should be open to discussing the meaning of words. I do not think some words should have a veto over being discussed, especially in a forum dedicated to the creation of visual novels. I do not think that discussing words that represent something sensitive is disrespectful.
This sentence equates someone who does not understand it as someone who cannot understand it and you'd be taking in a false representation of who they are. There's a lot of advice circulating around saying "be diverse in your games! make diverse characters!" but the moment I ask to try and understand what terms like "non-binary" mean (how can I write something I don't understand? You'd criticize me for bad writing at that point) and I'm shut down, it becomes impossible to fulfill that standard.trooper6 wrote:oh! That person understands trans identities...that is a person I could approach to collaborate in my trans dating sim!
For all the talk about people being racist, homophobic, transphobic, or whatever, I actually don't see much of it on this forum. Compared to most places the people here are pretty nice, mature, and intelligent. That's why I'm bothering to participate in the community. The politically-correct blacklist witch-hunts only serve to further divide people. Nobody here really knows me, and I don't really know any of you outside of our small Internet discussions. It's presumptious to think you can judge someone entirely on a few words they posted, and that's actually a problem I have with the wider Internet in general, not just here.
Personally, I love making new friends and learning new things. I'm open to making as many friends as possible. I do not have a blacklist of people -- if someone wants to collaborate on a game with me, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'm doing my best to reach out to others and understand them, but I can't do anything if they aren't interested. But it's still worth trying.
Also I think the off-topic anime/games forums should be kept. There's no reason to fix something that's broken and they're not doing any harm.