A few thoughts.
1.) For quite some time, the "settings" in the united states and some other countries dictated that homosexual marriage was not allowed. So, people made do as they could, and continue to do so. While the climates in this particular region are changing to allow it as a constitutional right, or legally recognized state of partnership, a lot of people see it as a state of personal choice, not a legal right.
Which brings up: Why do we so desperately want to allow it in PlaneShift? What 'rights' would gay characters be receiving? Have the Octarchy made a decree allowing gay characters extra or lesser rights? Or is this simply a battle against the "Marriage Function" button.
Because frankly, there's better ways to go about this if it's just against Settings. Those gay characters would need to go about it in an IC manner, much like the LBGT community has done in real life in countries around the world: Make your voices heard, make it a reality. Why? Because Talad is absolutely correct: The setting that has been laid out is one where it is something that is either not mainstream, frowned upon, or what have you.
I will say this for you once: IF it is simply a matter of changing IG consciousness, we can go about it in a uniquely powerful IG manner. We CAN change the settings, ladies and gents. We have always had that power to some extent in this unique game.
However, if it's a matter of just being pissed about the "Marriage" function button, perhaps it's a twofold fight. We would need to change the IG culture, and then yes, like some of us are doing now, we need to rally to either completely remove the function or allow it to be a non-gender specific function.
So lets clarify where that battle is, first.
I think from what I've gathered so far in parsing over the threads, it's more an issue of the actual coding, which means that we just need to get rid of the marriage action or expand its functions. But that honestly does require a change in settings of some sort, because what if the Octarchy doesn't approve of these marriages? What if they're not going to legally sanction them? Hell, we've roleplayed lesbian and gay marriages for YEARS in planeshift. YEARS. Talad IS right that these are issues that have been beaten on before. Have we ever considered that MUCH like in some countries, it's just not OK by the government?
How are we, as the players of PlaneShift and the In-game characters, going to make it OK. Because we CAN.
See what I'm saying? We can't just shoot blindly from the hip in our rage while we're trying to make things 'fair'. I think we have a golden opportunity in this game and we need to actually go about it properly. This could either turn out really great, or really, really horribly.
Just my two cents.
There're going to be trolls who leap all over this post and say, "U don't even support LBGT bro" or shit like that.
Screw off. I support you representing it properly. Have some pride in what you do. Make a change and be the change. If the settings have dictated it thus far, we can now set our minds on changing the settings.
Wham bam.
[All that to say it's probably easier to remove the damn button. If we want to get married or change a name, we can just have a dev/gm/priest character perform the ceremony, and put in a ticket for a name change if you want. RolePlay, baby!]
