Name: Prism Server: NA East Avesta Language: English
Prism is a casual, LGBTQ+ guild on NA East focused on being a community where its members can feel safe and build friendships with other players. We look forward to learning and growing to together in both PvE and PvP sides of the game while keeping a tight-knit feel to the group.
We might be right for you if you:
Want a relaxed, stress-free community
Enjoy being a part of LGBTQ+ spaces
Are interested in teaming up for just about anything
Can follow our rules, listed in Discord
2/13 Update: Thank you all for your interest! In order to keep the guild manageable and healthy we will be halting recruitment until further notice. Good luck finding your home in Arkesia!
Isn’t every guild LGBTQ+ friendly by default? In my 18 years of playing MMOs I’ve never once been part of a guild that cared about their members’ sexual orientation.
I just think it looks silly when people mention that stuff in their guild advertisement, wearing it like a badge of honor when it’s nothing special.
I am not looking to start an argument here, so this will be my only response on the matter. I just want to advertise my guild, just like everyone else posting guild ads on the forums.
No, groups are not LGBTQ+ friendly by default, they are not “everybody friendly” which is a comment I have gotten multiple times in my own long years of online gaming. Just because you don’t see any discrimination, or maybe don’t recognize casual homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, etc does not mean it does not exist. If you have never seen those things, damn, that is amazing. I wish I was as lucky. I wish everyone was that lucky. Unfortunately, that is not reality for many people and their experiences are what matter to me.
So why do I like to label my guild as LGBTQ+? Because I have seen what a safe space in an MMO(or anywhere) can do for people. Sometimes people just want their pronouns respected, sometimes people are figuring out who they are and having friends they made in a video game that they can get advice from helps them figure that out, sometimes people are just sick of hearing remarks like the f-slur or “go make me a sandwich” jokes. The list goes on and on. Running an LGBTQ+ guild means creating a community where all of those kinds of people(and more, we’re an inclusive bunch) will be happy and catered to.
If you look through the guild ads on here you’ll see a TON that list something like “looking for like-minded members” and many that don’t even describe what that means. This is me doing just the same thing, only specifically saying that these are my people simply by posting that the guild is LGBTQ+. It also means if you don’t like the tag or don’t vibe with that kind of community, you probably are not going to like the group. And that is okay, every guild is different and people should play how they like and with who they have fun with.
There is a sense in which you are correct, but you also hit the nail on the head with one of your own comments: “Most people aren’t inherently hating LGBTQ+ people, quite the opposite in fact. The problem only arrives when you get forced to deal with it, by LGBTQ+ people who have the need to make it the topic of conversation . . .”
There are two problems here: (1) Most is not all; and (2) there are a surprisingly large number of people who react negatively to comments just made in normal conversation that relate to people’s not fitting what people believe should be the norm. When a guy makes a comment about his husband, or about how hot a male character looks, people say they are being “forced to deal with it.” No one says that if the same guy talks about his wife or about how hot a female character looks.
It is oppressive, even if unintentionally so. So yes, people try to create safe bubbles. I have belonged to lots of guilds in MMO’s - some that are safe places and some that are not.
What’s wrong with that? If you don’t want to be around gay people, just don’t join their guilds.
The only one giving me backlash or reacting negatively to my ad is you and it is clear you have never been a part of a guild like the ones I run, and don’t actually know what being a member is like or what conversations happen.
Now please, if you want to debate the merits of safe spaces in the Lost Ark community please make your own post to do so. I am still just trying advertise for my guild, although the bump every time there’s a new post brings me back to the top so thanks I guess lol
You may not be doing this intentionally, so I don’t necessarily blame you for it, but comments like this come around like clockwork any time someone makes any mention of being queer-inclusive in games. It’s really exhausting.
It shows a lack of understanding—or at worst, a thinly-veiled outright rejection—of the lived experience of marginalized people in game communities. If you can roleplay some empathy for a moment: do you imagine that people would keep making explicitly LGBTQ-inclusive guilds if it was unnecessary? Can you not imagine that the exact reason that it comes up, that it is “worn on their sleeves”, is specifically because they have determined through their own lived experiences that to do so explicitly is the only way to ensure that they are creating a community in which they won’t experience some form of harassment or disrespect for being who they are?
If you don’t like it, then clearly it isn’t for you! You can just move on! It’s free to say nothing. It costs your time and others’ to spout off the same tired, shallow arguments that everyone has heard a thousand times. In the future, please do everyone else a favor and just say “maybe this just isn’t for me” to yourself and move on.
If you don’t understand something, try Googling.