Yeah please never respond like this to a trans person, just a heads up. You are basically letting them know you see it as a “issue” to begin with instead of them just giving a polite heads up.
Ask yourself ‘would I respond like this if two guildies were letting me know they were getting married and moving time zones so they would have a different game schedule?’- if not, then don’t respond like that.
Yeah.. there’s nothing wrong with this response. It’s the same way a lot of people would respond to anything going on in someone’s life.
A lot of people have a lot of things in their life; and unless you’re good friends with someone, you don’t always want to be in the middle of everything. He told Zhu that he doesn’t have a problem, but he doesn’t want to have a conversation about it because this is where he goes to play a game.
Theron doesn’t push his own life onto anyone (You’ve never seen him push any of his RL issues onto anyone in this comic), and more than likely expects the same from others.
sorry Mari but its the exact same thing as someone saying “i need to walk my dog real quick before the raid” and being like “Whoah hey i come here to play a game, not listen to you talk about your dog”. The “I dont want to talk about this i just want to play the game” is a cop out that people use anytime they want to avoid anything that makes them uncomfortable
It is not at all the same thing. How can you even make that comparison?
One is a very personal thing that a person goes through(transitioning) and the other is a “afk brb” moment. Two totally different playing fields.
I really doubt he would “whoa I come to play a game” about a dog comment. As opposed to something as personal as the other.
Why is it okay for people to demand this discussion takes place? But it’s not okay for someone to say they don’t want to discuss it? He has said he doesn’t have a problem/issue (maybe not the best choice of words) and just wants to play without getting personal.
Remember the last time Theron mentioned something personal about himself?
Remember when he was involved in the “personal life” of Orhan and Sarah? Look how that turned out pre-One Crit Wonder. Could be a reason he doesn’t want to be involved in personal things.
He doesn’t want to discuss it, that should be respected just as much as Zhu wanting too. His word choice could have been better and really that seems to be what has made people bring out their pitchforks.
I’m glad he responded like this, It shouldn’t of been a wish fulfillment “Everyone rejoice!” It’s not really a big deal to begin with, You’re trans? Okay, go about your day and grind some mobs like you had done previous nights.
He has no problem with it, he’s just indifferent. Why is that seen as bad?
p.s and indeed + on the “respond to this as a trans person” but like the point is its very rude to respond to this as any personal information. This is exactly how people feel unwelcome. the fact is that the people behind the characters are real people. So you might be like “got to go pick up my kids”. “got to have heart surgery tomorrow” , sorry we cant raid today but we have to go protest against the people trying to take away my right to see my husband in the hospital. If people bringing up their real life is a burden to you, then you can ignore it along with the trolls
I don’t understand how Theron’s response could possibly even get some sort of stigma. If he says he’s fine with it, then there seems to be no problem unless you’re worried he’s gonna pull the rug in the middle of the raid and harp on Zhu.
People very much like to look in Zhu’s lens, but fail to see it from Theron’s perspective…or that Theron has a different perspective. It’s not like he can just ignore it since the person went face to face with him so he has to give a response. Understand that Theron is also a human being with his own personal set of baggage. No one should be forced to deal with someone else’s personal problems.
Like it or not my hobby is more important than your existence, I don’t care if we raid together. I want to enjoy my Hobby not feel like I should coddle you or celebrate you if all I want to do is play a bloody game.
Yeah she looks proper bummed out. Might just be the overwhelmingly positive feedback from everyone else, then Theron being indifferent might have been a bit of a blow to her. (Not his fault, though)
The problem is this isn’t indifference- indifference would be just a shrug and ‘ok’. This is him taking the extra minute to type up and let her know he doesn’t even want to think about Zhusan as she exists- rather than like take two seconds to go ‘ok’.
So yeah not surprised at how poor Zhu is reacting here.
” This is him taking the extra minute to type up and let her know he doesn’t even want to think about Zhusan as she exists”
That’s a rather twisted take on what’s being said.
Theron says he heard what she’s going to talk about, that he doesn’t have a problem with anything that’s happening; but doesn’t want to have a conversation about it.
He’s here to play the game, not get wrapped up in someone else’s life developments; Just like he has never hoisted his own life developments on others in the guild. He comes in to play a ranger, kill monsters, get loot and leaves everything about RL at the login screen.
‘Not wanting to think about Zhusan as she exists’ would be a dismissal of the whole situation and saying something along the lines of still calling Zhu a guy; and he did not do that.
there is nothing to misinterpret. Literally there is no reason for him to have said that unless he wants to make it perfectly clear that he doesnt want her or anyone else to burden him with reminders that the people on the other side of the avatars are human beings. Maybe i shouldnt been more clear with “asshat” comment before.
This doesnt suprise me but it is consistent with his character. Though Theron has shown to be helpful it has always been in order to further his own agenda. He plays this game for his own fun, but not just that. He has proven time and again to only help people if it furthers his goal, and to hurt others out of spite and deliberately ruin their fun. Like i was getting hopeful with is reaction to the Arena. However them WINNING was his goal. He just had to “lower ” his fun now for more “fun” later.
This has nothing to do with Trans or Trans issues. the fact is based on what we know He’d do the same thing if two guildies were discussing marriage plans in guild chat or a chat channel. Or someone brought up their kids.
She didnt ask anything of him, just a second of his time to tell him her real gender (which happens ALL the time in games like warcraft especially with all the guys playing women characters to look at their breasts) and was trying to be KIND enough to explain the confusion.
its like i said “how dare you ruin my fun by bringing up that you are a human being”. She didnt ask him for dating advice, or to write a reference for a job. or ask him to speak in her name to another guildy about some guild drama.
I kind of have to agree with Mari. You are pushing a lot of your own personal experiences and preferences into your replies.
I have responded in a similar way as Theron to a (then) good friend who was going through the transition. They understood I had no issue with them doing what they were doing to be themselves, but didn’t want to talk about it.
Not because I didn’t think they existed or any other reason – I just didn’t want to get overly involved in that part of their life. To me it seems like a very personal thing for a person to go through. We ended up becoming very close (though never really discussing the transition beyond, it was a thing that happened) and they seemed to be totally okay with that. I drove them to and from appointments, we didn’t even talk about it in the car.
I still treated them like the same person they were before, cause they were still the same person. I fumbled with the wording for a while, which usually just made them laugh. We ended up as great friends before they moved for work.
Not everyone is going to have the same reaction to someone “coming out”. Just as not everyone is going to have the same preference as to how other people do handle it.
To be fair, if I had an issue with it, but I knew that my guild didn’t, I would give this response.
If I were Zhusen, I’d piece that together as an immediate possibility.
A guild is a very social thing, and for the people who don’t care, this is a non-issue. So saying you don’t have a problem but don’t want to get into issues, could be translated as, “I don’t like it, but don’t wanna be the asshole, just drop it.”
Because coming out is a big deal. Like, if you can grats someone for killing 1k rats, but you can’t for someone finding themselves?
Pretty much this. Like if I had come out to someone and they said this (which some family members have done) I would immediately mark them as ‘unsafe’. Because this isn’t ‘getting into issues’- this is just me letting people know how to address me and me living. People who automatically translate me just living my life in a healthy happy way for me as ‘issues’ are, frankly, people I know who do not only not care for me but do not have my back.
Like seriously it takes less time to go ‘already heard! /thumbs up’ than this frankly insulting spiel Theron gave. He’s the one ‘bringing up issues’ or making it a issue in this case- Zhu was just being polite and giving him a heads up doing him a favor so he wouldn’t be confused as to why everyone is now calling her ‘her’.
I think everyone is harping on his word choice a bit much… He wasn’t that sensitive a guy to begin with but obviously when he’s got something to say he says it but everyone makes the jump from awkwardness to assholeness just off four panels and being just as judgemental as you’re assuming him to be. Not like you have any context and we’ve all had moments where our words come across in a way we don’t intend.
There is always the possibility that Theron has his own mountain of real life issues and uses the game as an escape thus now wanting someone else’s “issue” to be added to it.
I’m not saying it was the right response, but I can say from personal experience that a lot of people who try to divide an mmo’s social and game aspect have something going on within their own life.
The other option is that Theron is just a straight d-bag. Which would be sad. I always see him mas more of the off-beat but harmless guy. That would suck for him to end up this way.
Having given it some more thought, the first of your suggestions is my theory as well, until proven otherwise. My impression is that Theron does indeed have some sort of issue, but I don’t think it’s with Zhusen as such. He gives off more of a defensive vibe to me, so I’m thinking it could be that he has some serious RL issues of his own, that the game is his haven where he escapes from those issues, and that he really, really doesn’t want any irl things to remind him of his own problems.
(Granted I’m a bit partial, he’s one of my two favourite characters and I really don’t want him to go Full Jerk).
I WILL NOT CONFIRM NOR DENY! But seriously I do enjoy the idea that someone in that guild sees all Theron’s ego, snark, and occasional trollish tendencies and likes him anyway. He’s got way more layers than the comments for this strip are giving him credit for. Coming through sabotaging Orhan and showed way more loyalty to Murd than he deserved at the time. Lys even managed to get him to a teamwork break through. However this goes I hope it shuts up the folks branding him a selfish asshole like all that didn’t happen.
I normally don’t comment on these but seeing all the positive and negative comments about Theron’s response I just wanted to chime in real quick.
The way I interpreted his response was positive. He said he heard what she wanted to talk to him about and was ok/good with it. “Ok” here does not mean some indifference. He’s saying he feels it is a normal thing in our society and doesn’t warrant a long convoluted (sp?) conversation regarding it (just like I personally feel we need to do for people coming out as gay /trans / etc). It should just be something you acknowledge and move on from. Sure it’s a big change to the person and loved ones but I would really like for it to become a normal thing as in “My favorite color is blue”. By de-escalating the idea that it’s a huge thing we can normalize it and this will help teach the young of our society that it’s an ok thing and they no longer need to hide their “choice” from society
While I’ve been happy to see everyone’s happy accepting responses so far, I’ve also been holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. There had to be conflict in the storyline somewhere. In my head I had guessed it would be one of the random guildies who had a problem with it, not one of our main characters.
I can see this as being consistent with Theron’s character, based on his past history of self-interest and not wanting to get involved with things (sticking with Orhan etc.) But he’s grown some (starting the PvP team with Murd, leaving the Order in spectacular fashion). But maybe not as much as I’ve hoped, yet. It’s an opportunity to be a learning experience for him. We shall see how it plays out.
Something about Theron’s response makes me wonder more just what he does in the real world.
To throw in a couple of cents; I don’t think it’s a negative response, given Theron’s sort of an ass. As much tension surrounds the issues in the real world, I can understand a desire to keep something so very serious and personal separated from mass-slaughter of NPCs.
This is how I feel with my guild. Love the peeps, lets go gank world quest zones before the raid tonight or run a newbie through some mythics. But personal shit? Not interested.
Exactly. Some people do like to share personal stuff, and that’s fine, but I don’t really care, and you don’t really care, and that’s fine too. He’s not affected by it, he’s not invested in it, so it’s not a big deal for him. He’s already shown that for him RoQ is about playing the game, not about being a socialite. Plus, i dont think Theron and Zhu are all that close, based on what we’ve seen. Zhu and Vedrana had their big bonding sesh, but most of Zhusen and Therons interaction in the comic seems to have been in the treasure hunt arc.
Hrmm Theron probably should’ve said things in the reverse order here. “I’m fine with it, but i’m just here to play game not get involved in irl stuff. So i’d rather not talk about it”.
As things are now he accidentally left things open for misinterpretation.
Exactly, I don’t there’s anything wrong with him establishing some boundaries in his video game escapism. Indifference and acceptance aren’t mutually exclusive and it isn’t a crime either. It’s not like he’s done anything to treat Zhu differently than before, not that they were best friends to begin with.
Whenever you feel the need to start a comment with “No offense,” you might want to reconsider the follow-up. If your game involves human beings (even one playing as elves or half-dragons) there will always be real world “issues”. Games don’t exist in a vacuum. Zhusen wants to be acknowledged for who she is and as we know, game spaces can be really toxic for trans people. Theron’s reply can’t be divorced from that context. He may have the luxury of thinking it can be, but Zhu doesn’t. I suspect we’ll see that explored.
But nowhere did Theron say he wouldn’t acknowledge that Zhusen is female/transitioning? He just didn’t want to talk about it. He’s heard what “the talk” would likely be about and he didn’t want to discuss it further.
He said he had no problems or an “issue” (again, probably poorly worded – but this seems to be entirely what everyone is upset about) Zhusen transitioning/transition. Time will tell if this holds true or not.
But I suspect as every story needs conflict, this will likely lead to other members saying he was out of line/not accepting yaddayadda. Theron has always seemed to be blunt about things.
Based only on that comic, I would maintain that Theron makes an effort to ask to put it aside. It’s just not welcoming: it’s a bit like the difference between acceptance and tolerance. Being accepted feels good. Being tolerated feels kind of crappy (and being out and out rejected feels worse). In this case, a contributing factor is that coming out is pretty fraught, so it can be easy for the person coming out to negatively internalize anything less than an energetic affirmation. I anticipated rejection when I came out and it impacted my reaction to people’s responses. It didn’t make tepid responses wrong, but it informed how I read them. Having had that experience, I err on the side of a strong positive response to this kind of news.
However, based on the next comic, I’d say Zhusen read it differently than I would, which is perfectly fine.
That’s… surprisingly fair. Not sure what I expected from Theron, but… not that.
Considering how he’s always been about the game, Yeah not a huge shocker.
Basically what my response would be.
Yeah please never respond like this to a trans person, just a heads up. You are basically letting them know you see it as a “issue” to begin with instead of them just giving a polite heads up.
Ask yourself ‘would I respond like this if two guildies were letting me know they were getting married and moving time zones so they would have a different game schedule?’- if not, then don’t respond like that.
Yeah.. there’s nothing wrong with this response. It’s the same way a lot of people would respond to anything going on in someone’s life.
A lot of people have a lot of things in their life; and unless you’re good friends with someone, you don’t always want to be in the middle of everything. He told Zhu that he doesn’t have a problem, but he doesn’t want to have a conversation about it because this is where he goes to play a game.
Theron doesn’t push his own life onto anyone (You’ve never seen him push any of his RL issues onto anyone in this comic), and more than likely expects the same from others.
sorry Mari but its the exact same thing as someone saying “i need to walk my dog real quick before the raid” and being like “Whoah hey i come here to play a game, not listen to you talk about your dog”. The “I dont want to talk about this i just want to play the game” is a cop out that people use anytime they want to avoid anything that makes them uncomfortable
It is not at all the same thing. How can you even make that comparison?
One is a very personal thing that a person goes through(transitioning) and the other is a “afk brb” moment. Two totally different playing fields.
I really doubt he would “whoa I come to play a game” about a dog comment. As opposed to something as personal as the other.
Why is it okay for people to demand this discussion takes place? But it’s not okay for someone to say they don’t want to discuss it? He has said he doesn’t have a problem/issue (maybe not the best choice of words) and just wants to play without getting personal.
Remember the last time Theron mentioned something personal about himself?
Remember when he was involved in the “personal life” of Orhan and Sarah? Look how that turned out pre-One Crit Wonder. Could be a reason he doesn’t want to be involved in personal things.
He doesn’t want to discuss it, that should be respected just as much as Zhu wanting too. His word choice could have been better and really that seems to be what has made people bring out their pitchforks.
I’m glad he responded like this, It shouldn’t of been a wish fulfillment “Everyone rejoice!” It’s not really a big deal to begin with, You’re trans? Okay, go about your day and grind some mobs like you had done previous nights.
He has no problem with it, he’s just indifferent. Why is that seen as bad?
p.s and indeed + on the “respond to this as a trans person” but like the point is its very rude to respond to this as any personal information. This is exactly how people feel unwelcome. the fact is that the people behind the characters are real people. So you might be like “got to go pick up my kids”. “got to have heart surgery tomorrow” , sorry we cant raid today but we have to go protest against the people trying to take away my right to see my husband in the hospital. If people bringing up their real life is a burden to you, then you can ignore it along with the trolls
I don’t understand how Theron’s response could possibly even get some sort of stigma. If he says he’s fine with it, then there seems to be no problem unless you’re worried he’s gonna pull the rug in the middle of the raid and harp on Zhu.
People very much like to look in Zhu’s lens, but fail to see it from Theron’s perspective…or that Theron has a different perspective. It’s not like he can just ignore it since the person went face to face with him so he has to give a response. Understand that Theron is also a human being with his own personal set of baggage. No one should be forced to deal with someone else’s personal problems.
Woop there it is.
My hobby> your existence
Thankfully its the canon “selfish asshat” guy
That’s how I feel, to be fair.
If I had to make the choice, you’d likely be shocked at how many people would have to die before I gave up my WoW account.
I’m with you. Being trans isn’t an ‘issue’. He could’ve just said that he heard it and gave her a thumbs up but instead we get this exchange.
Like it or not my hobby is more important than your existence, I don’t care if we raid together. I want to enjoy my Hobby not feel like I should coddle you or celebrate you if all I want to do is play a bloody game.
I think maybe there is something else in play here from Zhusen towards Theron, from her reaction to what he is saying.
Yeah she looks proper bummed out. Might just be the overwhelmingly positive feedback from everyone else, then Theron being indifferent might have been a bit of a blow to her. (Not his fault, though)
The problem is this isn’t indifference- indifference would be just a shrug and ‘ok’. This is him taking the extra minute to type up and let her know he doesn’t even want to think about Zhusan as she exists- rather than like take two seconds to go ‘ok’.
So yeah not surprised at how poor Zhu is reacting here.
” This is him taking the extra minute to type up and let her know he doesn’t even want to think about Zhusan as she exists”
That’s a rather twisted take on what’s being said.
Theron says he heard what she’s going to talk about, that he doesn’t have a problem with anything that’s happening; but doesn’t want to have a conversation about it.
He’s here to play the game, not get wrapped up in someone else’s life developments; Just like he has never hoisted his own life developments on others in the guild. He comes in to play a ranger, kill monsters, get loot and leaves everything about RL at the login screen.
‘Not wanting to think about Zhusan as she exists’ would be a dismissal of the whole situation and saying something along the lines of still calling Zhu a guy; and he did not do that.
there is nothing to misinterpret. Literally there is no reason for him to have said that unless he wants to make it perfectly clear that he doesnt want her or anyone else to burden him with reminders that the people on the other side of the avatars are human beings. Maybe i shouldnt been more clear with “asshat” comment before.
This doesnt suprise me but it is consistent with his character. Though Theron has shown to be helpful it has always been in order to further his own agenda. He plays this game for his own fun, but not just that. He has proven time and again to only help people if it furthers his goal, and to hurt others out of spite and deliberately ruin their fun. Like i was getting hopeful with is reaction to the Arena. However them WINNING was his goal. He just had to “lower ” his fun now for more “fun” later.
This has nothing to do with Trans or Trans issues. the fact is based on what we know He’d do the same thing if two guildies were discussing marriage plans in guild chat or a chat channel. Or someone brought up their kids.
She didnt ask anything of him, just a second of his time to tell him her real gender (which happens ALL the time in games like warcraft especially with all the guys playing women characters to look at their breasts) and was trying to be KIND enough to explain the confusion.
its like i said “how dare you ruin my fun by bringing up that you are a human being”. She didnt ask him for dating advice, or to write a reference for a job. or ask him to speak in her name to another guildy about some guild drama.
she just wanted like 1 minute of his time
I kind of have to agree with Mari. You are pushing a lot of your own personal experiences and preferences into your replies.
I have responded in a similar way as Theron to a (then) good friend who was going through the transition. They understood I had no issue with them doing what they were doing to be themselves, but didn’t want to talk about it.
Not because I didn’t think they existed or any other reason – I just didn’t want to get overly involved in that part of their life. To me it seems like a very personal thing for a person to go through. We ended up becoming very close (though never really discussing the transition beyond, it was a thing that happened) and they seemed to be totally okay with that. I drove them to and from appointments, we didn’t even talk about it in the car.
I still treated them like the same person they were before, cause they were still the same person. I fumbled with the wording for a while, which usually just made them laugh. We ended up as great friends before they moved for work.
Not everyone is going to have the same reaction to someone “coming out”. Just as not everyone is going to have the same preference as to how other people do handle it.
Excellent response 🙂
To be fair, if I had an issue with it, but I knew that my guild didn’t, I would give this response.
If I were Zhusen, I’d piece that together as an immediate possibility.
A guild is a very social thing, and for the people who don’t care, this is a non-issue. So saying you don’t have a problem but don’t want to get into issues, could be translated as, “I don’t like it, but don’t wanna be the asshole, just drop it.”
Because coming out is a big deal. Like, if you can grats someone for killing 1k rats, but you can’t for someone finding themselves?
Meh. I’m reading too much into it maybe.
Pretty much this. Like if I had come out to someone and they said this (which some family members have done) I would immediately mark them as ‘unsafe’. Because this isn’t ‘getting into issues’- this is just me letting people know how to address me and me living. People who automatically translate me just living my life in a healthy happy way for me as ‘issues’ are, frankly, people I know who do not only not care for me but do not have my back.
Like seriously it takes less time to go ‘already heard! /thumbs up’ than this frankly insulting spiel Theron gave. He’s the one ‘bringing up issues’ or making it a issue in this case- Zhu was just being polite and giving him a heads up doing him a favor so he wouldn’t be confused as to why everyone is now calling her ‘her’.
I think everyone is harping on his word choice a bit much… He wasn’t that sensitive a guy to begin with but obviously when he’s got something to say he says it but everyone makes the jump from awkwardness to assholeness just off four panels and being just as judgemental as you’re assuming him to be. Not like you have any context and we’ve all had moments where our words come across in a way we don’t intend.
Could have been worse.
There is always the possibility that Theron has his own mountain of real life issues and uses the game as an escape thus now wanting someone else’s “issue” to be added to it.
I’m not saying it was the right response, but I can say from personal experience that a lot of people who try to divide an mmo’s social and game aspect have something going on within their own life.
The other option is that Theron is just a straight d-bag. Which would be sad. I always see him mas more of the off-beat but harmless guy. That would suck for him to end up this way.
Having given it some more thought, the first of your suggestions is my theory as well, until proven otherwise. My impression is that Theron does indeed have some sort of issue, but I don’t think it’s with Zhusen as such. He gives off more of a defensive vibe to me, so I’m thinking it could be that he has some serious RL issues of his own, that the game is his haven where he escapes from those issues, and that he really, really doesn’t want any irl things to remind him of his own problems.
(Granted I’m a bit partial, he’s one of my two favourite characters and I really don’t want him to go Full Jerk).
It seems to me that Zhusen has a bit of a crush on Theron, which is why she’s disappointed by his total indifference.
I am glad you mentioned that because it was I was going to say initially.
This is my suspicion as well, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
He is the closest thing to a bad boy of the guild, top DPS who won’t play by the rules, best PvPer with an attitude problem
Seems you might as well. (I spent five minutes trying to incorporate “you” and “zhu” rhyming, but it was all cringe worthy)
I WILL NOT CONFIRM NOR DENY! But seriously I do enjoy the idea that someone in that guild sees all Theron’s ego, snark, and occasional trollish tendencies and likes him anyway. He’s got way more layers than the comments for this strip are giving him credit for. Coming through sabotaging Orhan and showed way more loyalty to Murd than he deserved at the time. Lys even managed to get him to a teamwork break through. However this goes I hope it shuts up the folks branding him a selfish asshole like all that didn’t happen.
I normally don’t comment on these but seeing all the positive and negative comments about Theron’s response I just wanted to chime in real quick.
The way I interpreted his response was positive. He said he heard what she wanted to talk to him about and was ok/good with it. “Ok” here does not mean some indifference. He’s saying he feels it is a normal thing in our society and doesn’t warrant a long convoluted (sp?) conversation regarding it (just like I personally feel we need to do for people coming out as gay /trans / etc). It should just be something you acknowledge and move on from. Sure it’s a big change to the person and loved ones but I would really like for it to become a normal thing as in “My favorite color is blue”. By de-escalating the idea that it’s a huge thing we can normalize it and this will help teach the young of our society that it’s an ok thing and they no longer need to hide their “choice” from society
I agree with Bins…
While I’ve been happy to see everyone’s happy accepting responses so far, I’ve also been holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. There had to be conflict in the storyline somewhere. In my head I had guessed it would be one of the random guildies who had a problem with it, not one of our main characters.
I can see this as being consistent with Theron’s character, based on his past history of self-interest and not wanting to get involved with things (sticking with Orhan etc.) But he’s grown some (starting the PvP team with Murd, leaving the Order in spectacular fashion). But maybe not as much as I’ve hoped, yet. It’s an opportunity to be a learning experience for him. We shall see how it plays out.
My last thought: Wait till Lys hears about this…
Something about Theron’s response makes me wonder more just what he does in the real world.
To throw in a couple of cents; I don’t think it’s a negative response, given Theron’s sort of an ass. As much tension surrounds the issues in the real world, I can understand a desire to keep something so very serious and personal separated from mass-slaughter of NPCs.
Oh I think you know what he does for living…
http://wisconsingazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/baseball-hat.png
He can divert his attention in too many directions, though.
This is how I feel with my guild. Love the peeps, lets go gank world quest zones before the raid tonight or run a newbie through some mythics. But personal shit? Not interested.
Exactly. Some people do like to share personal stuff, and that’s fine, but I don’t really care, and you don’t really care, and that’s fine too. He’s not affected by it, he’s not invested in it, so it’s not a big deal for him. He’s already shown that for him RoQ is about playing the game, not about being a socialite. Plus, i dont think Theron and Zhu are all that close, based on what we’ve seen. Zhu and Vedrana had their big bonding sesh, but most of Zhusen and Therons interaction in the comic seems to have been in the treasure hunt arc.
Hrmm Theron probably should’ve said things in the reverse order here. “I’m fine with it, but i’m just here to play game not get involved in irl stuff. So i’d rather not talk about it”.
As things are now he accidentally left things open for misinterpretation.
Good or bad writing depending on the intent.
If this was Robin’s intent, hats off to her.
I suspect Theron’s seen meatspace concerns destroy guilds before. Hell, the thing with Orhan and Vedrana killed the Order of Swords.
Exactly, I don’t there’s anything wrong with him establishing some boundaries in his video game escapism. Indifference and acceptance aren’t mutually exclusive and it isn’t a crime either. It’s not like he’s done anything to treat Zhu differently than before, not that they were best friends to begin with.
Whenever you feel the need to start a comment with “No offense,” you might want to reconsider the follow-up. If your game involves human beings (even one playing as elves or half-dragons) there will always be real world “issues”. Games don’t exist in a vacuum. Zhusen wants to be acknowledged for who she is and as we know, game spaces can be really toxic for trans people. Theron’s reply can’t be divorced from that context. He may have the luxury of thinking it can be, but Zhu doesn’t. I suspect we’ll see that explored.
But nowhere did Theron say he wouldn’t acknowledge that Zhusen is female/transitioning? He just didn’t want to talk about it. He’s heard what “the talk” would likely be about and he didn’t want to discuss it further.
He said he had no problems or an “issue” (again, probably poorly worded – but this seems to be entirely what everyone is upset about) Zhusen transitioning/transition. Time will tell if this holds true or not.
But I suspect as every story needs conflict, this will likely lead to other members saying he was out of line/not accepting yaddayadda. Theron has always seemed to be blunt about things.
Based only on that comic, I would maintain that Theron makes an effort to ask to put it aside. It’s just not welcoming: it’s a bit like the difference between acceptance and tolerance. Being accepted feels good. Being tolerated feels kind of crappy (and being out and out rejected feels worse). In this case, a contributing factor is that coming out is pretty fraught, so it can be easy for the person coming out to negatively internalize anything less than an energetic affirmation. I anticipated rejection when I came out and it impacted my reaction to people’s responses. It didn’t make tepid responses wrong, but it informed how I read them. Having had that experience, I err on the side of a strong positive response to this kind of news.
However, based on the next comic, I’d say Zhusen read it differently than I would, which is perfectly fine.
I’m not sure about this anger towards Theron some people have. He’s treating her exactly the same as he would anyone else.
Isn’t that kinda the point?
The longer I stare at sad Zhusen, the harder I frown and the harder it is to see with these tears in my eyes…
…I don’t like sad Zhusen 🙁