Also, the inofficial motto of this game is "Losing is Fun".
I think, however, that gc is triggered by the title of this thread already, and I too must wonder, because in its subtone it implies that somebody wants to specifically add homophobia as such into the game, but I could be wrong, where we should rather discuss about discriminatory systems within the game. That is, how do they start, how can societies fight them, how can a player fight it...
If you are a slave gladiator fighting for your freedom and your mere fight does not cause a public reaction GC is right about his point, there is no real societal reward for his plight for freedom other than the individual advancement. If that gladiator however won the fight, and already unhappy slaves and peasants saw this a sign to take up arms and actually start a fight for good then the harder path would become immensely rewarding in the long run.
Portrayal of black and white is material for fundamentalists and children, in no action on the world there is true good and true evil, as both can root from the other. I would like to see discrimination in game because I would like to play a spartacus like story, or an allies fighting nazis type of story. Others might like the opposite for their own reasons, and each has their point. I suppose a horde of Elves raiding a dark fortress is seen as an act of evil by the weak goblin peasantry, while the elves consider it a good deed, for the goblins are a menace to be stopped in their opinion. Stripping the game of this ambiguity forces the player to asume a more directed role and leaves little room for roleplay, whereas a ambiguous world can lead to soo many stories.
A curious goblin might know where that artifact is hidden, and you killed his entire fortress, now you still want to find it, so you spare him. On the way to the far away artifact the two of you become friends, and suddenly the hero realizes that the goblin is a feeling entity, while the goblin realizes that his fortress caused alot of suffering questioning his own believes. A guy who lost all his friends in an elven raid becomes grudged against the elven race and sets out to end them all, but then he is shot and hurt by a fellow dwarf and left to die. Next thing happening an elven group picks him up and heals him, again making the hero question his own beliefs.
Sure, I mentioned stories on the good side of the spectrum, but it would be equally interesting to see a good fellow try his best, only to be slowly turned evil by his surroundings. These are interesting story elements, and the game should be able to track and understand them in a meaningful way.
A grandfather with a grudge against humans should be able to teach said grudge to his children. A grandfather in a humanhating society, who made friends with the humans, should also do so.
Also I do not like your views about having no power as an individual. It is wrong. An individual can shape society in great ways. Either by being a politician, or artists, or a great warrior. Sure he will need the help of others, and external circumstances to form a situation where his actions become meaningful for a greater group, but there has been many points in history where the individual shaped the forms of society, though historians might disagree with me on that one due to their historical aproach to things.
The thing is GC, while I agree with many things you say, you have a way of portraying your beliefs that feels autocratic. It feels as if you cannot tolerate that other people want to play the game in a way you don't like and this is one reason in my opinion, why you keep on angering people, causing rash reactions, with your posts. Now, I migth be wrong on this and it could only be my view on the things, and if it is so I apologize in advance.
Other people here, tend to be quite provocative towards GC however, so I suppose part of his style of posting is due to reacting to direct or indirect insults caused by some....
A while back we did not have these types of problems on this forum, I hope it can go back to that state...