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Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,237
We have so far:

- Black American woman
- Nordic non-binary badass
- White American man
- Gay/Bi/Pan Polynesian man
- Half-Chinese Jamaican woman
- Kenny Omega (I don't actually know how to classify Mirage)
- A robot
- White American woman

That's pretty good.
 

Shadoken

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,206
Overwatch was celebrated for its diversity seasons before it even came out, and had a great marketing push for being "inclusive", sorry for noticing that this game has some stuff going on without it being a bullet point in their website.

Not really blaming you for making it. I was pointing out to the person i quoted that the Wait and see argument doesn't work. You created the thread now so I am going to judge it based on how it is right now. You cant really expect praise from everyone when the re are issues. Like others mentioned There is pretty bad Asian and Indian representation and thats a pretty big omission. People are going to criticize it.

American Diversity...

Just no pleasing people is there? The anti Diverse crowd hates this game for being "SJW" and now it's apparently not diverse ENOUGH?

Oh i get it , Be happy with what you get Amirite ? Because the races not being represented here are just abundantly present in every other game.
You dont have to go to extremes. Nobody is saying its not diverse. But dont expect everyone to universally praise it.

Your post reads like someone from the anti diverse crowd.

"Hey theres 1 black guy in the roster , Is that not enough for you ? you want more ? Theres no pleasing people is there? "
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 50374

alt account
Banned
Dec 4, 2018
2,482
Honestly, "be happy with what you get" was the theme of Soldier 76's thread for it being a late reveal in the middle of a PR disaster, so
 

sirap

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,210
South East Asia
No one here is hating on the Respawn's efforts, we're just asking for more.

And telling people not to complain is fucked up. Why do you think we're getting these characters in the first place?
 

Shadoken

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,206
And telling people not to complain is fucked up. Why do you think we're getting these characters in the first place?

Ikr. After years of complaining we are finally at this point , where the cast isn't filled with white people and 1 token black guy. And now when people ask for more people to be represented its
"Is this not enough for you ? Theres just no pleasing people"
 
Oct 30, 2017
2,206
The one thing I often think about is why does it seem to be so hard for devs to create a diverse cast. You got overwatch that's still trying to make their first black female character. That games been out for years. Its strange they don't have a Asian character in this game. But why can't these devs just pump out different ethnic groups. It's like it's the hardest thing for them to do. Pick a ethnic group, design a character around it, release it. There is so much diversity in in this world that have never been represented. Africa alone has so much diversity. Would be nice to see more representation of people that are never used in games.
 
Oct 30, 2017
2,206
No one here is hating on the Respawn's efforts, we're just asking for more.

And telling people not to complain is fucked up. Why do you think we're getting these characters in the first place?

I think complaining is the issue. Constructive feedback is more tolerable and easier to work with. But yeah, people should voice their concerns so devs know what their customers want.
 

HiLife

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
39,678
More Polynesian representation. Roadhog was okay, but Gibraltar and Tai are the only ones I can think. And Jonah from TR.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 50374

alt account
Banned
Dec 4, 2018
2,482
Ikr. After years of complaining we are finally at this point , where the cast isn't filled with white people and 1 token black guy. And now when people ask for more people to be represented its
"Is this not enough for you ? Theres just no pleasing people"
There's so much they can do with 6 characters showing their face and having a skin, and they have announced 4 more legends for the year; I also don't think they hate either Indians or Asians

It's arguably better than Overwatch because it does some intersectionality without fussing or hiding informations

It's fine to ask but it's not like the game's done for the ages and will never change
 

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
Not really blaming you for making it. I was pointing out to the person i quoted that the Wait and see argument doesn't work. You created the thread now so I am going to judge it based on how it is right now. You cant really expect praise from everyone when the re are issues. Like others mentioned There is pretty bad Asian and Indian representation and thats a pretty big omission. People are going to criticize it.



Oh i get it , Be happy with what you get Amirite ? Because the races not being represented here are just abundantly present in every other game.
You dont have to go to extremes. Nobody is saying its not diverse. But dont expect everyone to universally praise it.

Your post reads like someone from the anti diverse crowd.

"Hey theres 1 black guy in the roster , Is that not enough for you ? you want more ? Theres no pleasing people is there? "

Or maybe I'm just bemused by the complaints in a cast of what, six? Let the devs keep at it and then let's see how things go.
 

Hella

Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,406
People are saying this is more diverse than Overwatch, but as far as I can tell the only thing this would have over the Overwatch cast is playable black women. People have pointed out there's little to no Asian or Indian representation.
Having a non-binary character is a triumph in my book. (Bloodhound, for anyone unaware.)

But more broadly, considering the number of character slots in Overwatch vs. Apeleg, I think the latter absolutely has the edge here. It is setting a high benchmark for future updates to uphold. I feel like it is a good sign for the game's future heroes, so by the time it has a cast approaching Overwatch's in size, I anticipate that it will be a stronger line-up. Of course it's always possible that Respawn will let me down here.
 

Nerokis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,567
Ikr. After years of complaining we are finally at this point , where the cast isn't filled with white people and 1 token black guy. And now when people ask for more people to be represented its
"Is this not enough for you ? Theres just no pleasing people"

Your framing just leaves something to be desired.

(WARNING: LONG RANTY POST ON A COMPLICATED SUBJECT I'M NO EXPERT IN AHEAD, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE)

"This game doesn't have a character representing this significant chunk of the world." Okay, sure, but population figures aren't the one lens through which to look at representation and diversity. It's about capturing particularity, enriching perspective, subverting a marginalizing default. "But the cast has no one from China, the most populous country" is a valid line of criticism, yes, but also...incredibly reductive, and a poor basis from which to dismiss such a promising cast.

Like, think about it this way. Black women make up 1/4 of the starting characters. For so many reasons, the fact that there are far more, say, Han Chinese in the world than there are black women doesn't at all mitigate how great that is. That just isn't how this works. At all.

Add in the whole American Diversity concept you've introduced to the discussion, and it feels like you're being a touch shitty. Diversity is diversity. And diversity isn't just some scientific attempt to reflect population figures, but also something that interacts with historical, cultural, and societal forces. When you invoke that American Diversity thing, you're doing two things at the same time: pretending that diversity works best when it's blind to specificity of experience, and weirdly enough, dismissing as "American" even the representation of populations who live mostly outside the United States. (By the way, for what it's worth, Indian and Chinese people are a hugely important part of the American fabric...)

Now, I think you're totally right to ask for Apex Legends to do better, and the absence of characters that represent the groups you've talked about is definitely a blindspot that warrants discussion. But it's a pretty damn good starting cast of 8 characters, and for all the room for improvement that exists, that reflects less a failure of diversity than things like cast size limitations.
 

Maneil99

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
5,252
Your framing just leaves something to be desired.

(WARNING: LONG RANTY POST ON A COMPLICATED SUBJECT I'M NO EXPERT IN AHEAD, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE)

"This game doesn't have a character representing this significant chunk of the world." Okay, sure, but population figures aren't the one lens through which to look at representation and diversity. It's about capturing particularity, enriching perspective, subverting a marginalizing default. "But the cast has no one from China, the most populous country" is a valid line of criticism, yes, but also...incredibly reductive, and a poor basis from which to dismiss such a promising cast.

Like, think about it this way. Black women make up 1/4 of the starting characters. For so many reasons, the fact that there are far more, say, Han Chinese in the world than there are black women doesn't at all mitigate how great that is. That just isn't how this works. At all.

Add in the whole American Diversity concept you've introduced to the discussion, and it feels like you're being a touch shitty. Diversity is diversity. And diversity isn't just some scientific attempt to reflect population figures, but also something that interacts with historical, cultural, and societal forces. When you invoke that American Diversity thing, you're doing two things at the same time: pretending that diversity works best when it's blind to specificity of experience, and weirdly enough, dismissing as "American" even the representation of populations who live mostly outside the United States. (By the way, for what it's worth, Indian and Chinese people are a hugely important part of the American fabric...)

Now, I think you're totally right to ask for Apex Legends to do better, and the absence of characters that represent the groups you've talked about is definitely a blindspot that warrants discussion. But it's a pretty damn good starting cast of 8 characters, and for all the room for improvement that exists, that reflects less a failure of diversity than things like cast size limitations.
Easy to say if black representation is good enough. It's not, not for an Asian community that has 0 exposure in games and movies
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,975
Canada
Upping the thread because I discovered a beautiful thing about our cover boi

KBRRz0b.jpg


And it's not even a sad story or something. Whoa. Shocked, it didn't take them a PR nightmare to put this out. /s

Good. It feels like theres more LGBT women in games than Men so its great to see more gay (bi?) males.
 

Nerokis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,567
Easy to say if black representation is good enough. It's not, not for an Asian community that has 0 exposure in games and movies

Of course it isn't "good enough" - it doesn't suddenly mean, say, Asian representation isn't imperative. I just take issue with framing that narrowly leans into worldwide population statistics and dismisses the diversity in the game as "American Diversity."

Again:

Now, I think you're totally right to ask for Apex Legends to do better, and the absence of characters that represent the groups you've talked about is definitely a blindspot that warrants discussion. But it's a pretty damn good starting cast of 8 characters, and for all the room for improvement that exists, that reflects less a failure of diversity than things like cast size limitations.

You're 100% right to call out the absence of Asian representation (this has been confirmed, right?), and I don't mean to diminish that frustration at all. Personally, I feel this is one of those cases where it's simultaneously true that this is a really good starting point and there's a lot of room for improvement, but that of course doesn't mean you're wrong to feel let down.
 
Oct 26, 2017
3,896
A videogame can only do so much, European representation as well tends to be thrown in with White Americans and maybe if we're 'lucky' there'll be a Scottish/French/German stereotype.

Apex has done about as well as you can expect.
 

Nimby

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,221
It isn't a contest. Both games have good things about them. Love the rosters in both, and there is always room for improvement too.
 

Kreed

The Negro Historian
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,110
Interesting how the thread was made without waiting then , ignoring a pretty sizable amount of the world. Ill praise it when i see it, most games end up this way.

I mean do you just want the thread to be full of praise without any criticisms ? hopefully they take it into account and dont just stick to one continent.

There is nothing wrong with celebrating this game as an overall improvement/going in the right direction especially when the majority of the industry doesn't even come close to what's being done here, even beyond ethnic diversity (ex: a non binary character). Plus with the characters not coming from Earth/not knowing the real world inspirations for all the characters, bringing up "US diversity" may be premature here.
 

Cordy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,351
Love the diversity and besides that the characters are just overall dope from designs and look. They did well.
 

CarlSagan94

Member
Nov 3, 2018
946
Very cool for diversity but Lord those designs are mediocre, especially compared to something like Overwatch.
 

Dreezy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
847
I see a lil Asian in several of the characters. For the time period I'd assume everybody's mixed lol
 

Acquiescence

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
You can score one for diversity, but not so much good character design. Was playing a bit of this yesterday and found the models and aesthetic quite unappealing.
 

Saint-14

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
14,477
I really like the characters, all the voice acting adds so much personality to them, it would be nice if they make shorts for them like Overwatch.
 

Piccoro

Member
Nov 20, 2017
7,099
We have so far:

- Black American woman
- Nordic non-binary badass
- White American man
- Gay/Bi/Pan Polynesian man
- Half-Chinese Jamaican woman
- Kenny Omega (I don't actually know how to classify Mirage)
- A robot
- White American woman

That's pretty good.
Lifeline is Jamaican, is she not?
At least her accent sounded Jamaican to me.

Edit: Sorry, didn't notice that line about her in your post. She's half-Chinese, cool!
 

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,945
It's a shame some of them are so stuck in the uncanny valley. Wraith's key art looks like a clay doll with a giant head and both Bangalore and Lifeline look off to me in their character select screen poses. They look fine during gameplay, but somehow look very rough in those up-close and prominent animations.
 

Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,237
Lifeline is Jamaican, is she not?
At least her accent sounded Jamaican to me.

Edit: Sorry, didn't notice that line about her in your post. She's half-Chinese, cool!

Yeah, her surname is Che (even though she pronounces it "shay") so I assume there's some Chinese ancestry there.
 

krazen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,157
Gentrified Brooklyn
I love it! Obviously OW is best in class on pure design since its a bit easier in their case cause its a bit less grounded in reality. But in comparison to current COD, Siege, etc...no contest. They need to keep that going
 

ElBoxy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,135
This cast is great but I feel conflicted that they got a white woman to do a Jamaican accent.

Edit: I'm willing to give Respawn the benefit of the doubt and assume she is mixed, but still..........
 
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Komii

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,554
Bloodhound was translated as a She for the Brazilian apex page and for the first time in my life I'm sad about getting a badass "female" character with no overdesigning to make her look feminine because it's taking away space from the non-binary folks. Like, i know portuguese is pretty heavy on gendering words but there are ways of making the language close to gender neutral, though translating the dialogue would be insanely hard :/

I never thought i'd live to see this day so i'm trying to process it all x-x
Even if cutting the gender neutral bit is bad, they'd usually have translated as a man


Also im probably playing it in english now

Edit: wait i fucked up, they ARE using neutral language, the female forms were because they hooked all terms to the word "pessoa" which is feminine and "lenda"

But their quotes all use female forms
 
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Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,511
Ibis Island
One thing that I found a bit odd. Pre-launch Everyone was saying Mirage was white. But he looks Hispanic to me. Am I missing something?
 

Maligna

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,816
Canada
Bangalore could also be in reference to the combat engineering tool colloquially known as a "Bangalore torpedo", which is my guess. I'm surprised this isn't more widely recognized, tbh; those things have been in media for decades now.

Yup. Immediately thought of the opening Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan when I heard the name.