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CTR Nitro Fueled includes a racially insensitive skin for Tawna [see staff post: discussion guidelines]
- Thread starter Twenty5Thousand
- Start date
This thread turned to an ugly corner real quick. Wtf.
I think maybe there should be an official thread to discuss the issue. Spread awareness and all.
I think maybe there should be an official thread to discuss the issue. Spread awareness and all.
Well there's only one other Watermelon skin in the game, and it's this one:
Oh okay. Thanks. Can you post all the colors of the racer in op. Having different quality pics makes it too hard judgeWell there's only one other Watermelon skin in the game, and it's this one:
Did I say that? Read my post again, describing my particular experience has nothing to do with normalizing the stereotype. In fact, I fully agree it should be patched. My issue is with the amount of people crucifying the developer (a company with sometimes hundreds of people) without proper understanding of how development and QA works.
that white fragility at work
This tells me that (within that team of hundreds) there are next to 0 POC working on the game.
I don't find it hard to believe any offense was unintentional. I know about the stereotype but never made the connection with her auburn fur.
While it's possible that most of the people who worked on the game were white. I think it could also be due to a lack of communication between the devs and the higher-ups. The people taking decisions could all be white, while there could be some PoC devs, but who weren't listened to. (it's that Anthem article that makes me thinks it's also a possibility)
I imagine that 90% of the team has never seen this particular skin, it's the job of only a small part of a game developing team to check all the content. In any case they do need better QA.
In depth QA is often outsourced. I have worked with QA teams from Vietnam and India for example.
pretty sure they were just asking for a higher quality of the same shot and same character that's in the OP, not for you to put it into the OP
The higher quality image looks a whole lot different from the one the person who made this thread originally posted. They should definitely recolor her skin, that's just what the solution absolutely needs to be, even if I don't think they did it on purpose. I do think this thread started on a bad note in general though because the picture that was originally provided was inaccurate and made it look even worse.
I just checked in-game and the actual model has not a darker skin/fur than the base skin. It changes from yellow-orange to yellow-reddish. I have no idea what is up with the icon tho, that is just wrong and also does not represent the actual model.
Having said that: as a German, I am fully aware of the watermelon stereotype and saying that we Europeans should not be expected to know about it by now is not the right thing to go into that discussion like, at all.
Having said that: as a German, I am fully aware of the watermelon stereotype and saying that we Europeans should not be expected to know about it by now is not the right thing to go into that discussion like, at all.
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Oh. Yeah I guess that makes sense. I did post them before, but here:
I've always liked Crash so I'm going to hope this was done out of ignorance. If that's the case ND needs to better educate their employees on harmful stereotypes going forward.
TBH I just saw the higher res screenshot where you see the little black spots on her shirt this morning, that one wasn't loading on my phone/data yesterday.
So yeah, my bad on this one.
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Lol, I was poking fun at the fact that whenever there is a topic about race someone mentions they have a black friend.
I own the Switch version the OP screenshotted. She has slightly darker brown fur and the shirt has the watermelon seed design (which likely was just lost due to the angle/resolution of that particular screenshot). Please don't accuse the OP of editing images.
I feel like a lot of people are just coming in this thread having not played the game, seeing the picture in the OP in a vacuum, and then immediately going "it's so obvious!" Well yes, it's obvious when you have the picture of the skin in a thread pointing out a racially insensitive skin.
I don't find it surprising at all that Beenox didn't notice though, because before this thread I don't think I've seen anyone notice that connection.
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Apologies, later afterwards I saw that on my Switch version and she does look indeed different from the higher quality one, like it is in the screenshot. In general I did not want to accuse the OP specifically, I was assuming it was taken from some other source. Sorry again @OP if my message came across that way.
Oh. Yeah I guess that makes sense. I did post them before, but here:
The model looks fine to me but the icon is a bit suspect. Maybe they noticed it and changed the model before release and forgot the icon was the same?
All of the character icons are a bit darker, so idk.
The colour in the icon does look like the hair's colour though, so I think it's meant to be auburn/red rather than brown.
Reading up on this it sounds like it's more well known and historically significant in the US. Not to say it doesn't exist in the UK, but I've never come across it. You'd think that being based in North America, the developers would be more aware of this. Regardless of intention, and I'd be surprised it there's anything behind it other than ignorance, it should be patched out.
It's nice to see people on here will dunk on QA any chance they get when it comes to this stuff. QA's primary job is to find bugs, not report potential problematic content. And even if they did report it, QA that is outsourced or internals working minimum wage are rarely taken seriously in these situations.
If you want to blame someone, blame the people who made the decision to name the skin.
If you want to blame someone, blame the people who made the decision to name the skin.
Reading through this thread yesterday and the "hot takes" I was reading. So much ignorance... I bought this for my partner who is a POC, I don't know if I should give him the heads up on this.
If you think that this character skin would possibly make him uncomfortable, then tell him.
If I was personally in your shoes, though, I would also mention that I do not believe that the racial connotations were intentional and it's likely going to be fixed soon, but of course that is a lot more subjective decision.
I'm English though and I know about this stereotype. I guess the internet doesn't discriminate and so when racist memes about fried chicken and watermelon float around, people around the world come across them and are exposed to racism regardless of where they live.
He said he doesn't care, even if it was intentional!!! I fee another break up coming on :(
You know, maybe he doesn't want you to decide his own feelings about the skin for him.
This thread went up on a weekend; now that it's Monday however I am frankly shocked that there has been no response from either Activision or Beenox on this issue (which could be remedied by any number of incredibly-quick fixes). Even more disappointingly, not many people seem to be talking about this at all.
I was literally about to purchase this game, but will be holding off until this random racist blunder is removed. It is asking almost nothing to rectify this.
Reason #1,257 to hire POCs to work at your games studio: Because white people left to their own devices can apparently be this daft.
I was literally about to purchase this game, but will be holding off until this random racist blunder is removed. It is asking almost nothing to rectify this.
Reason #1,257 to hire POCs to work at your games studio: Because white people left to their own devices can apparently be this daft.
As it's probably stated, it's a racist stereotype , akin to the black people like fried chicken, grape drink/pop , eat watermelon. Hell the watermelon thing I think was part of some black face skit from the early 20s or earlier.
User Banned (1 Week): Ignoring staff post and misrepresenting concerns surrounding harmful stereotypes
I know i'm getting banned for asking this.
So because she is made in a game like that is racist, but if a black chick calls herself watermelon and is like her it's not?
You are "going to be banned for asking this" because you are aware that you are asking something in bad faith.
A video game character isn't real. It is not a thinking being that exercised agency in dressing itself like a racial stereotype. It is a 3D model created by developers [who were probably white] who, unconsciously or otherwise, inserted a racist stereotype into the design of the character.
Comparing this situation to "a black chick call[ing] herself watermelon" (which, by the way, wow, there is so much to unpack in this phraseology that I am not even going to try) is absurd.
If you want to communicate to Beenox that you want the name/skin changed, there is a feedback page for the game.
I wouldnt go that far dude. Im barely even playing my copy anymore and I still think its a decent game. It's very likely this wasn't intended and may even be changed. Lets chill out a bit here. The team behind this has done nothing to give us reason to not give them the benefit of the doubt here.
You missed your chance to stuff in a "Well why can't I say the word if they can" while you had the chance brah.
I can't believe that poster asked that question..
WHy would a black woman call herself a watermelon in the first place. I actually laughed at how ridiculous the question is.
If I as an American can know about Zwarte Piet y'all non-Americans can know about the watermelon thing. Fuckin' Christ.
Thanks for sharing this link. If the developer has provided a place to receive community feedback then I will absolutely be using it to voice my disappointment in this situation and would encourage everyone to do the same.
Fucking hell, that's a bad look. Ignorant or not, doesn't matter.. patch that shit the fuck right out of the game ASAP.
No problem. It's good to be vocal about these things.
I sent a message suggesting them to change the name to "Strawberry Tawna"; it still fits the current skin design while removing the stereotype.
I literally said 'whoa' out loud, how the heck does this pass through QC? Hopefully this is just a one-off thing done by some rogue employee and not a systemic issue with the culture there.
You're lucky they only banned you a week for asking this stupid question