This is what I was thinking, the trailer had zero black or dark skinned characters other than .... whatever those things are.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Little Devil Inside has some troubling African caricatures [up: developer response, see threadmarks]
- Thread starter Yasuke
- Start date
This is what I was thinking, the trailer had zero black or dark skinned characters other than .... whatever those things are.
I didn't see that, and i think it is important that more people get sensitized about racial content.
I think chinese men with big hats and chopsticks would have been more recognised as racial content, and that is somewhat a problem.
But where lies the border that is not meant to be crossed?
What makes this ok
and the tribal people in the other game not ok?
Your example could be argued to be appropriation. There is definitely some sensitivity around the topic of appropriation, and that is a very worthy topic of conversation. That being said, there is a HUGE gulf between appropriation (which is not used to mock or ridicule) and a racist caricature. One is substantially more offensive. This feels like whataboutism to me.
I can't tell if serious or whether the matter of context has suddenly sublimated in these discussions. LDI casts a decidedly different picture than HZD in the way culture has been appropriated and/or modified.
User banned (1 month): concern trolling on racial issues
Come on... all the models in this game are caricatures... aren't devs able to do tribals now or what?
Even the masks are caricaturing themselves... with another painted mouth with a blowdart
Even the masks are caricaturing themselves... with another painted mouth with a blowdart
I am looking at them right now in my living room, hanging off the wall. I dont get the concern...
Completely completely off topic, but what is status with Tunic? Is that game still alive?
Hopefully early enough to change it well. This game looked absolutely gorgeous.
I think you can totally do "tribal" characters well, especially with masks. You just have to stay more fantasy and avoid the obvious stereotypes like dreads, skin tone, and big lips.
I think you can totally do "tribal" characters well, especially with masks. You just have to stay more fantasy and avoid the obvious stereotypes like dreads, skin tone, and big lips.
For the love of god, please tell me you forgot to add the /s to the end of that post...
I am completely serious. I think they both have issues and I would like their developers to address them and apologize.
I saw this and questioned what I had just saw, it didn't help when all the NPCs shown after were white.
User banned (1 month): concern trolling on racial issues
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This whole thing will go waaaaaaaay further than it needs to
Everything does these days
hehe, currently my most antecipated game. yes it is! the solo dev keeps us updated on the Finji discord, currently not a date tho (but its coming to Xbox One so it shouldn't take much longer).
I'm black, I don't identify with Africans because too many of them damn sure don't identify with us...
With that being said, these are masks. I get the argument against the typical black caricature and how demeaning it is, but these just look like some tribal masks you'd typically see in West African tribes, or Punu masks...
EDIT: Cameroon, Punu, Guro, Ibibio, etc...
With that being said, these are masks. I get the argument against the typical black caricature and how demeaning it is, but these just look like some tribal masks you'd typically see in West African tribes, or Punu masks...
EDIT: Cameroon, Punu, Guro, Ibibio, etc...
It's a South Korean Studio, so I think it's most likely unintentional. I hope they should be informed by this nevertheless.
User Banned (Permanent): Dismissing racism, History of Dismissal of Racism and Inflammatory Comments
I don't see a problem with the design. People are overreacting over nothing.
They're very possibly the only black characters in the game and they're being depicted as savages. Does that help either of you?
more like they can do anything, including soiling their game with offensive imagery
I do think it's an oversight. It's a very small studio in South Korea, so they may not even know this is offensive.
But it's easy to fix. Just change their skin color (make them red or green, like imps or demons) and the big, red lips and it's a lot better.
But it's easy to fix. Just change their skin color (make them red or green, like imps or demons) and the big, red lips and it's a lot better.
Honestly, I hope the devs were just unaware, realize that caricature is a mistake, and then change it. It isn't a big deal at all if they fix the issue.
It sucks. It used to be that developers could be as racist as they wanted to be... What an awful world we live in. Damn those evil, evil progressives!
/s
It sucks. It used to be that developers could be as racist as they wanted to be... What an awful world we live in. Damn those evil, evil progressives!
/s
It is an easy change and the dev may have made a honest mistake. But more knowledgeable people from PlayStation must have seen it as well, how could they think this was acceptable?
Because the tribal people are not binary in terms of bad guy or good guy. There are tribal characters in Horizon who have names, personalities and motives that are not simply chucking spears.I didn't see that, and i think it is important that more people get sensitized about racial content.
I think chinese men with big hats and chopsticks would have been more recognised as racial content, and that is somewhat a problem.
But where lies the border that is not meant to be crossed?
What makes this ok
and the tribal people in the other game not ok?
Including adding black characters that aren't savage caricatures.
Yes, both do have issues but they are decidedly different. Horizon's appropriation has been modified to take a bit of everything, mix and mash it and distribute it among every tribe each comprising of folks of varying race and gender. The player, inhabiting Aloy, was an outsider to one of the tribes due to circumstances of her birth whilst still being part of the greater whole. Her role was not that of a colonist. So, the appropriations are deliberately haphazard and superficial.
Contrast that to LDI where there are juxtaposition of what seemingly looks like an adventurer from "Civilized and posh" Victorian/Elizabethan England is sent on a quest by his old english mentor to deal with encroaching threats. One of these threats are people, distinguished by their dreadlocks and masks, identifying them as one of African tribes- who IRL's history have been reduced to caricatures as "threatening Savages" that the white man brought enlightenment to (i.e. colonized them). So, the game essentially plays out the sequence from which caricatures have been derived and exploited in pop culture throughout the last few decades in tv shows, movies and games.
Last edited:
They can do a lot, they could just not put racist imagery in their games for one
It's an intentional part of the setting they chose to make this game in. The white Victorian civilized society and the savage African fetish folks? That's super intentional.
Maybe not intentionally harmful, coming from a place of privilege and ignorance, but still racist and harmful and needing to be addressed before I'm willing to touch this game. If they're that ignorant in the time we are in right now then I kinda doubt it's unintentional.
Yeah, that definitely needs to be addressed.
I hate that this even needed to be pointed out lol
the fact that it does, shows us why it was able to make it into the game and into Sony PR material without someone pointing it out. probably not a single black person had any decision making power in this entire process.
