Ethnically Diverse Legends

As much as I don't want to slam your post because people will hate me, I disagree. Being politically correct, or ethically diverse should come SECOND to character designs that respect gameplay mechanics and meta. This is partly why the concept of Bloodhound being non-binary and Gibralter being gay makes me angry, it has NOTHING to do with how their characters play, and even contributes nothing to their lore, its just a PR stunt from EA.

It's a weird thing that some companies are more likely to suffer from social stigma than others. Valve has a game where the bomb planters are terrorists and seemingly all ethnically the same. Had the game not have been made twenty-something years ago, that would NOT slide.

You could argue EA were treading shallow waters making a presumably hypersexualised Spanish/Mexican (correct me if I'm wrong) female character that steals things.

Just my two cents,

Dantenate

Source of "racism":

https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/mexican.htm

I personally was never bothered by the non binary news of Bloodhound.  It added to her mysteriousness before the gender reveal and it made sense that a mysterious tribe such as her's might simply not acknowledge a concept of gender.

As for Gibby though, the fact that he was gay added nothing to him.  It didn't fit anything else established with his character and it didn't add anything to his character.  It just felt like a PR stunt and nothing else at that.

Very interesting conversation, I appreciate the response.

You kind of pointed out a flaw in your own argument: if it doesn't matter to the lore, or the character's performance (as it shouldn't), then you're arguing that it doesn't need to be there right? On the flip side, if it doesn't matter to YOU and it's not affecting the character's lore or gameplay, then what harm is it doing exactly? If it doesn't matter then just let it be.

Having representation in that form won't make me like that character more just because I relate to them, I'm not going to be drawn to that character every time I play the game, BUT I think it's still good to have some diversity in the games that I play because maybe I don't like being left out of a community that I really enjoy being a part of. What exactly is the problem with a PR stunt about gay or non binary representation? Are you upset about the fact that they did something to please the public or the fact that there's characters you can't relate to? 

Regards,

Sienna

@Carnellian Damn good point, and you're right, you can argue the other way (you're the first person to ever argue that to me).

It's saddening to hear people eat up the concept of inclusivity, because in my perspective it does the opposite, it puts the people in question in the spotlight. Let me explain.

I think of inclusivity like a sampling method of an experiment, the only way it can be generalised (or more literally in this case - fade into obscurity) is to use a strategic sample. A strategic sample is designed to represent the population, meaning it can be generalised. The problem is, inclusivity such as this involves creating one of each type, without respecting the proportions in a real population. I mostly just used wikipedia and williamsinstitute demographics for this, but the probability of a non-binary and gay in a sample of 12 (almost 13) is astronomical.

The problem I have is why they feel the need to do this? To go out of their way after releasing a character just to give them a label to make people happy. Why do people need this to be happy? I'm not shunning Gibraltar for being gay, I'm shunning the people who thought it was a "good" thing to make him so.

(please read this part fully)

I don't particularly like the phrase "It's okay to be gay". It should be "It's okay to do be whatever you want, just don't think it means anything, and don't feel obliged to tell other people". If you want to feel accepted, don't point out the fact you're not.

Thanks,

Dantenate

What you said at the end was seriously concerning. I don't know your demographic, but please, I encourage you to not think like that. 

First of all, inclusivity is not about representation according to how real-life populations work. You are incorrect on that. If that's how you think representation should be weighed, minorities would suffer, and they DO. The point of inclusivity is to combat that stress and negativity that comes with being a minority. People NEED and I emphasize that word, NEED to know that they are known, spoken for, accepted, and represented in life in as many ways as possible. Not only is it for their mental health, but also for the many other aspects, like financial and educational.

Now to talk about your statement at the end: Think about all the products that exist in your community that are not aimed for you, but are created for a minority. How would anyone know that the particular group needed/wanted that product without them speaking up? If minorities don't speak up about the injustices or lack of something, they will never get fair treatment or representation, the world is blind to things like these unless someone speaks up. I know what you're trying to say, sometimes people "speak up" in very frantic, awful ways or they come off as annoying, I know what it's like. That can't be helped, you can't silence every annoying person sadly. But what you're conveying is that every person in a minority group should be quiet, which is something that's never going to happen, it's also going to reflect on your character. 

My saying is: If you don't understand what the person is thinking/feeling, you don't have a right to tell them what to do. Just stay out of it. Again, I don't know your demographic, but think about whether you as a consumer have been represented in video games or even TV. Are you over-represented? Have you never had to think or worry about representation in your life?

Once again, 

Thanks for your response 🙂 

@CarnellianNot trying to burst a bubble but you wanna know what happens when you let americans do literally anything that represents your country?
Think of Overwatch.

Hell im german and if we'd get a german character in the game i'd probably be pissed.