Some thoughts on the discourse started by that article about FFXVI director and how he apparently dismissed criticisms about how his fantasy game is too white-centric, apparently? Because otherwise it would break immersion for the medieval European-based settings? Hmm.
This is the article btw (which i confess i haven't read): https://www.ign.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-square-enix-interview-lore?utm_source=twitter
It's always been westerners who are loudest about lack of race diversity. The Asians fans I know of mostly are just annoyed that they're so loud, which I find interesting. Many Indonesian fans think it's lame that Westerners are so hung up about the lack of brown-skinned characters in Genshin's Sumeru, but I bet you that they'll be the first to be super thrilled for any bit of direct reference to Indonesia. "Ada Indonesia coy" meme and all that. So skin-colour isn't something we see but cultural representation we do?
And I think that might be it. It's not just that we're so used to being forgotten by the rest of the world that we don't think that diversity means we'll be included, though I feel that's also a major factor. It's also because we don't see "representation" through skin colour or physical features, the way Westerners are hung up about.
I think diversity is Nice. And it's maybe Not Very Nice for a successful series like to lift some aspect of underrepresented culture but not its people.
(Another thought. How some characters in Genshin are made to have brown-skin to highlights their otherness instead of, like, making it just part of who they are. Xinyan, Kaeya, how the desert people are made to be distinct from the forest people in Sumeru. Brown skin when everyone else is white can ostracize you, yeah, but the way these characters are designed sure make it seem like the other way around)
wow cohost is fun to just braindump like this huh. even less reason anyone will read it
