Except the book is written by a Polish author based on Polish mythology. What right does anyone have to deny Poles their cultural heritage?
The problem with your point of view is that you are basically denying Poles their cultural history just because they are white. Letâs say a Native American wrote a book based on Native American mythology and it only had native Americans in it because there were no African, European, or Asian people in Native American mythology. Now letâs say the book was made into a game. Would you insist on Scananavians being in it? Of course not, because it is insulting and demeaning to force a group of people to abandon their mythology.
Seems like a fair point to question whether this Witcher game is a good example; probably an unfortunate choice. But the articleâs point stands.
I keep wondering why Game of Thrones has no use for AsiansâŚ
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Clean up in aisle two. Calling the Donât Push Your Luck Dragon. Clean up in aisle two.
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Thereâs been some interesting conversation (actual conversation! In a gaming thread!) up higher as well, but thereâs always one (hundred) who has to crap everywhereâŚ
Where does GdaĹsk fit in that cultural heritage?
You may or may not be correct, but look at where youâre standing. Youâre in no place to judge -that-. But sure, itâs other people projecting. Sure. Sure.
By the way, the older you get, you will indeed notice more older players not having as much fun as âthey used toâ. That will also be them projecting, too. Yep.
I believe it is the uncharacteristic, relative to their actual number in Japanese society past and present, preponderance of whites in Japanese anime that has held me back.
But sure, man. Sure.
You are quite amusing, have you ever seen someone from Turkey? They are pretty white to me, so maybe they are in the game but you didnât notice them. Which brought me to another problem, how to define people of color? How much their skin must be dark to call them people of color already? And if white person sunbath a lot to the point his or her skin is quite dark, can you consider this person person of color? Or if youâre for example Kenyan, who live in a society full of black people, arenât people of color white people to you then? And isnât it quite racist to call some people PoC, because they are not majority in YOUR country? You see, you have very limited view on this issue, judging only by measures of your experience. But I would like to remind you, that unfortunately your country is not only country in the world and issues applicable to your country are not working anywhere else. What matters here isnât race, it is culture. There are many cultures around the world differ in demographical diversity, tradition, heritage, history. Witcher is product of one of those non-American cultures. And to your fallacy youâve told about making game âmore diversâ makes it more demanded. In Japan this game oversold its direct competitor Dragon Age. Considering that Dragon Age allows you to play as any race you want in the world populated by all different races, whereas Whitcher is only populated by white people, its a real mystery why Japanese prefer this game over game, where they can play as themselves and consequently can identify with the character more. But maybe the answer is they value strong authentic game with unique culture more than blunt try to create game which can possibly appeal to as many people as possible. And yes, I agree that America has problem with producing more diverse game. I would like to see games coming from Afro-American background which will explore this subculture more deeply than the superficial tokenism does in many games. But this is American problem, not African, not Asian, not Easter European.
And also Iâm looking to games from Africa. I hope that when this region get better, we will be witnesses of many interesting African games drawing from their culture and mythology which is rich and interesting as fuck. But remember that in most of those games you will play only as black person in the world inhabited by other black people. So no diversity there either. And thatâs good, because that actually make world of video games more diverse and appealing to much more people than forcing your culture to products of different cultures.
If people of colour were unfamiliar to medieval Europeans, then where did King Offa of Mercia get the idea for this coin from?
Offa probably didnât realise that the arabic text says âMuhammad is the messenger of Godâ.
welcome newcomer!
please read before posting. @girard already provided this answer via a polish blogger:
on a personal note: please donât use other peopleâs history to justify your own intolerance.
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The game has dozens of references to pop culture: Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, Pulp Fiction, Monty Python, Kill Bill, Fight Club, Madonna, etc.
This is not Medieval Poland Simulator. This is a poor attempt by trollies to shield games from evaluation and analysis.
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LoL is this still going on?
No matter what any of the âLet the Poles be Poles, Let (not)History be (not)Historyâ trolls say,
Offering options doesnât deny anyone anything. Not the dev, not the author, not the player.
You canât refute that because itâs simply true. Failing to accommodate a larger market/audience in a medium that it has become convention to work toward accommodation whether for the justness of it or for market gain is just that, a failure.
Itâs the way every society desires to move despite the shrill cry of some few drawkcab misanthropes for whom accommodation means only exclusion.
These devs have corrected themselves in the past and will again. When next they make a major release they will have accounted for these valid criticisms just as they have in the past.
All the grousing gamergaters will yet again be thwarted by progress and that is just.
All these pathetic details and cries donât even begin to challenge the simple equation that is: Inclusion > exclusion.
Particularly because the thing you have now will still be had just as it is with inclusion.
Oh and for the pathetic GG/other trolls that PM me, do fuck right off, you barely warrant open debate, if you were the only ones here you wouldnât get that. You sure as hell donât warrant a reply PM.
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really? really, really? proof youâre a trolley, i guess. because youâre not even trying to understand. my amazing google-fu will assist you:
actually, no. you donât get to define the conversation.
the author of the article youâre commenting on gets to define it â thatâs point of commenting in good faith. thatâs the point of staying on topic.
the author, i think, described quite well why representation matters.
care to back any of that up with actual links? maybe then we might have a slightly less silly hypothetical conversation about what the many individuals who compose the country of japan prefer. gee must be splatoon is even more culturally pure than witcher. squid love!
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2013/10/top-10-african-game-developers/
cool. which have you played?
yes!!! we both honestly agree on something!
in the mean time, AAA developers should have more diversity in their games. not only so that people of all backgrounds can find themselves represented in mass-market media, but so that games can deliver worlds which more meaningfully reflect our own.
I think this sort of comment is symptomatic of a lack of respect for games as an art form, as compared to novels, for example. Itâs like insisting that a novel should have blank spaces for you to fill in your preferred characteristics for each character.
Pride and Prejudiceâs description of Mr Darcy ought to have read: âhe soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall/short person, handsome/ugly features, noble mien. [delete as applicable].â
I mean, it might be an interesting idea to try sometimes, but to insist on it for every novel is nonsense.
It isnât insisted upon.
Not even a little bit.
You arenât the first to wilfully ignore the fact that the game as it is now would be wholly contained and playable as it is now with no exceptions whatsoever even if options to do otherwise were present.
Look up âoptionâ and youâll see why it is so popular in this medium.
Your comparative analogy is a sad failure because a novel would be disfigured in such a way and less enjoyable, whereas this game would not be in the least. But you probably know that.
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You are attempting to insist on it. Modern novels could have options in a similar way, at least since the invention of ebooks. It might even be an interesting way to write a novel. But as Iâve said, it would be stupid to insist that artists make their art infinitely (or even minimally) customizable.
The Autuer theory of AAA games? Though it was developed using a low budget.
First of all, criticism isnât insistence.
No more than if you were to check into a hotel and find only one tap in your bath providing only cold seawater prompting you to call the desk and advise that it would be an improvement to add hot water, or freshwater.
Would some defence of âWeâve always only had cold seawater, let our people go!â make any sense?
Would you stay there again?
Thankfully the devs that made this game have demonstrated in the past they do in fact accept and act upon critical feedback. That shows more dedication to their art than your line of thought gives them credit for.
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Have people criticized Gone Home because you can only play as Kaitlin?
Have people criticized Portal because you can only play as Chell?
No. Because that would be silly.
But TW3 is an open-world game, and we have different expectations for open-world games where you can traverse continents and meet hundreds of sentients.
I love watching Geralt, I love his deadpan dadjokes, so I donât know if Iâd want to play a different character. But the design choice to force the point-of-view of the PC combined with the forced whiteness of all NPCs merits discussion.
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