This all doesn’t invalidate my point. I was in a game where I was not represented and I had no problem with it. So your argument that I don’t like pandering because I am already represented is false - I don’t care about being represented in a game. They can turn all warcraft races into skeletons and vampires for all I care, with no clear similarities to either of the races in the real world and I’d be fine. Your point was and remains false.
What about my point that if you care about representation, then you should be against pandering and not for it?
What’s wrong with it is that they did a token thing that was politically expedient and that this is bad even for representation, because, say, Asian people - who are much more numerous than the people who will be addressed with the options that they added - are not represented nor will they be.
In general, political pandering is bad because it makes the game weirder and less believable than it would have been without it. That said, WoW devs are only taking minor steps here so nothing in WoW is in danger just yet, other games have it way worse. Eg, there was a game about medieval Europe, primarily slavic, and people were yelling at the devs to add black people there as well. Which was patently insane. Thankfully, with WoW things are much tamer.
Dark skinned elves have been canon since the Traveller books with one of the characters being, you guessed it, a dark skinned elf. No additional lore revelation was required.
In fairness though, I think you’re maybe comparing apples and oranges here? =)
Like I agree, that particular outrage was silly given that the game in question was set in a few square miles of Central Europe; with a sprinkling of fantastical elements based on Slavic legend; set in a time and place without much racial diversity. So yeah; it’s set in Slavic lands, with Slavic people based on Slavic culture - so youre gonna be looking at a game filled with, surprise surprise, white slavs! Fair enough; it’s the same reason I didn’t expect much racial diversity going into Seriko or Bloodborne, both of which are basically “Feudal Japan and Victorian Britain with extra bits”.
But, WOW is set in a totally fantastical universe, with only exaggerated or cartoony references to really existing cultures (like the Aztec Empire but everyone is trolls!) - it’s also a place where dragons burst out of the ground.
Are dark skinned elves REALLY so unbelievable and offensive, given the silliness of the setting?
Dont get me wrong, I’m no “sjw” - but I genuinely dont think the addition of dark skinned elves is a sinister political plot to undermine the franchise. It’s just a thing, you can do, if you want. But you dont need to!
Also, with the Asian representation issue - well, Asians also come in a lot of skin tones, some paler than me, and I haven’t been outside in years! So there’s probably an elven skin tone that matches a real life Asian person’s in there somewhere?!
Also, please note that two of the new blood elf skin tone options are perfectly viable to depict (some) Asian complexions – the “Asian demographic” is highly diverse and increasingly represented with the new options.
They have been canon since the Twilight of the Aspects, where we encounter an elf named Devi that we are told is dark skinned and raven haired. Not tanned, but dark skinned.
Well, historical census data does show that there were around 33,688 people “From the Empire” living in Britain back in 1851; and at least some of those had to be black - so rest assured, your black Victorian lady is still more historically accurate than the skinless murder dogs!
Bro the absolute state of you. How would diverse customization options endanger this 15+ year old game?
There’s no such thing as an ‘Asian’ face, my legend.
All these 4chan users panic whenever a non-white character is added into a franchise.
Don’t worry Mellinora your virtual roleplaying character isn’t being replaced by other virtual roleplaying characters with different customization options.
. Traitors gtfo 