The Only Actual Problem with Natlan...

Perhaps I missed the boat on this discussion, but regardless, here we go:

I see all the tech talk but honestly Sumeru and Fontaine both had a lot of high tech and this doesn't bother me at all. It's a non-issue. The real issue... is where the actual hell are the black characters? It's actually embarrassing. I feel embarrassed to be playing this game right now.

First off, I am white. I have been privileged enough to always be catered to in gaming and I've never cared whether I am playing realistic or fantasy games what color the characters are. But that's because most developers at least do the bare minimum. I don't care about woke culture, I don't generally care about representation either even though I should. Again, I've just been privileged enough to not need to think about it.

And yet here we are. This is an African inspired nation. It is threaded into the entire vibe. The music, the dancing, the clothing, the landscape, all of it. There is no argument to be made against this. I would say Natlan is representative of Africa more than any other nation represents its inspiration. You can go through most of the game just mildly acknowledging the real world equivalents to all the other nations, but Natlan is VERY Africa...

So where the hell are the black people? I don't know if it's better or worse that even the NPCs are barely tanned. The chief of the Children of the Echoes is NOT black!? REALLY? This is, IMO, inexcusable. I've played devil's advocate and tried to excuse it. Nothing sticks. It's a chinese company? That's not an excuse. Whether or not black people are an acknowledgeable population there, the devs clearly have catered to other cultures and they know this is a game enjoyed worldwide. If this was a north american company, they'd have been hung out to dry online for this long ago. Why do other cultures get a pass on blatant racism? Why is it OK to take all the parts of Africa they like and leave out the most obvious one they don't?

It's too late since no black characters were there before? So what? Start now. It doesn't break any lore, and they add new lore all the time. As far as I can tell, this argument is basically the same as saying that if they added a black character now it would be admitting there was a problem and starting a new precedent where they have to represent more races/body types, etc. Basically the "woke" argument. Is there really a problem starting now? Would you refuse to pull on a black character? Is 99% of the player population white/asian people who wouldn't spend money pulling for anyone that doesn't look like them? I sure hope not. And if you are someone who would never pull on a black character,

Every Natlan 5* so far would be vastly improved by being black, or even at least brown. As a boon to their visual design, as a contrast to other nations, and as an unbelievably obvious nod to the real life nations they are inarguably supposed to represent. Mualani's skin markings would look better, Kinich's attitude and color scheme would look better, he is basically my new main and I love everything about him except I wish he was black, and don't get me started on Xilonen, that's really the straw that broke my ethical back.

This would be a non-issue if it wasn't for the absolute African-ness of EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF NATLAN, but the bag is open now and there is no closing it. You can't go this far and pretend its still only halfway.

I cannot imagine the kind of awful responses that might creep their way onto this post, but I couldn't just sit around and pretend it's OK anymore. Am I going to boycott the game? Try to "cancel" it? Of course not, but I really think people who agree need to say something and put some pressure on Hoyo to do better than this, because it really is embarrassing now.

I had to get that off my chest in public. Sorry if you're angry, or wanted to stay blissfully ignorant, but if you think this is too political, you are the problem and I don't care. Thanks for listening, and good luck on your pulls.