If you love the Internet and keeping up with the latest news, you have probably noticed that there has been a lot of talk about sexism, pedophilia, and racism. For those who don’t know, there has been a lot of discussion about sexism in the gaming community, pedophilia in an organized movement of people, and racism in the shooting of a young black man by a white police officer, who was then found to be justified in doing so. There are many different opinions on all these topics. Some say that racism, sexism, and pedophilia are major problems, while others say that these are being blown out of proportion.
The Internet has become a place where anyone can share their opinions on anything. While that’s a good thing in many ways, it also means that there’s a lot of misinformation and flat-out lies, often spread for the author’s personal gain. (That’s why you should always be skeptical of random articles you stumble across online.) But sometimes they can be a lot more sinister; things like sexism, racism, and pedophilia tend to rear their ugly heads as well.
So there’s another discussion on Twitter (I know, I know) about whether Genshin Impact should be boycotted for sexism, pedophilia and racism, the proverbial trinity. Apparently there are problems with the game and Gacha fans are clamoring for changes.
Cyno of Genshin Impact
Normally I’d ignore it, but this move may make sense, so I’ll highlight and discuss it here. The main points of discussion are therefore as follows:
- allegations of paedophilia
- Hilichurls inspired by indigenous peoples
- Statements on racism and hate of color
Let’s start with the pedophilia allegation, which the community has already responded to. Players claim there are elements of pedophilia in Genshin Impact, as one of the NPCs says he confesses his love to Flora, who is a child in the game. Well, if you see the dialogue and know which NPC he was talking about, it seems that the NPC is a bona fide pedophile, but others have noted that Flora was an adult in the beta version of the game. They believe that, if Flora’s character was rewritten as a child, the NPCs’ dialogue was not inadvertently adjusted to reflect the character’s new age.
I’m willing to admit that the developers of this game forgot to remove that rule, but let’s not pretend that this kind of thing doesn’t happen with cartoon-themed products. The reason I give them the benefit of the doubt is that Chinese games are very strict about what content is allowed, and since China is a highly censored country, it seems unlikely that they would support anything of this magnitude. But if it were Japanese developers, yes, I would have a different opinion. but it’s good that the Genshin Impact community has spoken out!
However, the next point seems more plausible, namely the accusation of racism in the game. That’s one aspect of the charge. Hilichurls are the most common enemies in the world. They are described as follows:
Wandering primitive inhabitants of the Teiwat wilderness.
They are very similar to humans, but seem to have lost their intelligence and spirituality. Their presence on the continent has been documented for over a thousand years, but they have no history or civilization.
Since the eclipse five hundred years ago, they have begun to spread in large numbers across the country. They are not very strong and not very organized, but still cause big problems from time to time.
Sounds like something you’d hear from a neo-Nazi, right? If this was just another black origin nonsense, I’d condone it, but there’s probably credible evidence for this accusation. In the video I quoted, you can see that the inspiration for their dance comes from those who claim to be indigenous. Add to this the fact that the Chinese have in the past shown clear and unmistakable evidence of racism against blacks, and the situation is not rosy. Some would say they just use it as a reference, but who’s to say they stop there. I’m just saying it’s kind of sous vide if you ask me!
The clip starts at 1:20.
Another accusation that fans of the show have called racist or colorist is that the game does not feature characters with darker skin tones. Yes! It’s a game that belongs to the Chinese. What did you expect? It’s set in the country that removed the wizard in Diablo, belittled John Boyega on a Star Wars poster and, by the way, replaced all the black characters in Boyega’s personal product ads with Chinese. Black is undesirable to them, and if they can control it, they will not include it in their game. I mean, Cyno’s clothes are based on Arabic clothing, this would have been a great opportunity to add a dark colored character, but no. The darkest would be Kaeya and Shinyan. When he’s darker, he’s the bad guy. Trust me. Oh, and complaining about them and being called exotic/creepy is a bit of an exaggeration if you ask me.
To be fair, the only complaint that makes sense is Hilihurren’s. Honestly, I have no doubt that Chinese developers will do something like this. Anyway, let me know what you think about this.
May:
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