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[eXistor]

Another day another one of these "controversies" eh? People do love finding offensive stuff where there is none and being all White Knights about it.

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

OP, your ranting fell into the trap of stereotyping, which is the very thing you were arguing against. Do we not see the irony here?

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

The only way to counterbalance the evil racist metro/homosexual in this game is to make the protagonist a STRONG, STRAIGHT, SIKH DUDE.

Let's go Ubi. Hop to it.

 

[The Jackdog]

OP reminds me of Cartman in this clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmCL0gIhkLM

controversy for nothing.

Do we even know if we play the game as the antagonist or not in some weird ubi twist? Or ANYTHING about the story?

Wasnt the last rumor this game was in the hyimalyas? Or just the general mountains?

 

[myrares]

why on earth should the sexual orientation of the antagonist even matter?

 

[Qassim]

You do know it is perfectly fine for a work of art to portray something bad? Like racism? 12 years a slave is full of racism. It doesn't mean it is advocating for it, it doesn't mean 12 years a slave is racist.

It's an extraordinarily dumb and simple mindset to believe racist imagery or subject matter == actual racism.

 

[benny_a]

Trying to figure out.where the racist part Comes in. Both dudes look Asian.

What if an American GI fathered the pink dude and stole him away from his mother and pink guy actually owns an American passport but was sent to border school in England. What then, huh?

 

[cackhyena]

What a shit thread. Political correctness gone bonkers lately.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

Racist.

Also I am worried the purple character might be gay.

 

[bj00rn_]

I don't know what he is or isn't, that's you assuming, OP. But f.ex. you're not necessarily a nazi if you write a book about Hitler, and you're not necessarily a nazi if you read and enjoy it.. I don't know why you seem to assume that games have to be politically correct either.

 

[Madness]

Racist is the new buzzword. We don't even know the storyline. What if he's a rich businessman who exploits those poor workers? That's just telling a story. But oh man, the imagery itself is racist. I bet a lot of white people are projecting too.

Reminds me of a Game of Thrones ending. I was the only non-white guy who didn't think it was racist, all my white friends did. Personally I can't wait to see the story now.

And Ubisoft is probably loving it. As long as the gameplay is fun, and the story is well written, this controversy will only add to their marketing and mindshare.

 

[dyergram]

If what is presumably the bad guy is racist I don't see how that's bad. Obviously there's the potential for the story line to be terrible like in fc3 which I thought started out good and then descended into what was pretty embarrassing and silly towards the end. I hope that the protagonist is more interesting this time arround.

 

[Ryaaan14]

What's wrong with the antagonist being gay?

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Rimon-hanit]

what makes you think he's gay?

I would like to hear your answer to this question OP.

 

[keltickennedy]

I'm offended that people are offended.

 

[Ilive1up]

i think it looks great and people should calm the hell down.

 

[FlyinJ]

The guy is Asian, isn't he? He sure looks Asian.

Wait, does that make me sound racist?

 

[MormaPope]

Controversy this early on?

Excellent marketing.

Ubisoft knew exactly what they were doing. Very few details, only box art shown, but the box art itself raises a lot of questions. They knew his sexuality and how its portrayed would be questioned, the look on his face, the hand on the other guy's head like hes his pet, the extremely vivid pink suit, the hair style. That guy could be the straightest dude that ever lived, but without any details speculation and critique will happen.

Also, pink suit dude is PITCHING the grenade, while the pet dude is CATCHING the grenade.

What if..


He's the protagonist!?!?

I'm honestly hoping for this, would love for that guy to the protagonist. Have a feeling the grenade catcher is the protag.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I would like to hear your answer to this question OP.

Purple = gay

 

[ryamkajr]

Yep. OP is a biased, race baiting ass - seeing racism all over the place.

Jumping to conclusions with no supporting evidence whatsoever. Raising a ruckus over said unsubstantiated p.o.v. and rallying the idiot rowd over nothing.

Congrats OP!

 

[Doffen]

You don't give offense, you take it.

And since when was it immoral for a villain to be racist?

 

[Zeppeli]

Exactly what I was thinking.

There's a lot of irony that an OP that claims he "felt his heart sank" when he thought the antagonist might be gay is trying to get the pitchforks raised towards Ubisoft for not being socially aware.

 

[PARANO1A]

People wonder why we have the typical good looking beefy guy with a lame vanilla, cookie cutter story line time after time after time.

You get something slightly edgy, and people jump off the cliff with "I think it looks like this, let me voice my anger and frustration" before they know a single thing about the totality of the game.

You don't know the tone of the game, you don't know the tone of the character, and you don't know what happens during the story.

But from a picture we get portraying gay people as bad.
Racism and blah blah....

Give me a break OP....it's box art and far too early to be raising any kind of stink about it.

Exactly. This kind of whiny nonsense is why we get stuck with homogeneous crap, or "alien" / monster type baddies only.

 

[FullMetaltech]

Racist.

Also I am worried the purple character might be gay.

The same thing was said about Barney and The Purple teletubby too.

 

[Pillville]

As soon as I saw the image I thought "I wonder what Anthony Burch will find wrong with this?". I knew it'd be something.

https://twitter.com/reverendanthony/status/466974831700099072

 

[JayEH]

This OP is emblematic of everything that I hate with Twitter and journalism and people in general today. Faux outrage and offense over NOTHING. Grandstanding at the drop of a hat, without any understanding of context or pretty much anything.

"I see vaguely see something that might be a commentary on RACE! RACIST!"

"I spy with my little eye something that might be stretched and distorted and misconstrued as negative towards gay people! HOMOPHOBIC!"

Post of the day.

 

[Disagree Guy]

I think I am royally missing the point. I don't see anything racist or gay about the art?

Are people hating on the pink suit? The (apparently) Asian guy being submissive? Also better question, will the dev's change the art based on the backlash?

 

[Savitar]

I thought any man no matter their race, religion or sex could be evil.

Except for deaf people. They are no evil deaf people.

Right?

Over reaction is always great.

 

[blame space]

when you think about it, everyone is potentially gay.

 

[Retro Biscuits]

nothing to see here, move along.

 

[Maxim726X]

So... White people and minorities shouldn't share the same box art? Or something?

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

You do know it is perfectly fine for a work of art to portray something bad? Like racism? 12 years a slave is full of racism. It doesn't mean it is advocating for it, it doesn't mean 12 years a slave is racist.

It's an extraordinarily dumb and simple mindset to believe racist imagery or subject matter == actual racism.

.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Ubisoft knew exactly what they were doing. Very few details, only box art shown, but the box art itself raises a lot of questions. They knew his sexuality and how its portrayed would be questioned, the look on his face, the hand on the other guy's head like hes his pet, the extremely vivid pink suit, the hair style. That guy could be the straightest dude that ever lived, but without any details speculation and critique will happen.

Also, pink suit dude is PITCHING the grenade, while the pet dude is CATCHING the grenade.



I'm honestly hoping for this, would love for that guy to the protagonist. Have a feeling the grenade catcher is the protag.

This, I feel like it's a really good cover for the reasons you said but some people are already jumping the gun.

Would this thread title be considered click bait?

Yes, and I fell for it.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Would this thread title be considered click bait?

 

[Uncle Rupee]

As soon as I saw the image I thought "I wonder what Anthony Burch will find wrong with this?". I knew it'd be something.

https://twitter.com/reverendanthony/status/466974831700099072

Is he trying to be the Suey Park of gaming? We already have Snarkesian.

 

[Majanew]

You don't give offense, you take it.

And since when was it immoral for a villain to be racist?

The saddest part to me is that the "kinda white-looking guy" must be doing what he is to the other "not white-looking guy" because of... race.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

when you think about it, everyone is potentially gay.

I'm straight.

As an ARROW.

 

[Gorillaz]

I think people are already acting offended because most video game writers that try to go down this path, do it half assed or terrible like Bioshock Infinite tried to do.I said it awhile back but it's more of the fact the writers can barely make a shitty B level action adventure...why would people trust them to make something more "grey" like race and sexuality?

you probably are jumping to conclusions, also

what makes you think he's gay?

this is the bigger question lol

 

[nomorenick]

The fact that everything in gaming has now become a social justice movement disgusts me. Everybody needs to calm the hell down and realize that not everything is for everybody. Feels like every day on gaf I see someone else bitching and moaning about a non-issue.

 

[SeanTSC]

Wearing purple and having fancy shoes doesn't make you gay, man.

Seriously. That character potentially being gay didn't cross my mind at all until I read the title of this thread and went: "wait, what?"

The only thing I thought when I first saw the boxart was: "well, that guy looks cool." I love characters who can pull off purple. It's a great color.

 

[RedAssedApe]

What if an American GI fathered the pink dude and stole him away from his mother and pink guy actually owns an American passport but was sent to border school in England. What then, huh?

Well then he has a very elaborate backstory for his already perceived homosexuality. Cuz he can't just be gay. There has to be some angst behind it.

 

[phazedplasma]

What a terrible drive by thread. OP hasn't answered any questions or contributed to the discussion at all.

Way to judge a book by its cover.

 

[SniperHunter]

Would this thread title be considered click bait?

op isn't replying at all, so maybe

 

[LiK]

Hey OP, a native of the island with a white guy buried in the sand. Racist?

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I see this artwork as leveraging the concepts of racism and colonialism and fear of flamboyant males to pretty good effect. The villain depicted makes my skin crawl just a bit (not the gay part because I'm cool like that). That makes it a decent work of (box) art in my view.

 

[Emperor_EL]

I thought the dude was White at first but the more I look at him, the more he looks like he might be Asian.

 

[akidnamededdy]

I don't see what the fuss is about, they're just gonna (FC3 spoils)

Spoiler

kill him a quarter way through the game and replace him with a less interesting villain anyway

.

 

[Furyous]

Can we wait for a trailer to come out before we jump to conclusions?

 

[KillerIsJed]

The only way to counterbalance the evil racist metro/homosexual in this game is to make the protagonist a STRONG, STRAIGHT, SIKH DUDE.

Let's go Ubi. Hop to it.

Classy that you through in Sikh which isn't part of the conversation at all.

 

[CriterionDog]

You're reading way more into this. It looks fine to me.