Sometimes I wonder if this isn't a giant shit test, to see which Devs will cave in.
The individual feels, theorem the individual is right, therefore the individual tweets, therefore his criticism snowballs, therefore Devs are in the wrong, therefore they must ask for forgiveness. Therefore probably months of hard work go down the drain to appease the like-minded individuals who walk around the world with a hammer, therefore everything looks like a nail to them.
I agree with one of the Twitter comments, change the color and the problem is solved.
There's nothing to solve and therefore nothing to rectify. Developers need to stand their ground, especially because you yourself say:
I'm sure the devs had no bad intention and in many contexts there is nothing wrong with that design
It is immoral to ask for forgiveness when you've done nothing wrong.
I don't really care one way or the other but are you seriously pretending you don't see the caricature of tribal African savages there? Come on man.
Stylized appearances of cartoonish characters
always approach caricature. It's in the nature of stylization and cartoonish depiction. A cursory look at other LDI characters plainly confirms this.
Depends who you ask. I think people mainly take issue with them consistently being depicted as dangerous, unhinged and backwards and overall inferior to western culture.
Western culture of the Enlightenment
is superior. But anyone can embrace Western values. People from all over the world do embrace them, for they recognize them as superior. Although historically western, these values are in fact universal.
If all cultures were worth the same, then a culture which, say, hypothetically speaking, practiced human sacrifice would be just as commendable as that exact same culture minus the practice of human sacrifice. That would mean value stands irrespective of content, which is a nonsensical proposition. Ergo, not all cultures are worth the same.
For generations, the tribal savage was used as a justification for the invasion and enslavement of native Africans, Polynesians, Natives etc. So them being a negative stereotype has everything to do with the way they were portrayed and the image they conveyed throughout history.
"Little devil inside is a story about 5126 Kickstarter backers who wants to survive in a surreal world."
Surreal world. Not the real word. Not even the depiction of the real world.
I mean Vikings wearing horned-helmets and swinging giant swords getting drunk is also a huge stereotype but nobody takes issue with this, especially not Scandinavians because this imagery was never used to undermine their culture or attempt to make them feel inferior(at least not successfully), on the contrary, it celebrates it.
Were devs trying to make millions of people "feel inferior"?
If your answer is No, but some 400 people apparently did feel like they were, which would you say got it wrong?
If the tribal savage was a cool and positive stereotype throughout history, I doubt people would be this mad.
So current-day Devs must pay a creative price for what happened mid 20th century in colonial Europe?
Like I said, I'm not bothered by this and am a huge proponent of freedom of speech but people acting like they don't know why others might be offended are every bit a problem as those who get offended.
I do assume to know why they're proclaiming to be offended.
They're flexing their muscles. They want power over others.
I noticed it immediately lol. Also it's not just the red lips. Dreads, dark skin, mask, blowguns...that's a lot of elements.
A lot of elements and zero evidence for them even implying racism.
Of course, I don't think that but the issue isn't whether or not the dev is ill-intentioned, clearly, they are not. The issue is that the stereotype they use has traditionally been filled with malice.
Genghis Khan used to pee. Khan was bad. Therefore peeing is bad.
Also nah, you're not erasing African history by not using negative stereotypes lol.
You seem to be having a hard time dealing with the notion of fiction. And
surreal fiction at that.
As I said, I'm not the slightest bit bothered by it. I actually thought the little guys were funny and fit perfectly within the game world but I also understand why someone might get offended.
I understand why people might get offended by a traffic light. Thta doesn't mean I'll start rationalizing them wanting to tear it down and calling myself a huge proponent of traffic lights.
