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Overwatch has one of the most positive depictions of Arabs I've seen in a video games

LambdaTeos

Member
Apr 5, 2016
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I never felt more represented in a videogame than when i first heard Sombra say "Asustame panteon!"

Favorite quote to this day

Too bad a lot of people don't understand it but god I love using it...

That and "did you mean to do that? " or "were you done talking?"
 
May 4, 2011
5,284
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0
Austin, TX
They are Egyptian I thought. Wouldn't that make them African?

.
 

Kuksune

Member
Oct 1, 2014
651
20
440
Falun, Sweden
Yeah both Ana and Pharrah are really great characters. I love both of the designs and I use them very often in QP and comp.

It would be awesome if they could do Swedes a little better.
 

Ezalc

Member
Jun 29, 2009
16,573
0
0
I'll preface this by saying that I don't play the game:

It's good to see that you found somebody who you feel is a great representation for you OP, as a Brazilian with just a passing knowledge of the heroes in the game I cannot agree.

Lucio is just another party centric dude from Rio de janeiro because that's basically the only city people from outside the country know exists. So they do pretty well with some characters but I don't feel like Lucio goes beyond stereotypes for Brasil. Just like Laura in SFV.

If anybody who is Brazilian and plays the game more wants to chime in, I'd be happy to be proven wrong in regards to his characterization because I don't know anything more about it besides the fact that he's a DJ.
 

Danjin44

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Mar 22, 2017
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That's great and all but it would been have much better if we had positive depiction of Arabs or Iran in game with actual story.
 

Cocaloch

Member
Apr 16, 2013
3,789
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Chicago
I'll preface this by saying that I don't play the game:

It's good to see that you found somebody who you feel is a great representation for you OP, as a Brazilian with just a passing knowledge of the heroes in the game I cannot agree.

Lucio is just another party centric dude from Rio de janeiro because that's basically the only city people from outside the country know exists. So they do pretty well with some characters but I don't feel like Lucio goes beyond stereotypes for Brasil. Just like Laura in SFV.

If anybody who is Brazilian and plays the game more wants to chime in, I'd be happy to be proven wrong in regards to his characterization because I don't know anything more about it besides the fact that he's a DJ.

Lucio is probably the worst stereotype in the game besides widowmaker.

That's great and all but it would been have much better if we had positive depiction of Arabs or Iran in game with actual story.

More games with diverse settings are always a good thing, but that's no reason to knock Overwatch, which does indeed have a story.
 

Red Arremer

Member
Apr 11, 2011
15,909
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540
www.twitch.tv
I remember there a discussion about an article a while back that said that the depiction of various cultures in Overwatch was bad, and one person in particular being extremely upset over the eye tattoo on the Amaris' eyes, claiming that it was an attempt of cherrypicking "only the cool stuff" out of the culture by mixing Ancient Egyptian and modern Arab.

What do you think about that, OP?
 

Misha

Banned
Apr 21, 2015
8,596
0
0
I'll preface this by saying that I don't play the game:

It's good to see that you found somebody who you feel is a great representation for you OP, as a Brazilian with just a passing knowledge of the heroes in the game I cannot agree.

Lucio is just another party centric dude from Rio de janeiro because that's basically the only city people from outside the country know exists. So they do pretty well with some characters but I don't feel like Lucio goes beyond stereotypes for Brasil. Just like Laura in SFV.

If anybody who is Brazilian and plays the game more wants to chime in, I'd be happy to be proven wrong in regards to his characterization because I don't know anything more about it besides the fact that he's a DJ.

iirc he was originally made to be canadian (hence deadmau5ish and hockey skins). they didn't really change him enough to be specifically brazilian tbh
love the character but yeah


edit. apparently that was debunked at some point. weird that he's in the situation where a lot of people could take that as a serious theory
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
Dec 30, 2008
11,555
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www.neogaf.com
I'll preface this by saying that I don't play the game:

It's good to see that you found somebody who you feel is a great representation for you OP, as a Brazilian with just a passing knowledge of the heroes in the game I cannot agree.

Lucio is just another party centric dude from Rio de janeiro because that's basically the only city people from outside the country know exists. So they do pretty well with some characters but I don't feel like Lucio goes beyond stereotypes for Brasil. Just like Laura in SFV.

If anybody who is Brazilian and plays the game more wants to chime in, I'd be happy to be proven wrong in regards to his characterization because I don't know anything more about it besides the fact that he's a DJ.

I don't think Lucio is such a great representation of Brazil. He has an American accent, is a DJ, has a soccer skin, and speaks no Portuguese. It's a parade of stereotypes and it lacks even the baseline Brazilian accent that could have at least given it a shade of legitimacy.
 

Pancho

Qurupancho
Feb 10, 2009
1,835
0
0
Puerto Rico
I don't think Lucio is such a great representation of Brazil. He has an American accent, is a DJ, has a soccer skin, and speaks no Portuguese. It's a parade of stereotypes and it lacks even the baseline Brazilian accent that could have at least given it a shade of legitimacy.
Iirc he was gonna be canadian until last minute, thats why he doesnt have an accent and thats why one of the alternate attires is a hockey uniform
 

Abilidebob

Member
Sep 30, 2013
3,067
0
495
I'll preface this by saying that I don't play the game:

It's good to see that you found somebody who you feel is a great representation for you OP, as a Brazilian with just a passing knowledge of the heroes in the game I cannot agree.

Lucio is just another party centric dude from Rio de janeiro because that's basically the only city people from outside the country know exists. So they do pretty well with some characters but I don't feel like Lucio goes beyond stereotypes for Brasil. Just like Laura in SFV.

If anybody who is Brazilian and plays the game more wants to chime in, I'd be happy to be proven wrong in regards to his characterization because I don't know anything more about it besides the fact that he's a DJ.

I WISH he was more "Brazilian". As already said in the thread I can't really tell that he's Brazilian. Right now he's as Brazilian as, I don't know, Will Smith is.
 

Danjin44

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Mar 22, 2017
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More games with diverse settings are always a good thing, but that's no reason to knock Overwatch, which does indeed have a story.
I'm talking about having single player so I can experiance the story rather than read about it.
 

Red Arremer

Member
Apr 11, 2011
15,909
0
540
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Um no. Arab isn't a race or phenotype. It's actually a very offensive term

What? This is the very first time I've ever heard that, even Arabs I know refer to themselves as Arab.

It's a term used to refer to the Arabic-dominated cultural region of the Arabian peninsula, Egypt and the Mashriq+Levant region.
 

CountAntonius

Member
Jul 30, 2010
26,752
3
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iirc he was originally made to be canadian (hence deadmau5ish and hockey skins). they didn't really change him enough to be specifically brazilian tbh
love the character but yeah

I don't think Lucio is such a great representation of Brazil. He has an American accent, is a DJ, has a soccer skin, and speaks no Portuguese. It's a parade of stereotypes and it lacks even the baseline Brazilian accent that could have at least given it a shade of legitimacy.
Yep. Lucio is Canadian they switched him up last minute.
 

gablekevin

Neo Member
Sep 30, 2015
81
0
0
What's the problem with Rashid?

Im not sure if there is. I have always heard nothing but good things about him and he was also first revealed to everyone at a gaming event in Dubai. Not only that but he is regarded as one of the best new characters in SFV which always helps.
 

AppleSeason

Member
May 25, 2011
3,244
1
0
"Diversity sells"

I guess that the more and better you represent different people while avoiding stereotypes and bad depictions, the more people that will buy your product.
 

Ezalc

Member
Jun 29, 2009
16,573
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0
Iirc he was gonna be canadian until last minute, thats why he doesnt have an accent and thats why one of the alternate attires is a hockey uniform

So he wasn't even made with the intention to be Brazilian and they just fell back on stereotypes? Wonderful.
 
Sep 10, 2013
33,005
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Um no. Arab isn't a race or phenotype. It's actually a very offensive term to many there.

Never heard this before. Its my perspective from what I have learned in classes about the Middle East that speaking Arabic is what makes someone an Arab, not being from Saudi Arabia.
 

Toxi

Banned
May 29, 2013
41,538
1
0
McCree is the most stereotypical character.

He's just a stereotype everybody loves.
 

Cocaloch

Member
Apr 16, 2013
3,789
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0
Chicago
Lucio is not a stereotype.

I'll preface this by saying that I don't play the game:

It's good to see that you found somebody who you feel is a great representation for you OP, as a Brazilian with just a passing knowledge of the heroes in the game I cannot agree.

Lucio is just another party centric dude from Rio de janeiro because that's basically the only city people from outside the country know exists. So they do pretty well with some characters but I don't feel like Lucio goes beyond stereotypes for Brasil. Just like Laura in SFV.

If anybody who is Brazilian and plays the game more wants to chime in, I'd be happy to be proven wrong in regards to his characterization because I don't know anything more about it besides the fact that he's a DJ.

Are you going to tell this Brazilian person that they are wrong?


McCree is the most stereotypical character.

He's just a stereotype everybody loves.

More than the French Femme Fatale?
 

PSqueak

Banned
Jan 31, 2015
14,161
1
0
I don't think Lucio is such a great representation of Brazil. He has an American accent, is a DJ, has a soccer skin, and speaks no Portuguese. It's a parade of stereotypes and it lacks even the baseline Brazilian accent that could have at least given it a shade of legitimacy.

Only in the NA dub, Latin American Spanish dub gives him the accent and Portuguese voice lines.

I assume others do too.

McCree is the most stereotypical character.

He's just a stereotype everybody loves.


This too!
 

Azoor

Member
Nov 22, 2015
2,429
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0
Never heard this before. Its my perspective from what I have learned in classes about the Middle East that speaking Arabic is what makes someone an Arab, not being from Saudi Arabia.

I'm an Arab and I've never heard anyone saying that the term "Arab" is offensive.
 

Red Arremer

Member
Apr 11, 2011
15,909
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540
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[...] speaking Arabic is what makes someone an Arab, not being from Saudi Arabia.

Not really, the other Northern African countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) generally are not considered to be Arab, but Berber. Arabic also is a very wide-spread language among many Muslim countries, since it is used as the main language of the faith.

The term Arab has to do with the culture, which also was cemented historically and politically at this point, rather than based purely on language.

Arabs from Saudi Arabia are specifically referred to as Saudi Arabian or Saudis.

At least, to my knowledge.
 

Usobuko

Banned
Feb 3, 2013
12,694
0
515
Isn't it great to see yourself in media? I'm not Arab msyelf, but seeing a gay girl (Tracer) as the "main character" of such a big game makes me super happy.

Yup.

I watched wonder woman or big budget blockbuster to see how far diversity come along.

I'm particularly impressed with the native genocide and the brown guy would be actor but born into the wrong skin color lines.
 

Spinosaurus

Member
Jul 1, 2014
7,060
1
315
As we all know, Arabs like myself didn't quite have the best of representations in video games in the past 20 years or so, dozens f FPS games portrayed them in a very horrible light and others have portrayed them in a very stereotypical light (looking at you SFV),
Are you talking about Rashid? I'm arab and I love him! I don't know what's stereotypical about him outside his awfully silly battle costume.

I'm big on Shaheen too, but Ana's definitely the best of the bunch. I've been really happy with the representation of us lately.