Abilidebob
Member
Exactly.
If Blizzard didn't tell me that Lucio is Brazilian, from what I've seen of him, listened from him and played as him, I could tell that he is a dozen other nationalities before I said "Brazilian".
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Overwatch has one of the most positive depictions of Arabs I've seen in a video games
- Thread starter Sapphire Dreams
- Start date
Exactly.
If Blizzard didn't tell me that Lucio is Brazilian, from what I've seen of him, listened from him and played as him, I could tell that he is a dozen other nationalities before I said "Brazilian".
Here's the GDC talk where they talk about building OW's optimistic world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj56ejM5EcU
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
AlexFlame116
Member
At GDC Michael Chu said that he was never meant to be Canadian. He was always going to be Brazilian. He even explained why he has the costumes he has.
There's a video on YouTube where he mentions it during GDC but my hospital internet can't handle it.
LordKasual
Banned
It's a real missed opportunity, feels like a dodge to be honest.
D.Va is also a child prodigy, but she's old enough in the story to actually pilot her own mech.
If Efie was just written to be a bit older, then they'd have a real representation of a black female in the game, not a "technical" one from the sidelines. They could just write her "prodigy" merits into her backstory, like everyone else in the game.
I can understand them not wanting two Tank characters with the same "mech recall" gimmick, but I don't think it's really that big a deal.
I get it, but Orisa is the only character in the game that isn't physically present in the fight, and she's the black female of the cast.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Hmm, that's interesting. Most of what I studied about North Africa (west of Egypt at least) had to do with colonization and stuff like the French/Algerian conflict, and I remember still referring to that are as Arabic. Maybe that's just a blind spot for me.
Yep, reading Niko Belic's mum's letters in GTAIV was the first and only time I felt something like this.
Abilidebob
Member
Doesn't make him more Brazilian. Pretty much every other nationality represented in the game has something that helps identify them.
Lúcio? Only his name is "familiar" to me.
Dance Inferno
Unconfirmed Member
Eh, I'm from the Gulf and Saudi is the descriptive term for country of origin, similar to how you would say American or British. But Saudis are also Arab. Now, it would be redundant to refer to a Saudi person as "Arab" when speaking to her because, obviously, she speaks Arabic and is therefore Arab. But calling her Arab is technically correct.
Similarly, Egyptians are Arab, Egyptian, and African.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Nobody is as much of a stereotype as D.Va.
Red Arremer
Member
They do speak Arabic there, mind you, but they're not part of the core Arab culture. Though I'm sure some pan-Arabists consider them part of the greater circle.
Edit: Also, again, this is as far as I know, but former classmates from Morocco and Algeria were vehemently against being called Arabs.
Yeah, I meant in reference to identifying the nation the Arab person is from, rather than singling that country out. Much like people from Syria are Syrian cause of their nation of origin, but Arab due to their culture.
Personally don't think it was a big deal. I'm not surprised at all. It's actually good to have some diversity anyways.
Dreams-Visions
Member
Lucio could do with more accent and/or a portugese line in there every now and then.
Certainly nothing outside of his affinity for yellow and green olympic skins say "Brazil" about him.
He's from Rio de Janeiro, he grew up poor in a favela, and he's "the party guy". Totally not Brazilian stereotypes.
Only thing that bucks this trend is him liking hockey.
(Just went on Wikipedia to read about him a bit).
I spoke to several Koreans and they're very happy with her depiction. Especially how being a female gamer is a stigma there.
McCree is literally Clint Eastwood in a Sergio Leone movie. Down to the dirty tricks and his past as a ruthless criminal who grew into an anti-hero role.
Genji and Hanzo are also pretty stereotypical.
Lee Chaolan
Member
Shaheen from Tekken 7 is a good one as well
Apparently the games director wanted an arab character for a while but he wanted to travel abroad some more and study the culture a bit more before he can really nail it in t7
So respected he was featured in newspapers over there
https://twitter.com/alajmi411/status/551038461440847872/photo/1
Yep was just gonna post Shaheen. He's a fantastic character.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
With all due respect I'm not seeing a harmful stereotype here. Genji is more of a stereotype than Lucio.
BossDarkseid
Member
Maybe its more about how Blizz have played into the Gremlin D.va/pro gamer side of her
Guzzling Doritos and MtDew. I know in S.Korea there's the National D.va Association with D.va's Bunny as their logo.
It was a very interesting choice for them to give him such an important role to the plot, which i found pretty cool.
Sorcerer Supreme
Member
rashid is better and he's the main character of his game.
If you haven played the game you would have thought he was anything but Brazlian. Doesn't have an accent, doesn't speak any Portugese lines, no reference to Brazil (other than his Summer games outfit) and most of his skins are music or hockey related. He might as well have been Canadian. Two of his skins are basically deadmau5 inspired and the fact that he's a DJ? C'mon
Other than the wiki (I guess) you'd have never guessed he was Brazilian.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
The latino quota has been filled. I don't see it happening unless the character is mixed or something.
rackham
Banned
Yeah I appreciate that stuff but it all seems too "love, kisses and rainbow" bullshit to me at the same time.
I hate Numbani too. They're both super unrealistic representations of their real life country counterparts.
I hope Blizzard reveals Ana to be Christian just to avoid that stereotype where everyone assumes an Arab is muslim
I hate Numbani too. They're both super unrealistic representations of their real life country counterparts.
I hope Blizzard reveals Ana to be Christian just to avoid that stereotype where everyone assumes an Arab is muslim
Spinosaurus
Member
Happy to see all the Rashid love here, he's fantastic. <3
Curious to know why OP thinks he's a stereotype though, I never really saw him that way and I'm normally sensitive about our representation. Maybe the bar is just that low lol.
Curious to know why OP thinks he's a stereotype though, I never really saw him that way and I'm normally sensitive about our representation. Maybe the bar is just that low lol.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Don't really think they have a quota or anything.
Before Doomfist, every character added was a darker-skinned woman. And Doomfist is still from West Africa. If they were following some kind of quota don't think they would have released all those one after another.
Not saying its a bad thing, just saying it doesn't seem to be a worry to them.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
That, Canada or an unrepresented European country like Italy, Greece or Spain would be my next guess honestly.
BossDarkseid
Member
I am probably missing the mark, but tbf, Blizz said the goal wasn't about creating a realistic version of locations (their anecdote about the team designing the Hollywood map works to this end) but more along the lines of "With future/optimistic as your themes, how do you envision the location in your mind?".
If it wasn't for the fact we're allegedly (oxymoron?) getting an India map called Utopia later this year, I feel like you could call Numbani Utopia/Utopian.
Dance Inferno
Unconfirmed Member
Pretty sure this is just fan speculation. Just because she has a Native American skin doesn't make her Native American.
Zenyatta has a nutcracker skin, doesn't make him Russian.
Red Arremer
Member
I know you don't actually expect that to happen but that is certainly a pipe dream, as Blizzard won't really get into religion. All the religious depictions in the game are fictional, like the Shambali order, which is clearly inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, but not actually Tibetan Buddhism - if you look around the Nepal map you won't find any Buddha statues or the likes.
The closest thing to religious depiction is the first attacker spawn in King's Row, which is inside of a cathedral, but I don't think that has any crosses or imagery of Jesus etc., as far as I remember.
Blizzard is sidestepping the issue of addressing religion fairly cleverly, really.
Tracer's gay?? Huh, didn't know that.
As far as Arab depictions, I also like the way SFV did Rashid. Was afraid he was going to be a stereotypical add (similar to Dhalsim). He ended up being pretty cool, though!
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
I'd love to see it as a Puerto Rican but, I mean, it rarely happens compared to other latino/hispanics ethnicities. If it did happen, he or she should have dark skin. The Puerto Ricans we do get are usually light skin/white and people forget dark skin Puerto Ricans exist. Puerto Rico has it's own problems with racism.
I'm glad. It's important for the gaming community to be vocal for both the good and the bad. Let Blizzard and other creators know that their decision to be more inclusive and diverse is fully supported by fans. Positive feedback is equally as important. It also means the out of touch devs/execs have one less excuse to use when justifying another AAA title with a straight white male protag.
Fixed2BeBroken
Member
And we have maps like Oasis and Temple of Anubis, while Temple of Anubis looks somewhat stereotypical, Oasis is set in Iraq and it's depicted as a very futuristic looking city with skyscrapers, clean streets and even the map has things like libraries, it doesn't show the Arabs here as backwards thinking or people with not sense technology or scientific appreciation. Even Temple of Anubis looks really beautiful and in the comic it's where they put a highly advanced AI.
I really commend Blizzard for doing all of that and I hope they continue what they do here in the future
And buff Roadhog God damn it!
I thought Oasis was dubai and based off of Dubai.
interesting that it isnt in dubai... but I could have sworn there was a interview saying they took inspiration from dubai or something.
Her dad is Aboriginal. She's seen with him in a Christmas comic.
They actually did a great job with Rashid, mind you. He's probably my favorite SF newcomer (post-SFIII) since Juri.
So I ask you, OP, what the hell is your problem with Rashid?
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
People love to repeat this but even in this very thread its been debunked, lol.
I said native Canadian. both of her more festive skins hint at ancestry with tribes located in Canada. in the holiday comic she was in canada with a mystery older gentleman, she has an ice fishing spray. it's heavily hinted at, just never officially confirmed or denied.
.
Perfect gif xD
Red Arremer
Member
His nationality isn't clarified there, though. Heck, his identity isn't even clarified - that might just be an old friend, or uncle, for all we know. It's just conjecture because of the skins and the Canadian flag in the TV in the background of that panel, but that means absolutely nothing, really. Tracer has a magazine with a picture of Symmetra in her apartment in that very same comic, that doesn't make her Indian.
Furthermore, even if it was her father and he lived in Canada, that doesn't mean he's aboriginal/Canadian, either.
They created the map wanting to make a map in "the middle of the Arabian desert" or something to that extent. While I'm certain Dubai and other places in the UAE served as inspiration for the architecture, it was not their intent to replicate Dubai.
And as mentioned, Oasis is placed in Iraq.
Overwatch has a pretty intriguing cast of characters, and Pharah and Ana are great. Heck Ana is also a playable old lady that can still rock, which is something quite rare too.
Symmetra is one of the characters I am particularly fond of, because she is on the autism spectrum.
Symmetra is one of the characters I am particularly fond of, because she is on the autism spectrum.
No, he wasn't. This was something the community made up and it turned into an accepted fact. Michael Chu personally shot that rumor down.