>Kotaku: Speaking of your goal of being inclusive, a lot of the skins in the game are really cool and interesting and vibrant, but there are a few, I think, that some people look at and say, “Oh, well that’s kinda disrespectful.” Outfits like Symmetra’s Devi skin and Pharah’s Native American outfit. The latter is especially odd given that Pharah is from Egypt. Those types of skins seem to use these cultures as neat costumes rather than offering them full respect. It strikes me as at odds with the rest of Overwatch, which seems better fleshed-out.
>Jeff Kaplan: I think we’re wrestling with a couple things creatively on the project. I think especially since we’re in the early stages of Overwatch being live right now. We’re exploring the boundaries in some ways of what do people respond to in positive ways and what things do we do that are possible missteps that we need to be careful of in the future?
>Kotaku: It’s a difficult case because history plays into it. For instance, a lot of people don’t know the significance of Native American headdresses, and so they’ll wear them at music festivals and stuff like that without understanding that it’s a really huge thing in Native American culture to even have one of those.
>kotaku I stopped reading there. Do you have brain problems?
Logan Morgan
>Kotaku is run by cucks You're a few years too late.
Luke Reyes
>Pharah being an Egyptian in a Native American outfit is disrespectful >Mercy being a Swiss in a Viking outfit is not
Samuel Evans
isnt native american out pointing out that Pharah maybr half-american and his dad is 76?
Joshua Fisher
why can't they just see it as paying homage to native american culture? obviously the person who designed it thinks that particular visual style is cool, why is that so bad?
Robert Wilson
She is a mix of both egyptian and native american, jesus christ how is this even offensive to anybody?
It's skins for christs sakes, it would be offensive if Pharah were to throw tomahawks at people, or Mercy being a nazi because she "sounds german"
Do video game "journalists" not have anything more interesting to talk about other than "things hurt MUH feelings" or "I hate this game, it's too hard! Boohoo hooo"
Fuck, this is fucking shit god damn it Kotaku I took the fucking bait and I FUCKING LIKED IT.
Christopher Torres
Vikings aren't around to cry butthurt at a press conference. It's apparently mostly only a few tribes that QQ at everything as well despite most of the other ones being almost extinct and never giving a shit.
Jeremiah Rivera
>We need more representation in videogames >Stop representing us Well what is it?
Evan Lee
>She is a mix of both egyptian and native american, jesus christ how is this even offensive to anybody?
Nothing shows online explaining she's part Native American. I call bullshit.
Jaxson Gomez
Nobody from one culture/race is allowed to do or reference anything from another race/culture or you'll trigger all the people that DON'T EVEN GIVE A FUCK ABOUT VIDEO GAMES. I fucking hate this shitty industry. Nobody ever complained when the Heavy (A man from Russia) got an Native American headdress. Fuck SJWs for ruining video games And fuck you, OP for pissing me off before bed.
Jack Perez
76 isnt native american
Josiah Barnes
>Kotaku: Speaking of your goal of being inclusive, a lot of the skins in the game are really cool and interesting and vibrant, but there are a few, I think, that some people look at and say, “Oh, well that’s kinda disrespectful.”
The truth is that all of those people are basically looking for every chance they get to accuse someone else of being disrespectful (over literally nothing), and that they have nothing better to do with themselves other than become enforcers.
Overwatch is a piece of childish fun, who the fuck cares about a "native american outfit" that is nothing more than a silly visual appropriation? Again, it's just an excuse to whack some rule/ethic over the heads of others. "Follow the same rules as me!!!"
Kotaku writes about this junk because they're in the business of legitimizing their reader's bullshit ideas. More specifically, they don't just hold up a mirror to their readers, they actually goad them on and give them a bridge to a more sophisticated breed of their own bullshit.
Carter Robinson
>Mercy being a nazi because she "sounds german" Unrelated but did Germans complain about the Medic?
Chase Torres
WE
Julian Martinez
>kotaku
why do people give these asswipes the time of day? polygon, kotaku, gamasutra, vg24/7 and all other outlets who non ironically pander to latte sniffers with blue hair have to be ignored by the games industry.
Jose Adams
because we need to know what the fictional character's motivations for wearing it are so we can decide if they are committing microaggressions
Evan Davis
>I don't find X offensive, so nobody else is allowed to
Brody Garcia
>CURRENT YEAR >shitaku
Benjamin Rivera
European here. Do native americans still run around with headdresses on the heads? Should things such as the Scottish kilts be banned at concerts and events for cultural approporitation?
Nordics and some others are direct descendants of vikings. Why is Mercy's blatant theft OK but not feathers that actually belong to birds?
Connor Myers
but cool outfits are cool
there's nothing wrong with stereotyping as some kind of cultural iconification, or mashing that in some arbitrary way with video game characters. heavy weapons guy wears a fucking headdress, who cares?
Nathaniel Evans
When will Ana be officially released?
Lincoln Foster
is he supposed to be one?
Noah Nguyen
Nope
Parker Edwards
>muh feels >muh offensive content
Gavin Robinson
Kotaku's still alive? Fuck.
John Powell
>Do native americans still run around with headdresses on the heads?
No.
Xavier Foster
Why don't people just trigger them and be done with it?
Jaxon Sanders
>Kotaku: It’s a difficult case because history plays into it. For instance, a lot of people don’t know the significance of Native American headdresses, and so they’ll wear them at music festivals and stuff like that without understanding that it’s a really huge thing in Native American culture to even have one of those.
?
What the fuck does this have to do with the skin? Not only is this not a music festival, that's not a fucking war bonnet, it's the top part of a totem pole. Man, I'd really rather have some bitch wear eagle feathers at bonaroo than have this asshole try to speak for native americans.
Nolan Foster
>DISRESPECTFUL I just shook my table. That's how pissed iam.
WHY IS IT DISRESPECTFUL WHEN I MAKE MYSELF LOOK LIKE SOMEONE ELSE YOU FUCKING RETARDS
Thomas Allen
Yes we do. We have Japanese-Americans wielding Japanese swords with plastic Samurai armor all the time
Lucas Wood
1/2
Josiah Taylor
>I get triggered over the most redundant shit
Nathan Bailey
He's a German doctor who was active during WW2 and has a tendency to do a bunch of weird, unethical experiments. I think Valve's official stance is that he wasn't, but he fits all the stereotypes.
Ryder Hernandez
2/2
kotaku plz go
Brayden Carter
>I find X offensive, so everybody else is has to
Wyatt Richardson
Part native american here. It's a religious thing with plain indians. They still got that tribal war culture shit going on as their main religion so eagle feathers represent like, honor on the battlefield or some shit. it doesn't matter, we're gonna go extinct and if that last person to wear a war bonnet is a chick at a music festival, i could give a shit. the damage is done.
Dylan Murphy
I'm german. No one fucking cares. I kind of like it seeing a german talking character, infact two german talking heroes. And they are great.
Isaac Lopez
>I found one brown person who doesn't care, so the rest of them aren't allowed to care either
Hudson Reed
>Willingly giving Kotaku an interview
Why do people play this shit again? The characters look unimaginative. Their stories are shit. The gameplay is designed around making idiots feel special, kind of how console FPS games fool you with auto-aim.
This shit is Sup Forums's Frozen.
Jordan Powell
>Native Americans >Giving a fuck
They're living that free, non-taxable lifestyle on their reservations and making fucktons of money off casinos and Water Parks.
I go to the Choctaw nation cause my grandma, who has just enough NA blood to legally be one, lives there teaching. The natives will fucking dress up in the most stereotypical indian attire themselves to attact tourists, despite the Choctaw not even wearing those outfits ever.
Call me when there's a significant public outcry from ACTUAL Native Americans and not a bunch of self-loathing, white libtards.
Joseph Campbell
Maybe they are cosplaying? Is cosplay cultural theft?
Jaxon Reyes
UUHMM SORRY BUT THIS DOESNT FIT OUR AGENDA SO WE WONT EVEN MENTION IT ;)
All cultures should be segregated; no intermixing, this is where hardcore right and left meet i guess.
Nicholas Sanders
>Americucks outraged again
literally nobody outside of the USA gives a fuck about niggers or red indians or gooks or any other USA-centric issues, blizz shouldn't pander to them when the whole rest of the world is okay with it
Isaac Gonzalez
>this actual Native American person gives a well-researched response >but I'm gonna believe this white dude instead
Henry Sullivan
>its a white people getting angry for minorities episode
why are millennials so goddamn whiny, fucking privileged fucks are living in one of the greatest periods of all humanity
He was a german scientist during the 1950's with a penchant to doing weird medical procedures.
Not hard to connect the dots.
Brandon Hernandez
Native Americans have to have the biggest amount of butthurt of all time.
Adrian Bennett
Its white and American black people that complain on everyone's behalf. Besides that Hindu guy
Dominic Lopez
>Entire culture is more or less dead >Rather than go to every effort to preserve it shitbags would rather scream at people for even looking at it I'd be gutted if my people were in the same place as that. I mean fuck why are they not doing more while there are actually people left?
Gabriel Brown
Why the fuck does it bother people when brown people do have the same ideals you expect them to?
Brody Miller
>author brackets his post by specifically stating he doesn't speak for everyone on the issue
>>WELL GUYS WE HAVE THE ANSWER LETS PACK IT UP
Zachary Allen
Really just further proof that this shit will never stop no matter how "inclusive" it gets
You can't have shit like cool voodoo witch doctors in games anymore, "culturally tone-deaf" or something.
Whatever, everything that has been said about this has been said a thousand times before. Shit sucks.
Alexander Gonzalez
Depression, mostly.
Tyler Walker
P H A R A H
Grayson Moore
What's wrong with playing dress ups?
Jonathan Fisher
>muh kulhturall ahpropriashiun
Irony is dipshits like you are pro globalization/multiculturalism but when the inevitable result of that is cultures eroding and blending together you start crying about cultural appropriation.
Consider necking yourself.
Brody Brooks
>I get triggered by X, so it must be removed even if the vast majority of people aren't bothered by X
Daniel Jackson
didn't say that either. i dont care about the skins personally and i don't think getting offended is a sufficient cause of action for removing them
i have a problem with the retarded logic people use in threads like these.
see above
Samuel Martinez
Mercy is a glorious aryan goddess, she can pull it off well enough. Also "vikings" aren't some butthurt minority so nobody feels the need to bitch about everything. And you know we don't really believe in any of that silly norse shit anymore.
Dominic Martin
I don't get how they can even call themselves journalists. They're just inserting their own opinions in there, as if that's of any interest to your average reader. It's like if someone interviewed Obama and instead of asking questions pertaining to the state of the country just stated blabbering on about how we should all swap to Tesla or something. Fucking hell, what a joke.
Grayson Lopez
Cultural appropriation being something to cry about is the absolute worst movement I can think of right now in the world of social justice. It's almost utterly baseless. The thought that someone would get mad at someone else wearing their traditional clothes in a non-malicious manner is so stupid.
Wyatt Moore
>I'm german.
have you prayed to allah today habibi
Jose Morris
you must go back
Alexander James
>it's a Kotaku is in voluntary administration yet is still running a cuckshed like it's everyday business episode.
Noah Martin
So? He's still speaking over actual people of color. And it shows, the headdress comparison makes little sense besides "they're both native". The actual reason people don't want non-natives to wear one is that they're supposed to be only for heroes of war, in the same way that you would not wear a war veteran medal. When it comes to shit like mocassins? Most of them have no problem with it, especially if you buy it from a native and help their economy.
Just wearing feathers and warpaint isn't offensive.
Adam Hughes
I could have sworn Kotaku's days were limited. When are they gonna actually die from the whole Hulk case?
Jose Smith
si
Luke Robinson
>Speaking of your goal of being inclusive, we know we said we like it, but we actually don't like it and prefer cultural segregation.
Ethan Cook
>Kotaku: stopped reading right there
Asher Brown
Are actual Native Americans complaining? Or is it just white people getting triggered again?
Gavin Williams
>Viking She's wearing a Valkyrie outfit and as far as I remember germanic people also had norse gods (with local differences)
Nolan Phillips
white people. native americans have bigger problems than getting mad at video games.
Lucas Fisher
>Most of them have no problem with it, especially if you buy it from a native and help their economy.
maybe that's true, but people aren't in a position to allow or disallow others from taking offense to something. that doesn't mean that someone being offended warrants a particular response, but people are entitled to feel however the fuck they feel.
Lincoln Walker
Yeah you did, faggot. Oh wait, did calling you a faggot hurt your feelings, faggot?
Bentley Miller
The """journalists""" at Shitaku would work for free because they're so comitted to the cause
Brandon Butler
> I think, that some people look at and say, “Oh, well that’s kinda disrespectful.”
Boo-fucking-hoo. NEXT.
Nolan Parker
Maybe he's just jumping to conclusions since Roadhogs Outfit actually fit his character
>Half Aussie, Half Maori >Has Mad Max outfit or Maori Outfit >Conclusion that Pharah must be Half Robot, Half Native American and Half Arab.
Ethan Sullivan
show me the post where i did
Lincoln Gomez
but where should we draw the line at what is acceptable and what isnt. Only a few people found it offensive so therefore we ban it, even if the vast majority actually liked it? or vice versa? Surely there's something you like that most people don't. Should we ban that? Do you see how fucking insane it is to cry about a few people's feeling and ban shit because they MIGHT find it SLIGHTLY uncomfortable to look at a consumer product they dont have to buy or enjoy?
Juan Price
They filed for emergency bankuptcy, as that was the only thing they could do to keep him from owning all of their assets. It's only a matter of time.
Wyatt Nguyen
>he thought they just gonna stop Companies never die off so easily.
Evan Baker
Sure. But we're allowed to tell them they're wrong.
Brayden Harris
Don't fucking talk to me you AIDS-riddled queer.
Justin Hernandez
Most people that complain about cultural appropiation are white. Most people (unless they're very xenophobic) like it when people from a different culture take an interest in their own
Nicholas Roberts
>draw the line You draw no line.
Remember when the western world united of drawings of Muhammad which offends muslims and said it was free speech?
How come this shit doesn't fly but the other smellier shit flies.
Nicholas Sanders
Ironically enough in the end the only thing you will be allowed to depict is a straight white dude, cause they'll be the only ones not giving a fuck.
Ryder Long
Are you native american? Do you feel offended personally by that one skin? Because if not, I suggest you shut up and let the people who might conceivably be offended speak for themselves instead of you putting words in their mouth.
You can bet it's all young white liberals who are crying about this. Real natives have more important shit to worry about most likely.
Jeremiah Smith
I admit that I pretty much straight up said that, and that I generalized those people into hateful rule pushers.
Truthfully, I don't look down on someone for getting triggered over something like a first nations outfit that isn't 1:1 accurate in some way. I don't think I'll ever relate to getting all flustered over someone taking "muh culture" and inappropriately sticking some mutant version of it in a game.
I also feel like cool cultural iconography can be pretty cool no matter where or what they come from, and sometimes an artist won't even learn about the culture that propped them up because they're so gripping at face value. Is that so disprespectful? I can't imagine why someone wouldn't laugh at their culture being misunderstood so badly, let alone get offended/disrespected over it. That's my handicap in this matter.
As for Kotaku, I think they inflame it and try to excite people's resent and sense of injustice. I have a pretty strong feeling Kotaku readers really are that kind of person, too.
Sebastian Campbell
>The latter is especially odd given that Pharah is from Egypt.
jesus christ, it's just a cool looking skin. It's not supposed to say anything about her ethnicity or culture. He might as well get butthurt about Roadhog having a pirate outfit or Genji having that desert outfit
Logan Russell
Why the fuck hasn't shitaku shut down yet.
God Damn I am so fucking tired of sjws, I'm so fucking tired of numales, I'm so God damn mother fucking cunt punching angry at everything in fucking video games being a God Damn problem.
THESE THIN SKIN FUCKS NEED TO GET IT THROUGH THEIR SKULLS THE WORLD IS NOT THEIR HUG BOX LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE.
YES I MAD, STOP TRYING TO RUIN A HOBBY I'VE HAD SINCE I WAS 8.
Ryder Evans
>Junkrat is Australian >Has a gay jester outfit and a scarecrow >Zenyatta is Buddhist >Gets an Arabic genie outfit
???
Kevin Garcia
that's like the only cool skin in the game
hope they don't remove it
Tyler Turner
This reminds me of when people cry racism because some women wear kimonos. It's never the japs themselves that do it.
Dominic Reyes
I'm muslim and triggered by the Ifrit/Djinn outfits of Zenyatta.
I do not support unholy worship and idolization of evil.
Liam Cox
There is nothing wrong with cultural appropriation. IMO it's kind of a dishonest flattery AT WORST. Taking inspiration from and incorporating ideas from other cultures should be a positive and encouraging thing.