I decided to design this game because I was playing Rune Factory 4 and was like "... Wait... ??? Why are all of the characters Caucasian? Where was this game developed!?" Then I realized how messed up it is in AC how you have to "tan" into another race and it wears off (I know this will be fixed in NH but... Jeez) and brainstormed about all the identies missing from video games so I started making my own but I want your input!!
I mean, Rune Factory is a Japanese game, and Japan isn't the same as USA when it comes to immigrants or other races - it's just Asians there, for the most part. Same as anime - even when they do characters with a tan or something - it's usually just a fashion style, called "gyaru" - it involves a certain type of clothing and hair + sometimes a tan that you do in salons
Japanese games are Japanese, and if we're going to start making them "be inclusive" - they won't be the same. And I also want to note that while American games are being somewhat "inclusive" nowadays - there isn't anything even remotely close to the master-pieces that Japan has created: Persona, Animal Crossing, Rune Factory, Yakuza, Mario and many-many-many others... why do you think that is? Because you can't create something iconic if you'll be looking out on who will be offended and what is "appropriate" and what isn't.
I also want to mention that anime and Japanese games don't really have any race for their characters. Sometimes they do characters with weird names that sound somewhat Western, other times they do settings that fuse Eastern themes with Western, other times - it's just Japanese. That's because Japanese don't even need to worry about that - they're making anime and games for themselves, and creators can do anything they want without thinking "oh gee, I need to be inclusive towards all the Chinese that live in Japan".
I understand and support the desire to have characters of all races in American media but please understand that racism is mostly an American issue and nobody has to "be inclusive" for other countries just because those countries have a problem with racism. What makes American audience more special than, say, Russian? Or Indian? Why are you only concerned about including certain groups of people when these games are being played all around the world? And it's not like USA doesn't have Indian people or Russian people, yet you don't seem to be worried about them being "included" in these games. Isn't that the exact opposite of what "inclusive" is about?
There should be movies with all-Caucasian cast, with all African-American cast, and any other race or nation cast, or mixed cast - but you absolutely cannot force this "inclusive" thing as some standard. Nobody owes anything to anyone, especially in art. If whoever makes the film or game wants to do that "inclusive" thing - great. But you can't just force this onto everyone or look down on one or another game/movie/anime just because it doesn't have tan options or "inclusive" characters.
Look, I don't mean to be rude here, just saying that you absolutely cannot force any developers. Games are art and when you start telling artists what to do and how to do - it stops being art and turns into simple product. None of the classic books or movies that we look up to have been made with this type of thinking. What, maybe you're going to complain about Shakespeare not being inclusive in his books? And it's not like the country Shakespeare lived in had no immigrants or other nationalities, it's just that he himself wasn't interested in that topic or didn't know about their lives.
I'm glad they're adding different races to AC new game, but again - you cannot demand a Japanese company that makes their games primarily for Japanese people to do something. American culture is having a big problem right now with the way it forces creators to make "inclusive" films, games which is why there haven't been that many movies, games that come close to the classics of the medium, and which is why we keep getting these sequels after sequels, "children of X-Men" and etc - everyone is afraid to show their vision because it might offend someone. That's not how art works, and please don't spread the problem of American culture to Japanese, nobody owes American audience anything, and we should be grateful for getting these games translated for us.
but I want your input!!
