Something Needs To Change: The Many Ways P5X's Global Release Exposed A Rotten Community.
To say this has been needed for a while is an understatement.
This post will aim to dive into ways that those within the wider Persona community, and even those mainly within the Global (English) community, have hijacked what was and still remains a comfort community for many out there. For many creators, I will not be naming them by name, but I will be talking about their actions. Thank you.
To say the game has been the subject of numerous racist and sinophobic assumptions wouldn't even cover a miniscule amount of how much it happens. This ranges from;
Calling Wonder, the protagonist, a "Chinese Joker", a "Temu Joker" or even a "(slur beginning with C targeted towards those of Asian descent) Joker".
Calling the Lunar New Year event, a common holiday celebrated by several Asian countries, "forced".
Misinforming people that Wonder was not designed by Shigenori Soejima, when it's common knowledge that Soejima himself did design him, and continues to advise on the game to this day. Instead, stating that he was "designed by the Chinese".
Calling certain characters' "Chinese-ified" versions of existing characters within Persona.
There are many more examples of this, and some of this has even been perpetuated by multiple well-known members of the Persona community on social media. A well-known content creator has previously referred to the game as "Temusona", and even joked that Yaoling Li, a character of Chinese origin, was a "product placement".
Mistreatment of Other Regions
The Global community, mainly the English speaking side, has impressively managed to make the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean audiences of the game unite against them. A lot of the previous section carries over here, with a content creator routinely agreeing with comments that those communities were "entitled".
This brings me to my next point.
Abstinence of Content Creators
Many content creators do not attempt to dispel or even stop the consistent racism, misinformation, amongst other things, within their own specific communities. At most, these content creators will simply ignore these comments, but it is their duty to call out these people and say that this is not right. People continue to spew hate, because content creators do not do anything to stop this. Whilst they are not responsible for the opinions of others, they are responsible for ignoring it when it starts hurting other people. A content creator recently made a habit of posting misinformation, deleting it, and then hid behind the Persona Anonymous account to call fans that corrected them "rabid".
Misrepresenting the Existing Community
Many people, including those with many fans, continue to label existing P5X fans as things that they are not, and make up situations to prove themselves right in many situations. These include;
Stating that existing P5X fans defend the Kiuchi Arc, when an overwhelming majority of the community were never fans of it and even disagreed with the removal of certain scenes for the Global release.
Stating that existing P5X fans defend the game's gacha mechanics, when an overwhelming majority of the community don't defend the concept of gambling, but rather point out ways that the game has made it easier to obtain characters and weapons as time has progressed.
Stating that existing P5X fans make up wild theories on the spot to justify the game's existence, whilst not realising that those fans have now completed Chapter 4 of the game, whilst Global only just finished Chapter 3. They also state that existing fans do not understand the lore of the game, when they've been playing it for nearly 2 years.
Certain figureheads within the Persona community also elevate these people to simply discredit an existing game that they were never going to like in the first place out of what seems to be malice than anything.
Content creators and fans making sexualised and lewd jokes towards the 16 year old Motoha Arai during Summer Year 1. Whilst many people are not a fan of how the game sells characters in swimsuits as additional units, and this is a whole other can of worms, it does not excuse these kinds of comments. Other comments from community members about 16 year old Tomoko Noge have also persisted, as well comments about the protagonist, Wonder.
A content creator stated that the harem scene was a P5X creation, despite its first appearance in base Persona 5, and the existence of being disloyal persisting as far back as Persona 3.
Several content creators sending their own fans behind the scenes to attack others that apparently "misrepresent" their opinions.
Shuake shippers sending death threats towards people who shipped Wonder & Joker as a pairing.
Content creators and their fans encouraging harassment of people who enjoyed seeing Wonder represented in art of Persona's 30th Anniversary.
The several grifting content creators who use the game's name to stir up more controversy.
Fans who have harassed the game's voice actors.
Fans who have harassed the game's developers. A content creator even encouraged those within their audience to demand for a developer's firing.
Maybe they should've just released this game in Japan only after the initial mainland release. Hopefully, this makes people more aware to the vile culture surrounding this game and the fans who simply wish to enjoy it.
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