So, I hopped on here and saw nobody talking about the atrocity that is what genshin is doing to Natlan and since it was suggested we move the boycott to where others may not be able to hear Twitter specifically I decided to post something which I've normally never done.
Genshin has taken inspiration for Natlan from a bunch of different ethnic groups around the world, including but not limited to the Aztec, the Mayan, the Incan, the Māori, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and the West African.
The reason this is so dangerous is because it is literally covering up and whitewashing cultures. Hoyoverse promotes itself as a "diverse" and "worldwide" game, but if you can't even represent the people you're taking from properly, then what's the point? When it comes down to it, Hoyo can make beautiful representations based on cultures. One that I find consistently mentioned is Yunjin, who has a popular Chinese opera singer singing for an idle animation.
This extends outside of genshin, too, though. One point that particularly enrages me is the point of one Carole Pepper. Now, I haven't played much HI3, but from what I've heard, this poor woman hates her skin so much that she bleaches it. And to add insult to injury when I showed two side by side pictures of Carole to a friend of mine, said friend pointed out that she dressed more feminine the whiter she got.
Arlan's skill names have also been a cause of concern for a while now. With HSR releasing another person of color, I also beg you to consider the following: "Why did no playable characters on Penacony have darker skin? It was heavily based on America's Jazz Age, so wouldn't they include the people who created said music?" Another point is that of both Aventurine and Boothill. Both of these men were influenced by minorities and heavily whitewashed. Aventurine was based on the rromani peoples, and Boothill was based on Native Americans. Neither has an once of melanin.
I'll be posting more about this issue later but for now I'll leave it at that. I'll be reposting some art I've seen that incorporates more of these cultures and studying up more on what has been portrayed through this new trailer.
oh no! i dropped this screenshot that explains how to bypass this with a free adblocker! you shouldn’t reblog this or anything; it’d be terrible if people used this advice to watch ad-free youtube!!
I promise myself to NEVER talk about that game again. But this is from the mouth of a former genshin addict
Stop playing genshin
Like also stop making fanarts, writing fanarts, and talk about it at all.
You might have heard about the boycott or be a part of it yourself. While I don't want to talk over actually North Americans' voices, I think it is best if we quit all together.
Yes, because it would be the strongest from of "fuck you" to that company.
But it also might beneficial for you too.
Ask yourself:
What percentage compared to the whole community has a problem with the representation in Natlan? Small.
What IS the larger part's reaction to us even criticizing Hoyoverse? Apathy and racism. Slurs are being thrown around.
Why would you want to stay in such community? I doubt our boycott can make a change since we are such a small minority of the community. Let them have their snowbunny fest. They care so much for character they know nothing about. Do you find it odd that they grow attached to character who just got leaked?
Let's move on and uplift games that actually care about POC.
Another reason I quit and want you to quit is maybe we are addicted to their games.
How much have you spend on Genshin, Honkai, ZZZ? I know a classmate who spent so much on a Hoyoverse's game he still hasn't paid this semester tuition.
How much are you playing each day? I was so obsessed with Genshin that I almost failed my exam. Ever since I quit, I have more free time and am able to improve both my school life and personal life. I still deeply regret the 3 years, but it was not too late to quit.
Are you parasocial toward their character? Do you buy their merchandise? I bought the haitham necklace, and, although beautiful, it was of low quality. The paint started to strip away after one day of being worn. I spent like 25$ on this.
Yes, it is true that representations mean a lot to POC. But what about POC who are in danger right now?
At first, I was planning to boycott too. But what would we do when hoyo fold / the boycott doesn't work? Go back to spending?
Our money can save their lives. From Sudan to Congo to Palestine to even POC who are living in first world country but are struggling paycheck to paycheck.
By now, I hope I have convinced you to quit. But if you aren't convinced, if you still want to boycott, despite my hopeless outlook,
Hey idk if anybody's really tracking on this so maybe it doesn't matter but in case anyone's been wondering where the rest of my images from the "Outside the Canvas, Inside the Lens" have been I've been wrestling over the past couple days of whether I'm comfortable posting content like this about the game in the midst of the ongoing criticism about their representation of the cultures depicted in Natlan.
Representation matters, and I think as somebody who's enjoyed this game for so long I have a responsibility to do what I can to voice my own discontent and make room for the voices of the people being actively scrubbed from the game. And even though I wouldn't consider this account any sort of platform, I've been pondering how it ties into this responsibility.
Recently, a Twitter (not calling it X fuck you Mr Musk) account which had previously been dedicated to posting content about the character Kinich made the decision to step down from being a Genshin "gimmick account", and (in my opinion rightfully) criticized other social media accounts dedicated for continuing to provide plenty of positive engagement and focus on their gimmick while claiming to support the boycott. I think they displayed a lot of empathy and maturity through the way their message was handled, and it's a good point.
Boycotting Natlan by engaging positively with everything *except* the stuff we want changed is hardly a boycott. It won't affect a company that has already demonstrated its disinterest is amending the issue. Even in the unlikely event that they hear the criticisms drowned out by the praise, the response will likely be to simply avoid even trying to put people of color in their game at all. We must demonstrate not that these cultures are unprofitable, but rather that failing to properly respect the cultures in question will make the entire project less profitable. In the modern day, social media buzz is essentially free advertisement.
After seeing the Special Program, hearing them harp on how much they listen to player feedback without touching any of the playable character designs, I felt deeply frustrated. Seeing so many praise the game online for free rewards and changes to the pity system, completely glossing over the actually important issues the team completely ignored... it kind of sealed the deal for me. I am confident in saying that I don't want to provide free advertisement to this game right now, no matter how minimal my reach is.
It's kind of a bummer, and I'm not saying this is necessarily a permanent thing, but I'm going to try to put all of my Genshin posting on hold for the time being, which means I'm not gonna be finishing up that series for now.
I've said something along these lines twice already, but I'm a very small account and I don't know how many people care. But if anyone is reading this, I hope you understand. And if you'd like more information about the situation with Natlan, I recommend checking out @hyvboycott and tags such as #BoycottHYV and #RepresentationMatters.
Sentiment still stands though. This is infuriating, and a game that preaches diversity and is well known for being a global friendly game shouldn't get away with their colorism.
Mihoyo is ignoring Boycotters and aiming for Return Players instead!
Mihoyo's marketing strategy is extremely obvious after that livestream and it's really demoralizing to see so many fall for it. Every X.0 update they add a bunch of QoL features fans have been asking for for years. (Pick your own 5 star, artifact recycling, picking artifact sub stats) Their aim is to get fans that have dropped off during previous patches to come back.
They have been ignoring those "boycotting" because they anticipate the return players to out number the boycotting ones. Also if you are still logging and playing daily you aren't boycotting in their eyes. Playtime and daily login numbers are what they care about when it comes to f2p players. Unless you are a whale going from 1,000s of dollars a patch to zero dollars you "going f2p" isn't going to hurt their bottom line. They want a large number of active users along with a few whales.
If you still care about showing Mihoyo you care about their colorism you can NOT download and play 5.0 day one. You need to actually boycott by giving mihoyo low player numbers for a X.0 patch.
We still haven't seen 3 of Natlan's tribes yet! They changed an NPC's skin tone already. We can still push them to correct with the other tribes! BUT YOU HAVE TO BOYCOTT!
If 5.0 has higher login numbers than Sumeru Mihoyo will feel like they have no reason to listen to the boycotters because they regained fans from other areas or pulled in new players. I'm not saying you have to Quit genshin forever. Just hold off on playing the Natlan update for a few weeks. Watch a youtuber's play through of the Archon quest if you can't wait for the story.
And please convince your friends who have seen the 5.0 news but haven't been keeping up with Genshin to wait before coming back. Plenty of players stopped playing after 4.3 because that's when the Fontaine Archon Quest ended. Those players need to be informed of the white washing and convinced to not come back for 5.0. Those are the players Mihoyo is "listening to feed back" from with it comes to the QoL updates. Why do you think people who haven't logged in in over 45 days are getting another 10 free pulls? Because those are the players they are aiming for. If those players say no we aren't coming back to pull for white washed characters Mihoyo is more likely to listen to the criticism.
Candace wasn't in the Sumeru trailers and Sethos was added after we left Sumeru. There is still time for them to add POC playable characters to Natlan. We still haven't seen Vanessa's tribe. PLEASE KEEP PUSHING! IT IS WORKING SO DON'T STOP NOW!
Mualani, Kinich, and Kachina with skin tones based on what are as far as I know the peoples they're based on: Native Hawaiians for Mualani, Maya peoples for Kinich, and Pueblo peoples for Kachina. If I made any mistakes please let me know.
i think we’ve all seen the atrocity that is genshin’s unreleased character, ororun. the entirety of natlan is a mess really, but as a yoruba person myself i CANNOT keep quiet about ororun specifically.
outside yoruba mythology, in yoruba, ‘Olorun’ (the name ororun is based on, pronounced o-law-roon , with o pronounced as in orange and the ‘roon’ pronounced shortly, not dragged on at all) is actually the same word we often use to refer to God in Christianity. Christianity is the primary religion among us yorubas so honestly, i was kinda glad they misspelled his name. it would feel SO disrespectful referring to whatever that thing is with the same word we use to refer to God who we actually worship. religion aside, genshin’s depiction of Olorun (cultural god, not Christian one) is downright disgusting. i’d never paid too much attention to genshin and its poor representation, but now that my culture has fallen victim to it, i completely understand all the outrage.
edit: please note that while we use ‘Olorun’ to refer to the Christian God, Olorun is just a general word for ‘god’ itself ! for example if i say “God in heaven” and “god of thunder” we know i’m referring to two different beings, in yoruba it’s the kind of the same—the same word is used to refer to both the Christian and other gods, but we know it’s different, even though olorun can be capitalized regardless of what god we’re talking about (unlike english where the Christian God is capitalized and other gods aren’t) at the end of the day though, when we say “olorun” even without context, we are usually referring to the christian God !
1. PLEASE DO NOT DRAW HIM WITH ANIMAL EARS !
i’ve noticed that hoyoverse has this nasty habit of portraying every dark skinned character as wild or animal-esque. kaeya seems to be the only exception to this. even xinyan, though lacking any animal features, has this wild energy to her. some might call it a stretch, but i feel like her features are pretty feline in comparison to other liyue characters.
Olorun in our culture is the supreme god of the heavens. In my opinion, it is disrespectful to liken him to something akin to an animal. normally i wouldn’t even mind that much, but with how hoyo makes its few dark characters more and more like animals, i can’t help but feel weird about it. its really off putting.
2. HIS HAIR WOULD NOT BE CURLY !
majority of nigerians have 4C HAIR. not wavy hair or loose curls. some have 4B, but 4C is the usual here, that is, kinky or coily hair. Olorun is often portrayed as bald in traditional art, but trust me if he had hair his hair would resemble his people’s, not Tyla’s.
DREADLOCKS ARE A YES ! outside nigeria, locking hair is pretty common, but in nigeria a lot of people have locks naturally. our hair sometimes just grows out that way, no treatment no nothing. dreads are 100% an appropriate style, they look good asf too.
3. PLEASE USE CULTURAL FABRICS IN YOUR DESIGNS !
when i saw ororun’s outfit, i almost started crying. they couldn’t even bother to dress him up a little. they really dressed my brother in a scarf and cape and called it a day 😭 upon how fashionable we nigerians are know to be, hoyoverse still made it their mission to embarrass us stylistically. God knows my people have suffered man 😭
ankara is a traditional nigerian fabric that features bright colors and lots of patterned designs. see below:
here in 9ja, we love our ankara. it’s a big part of our fashion here and trust me it would look excellent in your designs. it’s perfectly fine to draw ororun in normal fabrics since he’s a deity and it’s not like ankara existed back then, but if you really want to represent nigeria, ankara is a must 🙏
i’m going to address another fashion piece because if you search up nigerian fashion you’ll see it a lot: beads.
these orange beads are igbo (another tribe here in nigeria) NOT yoruba. does this mean you can’t use it in olorun’s design ? no ! let me explain. tbh, here in nigeria there’s a bit of...tension between clans. it’s not that common, but older people are definitely a lot more tribalist. as a yoruba i love my igbo brothers and sisters, i truly believe they’re the most fashionable clan and i adore their festivities, they always go over the top. please, just look at them:
(only one image because of image caps, ugh)
anyway, we yorubas wear beads too. but the specific way the beads are worn around the head and in multiple layers round the neck is igbo, not yoruba. though i personally wouldn’t care too much if i saw olorun with igbo beads since all i want is for him to at least look nigerian, at the end of the day he is a yoruba deity. it might be disrespectful to dress the god of one clan as if he belongs to another, especially since there is so much historical ( and very slight but uncommon present ) day tension between both clans.
here’s a more yoruba outfit. sorry yall, it might be hard for you to distinguish if you’re not yoruba or igbo, but a lot of nigerians can tell the difference at a glance. ( actually nowadays, there is so much overlap between yoruba and igbo fashion, but there are many specific styles that may be associated with one tribe and not the other, for example how beads are worn in the above paragraph ) please do your research, he’s not only a nigerian god, but a yoruba one.
one more thing, because i know it will start discourse : skin tone.
nigerians have a very diverse range of skin tones. some of us are so pale, if not for our afrocentric features we could maybe pass for another race. however, ororun is yoruba.
light skinned nigerians are usually igbo. not to say that yorubas can’t be light skin, but here in nigeria if you saw a light skinned person, we’d automatically assume they were igbo. igbo people usually have lighter skin tones. majority of yorubas fall on the more milk to dark chocolate end of the skin tone spectrum. i’m saying this now because i know a lot of people are going to start arguments over ororun being redrawn as ‘too light’ or ‘too dark.’ i don’t really care about complexion, but i thought i’d help you all get your facts right.
that’s it ! if you read all this i’m super thankful. i don’t usually post about this kind of stuff but i honestly love my country and could go on about it for days. nigeria is such a beautiful place with a diverse range of cultures— from hausas to fulanis to so many more. natlan was supposed to be Africa’s time to shine, as well as latin americans, but hoyoverse said fuck you and your people. they did this to an extent with sumeru but natlan was done straight up dirty—not a single melanated character in sight, and the only one who does have melanin, iansan, looks so desaturated you might as well call her grey. i saw someone on tiktok call mualani a dark skinned character—it was at that point that i knew genshin was done for.
please REBLOG this post so it reaches more people and artists in the fandom !! this is literally the third time i’m making this post because tumblr refuses to show it in the tags for some reason 😭 i encourage other cultures who feel misrepresented to make posts like this too. it’s a perfect opportunity to educate and inform people about the diverse cultures genshin has once again failed to represent properly.
Hoyo has never been one to make customer satisfaction their top priority, but we’ve been able to call them out before and i truly believe we can do it again. Natlan is not poor design choice. it is blatant racism, a nation based on POC ethnicities with not a single colored character insight. Hoyoverse has been able to escape racism accusations for as long as i can remember, but natlan is the icing on the cake. we CANNOT allow hoyo to proceed as planned without giving them the appropriate backlash.
Also, if you redraw ororun using this guide, make sure to tag me here or on my main blog, @heartkaji !! i’d love to see all your redesigns. once again, thank you all for reading and have an amazing day !!
Just because the gods the natlan characters are based off of were carved in stone and statues doesn't mean they gotta be the fucking color of stone 😭😭😭
Please give iansan some lotion jesus christ bro 😭😭😭
