arguements AGAINST black/asian customization options in WoW

[Soulwind]

Warcraft humans went from this:



to this:



in around 10.000 years.

In a world with all kinds of magics, in which genetics aren't really a thing, and species mutate overnight, I don't think they have to justify minor racial differences such as skin colour or facial structure.

A couple of generations are enough for certain Warcraft races to turn green or grow wings, if the story requires them to.

[Destinas]

The arguments I see against it usually boil down to:

a.) "There's no Asia or Africa in WoW!"
Which, yeah, but point to Europe on Azeroth, Draenor, Argus, or any other realm of existence. Before anyone says that all human nations are European - see my next points about Kul Tiras and Asian men that have been in the game since Vanilla.

b.) "I'm sick of companies giving in to SJW DEMANDS!"
I never really saw anyone demand for this to be added - it's just something Blizzard decided to do. It just gives players the options to play as themselves more than just caricatures of African/Caribbean cultures (Trolls) or caricatures of Asian cultures (Pandaren). It's just a nice thing. The sky isn't falling, you don't have to play as these skin tones/face shapes if you don't want to. I absolutely love the way they look, and I might make another human, personally.

c.) "There's no lore to support this! It's coming out of nowhere!"
Similar to the first argument, but distinct still. Well, there have been black people in novels, like Makasa Flintwill in Traveler, who is from Stranglethorn. Kul Tirans have had a couple dark skin tones since the start of BfA with no additional lore - they just can be black. An example of this is Dorian Atwater, the shipwright for Anduin's Kul Tiran ship. There were also people like Woo Ping, Wu Shen, and Shen Kang Cheng that were meant to be Asian - they even had Asian eye shapes from Vanilla-WoD, until the model remakes.

Besides all of that, evolution in WoW's lore isn't at all like it is in the real world. There are things like the Curse of Flesh, the Cradles of Life (like the Vale), and even magical artifacts that have evolved people different ways. Humans themselves are a product of the flesh-cursed Vrykul, who were once made of metal - that means that there isn't a reason at all in WoW for real world evolution explanations. There also doesn't need to be an explanation for why some humans have "Pandaren names" - some of the Mechagnomes have Asian-inspired names as well, and we know they never interacted with Pandaren before.

So, in the end, it has nothing to do with lore, just the real world humans that play it, as stated in the first point. Fact is, it's happening, so you may want to get used to that fact rather than lose sleep over it.

[Codah]

A couple of generations on an island could be enough for Warcraft races to turn green or grow a third arm, if the story requires them to.

Right, so like just write that story. Warcraft is all magical and shit but there's still a familiar biological baseline to how humans work generally.

[Merryck]

No.

Maybe you could argue the representation of blacks/asians is a pandoras box of enabling racists to make racist characters, but that's pretty weak.

[hulkgor]

are there any legitimate arguments against adding black and asian human options to Warcraft?

The threads already discussing this weren't enough, 'uh?

You could have contributed there, but nooooooo....

*sigh*

As for the topic: No.

[Dellis0991]

The arguments I see against it usually boil down to:

a.) "There's no Asia or Africa in WoW!"
Which, yeah, but point to Europe on Azeroth, Draenor, Argus, or any other realm of existence. Before anyone says that all human nations are European - see my next points about Kul Tiras and Asian men that have been in the game since Vanilla.

b.) "I'm sick of companies giving in to SJW DEMANDS!"
I never really saw anyone demand for this to be added - it's just something Blizzard decided to do. It just gives players the options to play as themselves more than just caricatures of African/Caribbean cultures (Trolls) or caricatures of Asian cultures (Pandaren). It's just a nice thing. The sky isn't falling, you don't have to play as these skin tones/face shapes if you don't want to. I absolutely love the way they look, and I might make another human, personally.

c.) "There's no lore to support this! It's coming out of nowhere!"
Similar to the first argument, but distinct still. Well, there have been black people in novels, like Makasa Flintwill in Traveler, who is from Stranglethorn. Kul Tirans have had a couple dark skin tones since the start of BfA with no additional lore - they just can be black. An example of this is Dorian Atwater, the shipwright for Anduin's Kul Tiran ship. There were also people like Woo Ping, Wu Shen, and Shen Kang Cheng that were meant to be Asian - they even had Asian eye shapes from Vanilla-WoD, until the model remakes.

Besides all of that, evolution in WoW's lore isn't at all like it is in the real world. There are things like the Curse of Flesh, the Cradles of Life (like the Vale), and even magical artifacts that have evolved people different ways. Humans themselves are a product of the flesh-cursed Vrykul, who were once made of metal - that means that there isn't a reason at all in WoW for real world evolution explanations. There also doesn't need to be an explanation for why some humans have "Pandaren names" - some of the Mechagnomes have Asian-inspired names as well, and we know they never interacted with Pandaren before.

So, in the end, it has nothing to do with lore, just the real world humans that play it, as stated in the first point. Fact is, it's happening, so you may want to get used to that fact rather than lose sleep over it.

^I don't understand who or if anyone is crying about this....for what I know I was always able to make black characters in game, the only thing they didn't have was black hair styles....did people forget that those skin tone options was already in game

[Lorgar Aurelian]

We're coming up on 2020. It's been a running theme for the last 4-5 years that everyone is offended by everything and that everyone needs inclusion in any and everything for something to feel legitimate.

your long winded post is kinda rendered mute when black/Asian options were added in 2004 and are just being updated.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Nope. More optional things like this are only good.
Only thing that could be "against" is the artists dont have the time to do it.
As a player it wouldn't impact you if you have no interest in using them at all.

[crakerjack]

I think the only argument against it, is that there's no lore to justify it. This is one of those scenarios where I'm willing to just overlook it for the sake of diversity. It's not like they're adding black blood elves or anything.

[spalernTJ]

I personally believe the absence of "different types of humans" in WoW and Warcraft in general, were due to technical limitations. In Warcraft / 2 / 3 / TFT there weren't much of a need to create varied humans right? You had your footmens, your heroes and knights. Human units were all just super generic. I think the same kinda drifted over to WoW, which did begin back in 2004, with a super limited amount of character customization.

The idea of the Warcraft universe not having more varied humans doesn't make much sense to me. In a world with magic, crystal fueled spaceships, gods and titans... The idea of black and asian people is where some start questioning the aesthetics... Wat?

[Destinas]

I think the only argument against it, is that there's no lore to justify it. This is one of those scenarios where I'm willing to just overlook it for the sake of diversity. It's not like they're adding black blood elves or anything.

Not Blood Elves, but they are adding dark skinned Wildhammers as a customization option. People tend to ignore that one since it's a fantasy race anyway. Even the Forsaken are getting darker skin options.

I'm all for all of it, since I think they all look awesome.

[Worgenmaniac]

The human kingdoms in Warcraft are based on Medieval Europe. Blacks were not citizens in medieval europe. Asians were practically non-existent there as well.

The change is against the lore of the game. Changes like this seek to erase the heritage of European people. Eastern Kingdoms isn't modern day America. Besides, the game has always represented non-European races.

Trolls - Caribbean
Orcs - African
Pandaren - Chinese
Night Elves - Japanese

[Adamas102]

Right, so like just write that story. Warcraft is all magical and shit but there's still a familiar biological baseline to how humans work generally.

Azzerothian humans already have a completely different evolutionary history to Earth humans, so there really is no point in trying to explain it. It's a completely fabricated world that is so far removed from our reality that the laws of physics don't even really apply, and yet you feel it's necessary to explain why this race of completely unrealistic humans can have a variety of appearances that mirror our own? Come on...

[Dellis0991]

The human kingdoms in Warcraft are based on Medieval Europe. Asians and Blacks were not citizens in those Kingdoms.

The change is against the lore of the game. Changes like this are also seek to erase the heritage of European people.

Keep being brainwashed.

The option to be asian and black already been in game for years.....they just adding to options....this is a fantasy game. they got breaking dancing trolls with Jamaican accent.

[Boo Radley]

I mean the one argument against them is that they will inevitably be used for racist caricatures.

I mean I dont really like this argument either. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be busy locking down "Dindunuffin" on every realm for the next patch.

[Codah]

Azzerothian humans already have a completely different evolutionary history to Earth humans, so there really is no point in trying to explain it. It's a completely fabricated world that is so far removed from our reality that the laws of physics don't even really apply, and yet you feel it's necessary to explain why this race of completely unrealistic humans can have a variety of appearances that mirror our own? Come on...

I don't really care all that much but don't pretend like you aren't being disingenuous. You know the difference between the magical shit in wow and the fact that we assume that humans in WoW breathe through their nose and mouth like humans in real life.

[deenman]

asian doesnt make any sense and pandas were the asian race anyway

there are atleast 3 asian named people in wow since vanila,also...pandas arent human,im not THAT hairy and fat

[Worgenmaniac]

The option to be asian and black already been in game for years.....they just adding to options....this is a fantasy game. they got breaking dancing trolls with Jamaican accent.

Blizzard creatively and subtelty represented non-European races in the game. The game was based off of medieval europe, not America. Woo Ping the weapon master was believable. There could be a chinese weaponmaker/trader in a medieval city. Yes, you can change your skin color in WoW, but the character models have always had european features.

The character model changes in Shadowlands are just not believable at all. It's totally against the lore.

Trolls are supposed to be Jamaican/Caribbean. It is good to have representation. It was one of the best things about the game. A game about only European kingdoms would get boring.

[Dr Assbandit]

The human kingdoms in Warcraft are based on Medieval Europe. Blacks were not citizens in medieval europe. Asians were practically non-existent there as well.

The change is against the lore of the game. Changes like this seek to erase the heritage of European people. Eastern Kingdoms isn't modern day America. Besides, the game has always represented non-European races.

Trolls - Caribbean
Orcs - African
Pandaren - Chinese
Night Elves - Japanese

At least people are openly embracing their racism now rather than making bs arguments .

[Ezyah]

It's not intrusive nor is it forced on me and it can make some people happy so i'm for it