Summary
A newGenshin Impactpetition to improve representation in the game has now reached over 70 thousand signatures. The petition was created shortly after the reveal of the first three characters from Natlan, Kachina, Kinich, and Mualani in the teaser trailer shown at the end of the Version 4.8 livestream. However, the online petition gained even more traction following the reveal of severalNatlan characters inGenshin Impact, which created a huge amount of backlash due to the lack of representation in its mostly white ensemble of characters in a region inspired by Africa and South America.
Now, that petition onChange.orgstarted being shared more among fans of the game who are unsatisfied with developer HoYoverse’s treatment of characters.The game is being accused of whitewashing its cast of characters— which should have darker skin tones — as well as cultural appropriation. The petition calls on the developer to revise many of its contents, which date back to characters from Sumeru, too, and focus on creating more diverse and inclusive characters inGenshin Impact. The lack of characters with dark skin inHonkai: Star Rail, another of HoYoverse’s products, is also pointed out in the online petition.
I’ve Been Playing Genshin Impact Since Launch & Can No Longer Recommend It
The popular action RPG by HoYoverse is getting larger with each expansion, but its overload of content is not its main problem: it’s farming.
Lack Of Representation In Genshin Impact’s Natlan Characters Stirred Controversy
Voice Actors & Content Creators In The Community Spoke Up Against HoYoverse
The lack of representation and cultural appropriation cited in the petition generated a lot of commotion among the community following the reveal of the Natlan characters. In addition to players themselves,voice actors from the game and several content creators joined the cause and spoke out against what is being called colorism by HoYoverse. In an X (formerly Twitter) thread, the userTimely Harmonycompiles posts made by several of these noteworthy members of theGenshin Impactcommunity. Valeria Rodríguez, the English voice actor for Sucrose, for instance, talks about how HoYoverse should respect the very source of inspiration they draw from.
“This is not the first time the game is challenged due to its poor representation.”
They mention that Ọlọrun is the supreme Yoruba deity — who is often portrayed as a black man.In the game, this deity’s name was misspelled as Ororon, andit belongs to a white character with dark-blue anime hair and fox ears. As seen in the thread, Khoi Dao, the English voice actor for Albedo, cites that when a character inspired by the Yoruba deity looks like “pale sasuke batman,” people are “within their rights to demand better representation.” In addition to that,Genshin Impactcontent creators like Kokonata have said they are going free-to-play.
Ọlọrun’s adaptation into Ororon, which is perceived as cultural appropriation, is not the only issue with the game’s lack of representation.Out of the nine new Natlan characters that were revealed by HoYoverse, only one of them, lansan, has darker skin. Even so, there are mentions among players of the community that Iansan’s darker skin tone doesn’t go far enough, especially because she is the only non-white character. This is not exactly new, however. Over nearly four years,Genshin Impacthas boasted a large absence of black and darker-skinned characters.
HoYoverse Has Long Been Accused Of Whitewashing In Genshin Impact
The Roster Of Characters Is Mainly Composed Of White Characters
As the game’s first three regions were heavily inspired by Germany, China, and Japan, respectively, the community did not criticize the game too heavily, butthe accusations of the game’s lack of representation and cultural representation became vocal with the release of Sumeru in 2022. Sumeru is, of course, inspired by Sub-Saharan African, Middle Eastern, South, and Southeastern Asian countries, regions where the majority of the population is composed of people of color. However, very few Sumeru characters with darker skin tones were released inGenshin Impact– and those that did, like Dehya and Cyno, were accused of being whitewashed.
Players are calling for a boycott against HoYoverse, as demonstrated by a hashtag onX.
Out of nearly 90 playable characters that are currently available, only five of them have darker skin tones – and three of them are considered whitewashed skin. Over the years,HoYoverse has constantly been criticized due to the lack of characters representing people of color, especially given the game’s mission to reach a global audience. The criticism was drowned out for nearly a year with the release of Fontaine, a new Nation inspired by France, but came to light again near Natlan’s release. With the firstPyro Archon leaks inGenshin Impact, concern about the lack of representation rose again.
The first leaked details about the character had already mentioned she had pale skin, misfitting a character leading a Nation inspired by Western African and South American countries. Of course, even outside the geographic-ethnic argument about representation, which gives a solid reason for characters of varied skin tones to exist in the game, HoYoverse is faltering.There shouldn’t be a reason to explain why characters like these should be designed in the first place. Xinyan from Liyue, for instance, was a great example of this. The 4-star Pyro claymore character is one with a darker skin tone inGenshin Impact.
For reference, HoYoverse’s turn-based RPG,Honkai: Star Rail, is also heavily criticized due to the lack of characters with melanin, though it has been available for less time.
There is no justification as to why Xinyan exists – she simply does, andthat’s how representation should work. The big issue is that Xinyan is only one among dozens of other playable characters. This is not to say that there are no people of color represented in the game. HoYoverse has shown that it knows how to elegantly design people of color, as demonstrated by some of the Eremites, like the Eremite Stone Enchanter and the Eremite Floral Ring-Dancer, for example. However, not only are people of color scarce, but they are mostly attributed to enemies inGenshin Impact.
In turn, this raises the concerning issue regarding how the company sees people of color. The lack of representation orsolely attributing representation to the role of villains is problematicand fuels the argumentation that the company is practicing veiled colorism. Even with the largest portion of the player base being composed of players in Asian countries, as demonstrated byActive Player, there is still no excuse not to create characters with different skin tones, as there are people of color in these countries – moreover,Genshin Impactdoes reach players in countries all over the world.
With the petition gaining traction, several members of the community standing up against HoYoverse, and calls to boycott the company, HoYoverse may find trouble when Natlan is released and its characters start becoming available. The Nation of Pyro and its contents are due to arrive in late August if the six-week calendar does not suffer any delays. Additionally, players still have to go through therelease ofGenshin Impact4.8, which gives the company some time to fix its mistakes if it intends to listen to the pleas of its global community.
