Racial diversity among the powerplay lead figures

[Gidio]

I can't believe that the first time we see what people look like in the Elite Dangerous universe, the first thing that comes up in some people's minds is: Is this racist???
If you are looking for racism in everything you see, you should do some soul-searching, friend.

I, for one, am really psyched to see what actual culture, not only in space, but on the ground, looks like. And a sign of that are the clothes and styling of the people. This is something that could really expand (especially with the new Galnet pictures) our comprehension of what the universe looks like outside of our spaceships.

For me, the leaders are very diverse, and the only thing that caught my eye in their skin color is that it seems that Archon is an albino, which really is a great artistic choice. Well done on the leaders FD, I hope to see more peeks at the culture of 3301.

 

[jabberwalkie]

Who's to say some of them are not transgender? How would you know?

Asked the exact same question you did.

 

[Alexander the Grape]

I note there is no fat or bald people in power, if we are basing this thread on looks alone, we cannot limit it to skin tones.

Pranav Antal's pretty bald, and Edmund Mahon definitely isn't skinny

 

[MattBW]

I see plenty of racial diversity - with all the "major" ethnic groups presented. White, black, latino, Asian. Men and women too. I see NO issue, and am ASTOUNDED that anyone's sensibilities are affected. If anyone should be offended it's the unrepresented green, purple and/or 3-eyed, 5-handed aliens who aren't part of the mix

I think we need to move on and simply enjoy the game...

Well said, it appears to me they've tried to cover various peoples of various earth cultures. For only ten people it's pretty diverse.

One day hopefully mankind will be able to look at a picture and not actually perceive difference in skintone as any difference from having hair or a small/large nose.

I do think today some people are just permanently looking to be offended on behalf of others (who often aren't actually offended themselves when asked). It's all part of the process of trying to shed the darker parts of human nature.

f you really want to be realistically representative of the worlds population today half of them should be of Chinese roots which is one of the largest populations in the world today. Where do you draw the line and how do you decide what's an inclusive mix? You can't please all the people all the time.

I thought it looked a good variety and I'm sad it's descended into this.

 

[tooterfish]

-
This.
-
Bet you Captain Kirk didn't, won't, has, had never gave, given colour a thought.

Not sure if trolling?

Kirk might not have cared, but Roddenberry did (in a good way). Star Trek deliberately had a very diverse cast for the period, maybe it's something people take for granted now.

 

[Antmax]

After all those centuries of interracial relationships core humans would probably be a pretty generic without much variation. Neither white or black. Most variation would probably come from environmental effects. Like low gravity worlds might make people skinnier and taller etc.

I was more concerned about other things like the their clothing being pretty generic, no tattoos, piercings or odd prosthetic additions. Perhaps it's just that they are politicians. But I did expect some diversity even if it wasn't so much racial.

 

[Mephane]

I don't know how diverse you need the pictures to be to not be considered racist by some people.

The representations look pretty varied to me, so I don't agree with the assumption that the make up of these characters is in any way indicative of any specific racial intent.

I never claimed the picture, or the devs, were racist. That would have been preposterous. I thought I made that clear in the OP. I just said it could have been done better.

 

[Vandaahl]

I never claimed the picture, or the devs, were racist. I thought I made that clear in the OP. I just said it could have been done better.

Well, give it your best shot!

 

[lovely lovely]

Not sure if trolling?

Kirk might not have cared, but Roddenberry did.

Nah, Kirk didn't care what colour the alien lady was - he just got on with it - lad.

 

[random_tangent]

Few points...

- I'd like to point out it's not just the "racial distribution of 10 pictures" but rather the racial distribution of the 10 people who are supposed to be the most powerful people in the entire galaxy. That makes a difference. It says something that these are the people with the power.

- I think basically the best that can be said is that it could be worse. Got a couple of PoC here, and there could easily have been one or none.

- Yes, that is kind of damning with faint praise. The distribution is still very much what you'd expect to find from a bunch of British developers, and there's no reason to automatically assume that distant future space culture would or should be dominated by white people in power (unless we take the rather pessimistic view that the opportunity gap is still so wide in the distant future)

- If you aren't concerned by this, that doesn't make you a terrible person, but it would perhaps do to listen to people who are a little disappointed by it rather than simply assume they are some overreacting, oversensitive souls who for some unknown reason need to be argued against at any cost. The absolute most that could happen as a result of people taking notice, is that a few more PoC make it into the upcoming powers which will be introduced into the game. That a problem?

I do hope that this discussion can be held in a civil manner. Every one of us here more than anything else wants to play a great game, no matter what our views are on this sort of thing, and it would do to remember that.

I'm curious as to what constitutes the "correct" racial make-up of these people and how we arrive at it. It's also a fairly small sample of the powerful within the elite universe. Statistically, we can't really assume it is indicative of any racial profiling within the power structures of Elite.

More to the point, do we want people to right the race of characters intentionally to reflect their own political agenda, or do we want creative people to create characters organically?

If it sounds like I'm getting at you, I'm honestly not. I welcome the debate.

 

[Varrag]

No dwarves ?!

Well, at least there is an elf and white orc.

 

[Renegade Roach]

Leaders of the 10 most powerful countries in the world (may not be current, I did minimal google research ):

United States - Barack Obama
Germany - Joachim Gauck
United Kingdom - David Cameron
China - Xi Jinping
France - François Hollande
Russia - Vladimir Putin
Japan - Shinzō Abe
Netherlands - Mark Rutte
Canada - Stephen Harper
Italy - Sergio Mattarella

100% male
70% Caucasian


I'd say FDEV are airing on the side of politically correct to be fair. Who's to say the demographics would be any different in 1200 years?

I think you'd find Angela Merkel might have something to say about that

this was my original point though, perhaps they are simply extrapolating a future situation where the rich white bankers have solidified their stranglehold on humanity to an unassailable extent. Orwell would approve (so would Chomsky). I think it's more likely just a reflection of their team makeup though.

 

[Garybee]

I work in an area staffed almost entirely by white, heterosexual males between the ages of 18 and 45. Amusingly when any PR material is produced you'd be hard pressed to find anyone fitting that description within it. Someone very like the OP is always involved in the production and it causes me no end of amusement as they bend over backwards trying desperately to make every picture fit into a 'correct' representation of society. On the bright side it means I don't have to get involved with any of it.

 

[Soda Popinski]

We may see more diversity when other Powers start showing up. There's some diversity, maybe considered tokenism by some, but I can appreciate it (as somebody who's ethnic background is rarely represented in the media).

I dunno, people can be pretty weird, I could definitely see some cult/fashion trend deciding to genetically modify everyone to have blue or green skin.

Good point. Blue or pink hair use to be weird a decade or two ago.

 

[Nagual]

Pranav Antal's pretty bald, and Edmund Mahon definitely isn't skinny

You see that's the problem with personal interpretations. I see no one who is either bald (one with a crew cut) or indeed actually fat (perhaps a little tubby).

Although I'll say this Felicia, has been referred to in game as a HE, so transgender may be in - although I suspect it's a typo. Or is Felicia a blokes name too?

 

[Bidermann]

I never claimed the picture, or the devs, were racist. I thought I made that clear in the OP. I just said it could have been done better.

how far do you want to go ? there are no over weight , no disabled , no dwarfism, etc etc

 

[peteuplink]

Race is a human construct, but it classifies something that clearly we did not make: the minor differences within our species. And we are clearly the same species.

If you see a black horse and a white horse standing together in a field, you don't say they're different species. Different breed perhaps, but you'd say that there are horses. The notion of race, or sub-species or breed is something that we created for ourselves to identify the minor differences we see between those of different regions. Those differences arose quite recently because of environmental factors (darker skin for protection from the sun; pale skin for ease of producing vitamin D).

If the trend continues as is one of two things will happen:
In the event that humans remain exclusively on the Earth: Humans will melt into basically one common race.
In the event that humans colonize other worlds: Humans will begin to melt into one common race. And then within isolated pockets, humans will begin to diverge again into multiple races (possibly species).

But I happen to think that NEITHER will happen because "as is" won't continue much longer. The advent of artificial wombs, genetic engineering and sub-microscopic machinery may eliminate the current concept of what it means to be "human" by about 2100. From that point, humans could evolve into multiple different species, tailor made to different environments and according to the desires of individuals.

 

[nosscar]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

it seems that you really do wish to discuss the racial distribution of 10 pictures.

Some house rules.

This thread will be closely monitored.
Any more comments about bust size, any off topic, racist, or sexist comments will attract penalties.

There is NO leaway in this thread. Stay on topic and civil.

I just think they all look very nice. ....(goes back to hiding under desk)

 

[cherbert]

The Federation women looks black to me and Patreus looks Hispanic to me. Why is this such a big deal?

Because people like to create controversy for absolutely no reason but to stir it up. The world would be a better place if people didn't make issues out of nothing. I see an Asian person, a Black person, a multi-race person, a female, a male and possibly a Witcher. What more do people want? One of every colour, race and disability?

 

[Black Ops]

I hate to be that guy, but someone has to speak up. I am a bit disappointed by the lack of racial variety in the current power leaders:

http://fs2.directupload.net/images/150605/qmdjyqdi.png

I want to make it clear that I am not accusing FD of anything, this was certainly not mal-intended in any way, maybe they even thought about it and possibly have something more in the pipe for future powers, who knows. It is just that this picture looks remarkably... light-skinned; we have one person who looks Asian, and two people seem a bit Mediterranean, but that's it. (Also, 6 out of 10 people in the picture are male.)

I am glad you didn't follow a really bad trope and had made Archon Delaine the only black guy, that would have been really awkward. So let this be just a small heads-up towards FD - good start, but you could still do better.

Well, to be honest, Archon is clearly the darkest-skinned of the group.

and he's a pirate lord/smuggler/murderer.

So, if we really want to get into this, FD DID go there. And, I'm not surprised. Black folks(like myself) have always been cast as the bad guys. The "blacks and crime" connection has been, frankly, pounded into the heads, indoctrination-style, of people across the world.

Meanwhile, white men and women in suits are the ones who orchestrated the global crash in 2008.(mostly) white bankers are the ones who launder money for the global drug trade. These are the people who took your job, your house, your livelihood, if it was lost. The biggest "gangsta's" on this earth are lily-white and have exactly zero chance of being "stopped and frisked".

But if you ask someone what a "criminal" looks like, they'll come back at you with the image of someone who could be found in any of Snoop Dogg's videos.

So, even though I don't think for a moment that Braben and co. had any racist intention here..there may be unconscious bias showing itself. how can it not? Every person on earth with access to TV and internet has been told, both overtly, and covertly, that we black folks are thugs, killers, low-class, etc etc etc. how can anyone expect that not to reflect in works such as this?

I think it's sad that we had to even get into this. It's a sci-fi universe,and racism shouldn't even be a thought. These fictional characters should have moved past racism at this point. I think, in the ED universe, they HAVE moved past it.

The real question is, have WE moved past it?

The answer is quite clear.