Racial diversity among the powerplay lead figures

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Well, we've yet to run into aliens besides the Thargoids, and that didn't end so well, so..

In the older games and novels, there are other sentient races, but it seems like humanity elevated them to the stars - they're second class citizens where they're found, and we never see any starship designs that are directly described as being alien other than Thargoid ships. Thargoids are the only other inherently spacefaring race that has been mentioned in the lore.
 
That is what one does. All art has a message. These are the first pictures we get, and they are pictures of the movers and shakers. What they look like matters a lot, and implies things about the setting.

I think the message of any art is a complex and subjective function of the content of the work and the psychology of the person viewing it. Prior to the portraits being revealed, my only concern had been, which of these people will offer me bonuses for rare trading and bounty hunting?

Now that we see the line up of these characters, the message you seem to have taken is, "Why isn't at least one of them more obviously black?" And not taking into account or deeming important the fact that there is actually a wide racial variation already in the people presented.

When I first saw the line up, what came across to me is the personality of the characters represented by their poses, clothes, and expressions. Some come across as overtly aggressive, others as selfishly serious, a few as classically majestic, and a couple as warmly welcoming.

So, how is it that we recieved such different messages upon viewing the same content?

That's not really a question I need an answer to as I already know from everyday life that there will always be viewpoints that feel that something is not inclusive enough of their point of view.
 
And I will even add that, if we want to be realistic, futur humans would most likely not have any "colors", what I mean is that as the miscegenation increase in time, what we will look after 1000 years from now? We will be more brown that anything, not black or white, just in the middle.
 
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Well i'm more surprise that there is no alien in this, it's like we humans was the only intelligent species in the universe? Cmon..
But yeah i see your point, some blackness would not hurt anybody

I completely agree, life on Earth is made of the most abundant elements in the cosmos and it is arrogant and egocentric to think we are the only intelligent life in the galaxy let alone the universe/ multiverse. I mean, we may not even be the only intelligent species on this planet, other primates and cetaceans show a great potential for intelligence, just because we can't communicate doesn't mean they are not as intelligent as or more intelligent than us. For all we know, whales and dolphins could have massive cities at the bottom of the ocean.
 
Once you cut out the noise and look at the on topic posts, this thread is amazingly interesting. Some really strong and meaningful thoughts about representations of the Elite Dangerous setting and context.
 
Lots of people are saying "I don't have a problem with this," to which the only answer should be "then let the ones who are bothered have their way."

Incorrect IMO. If creative direction is required to have certain boxes to check, is it really creative or is it sticking to a previously made mold that society envisions as a requirement? Also, where would it end as well? Should the creators give in to what the players at their every outcry? That just seems like complete pandering. I really think this post addresses the point better than I could ever hope to do so:

This guys blog regarding The Witcher: Wild Hunt turned up on my twitter feed just now... Seems relevant (especially the excerpt below).

http://miracleofsound.tumblr.com/post/120712944750/on-people-of-colour-in-witcher-3-racism
 
I completely agree, life on Earth is made of the most abundant elements in the cosmos and it is arrogant and egocentric to think we are the only intelligent life in the galaxy let alone the universe/ multiverse. I mean, we may not even be the only intelligent species on this planet, other primates and cetaceans show a great potential for intelligence, just because we can't communicate doesn't mean they are not as intelligent as or more intelligent than us. For all we know, whales and dolphins could have massive cities at the bottom of the ocean.
Totally, but i just tought that if we start implementing aliens life in this game as part of the universe, I think it mean that we have to add new ships, or stations with shapes totally different from what humans are used to do, its some work, but I think it could be a lead for giving more complexity to the game.
 
I completely agree, life on Earth is made of the most abundant elements in the cosmos and it is arrogant and egocentric to think we are the only intelligent life in the galaxy let alone the universe/ multiverse. I mean, we may not even be the only intelligent species on this planet, other primates and cetaceans show a great potential for intelligence, just because we can't communicate doesn't mean they are not as intelligent as or more intelligent than us. For all we know, whales and dolphins could have massive cities at the bottom of the ocean.

Considering the size of the galaxy I don't think it far fetched that Elite only has humans in "inhabited" space. There are plenty of stars out there for other intelligent life that we simply have not yet discovered. Except for the Thargoids, of course.
 
This thread is embarrassing to all humans, it should probably just stay locked.

Why? Race is a touchy-subject because it is made out to be one. When people enter in to intelligent discourse about the subject, then good conversation and debate can come of it. As Ben Ryder says above, when you cut out the noise it's amazingly interesting. If you lock it and walk away and say it is embarrassing to humans, then you're saying that we can't talk about race. Good, fair debate, is good, fair, debate.
 
Once you cut out the noise and look at the on topic posts, this thread is amazingly interesting. Some really strong and meaningful thoughts about representations of the Elite Dangerous setting and context.

Shame I can't +rep you again Ben :)

Yes, this could have been (and maybe still could be) an interesting topic if people would on;ly wind their necks in a bit and stop being so keen to be offended about the perceived offense taken by others. Actually nobody suggested any racism was involved, nobody claimed to be offended themselves or on behalf of anybody else... there was simply a question. The subject of 'what humanity would actually look like in 3301' is valid and fair enough to raise.
 
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30 pages about skin colour :(

sad. I dont care what skin colour someone is.... im sorry that for you OP that there are not enough extremely dark skinned npcs in the game (theres 2 that are dark skinned but the lighting makes it look like they are med, 2 asian, 1 nord, then a mixture)

Reverse racism at its finest. Play the victim card when there IS no victim....
 
Lots of people are saying "I don't have a problem with this," to which the only answer should be "then let the ones who are bothered have their way."

In a predetermined future, there would be only one answer. But linearity would be the result of absolute perfection, which I doubt is a very human thing.
 
If creative direction is required to have certain boxes to check, is it really creative or is it sticking to a previously made mold that society envisions as a requirement?
If creative direction is based on what subconscious assumptions and habit the developers brought with them into the studio, is it really creative or is it sticking to a previously made mold that the developers may even be unaware of?

Also, where would it end as well? Should the creators give in to what the players at their every outcry? That just seems like complete pandering.
Frontier have listened to the players on many occasions before. Would you really prefer they hadn't?
 
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Shame I can't +rep you again Ben :)

Yes, this could have been (and maybe still could be) an interesting topic if people would on;ly wind their necks in a bit and stop being so keen to be offended about the perceived offense taken by others. Actually nobody suggested any racism was involved, nobody claimed to be offended themselves or on behalf of anybody else... there was simply a question. The subject of 'what humanity would actually look like in 3301' is valid and fair enough to raise.

Like wise. The majority of calls to close the thread are from people with nothing to contribute.

serenity_by_taman88-d7ibuz7.jpg

A similar discussion was held about the crew of Firefly and there has been similar for Star Wars, Star Trek and so on.
 
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Riddle me this.

As an exemplary exercise I'd like to raise the question

"Which, in your opinion, is the one statement you feel is the more racist one and why?"

A) "I see 10 people, each of them striving to be the most powerful."

B) "I see 5 blue and 5 green people, each of them striving to be the most powerful."



I hoped we as a society would have learned it's not the cover of the book that really counts.



As the question for more darker skin tones in the images I suspect, as several before me have, that the range of the skin tones in 3300 will have narrowed because of cultural mixing. Exceptionally bright and dark tones would converge to the middle tones of tan and brownish, which I feel, is faithfully represented in the portraits, which are supposed to play in 3300.



Edit: aside colors topics I want to congratulate the artists for their exceptional fine arts on the portraits. They look smashing and charismatic without falling too uch into a stereotype cliche but still conveying a certain degree of the person's attitude.
 
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What, exactly, gives you the idea that this is a democracy?
What, exactly, gives you the idea that Frontier don't listen to their customers?

If people truly don't care what race the characters are, they truly won't care if, next time, there is a touch more diversity.

Ideally, you want the characters in the game to be relatable to the players of the game. It's not much to ask for.
 
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