#literally genshin reigions in general

[miyulien]

rant.

extremely unrelated post regarding Omori/pjsk or my au!

I am very annoyed by how hoyoverse ultimately refuses to incorporate any kind of melanin or dark-skinned characters in their game(s), especially in genshin, where they take cultures of other people. they take all of the food, the landscapes, the language, and the mannerisms as well as the clothing, (be it over-sexualised at times) but they don’t carry the beautiful ethnic features that the people of those cultures have.

i am aware that hoyoverse is a Chinese company, and its player base is full of Chinese and the standard is very much based on the Chinese standards (pale skin, thin legs, tall stature, straight hair etc.) however, regardless of your country’s beauty standards, you can’t take steal other country’s cultures and proceed to not use the people’s appearances as well, it’s like you say everything they’ve made is beautiful, from the landscapes, the buildings, the cultural traditions and the way they act.. but you. its genuinely so hurtful to see in for example; sumeru,

literally based off of middle-eastern and south-asians, which both of these cultures have predominantly dark-skinned people. but our cultures are being used constantly without our own ethnic features along with it.

the only time I ever see a character with my skin tone in sumeru, is the enemies we have to fight. the disrespect that is, to know your skin tone just isn’t good enough, not marketable enough, so they won’t make you a real character.

the idea that everything we’ve created, things we’ve worked years on, traditions that have been kept and maintained as well as shared over the centuries, is practically perfect and beautiful in hoyo’s eyes.. but, us? we’re not marketable enough, our looks aren’t good enough. the idea of having melanin is jarring nowadays, seeing characters with some sort of “imperfections” like “dark skin” is disgusting. why must we cast away the beauties of others appearance, the way they look in general, but we proceed to be overjoyed at their creations yet not the creators themselves.

it is genuinely super annoying to see how little dark skinned characters there are in genshin, and hsr, I’m not even talking about just adding diversity just to appease others, I’m talking about adding dark skinned characters and just making them normal people, without simply adding melanin just to make others shut up. why can u make every single light skinned character normal, and human, yet you can’t do the same with dark skinned characters? sumeru, natlan are based off of countries/regions that are filled with beautiful different skin tones, and hair types that don’t fit the Chinese beauty standards.

and it’s fine, beauty standards are present everywhere, but it shouldn’t be an issue to not make everything fit your country’s beauty standards, especially when you are profiting off of another country’s culture. also, can we talk about how there is literally barely any proper significance dark skin characters have in their storylines? there is barely any kind of importance that dark skinned characters have in events or even the main storyline, they appear once or twice during the quests but barely matter afterwards? they are constantly shunned and cast to the side, as if hoyoverse is ashamed of including any kind of diversity…? you can take everyone’s cultural backgrounds and their own ethnicity’s creations, but you can’t take their ethnicity’s appearance too? is it so hard to make a character with curly hair, or wavy hair for that matter.. or even make them black? is it hard to have afros, or braids, or make styles other then just exaggerated stereotypical anime straight hair?

I know it is to get profit, and that these characters wouldn’t do as well from what hoyoverse sees..

but, so many people are longing for these types of appearances, so many people want these representations, for dark skinned characters to be seen in media without simply having to be stereotypical or just added for basic diversity, just.. to be normal, like any other light skinned characters are.

It’s like me taking Chinese culture, the beautiful views, the buildings, the food, the mannerisms, and the traditions.. but not their ethnic features. people would be complaining over it and be totally pissed off, but why do we brush off the issue when it’s regarding dark skinned people not getting representation when their literal culture is constantly used in different games, like genshin, but the people themselves aren’t included?

i am not stating that light skinned people aren’t beautiful, in fact they are stunning, everyone is regardless of their melanin or lack thereof, I believe everyone’s features are beautiful, from dark skin, to tanned, to light, or pale. straight hair, wavy hair, curly hair, or coily hair, or even mixes. everyone is beautiful, and that is the truth, they all have features that make them stunning. but it’s just that the representations are so minimal in terms of dark skinned people, that is why I’m making this post.

as u can see, the literal pyro archon has not a shade of melanin, like what? none of the archons have melanin, not a single one of them? literal archons based off of regions that have predominantly dark skinned people, are all pale? huh??

i love hoyo games very much, and I love the stories but i just have noticed a total disregard and practical disrespect of dark skinned people who have stated that they want more representation seeing as hoyo uses their own culture but not their appearances, its just depressing to see what your ancestors have created, the hard work it took for you to maintain your culture, only for a huge company to swoon in and take that culture, and market it, but change your appearances to better fit their idea of ‘attractive’. As if you aren’t good enough, you aren’t marketable whatsoever.

they can easily incorporate inazuma accurately, which is based off of Japanese culture, they can use their ethnic features, and the way that they look, they can use the culture, the food, the traditions and events and the mannerisms and clothing, but they can also use their features? what’s the difference between Hispanic culture, and Japanese culture? why is it easy to use Japanese features but not Hispanic? it’s no coincidence.

I don’t like complaining in general, especially abt this, but honestly I have just seen this happen so much during the updates that I really got tired of cultures being used and praised, but the people themselves aren’t worthy of the same thing because they don’t fit the ‘beauty standard’

at the end of the day, you can do what you want, but if you are going to use a country’s culture, and profit off of it, the least you could do is also include their ethnic features instead of appeasing to your country’s beauty standards constantly.

hoyoverse is a multi-billion dollar company, it really isn’t that hard to include other ethnicites beautiful melanin and natural ethnic traits that they have, like greek noses, flat noses, upturned noses, small lips, big lips, big eyes and small eyes. thick eyelashes, long eyelashes, mixed skin tones, freckles and more, it’s just features that carry beauty, the mesmerising history of a culture to them. it isn’t that hard to include it, if you are willing to steal a culture, and call that culture perfect, except the people that created that culture.

do better, hoyoverse.