Genshin Impact fans have been looking forward to the new Sumeru region since it was first mentioned in a launch trailer in 2020. But since the new Sumeru characters leaked online yesterday, fans have expressed concern that the developers have been whitewashing the characters. .
The community broadly agrees that Sumeru is based primarily on the cultures of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA). The Sumeru character in the launch trailer had an Egyptian-like jackal head, and many of the NPCs in the region have Arabic or Sanskrit names. Before the new characters leaked to the Internet, Genshin fans were nervous about how the Shanghai-based studio would manage to have SWANA characters in the game. Genshin’s cast is remarkably fair-skinned with only two exceptions, and all of the game’s Sumeru NPCs are equally light. So while leaks aren’t necessarily the final designs, fans aren’t optimistic about the odds of getting darker-skinned characters to help the list of characters feel more representative of Southwest Asia and the West. North Africa.
Send this image to scare hoyoverse #Sumeru pic.twitter.com/VR8qF46Ost
– Dusty (@LDuster_) June 29, 2022
This is not the first time the study has faced criticism about representation. The last major case occurred in April last year, when fans discovered a video of Genshin’s developers referring to the indigenous dances of the enemy animals Hilichurl. Fans were also upset that the playable knight character Kaeya was being described as “exotic,” a term many people of color find dehumanizing (later removed from the English location). What makes the recent leaks annoying to people is that Genshin will receive a whole year of content based on the HoYoverse interpretation of the SWANA people. If the developers don’t accommodate the critical comments, Genshin’s content for an entire year will be affected by the misstep, an unpleasant prospect for SWANA legacy players.
As a result of these leaks, fans who want darker-skinned characters are already beginning to be alienated by the fandom. Some have been subjected to racist comments and others have had to justify why a character named “Kusanali” should not look like a Mondstadt fairy. It’s an ugly situation that will likely continue as Sumeru receives live updates on the next major patch series. The Genshin community can be racist even with accurate Chinese representation. Any major mistakes in how SWANA characters are portrayed will be amplified by the racist sentiments that already exist within the fandom.
so fed up with the very excuse of ‘pale little exist’ bcos that it’s literally not the problem. the problem is I’m too scared to give any of the new Sumerian characters anything other than the same two shades of white 💀 what’s new
– he 🖤🖤🖤 (@xiaopicbot) June 28, 2022
Some fans wanted a representation of the SWANA region, but have had doubts about how Sumeru combined multiple cultural influences into a composite city-state. This creative decision was especially alienating because the previous regions were based on unique countries: Germany, China, and Japan.
Enthusiasts of the community tradition have speculated that Sumeru is not based on any modern nation, but potentially on the ancient Zoroastrian civilizations of the First Persian Empire, which did encompass the territories of several modern countries. And it is likely that Sumeru itself bears the name of the Sumerian Mesopotamian civilization. Therefore, it is entirely possible that Sumeru is well researched and respectful of his tradition. But fans are still expressing alienation from HoYoverse’s apparent reluctance to include darker-skinned people as playable characters. Especially when the company will benefit financially from the gacha attraction of the SWANA characters.
Genshin Impact is a work of fiction, but he made a major effort to connect Teyvat’s fictional world with real-life history and culture. If HoYoverse cared as much about the historical accuracy of Sumeru as clearly about Inazuma, he would have to throw playable characters that are darker than white or beige. And as some gacha fans have pointed out, the recently released action role-playing game Dislyte has more darker-skinned characters in its cast, though it has also been produced by a Chinese company.
And frankly, I’m not moved by the argument that China’s developers don’t know about racism, or that they don’t understand the importance of careful and respectful representation. The developers clearly knew that their global audience could react badly to Yun Jin’s revelation when they made a video defending his traditional Chinese opera design. I had a beautiful and affirmative experience when I played in search of Yun Jin. I just wish my SWANA friends could experience the same as me.