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I have a dream, please stop looking for racism where there is none to be found

This is not the first time that a Gaming news site has ranted over “skin colors,” “racist stereotypes” and the “lack of diversity” in games. Just take Tauriq Moosa´s (Polygon) The Witcher 3 article (“Colorblind: On The Witcher 3, Rust, and gaming’s race problem”) for example (Dave Bleja made a really good response article to Moosa´s Witcher 3 diversity rant piece). However, it´s the first time that I’ve seen an article that´s been 100% dedicated to whining about the lack of diversity in Blizzard´s games. Yes, I’m talking about Motherboard´s (Rowan Kaiser´s) “Why Doesn’t Blizzard’s ‘Heroes of the Storm’ Have Any People of Color?” article. And don´t get me wrong now. I have no problem with game characters of different skin colors, or diversity in games in general, none at all. Let´s be honest though, most of these “we want more diversity in video games” articles, are nothing more than ragebait and political correct love letters to get some ass kissing and acknowledgement from the SJW elite establishment. I actually made fun out of this just recently when I saw a tweet by Mark Kern on the matter (as seen in the picture down below).

I have a feeling that “some” people would find something “else” to whine about anyhow…

Anyhow, let´s get back on topic again shall we? Well, Motherboard basically called Blizzard out for not having enough diversity in their games. Something of which is not entirely true. As there exists plenty of fantasy races of different colors and races (orcs, elves, dwarfs, zergs and so on). And even if you don´t count the fantasy races (which Motherboard pointed out), you would still find human characters of color in Blizzard’s game series. Characters such as the following, for example:

I really like the Witch Doctor from Diablo 3.

To be honest though, when I was a kid I thought that the D2 Paladin was Italian or Spanish.

If you like magic of the hardcore kind, then the sorcerer is the right pick for you.

Fight racism where it needs to be fought, don´t cry wolf over nothing

Besides the Blizzard characters that I listed above, you also got characters such as Symmetra (Overwatch), Archangel Tyrael (Diablo 3), and Gabriel Tosh (Starcraft 2). Not to mention that there are other skin variations (none white) for the heroes in “Heroes of the Storm” (which actually was Motherboard’s main target for complains), like Kharazim and Rehgar for example. So I can´t quite agree with everything that Motherboard stated. However, like I said before. I´m not against people of color in games, so “maybe” Blizzard could add more skin customization options for their future games? And of course, add more people of color to their games as well (quite a few of Blizzards games also have mods which give the players the ability to change the skin color of their characters, there also exists fan-made characters of color). So Blizzard’s games aren’t as bad as Motherboard portrayed them when it comes to diversity in their games. Nevertheless, the lack of people of color was not Motherboard´s (Rowan Kaiser) only compliment. Nope, as they also stated the following:

“It was Diablo 3 that delivered the only playable black character in Heroes: Nazeebo, the Witch Doctor. But even he’s complicated as an arguably racist stereotype of the West African conceptions of Vodun.” – Rowan Kaiser, Motherboard

In other words, Motherboard are also calling Blizzard racists. Here´s a reality check for you Kaiser, most of the D3 characters are pretty stereotypical no matter the color or class (the Barbarian, the demon hunter, etc.). However, that doesn´t necessarily have to be a bad thing (“if” it´s done right that is, which I think is the case with the Diablo series). Especially not when it comes to D3, because ever since Diablo 1. Players have had no problems (whatsoever) to understand what every single character class has to offer (simply because of the stereotypical features and attributes).

Most of the characters in D3 (or any of Blizzard games, for that matter) are pretty stereotypical. However, it´s made that way so that the players can easily relate to the characters (what class they are, what skills they have ect.).

Not everyone may agree with me on this, but that´s at least what I have felt ever since Diablo 1 launched back in 1996. Any ways, so how did other Gamers react to Motherboards “Why Doesn’t Blizzard’s ‘Heroes of the Storm’ Have Any People of Color?” article then? Well, you will find the answer to that question down below.

“This article is a joke. The person writing this has a clear racial agenda and is pulling from the bottom of the barrel to try and make it work, but only fakes it at best. The title is literally, “Why Doesn’t Heroes of the Storm Have Any People of Color?” Yet clearly they do. The article of course has to acknowledge the existence of the black people and people of other ethnicity in not only Heroes, but in the Blizzard Universe, yet follows it up with, “But they don’t really count because…” And when they clearly do count we get, “Well it’s kind of racist and stereotypical because…” So wait. We’ve gone from, “Heroes has no one of ethnicity” to “They DO have ethnicity but, hey, lets not give them credit anyway.” What is your problem? You’re contradicting yourself all up and down this article. Where did you learn to write? Because first off, that title is way too long for an article.

Your title should not be your nutgraf. Moving on, could there be more people of “color?” Of course there can. But don’t go and try to tell us that Blizzard has completely ignored that area when it is blatantly evident that they have NOT. And no amount of saying, “Well they don’t count” doesn’t make something true untrue. They DO have people of color. They do count. You wanna write an article complaining about racial representation? Go write about League of Legends. The ONLY character in League of Legends who is officially black is Lucian, and how many years did it take for Riot to bring him in? Blizzard had at least TWO black characters right out of the gate, albeit you can’t actually see the face of one, being Tyreal, but he IS ethnically black and his voice makes that apparent. Blizzard, as the article states, is restricted to creating characters for Heroes strictly from its already existing Universe. Riot has the luxury of creating whoever they want out of thin air. Yet Blizz had more people of color in their first month than Riot did in their first 4 years! So who is the “racist?” You wanna spin the racial agenda? Go over there. Get out of here. You have no substance.” – BluClowd

“I found the Vodoo character problematic and stereotypical” TROLOLOLOLO ok i’ve got what you need You need the black character to be dressed in traditional Romanian attire and act like a 15th century Aztec. Covered all bases, i’ve now given you the black character you wanted and needed to feel comfortable (cause you need to see black characters to feel comfortable, when you see white characters you feel uncomfortable(bigot)), and took away all “stereotypes”. I think you have it right man, we should mix and match races and traditions to make MORALLY Correct characters. I’m going to start a new DOTA, MCDOTA (morally correct DOTA)”

Dude you are right!! I mean these arent fictional and based on what the creators want in the game, this needs to be tailored to YOUR needs. “I NEED TO SEE more people that look like me but arent me in games for me to be happy with myself.” “But if anything outside the skin color even is like me, IM CRYING RACISM” “Another note.. why are there no colored Avatar aliens?? I only saw blue! Where are the blacks and browns!!! RACIST” – Killrog

I also found a really good comment on the “lack of diversity” in Blizzard’s games via the Battle.net forum (the thread, and the comment are not related to Motherboard’s article. It’s just a discussion about races, racism and people of color in Blizzard’s games in general):

“People like you with their low self esteem create racial problems. You are the real racists. Do we whine about eastern MMOs having asian faces and asian culture humanoids? No. Do we whine about Final Fantasy games that are all about asian characters? No. Do we whine about the “all black” tv series? No.

If it makes no difference to you, WHAT ON EARTH is your problem? Are you a racist? SHUT UP with your damn insecurities already, people are free to make all white games, movies, series, comics and everything they want if they so choose, the same with everyone else. I am sick of seeing people being where they are just because of their race, when they’re supposed to be fighting “racism”. “Kerrigan is not asian, what about the 2000000 asian players?!!!!!!!” SHUT UP! Thanks.” – Mike, via the Battle.net forum

So please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on this matter in our comment section.

Source:
https://archive.is/6NhAI
The Battle.net forum

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround