🦇 Domo @domo@pizza.enby.city
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racism, featurism, whiteness in bg3 videogame

This is another post I am migrating from tumblr, but it's a good way to ensure racists don't follow me, so here it goes:

Feelings on Karlach in the Baldur's Gate 3 Videogame

I'll block anyone who says that she has fantasy red skin and so she can't be white washed. Shit's featurism.

Karlach looked Black in early access, and that's so important. There's no other canonically Black fem origin characters in this game. This could have given more representation that was desperately needed for this genre.

I understand that a face similar to this is now a default Tav face to choose from, but the thing is, why can't we have both a visibly Black fem face for our Tav AND a Black fem origin character? The default origin characters are all white except for Wyll, and it's good we have Wyll, but what if you're a Black girl or Black woman or Black fem person and you want to see yourself as the main character? It sucks so much to not see yourself in your favorite genre of game.

Think about the cosplay opportunities too! I know Black people can still cosplay Karlach (and I want them to!), but there's still something to be said about getting to cosplay a visibly Black character as a Black person, a character meant for you.

There's not a lot of high budget 3D games out there that make game of the year that feature Black girls or Black women as main characters, and definitely not Black trans women. (there are some great indie games though!) This was a hugely missed opportunity in the mainstream though.

It's not lost on me that Karlach is also not in the loading screen art. I am upset.

Example of a mod that makes Karlach look how she did in early access, notably not white looking:
nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mod

Disclaimer: I'm not Black. I'm just upset at white game devs and artists. I know there's been some conversation on her actually being asian, and to that I say: Cool, why could she have not been mixed asian and Black though? Why not both? It's important to feature people that aren't just coded as.... white... And even if she was just meant to be of Asian origin, why was she then just made to look... white? I'm aware her voice actor is biracial, and that's positive, but I stand by that it would have been wonderful to elevate dark skinned Black women/femme people. The only non-white femme origin characters are green and red with no Black features... come on...

🦇 Domo @domo@pizza.enby.city
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Btw, if you are looking for a fun queer/trans game that prominently features Black and South Asian women, I highly recommend Thirsty Suitors. It's a game about a woman who goes back to her small queer home town to face the trauma she's caused all her exes, with one ex in particular getting a very major arch. The game centers around cooking with quick time events, and skateboarding (and also fighting off arranged marriage suitors - it's a whole thing and it's fun). A weird blend of cooking games and tony hawk pro skater and card games, but featuring almost exclusively a BIPoC cast :) I absolutely adored it.

CW for: generational trauma, transphobia, queerphobia, 1st/2nd generation USAmerican PoC trauma, but it's a really nice and healing game if you're ready to receive that information. Seriously, if you're queer and BIPoC, I really recommend the game. It was made with love, but I'm also ready to receive feedback on how it could be better.

The promotional poster for the videogame, Thirsty Suitors. On a magenta background, there's a large half black and half yellow heart that is tied up in yellow rope and black thorn vines. In front of it is are two women. The woman on the left is south asian with brown skin and purple hair in a bun. She's wearing a black crop top, a jean mini skirt, and a baggy yellow and pink ski jacker with black stockings. Her aesthetic is 90's skater. She's posting with the back of her hand on her head looking towards the camera and she's making that nuetral model expression. The woman on the right is a Black woman with medium length curly black hair tucked behind her ear. Her body is facing away from the camera and she's looking over her shoulder at the camera. She's adjusting her fingerless glove and she looks a little annoyed. She's wearing a black sports bra, which shows off her angel wing tattoos on her back and cross tattoo on her upper arm. She's got black lipstick, a silver ear peircing with a chain that goes to her septum piercings, a black spiked choker, black spiked wrist cuff, and black fingerless gloves. She's wearing black hot shorts with fishnets under them and a loose fitting blue jacket is half off around her elbows. At the bottom in white text that has a pink glow effect, it says Thirsty Suitors with the "i" of Thirsty being dotted with a broken heart.
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