POC representation

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Originally Posted by Lihtleita

while i agree that xiv has tonnes of npc representation in its npcs,

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I should hope so, since they are npcs after all. ;)

Twice Necro thread i know.

I do believe the continent that would be a parallel to Africa in this game, namely Meracydia got kind of eradicated millennia back.

And had to check, all of the Warring Triad got dark skin reinforcing the parallel.

As most in-game cultures are derivative of something from the real world, so too are their populations. While none of the central protagonists are "of color" (legitimate query: what are we supposed to call people who are "not of color," given the term "people of color" is meant to put humanity before skin tone?) it's not as if characters are lacking variety in their complexions. Characters from Ul'dah tend to have a more olive complexion. Ala Mhigans are on average dark (Lyse is a noted and queer exception). And that's not even getting into the genuinely outlandish colors characters can be by real world standards, like lime green Sea Wolf Roegadyn, crimson red Xaela Au Ra, or pink-furred Hrothgar.

There are plenty of characters who are not people not of color. Entire countries are made up of them. If the complaint is that none of the central protagonists is a person of color, I don't know what to tell ya except that this game is Japanese and Eorzea is a loose Greece analogue. Furthermore, bear in mind that while some of the media it puts out may seem a bit wacky from a Western perspective, as a whole Japanese culture is still rather conservative, so...

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Eorzea is a loose Greece analogue

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Politically, perhaps, but geographically it very much seems to be whole-of-Europe.

And yeah, racism based on skin colour doesn't seem to be a thing - I suppose it's less likely to develop when skin colours vary so wildly from person to person in a way that doesn't always seem to be genetic - although they have their own prejudices like a seemingly universal distrust of Duskwights. That seems to come from a stereotype of the race's behaviour rather than their appearance.

(And I've never quite liked the implications of the term "people of colour" either. Not that I'm classed as one, so I can't speak for using it as identity, and I get that it's meant to be balancing the societal problem that there is an imbalance between "white people" and others but I don't feel like boiling it down to "white people" and "all the rest" is much more flattering. So many cultures and varieties of people reduced to "of colour". If anything it perpetuates the us-versus-them instead of just talking about cultural diversity that includes everyone together.)

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Originally Posted by Iscah

If anything it perpetuates the us-versus-them instead of just talking about cultural diversity that includes everyone together.

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Ding ding ding

We have a winner.