Lack of "black" hairstyles

Most of the black people I see in Japan are bald.

I wonder if TC knows that African culture doesn't exist in a FANTASY WORLD?

Gotta have that black hair for OP's white hair I see. MMmhmm.

Seriously though I wouldn't mind more "close to skull" mini braids. I'm sure the art team would come up with a lot of cool stuff in that area.

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Originally Posted by SekhmetM

I wonder if TC knows that African culture doesn't exist in a FANTASY WORLD?

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Its not about culture. What you are really saying is afrocentric hair can't exist in a fantasy world, in other words fantasy characters can't have hair that grows upward naturally. But they only can have straight hair that grows downward.

The only reason why african's have hair styles like dreads, cornrows, braids etc is because of their hair type not the culture.

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Originally Posted by kyuven

Please keep in mind the majority of this game's development team is Japanese. The lack of "black hairstyles" is highly likely to be due to the fact that the development team can probably count the number of black people they've ever met on their hands. It's hard to conceive of or design for something you have no regular contact with.

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A simple google search can show some hairstyles if they wanted to look for them. Dont really need to have met a bunch of us to go look it up.

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Originally Posted by Spellbinder

Long story short, a lot of the Japanese people I meet don't realize that people of African descent have naturally curly hair, and I'm inclined to believe it's a general perception amongst many people here.

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This could be true, even in the USA most black women have perms in their hair to make it appear European. Not many of them wear it natural, so I can see what you mean.

In this 5 pages of ignorance I have not seen any pictures!

I would LOVE to be rocking these hairstyles!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...aaedf1e775.jpg

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs48/f/20...dcf907df8c.jpg

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...ms-d49kzp7.jpg

Also, I find it VERY hard to believe that a simple google/yahoo/bing search of "dreadlocks" or "afro" will not bring up results depending on where you live.
What does google bring up then? "Sorry no results found"??
Please.

as a black person, i like to make characters that look like me. I pretty much never get to do that in ff games.. It would be nice to have some hairstyles that are more ethnic, and not always stringy hair.

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Originally Posted by kyuven

Please keep in mind the majority of this game's development team is Japanese. The lack of "black hairstyles" is highly likely to be due to the fact that the development team can probably count the number of black people they've ever met on their hands. It's hard to conceive of or design for something you have no regular contact with.

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Originally Posted by Ghastly

I'm sorry but that's the dumbest argument I've ever read.

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Actually... since we live in a university town, there are a LOT of international students who come & go each year, and, since my boyfriend is a Japanese-language/business double-major, we usually befriend a lot of Japanese students to make them feel more welcome and enjoy themselves while they're here. Many people might be surprised to know that--LITERALLY--each of our Japanese friends have said that most Japanese people are quite fearful (or overly-cautious might be a better term) of dark-skinned people. Since the amount of dark-skinned people in Japan are next to none, they heavily rely on american TV influence... One of our Japanese friends thought "America" was like Jersey Shore... and we were all like, *faceplant*... that's literally what she was looking forward to when she came here. And the Japanese students we befriend visit from all areas of Japan, so it's convinced us that this is actually the way most (or a lot of) Japanese people feel. I've had black friends visit Japan (I will give you one of their facebook pages if you don't believe me: she's an elementary school teacher, there), and they've been pointed at, asked to take pictures with, and everyone wanted to touch their hair (relevant to this post, eh?). Black people in Japan is actually a phenomenon. XD

So, this definitely is not the dumbest argument regarding the lack of African (or any other ethnic) culture in the game. It's quite valid from a realistic standpoint, even though there probably other reasons just as valid regarding developmental ideas.

Despite this, however, I know it's one of SE's missions to appeal to everyone, and they DID say that they were going to make hairstyles that reflect that idea, in that sense. I don't remember reading where they were going to develop black/African hairstyles into the game, but I may have missed it (As of typing this, I haven't read this thread further ahead, so maybe someone posted a link?).

In any case, I clearly understand that obviously not ALL Japanese people fear darker-skinned people. I just know what our friends talk to us about regarding their culture & life in Japan. We sometimes drink (safely, mind you), so the truth comes out of them, at times, when it otherwise wouldn't.

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Originally Posted by Stihllodeing

This has got to be one of the most misguided and ignorant things I've read on here in a long time, not to mention how you contradict yourself. Outstanding work.

The United States of America is home to more ethnic diversity than any country in the world. That's just a fact.

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OK before jumping to conclusions, read this carefully because I make this point several times.
The United States is one of the most ethnically diverse nations on the planet, and I am not disputing that whatsoever nor have I said any different in this thread.
Japan is, by contrast, one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries on the planet.
I'm American. When I say OUR CULTURE I am referring to AMERICAN CULTURE because I'm AMERICAN.
The culture that I am referring to as not mixed is Japanese culture, which is homogeneous.
Therefore, allow me to restate.
AMERICANS HAVE GREAT DIFFICULTY COMPREHENDING WHAT A HOMOGENEOUS CULTURE IS LIKE BECAUSE AMERICAN CULTURE IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF HOMOGENEOUS.
Please, read more carefully.

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Originally Posted by kyuven

...snip...I'm American. When I say OUR CULTURE I am referring to AMERICAN CULTURE because I'm AMERICAN...snip....

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Ok. Deleted post. Thank you for clearing that up. Your reference to living in Japan in past tense is there, I missed it.

Please accept my apology.

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Originally Posted by kyuven

superboldedranthuffhuffhuff

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How does that have anything to do with the op? Also take chill pill dude.
I'd like to see more diversity in the hairstyles too however I think SE should make them in a way that fits XIV with a fantasy twist.

To be fair, most mmorpgs on the market do not have many black hairstyles, if any. Even western mmorpgs tend not to have them. I think Guild Wars 2 has one black hair style (dreads) the rest are hairstyles for people who have naturally straight hair. Interestingly enough, there tends to be the same type of response from alot players. That if someone asks for black hairstyles they start to get defensive and point out why they are in game or do not need to be in game. Its just sad.

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Originally Posted by Bluevann

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/...20090104072209

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http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/20...in-d4wii1e.png
yohohohoho

One of the reasons I initially liked creating my character the first time around for FFIV was because of the better skin color choices available. Being able to make a character that can be perceived as my own skin color is kind of important to me. I've played several other fantasy MMO's and sometimes making a character resemble the color of a black person is either not an option or the shade is completely weird. This set back doesn't stop me from playing/enjoying whatever game. It wouldn't be too much for SE to add more hairstyles to reflect the one's popular among black people but I will side with the general consensus that it may not happen because of their homogeneous culture. However like the immortal flames leader and a couple of other characters through quests, I feel a slight sense of happiness seeing a character who is has darker skin color in an MMO.

I agree with this 100%. Being a black player it is quite annoying to me that even the buzz cut does not have a proper line up. I do not mind the buzz cut, as I keep my hair short irl, but please fix that hairline on hyurs, it is bad. I personally do not care too much for an afro, or cornrows, but unisex dreads or a male version of dreads would be amazing.