Square Enix: Please reconsider putting the Native American war bonnet attire in-game.

[Corfish]

The last time I wandered into these forums and saw someone get offended, square changed the name of the savage t9 achievement. Who knows what they'll do in response to this thread which is 19 pages longer than that one got to before being locked.

I mean... That's a fairly minor and easy change. This one not so much.

[Saharan]

I'm native, specifically Cree. My band is the Bigstone Cree Nation. My mother grew up being teased for what she was, and my grandmother was taken away as a child from her parents and was raised in a residential school. So, my two cents? Yeah, this is offensive, and gross.

I'm not nearly eloquent enough to properly stress just how important headdresses are, I know that. But here are some quotes from people who are. Please, even if you disagree with what I'm saying, give me a chance and read this article.

1/2

[Saharan]

2/2

I have to wonder just how many of the people in this thread throwing accusations of "SWJism" would throw a hissy fit if they saw some 16-year-old kid wearing a full-on military combat uniform as a Halloween costume, or even just to "look cool". It's similar, in a way. They both have significant cultural value to the culture they belong to, and it's upsetting to see them stripped of that value.

It's not the same thing as a cowboy outfit, either; these aren't "costumes" used by our ancestors long since passed. They're in use today. We're not dead and gone, we're very much around. People still use these kinds of outfits all the time! Powwows aren't some long-since-forgotten event; I went to one just last month!

We're still here, our culture is still here, and ripping our culture from us, when we've already had so much of it taken away, is not okay.

[cakesphere]

I don't care if you respect or disrespect a religion as long as you're applying the rules equally.

Nobody seems upset that a LOT of HW gear is clearly inspired by the sacred vestments of the Catholic Church. Why are you only upset about war bonnets? What makes you able to determine which religious clothing items are or aren't offensive to include? Do you think Catholics have never been oppressed?

This whole thing smells rank of hypocrisy and there's nothing I dislike more than virtue signalling hypocrites.

I have to wonder just how many of the people in this thread throwing accusations of "SWJism" would throw a hissy fit if they saw some 16-year-old kid wearing a full-on military combat uniform as a Halloween costume, or even just to "look cool".

I wouldn't care tbh. Who cares what a little kid is wearing? Who cares what someone in a fantasy video game is wearing? There are so many more important things in my life than worrying about others' fashion choices.

[AnaviAnael]

This is just like the time the Boston Museum of Fine Arts came under fire for letting non Asians wear Kimono as part of one of their exhibits. The people least offended by the whole thing? Actual Japanese people. They were happy to share their culture.

[Immut]

If you wanted to complain about Native American culture being appropriated in this game you should've done it when the Vanu were introduced along with the Haka dance. You're late to the game and now y'all just look like the sum total of your cultural knowledge is that you saw an injun on a stamp once.

And yes I know it's Maori, but you're not seriously going to try to argue that one indigenous tribe is somehow better than another.

[Iromi]

We're still here, our culture is still here, and ripping our culture from us, when we've already had so much of it taken away, is not okay.

SE never claimed it to be native American. You are making an assumption of what is behind these outfits in the game.

FFXI had turbans, do you see Punjabi people complaining about that? They are very much still around. How bout the Kimonos in game? No one complaining about that...this game would NEVER put something in to make fun of it and mock people...

It's a headdress yes, but please stop thinking you are the only culture that could ever exist to wear such a thing. NOW if they said it was native American and basically pissed all over it, then yeah...that would be awful. But SE never SAID what this is..its a piece of art in a game.

[cakesphere]

Though if we're gonna share family sob stories, all of my ancestors were the "undesirable" europeans (Irish, Polish) who migrated to the US for a better life at the turn of the century. My great-grandparents hardly spoke English. They survived a lot of hardship. But you know what? If I had a cow over every time I saw someone wearing a tacky "kiss me I'm Irish" shirt drinking green beer on St. Patrick's Day I'd get nothing done.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

I am not Native American so I don't know how people feel about this, but is it not now more of a support putting these things into the game. I mean we shouldn't forget what happened and now with so few Native American tribes around, is it not more of a celebration of their culture and a reminder to others that this shouldn't happen again?

[Nicolepwned]

2/2

I have to wonder just how many of the people in this thread throwing accusations of "SWJism" would throw a hissy fit if they saw some 16-year-old kid wearing a full-on military combat uniform as a Halloween costume, or even just to "look cool". It's similar, in a way.

I enjoyed reading your posts, but the only thing I disagree with is people getting up in arms if a child wore a military combat uniform. They don't.

---

My family is almost entirely Dutch, and a town perhaps an hour away has a yearly festival called the Tulip Festival. Everybody from the town participates in the festival, and almost everybody dresses up in traditional Dutch clothing - even people who are not from the region. I'll reiterate and say, being Dutch is my heritage; and seeing Vietnamese and Blacks dressed up in the clogs and Dutch clothing was in no way offensive to me. But, perhaps that is because we wanted to share our heritage. I smiled whenever I saw a little boy or girl trying to walk in clogs. Imagine what it would've been like if instead of feeling happy that others were sharing in my heritage, I would be furious. Those children surely don't know what those songs meant, or why everybody cleaned the streets at the end of the festival.

The thing is, you get no harm from the inclusion in the game. The attire cannot be altered in anyway once released (atleast not by players), so it's not like people can take a leek on it, and change it into a bikini outfitted with feathers and bead necklaces.

I realize it is your heritage, just as Dutch is mine. But instead of trying to restrict the rich history and traditions of Natives (and any other culture/heritage/religion for that matter), why not show the entire world, why not share it?