Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[Regis_Paran]

They DID hire a cultural sensitivity consulting group

I can only hope none of them were the type screaming "cultural appropriation" when women used baby sling carriers not from "their own cultural" heritage.
And honestly, any time I see "(...) sensitivity consultant", I'm expecting the worst possible ideas regarding the topic.

[ReynTime]

Cultural sensitivity consultation for a story that takes place in a completely made-up world with catgirls and talking lizards is one of the most stupid things ever invented.

[lolnotacat]

Cultural sensitivity consultation for a story that takes place in a completely made-up world with catgirls and talking lizards is one of the most stupid things ever invented.

People have to justify their otherwise worthless degrees somehow.

[Raven2014]

In my experience, the people who are most sensitive about other culture are usually the least knowledgeable about it. I know a person who is a hard-core japanophile. To their credit, they did put in but effort to learn the language to a decent level but they don't still live the culture, so it turned into this weird obsession about authenticity and worshiping thing on a pedestal kinda of things. For example, there were one time we talked about Sushi and they can't stop yappling about one must go to Japan to have true sushi because Japan don't freeze their fish, the fish came from Japan water .etc. And I had to cite them the fact that more than half of Japan sushi is made from frozen fishes (and most Japanese wouldn't be able to tell the difference) and Japan regularly import their off season fishes. I also pointed out it's always the westerners that seem to care about these kind of "authenticity" than even the locals.

And usually because of their obsession, these people always tend to think they know better than the next person, sometime even when talking to the local. And in my experience that's how most "consultant groups" work. They're mostly comprised of people who care "more", but know "less". So you tend to end up with weird, surface level stereotypes instead of the important stuff underneath. It's like doing Twitter survey and claim it a research.

[Kuro_Matsu]

Cultural sensitivity consultation for a story that takes place in a completely made-up world with catgirls and talking lizards is one of the most stupid things ever invented.

This gets me big time. It's a fictional story and world that takes inspiration from the real world. It is not a one-to-one and never should be. Before this expac we had real-world cultures used as inspiration. We didn't have a "Cultural Sensitivity Consultant" at that time, to my knowledge. Who are we hurting and needed to tip-toe around? Ishgard takes from medieval Europe. The Elezen have French adjacent names. Doma is fantasy China, Nagxia takes from Southeastern Asia. Hingashi is just fantasy Japan. The Steppe Mongolia. Thavnair is India. Gyr Abania takes from Arab cultures. Not once did I see anyone from those cultures complain about FF taking inspiration from them. Sure, there were little nitpicks about how they got some things wrong here or there. "We don't make that meal that way", or "the clothing style isn't representative of our traditional garments".

But FFXIV is not making a historical recreation of your country or culture. It is burrowing it and making it its own. Just like humans have done for centuries. Sharing meals, clothing, and even architecture and making it work for their home country.

[Boblawblah]

Cultural sensitivity consultation for a story that takes place in a completely made-up world with catgirls and talking lizards is one of the most stupid things ever invented.

How do you feel about the LATAM people being frustrated over cultural representation in DT?

[BigBoom550]

How do you feel about the LATAM people being frustrated over cultural representation in DT?

I think they have a right to be frustrated here *because* of the sensitivity consultants.

If it was presented as 'we grabbed elements of Latin American culture that we thought were neat for the story', I don't think anyone would be upset. It's not attempting to be or portraying itself as representative in that case. It's like when someone takes the US and has a fat man on a mobility scooter chowing down on a burger, or a European talking about how Americans measure things in Eagles Per Gun.

It's fun, it's amusing, cool.

The issue is that Dawntrail paraded around itself being 'representative' and 'taking care to be authentic' and a dozen other things, and then... reduced Latam culture down to ponchos and tacos. It's like that scene in Metal Gear Rising when Raiden tries to blend in with Mexicans by wearing a poncho and sombrero... and the actual Mexicans are looking at him like '...The hell is he doing?', because they're dressed like actual Mexicans. Polos and jeans I think it was.

[lolnotacat]

It's like when someone takes the US and has a fat man on a mobility scooter chowing down on a burger, or a European talking about how Americans measure things in Eagles Per Gun.

As someone who lives in Texas, I wish the Texas zone was like this. I would've laughed and felt represented (as long as they got rid of the rubber bullets).

[LisseyCrowe]

Cultural sensitivity consultation for a story that takes place in a completely made-up world with catgirls and talking lizards is one of the most stupid things ever invented.

You don't get it, Beast Tribes was an offensive name and had to be changed to be respectful towards ... Wait, who are Beast Tribes supposed to represent? It never even occurred to me that they were anything but fantasy races.

Good ol' Cultural Sensitivity Consultation: "If your product isn't racist, we'll make sure it is".

[HD800]

wtf is this brown rat