Possibly offensive text in Uldah housing quest

[TrystWildkey]

So, I just finished the quest to access the Uldah housing area.

NPC Imme's final comment could be offensive to a large number of players from the US and you may want to change it.

[Little_Ifrit]

What was it ?

[Enkidoh]

Probably the reference to 'forty acres and a chocobo', a reference to an anecdote at the end of the American Civil War that freed slaves were promised 'forty acres and a horse' by the US government to help get themselves settled (in actuality they were promised nothing of the sort sadly, leading to a lot of rightful resentment). I picked up on the reference immediately, but that was because of my interest in history, and no, I was not offended by it.

But I guess because it's connected with a topic still considered controversial in the US, some people would probably find offense in it (but then, in a lot of cases some people will be offended by anything these days - note that doesn't mean this is a trivial issue though - it's easy to see how some people in this situation could be offended by this.).

[Euphe]

Is American history a joke to JP or something?

[Enkidoh]

Well, considering the head translator/writer is American, I doubt that. Instead, I think given the context of the npc's dialogue in game, I'm now wondering if Ferne might have confused the 'four acres and a horse' quote with 'two cars in the garage and a house on a quarter-acre block in the suburbs', the later referring to the 'American Dream' of owning your own home (which definitely fits the context of the npc, who was complaining about being denied access to purchasing a block in the Ul'dah residential area because she wasn't an adventurer), especially due to the fact the term 'acre' isn't actually used in Eorzea to describe a unit of area.

It might have just been an innocent mistake in any event.

[JustPlainLucas]

I'm American, and this is very benign to me. I think this is one of those issues where you're simply looking for something to be offensive. Isn't there enough censorship in video games these days without having to go looking for things to censor?

[Grembo]

It's just a reference nothing more, Gae Bolg quest name is wayyy more colourful.

[YumKaax]

I'm American, and this is very benign to me. I think this is one of those issues where you're simply looking for something to be offensive. Isn't there enough censorship in video games these days without having to go looking for things to censor?

I agree! Some people always see every little indifferent thing as offensive, not saying that the OP is necessarily that way, but it's just getting really old and I'm getting really tired of those kind of people always making a fuzz out of the smallest thing..

[TrystWildkey]

I agree! Some people always see every little indifferent thing as offensive, not saying that the OP is necessarily that way, but it's just getting really old and I'm getting really tired of those kind of people always making a fuzz out of the smallest thing..

Hmm, I would say that references to slavery are not a small thing.....

It struck me as very out of place for a video game to reference slavery, and inappropriate. It was jarring enough that I stared at it for a few minutes trying to decide why it was there. That's when I came here and entered the suggestion.

[YumKaax]

Hmm, I would say that references to slavery are not a small thing.....

It struck me as very out of place for a video game to reference slavery, and inappropriate. It was jarring enough that I stared at it for a few minutes trying to decide why it was there. That's when I came here and entered the suggestion.

Just because you reference something, it doesn't mean that you agree with it. Look at warner bros., several of their cartoons included hitler.. Look at Indiana Jones, same thing, and the list goes on. Some people find that offensive as well, but most people don't, because why would they? Just because hitler is included in the plot of those movies, it doesn't mean that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg agrees with what hitler did, therefore, there isn't anything inappropriate about it.

So, to sum up, I'm not saying that the slavery itself is a small thing (it's one of the most disgusting things we human beings have done), I'm saying that the reference is a small thing as there isn't more to it than what you choose to see.