Far Northern Attire

[Hurlstone]

https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-1...rthern-attire/
https://www.saamicouncil.net/news-ar...r-north-attire

Try reading the full articles to get more context. This title/screenshot provides laughably little.

Thanks for the links! Its nice to get some wider context then just anger at ‘cancel culture’ ect.

Personally speaking, whilst I do not think this is some form of racist slap in the face or kick in the teeth they are suggesting, I can see why they are/could be bothered. Fiction has a habit of taking cultural elements foreign to its authors. Final Fantasy is no stranger to this, and in Endwalkers main story alone we have Soviet inspired Garlemald and Radz-at-Han, which in heavily borrows from India/Hindu culture. Now personally speaking I think those elements where used well, in Radza particularly. It really helped enhance the lore of the world whilst being respectful (I just hope when we get to the New World they do the same to Native American culture!) and is a valid worldbuilding technique. However sometimes those elements can be watered down and portrayed in outright stereotypical or offencive manners, so I can understand why practitioners of such cultures may dislike them being used. It does not help that its a purely aesthetic issue here, with no in-game lore attached outside of it being described as northern, traditional and being sold purely for profit over being in-game.

Like I said though, I do not think its as big a deal as they claim. If Final Fantasy or any game had to pay or ask permission for every culture it had ever borrowed from then the series, and wider fiction in general, would be allot duller. Then again I am not Sami, and I would not wish to speak for them or belittle any genuine issues they may have. It seems they had issues with Disney as well when it came to Frozen, which caused them to eventually reach a deal when they made Frozen II. I suspect that is the goal here over completely removing the costume from the game, which I doubt SE will do. Either they will sort somthing out or they will ride out any controversy. If the the top brass of SE can still harp on about bloody NFTs after all this time I doubt the Saami Council have much of a chance of swaying their opinions.

[Ceridwenae]

So there's a whole sorry heap of ignorance on display here in this thread. A lot of you are clearly uninformed - or perhaps you just don't care - about the racism the Sami have suffered over many years. I don't necessarily expect you to care if you don't live in a nordic country, but some of you, I really do hope, will care about racism and the forms it takes, and also about learning how to respond to situations regarding racism appropriately. But you can imagine it has been bleak, and so not something I want to go into further details about here. I've learned about it as an immigrant in Norway (residency and citizenship requirement), and for sure when I first saw the outfit I was puzzled and wondered if they'd worked with a Sami collaborator on it. It's easy to misunderstand what a faux pas it is not to do this in the correct fashion, but underlines the importance of dialogue when designing outside of your wheelhouse, so to speak. Essentially, Square-Enix have stuffed this up by not contacting a representative ahead of creating the outfit. If SE had done their due diligence, this would likely be fine. Please note, I'm not saying SE has actively partaken in conscious racism here; but it may need to consider how to conduct itself with great care and respect with this particular situation (and any others like it).

If you want to educate yourselves about Sami culture and just why it's so important to the people, and anyone else cashing in on their culture is deeply problematic, don't imagine or make things up, do some good reading at the following links:

https://unric.org/en/sami-we-are-the-natives-of-this-country/ (this one's in English)

https://sametinget.no/om-sametinget/...nede-strategi/ (Norwegian Sami Parliament page, if you don't speak a variation of Sami or Norsk Bokmål, use your translator)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/t...c-sapmi-region (also English)

https://www.samediggi.fi/ethical-gui...en#toggle-id-7 (Finnish site, but with English language toggle).

This last one may be the most useful for anyone confused as to why this is a problem.

I would like to think reading the information in the links would provide you all with some enlightenment on the issues here, but if not, I can't help you further. (I will not be returning to this topic, I just hope the links help someone understand the gravity here.)

[aveyond-dreams]

No, I do not care that some random people have enough time on their hands to bring in real world drama into FFXIV over an outfit. Attempts at doing so must be resisted at each front. FFXIV is not the real world, and it's past time some people accept that. End of. "Contacting the head of representation" before making gear is as hilarious as it is outrageous.

[Atelier-Bagur]

No, I do not care that some random people have enough time on their hands to bring in real world drama into FFXIV over an outfit. Attempts at doing so must be resisted at each front. FFXIV is not the real world, and it's past time some people accept that. End of. "Contacting the head of representation" before making gear is as hilarious as it is outrageous.

Oh my goodness, even when I agree with you in this take, you still find a way to be irritating about it. Could you please just stop already?

[ZephyrMenodora]

While I haven't researched this, I'm unaware of needing permission from "non-governmental organizations" to use clothing influenced by (and arguably not even direct replicas of) different cultures.

I guess authors, artists, and filmmakers similarly should get permission and pay money to use certain cultures in their work as well? Many cultures around the world are represented in art, literature, film, and games, and I've never heard of needing to pay "cultural royalies." The answer to wanting to control how your culture is represented is education. Not demanding payment.

Seems like a fleece attempt since the article mentions them being open to a "partnership" (ie, money). You can feel bad for a group all you want, doesn't mean they are entitled to control the artistic and commercial works of everyone in the world around them, nor does it seem as far as I am aware they can demand money any time someone features an outfit even remotely resembling things they like to wear.

[Hurlstone]

No, I do not care that some random people have enough time on their hands to bring in real world drama into FFXIV over an outfit. Attempts at doing so must be resisted at each front. FFXIV is not the real world, and it's past time some people accept that. End of. "Contacting the head of representation" before making gear is as hilarious as it is outrageous.

Still having trouble with that empathy thing I see aveyond. Like it or not, real world 'drama' and politics are already apart of the game. Heck, were you not one of the players who said that the treatment of Garlemald in EW/the final Job quest was some form of commentary against Russia's recent actions by the writers? You can dissagree with the Saami Council like most eveyone here does, but do you not think they perhaps have a right to at least comment on how aspects of their culture is used?

[Kes13a]

I am not for any kind of racism, but really? "cultural appropriation"?

they wear scarves/shawls resembling a tartan, are they going to go after the scottish too? or can the scottish go after them?

I dont know, sure, its similar because they are both a dress, I think its a reach, maybe its because of the colouring and it was named "northern attire"?

what can SE do? I have heard that the store offerings are independent designs not done by the FFxiv team, so, who knows. They may change the description to "inspired by Sami culture" but I am not sure if they would do more than that.

[Zebraoracle]

Oh my goodness, even when I agree with you in this take, you still find a way to be irritating about it. Could you please just stop already?

Yeah I've... always agreed with some of his points... but it feels weird now because of how he comes across. ._.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Still having trouble with that empathy thing I see aveyond. Like it or not, real world 'drama' and politics are already apart of the game. Heck, were you not one of the players who said that the treatment of Garlemald in EW/the final Job quest was some form of commentary against Russia's recent actions by the writers? You can dissagree with the Saami Council like most eveyone here does, but do you not think they perhaps have a right to at least comment on how aspects of their culture is used?

Being fair, the behavior of the group makes it challenging to have much empathy in this situation. Of course people have a right to comment how their culture is portrayed. This group was free to use the release of this outfit in a positive way, opening up educational opportunities for a culture many people probably don't even know exists. What better launching board than a popular global entertainment product!?

Going to the group's Twitter, they don't even seem to find the outfit to be bad representation or offensive. Instead they have a Gif saying SquareEnix has a lot of money, demanding that they remove the outfit (or give them money, essentially).

Twitter shakedowns where there appears to be no legal leg to stand upon aren't the most endearing ways to get people to appreciate your culture. As an attorney, it would be a legal nightmare to even attempt to codify IP rights to a culture on such a broad scale to include basic clothing, which is why such rights do not seem to presently exist in regards to global IP despite attempts by some groups to advocate for them.

Moreover, there isn't a legal right or requirement for any culture to give their seal of approval before it is represented in media. A country can ban media it finds problematic. A cultural community can choose not to support a product and speak out against representation it doesn't agree with. But no cultural group can require that it be immune to critique or interpretation on a global scale, or require that they have to have a say in how they are represented in all products, or are entitled to money for any product even vaguely featuring an aspect of the culture.

[KageTokage]

snip

I read that stuff...but I'm still not understanding how having an outfit that resembles their dress is "damaging" or something people should be having to pay royalties to use.

I can sympathize with the struggles they've had, but I feel like the hard stance they're taking is more likely to sour views of them then anything else.