Far Northern Attire

[Melorie]

SE has built their fantasy settings picking cool bits and bobs from cultures around the world. The Ixali naming scheme is based on Nahuatl. Ronka is an amalgamation of Mesoamerica peoples. XV DLC included a (albeit sorry looking) charro suit. Quetzalcoatl is semiregularly used as a boss/enemy/summon across games. I could write an essay about it on twitter and demand restitution but why? Someone from the other side of the world saw something from my culture and it stuck with them enough for them to want to work it in a video game. I hope if we go to the new world in 7.0 I get a folklorico dress.

Listen, you are allowed to have your visions regarding what you find enough/respectful. I'm sure many people that are Maia (just an example!), for example, might NOT agree with you or even agree, who knows (despite most people believing that the Maias are some sort of distant thing that vanished because of that Mel Gibson movie, they still exist, resist and struggle today, and even participate in indigenous protests in other countries! lol). What I'm offering here is the vision that it's very common that big companies gather whatever symbols/traditions/attires they find cool, make money from it and it never gets back to these communities when a lot of them could be more involved in the artistic process and profits generated from these representations. Many, MANY groups of different cultures have discussions on this, associations, even legal cases. It's a known thing that happens and that is alerted by indigenists, anthropologists and such.

This isn't about someone in Japan or whatever finding it cool and pretty. It's not a personal thing. It is about the culture of consumerism, it's about big companies making profit from smaller groups that have no political power, voice, opportunities or place in the same industries their culture is being used as a constant inspiration.

It's a discussion that has a reason to exist and, imo, has a point. And we could be thinking about how we can make all these trades better for both sides. And these companies would be able to deliver even deeper content inspired by these same cultures if they were able to include them into the process. I would LOVE to be able to buy an outfit with the description made by a Saami, or the texture, or a % of the profits being delivered for a respectable institution. For me this sounds dope and we could use more of this in online games in general. Maybe this whole situation give SEnix some ideas.
But it's a shame how most people in the playerbase prefers to see it as a black and white situation and "they're greedy and they want to take my catgirl outfit!!!".

As I said, you might not agree with this. You might not even see the harm in this as even some people from the said culture here do not. I'm just saying that a lot of these representations, most of the time, doesn't really even begins scratching the surface of what's needed for these groups to be truly appreciated and actually get something out of this appreciation.