Thread: The 7.3 Armour preview is offensive

I'd much rather have a dyeable version of a recent gearset than this gear. It was a mistake to not have a culture sensitivity specialist involved in the design, and I hope SE acknowledges this.

bumping; i agree with all that has been said. as a quick fix to it, may i suggest making the dungeon gear just be a dyeable version of the yuweyawata gear that has already been released? a whole lot better than the placement of this particular set in the game :,)

I've spoken my thoughts on this set and my own lived experience as a Latin-American person from a colonized country in the general thread on this attire, so I'll be bumping this and wishing that those of you who see this also go over there and read the thoughts of people actually affected by this.

And I'll also bring up how harmful the stereotypes portrayed in the preview picture for the 7.3 gear are, not just from the design but from the deliberate choice to place the casters and healers in vaguely native attire next to Conquistador-inspired armor which plays into harmful anti-native stereotypes.

I would accept a recolor of the Yuweyawata Field Station gear as a replacement for this, but knowing that SE/CBU3 has yet to remove other insensitive/outright racist pieces of clothing, I don't know that they'll do it. Still, visibility matters and these discussions need to be had, and this company needs to do better and do right by the people it is actively appropriating from and harming in its perpetuation of harmful, racist stereotypes and imagery.

Bumping this to show support.

Bumping for support

Adding my support for this gear set to be revisited. I want FFXIV to be a place where indigenous people feel welcome and respected.

Giving my two cents here, I am one of the many latinos upset by the newest gear presented for patch 7.3. The inspiration of Spanish and French armor used by people who perpetrated violent colonization against North and South American peoples is incredibly disappointing.

It is correct that it is not an exact 1:1 of either Spanish or French armor, and more a blend of the two, but the fact that this many people can look at it and immediately know where the inspiration comes from is enough.

As stated in one of the Encyclopaedia Eorzeas:

"Secondly, we can’t use anything that has real-world religious or cultural connotations. If we want to make something that draws from religious imagery, ethnic clothing, and so on, it needs to be significantly altered. FINAL FANTASY XIV is played all around the world, and just because something is allowed in Japan doesn’t necessarily mean it can be used in other countries, so we pay close attention to this."

Why, then, does this gear include a clear inspiration to armor used during a period of violent colonization towards those native to the Americas?

The FFXIV team had the wherewithal to be so immensely careful about the visual portrayal of the Garleans; knowing where to take influence without being offensive. Realizing which military uniforms to not use as a stepping point for the portrayal of an oppressive imperial force. How did we go from that careful nature to this blatant disregard for the history of the Americas?

This is incredibly disappointing to me, who has been playing this game since 1.0. I urge the dev team to rethink their inclusion of materials like this and to return to your own design mission statement.

Boosting

I would much prefer a dyable version of a set we already have in the game