Now THIS is customization options I can get behind. I’ve always wanted undead to have more posture options instead of the old hunch back.
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That’s right, It shouldn’t be, it should just go out there freely, but Blizzard is thinking more about its image as marketing the use of this POLICY, which caused controversy by only giving a customization to a single race where there is a world with great varieties of races that make the vision of humans on this planet minimal to other races that have won their space as the planet’s dominant.
That is why they do not see it as a use only for a minority, customization has to look versatile and open to everyone who plays and wants to create their characters in an RPG environment.
I guess it depends? In the case of the night elves, an entire population of trolls mutated to become them? The same with the High Elves. The same with the Naga and Blood Elves?
I guess you could say the air was “magically bound” to the fragments of the planet? Because if it wasn’t, then it would have simply bled off into space as you say. Orcs and Humans breathing the same air? That’s a good point? I suppose you could make the argument that Azeroth and Draenor were both right in the same part of the “Goldilocks Zone”? So they had a comparable ratio of oxygen, carbon dioxide,nitrogen, etc? That and a little nudging from Titans to make sure everyone could breathe everywhere.
If it doesn’t matter enough for me to nitpick the science, then why does it matter enough to scream about needing hundreds of character customization options? It’s just a game after all.
Evolution doesn’t have to be a gradual process. It can be quick and bloody. The reason cited for the Vrykul’s change into humans was the “Curse of Flesh”. We aren’t told what form that curse took. Was it some magical hocus pocus hex? Maybe some super sciencey nanite plague? Who knows? It’s a Deus Ex Machina plot device. We’re not supposed to understand how it works, just the result: Suddenly, there are humans. So I would argue that yes, there was some sort of genetic change from Vrykul to Human. The important thing to note is that the whole process was Linear and not Divergent. You don’t get hundreds of different skin tones of human initially because they’re all descended from a tiny population that settled from Northrend in Tirisfal. To argue otherwise isn’t just absurd, it’s utterly dishonest. Also, there is a very clearly defined timeline. This happened around 15,000 years ago. There hasn’t been time for humans to naturally develop different superficial traits. It’s taken the real McCoy between 50 and 100,000 years in most cases.
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Evolution occurs as a result of changes over multiple generations, it absolutely does have to be a gradual process.
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There’s also draenei, coming from Argus, and crash landing onto Draenor. They also just happen to breathe the same kind of air.
There are also cases of draenei and orcs having offspring. Blizzard explained this and any other potential combinations by basically saying magic allows it to happen.
If vrykul can go from a giant race to humans basically instantly, why would simple skin tones have to take thousands of years? Again, humans in wow have different origins than humans in real life, so evolution as we know it doesn’t have any bearing on wow humans.
I very much will always question why dark skin tones is what breaks someone’s immersion. This is a game where an undead elf can break a helm in half with her bare hands, ripping open a rift to the afterlife. A game where races can travel to different planets and time travel. But it’s dark skin thats too much?
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Seems like this would be a good research topic for a liberal arts professor somewhere to publish after submitting for peer review in the echo chamber of academia’s finest
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As much effort as went into visage form I wish it was more of an active choice lol
The process as a whole yes. But the effects can be immediate if the impact on the population is severe enough. Are you aware that a particularly stressed population can actually revert to a ‘throwback’ genetic template? It’s true. And all it takes is a large enough die off. Evolution isn’t always straight forward.
It’s not as much a question of why can’t this thing happen as it is Why It Would. Because the HR Lady wills it so in the name of Diversity and Inclusion™ is pretty weak. I don’t work for Blizzard, I play their game. I’m not a middle aged white lady with a bowl hair cut and jangly bracelets, I’m a 50ish year old Native American who thinks this whole thing is insanely cringe. I’d rather have a game that has a world filled with logical(ish) consistency than a world filled with virtue signals. That’s why it breaks my immersion. People trying to tell me that I need to be better represented in a video game is extremely off-putting.
As to why evolution has to have bearing? It goes right back to the question of “Are we talking about humans or aren’t we?” Either these people have 42 chromosomes that are vulnerable to mutation, in which case they’re human; or they don’t and they’re not.
And yes, I realize that to some people this is a “The City Is Flying” argument from Age of Ultron. If you take a close look, it’s something else entirely.
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We are talking about WOW humans regardless, not real life ones. Visually similar, different origin stories.
And people are just asking for themselves to be better represented in game. No one is saying you have to use the options. They didn’t remove all the white skin tones and replace them with dark ones.
And prior to the cataclysm model change, several races did have darker skintones. I recall my friend had the darkest possible on a belf at the time and she was disappointed with suddenly being a lot lighter.
Were you on the forums at that point making a fuss about lore and it not making sense for several races to suddenly be lighter?
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Okay. So they’re not humans. So the whole conversation is irrelevant because what difference does it make if you have Representation™ among Not-Humans.
This conversation has came all the way back around in a big circle. I’ve already addressed this argument. I believe my original response was something like: “By that logic noone is saying you have to read profanity in game, that’s what the mature language filter is for.” The same people screaming for more in game censorship are the same ones demanding more Diversity and Inclusion™ and are perfectly willing to change their tune as long as they get what they want.
Your friend picked the palest, most washed out, as-close-as-it-gets-to-albino race and then complained because it wasn’t dark enough complected? Either your friend is the World Champion of Tilting at Windmills, or it didn’t happen. I’ll let you in on a secret: It makes no difference to me which is the case.
I don’t recall hearing about it, I could have been on a forum vacation. Or it could have been one of those long periods where I just wasn’t paying attention to the forums at all.
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The point about my friend is, they had a darker skintone and then it was changed arbitrarily. I recall people telling others to get over it, so when skintones were randomly changed to be lighter people weren’t screeching about lore then. I wonder why they screech about lore when it comes to darker skins being added BACK in and expanded on.
And if they aren’t real life humans they aren’t bound by evolution rules so getting dark skin tones shouldn’t be as lore breaking as you people want to say it is.
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How about we let the game designers do what they want, rather than have to complain and ask for changes?
There is no need whatsoever for more diversity or representation in WOW. There is plenty already and adding more for no reason other than to appease some of the vocal minority is folly.
If you can’t play WOW because they don’t have a character with your same skin tone, then something is very wrong and I feel bad for you.
I always wished that there were no Betas, no Forums - and the devs just stuck with their original ideas for everything, without making changes to cater to the new vocal minority. Blizzard - stop listening to players. Everything you do is great - just keep doing what you do.
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I mean, we pay to play, so why not ask for features we would enjoy? It’s not as if adding more customization for characters hurts the game.
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Nor does it affect any lore, story or concept we see.
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Why would you have an issue w diversity and representation?
This post reminds me of something said earlier in the thread
Curious tbh
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Irrelevant. It’s some anecdotal thing interjected into the middle of the conversation. If my being a PoC doesn’t give me any voice in a discussion of Diversity and Inclusion™ then your friend posturing as Diversity McPastyElf doesn’t either.
then you’re not, nor is anyone else, being represented.
What do you mean “you people”? 
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They mean, you people who claim the lore or evolution is somehow part of the discussion… It’s pretty clear through the context of their words.
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Who is they? You mean Avarie? I know what was said. I’d already responded to that argument. Several times in fact. What’s pretty clear from the emojis and the clip is that I was making a joke. Because the whole conversation is completely ridiculous. The only thing more ridiculous is that we have to have the conversation in the first place.
Basically you’re trying to sell the idea that character backstory in WoW amounts to pixels being spat out of the Character Creation process. Okay. Fine. Same for all the NPC’s. Well that stands to reason I guess? That the story narrative is just a shadow play. I mean, at the end of the day that’s true? I guess the goal is to thoroughly kill any suspension of disbelief. Ruin immersion completely. Okay. Done.
Problem: Why do I care about the game? Oh… that’s right, 16 years worth of sunk cost.
My goal is to have more varied and expansive diversity added to the game.
Especially for races where their skin tones match human standards and thus we have a plethora of real life options to draw from. Things that can help people to feel more included or put themselves into a fantastical place.
As I know the lore I know full well that the only reason it’s not already a thing is because blizzard hasn’t expended the resources on it yet.
This game has been an amazing place for people to play out many stories, concepts and goals that are otherwise impossible. I want everyone to be able to enjoy that within the game as they’d enjoy to.
Thus I join many voices in asking them to continue to add to their options.
I’m happy to know blizzard themselves see both that nothing in the lore or story ever stopped them and that they value such expansions.
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Okay. Then we’ve got a problem. Because my goal is to have an immersive game.
I remember specifically addressing this very point earlier in the thread. It’s fine as long as it makes sense within the context of the game. If I were to tell Square Enix that Tomb Raider needed more Diverse and Inclusive character customization options, I feel like you would come completely unhinged if I suggested I be able to play as a guy. Because it doesn’t fit the story. This is the same thing.
The one has nothing to do with the other. Being able to do a thing in a video game has nothing to do with explaining why you did a thing in the video game.
So. Basically you’re presuming to speak on everyone’s behalf because your opinion can’t stand on its own merit or principles. How absolutely presumptuous and insulting.
I feel like I’m reading a press release.
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