(08-02-2015, 12:03 AM)Akos Wrote: The setting from my point of view has very little racial tension or actual racism in it. It's implied that it's there, but it isn't a strong part of most of the world. Gridania is xenophobic, Ul'dah is socioeconomic, Ishgard is class and religion based, but racial issues are pretty light, so I don't feel it's something I have to worry about rping. Honestly most of the tension seems to come from what city state you're aligned to, or in Ishguard's case your class and if you're considered a heretic or not.
That's the thing though, it's very prevalent within the story and is addressed throughout. Particularly in regards to the beast races, which are very much sentient and portrayed as often being dicked over due to the prejudices of their more 'civilized' counterparts. The Sahagin and the Kobolds in particular spring to mind as examples of this fact within the base game, and the former is even expanded upon during the Leviathan portion of the main storyline. I really don't think their plights and the issues surrounding WHY they summon their primals is any less racial because of their beast like nature, or the fact that they aren't playable.
Then there's Ishgard and the fact that we learned that the dragons are very much also sentient and the tensions between them and the races of man; which are a highlight throughout the story and even are explored in several side quests in the Forelands. Don't forget about Hilda either (as her story wasn't just based upon class issues), or that one interracial couple who was on the run -because- they were interracial and not because they were gay as shown here. How the Auri are treated horribly both in Othard and now in Eorzea by certain groups of people, the Duskwights, and the tribal Moonkeepers are also examples of this - and each are given prevalence in many of the class quests.
I haven't had to deal with racial issues in my own life, so I can never understand how it might feel or how hard it must be to encounter it in a video game. But this world WAS written with this issue at the forefront in many instances. It isn't lightly glossed upon either. That said, nobody should have to RP what they aren't comfortable with. But the lore should also be acknowledged OOCly, if that makes sense?
