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[nenjin]

This is going back a bit but one of some's grivences was WoW fanservice, and I have to ask how is that a bad thing? If it is the fanservice that we all know about I see no problem with it, a busty charcter should not piss you off so much to not play the game. I personally believe that it is a good thing but is just me. If it is thing like making nods to the WoW game universe I think that is kinda cool. if it is directly emulating gameplay I can see how that would piss you off.

Forget the tits, it's more appeasing the legion of WoW fans who want a Night Elf Hunter/Demon Hunter in Diablo. They couldn't well add Elves to Sanctuary so they did the next closest thing. Built a character from the ground up to look like one and whose gameplay reminds us of a Hunter. Honestly it would have been that or they'd have made her dual wielding absurd-looking blade staves. I'm sure one of the DLC/cosmetic things will give her/him war paint.

As for the WD, I'm not bothered by the racial connotations. He's just goofy. His plague dogs or whatever look more menacing than he does. It's like the whole class makes a point of stepping out of the fray to throw silly looking things at the enemy and command hordes of bumbling servants. Compared to how bad ass everyone else looks and their powers are...the WD seems like an outlier. Kind of like their only real connection to the idea was a guy that runs around going "Durka durka durka", not like someone envisioned this really bad ass kind of alternative necromancer.

[Shadowlord]

Tangent, but:

As for ads:
Personally I think if you're going to do ads in games, you should put them in the game as background details and update them via an internet connection whenever a user is connected.

No, actually, that would be even worse. There -may- be some merit in something like sports games, or a game based in the modern day (think GTA), where billboards and other advertising space is present, but because of the limits in legality they're all faked and frequently satirical. But in any other game setting - and the former is surely the minority of games - advertising of any kind will simply break immersion. I don't need a giant "Drink Coke!" floor tile while playing Spiral Knights, or a smart car mount driving around LoTRO.

Advertising in general needs to be taken down a notch, not amped up and inserted into every crevice, every media, you can find.

Weren't there advertising billboards in Trackmania Nations (it was free)? That wasn't terribly intrusive, but considering that it was a free game which came with starforce, it's not exactly what I'd call the best model for the future.

Billboards might fit in in a Futurama game, assuming it was possible to "interact" with them physically using your spaceship, if you know what I mean.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I do not think that has anything to do with whether anyone has the right to complain about Blizzard making classes which some people find objectionable on the grounds that they might be some kind of racist stereotyping. Personally I didn't even realize there was a problem. Possibly I'm like Stephen Colbert: I don't see race. Clearly the answer is to make the end boss be Ming the Merciless, and reveal that he arranged for the Witch Doctor to be a member of the party, and that he has secretly been working for Ming the whole time. (I can see you facepalming, G-Flex!)

[Lagslayer]

I was under the impression that G-flex was claiming certain stereotypes were ok, and others were not to portray in media. And I suspected he meant legally, in particular. My defense was to point out that it is protected under free speech. If he genuinely did not mean that they should not do it in a legal manner, then I apologize. If he's just lying to cover his ass, then he's a hypocritical douche. It's sort of hard to tell over the internet.

[G-Flex]

As for the WD, I'm not bothered by the racial connotations. He's just goofy. His plague dogs or whatever look more menacing than he does. It's like the whole class makes a point of stepping out of the fray to throw silly looking things at the enemy and command hordes of bumbling servants. Compared to how bad ass everyone else looks and their powers are...the WD seems like an outlier. Kind of like their only real connection to the idea was a guy that runs around going "Durka durka durka", not like someone envisioned this really bad ass kind of alternative necromancer.

Why does the fact that he's "goofy" make it any better? If anything, wouldn't that make any racial connotations worse?

I was under the impression that G-flex was claiming certain stereotypes were ok, and others were not to portray in media. And I suspected he meant legally, in particular. My defense was to point out that it is protected under free speech. If he genuinely did not mean that they should not do it in a legal manner, then I apologize. If he's just lying to cover his ass, then he's a hypocritical douche. It's sort of hard to tell over the internet.

I don't know why you got that impression, but no, that's not what I was trying to say. Legally speaking, there's no issue at all unless you're (somehow) inciting violence or defaming people to the point where they'd have a case against you.

I'd say that some stereotypes can be less harmful, depending on social context, though. For instance, even if the whole "barbarian" archetype comes from a kind of warped depiction of mainland pre-Christianized Europeans (sacking Rome and all that), which is pure speculation on my part, that's not very harmful because at this point the archetype is so removed from that time and culture that nobody even associates it with anything in the real world anymore... although it might mess with people's perception of history, maybe.

[hemmingjay]

just a warning.......Beta invitation email scam is underway.

quote: Greetings from Blizzard Entertainment!

We’re gearing up for the forthcoming launch of Diablo III and would like to extend you an invitation to participate in the beta test. If you are interested in participating, you need to have a Battle.net account, which you can create on our Battle.net website.

We will flag you for access to the Diablo III beta test when we begin admitting press. You do not need to go through the opt-in process.

To secure your place among the first of Sanctuary’s heroes,Please use the following template below to verify your account and information via email.

* Name:
* Battle.account name:
* Password:
* Country:
* E-mail Address:

Thanks and see you all in the Burning Hells!

[nenjin]

Why does the fact that he's "goofy" make it any better? If anything, wouldn't that make any racial connotations worse?

Didn't say it made it better. It's just what bothers me most rather than a stereotypical look. Or maybe it just exacerbates it.

[Darkmere]

just a warning.......Beta invitation email scam is underway.

I like that they ask for your email address, in an email. Also that you could just check your b.net account for a beta invite. I suppose these emails wouldn't get sent if they didn't work though. Depressing.

[Lord Snow]

how exactly is a witch doctor in black worse than a witch doctor in white?

All other characters are white, from what i know.
Would it be any better to have zero coloured characters?
Would you rather have options to pick a racial background for your character, along with gender and age nose width and shoe size and sexual orientation and...?

Diablo has always been a pleasantly simple game, i don't see any black gamers being offended by having the witch doctor being black over the sorceress or monk.
As to people who will take offense - i think those are likely to be offended by a game of mindlessly slaughtering millions of creatures in bloody brutal ways to get a randomy golden item.


edit, ffs, the monk is brown and bald, how is that not a clichee.

[Dsarker]

Diablo Email scam has been running for at least a week, maybe up to a month, by now.

[SirStrange]

I'd say that some stereotypes can be less harmful, depending on social context, though. For instance, even if the whole "barbarian" archetype comes from a kind of warped depiction of mainland pre-Christianized Europeans (sacking Rome and all that), which is pure speculation on my part, that's not very harmful because at this point the archetype is so removed from that time and culture that nobody even associates it with anything in the real world anymore... although it might mess with people's perception of history, maybe.

So barbarian is okay, because you don't associate people with barbarians.

But the witchdoctor is not okay because...

Are you trying to say that you associate black people with witchdoctors? That's weird man. Maybe you should stop projecting your whatever onto society and just accept that you have a problem.

[Detrevni|inverteD]

I don't understand why the witch doctor is an issue. I think it's quite cool.

It is definitely a stereotype, yes, but it's not meant to be offensive in this context, and if that's the case, then I don't think it matters at all. It's been done plenty of times, and it's never been an issue. What about the voodoo lady from Escape from Monkey Island? Is that offensive?

What about all other stereotypes? Why does it make it more offensive if it's a black person? I am part Celtic, and my ancestors were perceived as barbarians by the invading Romans, and portrayed much like they are here. Should I be offended by the stereotyped Barbarian portrayed in this game?

[forsaken1111]

The Warlock in World of Warcraft is offensive to me because it casts real pagan warlocks in a negative light. We do not truck with demons or cast shadow bolts!

/sarcasm

[Darkmere]

I'd like to pose a question then.

Given the tropical jungle/rain forest theme Kehjistan has (correct me if I'm wrong, pretty sure that's where the WD's are supposed to be from), and assuming the cast is supposed to be rallied heroes from all the major areas in Sanctuary, what would be an inoffensive portrayal of a caster archetype hero from such a place? The Wizard hasn't raised a fuss, and necros are out per design decision, so those are unchanged and excluded, respectively.

[Tyler6498]

Not to be the bearer of obvious news but, that argument you guys are engaging in is two months go, drop it. The reason the threads active again is because of the beta E-mail D3 scam, not because of what he said two months ago.

[Detrevni|inverteD]

Not to be the bearer of obvious news but, that argument you guys are engaging in is two months go, drop it. The reason the threads active again is because of the beta E-mail D3 scam, not because of what he said two months ago.

Oh shit, how did I not see that? haha.

Very good point.