League of Legends (Old)

[quadz08]

Could go either way, IMO - they did very clearly darken her skin from her old artwork, which I thought was an intentional effort to clarify that she's intended to be black



Regardless, the point is that there are a grand total of two human characters that aren't white.

[BROseidon]

I thought she was indian?

This would make way more sense tbh

[BROseidon]

Also all the Ionian character are Chinese so...

[BROseidon]

Akali and Shen are also probably Japanese?

[quadz08]

according to leagueoflegends.wikia.com, these are the Ionian characters:
Ahri
Irelia
karma
Lee Sin
Master Yi
Soraka
Varus

Ahri is not human.
Irelia I could see being Chinese based on artwork, I guess?
Karma is being discussed above.
Lee Sin - can't tell, artwork sure looks white but name is chinese
Master Yi - same as Lee
Soraka - not human
Varus - Difficult to tell due to void corruption, etc

So there are maybe 4 champions you could say are chinese.
Maybe.


P-Edit: but you can't tell that, really? Shen in particular is completely masked, he could be native american for all we know

[quadz08]

I dunno, maybe my inability to discern the not-whiteness of some of those characters is indicative of my personal racial biases / general lack of experience with asians as a whole?

[The Bulge]

Zed is clearly hispanic.

[BROseidon]

Lee and Yi are also very clearly Chinese

[quadz08]

Zed is clearly hispanic.

not sure if srs?

[quadz08]

Lee and Yi are also very clearly Chinese

I'll take your word for it, I guess?

so we've got 3 Chinese characters, 1 black character, 1 Indian character, and a few dozen white ones - yes?

[The Bulge]

Zed is clearly hispanic.

not sure if srs?

not srs

[DeathNote]

I just want them to create more White People. *Fist Pump*

[quadz08]

Just counted - there are at least 40 definitively white human characters - I left out things like Syndra and Yasuo and Sion, who are difficult to determine for some reason or another. Also, add Xin Zhao to the Chinese count, making that 4.

And apart from this we could also get into the issue of female body types, and how riot draws exactly 1.

[Oman]

Change "Chinese" in the discussion above to "Asian" for more safety at the cost of possible specificity. Karma is most definitely Indian which fits into the broader Asian theme.

This is one of those things where "black" isn't "black" if you know what I mean? The fact that she has a darker skin colour doesn't make her "black" in the American sense. She's Indian, at most I'd give you West Asian (Near East, like a Turkey/Egypt thing, maybe, but I'd still pick Indian over this).

Using Quadz's list:
Ahri - The nine-tailed fox spirit who can shapeshift into a beautiful woman to seduce men. China/Japan/Korea. This is pretty much a cert for me (Same root as vulpix, I'd assume).
Irelia - Definitely Asian/Chinese based on her artwork. It's in the lips and her facial structure. Hiten Style is the giveaway - Hiten is a Japanese word, celestial or something, it was the name of their lunar orbiter.
karma - I'm calling Indian based on the fact that her name is Karma (Buddhism is the biggest anchor for the term, other option is probably Taoism which is still Asiatic).
Lee Sin - I mean, the Asian martial arts, the name, and the fact that he studied in a monastery. I'd probably lean Japanese with a name like Sin, but I don't know.
Master Yi - I know nothing about Yi except the Katana, the name Yi, and reference to Wuju style (which is actually a Chinese word that refers to a type of theatre named after a Chinese City [yes I had to google that one!]).
Soraka - I could probably argue something about the crescent moon and the area, but I won't because it's weak at best. She's a unicorn. Whatever. There are unicorn-like creatures across Asian mythology, but tbh there are unicorns fucking everywhere in every mythology.
Varus - The biggest thing about Varus is that his corruption comes from a temple that he was protecting. Temples tend towards a very Asian culture. I don't really have else to add on this one.


I dunno, Ionia is Asia in my mind. I mean you can say "maybe 4 chinese" which I'd agree with, but if you broaden it to the rest of Asia it's almost certainly *most* of them.

Still, diversity *is* a joke on the rift, and your point about female body types *is* a serious one (and much broader than Riot!). I'm not writing the above with the intent of saying "oh no look how diverse they are with all this Asian-ness!" It's more just for funsies.

League would accept more champions of different colours and different locations, definitely. The different body types thing needs to happen but unfortunately is symptomatic of a larger issue.

[The Bulge]

broader

heh

[The Bulge]

Oh also

Wukong is based on Sun Wukong, the Chinese mythological Monkey King. He's not exactly human, but still definitely Chinese/Asian.

[Oman]

Akali and Kennen are both ninjas and have spent some time in Ionia, Udyr is a representation of the spirit animals and trained in Ionia I think. Yasuo was born in Ionia before he started his pilgrimage I think, and the wind/sword stuff is very Japanese. There's a couple more. I'd have to do more research on champion backgrounds to speak definitively on any more.

[quadz08]

chinese and/or asian-inspired lore =/= asian champion (see ahri in particular; foxes are not humans)\

also just for the sake or arguing, varus could just as easily be jewish if we're going with the temple thing

[quadz08]

in other news, just got awful fucking random lag during a ranked game

would have been totally different if my champion didn't just stop paying attention to my commands for 15 seconds every 4 minutes

[Oman]

(see ahri in particular; foxes are not humans

She's not a fox though, she's a fox spirit who can take on human form.

And if you're getting specific, none of them are Asian, they're Ionian

But if you're talking about a player seeing a representation that they can identify with (which is, I think, the broader social context behind what we're talking about), yes, Ahri doesn't add to racial diversity for player avatars. There's no coincidence that most of the original (unskinned) Chinese Artworks are redrawn to make the characters look less...European White. They definitely look more Asian. Jump on the wiki and take a look at the champions compared to their chinese artworks (Garen and Caitlyn are both good examples).

It's a massive fucking problem, that racial groups and most women CAN'T find a character that they can roleplay as, with whom they identify. And as I said, my point that Ionia is Asia, that Karma is Indian, isn't offering a counterpoint to that at all.

[theelkspeaks]

While it would still be far too few diverse characters even if true, I've heard it alleged that Ryze is supposed to be black also.

[Iecerint]

Ryze is a cute bearded CEO.

[FakeGod]

Shadow Isles still reigns supreme

[animorpherv1]

Ryze is a cute bearded CEO.

I actually have great hopes with the Ryze rework after a few buffs that are on the PBE. Can't wait to play it!

[PJ.]

It's a massive fucking problem, that racial groups and most women CAN'T find a character that they can roleplay as, with whom they identify. And as I said, my point that Ionia is Asia, that Karma is Indian, isn't offering a counterpoint to that at all.

Alright, this might be a question because I'm white, but is roleplaying as someone that looks like yourself important? I've never ever ever played a character that looks like myself intentionally in any game(intentionally meaning, if I played a big white guy I played it for reasons other than "he's the big white guy"), and any time I'm allowed to make a character, I never ever ever make it look like me.