Reposted for this forum: Umm...Devs, You might want to rethink this one

[GaiaNoche]

So, this was my first play through with Rayya’s Children, the people of the sand. I’ve spent many hours trying to get my town up and started, when I came to a quest. This quest asked me to build a monument in order for my town to get upgraded. So, I checked out the requirements, I like to make things, so I planned to be a crafting town. I checked out the requirements for that monument and I was ready to build. But I got a little curious about the other options and came across the option to focus on religion. I would have to build a ‘Monkey Shrine Monument’, for this one.
So, umm, two things came to mind at this… First, was ‘Why a monkey shrine?’. There are no monkeys around, so why would they worship them? Even if, A deity that took her form as an monkey, there are still no monkeys around. Is she a deity of prosperity? Is she a Goddess from their origins? And if so, why not bring any monkeys with them as companions, if they mean so much? Why not a shrine of an animal people would think they would really find in the desert? A scorpion, maybe? Desert spiders? Lizards? Or how about making up one?
I know there are monkeys that live Desert areas in the world, but… this leads me to the second thing.
Well, how do I put this?
With no real content to explain the shrine, it seems a bit racist. Rayya’s Children -->People of the sand --> Brown people --> (here in the Great U.S.A) People call other people from those places; Sand Monkeys or/and Sand ('N’word) as racial slurs.
The whole thing just broke my immersion with the people I was playing as.

Solution: I suggest to either put in more content to explain the shrine or change the shrine.

[Ragnarol]

I didn’t really find Monkey that racist, just a bit confusing. They talk about worshipping Rayya and stuff, then everything is about Monkey. I definitely agree that I would like more explanation about this as well as who Rayya and Monkey are.

[Fornjotr]

Hi @GaiaNoche

That is a really interessting point you make here! Where are the monkeys? I would love to see them roaming around in my dessert town, living their own lives side by side with the hearthlings, maybe stealing food from jars and other immersfull things/behaviour.

The answer i guess, is the same as why the sand goblins and all the other dessert creatures did not get into the game yet? The devs simply stopped and redirected their focus to the overall gamingexperience and not the visual content. But it will come…

The bit about racism is to much honestly. It did not exist before you so generous pointed out that if one really want to feel offended, there can be found evidense of racism anywhere?
So lets focus on the game and not american politics, shall we?

Thank you and have a great day!

[stevenvilla]

Seems we have a snowflake that involves real world notions in this crafty and light hearted game. If you see something racist in this then its YOUR OWN perspective. Its just a monkey. A cute light hearted idea. Get over it. You’ll be alright. Also, with your logic, there are also Bunny statues all over the place. Bunnies reproduce at alarming rates. The cultists who are said to worship said shrines, are in a bunny cult. Does that equate to a bunny masked sex cult? People will see what they want to see. Most of us just see a monkey statue. End rant.

[Fornjotr]

Seems we have a snowflake that involves real world notions in this crafty and light hearted game.

If you really want to have a productive dialog with someone, it might not be the best tactic to start out with placing them in a definition or labeling them by your own standards? It kind of makes the rest of your statement irrelevant, other than you show where you stand yourself?
I do however agree with the way you present the example, just not that you dont apply it to your own person

And why do snowflakes have to be drawn into this? haha…

May the wind be with you Steven.

[anton]

The point “monkeys do not live in the deserts” seems reasonable to me. As does the thought “why not bring any monkeys with them as companions”. Maybe Rayya’s Children have kind of a legend about a lost jungle-like paradise with lots of monkeys? Or each oasis is a holy place to them? Are there monkeys in the oasis? Maybe they are in an eternal search of a holy monkey-reach oasis?
The point about racism seems a bit far-fetched to me. ANY shrine of the desert people can be declared racist if you follow this logic.

[SirAstrix]

Rayya’s Children -->People of the sand --> Brown people --> (here in the Great U.S.A) People call other people from those places; Sand Monkeys or/and Sand ('N’word) as racial slurs.

This is grasping at straws. Honestly, you put enough time into anything, and you can make it racists or offensive in the US. Hell, if you wanted to go down that road, based on the #78Genders movement of last year, I can claim I’m cactus gendered (yes that’s one of them) and then claim that every game that has a cactus in it is prejudice to my gender and thus is offensive.

Honestly, it’s a game. It’s meant for you to have fun. Keep politics and bullshit out of it like @Fornjotr said. If you have to actively look for something to be offended by, then you’re not playing the game to have fun. You’re definitely 'Merican, but you’re not having fun.

They talk about worshipping Rayya and stuff, then everything is about Monkey.

And what’s wrong with that? What if Rayya was a monkey that came to them in the desert and showed them the way to an oasis, thus bringing them salvation?

And why do snowflakes have to be drawn into this?

I don’t even know where to start with this. 'Merica has become the land of the snowflakes with how sensitive everyone’s acting anymore. It’s a wonder how any of us serviced with how people are acting.

IDK, guess I just haven’t eaten enough Tide Pods like everyone else…

[RepeatPan]

The lore of Stonehearth - if I’m not mistaken - was something along the line of gods, their folks and ages, which are conceding one another. Currently it’s the monkey god, and the hearthlings are its people… or something. I think Lizard was another of them, and the goblins were its people? As the monkey took over, the goblins “degenerated” to their current state… or something. It’s been a few years.

But in all honesty: The world has become a truly desolate place if we’re starting to associate “monkeys” with something racist. Like @SirAstrix said, if you put enough thought into it, you can pretty much find anything “offensive”. Just because a word is part of a slur does not mean the word itself is.

Goblins are offensive to victims of radiation poisoning; butchering animals is offensive to children; gravestones/death in general too; the goblin speech pattern is hindering a kid’s language development; trees can be murdered just to get some fossil fuels going; the list of things you can probably get offended about with little to no reason is practically endless. If you bend your mind enough and jump through enough hoops, you’ll eventually arrive at something.

[Geoffers747]

First, was ‘Why a monkey shrine?’. There are no monkeys around, so why would they worship them? Even if, A deity that took her form as an monkey, there are still no monkeys around. Is she a deity of prosperity? Is she a Goddess from their origins?

Makes sense so far!

With no real content to explain the shrine, it seems a bit racist. Rayya’s Children -->People of the sand --> Brown people --> (here in the Great U.S.A) People call other people from those places; Sand Monkeys or/and Sand ('N’word) as racial slurs.

I guess I can see the connection, and perhaps in isolation it seems a bit off, but if the monkey deity is one for all hearthlings, then …

I think we should perhaps just wrap this one up.