Guild Wars 2

Found out my sister, Deborah, was white today. Came as quite a shock when investigating Falcon company, given that I am a proud black guardian. Then I remembered that she must be adopted because it would be totally wrong to assume that everyone wants to play a white human and not put any effort into making sure there was diversity. I mean it’s not like Dragon Age 2 could manage it.

Do you think she knows?

I believe all the girls have fair skin, but their hair color changes according to where you say your character comes from when Logan asks it.

your father black, your mother white. no, she not adopted. its just genes

Garambola.2461:

I believe all the girls have fair skin, but their hair color changes according to where you say your character comes from when Logan asks it.

Well I guess it could have been worse, she could have been ginger. Nah, gingers are cool, but it still should be a black ginger when I have ebony skin. Change of hair colour just doesn’t cut it.

If you said you were from Elona, she would be black.

Yeah when Logan asks where you’re from (to update his records) you probably selected Ascalonian, from memory Ascalonian Deb is pale skin with dark hair. Canthan Deb has an Asian appearance, Elona – as dietzero mentioned, was dark-skinned. I haven’t selected Krytan before but from memory Krytans are very very tanned.

Back when I first started playing I didn’t know choosing where Deb was from would change how she looked, it’s almost a shame you can’t go back and choose again, cuz this isn’t the last you’ll see of Deb!

Arus.8745:

Yeah when Logan asks where you’re from (to update his records) you probably selected Ascalonian, from memory Ascalonian Deb is pale skin with dark hair. Canthan Deb has an Asian appearance, Elona – as dietzero mentioned, was dark-skinned. I haven’t selected Krytan before but from memory Krytans are very very tanned.

Back when I first started playing I didn’t know choosing where Deb was from would change how she looked, it’s almost a shame you can’t go back and choose again, cuz this isn’t the last you’ll see of Deb!

Thank you for the info still it seems awfully restrictive to force me to choose a single area to get the correct skin colour. I can’t see why this can’t be adaptive.

UlanX.2143:

Thank you for the info still it seems awfully restrictive to force me to choose a single area to get the correct skin colour. I can’t see why this can’t be adaptive.

Because Elona is where blacks come from in Tyria and there’s a huge zombie vs zombie battlefield with a smattering of Branded as well between Elona and the rest of Tyria?

Now humans from all over Tyria live in Divinity’s Reach, but only the Krytans lived there a long time. The others have migrated in later and brought the looks common in their parts of the World into the mix. That is why the background of your character determines the way your sister looks.

Or shes your half sister. Skin tone is a male dominant gene.

BrooksP.4318:

Or shes your half sister. Skin tone is a male dominant gene.

Oh no, what are you saying? My mother was the embodiment of purity when she met my father (cries in corner). I’m going for adopted

Looks like someone is going to be needing an episode of Who Do You Think You Are done for them.

looks like youre the adopted one

Wanze.8410:

looks like youre the adopted one

Why would that be?

UlanX.2143:

Wanze.8410:

looks like youre the adopted one

Why would that be?

Because you chose your skin color to be black but arent from Elona.

Or put another way you (the player) decided your family comes from a region where that skin tone is uncommon. Your sister matches the choice you made. You don’t. IF anyone is adopted, odds are it’s you.

Black parents give birth to white baby

It’s all how the genes fall out of the family tree

Or get thrust into the family tree…

But it’s already been established that UlanX’s mum was the embodiment of purity.

I actually faced this same issue with my first human character. She has the loveliest gingerbread cookie dough tone skin and somewhat canthan features, but because I chose her background Ascalonian, the sister was a blonde.

I had to adjust my backround story a little and they are half-sisters now. While the family comes from Ascalon originally and still thinks of itself as Ascalonian, a couple of generations back new blood was introduced. Thus more varitey in the appearance of the family members.

There was a thread sometime in the last bunch of months that was Show Us Your Canthans or something and I was going to put up a screen of my brown skinned guy with dreads. I thought better of it since people may have thought I was trolling (and maybe I would have been on some level) but I’d figured that DR was a hive of multiculturalism and he could still consider himself of Canthan descent. I decided he was also part Orrian as well, just not nuevo Orrian.

Something of an off topic ramble, must be nearly time for sleep. Or past time.

It hardly matters, because you will never, ever see or hear of her again after the PS is over. Or even during most of the PS. IIRC, after the first arc you don’t encounter her again until the party after you kill Zhaitan, and it’s easy to miss her in the crowd. Her existence is irrelevant to your life.

BrettM.9062:

It hardly matters, because you will never, ever see or hear of her again after the PS is over. Or even during most of the PS. IIRC, after the first arc you don’t encounter her again until the party after you kill Zhaitan, and it’s easy to miss her in the crowd. Her existence is irrelevant to your life.

>Rescue sister
>Completely forget sister

Lol.

BrettM.9062:

It hardly matters, because you will never, ever see or hear of her again after the PS is over. Or even during most of the PS. IIRC, after the first arc you don’t encounter her again until the party after you kill Zhaitan, and it’s easy to miss her in the crowd. Her existence is irrelevant to your life.

She appears near the end before fighting Zhaitan in one of the order missions, you fight a Wraith together with her and another npc that dies. She is using Guardian skills btw

I think it was the Vigil mission which begins with escorting some tanks across Orr but I can’t remember for sure.

maddoctor.2738:

BrettM.9062:

It hardly matters, because you will never, ever see or hear of her again after the PS is over. Or even during most of the PS. IIRC, after the first arc you don’t encounter her again until the party after you kill Zhaitan, and it’s easy to miss her in the crowd. Her existence is irrelevant to your life.

She appears near the end before fighting Zhaitan in one of the order missions, you fight a Wraith together with her and another npc that dies. She is using Guardian skills btw

I think it was the Vigil mission which begins with escorting some tanks across Orr but I can’t remember for sure.

Which shows you just how memorable the character is. If I did encounter her in another mission, I had completely forgotten by then that she WAS supposed to be my sister. Just another one of the drones who show up for these missions and might as well be named “Plucky Vigil Crusader #32”.

Honestly, all of the human “biggest regret” choices are half-baked, if that. Actually, so are the Norn choices.

Why does she have to be adopted? It’s possible for a black/white couple to have a white-looking baby and a black-looking baby. This has even been the case with fraternal twins.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Why does she have to be adopted? It’s possible for a black/white couple to have a white-looking baby and a black-looking baby. This has even been the case with fraternal twins.

Yes but as roleplayers (even in the broadest sense) we assume that imagining our parents is up to us, and I think few players would go so far to explicitely imagine their character’s parents to be a mixed-race couple. It’s just not what comes to mind first.

So if I play a character that is based on culture x, I am pretty likely to assume that both the character’s parents were also from culture x, and then the game suddenly says, “think again!”

That being said, before this thread, I had no idea there even were 3 versions of Deborah, and I’m kind of impressed by the fact and the way ANet did this.

UlanX.2143:

Found out my sister, Deborah, was white today. Came as quite a shock when investigating Falcon company, given that I am a proud black guardian. Then I remembered that she must be adopted because it would be totally wrong to assume that everyone wants to play a white human and not put any effort into making sure there was diversity. I mean it’s not like Dragon Age 2 could manage it.

You do realize that Deborah has four possible appearances, right?

If she was right, then you clearly picked Ascalonian descent. Ascalonians are white – basically your northern Europeans. Krytans are tanned – basically your southern/eastern Europeans. Elonians are black – basically your Africans. And Canthans are asians.

You picked Ascalon, but if you wanted a black sister, you should have picked Elonian. Though going off of the poor wiki picture, Elonian Deborah is one of lighter hues of being black skinned.

This option was presented to you in the first story step of the storyline. Logan asks you your heritage because the records of Falcon Company – particularly your sister’s heritage – is lost/ruined/some such.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Deborah_Elonian.jpg

Garambola.2461:

I believe all the girls have fair skin, but their hair color changes according to where you say your character comes from when Logan asks it.

No, there are four different skin tones, while two different hair colors, and four different hair styles.

Ascalonian Deborah is the only non-black haired Deborah (she’s blond).

UlanX.2143:

Thank you for the info still it seems awfully restrictive to force me to choose a single area to get the correct skin colour. I can’t see why this can’t be adaptive.

It’s called ethnicity. This is how things work in real life. If you’re of African heritage, you’re going to be black unless you have non-African heritage in you.

You’re not going to look black but be of German descent.

You’re not going to look Japanese but be of African descent.

How is this not adaptive? This is a nigh perfect mirror image of real life. You had the chance to have a non-white heritage, but you either did not know (who’s fault is this? Depends, really; if you didn’t even bother to find out then it’s yours, but if you did but didn’t know then it’d be Anet’s for poor presentation), or you didn’t pay attention (in which your fault).

If you hate the game for not being adaptive here, then you must hate reality for the fact that ethnicities exist.

BrettM.9062:

It hardly matters, because you will never, ever see or hear of her again after the PS is over. Or even during most of the PS. IIRC, after the first arc you don’t encounter her again until the party after you kill Zhaitan, and it’s easy to miss her in the crowd. Her existence is irrelevant to your life.

If you take the Vigil’s plan during Further into Orr, you fight alongside her for three missions.

I don’t think she’s in the party after Zhaitan’s defeat, actually.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

You’re not going to look black but be of German descent.

You’re not going to look Japanese but be of African descent.

Most peoples’ heritages are not this cut-and-dried. Most people are not ONLY of African descent or German descent or Japanese descent. Most people nowadays are a wide mix and latent traits do often come out.

TyrianAncestry.com

Question, if Deb joins the Vigil, then why is she wearing Seraph armor? :/

They WANT you to believe you have a sister. Seriously though, all of Divinity’s Reach has been lying to you the whole time.

First of all, they let several of us believe we were members of the nobility, yet we have no mansion or house. You can’t be noble whilst living on the streets! (Not that it’s impossible, but the nobles around DR clearly don’t support that kind of culture.)

Secondly, everybody’s responses to us are completely predetermined! We can snap at them, threaten to kill them. We can give them compliments and even flirt with them… YET we ALWAYS arrive at the same outcome! Whatever DR’s secret purpose for us may be, our personality has no sway over it.

Thirdly, if we lie to Logan and tell him we came from Ascalon, Elona or anywhere: HE chooses a sister for us! Last time I had a flashback about my past, I think I came from some place called “Character Creation” or something?

It doesn’t stop there. I saw the way Countess Anise looked at me. The way she spoke to me with that EXQUISITE voice of hers. I knew we had something going that would surely lead to marriage. Then I found out she had teased countless other humans in the same situation I was in! I’m sorry Countess, but bigamy of that magnitude would surely not go unnoticed by the other races.

Sometimes I have dreams that I started it all over as an Asura or a Norn and did pretty much the same thing with my life.

It can happen:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/richardhjames/people-dont-believe-that-these-teenagers-are-twins#.ujx7wnyql

UlanX.2143:

…..
Thank you for the info still it seems awfully restrictive to force me to choose a single area to get the correct skin colour. I can’t see why this can’t be adaptive.

Just so you know, your continued attempt to make the Devs appear to be intentionally racist is not portraying your “diversity” in the best light, either…..