Ultra cute SD illustrations usable as Twitter Avatars have been published for Genshin Impact (PC, PS4, PS5, Mobile, Switch soon). As of November 25, the followers count on the Japanese Twitter. Article from twitter.com. Genshin Impact Memes on Twitter. February 2021 “#GenshinImpact #原神”.
Genshin Impact, upon its release in September 2020, proved to be quite a hit. The open-world RPG that revolves around the use of magic and characterisation has quickly become popular, especially among the Asian and Eastern-European gaming communities.
However, the developers have recently come under fire, after the hashtag 'boycottgenshinimpact' has gone viral on Twitter after claims of racism, colourism, and paedophilia are all deployed within the game.
With over 10,000 tweets on the matter, here's why it started trending.
Genshin Impact Twitter Memes
Much of the controversy has revolved around a Tweet shared by 'venluvr' in which it depicts a video of a MiHoYo artist working on the designs of Genshin Impact's antagonist hilichurls. Within the clip, it becomes clear that they reference material of what appears to be dancing indigenous Americans.
Genshin Impact Twitter Chinese
Such clip has sparked debate over how Genshin Impact potentially uses real-world minorities to influence the design of its fantasy races. The antagonist race in the game are depicted as wearing stereotypical tribal clothing and conduct tribal dances and ceremonies, whilst being portrayed as evil and harmful - as they appear to be based on 'indigenous Americans', the developers have been accused of wrongfully stereotyping the race.
Mihoyo Genshin Impact Twitter
Further criticism has come through the way that Xinyan and Kaeya are portrayed in the game. Xinyan, who has notably darker skin than most of Genshin's characters, is often referred to as having a scary aesthetic. Kaeya is also referred to as 'exotic', a term that often associated with semantic fields of 'foreignness' and therefore being put under pressure for perceiving the characters as racist.