Episode's 2017 Diversity Standards

Of course ! You are perfectly right. They promised something and, if you feel like they didn’t keep their promise, then you have a reason to be upset.
But asking for something and putting down other people for what they do ( or don’t do ) isn’t the same thing.
I feel like, in this thread, some people from both sides tend to not completely separate those ideas.

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Thanks for pointing it out!

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Since I’m asian and live in a south-east asian country, I know how to make lots of asian characters without making them look like each other. Like, not all of them have monolids or hooded eyes. Some asians have wide eyes and also some of them have darker complexion, you know. Just sayin :wink: you can also try to make asian skin based on the gold skin choices, from the lighter ones to the darker ones (since most of them have warm undertone)

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I agree with all of your points.

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Agree.

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We also do need more ranges of monolids and hooded eyes, as long with cultural hair for them. Their eyes aren’t only exclusive to them, a lot of other races have them. Along with Afro and Protective hair for black characters and more lip colors for dark skins. They need to fix some of the featured too. Most of them look like they were designed to be on light skin tones and not dark ones, based on the lining and shading.

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Honestly when are we going to get the eyes in INK. It’s not about slender or “asiatic” eyes, we literally have no downturned eyes for females, not all of us have upturned eyes.

What about slender eyes with double lids?! Can we have some of the INK eyes in LL -,-

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And we have no slopping eyes for LL. Smh. :expressionless:

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I don’t think INK will get anything at this point. I kinda got an impression that Limelight is the main and only focus, and INK will stay the same. Seems kinda obvious to me.

I’m talking about INK eyes in Limelight, INK has enough eyes for me, Limelight needs more.

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Ohh. Got it now.
Welp. I think it got better this year, as we got more eye shapes, and lips (I was waiting for more lip shapes bad). I think eventually we will get more. Just gotta be patient and offer good ideas.

Hi, everyone. I am still pretty new to episode and the forums (I only started about a year ago), so please forgive me if I am wrong about any of this information. But, I would like to share some of what I have noticed on this thread and my opinion on this topic. This comment is mainly referring to EPISODE and their stories and diversity, not user stories.

Now before I get into the nitty-gritty of this all, I would like to discuss the meaning of diversity itself. This is my perspective of the meaning of diversity, and I know that it might not necessarily be the same as others’. Anywho, I digress, the definition of diversity is: a range of different things, or variety. Diversity is a very broad term, and there are many different sub-categories including but not limited to: sexual preferences, racial diversity, cultural diversity, mental disorders, etc.

Sure it is important for user stories to have diversity, but I do not think that it is as important as the Episode-created and featured stories. Here is my reasoning: The stories you see on the shelves, on your home page, and that are promoted are the stories made and chosen by Episode. These are the stories that are more likely to be read because they are easier to be found, and not everyone wants to go and look deep into the depths of Episode to find a story with good diversity. I think there are are probably lots of great user stories out there with good plot and good diversity, but they would be harder to find because it is not promoted by Episode or have less. THIS is why it is so important for episode to include more diversity in their stories. Because whether they like it or not, Episode is a form of media; and, if they continue to not include diversity in their stories or show it in a stereotypical way, then they will just be upholding the stereotypes surrounding people/things that are different from the norm.

Here is what I think we need in terms of diversity: Diversity is not just having a character with a different skin color, or putting a hijab on a character. You see, at the core, people are different. Now, I am not saying this to segregate people and but them into boxes. What I mean is people come from different walks of life and have different perspectives on certain things. An african-american, homosexual, christian may not have the same beliefs as a caucasian, heterosexual, christian. While people have similarities, they also have differences, and that should be shown in these stories.

Episode, I understand that you may have a specific people that you market towards which shows the types of stories you will create, but you do not always need a diverse story, to have diverse characters. And what I mean by this is, you don’t need to always have a story centering on a “diverse” person to have diverse characters. You can easily add diverse characters to stories such as “The K*ss List” and “Positively Princess” if those are the stories that you get more reader retention in. Now, it would be nice to eventually get a story with a “diverse” character as the MC, but it is all about baby steps.

I think the main thing we are angry about is that you posted this at the end of 2016, and have produced many stories since then and we don’t see ANY of these promises incorporated in the stories you produced. Maybe we would be a bit more patient if we saw baby steps being taken to add more diversity into stories, but we don’t. And we are beginning to wonder if this is is just a group of empty promises.

In summary:

  1. It is important for Episode-Created, featured, and promoted stories to have a diverse cast because those are the stories that readers are more likely to see and read.
  2. Diversity is not just having a character with a different skin color, or putting a hijab on character. It is, at the core, having a character with a different personality and views on life and SHOWING that.
  3. A story does not always need to be centered on a “diverse” person to include “diverse” characters. You can easily add more diverse characters to the types of stories that you market.

I am not going to give you a list of things I think you should have for your 2019 standards, I think that is something that you as a company should reflect on yourselves. But, as I see how important this is to the Episode community, I sincerely hope you take time to reflect on the content you produce and how you can work to improve it over the next year or two.

Okay, I think that is it. Thank you so much for reading. Please reply if you think I have left something out, or if you are confused on one of my statements. I am sorry if I offended anyone, that was not my goal, but to just share my opinion on this topic. :slight_smile:

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While I agree with almost everything you have mentioned…
And u say reasonable things. U (not just u, but everyone) should understand, that Episode is not a charitable organization. They need, and they want to profit. They produce stories that are most likely to be read by the majority. And sadly, it is what it is. Independent writers, however, have all the possibilities to write a story with diverse characters.

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I agree with what you said. It doesn’t matter who or what race is the majority, EVERYONE should be represented and deserves to be. Or atleast a fair amount. They aren’t even at the basics of it and can;'t even ad us in properly. They don’t even add gay characters properly. Notice how some of the gay men wear floral clothing? Smh. Preach sis! :clap:t5:

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Right! Not all gay men are super feminine. I personally don’t know any who even are. But you know, stereotypes are what makes episode episode :roll_eyes:

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I’m am happy they have Transgender body types. What sucks? Most likely gonna get it in 2028. :woman_shrugging:t5:

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I understand what you are saying, and I agree. Episode, in the end, is a company that profits from the content they produce and, you’re right, it is not their job to put out stories that include diverse characters. But you see, the whole problem with this ordeal is that Episode made a PROMISE to us, as a community to create stories that involved a more diverse cast and they’ve failed to do so. And since they have done virtually nothing, about this feels very belittling (in my opinion) and feels like they are just sweeping us under the rug.

(I do not know much about business, so please correct me if I am wrong) You see, Episode makes money from the stories that get the most reads, so if story tropes like “Pregnant by ____” get the most reads, then they will produce stories like those. The thing is, we are not asking Episode to stop producing stories like that, we are asking Episode to include a more diverse cast in the stories they produce, to represent the under-represented of the Episode Community (like they said they would). If they want to create a story like “The K*ss List”, maybe they could have made the best friends more diverse. For instance, the GBF option, can be plainly offensive to Homosexuals as the character’s personality seems to revolve around their sexual identity and is a poor excuse for “diversity and inclusion.”

But, in the end, EVERYONE wants to be represented ACCURATELY (not offensively) in the media. And, you are right, it is not up to Episode to create stories with a more diverse cast. But, it IS up to Episode to keep the promises they make and that, at its core is what I think everyone is so angry about. That Episode made a promise to represent the under-represented and has taken no steps of action to keeping it.

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:clap:t5::clap:t5::fist:t5:

But the thing is, diversity is one of the things that episode uses to promote their stories and platform. A lot of businesses do this

and like you said episode is a business. Therefor they want to appeal to more of their consumers this is the reason for this post

This is why in order to appeal to all of their many market segments, they must represent as well as make it possible for us to represent more groups of people. And they aren’t doing a good job at it and not keeping up with their promises which is very bad for their platform. For example many people like me, don’t normally read featured stories that have gem choices simply because we realize that there is no diversity in personalities, story plot or the characters themselves.

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I agree on this point! As a fellow Asian, I would say I don’t have monolid or hooded eyes, but I have, I would say, pretty wide eyes. However, I do have a pale complexion. :joy:

This is true! I use the gold tones a lot for this!

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