Racism + CC in Episodes

What do you say when literal full body overlays are used? I’m not talking about simple arm overlays (which that’s weird enough if skin tones don’t match). I’m talking the full character is an overlay.
Stories like Bubblegum, Scorned, Speak LL, Six Feet Under (there’s more, I just can’t think of the names right now) all use full body overlays. Customizing even the hair, eyes, nose makes the characters look vastly different from the characters on screen. Plus, these stories aren’t “you” stories where you play as yourself. They are generally like reading a visual book. (Often times with limited to no choices).

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Why exactly should you get to choose what the character should look like all the time? Do you get to choose this when you read a proper book or watch a movie? Sometimes the character’s appearance is vital to the plot.

CC is nice to add but absolutely not a necessity and definitely not “crucial” like you say so.

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I agree, that’s what made me sorta stop writing my story. People want CC all the time and sometimes I just want to have my character the way I imagined her as. It gets sad when readers demand CC or ask why isn’t there a CC. But ofc I try to add CC!

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I still think authors can add at least limited CC. It’s all about giving a choice to the readers. They don’t have to cc if they want to play with the author’s version of the MC but give readers a choice. For example, I don’t see many stories with a black MC or LI… Maybe for people that aren’t born with a brown skin complexion, it seems like no big deal, but it can be for people of color. It won’t hurt the author to add at least limited CC for the skin color, that way everyone can enjoy your story.

P.s. I’m not saying that if you don’t add CC you’re a racist. I just think with CC, everyone can feel included.

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Idk what you mean by this. Just because you can change the MC’s skintone it doesn’t make them a POC. There’s more to being a POC than just the colour of their skin. If the MC is canonically white and you CC her as black, does she automatically have experiences that are specific to a black woman?

As a WOC myself, adding CC doesn’t really make a story “inclusive”, having well-rounded, well-developed diverse characters in the story does, regardless of the race of the MC.

CC is not “being inclusive” is really just “being nice” cause some people just like to make the character look like themselves. It’s fine in “you” story but really not needed in a story where you aren’t playing as yourself.

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Why would authors go out of their way to add limited cc if they’re literally commissioning art pieces and creating overlays and limbs just that you can enjoy the story. If you really have a problem with the mc not looking however u want that much, then just don’t read it. CC isn’t inclusive tho, it’s just a little bonus and plus ur not playing as urself but as the MC.

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Bubblegum (and above mentioned story) is one where there is no CC and the MC is black. Amazing story, and wouldn’t be the same if there was CC. Just the same with the other stories. When you say limited skin CC and you’re talking about full body overlays, you’re not accounting for hair color, hair style, eye color, etc. Not to mention there are like 25 skin tones in Ink and 55 some odd skin tones in limelight. Just creating the overlays for one skin tone has to take hours. Given the number of readers that constantly pressure authors to update constantly, demading skin CC when their art style includes custom overlays would be ridiculous.
If it’s a You story, CC is a given, and expected. If its not, then enjoy the story how the author envisioned the main characters. You don’t get to customize hollywood actors. However, CC itself doesn’t equal diveristy, like @PoojaI said. I feel uncomfortable reading a lot of You stories, because that character really isn’t me, and unless there are choices for every possible situation, I am just as happy to read with the default character with a random name.
I do prefer to read stories with a diverse cast of characters on all fronts.

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Things like this shouldn’t even be in the story, not the beginning, middle, or end. This should be discussed outside the story itself. Maybe on the Instagram (along with the story’s release), or on the forums, but not directly inside the story itself. Of course you can do whatever you want, but yeah, as result, you see what happens.

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I also paid for a cover and art scene, but I still included CC. As I said, I don’t think you’re a racist if you don’t add CC, but I believe with CC you give more people the feeling that they’re included. I haven’t seen that many stories with a black MC or LI, so if we need to skip stories with a white MC/LI and no CC, there’s almost nothing left for us. To be honest, I think the real problem is the lack of black episode stories on the app, but that isn’t a problem that can be fixed easily. So for now, CC can be a way to include POC.

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There are stories with Black MCs, you can’t find them then you aren’t really looking that much. But they do exist. Maybe they are not very popular but they are there. And like I said before being able to change the character’s skin colour doesn’t make the character a POC. There’s more to being a POC than just the colour of your skin.

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So let’s say you have a story with absolutely no diversity. No diversity in culture, ethnic backgrounds, skin tones, sexualities, disabilities, etc. everyone is 1 race only, but the MC gets to have CC. You mentioned you’re light skin** right? The only things you’re changing is the skin color. Like Pooja said, that doesn’t really change the experiences of the MC. she’s never faced what POC or diversity face in society. Does that make a difference? Only to you the MC is colored. Not to the story, not to the diversity, so does it make a difference? It doesn’t. Sometimes no CC is a great thing for the story

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How am I supposed to look for them? By typing “black” or “POC” in the episode search bar? It’s even ridiculous that I have to search for them😕 I don’t have to search for stories with a white MC/LI?
Let me break it down to you:

The real problem: Not enough black authors, stories with a black MC/LI.

How can we still TRY to include them? By having CC.

For example fantasy stories, it doesn’t matter if the MC is black or white? They’re going to have the same experience? Why not add limited CC, If the skin color of the character is not essential to the story?

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If the author’s purpose is to try to include POC and diversity, wouldn’t they already do that with their own characters? I get where you’re coming from kinda, but if an authors purpose is to include that, then they would already have that diversity in their cast
Edit: if CC is important to diversity for you, it would be pointless to have CC if there’s already a lot of diversity in a story. What about stories where the time zone is different? Region area state country is all different? Logically the skin tones and the eye shapes and the nose and facial features would not just be anything

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You can go on Instagram and search for recommendations, make a thread here asking people to suggest you stories with Black MCs (I think there are already a few such threads) by Black authors. They do a Black History Month shelf every year. Also there are stories featured on regular shelves that have Black MCs and/or by Black authors.

How is a CC character including a Black MC? It’s a generic character, it’s not a Black character. Authors can include POC characters by making canon characters, not by including CC. CC is absolutely not “inclusive” it’s just “fun”

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I’m not talking about one art piece or a cover. I’m talking about authors who constantly commission stuff, have people make them custom poses and face overlays. THAT is what I’m talking about. If you truly want stories where there aren’t white Mc’s then I’ll gladly give you some but just remember that poc in stories isn’t just about the color of ur skin, it’s also about Nationality, origins and etc

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I don’t think it’s a problem when u don’t have cc.I actually read a lot of stories with no cc and I think the characters look cute and the stories always have a lot of overlays so that makes sense why they don’t allow cc.And I don’t know what racism about it?There are also stories with a black cc for example Attracted to the nerd.And I also want to write a story in the future where I have a black mc.

I don’t really care if the author provides CC or not but the fact they just make readers sit there and read their ten-paragraph rants that I don’t really care about, just came here to read the story, is a waste of passes

Yes, but sometimes author write stories that aren’t reader insert YOU, sometimes we want to write the stories that we want to write and that includes picking and keeping the race, gender, and/or sexuality of our characters

Also, CC even limited is a pain in the ass to code and when Episode updates a feature whether hair or face shape, author’s have to basically edit their stories to update their CC templates. Because if they don’t people will b*tch and moan about the CC not being up to date.

I’m not trying to hate, but if that’s how they picture their characters then so be it. Yes, there might be only white people in the story, but sometimes that’s all people know. I’m mixed myself (Black and white), and I don’t see a lot of diversity in episode stories. Sometimes authors might not include people other than white as they don’t know how to style them or how to do their facial features without thinking they’re coming across as racist e.g hair, nose, eyes so on and not knowing if their religion with effect the way they dress. Though, I do agree that they could do research or ask the forums of their race and what they do.

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