Transphobic abuse sent to Final Fantasy 14's Wuk Lamat voice actor "breaks my heart", says Naoki Yoshida
"These criticisms were not constructive at all."
Final Fantasy 14's Naoki Yoshida said personal abuse sent to Wuk Lamat's voice actor "breaks my heart".
Wuk Lamat was a fresh character introduced in the latest expansion, Dawntrail, but proved unpopular with some players. This turned sour when voice actor Sena Bryer received transphobic abuse for her portrayal of the character.
Yoshida has commented on the character, as well as the abuse Bryer received, in a new interview with Checkpoint Gaming, acknowledging player feedback and tweaks coming in forthcoming patches.
"[Wuk Lamat's] a very complex character, and she even has a bit of a complex about herself," said Yoshida. "Unfortunately, we didn't delve very far into the background of why she had those feelings, so it appeared as if she left a negative impression.
"We accept that feedback. I feel a little sorry that we weren't able to properly depict her. We may have been able to make her more straightforward, so we're pushing her in the forefront as this character. But again, we're going to be reflecting that learning into [content patch 7.1] and onward, we're hoping that we can show more of what makes Wuk Lamat so great, and I'm hoping that we can regain from there."
Yoshida then specifically mentioned the personal attacks against Bryer.
"One additional thing, there were comments about how we are too accepting of diversity - some people seem to be disapproving of that," he said. "I'm afraid one of our staff members received very negative comments and it almost felt like a personal attack, which breaks my heart, because she worked really hard and these criticisms were not constructive at all. It doesn't do anything except make the staff lose motivation, and in the end that could potentially damage the quality of our game and take away from what makes this game so interesting. So if there are any sort of criticisms, bring it to me, because I'm the one approving this material. I wanted to reiterate that, please refrain from personal attacks against our staff."
This isn't the first time Yoshida has been outspoken against this abuse, telling German outlet JPGames in September it was "really difficult" to discern valid criticism from people "just criticising the character in relation to values".
Speaking to Eurogamer at Gamescom, Yoshida discussed criticism of Dawntrail, particularly how some fans were disappointed the Scions took more of a backseat in the drama compared to previous expansions.
"With regards to the Scions playing a more active role only later on in the story, truth be told this is something I intentionally wanted to try out," said Yoshida. "I do understand there are people who always want the Scions to be at the centre of the story, but at the same time there are people who are also requesting something new instead. So it was a conscious effort on my part to experiment and see how the balance would play out."
Patch 7.1 of Final Fantasy 14, named Crossroads, is set for release in mid-November, bringing new story missions and - most notably - the start of the Final Fantasy 11 themed raid series, Echoes of Vana'diel.