Genshin Impact controversy ramps up as the community wants to boycott the game; citing pedophilia, racism, and other reasons

Genshin Impact has found itself in controversy recently as players have been pushing back against things in the game they find questionable or even offensive.

Players on Twitter have mounted an offensive against the game under the hashtag #BoycottGenshin and the hashtag #DoBettermiHoYo, inciting players to stop playing the game until miHoYo responds or removes the contentious content from the game.

MiHoYo is yet to respond to these allegations, but here's a rundown on all the topics.

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Controversies mounting against Genshin Impact

There are a wide variety of topics that are being brought up against Genshin Impact in this new wave of controversy sweeping the community.

Players have been questioning miHoYo's choices on several characters and NPCs, along with problems with the security of the game and the gacha rates.

There are Twitter threads of players who are actively debating these topics and trying to make the point that these issues are not serious.

Both these sides have been actively posting on Twitter and debating many points regarding this controversy.

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Pedophilia

Players have been pointing to the NPC named Ulfr as an example of this in Genshin Impact. This Mondstadt NPC claimed that he is in love with Flora, another NPC from Mondstadt. The issue arose when players realized that Flora was a child.

It appears that Flora may have been an adult NPC in the beta but was changed to be a child in the full release.

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Racism

Players have raised questions about the nature of the in-game enemies known as Hilichurls. Hilichurls are common enemies found everywhere in Genshin Impact, and they are often the source of a lot of trouble and commissions in the game.

Players will be accustomed to defeating these enemies if they have been playing the game for a long time, which is why other players have been disturbed by this new information. It appears that Hilichurls may have taken some inspiration from Indigenous tribes, and this isn't sitting well with some parts of the Genshin Impact community.

The possible representation of an Indigenous tribe as enemies is something that is seen as offensive by some of the playerbase and has been turning a lot of players against Genshin Impact.

This issue has been hotly debated amongst those involved in the controversy.

Those who have been defending the enemies have pointed out that Hilichurls take inspiration from a very common enemy type in video games and that the lore of Genshin Impact points to them having more depth than it might seem.

Players will have to wait and see if the lore of Genshin Impact develops these contentious enemies more.

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This is not the only allegation of racism against Genshin Impact, however. There are also players who take issue with the description of Kaeya and Xinyan in-game and view it as potentially racist.

Due to a lack of characters who may be seen as diverse, players have also pointed to Xinyan and Kaeya.

Some players have found the depiction of Xinyan in Genshin Impact to be lacking in depth. Players are raising the same issues with Kaeya, as some dialogue refers to him as "exotic."

Many players have pointed out that there is the possibility that the negative dialogue has been taken out of context and may even be mistranslated.

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It remains to be seen whether miHoYo will respond to these allegations. It appears that in the user license, MiHoyo has stated that it cannot guarantee that content will not be offensive to some users. This may result in a lack of response as all players will have already agreed to these terms.

Some players have been utilizing an email template to email miHoYo's support service about their grievances.

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Whether this controversy results in changes to Genshin Impact or not, players have definitely been given a lot to think about due to this active movement on Twitter. While not all players may agree with the points raised, players will look to miHoYo for a response.