But WHY does D&D have to be Eurocentric? Aren't we past this?
I think that's a far more complicated marketing question than most might realize...
As a practical matter - the initial rule set is going to have a finite number of pages, and a finite (and not terribly large) number of pieces of art on those pages. It does not seem to me to be realistic to expect the rules to properly cover European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and African tropes all in that initial offering. They will have to make some choices.
That means some choices in art. The art in a given book should, I think, be representative of the material in the book. That's just good marketing - if you have art of things the book doesn't do, you tend to confuse or disappoint the audience.
That can give you issues with diversity. Good, clever artists and art direction can help, but from a pure marketing standpoint there's only so much flexibility a given book will have. Over the long haul, I hope the game represents many cultures (and the races associated with them), but I think we need to keep our expectations for the art direction of each book to be in line with the limitations inherent in making a game book.
It can't have an opinion one way or the other, they're only being objectified in YOUR opinion.
The proof is in the pudding. They're being objectified if a goodly chunk of the viewers look at the art and think, "That woman's a sex object in this piece."
A few wise women have told me that, really, at the right time and place, it is okay to think of a woman as a target of sexual desire. I'm not so sure that a dungeon combat scene is the right time or place.
You run into trouble when all you think of is that sexual target, and not a person. It is pretty easy to depict a target of sexual desire in a static piece, but implying the person at the same time requires a good deal more artistic talent (and more talented art direction). The result being that static pieces that do try to play for the sex angle often fail to do anything more, and that's a problem.
End result - I, personally, would prefer they put a limit on the cheesecake. A little is okay, especially if they are even-handed and depict some cheesecake males as well. But let us not go overboard.
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