Hello everyone!
I may make someone angry, but who knows. Sorry for that, not my intention.
So, national emblems on things in a sci-if game. I hate this idea. It's bad and sad for other countries just to see USA flags and symbols everywhere. It really pisses me off when I see another USA symbol on a thing that isn't directly connected to USA. I know that I'm not the only one.
On T.H.M.P.R. concept art (the one in forum background) we can clearly see a US star. Bad, nationalizing is bad. It looks like every dev is trying to glorify USA. Don't let it make its way into the game as unremovable part of something. No national symbol should be forcefully applied to any item in-game. It's very good when we have it as an option, but it should never be forcefully applied to our items. Ofc same goes for other symbols, not just USA's. Things like Earth or corporations flags are ok, but never make any symbol that may piss of someone.
First all, I think Vedemin is blowing this completely out of proportion, and is in fact being a little silly here. First off, this is CONCEPT ART, art which by definition is being used to illustrate a CONCEPT. The concept with all the stickers on the T.H.M.P.R. is to show the high degree of commercialization the society at large has. It is to imply that corporate sponsors provide some fun for Reapers and or their teams. It also shows that some Reapers may decorate their mechs and show some loyalty to their nation of origin.
Let us remember that EMBER is taking place in the world of CRIXIA and that CRIXIA has numerous nations all separate and apart from earth. In all likelyhood, that "American Star" which Vedemin seems so traumatized by will in no way make it to final art, neither will the Cannon logo as that is also an Earth Corporation. These symbols were simply used because they were easily recognized an well known for what they represent. One a well funded corporation known to sponsor competitive endeavors (such as Nascar teams) and the other a power nation with interest in acquiring a share of territory and resources found in any newly discovered and workable location. By the Ember even gets close to launching, I'm sure there will be a great deal of art covering the Nations/Factions and various Corporations and entities which will be used to replace these currently well known logos. However, if we were to see such stickers NOW, they would be meaningless to use, and the notion of corporate or military sponsorship of Reapers would never come across because we'd have no context for fictionalized labels.
Kern was simply making use of well known labels to make a point, not to say that those specific labels will have any place within the game once it's ready, but to show us the CONCEPT that Reapers may have missions or tasks to perform on behalf of their sponsors if they want to keep those wonderful toys.
Yes, there will no doubt be some degree of nationalism displayed in the game, but that nationalism will be tied to the fictional nations within the Context of Crixia/Ember Lore, and will not be at all representative of any actual political and national body that exists here on Earth. Everyone calm down, and take a moment to THINK before wailing and panicking about being offended by something that was never going to happen in the first place.