Alright, I’ve been looking through this blog for a dozen pages and while you have good intentions with what you’re doing, even addressing some major whitewashing like with Disney and their brand of dolls and “Mass Effect 3” screwing up with character customization, you don’t seem to really do a lot of research into some of your follower’s submissions or even really put them into consideration of them actually being acts of whitewashing.

What put me over the line was one of your follower’s complaining about concept art for the upcoming game “Half-Life 3” and how VALVe are whitewashing the character of Alyx Vance using the piece of concept art below as evidence of it.

First, you guys really need to take into major consideration that this is concept art, meaning that it is not a final product by any means. Second, if you look closely at the concept art, they’re mainly focusing on her clothing and not the character herself. Second, if you or your follower, who had concerns over this concept art, should have done more research by looking at the rest of the concept art.

Which is clearly not whitewashed in the least.

Again, this is concept art and not a final product. Seriously, just wait until an official trailer or preview to see if Alyx Vance is whitewashed, then you can start complaining.

Really, do you HONESTLY expect them to whitewash her in the sequel? Really? After three games? They have absolutely zero reason to do so. They’re not held by the collar of any publisher, they refuse to sell out on the stock market, and they’re known for being very open to people of all genders and races.

Project Lil is our codename for an internal push to make our comments more accessible to the whole Valve community. It was pointed out to us in mail from a fan that in some of our previous commentary, the designers referred unfailingly to the gamer as a ‘he.’ Although in natural speech, most of us normally tend to say “they” and “their” rather than “he” and “his,” some stuffy overactive minion of the grammar police went through and revised all those usages to make them conform to an oppressive gender-biased rule. However, research shows that “they” and “their” is a perfectly acceptable and even older form, and we are happy to fall back on it and let people talk the way they normally talk, and screw the so-called rules that alienate our fans. Thanks, Lil

Again, it’s concept art, very rough concept art, so stop jumping to huge conclusions.

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