The issue of skin complexion has probably revolved around the Animal Crossing series ever since the first game. I received my first AC game (wild world) as a Christmas gift when I was 10 years old and the fact that I was allowed to change her hair, clothes, furnishings, and everything else except for her skin complexion bothered me. Sure I did not expect Princess Peach or Blaze the Cat to have brown skin, that's THEIR character, but MY character, who reflects my different tastes in furniture and clothing, should also reflect my skin tone. She has my name, why not my complexion?
Animal Crossing offers two "solutions" to this problem: tanning and wearing a Mii mask. I did not like to wear the Mii mask because in the Animal Crossing world it feels and looks out of place to me. Even selecting a skin tone for my Mii is difficult, it's like trying to find make-up that blends in perfectly but only having about 6-8 colors to choose from. Tanning is not an easy task. In Wild World and City Folk I was never able to get my character dark enough. It takes about 2-3 hours or more to get your character to be even considered "brown", and that's going by the chart I found online. Yesterday in New Leaf I had my character stand out on the island (you can only tan in the day during the summer) for about 4 hours or more and she was still pale the next day. Once you finally do get your tan it eventually fades away and your character reverts back to being pale. It's all a lot of trouble.
So why do I care about what a non-existent video game character looks like? Her complexion has nothing to do with how I progress in the game. My character has green eyes, blood-red hair, and no fingers, why does her skin bother me? Because in many parts of the world people glorify white/pale skin. They think it means you're better than the "darker ones". They think that pale skin represents higher class, beauty, and intelligence. Yes I know it's the 21st century, but you have many people, cultures, and countries who still think this way, including Americans (not all, but too many). I know it may be difficult to program many different complexions into the game, I'm not asking them to become make-up consultants and find tones that match each of us. For our Miis I think it would be nice to select complexions from a scale rather than choosing from 6 (or however many) different colors on a pallet. For Animal Crossing I would like for Harriet to offer some sort of tanning service, once you select the tone you like you can keep it and it won't fade away unless you use her service to change it again. I know that talking about skin complexions in AC has been an old-age complaint, but recently I found out that Lupita Nyong'o was chosen as People's magazine most beautiful. It gives hope.
Animal Crossing offers two "solutions" to this problem: tanning and wearing a Mii mask. I did not like to wear the Mii mask because in the Animal Crossing world it feels and looks out of place to me. Even selecting a skin tone for my Mii is difficult, it's like trying to find make-up that blends in perfectly but only having about 6-8 colors to choose from. Tanning is not an easy task. In Wild World and City Folk I was never able to get my character dark enough. It takes about 2-3 hours or more to get your character to be even considered "brown", and that's going by the chart I found online. Yesterday in New Leaf I had my character stand out on the island (you can only tan in the day during the summer) for about 4 hours or more and she was still pale the next day. Once you finally do get your tan it eventually fades away and your character reverts back to being pale. It's all a lot of trouble.
So why do I care about what a non-existent video game character looks like? Her complexion has nothing to do with how I progress in the game. My character has green eyes, blood-red hair, and no fingers, why does her skin bother me? Because in many parts of the world people glorify white/pale skin. They think it means you're better than the "darker ones". They think that pale skin represents higher class, beauty, and intelligence. Yes I know it's the 21st century, but you have many people, cultures, and countries who still think this way, including Americans (not all, but too many). I know it may be difficult to program many different complexions into the game, I'm not asking them to become make-up consultants and find tones that match each of us. For our Miis I think it would be nice to select complexions from a scale rather than choosing from 6 (or however many) different colors on a pallet. For Animal Crossing I would like for Harriet to offer some sort of tanning service, once you select the tone you like you can keep it and it won't fade away unless you use her service to change it again. I know that talking about skin complexions in AC has been an old-age complaint, but recently I found out that Lupita Nyong'o was chosen as People's magazine most beautiful. It gives hope.
