DANCE! Online being racist? Nah, just using workaround

As explained exclaimed by an Acclaim forum moderator, DANCE! Online's character customization process, which currently charges game points for character skins other than the default "white" ones, certainly sounds racist: "Black is an EXTRA feature. It makes your person look unique, so that is an EXTRA feature. Therefore, you having [sic] to PAY for it." Not quite the articulate explanation Acclaim needs to avoid an ugly situation.

Here's what we've gathered: Just launched in open beta (like, 3 days ago), Dance is operating without a fully-realized character creation feature. While it might have been an oversight to launch the beta with only white avatars, the developers are working to offer a diverse range of character looks, distinguished by categories like hairstyle and faces. One of the first, described by an Acclaim site administrator as "the African-American heads," was dropped into the game's store (pictured above) as if it were just another outfit. The new skins are purchasable for one game point (you start with 2,000 points), which can be earned through gameplay -- and not by credit card. As we understand it, placing new skins in the store is a workaround; the simplest way for the dev team to get players the content during beta. Despite Josh the moderator declaring that changing your character's white face "makes you STAND OUT," it doesn't seem that Acclaim intends to make the racist assumption that "white" is the normal way to look.

Let's wait until after the final version of Dance is released to raise our RED FLAGS.

[Via Broken Toys]