“I gotta pay to be black?”
Saw something surprising in Carnival of Gamers #24 this week.
On the official forum for a new Acclaim videogame, a user asks a reasonable question: Why does the game come with a white character skin, while you have to pay to unlock the other options, like… black? The Acclaim forum rep tries to respond to the complaint, and whiffs, badly. Wow.
Reading the news, I occasionally wish that people of other races would give white people a little more credit for sensitivity on race issues. When stuff like this bubbles up, though, I can understand why they don’t. Andrea Rubenstein explains what’s wrong with the situation.
Aside from the politics of it all, this is just terrible customer relations. A proper response would have been something like “Sorry, this is a limitation of the game code while we’re in beta. We’re continually reviewing the customization features, and your feedback is very helpful. Thanks!” Even if the complaint was angry. Especially if it was angry!
I doubt “Nothing in life is free” is official Acclaim position. You gotta lay this one at the feet of the forum moderator (presumably, an unpaid volunteer.) Ah, poor overmatched, crypto-racist forum mod guy. Don’t feel bad for him, though; his moderation on that thread was sanctimonious enough for Little Nephew in the Burger King Chat Zone.
