Over the weekend, a Champions Online player tipped us off to a conversation on the game’s official forums in which players are chronicling their multi-year efforts to convince Cryptic to add more diverse, ethnic, inclusive, and POC-friendly hairstyles. Apparently, having been instructed to post these requests in the game’s suggestion thread, players have submitted 127 images specifically about POC hair, going all the way back to 2016, but even Wakanda-inspired additions to the game since arrived without the obvious hairstyles, prompting these players to wonder whether they were being ignored.
Longtime MMO fans will know that Champions Online has a pretty small population and has been in what we’d consider maintenance mode for years, so we weren’t expecting much of a response here; the game barely gets new content as it is beyond occasional events and the aforementioned cash-shop additions, and even the recent downtime didn’t net Champs fans any compensation.
But we decided to ask Cryptic about it anyway, and to our surprise, Cryptic Executive Producer Brett Norton kindly provided to us this statement about the state of the game and its customization plans.
“Thank you for reaching out. Champions Online in 2023 is still receiving updates, including new costume pieces, missions, and story arcs. Our suggestion thread for new costume pieces on our official forums is extremely active, and so not every suggestion gets made into a costume. However, offering players more inclusive options to make characters that feel more like their authentic selves is an area where we can do better. The feedback has been directed to the developers that work on new costume items, and we’ll start exploring more inclusive customization options, including hair styles, that are more representative of our diverse community.”
So there you go – they’re aware, and they’re working on it.
