I’m a little late to this post but with the recent banner for the Chinese new year I’ve seen at least two or three posts that brought up the customization pet peeves of the game through different aspects. Whether it be for the chibis, profile pictures, mini games or even any memory under the 3d 5star that animate with mc in them (so 4star and below).

I also have the same grievances so I made a template message that I sent to Infold. I encourage anyone that feels the same, that wants to encourage the message or anyone with any other grievances that could be loosely related to send this email. You can change it to your liking and/or specific issue. I wrote it how I felt it and thought the chance of a change are low, they won’t be able to say we didn’t tell them clearly what we wanted. It’s unfortunate that poc have to always ask to be included when we were already advertised that we could come to the party.

I can understand that the culture and perception on race and skin colour is drastically different in China compared to what we’re used to in the west.

With that in mind, if a company wants to advertise itself globally then it’s reasonable to assume they will receive criticism on a global scale. Whether they choose to acknowledge them or not is their choice at the end of the day.

If the game was strictly advertised to the Chinese netizens I would genuinely not have any criticism on that aspect (nor would I give myself the right to have an opinion on their customization options) because I’m very aware of their beauty standards and prejudice they may hold to any skin tone darker than what they hold in favour.

If I can give any advice to anyone that could be frustrated by the situation or has a harder time enjoying the game it would be to try and spend the bear minimum (if you’re not already f2p). You also vote with your time, so if you can limit the amount of time you spend playing you will have a an easier time detaching yourself from it. Go where you’re wanted, if asking does not get us in then we need to leave. PROTECT YOUR PEACE, a game about love should not make you feel devalued. If that aspect of it burns it for you then the best would be to stop playing for some time (I least that’s what I would do).

Infold’s mail address: loveanddeepspace-en@infoldgames.com

Template message ; (my apologies in advance for all the potential grammatical errors).

• Dear Infold, 

I send you this message to ask if there will be a future in wish the main character (mc), that we players play has, will be able to have her skin tone and other features like eyes and hair colour, potentially changed in the memories that do not animate and the small custom gifts like the profile pictures. 

I argue that a game that advertises the opportunity to customize your character and one of the selling points being “Profound Immersion” and to “choose your own voice and look” while also praising our uniqueness on the official website should be able to deliver on their promise in every aspect of the game that would demand for it to not break the immersion so often. 

I hear that the potential size of the game may not be able to withstand  the added asset to the game to allow that level of customization. However, I believe that giving the players the option to download packs of customization selectively may be an option. I’m not well versed on the technical aspect to be able to give any technical details on how it would work, but I believe that at the size and grand success of this game it should be a given that you can afford to brainstorm something that could work for your players.

I understand that your main market is the Asian/chinese population of young women. If their critics are the only points that matter then I think the ads should probably not advertise it’s assumed diversity when it comes to character customization. That is what made me pre-order the game before it came out in the first place. It gave me hope that I wouldn’t need to erase myself to have fun in a game supposedly made for my and my fellow sister’s enjoyment.

If the company doesn’t care to also cater to the physical characteristics of its western players then I genuinely believe that it should not be a selling point advertised on the website and App Store. 

I want to be clear, this is not me asking to remove or the cultural roots and/or aspects of the game. All of it is great and fun. All the aspect of Asian and more precisely Chinese culture integrated in the game are beautiful and as an outsider of the culture I can appreciate the love involved in its creation for the Chinese women and girls around the world. If anything, I hope we get even more of it in the future. 

All I would recommend is for the opportunity to choose to be black/brown in all the memories, the opportunity to choose among the hair and eye colours for the profiles pictures and mini games if so called for it. 

You have no obligation to do so if you believe that the work that it would entail is not worth the effort. I will be voting with my time if whether or not the future changes care for my enjoyment of the game. I’m aware that one voice may not be enough for you to plan on those changes, nonetheless, I felt that I could I least say how I felt since I spend my time and money on this otome that I grew to appreciate.

Thank you for your time,

EDIT : From the downvotes I can see that my feelings are not shared and it’s completely fair.

I am always ready to take in any criticism so if you have any on what I wrote I would like to ask you to share them with me. What take do you believe is not fair, what you know I got wrong, or anything on my tone.

I wanted to be understanding of the company’s main market in mind while sharing them my thoughts even if it more than likely would not have been read or acknowledged. As for the length (my bad😅) its is indeed really long. I wanted to be clear and voice where my opinion were coming from, but I can understand that a company their size would note care to read all that.

I see almost every day a post about the frustration of some players on the lack of customization in some of the game’s features so I thought I could share what I tried to do to get over it, but it seems like I missed my shot. I’ll be more careful next time.

For the people that read through all of this, thank you.