Your skin colour versus your character's skin colour

[Seriphyn]

BE CAREFUL WITH THIS DISCUSSION K? I am not politically correct, so I won't mind, but others might.

 

With that aside, I'm curious about this particular detail. We all say we separate our characters from ourselves, but with this oft-overlooked trait (probably because how sensitive it could be), how much do we really separate our characters?

 

For example, I have brown skin IRL so I play a brown-skinned character. I feel a stronger association to the character that way...am I bleeding in? Well, if that's the case...from the RL pictures thread, a lot of light-skinned players player light-skinned characters. Quick aside; I've noticed light-skinned players who play dark-skinned characters tend to pick a somewhat unnatural or strange skin tone on their avatars, sometimes like a chocolate looking one. 

 

Even then, with characters playing Ul'dahn born (at least a lot of the NPCs are portrayed as Levantine skin tone at the very least; the recent MSQ ending had Ul'dahn NPCs who were quite olive), they still might play a light skin character, despite being from the desert.

 

I'm not saying there's anything particularly wrong at all, or that there should be a way of doing it. I've just noticed it is a peculiar detail and am wondering what people's thoughts are on it. I've included a poll for posterity's sake.

[CrimsonMars]

I'm African-American irl, but with slightly lighter skin. I believe... me and Chiyo would have the same skin complication.

[Verad]

I am also blue.

[Martiallais]

I actually do this a lot. I have Zarek Windsoul (from Ul'dah) and a Duskwight Elezen who both have brown skin (like myself). I also main'd an Elonian back in GW2. In CoH/CoV most of my characters were brown skinned or mixed.

 

Is it a bad thing? I wouldn't say so at all. Their stories make/made sense but their skin color, more often than not doesn't really factor too much into their roleplay (it was a story point that my Elonian wanted to know more about his culture and Zarek now wants to know more about Highlanders, though they're a much more diverse lot comparatively). I actually used to joke with a lot of my tabletop friends by calling it "forced diversity", which is where I bring in a darker skinned PC in a world traditionally filled with pale to light skinned people on the whole.

 

Now do I only play characters who look like me? Not at all. But the majority are because (even if few would admit it) it makes them stand out visually because on the whole alongside other characters. I also want to point out that I don't usually make much of a fuss about their skin tones because their character/personality/etc is more important (I've known a few people who do/have done this and I've found it can be sometimes offputting to others to say the least).

[Flashhelix]

i, like the fat cat, am striped

[DeletedUser]

I'm pale as a ghost but all of my characters are quite the opposite. I'm actually not a fan of lighter tones.

[Melkire]

My heart is darker than my skin, which ought to be darker than my heart.

 

I'm too white to pass for brown, and yet I'm too brown to pass for white. Filling out forms is awful. All the disadvantages and none of the advantages.

[Seriphyn]

I am also blue.

 

I'm retarded, and totally forgot about Roegadyn and Duskwight.

[Zhavi]

I idolize Ursula K LeGuin, so I've kinda always been conscious about it. And I'm a little bit obsessed with anthropology, so it's a factor dependent on character history and ancestral/regional background, for me.

 

Zhi's I tried to sorta compromise between light and dark (though on the whole I'd say she's pretty light) as she avoids the sun whenever possible, but lol she lives on the coast and is around water all day. But then again, moon kitty, so I assumed she probably burns more than tans.

 

edit - moon kitties can also be blueberry blue!

[Aduu Avagnar]

I'm white, Nako is white, but thatis because he is primarily nocturnal, even now.

 

where he a Seeker, he would be darker, as being Diurnal in a desert clime would indicate that to be a common thing.

[Arrelaine]

I am all the colors of the rainbow. 8-)

[Coatleque]

We're all pink on the inside.

[Lamia]

I'm half British, half Irish. I'm as pale as they come and become a lobster when in sunlight. -zoidburg claws- but I play a very diverse character base that has a range all over the board. I've had characters who were native american, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Arabic, Egyptian, English, British, Canadian. I mostly try and take a character and look at their environment, where they live or travel most to help determine cultural influences as well as their aesthetics. Levinth, for example is based of a Egyptian character who had a Persian/Arabic culture and have very much kept true to the design of his OC. Even though he's Ishgardian, lives in Girdania and travels to Ul'dah frequently for business.

[K'nahli]

Have yet to make a significantly, dark-skinned character but while I won't rule it out, lighter tones are definitely my general preference.

[Faye]

I'm pretty pale IRL with a yellow-ish skin tone and very faint freckles. Unlike most of my super-white-European-ancestry brethren, I actually tan very well, very dark, very fast, but I don't actually go outside, so uh. I have several characters I role-play here, sooo...

 

Faye has albinism so she's much paler than I am, no freckles, the same goes for Ael, and Beberri. Shade has a sort of greyish brown skin tone? Naturally dark, but not tanned. Her skin is actually meant to be sort of olive-toned, but there really wasn't any skin color option like that for Keepers that didn't just look sickly.

 

Unmei's skin is probably similar to mine, but more freckled and kind of unhealthy pale. C'therin's skin is a slightly darker, warm brown color, naturally dark skin that's been tanned by the sun as well. Then I have a catboy with very dark brown skin, and I have a Highlander lady with fair skin which is probably the closest to my RL skin tone, though I've yet to role-play either character.

 

Sooooo... it's pretty random. I usually base my character's skin tone on the setting of where they were born and raised, as well just whatever looks the best to me aesthetically with their other physical features.

[Val]

Like Faye, I base my character on their background/where they were raised. I don't really care about color or anything, and I'm pretty pale IRL.

 

It's never really been a concern to me. Val is tanned because he spends most of his time outdoors. Melfice was white, but darkened himself to have a more exotic look. Vallois has a naturally tanned skin and Cyrus is pretty pale.

[Aoi Fukiku]

Irish/English. I can't tan. I was mocked during basic because I was told not to wear a Road Guard vest at night since I glowed in the dark anyway ;-;

 

Bri is tan. She is the tan I wish I could be! Though after all of her history happened (fall of Ala and death of brothers/father/rebel forces) she took to the desert to be a loner for a bit; thus her tan.

[DeathGodSkeith]

Zy is a pale young lady and I am a brown skinned dood. I like to roleplay something different, keeps life interesting

[SunTzu7]

Artemis has something of a tan, which as a British person, and a Scotsman in particular, is something I can never experience.

[Aaron]

Lol im butter caramel ish irl and Aaron is pale.

[cuideag]

My two ladies are significantly darker skinned than me. For Delial it was more of an aesthetic choice - I personally find dark skin to be hella foxy - but for Jajara, being one of the last of a long line of desert dwelling nomads, having dark skin just fit.

 

Hroch and Harvard are both lighter skinned than me. I fit in that "too white to be brown, too brown to be white, not yellow enough to be yellow" category.

[FreelanceWizard]

I'm fairly dark skinned for a white American (convertible + easily tanned = darker skin), but L'yhta is significantly darker skinned than I am. She spends a lot of time outdoors and I somewhat arbitrarily decided the branch of the Vipers from which she came happened to be fairly dark skinned.

[allgivenover]

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah... let's please be careful about this one.

[Dravus]

I'm British and with a pale skin-tone at that. I don't really base my characters off of my myself and I go with what makes sense for their in-game background. In Graeham's case he grew up in La Noscea and so he boasts a notable tan.

[Delilah Scythewood]

My characters are usually fair or tanned while Im easily tannable but mostly pale since I lived up north. Slowly working on a tan since I moved to Phoenix.