In Genshin Impact you now get new skins for four of the female characters. You can choose whether you prefer to play with the original skin or the new one. However, it’s different in China; here, the originals have to go – because they are too naked.
Which characters are affected? The four female characters are Jean, Amber, Rosaria, and Mona. Apart from Amber, these characters are among the more popular in Genshin Impact, which is why the changes are causing quite a stir in the community.
The changes for Jean and Amber are already being released in China today, with Patch 2.4, while the new outfits for Rosaria and Mona will have to wait until Patch 2.5.
It is still unclear whether more characters will experience such changes; so far, only these four have been announced and affected.
What do the new skins look like? The outfits of the characters have only been slightly adjusted, yet many fans in the community see more in it than just a minor change of clothes.
Primarily, the changes aim to show less skin than before. This especially affects the characters’ decolletés, which have now been closed higher. Other changes are rather minimal.
Why were the skins changed? There is no official statement from the developer on this. Since the changes are optional for the rest of the world and mandatory only in China, it is assumed that the outfits were considered too revealing for Chinese players.
Additionally, Chinese players receive compensation for the fact that their favorite characters now look different. However, there are no such rewards for players in the rest of the world; they only receive the new optional outfits.
Commotion in the community – Desexualization or censorship?
How do fans react? The initial reactions of the community to these new outfits couldn’t be more varied, yet they lead to much discussion within the fanbase. These discussions go far beyond opinions like “I think it’s good” or “I don’t think it’s good”.
A major point raised in the community is the issue of censorship by China. While many fans are glad that the four female characters are no longer so strongly sexualized, others believe that the game is thus experiencing censorship.
There is also criticism that these changes only affect female characters and that there are simply no new skins for the male characters in the game. Overall, most fans feel somewhat slighted at some point.
The viewpoints
To give you a rough overview of the discussion in the community, we would like to let each of the opinions have their say:
- Kazuha_no_neko says (via Twitter): “Why are there only skins for women? The developers only give out new outfits for female characters and call it fan service. Where are the skins for men? Where are Xiangqui, Diluc, Chongyun, Venti, or Kazuha?!”
- Commomula writes (via Twitter): “I understand that people want skins for the male characters too. But these new outfits are not just skins. They are there to comply with the new regulations from China so that the game can continue to be marketed successfully there. That’s the only reason these changes had to be made, and only Chinese players are getting compensation. […] This is censorship, and censorship is always bad.”
- oatslices says (via Twitter): “Maybe an unusual opinion, but I like the new outfits of the characters and I am glad that they are much less sexualized.”
- Finally, there are also a handful of people who simply find the changes visually appealing (via hoyolab.com): “They all look like they fit better to their character. I think that’s great, thanks to the developers for that.”
What do you think? Are these changes interesting to you at all, or are you simply happy about the alternative skin as a gift? Which standpoint of the community can you most closely take, and what do you say to the accusation of censorship? Feel free to write to us in the comments here at MeinMMO.
Genshin Impact is also among the 7 best anime MMORPGs in 2022.
