Avatar representation in Maplestory

MapleStory is a massively multi-player online role-playing game published by Nexon - it works on a "free-to-play" model which means, Nexon makes its money from people who buy decorative virtual goods for their online characters. This concept of avatars, particularly in MapleStory is pretty interesting in itself in relation to Hall's ideas of online representation and anonymity.

Character creation in MapleStory has ideologies on two fronts, the first is in a player's choice to select how they are represented online - they can chose female or male gendered characters, skin colors, hair types, and hair colors. See 1 and 2.

In context to the MapleWorld at large, particularly with skin color, I would argue that th

ere is definitely a hegemonic preference for lighter skin, and a very real difference in the way female characters are treated in comparison to male characters. Racist sentiments, either because of anonymity or the general young-age of MapleStory players (at the last rating change the game is intended for a 10+ audience) are a large part of this community.

They exist among the players and within the game's content itself. NPCs, non-player characters that give players quests and services within the game are largely light skinned - I can not think of very many dark skinned NPCs, and the ones I do think of have roles and titles that are more "savage-like" names such as "Blackbull" a tribal chief (right) and "Pio" a carpenter (left).