Acclaim's Controversial Race Feature

Acclaim has a new MMO in the works by the title of Dance Online which contains a very interesting new bonus feature. Recently in the game's beta phase it had been discovered that to play as an African/American character you must unlock the option in the game's store. After being questioned about this on the game's message boards, a moderator responded with the following statement.

Gamer: "I GOTTA PAY TO BE BLACK?"

Moderator: "Black is an EXTRA feature. It makes your person look unique, so that is an EXTRA feature. Therefore, you having to PAY for it. (Or ask a friend to pay for it)."

Needless to say there is quite the fervor about this, especially after the recent Imus scandal. Since then Acclaim has been quick to explain itself further by offering the following statement on its board.

"As an optional character upgrade, we must put this in the item shop for players to acquire. This is the only way to offer the African-American heads. However, it should be EASILY accessible to all, so we made it just 1 POINT in the shop (which is basically for FREE). You don’t have to spend any money to get it, just play the game and earn points. Thanks!""

How do you think this issue will affect the game's development? Will this be yet another in a long line of black eyes for the gaming community as a whole?

Dance Online