Minecraft Could Be Sitting on a Cosmetic Goldmine with a ‘Skin’ Update

Minecraft, as its name implies, is as much about crafting and creativity as it is about exploring the world’s depths. As much as players are encouraged to expand upon their world with their own creations, Minecraft also inspires players to add their own personal flair with skins for its characters.

In recent years, Minecraft has given players many different ways to represent themselves through the skins they use, from the variety of Minecraft’s default skins to giving players the ability to upload their own creations to the game. However, there may be one feature that skins are missing that an update could provide.

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Minecraft Could Benefit From a Skin Editor

Limited Options and Lacking Convenience

Though skins have become more central to Minecraft’s customization capabilities, making custom skins isn’t very accessible to players. External apps need to be used to find and create custom Minecraft skins, which can then be uploaded onto any PC version of the game. While it is great that players have the ability to use custom skins at all, it can be a lot of work before the skin can be used in-game.

The lack of custom skin capabilities is a real shame for console players. They still have access to the game’s many default skins and the free and paid skins which can be found on the Marketplace, such as Minecraft skins based on shows and movies, but unlike PC players, there’s no official way for them to play as a skin that is fully their own.

A Minecraft Skin Editor Could Unite Players Across Platforms

The process of creating and importing a custom skin could be eliminated if Minecraft added an in-game skin editor. Rather than finding and creating them on different websites, these could all be created within Minecraft itself and shared with other players. There are millions of Minecraft skins available already from other sources, so collecting these in an in-game library would be very convenient for players.

Minecraft does offer some character customization opportunities across all platforms, though these are relatively limited when compared to PC’s custom skins. Players are able to create a Minecraft skin using a series of pre-made physical features, like clothing, hairstyles, and limbs, many of which are available to all players, though more options are available to purchase from the Minecraft Marketplace. While this does help players customize their character, it is much more limited than the custom skins possible on the PC version.

With the ability to make skins in-game, players could easily preview their creations on their character model, eliminating some of the guesswork when just looking at a texture sheet. An in-game skin editor could even let players design their character directly onto the model, making it much easier to design. It’s likely that this feature would be designed around controllers to accommodate console players, but could also make use of mouse controls for more precision. With a Switch 2 Edition upgrade, Nintendo fans might even be able to use the Joy-Con 2’s mouse functionality to make creating on consoles that much simpler.

An in-game skin editor could also let players go beyond the confines of standard character skins. Most Minecraft skins let players texture the base model, as well as giving them an outer layer, adding depth for hair or clothing. However, some of the premium skins in the official skin pack DLCs remove some limits to allow for more accurate portrayals of the character. This can be seen in Minecraft’s Street Fighter skin pack, which gives details like Guile’s hair the necessary room that the standard skins cannot provide. If Minecraft releases an update for creating skins, players may also be given more space to create like this.

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Why Skins Are So Important to Minecraft

Skins have become a major part of Minecraft’s identity, so much so that Steve’s alternate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate costumes offer past default character skins beyond just Steve and Alex. Giving the player the ability to not only build the world around them, but also the character they play goes a long way in enriching the play experience.

As a sandbox game, Minecraft players are encouraged to play in a way that suits them. Some may value building large structures or 1:1 replicas of real-world locations, whereas others prefer to focus on survival mechanics and doing only what is necessary to get by. Having the ability to customize the player’s skin is an important factor in Minecraft’s role-playing opportunities, so giving players more control over their character’s appearance could benefit this massively.

As well as creating a character that they can better relate to or reflects them personally, custom skins can also allow players to wear the costumes of their favorite characters. The skin pack DLC costumes can open these opportunities to an extent, but this is still restricted by the characters and properties chosen for these packs. PC players are able to create the skin of any character they choose, regardless of official partnership, giving them the ability to role-play as characters like Red Dead Redemption’s John Marston in Minecraft. With a skin editor tool, all players would have the chance to assume the role of any character from any IP.

With a tool like this, players would also be able to change their skin to fit particular seasons or times of year. Instead of sticking with the same skins all year round, these could be modified to fit certain holidays, such as editing their Minecraft character to be Halloween-themed, ready for that particular time of year.

The character customization features in Minecraft have become slightly more accessible, but there is still room for improvement. Adding a skin editor within the game itself would be the perfect solution, giving players on all consoles the same creation and editing abilities while being much more convenient. By improving Minecraft’s character customization and avoiding the need for third-party apps, the community could be brought together more to share and use personalized skins.