I partially agree with this. The one point of departure for me is that I don't think skintones should ever be completely locked down. Just like I will never support locked in nakeds or descriptions.
Yes, Sindome is a PvP game but it is, in my mind, a RP game first and foremost. Sure, we have to sacrifice some freedom for the sake of PvP but there's only so much I think can be locked down before you end up playing one of those RP muds where mechanics are largely ignored because they get in the way of RPing.
Yes, a balance must be struck but I feel that things like locking skintones are already pushing the game further into a combat sim and further from a RP game. And while I am aware that unlocking skintones will leave some room for occasional low level 'abuse', I'd take that if it gave me greater control over my character and how they are expressed in the game.
If it's decided that we can't trust players to try and police themselves and the community to try and police each other and the occasional low level 'abuse' that may come from having unlocked skintones, I'd suggest the following in addition to crashdown's original suggestion.
Add '@skintone lighten' and '@skintone darken' to the game You can use one or the other every week or month and it results in your skintone shifting one level up or down. If desired, set boundaries on how far above or below your initial skintone you can shift.
Add devices into the game where you can pay to have your 'initial' skintone changed. Maybe the greater the shift the greater the cost.This is like a tanning bed but high-tech enough to go both ways, be permanent and make any skintone possible.
Allow someone with enough high enough disguise and relevant stats to change their skintone. I would be fine with any skintone being an option once enough skill is reached but one could also make greater shifts require greater skill/stat levels. Probably do this with the 'appear' command. This lasts until they 'stop appearing' and you could add in conditions where it goes away like showers or a period of time.
Again, I prefer to just do away with the lock entirely but if it has to stay, I'd love to see crashdown's idea and more implemented.