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Default Appearances

Developers: use the character creation screen to show off the characters at different stages of their careers and in different activities. Instead of having one character model on screen, have three: one in the default starter outfit, one in a mid-game or cosmetic outfit, and one in your most splendid endgame gear. They all rotate when you click and drag. Give each of them different weapons, so you can show off the warrior with an axe, hammer, and sword & shield. Then have an “animate” button that puts them into a dance. This will let you show off your character animations and demonstrate how the character looks in motion. Have a choreographed skirmish between the three: baby ranger sends his/her pet in to fight while level 30 ranger is setting a trap and endgame ranger is using a fiery attack volley.

This will give your players a better idea of what they are getting into. It shows the growth of the hero over time and gives the player something to look forward to. It will give your art team a chance to show off a bit and not force them into picking one paper doll to show off each class, although it will significantly increase the work required if you are using a different outfit for each race/sex/class combination (you already have the newbie outfit, so pick one that looks good for most at mid/end, vary it on a case-by-case basis). It also lets you show each class in simple, sexy, and badass versions so that you can appeal to multiple audiences and avoid the kind of accusations that have been flying about the MMO blogosphere this week. This is how she looks in skull-covered black plate mail and this is how she looks in midriff-baring armor.

: Zubon

I swear I have seen a version of this before, but I cannot place it. Guild Wars 2 seems to approximate it by showing off the characters in spectacular armor then switching them to newbie gear once you actually pick, which feels like a bait and switch. (In terms of that hero’s journey, the human/norn female rogue apparently becomes less modest over time.)

Default Appearance

There is nothing wrong with having stripperific outfits in game. Many people like them. Just don’t make them the default option. I logged into the GW2 beta, and of all the female norn default appearances, only the engineer has invented the “covered midriff.” We justified half-naked norn by their tendency to turn into bears, so they can’t be encased in metal … except that the men are. The human women seem to be a good mix, mostly with reasonable outfits, although we have the Asian lass in the orange bikini with some sort of metal exoskeleton floating around her. Except for the mesmer, the rest are great, classically stylish. (The charr look silly, clothed, but silly. The furred race uses more cloth than the giants?)

If people really like the stripper outfits that much, put them in the cash shop. This benefits your bottom line and your first impressions. League of Legends had people lined up to demand the chance to pay for a bunnygirl outfit for Riven. I have no idea how much money Riot made off that, but it seems like a wise business decision. Give people pants for free. Make them pay to take them off.

: Zubon

[GW2] The Late Fool’s Contest Winners!

I laughed. I cried. I drank a lot of bourbon, and eventually I painfully whittled the huge amount of entries to five winners. Believe me it was really hard. So many good ideas that I hope ArenaNet can process into actual gem store items. First, two notables… Tesh with the Bird’s Eye Balloon and Red Vagabond’s DelMonte Python. I do hope some form of these could make it in to Guild Wars 2. Tesh’s idea is a must have for many websites and postcard makers, and Red Vagabond’s idea would make the best minipet ever. They were the last two chopped, but I applaud their entries.

#5 Geikamir’s Glitter Jump – It’s going to happen. People will congregate in a city, waiting, and wishing something would entertain them. They will be soooo boooored. All of the sudden, some mad sylvari runs by them all aglow with glitter. This is a great idea for a impulse buy item, which I feel are necessary for a good microtransaction store. It livens things up, it draws attention, and it sounds fun.

#4 Reggie’s Map to the Stars – I liked Reggie’s idea because it was funny, but I really liked some of the ideas that could be drawn from it. A map that can only be traded to other players could bring a sort of Red Paperclip trading game, where the purchaser will eventually get back a “completed” map where each player kind of made their mark. Getting NPC asura to talk about it would be hilarious. Continue reading [GW2] The Late Fool’s Contest Winners!

The Most Exciting Post You Will Read All Week About Pretending To Fish

Check it out at The Ancient Gaming Noob. Bonus content:

Trion added in another skill with the patch called Survival. Survival seems primarily focused on giving you something to do with the fish you catch. It is basically cooking… seafood… along with the ability to make some camping gear. When the female survival trainer said, “Do you need help pitching a tent?” I thought perhaps I mis-heard… or that it was some sort of reference to the Diablo III demon hunter… everybody seems to be mentioning that.

: Zubon

Guild Wars 2 Interview with ArenaNet’s Chris Lye

Two years ago, Kill Ten Rats interviewed ArenaNet’s Global Brand Director, Chris Lye, who toed the curtain that would soon unveil the Guild Wars 2 marketing campaign. Since that time, Guild Wars 2 has consistently been a marketing force. For example, mmorpg.com, a major MMO news site, has pegged Guild Wars 2 as the most anticipated MMO even through other big MMO launches. I asked Chris if he would want to follow up on that interview, and he was able to bend space/time to add another hour to last Tuesday to answer. Check out his thoughts on community, the gem store, and big marketing moments below. Continue reading Guild Wars 2 Interview with ArenaNet’s Chris Lye

High Heels

Digital high heels are entirely cosmetic. They are almost recursively cosmetic.

High heels serve certain functions in meatspace. They make someone taller. They make legs look longer and change their shape. They make it harder to run and present various other mobility problems depending on the specifics of the heel. Some like these cosmetic aspects or not.

Digital high heels do none of these things. If you want to make a taller character, you make the model taller. If you want the legs to look different, you can do that directly, too. When you look at a character in high heels, your simian brain is applying intuitions and judgments that have absolutely no applicability in a virtual world. Her shoes and leg appearance and entirely independent. If you just wanted her to stand on her toes and levitate a few inches off the ground, as if she were wearing invisible heels, that would be easier than implementing the high heels. It is all cosmetic, and it is completely independant of any physics.

This applies to both pro and con. Reasons I don’t like high heels? No applicability to digital high heels at all. She could have no feet and still play soccer; the game rules do not care about appearances. She cannot feel uncomfortable, and I can give her superspeed just as easily as any other character. The reasons you think high heels are sexy? No applicability to digital high heels at all. They are little pixels that have no effect on her leg shape or gait. It is purely fetishizing footwear, and imaginary footwear at that.

I need to work out how this affects my intuitions. We are primates, poorly adapted to virtual worlds. But until everyone else engages in introspection, we must also deal with all the primates who think that the digital high heels are sexy or marginalizing. The whole point of cosmetics is to affect perceptions, and those perceptions will drive players to or from your game.

: Zubon

[GW2] Planting Server Roots

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day in Guild Wars 2 fandom. The beta client went out for players to download the 12 gb or so before this Friday. ArenaNet also put up a blog post explaining how to choose and transfer to and from servers. It’s pretty simple.

Players choose a home-world. Their account (and all characters) are linked to that home-world. Players can transfer to another home-world for 1,800 gems once every 7 days. Players can also go play on other worlds as guests (not available this beta weekend), but they lose some of the rights of citizenship (such as World v. World access). Continue reading [GW2] Planting Server Roots