Feedback:User/Talduras/Solving the Armor Aesthetics Divide
Solving the Armor Aesthetics Divide | |
|---|---|
| User | Talduras |
| Categories | World Mechanics |
This suggestion is meant to solve a problem that has arisen recently in some forums that has implications for Guild Wars 2. About a month ago, some of the armors available for PvP were released by Guild Wars Insider and other GW2 fansites. This sparked a massive divide in the Guild Wars 2 community over some of the female character armor options. Part of the GW2 community likes the idea of having the option for scantily-clad armor on females, while other portions of the community oppose the idea. Both groups are even sub-divided further than that, the former involving those that would and wouldn’t use the armors in question, but support having the option. The other group has some that simply don't want it in their game and others that specifically feel it distracts severely from the game immersion—even to a degree that it seems to undermine much of the design aesthetics for Tyria set forth by NPC designs. But appeasing one crowd denies the other crowd of what they want. If said armor were removed, one crowd is appeased at the expense of the other, so there's no way to please everyone… at least that is what standard thinking tells us.
So, considering there is an almost equal portion of gamers that want the clothing option and others that don't even want it in the game (or don't want it in certain forms), I propose a system that should appease all players involved.
Scenario: How Would This Filter Affect Players?[edit]
First, let's set up some scenario of how different players might approach this. Say that there are four players. Player A is the type of gamer that loves having all of the options available, and has a preference for more revealing armor in particular. Player B prefers the more modest armors, but is rather disturbed that he/she is forced to be subjected to seeing other players' skimpy outfits. Player C is somewhere in between these two: he/she doesn't mind that skimpy outfits exist in-game and is okay with them for town clothes, but finds it extremely distracting and immersion breaking when certain designs are allowed in combat for normal armor (ergo, Player C feels that "bikini armor" or similar outfits don't make sense for combat clothing). Player D is a lot more finicky: he/she isn't so much concerned about the amount of revealing or not of clothing, but finds certain armors to be absolutely ATTROCIOUS and immersion breaking in a more arbitrary way, such that he/she finds "bikini armor" to be ludicrous yet is perfectly okay with "barbarian loin-cloths." Also, he/she is insanely annoyed by “mailbox dancers” (people dancing next to a prominent location in only their underwear in-game).
So, here's the system that would make everyone happy: an in-game, player-enabled filter option, which is off by default. This filter would be a preset that reskins certain armor types based on what options the player enabled, and it would ONLY affect the visuals of the user that enables it.
So with a filter option available, and off by default, here's how it would apply to each player in the scenario:
• Player A doesn't mind the default option, so he/she doesn't even touch the option and everything looks as intended for this player without a bump on the road.
• Player B enables the filter and all of the clothes that don't pass the filter are swapped with a pre-selected alternative that should be suitable while not affecting anyone else’s choices.
• Player C would select an option that applies the filter to combat armors, but not town clothes, effectively applying what he/she sees as reasonable.
• Player D might not be satisfied with simple check-box options, so, he/she would go into a search box or drop-down list, find the armor that drives him/her crazy, and add it to the filter (yes, even “no pants” or “no shirt” could be replaced with something basic).
This sort of system is something I would love to see implemented in games, since it allows everyone to twist one of the more divisive game aesthetics to something they find more reasonable. This is one aspect of MMO choice I don't see at all, and I feel that the outcry for it is often far too overlooked. Considering this involves simply swapping armor models and not redesigning armor completely, it's also a simple solution that shouldn't require too much development time to implement.
Things to Consider About the Filter[edit]
Here are a few things that might have to be accounted for, should this filter system be implemented.
• If the customizable filter mentioned in the Player D example is used, it should be designed to EXCLUDE replacing clothes with a clothing model from the online store. In other words, a player can change an online store clothing model to something else, but that player CANNOT change it TO one of the store clothing models. It would undermine the online store a bit if this limitation weren’t implemented.
• Also for the Player D example, the filter should probably not allow one armor to be used as a replacement more than once. For example, say you replace a t-shirt with a pirate shirt. The pirate shirt would not be allowed as a replacement for any other shirt (people wearing the actual pirate shirts would still be shown as-is, assuming there is no filter rule for it).
• Armor replacement models should be limited to their tier of armor, of course. Light armor is replaced with light armor, medium with medium, and heavy with heavy.
• An option should exist when the filter is enabled that allows you to see the true clothing model of the character you are inspecting. A simple warning could tell the user that the initial model shown is actually a filter replacement, and the user could see the real model just in case they feel it suits their character (considering Norn are designed with body tattoos in mind, there would easily be cases like this).
• Given the example above, consideration should be taken on whether or not the filter should apply to the user’s own character. There could probably be a sub-option to toggle the filter on or off for their own character, if needs be. This, of course, still only affects his/her client’s own visuals.
• Whether or not to implement this filter on NPC armors when it would apply. Clearly NPCs are built around the idea of an aesthetic for their given culture, location, or profession, yet there has always been factors of armor design that have irked much of the gaming community in general (and if Tvtropes.org’s Chainmail Bikini trope is any indication, games are far more notorious for this).
Also, it’s worth noting that this system could be expanded to become part of an in-game machinima tool, since it allows the “camera-person” to customize the clothes of his/her cast (like having the wardrobe department at his/her beck and call… almost). Again, this would STILL not allow clothes from the online store, unless said clothes were purchased by that person.
Conclusion[edit]
So that’s the suggestion. As long as the filter affects only the graphics of the user’s client, this option should satisfy both groups of gamers. After all, we all come to play and enjoy the community together, we all come from different backgrounds of life, and we all have different things we find enjoyable or detracting. An extra option to customize aesthetics on a personal level would be a welcome addition, especially when it alleviates the complications of such a divisive trope without stepping on any players’ toes.
