MMO Psychology and Appearance Items

[Dekaden]

I know this can be a sensitive subject for a lot of gamers, since we're very picky about what we look like. I love having a cool looking avatar, just like everyone else. How do you guys feel about appearance slots vs. non-combat outfits?

I see the appeal in appearance slots, I like the concept, but I don't like the implementation. It feels thin, fake, and cheap. Maybe its because I can be a bit proud. I like being able to visually look at a character and see a bit of player history. I like to look in awe at the neat things I don't have yet, and inquire or wonder about how I get them. This was a huge thing for me in EQ, and really drove me toward the end-game. "Wow, look at that sparkly wand! Where did you get it?" the answer was never "its an appearance item from the in-game item mall for $3" or "the appearance item vendor over there". It was always from some sort of group or raid encounter that I hadn't done yet, or even heard of. And of course the gear in question not only looked good, it WAS good. Months later, I was there myself -- running casually to the bank in PoK to get some mats, I noticed several newbie players turning their avatars to get a 2nd look as I ran by. One even followed me into the bank and asked where I got my weapon. The sense of pride I had for my character and accomplishments after going through everything I went through to get my gear was incredible.

There was a sense of pride in walking through Nexus or PoK with your hard-earned cool looking gear on. The game did a great job of distinguishing normal gear (mostly weapons in EQ's case) from the above normal, and it drove players to achieve.

Maybe its what I call my "anti-now" viewpoint on modern MMOs. "Me me me now now now". I cant stand it. Ive done it both ways. Ive made my level 20 LOTRO character look like a seasoned raid geared toon. While the process of dressing him up was fun, it ultimately ended in disappointment. It took a bit of the wind out of my sails to keep playing. The solo game was insanely easy, and didn't require you to keep your gear up *at all* to be viable, so there was little driving me to seek out and upgrade gear. I had no drive, no determination, and my subscription fizzled.

As much as I hated the gear style in WoW, they at least understood (maybe accidentally) some of the psychology of the MMO player. High level raid geared players LOOKED like they were raid geared players. I remember looking at myself as a level 40 Tauren warrior with an ugly dinner plate style wooden shield and generic sword made me want to obtain that gear even more. That old feeling from EQ came right back to me. It made me determined, willing, and driven, which in turn spawned dedication, hard work, and achievement. It helped fuel the fire to keep me wading through the never-ending kill and collection quests that were boring me to tears. There was no "shortcut to cool" as seen in LOTRO. Ultimately in the end, I got my prize. Although in WoW, the victory wasn't quite as sweet as in EQ, since everyone and I mean EVERYONE had their own shiny raid gear too. The feeling of being something special - an overachiever of sorts - was gone, and so was my subscription.

I love having a cool looking avatar for reasons other than simply looking cool. Its almost a status symbol, like wearing your military decorations on your uniform. Its something I take pride in. People see you, and they know at a glance, where you stand. Maybe I'm shallow, I don't know.

This isn't a plea to the devs to make the game hard, or to have such a long road to end-game that seeing a high level raid geared player is rare, nor is it a request to take away appearance options for casual or RP players. I don't have a good solution to the trending attack-of-sorts on this segment of MMO psychology. Can anyone else relate to what I am saying, or am I simply diseased?

[Europe]

I feel the same way about armor dye. I'd be for it, but you KNOW some guy is going to dye it pink and grief you. A modern day Fansy.

[Slyde]

Good post.

I've always been in favor of appearance slots and armor dye, but you raise some really good points.

[Skorne]

I'm with you Influx I found myself reading your post and nodding my head a lot. I'm not sure if I like appearance slots or not and I don't have a good solution either but I think low level gear can look good and be customized without looking like powerful raid gear. And if the amazing looking items are extremely rare and I never got to equip them I'd still rather that than everyone is walking around with them and they are meaningless.

[Liziana]

I like appearance slots....love to have my chars running round in a simple dress belying what my armour is really like. In LotRO I liked the look of the low level leather gear too. I've never been one for fancy, over the top looking gear. The only thing I've every been really proud of was my Bard epic in EQ, and I think that's because it took a LOT of effort, and a lot of help from friends to get it. Even my cleric epic didn't come close to making me that proud, nor my monk...but that Bard one...woah! Ever since then stuff has been so easy to get, it's not worth being proud of....so yeah I love appearance items.

[souper]

I agree with your thoughts on the matter. I say just make it so you have to have the piece of gear to put it on as a costume. No "appearance item" vendors (except for things like wedding dresses or whatever.) That way, players will be able to mix-and-match without looking like a dragon god-slayer when they are actually still grinding on penguins.

[WarpCode]

I am a pro appearance slot person. To me it doesnt take anything away from wanting to achieve end level. I want my toon to look good whether he is level 20 or 80. I still strive to achieve the end level gear as the stats on them are way more important then the appearance. I hated the way my hunter looked back when I played wow because he was such a miss match of armor and color it was like someone puked a rainbow on me.

[Dekaden]

I can understand about the color thing. I dont mind armor dyes at all, as long as they're somewhat tasteful. No one should be forced to look like a bag of skittles.

What really irritates me is the level 9 doing a "kill 10 butterflies" quest in the newbie yard wearing the Armor of the Great Dragon Slayer appearance item he got with his preorder. Or the main tank in my group is wearing a pink tutu with a pumpkin-head mask from last years Halloween, and a candy cane weapon from Christmas. I mean, to each his own, but its not something I would expect a lot of people to enjoy seeing in a high fantasy themed MMO.

The ridiculous aside, the viewpoint I'm trying to protray has sometimes been hard for the post-EQ crowd to grasp. As Liziana said, theres no challenge in getting the items that I have, so why should I be proud of them? I see the point very clearly here, and I have to say, it makes me sick to my stomach. Items are passed out like candy in todays games. To generalize, by the equivocal level 20, a character has probably gone through 4 or 5 complete gear changes, trivializing them as a symbol of achievement, leaving them as nothing more than a vehicle for stats. So if gear no longer has meaning outside of stats, then sure, why not have appearance slots! I dont blame you, Liziana. Its easy for me to say the same. I just hope Rift doesnt fall prey to this too.

Thanks for the answers guys.

[Kula]

I am anti-appearance slot. I think having outfits is fun and when I got the nightgown for my bard to wear when in DE form I was happy about it. But I like to look at someone and know what kind of gear they have, I was extremely proud when my bard was wearing all PoG armor and recall the one bard on our server who was Giant-allied and had that full set. Later, I dyed my armor, usually brown or black with more colorful BP and gloves. It didn't seem quite as important then. I also think appearance should be earned. Low level players should have to earn the right to more individual looking gear.

Liziana, I am right with you on the bard epic! Nothing gave me that feeling before or after.

[Tinker]

I'm pro appearance slot - due to being another one of those Blasted Roleplayers who often was in a guild which had a formal uniform; usually low level stuff but it looked good as "everyday" sort of gear to hit the tavern with or to attend non-combat events; but when attending guild events with a whole group of mounted people with the same armour set, it looked pretty imposing and definitely got the attention of other people, sometimes bringing really good rpers our way. I also like my assassin sometimes to not look like an assassin - what assassin goes around dressed in black, with a mask? Sort of flippin' obvious, wouldn't you say? I will admit that I had a bag devoted to different clothing changes and combinations - and that was actually modest considering some of my mates. Yes, people do this - enough people do it that it's a viable option and I honestly thought it was a stroke of genius.

Inspecting my armour does not mean I'm a decent player, at least not now when this sort of uber-stuff merely means you've got a lot of time on your hands and raid a lot. Group with me for an hour and then decide whether or not I'm worth grouping with, do NOT make that assumption because of my gear. I must say, with tongue firmly in cheek when addressing the gaming crowd, it's not the size, it's how you use it - if we're talking about psychology here, what is it one feels the need to 'compensate' for with gear that gets more and more ludicrous the higher the level? Good gods, Wow's armour is stupid - shoulderpads which would impale my temple if I shrugged or give me a concussion doesn't make any sense to me, and I actually never wanted any of the raid gear sets because giant eyes set into my shoulders or flames or whatever just looked ridiculous to me. To me, this is a game, and for me enjoyment over-rides pixelated achievement. I save achievement for the real world, where I need the dedication most. I don't want to be known as the Best Player of Whatever Class Evah, I don't want to have the very top stuff; I just want to be able to hold my own, to group with good folks, to get ourselves into really horrible scrapes and be able to laugh it off when we all die in entertaining ways. For me it's all a larf.

[Bellatrix]

I want a sparkly wand =o

Kidding. Mostly.

Anyway, I love appearance slots. It would be nice if things that make you look epic took epic adventures to get them.

[Dekaden]

I'm pro appearance slot - due to being another one of those Blasted Roleplayers who often was in a guild which had a formal uniform; usually low level stuff but it looked good as "everyday" sort of gear to hit the tavern with or to attend non-combat events; but when attending guild events with a whole group of mounted people with the same armour set, it looked pretty imposing and definitely got the attention of other people, sometimes bringing really good rpers our way. I also like my assassin sometimes to not look like an assassin - what assassin goes around dressed in black, with a mask? Sort of flippin' obvious, wouldn't you say? I will admit that I had a bag devoted to different clothing changes and combinations - and that was actually modest considering some of my mates. Yes, people do this - enough people do it that it's a viable option and I honestly thought it was a stroke of genius.

Inspecting my armour does not mean I'm a decent player, at least not now when this sort of uber-stuff merely means you've got a lot of time on your hands and raid a lot. Group with me for an hour and then decide whether or not I'm worth grouping with, do NOT make that assumption because of my gear. I must say, with tongue firmly in cheek when addressing the gaming crowd, it's not the size, it's how you use it - if we're talking about psychology here, what is it one feels the need to 'compensate' for with gear that gets more and more ludicrous the higher the level? Good gods, Wow's armour is stupid - shoulderpads which would impale my temple if I shrugged or give me a concussion doesn't make any sense to me, and I actually never wanted any of the raid gear sets because giant eyes set into my shoulders or flames or whatever just looked ridiculous to me. To me, this is a game, and for me enjoyment over-rides pixelated achievement. I save achievement for the real world, where I need the dedication most. I don't want to be known as the Best Player of Whatever Class Evah, I don't want to have the very top stuff; I just want to be able to hold my own, to group with good folks, to get ourselves into really horrible scrapes and be able to laugh it off when we all die in entertaining ways. For me it's all a larf.

As I said, Im not pro or anti appearance slots, and I dont have a solution to those who are for it or against it. Obviously no one wants to deprive any RPers of the tools they use to aid in RPing. As far as your psychology comment... you're so completely off track from the point I was trying to make, that Im just going to stop here.

I do share your distain for the WoW style armor, though. It fit well with the theme of the Warcraft IP, but just not my style.

[Gamesh]

I will have to take the side of non-appearance slots.

I feel its important that when you look at another play you get an idea of where that player stands. You should get some idea of their experience in the world.

I agree with the OP's comment that it didn't matter that I had the item or not, just seeing that it existed was a thrill in itself. Learning the story behind the item and how to obtain it yourself.

Reaching towards the middle-ground, armor dye is a nice way to give some customization. Having guild 'colors' can be a small way to build camaraderie.

[Ciovala]

Whilst I love the idea of being able to look how I want when I want, I'm not a fan of appearance slots. I just don't like the idea of people wearing heavy armour but appearing to wear a cloth tunic or something. They could just add some functionality to easily switch between different armour sets or something, then the RP crowd could switch to a different look whenever they wanted to.

That said, I hope there is some way customise how we look so that we can look unique. Dyes would be good as wel, perhaps with a few dye spots so that you might just be dying one to three different patterns on a specific piece of armour. I admit that if I have appearance slots that I'll probably wear some alternate bits, even though I say I don't like the idea of a deceiving appearance.

[Verdegris]

I am pro appearance slot. I like individuality and I think appearance slots support that. I really don't care how folks want to dress. Pumpkin heads are ok...and might make me laugh. Bikini armor...high necked gowns...all good. This is a fantasy and that means anything imaginable ...

What is interesting about appearance slots is it displays how folks want to present themselves (and what that says about their toon). It allows you to be creative or not.

Its all fun, it's all good and diversity is a win-win for all.