Would age also be a superficial chracteristic. Let's say that in an mmo everybody when they create a character they start at the same age. Then through out everybody would look different because of their appearance made when they first created the character. and the NPCs that knew that chracter could talk to you in a sense"Well i remember when you first came to me in your young age..." and it would effect the game little by little and birthdays etc. I do agree with you sanch.

Quote:

Original post by KuneTear Would age also be a superficial chracteristic. Let's say that in an mmo everybody when they create a character they start at the same age. Then through out everybody would look different because of their appearance made when they first created the character. and the NPCs that knew that chracter could talk to you in a sense"Well i remember when you first came to me in your young age..." and it would effect the game little by little and birthdays etc. I do agree with you sanch.

The only problem I see with this is that you'd have to incorporate some kind of permadeath... As I know from previous threads the community has mixed feelings about the issue. So lets say we don't implement permadeath... after a while there'd be a HUGE population of old people.

It's a cool idea if you have permadeath.

Referring to actually acquiring these changes through battle... I don't know. I mean it's cool to be able to lose fingers and stuff, but I do think it should be a personal choice. Maybe different epic monsters could gather different battle points. So given this scenario:

Epic monsters:
-Nessy
-Gularch the Devourer
-Kykykykykyky the elf
-Ogogogogogog the orc

When you kill Nessy you get Nessy Battle points and different upgrades would be available at the Nessy-changes-shop. Since Nessy has big pointy teeth made for chopping the odds of you losing a finger are bigger. So the lost-finger-upgrade would be available at his shop.

I suppose if there are too many epic bosses these points would be tough to keep track of since the list could, potentially, be huge.

Quote:

Original post by sanch3x Maybe different epic monsters could gather different battle points. So given this scenario: Epic monsters: -Nessy -Gularch the Devourer -Kykykykykyky the elf -Ogogogogogog the orc When you kill Nessy you get Nessy Battle points and different upgrades would be available at the Nessy-changes-shop. Since Nessy has big pointy teeth made for chopping the odds of you losing a finger are bigger. So the lost-finger-upgrade would be available at his shop. I suppose if there are too many epic bosses these points would be tough to keep track of since the list could, potentially, be huge.

That sort of system is available in WoW, but with items (in otherwords, it's entirely possible to do).

Also, I don't like level caps because once you hit the capped level, the gameplay experience is completely changed - in my opinion, for the worse. No more levels or noticable progress; instead, you run MC fifteen hundred times with no real gain.



Anyway, I love this idea. I liked Tibia (and I like Fleurin) largely because the games allow me to change how my character looks throughout the game. Forget everything else in the game, if I can change my character's hair color, I'm sold. Adding the ability to add scars, tattoos, or other markings or changes would be freaking incredible.

As far as the wimps go (those who don't want to get hit in the face) I have an idea. Let's say you're doing battle and you acquire X number of scars on various parts of your body. Well, if it was a relatively unimportant battle, and you don't really care to remember it, just get yourself down to the local doctor/magic healer type person, and have them healed up and removed. Thus, you only keep that one big gash across your face that you got while slaying the evil dragon Mazboolah the Fiery!

I like the ideas of tattoos and the like and yes, scarification is an actual process that people CHOOSE to get done, look it up. Tattoos and whatnot could allow gangs/groups to mark their membership in such a way that one member meeting another could demand to see their "mark". Of course, these could be faked, but one would need to know what kind of tattoo that particular group uses.

Anyway, just some random nonsense...

Vopisk

Odd idea:

During battles or some actions, you get various levels and types of 'scar points' which can be traded in to customize your character.

gash
impale
broken
burnt
disfigure
Hairy

So if you are attacked by a dragons fire breath attack, in addition to the HP damage, you get so many 'burnt' points which are tallied up (don't have to immediatly edit character appearence if doing so would slow the game)
Get hit by a minotaurs axe? you get 'gash' points. Level up several times without bathing? Get 'hairy' points. Cursed by poison gets disfigure points.

Then, when you go to town, you can go to the healer or barber and cash in your points to edit your appearence. 10 gash points can give you a cut across the cheek. 20 burnt points singes the hair off the side of your head. 25 burnt points turns a streak of hair on your head white, kind of like a skunk stripe.

Or add 100 gash points and your whole head gets cut off. You can impress your friends by being the only headless adventurer on the block! You can't wear a helmet anymore... but that's a small sacrifice for that knowlege that you're the coolest guy under 5' tall.

logical conclusion for the other damage types:

Impale= broken off spear runs through your chest and out your back!
disfigure= green skin ala Wicked Witch of the West
burnt= scorched flesh so you are constantly wrapped up mummy-style.
hairy= you look like 'Captain Caveman' where nobody can see your actual skin or armor under your hair. but you can change hair color


[Sorry, just can't resist... so many ways to get silly]

Quote:

Original post by The Shadow Nose Odd idea: During battles or some actions, you get various levels and types of 'scar points' which can be traded in to customize your character. gash impale broken burnt disfigure Hairy So if you are attacked by a dragons fire breath attack, in addition to the HP damage, you get so many 'burnt' points which are tallied up (don't have to immediatly edit character appearence if doing so would slow the game) Get hit by a minotaurs axe? you get 'gash' points. Level up several times without bathing? Get 'hairy' points. Cursed by poison gets disfigure points. Then, when you go to town, you can go to the healer or barber and cash in your points to edit your appearence. 10 gash points can give you a cut across the cheek. 20 burnt points singes the hair off the side of your head. 25 burnt points turns a streak of hair on your head white, kind of like a skunk stripe. Or add 100 gash points and your whole head gets cut off. You can impress your friends by being the only headless adventurer on the block! You can't wear a helmet anymore... but that's a small sacrifice for that knowlege that you're the coolest guy under 5' tall. logical conclusion for the other damage types: Impale= broken off spear runs through your chest and out your back! disfigure= green skin ala Wicked Witch of the West burnt= scorched flesh so you are constantly wrapped up mummy-style. hairy= you look like 'Captain Caveman' where nobody can see your actual skin or armor under your hair. but you can change hair color [Sorry, just can't resist... so many ways to get silly]

I love the idea, I think it's a lot more refined than my initial one. Instead of monster points you get damage-type points

fake-edit: (wow seems really obvious now that I think about it, my idea was flatly just not thought out!)

I think that superficial bonuses are a good idea. If you needed a level cap the superficial bonuses could start to be impleimented then. This will give players who commit the time nessesary to reach the higher levels a reward. As these rewards could be on going it encourages them to keep playing even after they have completed the entier game.

These rewards do not nessesarily just have to be scars and such. They could be other visual effects (like swords that have a lense flare on them, or dented armour, etc). They don't just have to be ones that make your character look grittier or hardworn, they can also be used to make the character look shinyer (could you imagine Sir Launcealot wearing dented armour and carriying a notched sword?).

Also you could have different animations for the character. So instead of the stock animation for a particular action the player might give the character a new one as a reward.

All these rewards, because they don't impact gameplay, should be easy to impliment and it would be posiable for players to create their own (if you want to allow user content). These kinds of rewards should encourage players to keep playing your game.

If we look at psychology the desire for individuality is a strong influence in human behaviour (as is the desire to conform - these two together can create very interesting behaviours - humans aren't simple). This desire for individuality, if satisfied by the game, can be a very strong drawcard for players.

Quote:

Original post by Edtharan I think that superficial bonuses are a good idea. If you needed a level cap the superficial bonuses could start to be impleimented then. This will give players who commit the time nessesary to reach the higher levels a reward. As these rewards could be on going it encourages them to keep playing even after they have completed the entier game. These rewards do not nessesarily just have to be scars and such. They could be other visual effects (like swords that have a lense flare on them, or dented armour, etc). They don't just have to be ones that make your character look grittier or hardworn, they can also be used to make the character look shinyer (could you imagine Sir Launcealot wearing dented armour and carriying a notched sword?). Also you could have different animations for the character. So instead of the stock animation for a particular action the player might give the character a new one as a reward. All these rewards, because they don't impact gameplay, should be easy to impliment and it would be posiable for players to create their own (if you want to allow user content). These kinds of rewards should encourage players to keep playing your game. If we look at psychology the desire for individuality is a strong influence in human behaviour (as is the desire to conform - these two together can create very interesting behaviours - humans aren't simple). This desire for individuality, if satisfied by the game, can be a very strong drawcard for players.

These ideas have been mentioned directly/indirectly throughout the thread but good call actually printing out in words. Having a character limp has been mentioned (new animations) and having armour be dent has been mentioned in the original post.

I think those are also very wicked ideas. New animations in general is just awesome. I mean can you imagine your character "developping" his own fighting style? (He swings differently than others)... Just imagine!

Yeah!! what about a sword that goes "glint" when you unsheath it? Any type of sword, really, but that's the kind of glitches you have to buy one by one. If you're the kind of bragger who just wants to glint when walking through town, then you can buy it on one sword. If you're a more perverse player, you can buy it on EVERY weapon you own, and also on every patch of armor, so that you shine like a sun. Maybe it can also give you a small "blinding" effect over the enemy. It would be like the set collection in Diablo 2.

The same could apply to some other visual mods... Notches on your sword? Collect all seven, and gain a "hacksaw sword". It has less penetration power, but has a triple chance to disarm opponent, plus it looks meaner. Dents on your body armor? Well, it does lower its overall protection rate, but it also gives you a chance to automatically disarm an opponent on hit. (weapon gets stuck)
Maybe scar tissue absorbs more damage, because it doesn't bleed so much? Maybe after being burnt, you don't feel as much the heat of fire?

Anything, really.

But a purely visual mods system would be cool too.

Quote:

Original post by Fournicolas Yeah!! what about a sword that goes "glint" when you unsheath it? Any type of sword, really, but that's the kind of glitches you have to buy one by one. If you're the kind of bragger who just wants to glint when walking through town, then you can buy it on one sword. If you're a more perverse player, you can buy it on EVERY weapon you own, and also on every patch of armor, so that you shine like a sun. Maybe it can also give you a small "blinding" effect over the enemy. It would be like the set collection in Diablo 2. The same could apply to some other visual mods... Notches on your sword? Collect all seven, and gain a "hacksaw sword". It has less penetration power, but has a triple chance to disarm opponent, plus it looks meaner. Dents on your body armor? Well, it does lower its overall protection rate, but it also gives you a chance to automatically disarm an opponent on hit. (weapon gets stuck) Maybe scar tissue absorbs more damage, because it doesn't bleed so much? Maybe after being burnt, you don't feel as much the heat of fire? Anything, really. But a purely visual mods system would be cool too.

I thing about giving those visual upgrades an actual bonus is that they stretch the gap between veterans and regular players in character strength. That's what I'm trying to avoid since the whole superficial system would be, in my case, introduced in a game that is meant for both hardcore and casual players.

What I mean by this is that a casual player would eventually be able to catch up to the hardcore player in character strength BUT the hardcore player would still look a lot cooler... that way he wouldn't get bored of fighting for nothing.