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Blue Suede Shoes

Eve is a dystopian future where humanity has lost and regained technology and space flight It is a uuniverse full of war and destruction. From clone technology aided immortals in the skies and on the ground to crazed psychopaths riding in on their magic wormholes to invade space systems it is a dark, grim world.

But darkness does not have to also mean a lack of color. Eve is not a monochromatic world. From the luscious greens and yellows of Gallente Space, to the sparkling blue vistas of the Cladari to the sepia red tinge of Minmatar space, Eve is a bright hued world. 

Lasers anyone?

At the summer Summit we may have shocked the art team by announcing that we'd like some brighter colors and hats. "Hats?" "Yes. Hats." White and orange where two of the major color schemes we had been requested to request.  While that brings horrors of games such as Rift where obnoxious hats have become part of the game's reputation I believe that it can be done gracefully.

Clothing in Eve is a very excitable topic. It is more popular then people expect it to be. During the summer there was a push to get dresses without pants for Avatars. Before, all dresses where very short and pants had to be worn. CCP listened and dresses where added and bare thighs where soon seen in the Avatar full profile image.

In a game where we only see our avatar's when we choose to enter our captain's quarter one might think that avatar looks where unimportant. That would be a very incorrect statement. From complex profile images to large wardrobes, tattoos, piercings, and subtle changes to hair and makeup many of us sculpt our avatars.

Some of us press 'random' but not all of us. I'm not one to spend ISK on clothing but I have spent a lot of time playing with the default options. I've tweaked facial expressions and each of my character's has their personality expressed in their portraits.

And that is just for me. The question that often comes up is that no one can see all of the work and effort. No one else really get's anything out of it so why does it matter? It matters for the individual player. Some people are sculpting their character's for other's view but they are also expressing other things about them. They are showing off cybernetic arms. They are rocking monocles for the ultimate in smugness.

And that is why things like clothing color matters. I, for instance, love the color blue. I absolutely love the color blue. I'd probably pay ISK for blue things. They make me happy. I do not care about how other's feel. My avatar, my ships, the boots that Sugar wears are all selected to make me happy.

More color options can be added without turning Eve into a cartoon world. A light blue t-shirt that is more pastel than matte is not a ridiculous option. We can add options and choice to the game without wandering into the absurd. We can be tasteful yet varied. Colorful yet classy. And we can walk barefoot through our captain's quarter without a hookers walk.

January is around the corner and clothing will again be on the table. Corbexx has already started the assault with a Clothing focused Soundboard for Monday. Spaceships are serious business and so is fashion.

This post brought to you by Saftsuze.

Comments

  1. Yes hats! In a game where it is often only the head and shoulders of our avatar readily visible, a hat can be a very important method to convey mood or attitude. I would waste money on hats. And given that Team Fortress 2 is pretty much funded by the sale of hats, I do not think I am alone.

    Also, this seems to be a bonus week for me, as you have linked to both of my blogs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that we can tastefully implement hats so that the art team does not start to self hate.

      Gotta give credit where it is due. :)

      Delete
    2. OK, (1) Hats... who cares IMHO... meh
      (2) ...crazed psychopaths riding in on their magic wormholes to invade space systems... Heyyyy! I resemble that remark!!!

      Thanx!

      Delete
  2. Hats are already in the game. :]

    - Steve.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Frankly, when CCP Seagull was introduced, I checked her background and noticed how she was from theLARP scene (Live Action Role Playing). That made me think that if someone at CCP could understand why avatar gameplay was important, it would be her...

    Fast forward and we're still getting more useless ways to uselessly destroy ships (apparently Thera is a slaughterhouse ATM... until everyone willing to lose a ship there loses it, and then will become some big fish's private pool). Ship lighting has been improved but CQ lighting doesn't, and -correct me if I am wrong- as far as I know the HQ haven't been updated in over two years...

    And of course, whoever enters a HQ, joins the loneliest MMORPG ever played, where one can sit down and watch TV (if they're still updating the videos, that is).

    It's nice to get more customization for avatars. New clothes with each release and such are nice. But all in all, EVE's ingame avatars are the most useless feature ever added to the game. Sooner or later, keeping up that code will become too costly and CCP will remove it, and with it will kill any chances for EVE to become "the ultimate Sci Fi simulation game".

    EVE is a soul-less universe where people does not exist and does not do anything, rather spaceships do everything... "everything" being composed of 99% of destroying other ships again and over again, ad eternam and ad nauseam.

    CCP is selling tights for characters who can't show their legs. I don't know how successful is that, but it could sumamrize the EVE experience for those not willing to explode stuff: pay money, be scorned and/or ignored by CCP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, there have been times when I felt you really contributed something to the discussion... but lately, more and more you just sound like Dimsdales replacement... I personally could not care less about 'hats' for our avatars when what I want is to play the game AS my Avatar... hats just looks stoopid... to me... but if there are them as want em... Rixx and Wilhelm for instance, then who cares?

      But your, "... more useless ways to uselessly destroy ships... ...until everyone willing to lose a ship there loses it, and then will become some big fish's private pool... and EVE is a soul-less universe where people do not exist... is all just Dimsdalian BS in a PvP centric game man...

      I want Wis... I have stumped and talked and blogged for it and I will not stop... but I will also not shit on the people who could give it to us either... Yes, CCP Seagull is our hope for WiS... but she cannot make it a Big Deal cause it will rouse the Aholes... no, she will have to slip it in... all unannounced and quiet like... and I feel that may see that one day... so I am not gonna whine and moan... there is enough of that crap already.

      Delete
    2. This is what CCP Seagull had to say about WiS back in september 2013:

      https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=3643709#post3643709

      >>CCP has always been excited about avatars in the EVE Universe, but it is currently not on the roadmap. And when we do put it on the roadmap, it is unlikely to go directly into EVE Online as you know it now, for a number of technical and practical reasons. But we now of course have the "EVE Universe" that can host more than one game - so what you want to look for is game announcements in the future rather than full avatar gameplay crammed into EVE Online the spaceship game - and CCP Hellmar is the guy to poke about it! :)>>

      TL;DR: we like it but we don't have any plans and anyway it wouldn't be a part of your EVE client, rather yet another game. (Which now we know, it's not Project Legion the PC FPS).

      This are your precious "working in silence" hopes. Now count in that CCP fired the guys who actually made the avatar content (you know, the Atlanta office) and how CCP's almighty Art Team is already busy PBR'ing what they V3'ed last year while the HQ in your client is exactly the same as in Xmas 2011, and you are in a better place to understand how much does avatar gameplay concern CCP.

      If wasn't that they hired a EA guy to implement the new shop, maybe they wouldn't even bother with adding tights for your characters whose legs nobody will ever see.

      I agree, that's not constructive. I can't be constructive about a lost hope.

      High security EVE content for high SP carebears is not lost still. I struggle to be constructive about that.

      But WiS... Turamarth, your heroine killed it and the news are older than a year.

      Delete
  4. BTW: hats? HATS? Nice trolling! Warn me when males get mullets to match with their baseball caps and the sleeve tattoos. White trash is the new black!

    ReplyDelete

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