Storytelling via Clothing

Tags

character customization, character development, ffxiv, final fantasy xiv, MMO, mmo character customization, mmo cosmetics, mmorpg, mmorpg cosmetics, mmorpgs, mmos, no promises though, roleplay, roleplayers, rp, this will maybe be the last time i talk about this topic, xiv

This will probably be my last post about MMO outfits. Maybe.

Before I begin I should update you all on the personal goings-on of my Final Fantasy XIV character. She recently has had a couple of character breakthroughs involving an in-character fight with another member of my guild, some introspection about how good that fight felt, learning how to harness her combative strength and come to grips with it by learning how to use a gunblade on the sly, and slowly sinking deeper into a life of underground crime and debauchery as the person she fought with takes her under his wing to learn how to be a contraband smuggler.

All of this has been a delight for a number of reasons. It’s finally allowed my character to have some progression; it’s finally seen some character daggers actually get used by people; and as a writing exercise, it’s given me the opportunity to finally challenge myself by writing a character that can be soft, alluring, and loving as well as a badass without falling into edgelord traps. On top of that, though, it’s allowed me the chance to create new outfits.

How to design MMO character customization correctly (according to someone who is not a game dev lol)

Tags

customization, game design, game dev, MMO, mmo character, mmo character customization, mmo characters, mmorpg, mmorpgs, mmos, probably bad ideas

This post was inspired by a question posed by Mark Yetter, the director of Riot Games’ developing Runeterra MMO, and on the face of it the question sounds a little silly. In the tweet, Yetter ponders “what can be done to encourage players to try new things and differentiate their looks,” eliciting a bunch of people referencing systems already done by various other games as well as some concern that Yetter has never seen the inside of an MMORPG. That said, I’m not sure that’s what he’s asking for here. I think what was intended is ways to incentivize and reward creativity. So that’s what I’m going to try and focus on in this post.