Jagex acknowledges that cosmetics ruin immersion

[rusty_shackleford]

Unsure if any other major developer that runs an online-only game has acknowledged this?

https://secure.runescape.com/m=news/mtx ... -sept-30th

We've had feedback from players that cosmetics – in their current implementation – can impact some players' sense of immersion or personal gameplay experience.

For a month they're going to run cosmetic-free worlds to collect data and get user feedback.
Cool!

[Oyster Sauce]

The new WoW private server allows you to disable transmogs entirely. Can't think of any actual devs who do this.

[Jordy]

selling p hat 100m

[Oyster Sauce]

If this is RS3 I can't imagine anyone who would use that option actually playing it to give positive feedback. It's one of the ugliest games on the market.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

What precisely is meant by "cosmetics"? The ability to transmog? Buying visual stuff off of a cash shop? Or stupid zany stuff like rainbow bikinis and streetwear in my medieval fantasy setting where commoners are supposed to look like they came from a renaissance fair?

Transmog is a non-negotiable for me. A huge selling point of MMOs is the humongous amount of different races and armors and mounts that you can mix and match to create your own unique looking, cool character. I have never felt that impressed seeing someone walk around with "epics" pre-transmog. That just means they have been playing the game for longer. The only cosmetic thing that really catches my attention is seeing someone fly around on a seasonal gladiator dragon mount. When you see that, you know that guy is a top 0.5% rated PvP and that guy has no life.

Cash shops are indeed irksome when you have bought a game - perhaps even pay $120 per year to subscribe to a game to retain access - but you don't actually get everything with your purchase, and instead having to spend even more money to get certain armors or mounts.

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting. One fat Kul'Tiran man running around in Dornogal wearing a rainbow beach towel and bra only stands out to me because 99.9% of the time, that doesn't happen. And that only happened because the devs implemented those items and made everyone aware that they existed by putting them on the trading post that everyone gets a monthly quest to visit and has camera presentation which highlights the items. That being said, you can't eliminate this entirely in a multiplayer game, where you are going to see other people who have wills of their own and can choose to do things you might not like. Even if that beach transmog set didn't exist maybe he'd just run around naked wearing a helmet. FF14 however does have a lot more people porting into climatic final dungeons wearing frog costumes or streetwear, and again the devs pushed that stuff front and center more than the other MMOs do.

[rusty_shackleford]

I hate transmog

[Oyster Sauce]

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting.

You're lying to my face or you think slutmogs are sensible

[Val the Moofia Boss]

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting.

You're lying to my face or you think slutmogs are sensible

I feel that the raunchy TBC outfits have fallen out of popularity. I hardly see them anymore, especially not the plate or chainmail bikini stuff. I am not sure if this is due to those items being really old and people would rather use newer, high fidelity assets, or if it is the result of the aging/filtered playerbase and changing tastes. I haven't seen many such outfits in GW2 either. They are very common in FF14 though. Lots of catgirls in bikinis.

[Finarfin]

GW2 iirc doesn't have skimpy outfits.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

GW2 iirc doesn't have skimpy outfits.

They added some beach stuff to the cash shop either this year or last year.

EDIT:

[Kalarion]

What precisely is meant by "cosmetics"? The ability to transmog? Buying visual stuff off of a cash shop? Or stupid zany stuff like rainbow bikinis and streetwear in my medieval fantasy setting where commoners are supposed to look like they came from a renaissance fair?

Transmog is a non-negotiable for me. A huge selling point of MMOs is the humongous amount of different races and armors and mounts that you can mix and match to create your own unique looking, cool character. I have never felt that impressed seeing someone walk around with "epics" pre-transmog. That just means they have been playing the game for longer. The only cosmetic thing that really catches my attention is seeing someone fly around on a seasonal gladiator dragon mount. When you see that, you know that guy is a top 0.5% rated PvP and that guy has no life.

Cash shops are indeed irksome when you have bought a game - perhaps even pay $120 per year to subscribe to a game to retain access - but you don't actually get everything with your purchase, and instead having to spend even more money to get certain armors or mounts.

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting. One fat Kul'Tiran man running around in Dornogal wearing a rainbow beach towel and bra only stands out to me because 99.9% of the time, that doesn't happen. And that only happened because the devs implemented those items and made everyone aware that they existed by putting them on the trading post that everyone gets a monthly quest to visit and has camera presentation which highlights the items. That being said, you can't eliminate this entirely in a multiplayer game, where you are going to see other people who have wills of their own and can choose to do things you might not like. Even if that beach transmog set didn't exist maybe he'd just run around naked wearing a helmet. FF14 however does have a lot more people porting into climatic final dungeons wearing frog costumes or streetwear, and again the devs pushed that stuff front and center more than the other MMOs do.

Perhaps the only time I have actively hated something you've said.

[J1M]

The new WoW private server allows you to disable transmogs entirely. Can't think of any actual devs who do this.

I actively look for these options, but I can't say I've ever found them. The business folks did the math and my dollars are fewer than those with loose wallets that are motivated by the feelings cosmetics generate.

[rusty_shackleford]

What precisely is meant by "cosmetics"? The ability to transmog? Buying visual stuff off of a cash shop? Or stupid zany stuff like rainbow bikinis and streetwear in my medieval fantasy setting where commoners are supposed to look like they came from a renaissance fair?

Transmog is a non-negotiable for me. A huge selling point of MMOs is the humongous amount of different races and armors and mounts that you can mix and match to create your own unique looking, cool character. I have never felt that impressed seeing someone walk around with "epics" pre-transmog. That just means they have been playing the game for longer. The only cosmetic thing that really catches my attention is seeing someone fly around on a seasonal gladiator dragon mount. When you see that, you know that guy is a top 0.5% rated PvP and that guy has no life.

Cash shops are indeed irksome when you have bought a game - perhaps even pay $120 per year to subscribe to a game to retain access - but you don't actually get everything with your purchase, and instead having to spend even more money to get certain armors or mounts.

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting. One fat Kul'Tiran man running around in Dornogal wearing a rainbow beach towel and bra only stands out to me because 99.9% of the time, that doesn't happen. And that only happened because the devs implemented those items and made everyone aware that they existed by putting them on the trading post that everyone gets a monthly quest to visit and has camera presentation which highlights the items. That being said, you can't eliminate this entirely in a multiplayer game, where you are going to see other people who have wills of their own and can choose to do things you might not like. Even if that beach transmog set didn't exist maybe he'd just run around naked wearing a helmet. FF14 however does have a lot more people porting into climatic final dungeons wearing frog costumes or streetwear, and again the devs pushed that stuff front and center more than the other MMOs do.

[TKVNC]

Some people have such dogshit taste, so I'd be happy to just ban transmog.

I'm not a huge fan of clown gear, though.

Optional cosmetics are a slippery slide to ****** flag capes in games.

[Norfleet]

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting. One fat Kul'Tiran man running around in Dornogal wearing a rainbow beach towel and bra only stands out to me because 99.9% of the time, that doesn't happen.

That, and the devs had to provide such a ludicrous option to begin with. What exactly did you EXPECT someone to do with a rainbow towel and a bra except try to create the most egregious eyesore possible, given that there is no actual legitimate use for it otherwise?

[Atlantico]

Unsure if any other major developer that runs an online-only game has acknowledged this?

https://secure.runescape.com/m=news/mtx ... -sept-30th

We've had feedback from players that cosmetics – in their current implementation – can impact some players' sense of immersion or personal gameplay experience.

For a month they're going to run cosmetic-free worlds to collect data and get user feedback.
Cool!

And here I thought people naming their paladin "Nööbcrü$H€r69" was immersionbreaking

the santa-hat doesn't help, but the damage is done

[Decline]

Proper games allow you to turn off transmogs. Like Albion Online for example.

[Tweed]

I bought a top hat on The Heroes Journey, I like it.

[Norfleet]

Now we need to see a picture of DapperTweed.

[SoLong]

GW2 iirc doesn't have skimpy outfits.

They added some beach stuff to the cash shop either this year or last year.

EDIT:

To think I once liked the game before they started killing off all the interesting antagonists to replace them with bland villains of the week.

How fitting that the outfits are also getting more and more ridiculous.

[WrenchWring]

Transmog is not the issue, the issue is that there is ugly tacky crap in the game to begin with. Outland Clown Suits look bad and shatter immersion, and it doesn't matter if that's what the gear looks like normally or if some mongoloid paid money to look like a clown. If your MMO doesn't have transmog then the people who care will just have separate sets for walking around town and doing dungeons. Just don't add tasteless garbage to your game.

[Oyster Sauce]

I miss having 16 bag slots dedicated to my Stormwind guard outfit

[mercerxiv]

IMO cosmetics were a nice thing back before they started monetizing them. At that point in time they did not have perverse incentives to add gauche looking ones (for the most part) or ******** crossovers, and it was relatively tasteful stuff like sets of armor that look like they were actually part of the same suit of armor, some bearing faction specific symbology to show off your allegiance, and so on.

When **** went wrong was the moment they have figured out that they can get weak willed and/or dimwitted people to pay money for it. That first opened the gates for uglyfication of gear available without paying extra, then to the increasingly gaudy cosmetics, culminating in the ultimate consoomerism combo with infinity crossover with anything and everything that's trending. The Fortnite/CoD model is the current endpoint of that process where you have Nicky Minaj t-bagging Homelander as Master Splinter 420 noscopes her. I don't know if it can get any worse past this point, although I'm sure given time the industry bigbrains will come up with something to make even this look innocent.

A vast amount of evils in video games really trace their origins to the developers/publishers trying to figure out how they can charge you more. Sure, MTX has unlocked an era of unprecedented prosperity for the game industry, but in retrospect - was it really worth it for us gamers? Is it really a good thing that places like King are making an absolute killing with games people play on the shitter? Is it really a good thing that some others are making a killing selling gacha to coomers? I don't think so. I don't think the negatives it brought are worth the positives. We'd be better served if all the games were still sold as a single time upfront purchase with no further monetization. Even DLC are suspect, since despite there being a few good examples, there are way more bad examples (like Capcom's favorite piecemealing content in dozens of "DLC" on any of their game releases).

[buttfucker 3000]

Transmog is not the issue, the issue is that there is ugly tacky crap in the game to begin with. Outland Clown Suits look bad and shatter immersion, and it doesn't matter if that's what the gear looks like normally or if some mongoloid paid money to look like a clown. If your MMO doesn't have transmog then the people who care will just have separate sets for walking around town and doing dungeons. Just don't add tasteless garbage to your game.

[methoxetamine]

What precisely is meant by "cosmetics"? The ability to transmog? Buying visual stuff off of a cash shop? Or stupid zany stuff like rainbow bikinis and streetwear in my medieval fantasy setting where commoners are supposed to look like they came from a renaissance fair?

Transmog is a non-negotiable for me. A huge selling point of MMOs is the humongous amount of different races and armors and mounts that you can mix and match to create your own unique looking, cool character. I have never felt that impressed seeing someone walk around with "epics" pre-transmog. That just means they have been playing the game for longer. The only cosmetic thing that really catches my attention is seeing someone fly around on a seasonal gladiator dragon mount. When you see that, you know that guy is a top 0.5% rated PvP and that guy has no life.

Cash shops are indeed irksome when you have bought a game - perhaps even pay $120 per year to subscribe to a game to retain access - but you don't actually get everything with your purchase, and instead having to spend even more money to get certain armors or mounts.

As for people wearing zany, stupid stuff, I have found that in most MMOs that the vast majority of players dress sensibly for the setting. One fat Kul'Tiran man running around in Dornogal wearing a rainbow beach towel and bra only stands out to me because 99.9% of the time, that doesn't happen. And that only happened because the devs implemented those items and made everyone aware that they existed by putting them on the trading post that everyone gets a monthly quest to visit and has camera presentation which highlights the items. That being said, you can't eliminate this entirely in a multiplayer game, where you are going to see other people who have wills of their own and can choose to do things you might not like. Even if that beach transmog set didn't exist maybe he'd just run around naked wearing a helmet. FF14 however does have a lot more people porting into climatic final dungeons wearing frog costumes or streetwear, and again the devs pushed that stuff front and center more than the other MMOs do.

I also enjoy transmogs and I refuse to pretend I don't

[mercerxiv]

Transmog is not the issue, the issue is that there is ugly tacky crap in the game to begin with. Outland Clown Suits look bad and shatter immersion, and it doesn't matter if that's what the gear looks like normally or if some mongoloid paid money to look like a clown. If your MMO doesn't have transmog then the people who care will just have separate sets for walking around town and doing dungeons. Just don't add tasteless garbage to your game.

Yeah, this is a perfect example of it gone too far.
It was great back when it was sensible, didn't yet include tacky garbage, and didn't include interesting features like converting plate to cloth or worse even crossdressing.
But as with all things these days it seems everything goes in one direction and that one direction is becoming more degenerate be that in a sense of moral degeneracy or in a sense of just a lesser, inferior version of itself.

[Havitner]

The new WoW private server allows you to disable transmogs entirely. Can't think of any actual devs who do this.

WC3 Reforged recently added an option to disable skins in multiplayer.

[Norfleet]

Yeah, this is a perfect example of it gone too far.
It was great back when it was sensible, didn't yet include tacky garbage, and didn't include interesting features like converting plate to cloth or worse even crossdressing.
But as with all things these days it seems everything goes in one direction and that one direction is becoming more degenerate be that in a sense of moral degeneracy or in a sense of just a lesser, inferior version of itself.

Honestly, that NAME stands out more than the outfit. It'd be funny if the game were capable of detecting when people put in terrible names and mocking them for it constantly.

[Havitner]

Can't believe there are people defending trannymogs.

"I identify as wearing the Ancient Helmet of the Dragonsla-- ACK!"

[Rand]

WoW was utterly lost and ****** the second they decided to make the joke pandas a real thing.