I want an option to turn off your terrible taste in character skins.

[Zhukov]

I have a couple of questions regarding character skins in multiplayer games.

Now, I generally think character skins are a good thing. They're fun and they're a great way for free-to-play games to make money without creating a gameplay imbalance between players who pay and players who don't.

However, well, some of them annoy the shit out of me. I like my games, even my multiplayer games, to have some aesthetic cohesion going on and character skins tend to completely fuck that up. Especially when the developers start making whacky lol-so-random skins, which they inevitably do because many people have woeful taste and will pay money to let the world know it.

But what if there was an option to just turn off the ugly? A list of every skin in the game with a show/hide toggle for each one. Skins set to 'hide' would be replaced on your screen by the default. (They would of course still be visible on the screens of other players, assuming they also didn't have them set to hide.)

First question: Does anyone else get irritated by ugly or discordant character skins and would you use this option to hide them if it were available?

Second question: For those of you who buy/use character skins, if you knew that other players could choose not to see your skin would that lessen its value in your eyes? Would the inability to inflict your terrible taste on other people make you be any less likely to buy or use character skins? Would it discourage you from playing a game if such a thing were implemented?

Just curious.

 

[IceForce]

Fun fact: Quake 3 Arena had an option like this:

http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/File:Quake_III_Arena_General.png

It was called "Force Player Models". You can see it there in the above screenshot.

And it basically did exactly what it says on the tin. It made all the other players (from your perspective) use the same model as your own character.
It was designed for use on low-spec PCs with not much RAM, so your PC only had to load 1 character model per map, rather than all the different character models that people have chosen.

Is this the sort of thing you mean, Zhukov?

 

[Saelune]

Glad I'm not the only one. I know that was unlikely considering all the people in the world, but its still nice to see.

I also like my games to be aesthetically consistent, which is why I also hate mods (Your anime heads have no place in Skyrim dammit) but its even worse in multiplayer games where me simply choosing not to use them still makes me have to see that stuff. I don't mind if it makes sense within the game, but it rarely does.

I always prefer options so people can play games the way they want, and Id be all for an option to personally block other people's horrendous fashion choices so at least I would not have to deal with it.

 

[shrekfan246]

Does anyone else get irritated by ugly or discordant character skins and would you use this option to hide them if it were available?

My opinion probably isn't too valid because I generally don't play multiplayer games, but no, I can't say I've ever been annoyed by any character skins.

For those of you who buy/use character skins, if you knew that other players could choose not to see your skin would that lessen its value in your eyes? Would you be any less likely to buy or use character skins? Would it discourage you from playing a game if such a thing were implemented?

If the game's first-person, maybe. In those games, typically skins are just for showing off, because it's rare that you ever actually get to see what you, well, look like. Kind of a shame, too, because I really bloody love the "Lord of Power" + "Blight of the Valkyries" skin&head combo for the Siren in Borderlands 2, but aside from my hands I hardly ever actually see anything of it.

If it's a third-person or isometric game, though, then I use skins for my own personal benefit, and don't particularly worry about what anyone else might think.

 

[Zhukov]

Is this the sort of thing you mean, Zhukov?

Yes, essentially.

Except not bound to whichever model you are using and ideally you would be able to toggle each individual skin.

Come to think of it, it could even be made so you can choose which skin other players default to if you have their chosen skin set to hide.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Yeah, I can see that. If I was still playing Team Fortress II, I'd be pretty bothered. That game originally had such a great visual style and was aesthetically cohesive like you described. But whenever I see screenshots of it now, just...blegh.

These days, the only F2P game I play is League of Legends, but that game is already all over the place and weird in its theme and style, so that what skins other people are using doesn't really matter to me. I only have 2 skins myself, but I don't think I'd really care if other people were able to disable them.

 

[Fappy]

It's been awhile since I played a game that had character skins like this, now that I think about it. Back when I played LoL I don't think it ever bothered me. Like the above poster said, that game already lacked any kind of artistic/thematic cohesion so it didn't really matter.

 

[Erttheking]

I can't say this has ever really been a problem for me, but on the other hand I can easily see where you're coming from. I have to say, why isn't this a thing?

 

[duwenbasden]

Note: I am judging based solely from my experiences in GTA online.

First question: Does anyone else get irritated by ugly or discordant character skins and would you use this option to hide them if it were available?

No. It actually more fun to leave it as is, since we can be all kinds of whacked out. Also, much easier to call somebody out. "Chase the guy in the pig mask!" etc, etc.

Second question: For those of you who buy/use character skins, if you knew that other players could choose not to see your skin would that lessen its value in your eyes? Would you be any less likely to buy or use character skins? Would it discourage you from playing a game if such a thing were implemented?

Not lessen its value, more losing consistencies and make identification harder. Again, if I yell "the guy in the pig mask" you better fucking know exactly who it is.

 

[Zhukov]

Not lessen its value, more losing consistencies and make identification harder. Again, if I yell "the guy in the pig mask" you better fucking know exactly who it is.

Yeah, that's a thought.

Although GTA is a bit different to the kind of game I was thinking of. I had in mind the likes of Overwatch and MOBAs which use premade skins for specific characters rather than character editors.

In those games people will generally say "Focus the Draven" or "look out for the Serqet" rather than "kill the one with the spaceman skin!"

 

[baddude1337]

I know exactly what you mean. I haven't played a competitive multiplayer game for years now. I think the worst I saw it in was Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2. While still a dumbed down shooter compared to the fantastic predecessors Raven Shield and Rogue Spear, it still had a somewhat serious and tactical tone to it. So it irked me to see people running around wearing bright pink camo with rainbow weapons in this otherwise serious game. It really does alter the tone and, to me, ruin the look the game is going for. Not to mention it makes you stick out like a sore thumb.

It's ultimately the problem with games that have any sort of customization. Some people just want to go nuts with it. Which is fine, but an option to mute or disable the more extravagant or unfitting skins would be swell for us other players. Will simply never happen though, as games these days tend to embrace the more zany customization features, and for games like TF2 has become it's own money making economy.

 

[Amir Kondori]

I can't see that ever happening, as the skin is one of the few ways players have to express themselves. It would be kind of pointless if other players didn't see it. Especially in games where skins are monetized this kind of option will never be implemented.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Yeah I know half the time I buy skins and stuff in League is to kind of show off to everyone, spamming that new Blood Moon Yasuo recall half the game included so I dunno about disables. I've sure Rito or whoever would lose sales for the same reason some people dislike custom skins. Yeah I know I look cool but what's the use if nobody ELSE knows I look cool?

Speaking of recalls and skins, OP have you ever laned against Pool Party Renekton? God just tapping recall between autos and abilities is both hilarious and enraging, my one friend did it and just made this Fiora do plainly idiotic rage plays just because it's so BM. That skin is a solid reason for your skin disabler to exist.

Personally i've been playing a fuckload of BlazBlue and I would love for all the solid gold character colours to just disappear. Garish as all hell and not even funny, aside from maybe Golden Tager but fuck Tager.

I don't want you to have that option.

I can't see that ever happening, as the skin is one of the few ways players have to express themselves. It would be kind of pointless if other players didn't see it.

Exactly.

Multiplayer games aren't immersive.

I dunno about that last bit, I might just be playing vs some guy online in BlazBlue and there's literally zero consequences for losing aside from one loss on a history of hundreds of games but like... If i'm playing Terumi vs Ragna, i'm going to tryhard the fuck out of that because main villain vs main protagonist, i'd count that as immersion easily. Compared to something like if Terumi loses to like Tao or something? Who cares? He lost to the comic relief character so he was probably letting her win in the first place. I'm nowhere near as motivated.

If Terumi wins vs Ragna, he outright kills Ragna. No "defeated" or "KO" shenanigans, no he's straight up dead. Terumi's BM game is top fucking notch both in closing game actions and win quotes. About 80% of his win actions is him stomping them when they're down.

"Not in this lifetime or the next, or the one after THAT, will you be able to defeat me little Raggy! Now DIE like the little ***** that you are! HAHAHAHA!"

*sigh* I wish Terumi wasn't the worst character in the game by a landslide... Central Fiction buffs when?

[sub][sub]Fantastic meter gain when ahead is an excuse to have zero mixup game right guys? Just block low gg[/sub][/sub]

 

[Remus]

Player skins are one of the few things I enjoy about multiplayer shooters. If your enemy is gonna be running around, bunnyhopping and lobbing missiles, why not be a postapocalyptic anthromorphic rabbit? Or if that guy with the sniper rifle is using an Agent 47 skin. If I want to stay in character, I'll play single player. I could never get into multiplayer RP anyway, so why worry about maintaining the aesthetic?

 

[Rastrelly]

I have a couple of questions regarding character skins in multiplayer games.

Now, I generally think character skins are a good thing. They're fun and they're a great way for free-to-play games to make money without creating a gameplay imbalance between players who pay and players who don't.

However, well, some of them annoy the shit out of me. I like my games, even my multiplayer games, to have some aesthetic cohesion going on and character skins tend to completely fuck that up. Especially when the developers start making whacky lol-so-random skins, which they inevitably do because many people have woeful taste and will pay money to let the world know it.

But what if there was an option to just turn off the ugly? A list of every skin in the game with a show/hide toggle for each one. Skins set to 'hide' would be replaced on your screen by the default. (They would of course still be visible on the screens of other players, assuming they also didn't have them set to hide.)

First question: Does anyone else get irritated by ugly or discordant character skins and would you use this option to hide them if it were available?

Second question: For those of you who buy/use character skins, if you knew that other players could choose not to see your skin would that lessen its value in your eyes? Would you be any less likely to buy or use character skins? Would it discourage you from playing a game if such a thing were implemented?

Just curious.

I think it would be a nice option. But in f2p games or games which sell skins for money it would be unfair to players who bought those skins, so in that case this option should be paid AND it should enforce indication of skinblocking on your player model.

 

[Zetatrain]

First question: Does anyone else get irritated by ugly or discordant character skins and would you use this option to hide them if it were available?

Can't say I've ever been bothered by a skin, though I guess I would use the option to turn it off if I did ever come across one I hated.

Second question: For those of you who buy/use character skins, if you knew that other players could choose not to see your skin would that lessen its value in your eyes? Would the inability to inflict your terrible taste on other people make you be any less likely to buy or use character skins? Would it discourage you from playing a game if such a thing were implemented?

Depends

If the game in question is a first person shooter then that would reduce its value in my eyes. Since I can't see my character the skin's only purpose is to show it off to those around you. Pretty much pointless to use optional skins if no one, including yourself, can see them.

If the game is third person then the value is not reduced nearly as much, if at all, because at least I can see the skin. So I'd still use the skins even if those around me could not see them.

 

[Ravinoff]

Yeah, nah. You can tell a lot about a player by looking at their character cosmetics/skins. You see a Scout with a lime-green or bright pink everything coming your way, you know you're in for the most incredibly annoying, twitchy, meme-spamming pile of meatshots in history. The Soldier with the Dr's Dapper Topper on is almost undoubtedly going to land on your head with a Market Gardener. It's really one of the handier things about character customization in multiplayer games (well, PvP ones, at least), you can get a read on what to expect at a glance.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I guess, I could see why you'd want an option like that...

It's grating in environments that are fully customisable in general (say, Second Life, to take an extreme example) because there are no equivalents of building standards, and everyone just makes or uses whatever they feel like, regardless of style, aesthetic considerations of the surrounding environment, or even just variations in artistic ability between players, everything tends to end up looking like a disjointed mishmash of inconsistent styles.

Unfortunately, for a style of game with that much flexibility, you can't really do anything about it.
I guess it does work for more limited cases where skins really are entirely cosmetic, and there is an easily identified 'base' model.

Speaking of skins, reminds me of playing Quake 3 Arena over a LAN at a friend's place.

Since all the computers were his, (he ran an online computer shop at the time, and had several personal systems in a network), the skins in use for a match were what he had chosen. (We didn't take the time to change things from what he had set.)

Turns out he'd set the skin on the PC he made his 'guests' use to...
Well, if you're familiar with the Quake 3 character models you probably know there's a girl with rollerblades/jetskates or whatever...
He'd set the character model to that, but was using a custom skin that was basically a 'nude' skin of some kind...
Since it's first-person, it's not immediately obvious that's the case, except when I saw it on his screen, or other brief glimpses.

Figures he was more of a perv than I gave him credit for. XD
(Bonus points for the kind of grunts that particular character made... >_<)

 

[FPLOON]

Hay! I spend good coin getting my squid to look like a fucking boss with enough sass to boot!

But seriously, I'm fine with it, but I usually hate when mix-matching different sets of skins (head, turso, arms/legs) ends up wih clashing styles on the playing field... It's not avant garde! You just have those on for stat reasons!

Other than that, I can see why someone would want to have the option to not seeing it on one's end...