Clothing suggestion (Programming Dept)

[Songthrush]

Proposal to implement a scale similar to current Awkward--->Expert for skills, but to reflect the immediate value (preciousness) of clothing worn by a character.

All clothing items in the game would be given an approximate preciousness index. A gold crown made from half a kilo of gold would contribute a lot to this proposed rating, while a feather earing, contribute little.

For instance, adjectives could be from Poorly Dressed man in his twenties ---> Immaculately Dressed man in his twenties, or perhaps Seko may invent for us even better different adjectives.

This would only appear as a cosmetic change in the character page, visible to other characters, and would I believe help a lot to add a new dynamic to the clothing aspect of the game, as some players will actively strive toward the rating of "Immaculate" in their character's ensemble, giving a realistic in-game value boost to items such as gold and diamond rings, etc.

Thank you for considering my suggestion,
Songthrush.

[SekoETC]

I think this has been suggested within another topic and the problem was that things might be valued differently based on their commonness. It depends on the culture. For example, gold is pretty useless and people only like it because it's shiny, but it's certainly not expensive or rare. Iron is more so. Implementing a system like this would be implementing OOC values into the game, when the interpretation based on clothing is supposed to be colored by the cultural background of the viewer.

[joo]

*Doomph*

(That was the sound of the suggestion hitting the floor after dying)

[Songthrush]

Gold in Cantr is mined at a rate of (I think) 10g per day with the right tools. This corresponds to anywhere from 30-50g of iron, at the standard going rates used by common traders and factories.

To me this shows that it is already more precious inherently than iron, by the implementation in the game!

No one will deny, also, that OOC values already do influence gameplay in an important way in this area. Nobody, for example, thinks of gifting their Cantrian spouse-to-be with an iron bracelet as the wedding gift. Instead it is invariably A RING that is selected and one preferably made of gold etc.

These are ingrained things in the brains of the players, who cannot rub them out, because if they did, the imaginary virtual world we are creating would become completely meaningless, lacking any point of anchorage understood by all.

That is what I'm suggesting here: a basic rating of the preciousness of the clothing worn by a character, to signal to PLAYERS in a way that is comprehensible and yet does not entirely distract from the context, where it's possible that a simple pendant of ivory could be a more desirable and strange item to have (let's say we are on an island where ivory is not indigeneously found) compared to a super precious gold crown.

There is definitely something lacking at the moment, something of this kind. It's not right that all clothes once they are made, become essentially equal-value items (frequently with the implicit value of ZERO, for players who think in terms of ratings and skills pertaining to their characters).

I think it's worth exploring for a way to have clothing "do" something in the game, beyond it's very limited current role. This "something" should in my opinion be connected to the clothing's effect on some kind of agreed-upon finesse rating of the character.

I mean, there is right now a rating for character dirtiness, and yet that too could be said to be very much culturally determined. A joke, but only a half joke.

[tiddy ogg]

Nah! As Seko says, it must depend on the culture. A tortoiseshell piece of jewellery might be valuable in a lot of places, but in others it's a commonplace material. Gold is indeed pretty useless, and wasting precious iron on trinkets is a much more flambuoyant gesture in Cantr.

[ceselb]

Exactly. One of my chars have a tortoiseshell hardhat and wouldn't trade that for anything. It was made from the first tortoise he killed and has cultural value as well. He feels more and better dressed than anyone he's ever met.

[Songthrush]

It happens all the time in real life that people's personal perception of their clothing differs from other people's view of the same.

Just think, for example, of a real life person who is proudly wearing "all natural" self-made fabrics and what-not, but unfortunately to the general public he or she appears like a bum. This general perception of the PUBLIC in regards to the preciousness or fanciness of a person's dress is what we'd be introducing when a suggestion like mine goes into implementation.

All should note that in real life, too, the PUBLIC common-to-everybody perception of clothes & adornments is something different compared to a person's own views about the sentimental, ideological, or other value they give to their ensemble.

We have many proverbs, based around the idea of "first impressions" and judging people "by the suit they wear". Right or wrong, it's part of real life that this first judgement is based on some criteria that are superficial, shared by all, and instantaneous.

In Cantr we don't have anything like that yet, but it seems to me we should. Along with other thoughtful enhancements for clothing & misc items that fit, work into the gameplay.

[ceselb]

the idea of "first impressions" and judging people "by the suit they wear". Right or wrong, it's part of real life that this first judgement is based on some criteria that are superficial, shared by all, and instantaneous.

Yes, Cantr has that too, but it's not strictly based on clothes and appearances, but rather a mix of things. Past accomplishments like; items carried, age, any vehicle owned, position in a society. More current things; spelling, wakefulness, RP ability, ideas, intellect and internal drive (energy).

[Songthrush]

That's right. This is why I thought that something simple, "cumulative", based specifically on clothes worn and easily noticed by all, would be an interesting addition.

[Piscator]

I like the idea of having a clothing index, because I hardly ever notice clothing on people, but I don't like the idea of giving them a fixed, RL-influenced value, for the given reasons. If we absolutely have to have a value we could take the time to make them and get the resources as a basis, but I think it would even be satisfactory to just show the total number of clothes and accessoires.

[Chris]

One proverb says, "There's no accounting for taste." I think that fits well with the general Cantr philosophy of letting characters put values on things and activities instead of mandating values with game mechanics.

[Songthrush]

We're not quite talking about mandating value though. We're talking about letting people know the extent of a character's visual "dressy-ness", as it were - which is based on the value, but not equal to it.