[F/M]Aging Characters

AsuranSylvari21 · Mar 07, 2010, 02:27 PM

Now, I'm not sure how people will respond to this, or even like the idea, and I know it probably won't be implemented into GW2, but I wanted to share it.

I always liked the idea of games where your Character have Ages, for GW2 ideal ages for characters would be 18-30 for humans, and maybe Norn. Not sure about the other 3.

But with this idea, I'm guessing that since GW2 will have a day and night system, that the characters will age 1 year when in-game it passes enough days and nights to equal up to a year. And that when your character ages you could get a gift that's smaller than you Once a real-time year gift system than we have now. Maybe like some sweets, alcohol, or festive items. or Maybe a special skill that isn't major, but that you couldn't get normally in-game. Or, if Polymock continues, a special Polymock piece. And you could also change your characters appearance to look a little bit older.

I'm night sure if everyone will like this suggestion, but I like it, and with the way GW2 is emphasizing on your Character's Story, it may immerse you more into the game.

Oh, and I'm not really sure if I should put this into Features, or Misc. so, it it has a proper area between the two, can a Mod change it?

Gah, this topic is going the way of just changing your appearance each year. While that sounds nice and all, that's not what I originally wanted.

I just wanted a system that shows your character's in-game age on your character info screen. For example it could be like this. For there being 365 days a year, once your characters pass that mark in-game through the day-night system, they gain a year. And there could be an option while creating your character to make your character between a set of certain ages. And that it would just progress, and each time your character aged a year according to game time, you could get a minor present, that wouldn't be as rare as what you get for a full year. Now for all I know, your character could age in-game once every two months, and for that year your character would get the same type of gift. Maybe like a tonic for each b-day one year, and then the next year you might get a polymock piece each time. And to please those who don't really wanna change their character, after 6 in-game birthdays (ideally your 6th in-game bday would be your first RL char b-day) you could get as Arghore proposed, a token to change your appearance somehow. but at the same time...this system might have an effect on the economy, if you have multiple characters, you could get an influx of items..

*sigh* In my opinion, a month wouldn't do much in-game, if anything the hair would get a centimeter longer. And plus actual aging isn't actually possible in a game, unless your willing to work on just character sets for 20 years. I'm just proposing a system where your character has age that seems reasonable for a warrior, or caster, or ranger. And that it gradually increases as you play the game. If your character stops at 30-35 (Which I hope would take a while, with 3-5 ages being earned in a year)...

As I stated earlier, I said the appearance changing should be optional. The main thing about this literally isn't seeing your character age. It's about when you make your character, you give him an age, say, from 18-30, as that's around where most Henchies are, and then each time the day and night system progresses, once it becomes a year in-game, your character gains a year, and gets a B-day gift, sort of like we do now, except it shouldn't be as special as the gifts we get for having the character for a year in Real Life.

But with this, it also means that the game would be on a system that records what year it's own total...so, I'm not sure how well that part would work out :/

mr pitiful · Mar 07, 2010, 02:46 PM

I like the idea,
but I'm not really a big fan of having to play an old person..
If the aging look was optional than I suppose it would be okay but then that would kind of eliminate the purpose at all.
It would also be a little confusing with the other races seeing as they age differently, especially the Sylvari.
I do like the idea but I would prefer if the character customization was more extensive and you could make your character look older from the beginning.

Corsair · Mar 07, 2010, 02:47 PM

This would be an interesting feature, and it would be interesting to see, depending on how the aging is actually done, and how many years are in a regular one. It would, in my mind, force them to go with template character creation, in order to do appropriate aging.

I'm sure some things will be tied to time in-game, the storyline will advance, or certain events will happen, but I do doubt the aging implementation.

I would personally put this in feature, but thats just me.

Shoyon456 · Mar 07, 2010, 02:47 PM

I think it should be a feature, but one that you can toggle on/off. Its like the battle scar idea. It's cool for some characters, like a melee, but for casters it would be fugly, so let me take it off when I want.

And any kind of appearance changer should not cost real money. To offset the fact that people don't have to pay real money to change a characters' appearance, make it once a month or so.

mr pitiful · Mar 07, 2010, 02:50 PM

I think it would be slick if every once and awhile they allowed your character to change his/her look free of charge.
Everyone changes, hair gets longer, gets cut, people grow beards etc,
Each year or something as you were suggesting, it would be cool if they would give you the option to change things and if you really wanted to you could make yourself look older.
It would add realism to the game because no one looks exactly the same for years and years.

AsuranSylvari21 · Mar 07, 2010, 02:50 PM

Yea, the appearance change would be optional, as sometimes you don't always change how you look each time you age(in face features and stuff), but with Hair, I would like to be able to change that, as your hair doesn't stay the same length for 7 months.

mr pitiful · Mar 07, 2010, 02:56 PM

Yeah exactly, no one stays the exact same looking.
It would also be interesting if every so often they would allow you to change the apperance of your body.
For instance, every so often you could change yourself to look more muscular, more slender, taller, hunched over (if you wanted to make yourself look older), or have gained some weight if you wanted.

AsuranSylvari21 · Mar 07, 2010, 03:01 PM

Yea, I would love that, but along with that your Character Info screen could say how old your character is according to his/her story. And also, given the Asuran NPC that you go to to give Makeover coupons to, it seems that the Asuran already have something comparable to the plastic surgery we have today, so it isn't completely inconceivable to see a 40 year-old that looks, say, 25.

mr pitiful · Mar 07, 2010, 03:05 PM

Yeah, but I would really prefer it to cost no money.
Maybe they could have some kind of other NPC to only change your hair/facial hair that was for free and any durastic change such as your face, hight etc would be the "plastic surgeon" that would cost money to give your character a total change of apperance.

AsuranSylvari21 · Mar 07, 2010, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr pitiful

Yeah, but I would really prefer it to cost no money.
Maybe they could have some kind of other NPC to only change your hair/facial hair that was for free and any durastic change such as your face, hight etc would be the "plastic surgeon" that would cost money to give your character a total change of apperance.

I never said it would cost money. Like you could change your aging sthings for free, and then pay in-game gold to change how your face looks. So you wouldn't be paying real cash to change how you look in a game.

I just hope that the micro-transaction plan they have comes with more and more costumes so we can still give Arenanet some money to work with other than the cash they get from selling the boxes.

mr pitiful · Mar 07, 2010, 03:11 PM

Indeed.
In my opinion though, the severe plastic surgery (aka, completely changing the structure of your face, height, gender or weight) would cost a pretty sizeable amount of money while changing simply your hair colour or style would cost considerably less.

(When I say money I mean in game gold)

King Tomodo · Mar 07, 2010, 03:42 PM

Rather /signed to customization were you can chose the age of your character from beginning, kind of like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion have done it

AsuranSylvari21 · Mar 07, 2010, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Tomodo

Rather /signed to customization were you can chose the age of your character from beginning, kind of like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion have done it

Yea, that sort of how I meant for it to be like, but then every so often your character ages and you get a small gift, and get to change your character's appearance to look a little bit older. Not that much unlike how you get a mini-pet for each RL year of a character's existence.

*Naoroji* · Mar 07, 2010, 04:56 PM

Ages for characters? Yes.
Aging characters? No.

IDarko · Mar 07, 2010, 05:32 PM

I totally hate this idea. Because I want my charakter to be how I want him to be.

If I want an young warrior, I want him to stay young. If I want him to look like me, I want him to stay like that. etc.

I can only see this work as an optional thing. But also with limited options.

AsuranSylvari21 · Mar 07, 2010, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IDarko

I totally hate this idea. Because I want my charakter to be how I want him to be.

If I want an young warrior, I want him to stay young. If I want him to look like me, I want him to stay like that. etc.

I can only see this work as an optional thing. But also with limited options.

As I stated earlier, I said the appearance changing should be optional. The main thing about this literally isn't seeing your character age. It's about when you make your character, you give him an age, say, from 18-30, as that's around where most Henchies are, and then each time the day and night system progresses, once it becomes a year in-game, your character gains a year, and gets a B-day gift, sort of like we do now, except it shouldn't be as special as the gifts we get for having the character for a year in Real Life.

But with this, it also means that the game would be on a system that records what year it's own total...so, I'm not sure how well that part would work out :/

Voltomey Steelfang · Mar 07, 2010, 07:27 PM

i wouldn't mine if my character grew some facial hair and could get scars during his adventures but if his face aged in a certain way that made me want to delete him i would be very unhappy

Olvi · Mar 08, 2010, 12:48 AM

Meh...I age IRL, I'd rather not do it ingame. I don't really see the point in character aging in an MMO, other than typing /age to see how much time has been spent on the character. It's more or less the same thing, it just doesn't feature any physical changes...besides, a year or two hardly means anything to a person anyway when it comes to look. If you look a lot older after 2 years have passed then well...something must be horribly wrong.

Corsair · Mar 08, 2010, 12:50 AM

Olvi, the ingame speed is faster than out of game, so while one year may pass here, 4 years may pass ingame, depending on the day/night cycle speed.

Olvi · Mar 08, 2010, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corsair

Olvi, the ingame speed is faster than out of game, so while one year may pass here, 4 years may pass ingame, depending on the day/night cycle speed.

Hmmm well yeah but...wouldn't that eventually lead into grandpas and grandmas running around?

But of course that would still take a lot of gaming...I just simply see no point in an aging system *shrug*

Mar 07, 2010, 02:27 PM	#1
AsuranSylvari21 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: PA	[F/M]Aging Characters Now, I'm not sure how people will respond to this, or even like the idea, and I know it probably won't be implemented into GW2, but I wanted to share it. I always liked the idea of games where your Character have Ages, for GW2 ideal ages for characters would be 18-30 for humans, and maybe Norn. Not sure about the other 3. But with this idea, I'm guessing that since GW2 will have a day and night system, that the characters will age 1 year when in-game it passes enough days and nights to equal up to a year. And that when your character ages you could get a gift that's smaller than you Once a real-time year gift system than we have now. Maybe like some sweets, alcohol, or festive items. or Maybe a special skill that isn't major, but that you couldn't get normally in-game. Or, if Polymock continues, a special Polymock piece. And you could also change your characters appearance to look a little bit older. I'm night sure if everyone will like this suggestion, but I like it, and with the way GW2 is emphasizing on your Character's Story, it may immerse you more into the game. Oh, and I'm not really sure if I should put this into Features, or Misc. so, it it has a proper area between the two, can a Mod change it? Gah, this topic is going the way of just changing your appearance each year. While that sounds nice and all, that's not what I originally wanted. I just wanted a system that shows your character's in-game age on your character info screen. For example it could be like this. For there being 365 days a year, once your characters pass that mark in-game through the day-night system, they gain a year. And there could be an option while creating your character to make your character between a set of certain ages. And that it would just progress, and each time your character aged a year according to game time, you could get a minor present, that wouldn't be as rare as what you get for a full year. Now for all I know, your character could age in-game once every two months, and for that year your character would get the same type of gift. Maybe like a tonic for each b-day one year, and then the next year you might get a polymock piece each time. And to please those who don't really wanna change their character, after 6 in-game birthdays (ideally your 6th in-game bday would be your first RL char b-day) you could get as Arghore proposed, a token to change your appearance somehow. but at the same time...this system might have an effect on the economy, if you have multiple characters, you could get an influx of items.. sigh In my opinion, a month wouldn't do much in-game, if anything the hair would get a centimeter longer. And plus actual aging isn't actually possible in a game, unless your willing to work on just character sets for 20 years. I'm just proposing a system where your character has age that seems reasonable for a warrior, or caster, or ranger. And that it gradually increases as you play the game. If your character stops at 30-35 (Which I hope would take a while, with 3-5 ages being earned in a year)... As I stated earlier, I said the appearance changing should be optional. The main thing about this literally isn't seeing your character age. It's about when you make your character, you give him an age, say, from 18-30, as that's around where most Henchies are, and then each time the day and night system progresses, once it becomes a year in-game, your character gains a year, and gets a B-day gift, sort of like we do now, except it shouldn't be as special as the gifts we get for having the character for a year in Real Life. But with this, it also means that the game would be on a system that records what year it's own total...so, I'm not sure how well that part would work out :/ Last edited by AsuranSylvari21; Mar 12, 2010 at 03:33 PM.

Mar 07, 2010, 03:11 PM	#11
mr pitiful Member Join Date: Sep 2009	Indeed. In my opinion though, the severe plastic surgery (aka, completely changing the structure of your face, height, gender or weight) would cost a pretty sizeable amount of money while changing simply your hair colour or style would cost considerably less. (When I say money I mean in game gold) Last edited by mr pitiful; Mar 07, 2010 at 03:31 PM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Make male characters attractive	lorazcyk	Primordus Visions	187	Feb 08, 2010 07:02 PM
characters with facial animations and personalities	C410V1370	Primordus Visions	65	Nov 10, 2009 02:46 AM
Asura resemble anime characters :D	Kain Fy	Tyrian Assembly	77	Sep 18, 2009 10:19 PM
HoM. all characters or only retained names ?	Orsa	Tyrian Assembly	19	Aug 29, 2009 02:51 AM
Multi-characters	agrios	Tyrian Assembly	21	Aug 26, 2009 07:24 PM

Mar 07, 2010, 02:46 PM	#2
mr pitiful Member Join Date: Sep 2009	I like the idea, but I'm not really a big fan of having to play an old person.. If the aging look was optional than I suppose it would be okay but then that would kind of eliminate the purpose at all. It would also be a little confusing with the other races seeing as they age differently, especially the Sylvari. I do like the idea but I would prefer if the character customization was more extensive and you could make your character look older from the beginning.

Mar 07, 2010, 02:47 PM	#3
Corsair Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Above you!	This would be an interesting feature, and it would be interesting to see, depending on how the aging is actually done, and how many years are in a regular one. It would, in my mind, force them to go with template character creation, in order to do appropriate aging. I'm sure some things will be tied to time in-game, the storyline will advance, or certain events will happen, but I do doubt the aging implementation. I would personally put this in feature, but thats just me.

Mar 07, 2010, 02:47 PM	#4
Shoyon456 Guest Join Date: Aug 2009	I think it should be a feature, but one that you can toggle on/off. Its like the battle scar idea. It's cool for some characters, like a melee, but for casters it would be fugly, so let me take it off when I want. And any kind of appearance changer should not cost real money. To offset the fact that people don't have to pay real money to change a characters' appearance, make it once a month or so.

Mar 07, 2010, 02:50 PM	#5
mr pitiful Member Join Date: Sep 2009	I think it would be slick if every once and awhile they allowed your character to change his/her look free of charge. Everyone changes, hair gets longer, gets cut, people grow beards etc, Each year or something as you were suggesting, it would be cool if they would give you the option to change things and if you really wanted to you could make yourself look older. It would add realism to the game because no one looks exactly the same for years and years.

Mar 07, 2010, 02:56 PM	#7
mr pitiful Member Join Date: Sep 2009	Yeah exactly, no one stays the exact same looking. It would also be interesting if every so often they would allow you to change the apperance of your body. For instance, every so often you could change yourself to look more muscular, more slender, taller, hunched over (if you wanted to make yourself look older), or have gained some weight if you wanted.

Mar 07, 2010, 03:01 PM	#8
AsuranSylvari21 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: PA	Yea, I would love that, but along with that your Character Info screen could say how old your character is according to his/her story. And also, given the Asuran NPC that you go to to give Makeover coupons to, it seems that the Asuran already have something comparable to the plastic surgery we have today, so it isn't completely inconceivable to see a 40 year-old that looks, say, 25.

Mar 07, 2010, 03:05 PM	#9
mr pitiful Member Join Date: Sep 2009	Yeah, but I would really prefer it to cost no money. Maybe they could have some kind of other NPC to only change your hair/facial hair that was for free and any durastic change such as your face, hight etc would be the "plastic surgeon" that would cost money to give your character a total change of apperance.

Mar 07, 2010, 03:42 PM	#12
King Tomodo Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cantha	Rather /signed to customization were you can chose the age of your character from beginning, kind of like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion have done it

Mar 07, 2010, 04:56 PM	#14
Naoroji Sith Lord Darth Naor Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: College of Statics	Ages for characters? Yes. Aging characters? No.

Mar 07, 2010, 05:32 PM	#15
IDarko Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: The Netherlands	I totally hate this idea. Because I want my charakter to be how I want him to be. If I want an young warrior, I want him to stay young. If I want him to look like me, I want him to stay like that. etc. I can only see this work as an optional thing. But also with limited options.

Mar 07, 2010, 07:27 PM	#17
Voltomey Steelfang Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Guild Hall	i wouldn't mine if my character grew some facial hair and could get scars during his adventures but if his face aged in a certain way that made me want to delete him i would be very unhappy

Mar 08, 2010, 12:48 AM	#18
Olvi Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Finland	Meh...I age IRL, I'd rather not do it ingame. I don't really see the point in character aging in an MMO, other than typing /age to see how much time has been spent on the character. It's more or less the same thing, it just doesn't feature any physical changes...besides, a year or two hardly means anything to a person anyway when it comes to look. If you look a lot older after 2 years have passed then well...something must be horribly wrong.

Mar 08, 2010, 12:50 AM	#19
Corsair Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Above you!	Olvi, the ingame speed is faster than out of game, so while one year may pass here, 4 years may pass ingame, depending on the day/night cycle speed.