Is there something like a Best Costume competition in the game?

[temnix]

I might have just never run into this feature, but is there some system that lets players display their characters' costumes and others judge them and rate them? In the game world, I mean. I'll assume that there isn't, and then tailors could handle it. It might work this way. A player submits a costume for view, on a rotating dais as usual, for a certain fee in Inf. This saves a snapshot of the costume - the player can still change it as he likes. Other players using the system get only so many approval points to distribute between several categories such as Originality (clever use of details, unusual combinations and meanings from their use), Appeal (sexiness, awesomeness, cuteness, seriousness...), Theme (how devoted the costume is on expressing something), Elegance (the ineffable harmony of a suit done just right), Humor (high, low, weird), Immersiveness (whether in the setting of CoH or some other setting, profession or occupation represented), Simplicity (the fewest or apparently the fewest number of elements used for a good result) and Complication (the greatest or apparently the greatest agglomeration of every damn addition- for a good result).

 

The limit on the number of approval points would be to avoid situation of "five stars all-around" ratings that don't mean anything, and there would be no Best Costume overall. Instead players would assign, for example, 4 points to Elegance and 3 to Originality to prop up the costume, give it a chance to compete in both rosters, or perhaps all 7 to Originality to underscore how uniquely bright the idea is. There would then be lists of top raters. All points would indicate a strength, and there would be no way to downvote a costume (if you don't like it, scroll to one you do or leave). Besides points there would be special qualities that players could pick for a costume, little mini-badge-like claims to tag and make about it such as "Very Lifelike," "Totally CoH," "This Is the Robot," "Aquatic Perfection," "Convincing Ordinary Guy/Gal," "Pocket-D Dancefloor," "Color Triangle Defeated," "Effective Accessories," "I Have Seen This Before," "Variation On an NPC", "Much Too Sexy," "Definitely Random" and so on. Some of these, as you can see, would represent critical opinions, but there would be competitions in all of these categories as well. A costume could win in the "Much Too Sexy" category, for instance, and puritans would rest satisfied they have denounced vice, but the winner might feel differently. Noble, Ignoble... Some victories could be unexpected and instructive for the author of the costume. Getting "I Have Seen This Before" might make one think.

 

At winning all of the mini-badges would be converted into actual badges with similar titles, optional, of course, like all badges, while victories in the point categories would carry a full enormous glorious perpetual title - meaning until the next competition, and more modest font afterwards. Spacing out the event would give players more time to elaborate on their submissions. Precautions to avoid duplicate entries and so on are obvious, I won't expand on them. And, since gambling makes better everything worth engaging in to begin with, there would be prizes in Inf - the pooled totals of entry fees of all losers in a category. A player would be able to submit a costume either as a prize runner or for glamour display. In the former case the entry fee would go to the winner, in the latter - refunded. Tighter competition would mean higher potential rewards, especially if Homecoming multiplies all bets by 1.25 or 1.5 for the prize pot. There could be bonus prizes from Homecoming too, naturally, a shower of freebies, but in my experience that sort of thing is an artificial booster that never feels true. Let people become involved themselves for real. Chances for fame would be better. For example, the current winners in the point categories (let's call them Largo and the mini-badges Petto; the Syndicate runs this outfit, capiche?) could appear on hologram screens, projectors and pages of newspapers being read by NPC across Paragon City, the Rogue Isles and Praetoria - on the back page, granted, but it is still something. There could even be some sort of grand prize like dressing Longbow in the costume of a winner in two or more categories for a week.

Edited February 19 by temnix

[Oubliette_Red]

No badges and should never be for costume contests. Anyone who badges can tell you why pinning badges to other peoples' opinions is a bad idea.

 

[sbloyd]

....and yet we have custom titles for it.

[Oubliette_Red]

1 hour ago, sbloyd said:

....and yet we have custom titles for it.

 

Which are usually temporary.

[Coyotedancer]

There aren't enough /jrangers in the WORLD to express how bad an idea I think it would be to *ever* tie any badge to public judgement...  Opinions on costumes are very subjective, and that's a Bad Thing when it comes to completionist-prone collectible items.

 

So,,, no. Bad idea.

[Rudra]

Just join a costume contest and be happy if you win. That's my take. Too much subjectivity. I still remembering losing a costume contest because the judges thought I wasn't using enough costume elements. So I listed out for them every costume element I had and pointed out it was impossible to have more costume elements than I was using. To be told "your costume isn't good enough for not using enough parts" when in fact the costume has something from absolutely every costume section (including all possible details) is a good example for why I think having others rate your costume for badges is not a good idea.

 

(Edit: And the person that won? Was using the default Roman costume set in a flat, monochromatic yellow. So yeah, costume contests for fun? Sure. For badges? No.)

Edited February 20 by Rudra

[temnix]

I'm surpised and amused. What is it with you people and badges? You tremble over them as if they are the golden goose from the castle in the sky. Getting them, failing to get them... Who cares? There are plenty to go around. And if not everybody can get all of them, well, something like this is an opportunity for a few to get them. Try, and you may be in their number. Subjective judgments? Sure, but that's true for any competition, especially in fashion, and they are not completely arbitrary. If people admire your character, there is a reason, and if they shrug or roll eyes, that's for a reason too. And as you can see from my details, this is not a "most liked costume overall, putting down all others" contest. There would be many concurrent categories, a couple even mutually exclusive, in addition to the Petto tallies. If your costume gathers few points in Complexity, as far as its look goes (if you used patterns and small pieces much, they may not stand out, but there should be a zoom button), you may win in Simplicity. The points have to go somewhere in this system.

 

And if people do crave badges so, then it's an excellent bait to catch them with. Here is another possible reward: NPC in Pocket-D will be serving customers wearing hologram versions of the winning costume. Even better, have tailors offer all players a free power that lets them try on the current top costumes in every category. Wear them, imitate them. Taut Couture.

 

P. S. The other Italian name should be Grosso, not Largo. My bad.

[Rudra]

12 minutes ago, temnix said:

I'm surpised and amused. What is it with you people and badges? You tremble over them as if they are the golden goose from the castle in the sky. Getting them, failing to get them... Who cares? There are plenty to go around. And if not everybody can get all of them, well, something like this is an opportunity for a few to get them. Try, and you may be in their number. Subjective judgments? Sure, but that's true for any competition, especially in fashion, and they are not completely arbitrary. If people admire your character, there is a reason, and if they shrug or roll eyes, that's for a reason too. And as you can see from my details, this is not a "most liked costume overall, putting down all others" contest. There would be many concurrent categories, a couple even mutually exclusive, in addition to the Petto tallies. If your costume gathers few points in Complexity, as far as its look goes (if you used patterns and small pieces much, they may not stand out, but there should be a zoom button), you may win in Simplicity. The points have to go somewhere in this system.

 

And if people do crave badges so, then it's an excellent bait to catch them with. Here is another possible reward: NPC in Pocket-D will be serving customers wearing hologram versions of the winning costume. Even better, have tailors offer all players a free power that lets them try on the current top costumes in every category. Wear them, imitate them. Taut Couture.

 

P. S. The other Italian name should be Grosso, not Largo. My bad.

You are just so confusing to try and understand. "Let's have badges for costume contests!" "Why are you people so fixated on badges?!"

[temnix]

10 minutes ago, Rudra said:

You are just so confusing to try and understand. "Let's have badges for costume contests!" "Why are you people so fixated on badges?!"

 

Badges are nice to have.

[Rudra]

6 minutes ago, temnix said:

 

Badges are nice to have.

Badges should have an objective measure to get. Costume contests and bio contests are not objective measures. (Edit: Anything that is a goal with a reward should have a replicable, non-subjective means of accomplishing. Relying on others to rate you is not objective and cannot be replicated between contests.)

Edited February 20 by Rudra

[Oubliette_Red]

26 minutes ago, temnix said:

 

Badges are nice to have.

 

To quote a recent post of the subject.

 

50 minutes ago, temnix said:

What is it with you people and badges?

 

[temnix]

Everybody is free to express his opinion, but I'm developing this idea for developers' eyes. I hope they pick this up, even with alterations, though I don't think that much needs to be changed about what I wrote so far. The last part to consider for me is how to involve players in reviewing others' costumes. They may be motivated to enter their own, but something needs to be done to get them into the role of critics. I think that can be done if they were required to vote on others' creations before being allowed to submit theirs, as follows. First, the interested player must have the starting entry fee, something fairly small, like 1000 Inf. If he has enough, he does not pay yet, but the system invites him to review 10 submitted costumes, drawn from the database of submissions so far. (For the eyes of the very first players coming in, a random selection can be rolled up and proceed to participate in the contest - Homecoming acting as "the house," so to speak. Being random without tweaks, they usually wouldn't be very good. With more player-made concepts coming in house concepts not yet voted on would drop out.)

 

The costumes are then shown one by one, and the player may not leave the screen for 15 seconds. This is the minimum time to give even a cursory glance to a costume, distribute the points between the categories in the Grosso format and, if he feels like it, pick a mini-badge (tag) in the Petto format. I don't yet know how to motivate people to participate in Petto, except that they can only themselves win in Petto if they have given others these labels. The Petto titles are supposed to be chosen only if a costume is remarkable in some way and deserves to be called "Perfect Aquatic" or "I Have Seen This Before." Either way the player can proceed to the next costume and evaluate it too. Submissions are anonymous, naturally. Investing 150 straight seconds should be enough of a discouragement for would-be spammers and frauds. Only when the review is done does the player get to pay 1000 Inf and submit a costume - or, awed by others' submissions, or perhaps inspired by them, retreat and improve or scrap his concept. Players are allowed to submit more than one costume under the same rules, but every time the entrance fee doubles. This is still a small amount at first, but, as in that old Indian tale about the invention of chess, it grows quickly, so even billionaires won't get to buy this election. They are welcome to try, though, and their Inf will give them a little edge in visibility, but add much more to the winning pot. It is allowed to review concepts without submitting one's own as well, but not for free.

 

Here we get to badges again. Winners would get some, but only by reviewing others' costume could one start working towards a Critic badge. Petto involvement would count towards this as well. There isn't already a Critic badge, is there? It would take judging many costumes - a form of peacenik grinding, so to speak. Make fad, not war. There could be two different Critic Badges for the two formats: for Petto the Petty Critic (I would like that over my character's name), and for Grosso I don't know, maybe something very long in German, from the vocabulary of aesthetics. Or just something very long. How about...

Frühlingsgefühle

This is a great word used to describe a feeling of excitement for nice weather during the Spring, just as the sun is coming out, the trees are green and the flowers blossom.

[Rudra]

11 minutes ago, temnix said:

Everybody is free to express his opinion, but I'm developing this idea for developers' eyes. I hope they pick this up, even with alterations, though I don't think that much needs to be changed about what I wrote so far. The last part to consider for me is how to involve players in reviewing others' costumes. They may be motivated to enter their own, but something needs to be done to get them into the role of critics. I think that can be done if they were required to vote on others' creations before being allowed to submit theirs, as follows. First, the interested player must have the starting entry fee, something fairly small, like 1000 Inf. If he has enough, he does not pay yet, but the system invites him to review 10 submitted costumes, drawn from the database of submissions so far. (For the eyes of the very first players coming in, a random selection can be rolled up and proceed to participate in the contest - Homecoming acting as "the house," so to speak. Being random without tweaks, they usually wouldn't be very good. With more player-made concepts coming in house concepts not yet voted on would drop out.)

 

The costumes are then shown one by one, and the player may not leave the screen for 15 seconds. This is the minimum time to give even a cursory glance to a costume, distribute the points between the categories in the Grosso format and, if he feels like it, pick a mini-badge (tag) in the Petto format. I don't yet know how to motivate people to participate in Petto, except that they can only themselves win in Petto if they have given others these labels. The Petto titles are supposed to be chosen only if a costume is remarkable in some way and deserves to be called "Perfect Aquatic" or "I Have Seen This Before." Either way the player can proceed to the next costume and evaluate it too. Submissions are anonymous, naturally. Investing 150 straight seconds should be enough of a discouragement for would-be spammers and frauds. Only when the review is done does the player get to pay 1000 Inf and submit a costume - or, awed by others' submissions, or perhaps inspired by them, retreat and improve or scrap his concept. Players are allowed to submit more than one costume under the same rules, but every time the entrance fee doubles. This is still a small amount at first, but, as in that old Indian tale about the invention of chess, it grows quickly, so even billionaires won't get to buy this election. They are welcome to try, though, and their Inf will give them a little edge in visibility, but add much more to the winning pot. It is allowed to review concepts without submitting one's own as well, but not for free.

 

Here we get to badges again. Winners would get some, but only by reviewing others' costume could one start working towards a Critic badge. Petto involvement would count towards this as well. There isn't already a Critic badge, is there? It would take judging many costumes - a form of peacenik grinding, so to speak. Make fad, not war. There could be two different Critic Badges for the two formats: for Petto the Petty Critic (I would like that over my character's name), and for Grosso I don't know, maybe something very long in German, from the vocabulary of aesthetics. Or just something very long. How about...

Frühlingsgefühle

This is a great word used to describe a feeling of excitement for nice weather during the Spring, just as the sun is coming out, the trees are green and the flowers blossom.

And if every person submits just one costume, that is 3,195 costumes to review at current online population (from server status), or just 1.386 for just the Excelsior server. And then you have players that have multiple costumes per character. And you have players that have multiple characters. And you even have players with multiple characters each with multiple costumes. And from that, just 12 will be randomly selected for review, or the 3,195 entries for them to page through and then (hopefully) give an unbiased, honest, critical review, so that 1 person in each category can get a badge. No thanks.

[Ghost]

26 minutes ago, Rudra said:

And if every person submits just one costume, that is 3,195 costumes to review at current online population (from server status), or just 1.386 for just the Excelsior server. And then you have players that have multiple costumes per character. And you have players that have multiple characters. And you even have players with multiple characters each with multiple costumes. And from that, just 12 will be randomly selected for review, or the 3,195 entries for them to page through and then (hopefully) give an unbiased, honest, critical review, so that 1 person in each category can get a badge. No thanks.

1386 entrants.

Forced to spend 15sec looking at each one, would be almost 6 hours

 

lolol

 

 

[Rudra]

17 minutes ago, Ghost said:

48 minutes ago, Rudra said:

And if every person submits just one costume, that is 3,195 costumes to review at current online population (from server status), or just 1.386 for just the Excelsior server. And then you have players that have multiple costumes per character. And you have players that have multiple characters. And you even have players with multiple characters each with multiple costumes. And from that, just 12 will be randomly selected for review, or the 3,195 entries for them to page through and then (hopefully) give an unbiased, honest, critical review, so that 1 person in each category can get a badge. No thanks.

1386 entrants.

Forced to spend 15sec looking at each one, would be almost 6 hours

 

lolol

 

And if it was for all players with a single costume for a single character across just the US servers? That's 13.3125 hours if they have to spend 15 seconds reviewing each costume and get moved automatically to the next costume at the end of those 15 seconds. Before you even get to alternate costumes for just that one character (because there are other categories to be judged in to try to win on that character), additional characters from each player, the players not currently online that also make submissions for their chance(s) at those badges and rewards, any new players that join and decide they also want to try for those badges and rewards. That is a very... cumbersome... process for just a few people to be able to get a badge.

[Akisan]

For nifty, semi-persistent gold/silver/bronze titles for the current 1st/2nd/3rd place on this? Sure.

 

For badges awarded by subjective preference? We already have one - Fashion Victim, and there's a reason it has an alternate way to get it.