Incentivize Decorations

[Sevenless]

Let me simplify. Decorations = useless content. Useless content = bad. Fix = add reason to use decorative shit. Game mechanic > game aesthetic.

That's kind of a watery argument though. Any form of graphics, or colour modifications, hairstyles, visual differences in clothing. All of those are "useless". And yet people like them.

I don't think you understand how players other than yourself view the game.

[DonVelD]

Let me simplify. Decorations = useless content. Useless content = bad. Fix = add reason to use decorative shit. Game mechanic > game aesthetic.

Let me simplify. Bad content = bad content. Forcing people to use the bad content = bad. Fix = not adding anything to it? Not doing anything > fucking it up even further.

[ThorleifCleaver]

Let me simplify. Decorations = useless content. Useless content = bad. Fix = add reason to use decorative shit. Game mechanic > game aesthetic.

Let me simplify. Bad content = bad content. Forcing people to use the bad content = bad. Fix = not adding anything to it? Not doing anything > fucking it up even further.

You've made a lovely argument for freezing all development. Which, frankly, is what happens when the developers focus on aesthetics over mechanics/content you can actually engage with in a meaningful way. Trial and error is a thing, you know. But, again, I don't particularly care how the decorative content is integrated, so long as it has at least some functionality. The igloo is nice, in a sense, but I recall far more people being interested in the road building tweaks.

[DonVelD]

You've made a lovely argument for freezing all development. Which, frankly, is what happens when the developers focus on aesthetics over mechanics/content you can actually engage with in a meaningful way. Trial and error is a thing, you know. But, again, I don't particularly care how the decorative content is integrated, so long as it has at least some functionality. The igloo is nice, in a sense, but I recall far more people being interested in the road building tweaks.

I'd rather get updates on fixing fun but broken content rather than trying to add functionality to purely cosmetic stuff. Y'know, the updates don't add anything meaningful at the moment so it'd be nice to at least get something (that wouldn't take them ages to do/balance). It'd be the realms all over again.

[ThorleifCleaver]

You've made a lovely argument for freezing all development. Which, frankly, is what happens when the developers focus on aesthetics over mechanics/content you can actually engage with in a meaningful way. Trial and error is a thing, you know. But, again, I don't particularly care how the decorative content is integrated, so long as it has at least some functionality. The igloo is nice, in a sense, but I recall far more people being interested in the road building tweaks.

I'd rather get updates on fixing fun but broken content rather than trying to add functionality to purely cosmetic stuff. Y'know, the updates don't add anything meaningful at the moment so it'd be nice to at least get something (that wouldn't take them ages to do/balance). It'd be the realms all over again.

I'm in agreement. I'm just including all the various cosmetic additions into the larger issue. They aren't broken since they don't do anything anyway, but functionless and broken are both pretty far from the functional I'd prefer to see.

I understand people like cosmetic stuff. I myself have a very beautiful chess set gifted after winning a tournament. But I don't know many chess players who look forward to playing because of how pretty the set is. They play because the game's mechanics are extremely engaging. That's what keeps people coming back. Obviously chess has a tight set of mechanics and games like this are very different, but I'm convinced that having more systems to play around with is a good thing.

Snail's criticism was that what I suggested would make dicking with decorations mandatory, and that is certainly true for extremely competitive groups. I'm not sure I agree with his point--not that he's wrong, but it seems like engaging with mandatory tedium to be competitive is baked into the game--but it is a fair point. That doesn't mean that some kind of practical value shouldn't be attached to the various categories of content in the game.

[SnuggleSnail]

seems like engaging with mandatory tedium to be competitive is baked into the game

You don't need to be competitive for something to feel mandatory. There are a lot fewer LARPers than people who don't like having their time wasted by being intentionally bad at something. How many people are running around late world eating dried fish because they just like fishing? No-fucking-body.

Also, it seems kinda mean to fuck over the few people who actually do enjoy decorating their bases by forcing them to meta-game decorating bonuses.

[Clemins]

There is currently no real purpose to building decorations.

Isn't decorating the point of decorations?

I understand people like cosmetic stuff. I myself have a very beautiful chess set gifted after winning a tournament. But I don't know many chess players who look forward to playing because of how pretty the set is.

So if chess plays just fine the way it is, why should a more "decorative" chess set (aka Haven) come with special game altering mechanics?

[Zentetsuken]

what about people who create anime paving art?

how do we incentivize decorating but punish those that deserve it at the same time?

[terechgracz]

The best way to incentivize decorations is to take out chore as game mechanic so players will have more time to socialize and decorate.

[ThorleifCleaver]

what about people who create anime paving art?

how do we incentivize decorating but punish those that deserve it at the same time?

My point mostly regarded pieces of content with no function other than decoration, i.e., bell fountains, etc. Paving art is very interesting and doesn't really need incentive, since, aside from seeing it on the map, it can assist in organization, advertisement, communication, etc. Last world, Snugglesnail even enforced snail-themed paving art in his realm. Those are all meaningful ways to engage with the content. I suppose my complaint is with pieces of content that don't really have many, or any, ways to engage meaningfully, other than some light larping.

I mean, really, what would be better: twenty different versions of, say, the tower, all with different architectural styles, yet all with the same footprint and interior space, or object-controlled objects that let me build my tower to my own preferences? Twenty tower options would be interesting on one level, but I know I'd never bother to build them all, any more than I would bother to build every random decorative object or try every hairstyle or even mess much with variable materials intentionally.

Some might. But, I could easily argue that building a bell fountain or anything in the game is a form of tedium--gathering resources, moving stockpiles, etc. Tedium is balanced by reward. I get that some people find reward in digital feng shui, but it's probably worth noting that feng shui is supposed to have practical benefits from wealth to health. I suggested bonuses initially, but that's just a random suggestion. The point is, like paving art, to have multiple levels of engagement.

Anyway, I was just thinking it would be nice to have multiple reasons to engage with content I otherwise tend to ignore.