Statesman speaks at serious games summit

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I think there's some misinterpretation here - or my speech wasn't clear.

Let's take a look at costume creation. It's been embraced beyond belief by players...we have in game costume contests and events organized by you the players...Some say it's the best part of the game. The single most requested item in CoH is to make the costume creator standalone...

Intestingly, costumes have no gameplay value. They don't boost damage. They don't boost resistance. They don't boost defense. They're only for show.

Now, let's take a look at bases. Take away the teleporters, take away anything game related.

As just a resource for expressing something unique, base creation is on par tech wise with costume creation. Admittedly, there's not quite the same amount of textures, colors, etc., but there's still a lot of versatility. And the layout possibilities are endless.

But what's clear from this thread - and from many, many posts - is that bases are "too expensive". To me, that's interesting (as it is to the Serious Games crowd). Costume changes come with a minimal cost that no one really complains about, but we complain about the costs of bases. Evidently, the costs exceed the perceived value of creating one's own HQ (btw, I confess that many other games have the notion of personal property, but aside from Second Life, I don't think they offer as much customizability as our bases).

Let's turn to the idea of an architect. We foresaw that some people would feel alienated if they weren't the architect. That's why some things (Personal Items) can be "crafted" by individuals and placed in the base. But even if there's an architect: many super groups have a member who designed a single costume which all then use. In other words, they're more than willing to accept someone else's opinion in the group identity for their avatar appearance. Again, the primary difference is cost (I think).

That's what the point of the talk was. I completely agree with many of the suggestions raised in the Base Construction forum, as well as one's mentioned here, would improve Bases to some degree or another. Posi and I go through them at length; really, it's just a question of time & resources. Some things would take astronomically long to do - or perhaps there's something else even more requested or popular.

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Costumes = Bases?

Um...no.

It is not necessary to spend a dime on costumes for the entire run of a hero or villain. It can be set up at the beginning and never changed. Besides...costume tokens are handed out like candy at Halloween, further reducing the overall cost.

Bases? Those cost. Oh yes...they cost.

1) Initial cost of the base. If that was the only cost associated with a base, it wouldn't be bad. I think most of us would be ok with, and even expect costs with changing base layout and such. So no problem there.

2) Rent. OK, we have to pay rent/mortgage in the real world, so doing so in a game might add to the realism. But it's a pretty high cost that we have to pay in game. My SG's monthly base rent is about 150K/mo., which I understand is actually relatively small. Now...that's not influence...that's prestige. And the prestige gained per defeat or mission is really very small. So this requires a LOT of SG activity. Fortunately, we have a fairly active SG, but I feel for the casual player that just wants his own little "batcave". It's simply not possible in this game.

3) And probably the biggest: No Inf - We have to choose to get influence/infamy OR prestige. This means that every point of inf NOT gained by a hero/villain can be counted in as the cost of the base, since that's the only thing the prestige is used for. Now add that up over all the people in the SG, and we are talking tens, if not hundreds, of millions per SG.

So yeah...they are VERY expensive.

The costumes are shared and shown off to everyone, our bases aren't visible to the community.