Guild Wars 2

Something that I’ve always struggled to understand, is the way MMO’s have always handled animations. From swinging a sword, to casting a spell, dancing up a storm, or merely standing idle, the animations all seem to be segregated by race/gender.

Go outside (in real life), turn on the TV, or just people-watch for a bit. Everyones mannerisms are different. No two people stand quite the same. Individuals dancing can be anywhere from hilarious to horrifying. Unfortunately/Thankfully not a lot of people run around in public whipping around a Zweihander, but if they did, their individual swings would be different as well.

The point I’m getting at is, instead of having a set animation on a per race/gender basis, why not create the ability to customize your characters movements to suit your personal taste?

Each character would start only with their default animations. But in the same way we can transmute gear to customize our look, or collect dyes to color our armor, we could be able to unlock new animation types. You could even pick and choose, mix and match. Do you like the Norn Male idle stance, but the Human Male Greatsword stance? No problem! Want to add the Human Female dance into that mix? Probably not… but you could!

Animations could be a reward from: Major Events, Achievements, Random Drops (scrolls that teach ‘fighting styles’), Discoverable challenges on the Map, Black Lion Chests.

I understand that sometimes, certain models do not handle certain animations well. Clipping may occur. The Charr present the biggest problem, but the Asura might run across some trouble too. That’s where racial specific animations come in to play. Another limitation might be that you have to pick a single animation on a per-weapon basis, due to the way the swings flow and chain, and transition to and from a running, idle, and swinging stance.

Regardless, this would add a HUGE level of character customization not often seen in other MMOs, clear up 99% of animation complaints, and has the added benefit of turning a profit.

Because, ANet, if you need some incentive…. well just remember your Gem Market. You can also create and sell unique animations, or short-cuts to unlock standard animations. Anything that’s purely cosmetic is fair game for the Gem Market as far as many players are concerned.
Cha-ching, amirite?

do you happen to read or watch sword art online?

that is the ideal game(dream game) that gamers and developers want, a total costumization according to players abilities,

i hope in the next 20 years it is invented, and hopefully im still in good shape to play that

from what i understand, getting the animations (atleast for humans) is done via recording an actual person doing those actions and transferring those actions on to the skeleton of the character model. Seeing as they’re only going to have one person do it per race and gender, the models are going to be the same for every one. and that’s the simpler way of doing it. If it’s entirely animating the actions just on the computer, then its even more difficult to give variation, seeing as each action has to be individually crafted to be perfect, having that for several types of animations is way more work than they’ll get out of it.

I’m waiting for the day where we can plug ourselves into a matrix type environment (without the added risk of dying if you die in game). It might be possible for it to be invented within the next 20 years, but i doubt that it’s first incarnation will be for civilian use (i’m looking at you, military).