Guild Wars 2

I know it’s a big ask, but I’d really like to see ArenaNet implement something along the lines of the Steam Workshop for Guild Wars 2, where users are invited to design and submit cosmetic items for the game, and the developers pick some of them to implement in future updates.

You’d be effectively outsourcing some of the work for free, and my experience of game userbases is that there’s a heck of a lot of talent and imagination to be plundered. It would lead to a potentially far greater variety of available ‘looks’ for player’s characters.

If it was successful, you could even – dare I say it – extend the idea to user-generated map content, so that updates bring whole new areas to explore. The in-story explanation could be the Asura developing gates that lead to parallel universes where Tyria has developed differently.

I’d love to see this. I mod Skyrim extensively and have often gazed longingly at the GW2 engine and dreamed of the content I could create with it.

That said, I’d place this at the absolute bottom of the “likely-to-happen” list. MMORPG + User generated content = … well, have you seen what flies around the sky in Second Life?

That said, one thing that might be doable (and pretty cool) would be some kind of home district customization. Even a trophy case you could show off to other people would be something…

I don’t understand how exactly this can be done, but the idea is innovative.

Ronah.2869:

I don’t understand how exactly this can be done, but the idea is innovative.

Competitions?

For EotN, they had a competition to create different unique weapon skins for the pre-order, and the winners had it put into the game.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Glacial_Blade
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Hourglass_Staff
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Darksteel_Longbow

Personally, a couple of competitions for unique weapons / armour / Named Mobs for new patches would probably appeal to enough of the community to make it worth while.

Ronah.2869:

I don’t understand how exactly this can be done, but the idea is innovative.

There’s lots of 3D modelling software out there. ArenaNet would just need to release the base player models so that people could import them and test out their creations on them. In the Steam Workshop, users can upload images of their creations for the playerbase to discuss and vote on.

For map designs, they’d have to open the code up to a degree, but that wouldn’t make it a free-for-all because players can’t run their own servers. The only playable content would still have to be approved and implement by ArenaNet – they’d just have to spend less time actually making the stuff.

This kind of thing has done wonders for the longevity of Team Fortress 2 – probably more than half the new cosmetic content in that game is now user-generated, and its indistinguishable in standards from what the pros come up with.

Thank you guys, for the replies. I see now where you going with this. Pretty cool. But still A-Net should have “the final word” on what is put into the game to keep the limits withing the design styles

I’d love it if they’d go this route.

For Oblivion I made at least 60 or 70 different sets of armor that ended up being widely used by that community, and then in OpenSim I’ve made countless outfits for both male and female characters that have become widely used. It’s something I really enjoy doing and I take a lot of pride in doing it right…I can’t even begin to total the number of hours I’ve happily spent tweaking things until they’re as close to perfect as I can make them…and all for free!

Needless to say, for these purposes user creations would need to be submitted to A-Net and would only be implemented if they meet whatever guidelines/criteria. Contests, or whatever would provide some nice incentive; and as the OP says, you’d likely get some excellent work done for no cost whatsoever (most creators would probably be content with a public “thanks for making this, [username]” and maybe a free set of their creation in the in-game mail.

Since there’s a distinct lack of town clothes, maybe just open it up for that initially to see how it goes? Show a concept art piece or two and see what your players come up with.

One area that particularly intrigues me is the possibility of doing work with creative alpha mapping of fabrics on some of the existing styles to allow for semi-sheer panels — something that’s virtually non-existent in the game (perhaps for technical reasons?) — for an almost Arabian Nights themed set of gear…nothing “revealing” of course. I hope, even if you don’t go the user-creation route, you’ll consider some styles that aren’t all-or-nothing fabrics.

BTW…if you think that the models, rigging, texturing, etc that you’re using for your in-house stuff is too difficult of non-pros to work with, think again. Most enthusiasts look at learning these aspects of design as being at least half the fun of doing it at all, and if the work they produce doesn’t meet your standards, don’t accept it. I’m willing to bet that after an initial learning curve (that might require a small amount of technical support/advice from your pros) you’ll have 100 or more very competent people making some truly exquisite pieces for you…

Simple user generated content, like custom weapon/armor design contests would be nice.

However, I would like ANet to go further and let users at LEAST design DEs and, further along, have dungeon building contests.

All very cool ideas — as long as Anet got final approval to prevent abuse.

EQ2 added some kind of dungeon maker too. You would get items as loot that you could add to your personal dungeon and other players could encounter your dungeon and rate it.

User-generated content is the future… but creating a framework for it it’s a lot of work. Specially for MMOs.

It’ll have to be fully instanced content. And it’ll need a way to make sure people do not use them to generate easily farmable enemy encounters.

MithranArkanere.8957:

It’ll have to be fully instanced content. And it’ll need a way to make sure people do not use them to generate easily farmable enemy encounters.

Surely, all the problems go away once you create a ‘gateway’ of approval at ArenaNet. The development tool for creating maps/stories would only let you test it, not actually run it with your characters. After submitting/showing off your work on Youtube or through a Steam Workshop-like system, ANet would select a few items every month to implement into the proper game.

Keep in mind that for every holiday celebration they’ve had competitions to design the headgear awarded for participation at the end of the event in Guild Wars 1. They’ve also had similar competitions for weapons periodically, including just before the release of EOTN.
I would not be surprised if this is a tradition they plan on continuing in the future as the game becomes more stable, because lets face it, they’re probably stressing about executing the upcoming holidays as seamlessly as possible.