I was talkiing with Desryn about this a little while ago, but I was thinking about helmets / head slot items in games, and why a lot of people choose to hide them.
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that, yes, people do want to see their character's face, but that's not the only reason.
I think a lot of helmet design in games doesn't account for character's hairstyles, and this goes for hoods and caps, too. Some games, like FFXIV, have setups where the bangs of the hair are preserved whenever you're wearing a hood, for instance. This can be done by having part of the hair on a toggle. You can setup multiple toggles per hairstyle (I've done this with my VRC avatar) that hide particular parts of the hair, so, for instance, if you equipped a hood, it would still show the front of the hair. People might be more incentivized to leave their helms enabled, if, for instance, their braids poked out from the back of the helmet, or their beard remained in place, that sort of thing. This is a nice middle ground - it's a little more work, but, well, the work can be done at the level of enabling different levels of hiding for hair/beards. That way, helmets can be designed around the different (non-player-activated) toggles, and configured with them, and it can speed up work, rather than tailoring each individiual hairstyle around each helmet. Which, of course, is a lot of work, and a reason why many MMORPGs prefer to not have helmets/hoods work that way. FFXIV also offers the /visor option, which raises the front visor of your helmet so your face can be seen, too. It's a nice little feature, and allows people to have that little bit of character customization to show through, but again, this is a little more work.
The big problem with hiding helmets, in my opinion, is that a lot of work goes into those helmet assets but people end up not seeing them a lot of the time because, well, they'd prefer for their hair and face to be seen. Of course, there are a lot of people who do enjoy wearing the helmets, too, I see a lot of players who enjoy leaving the helmets on, but they're easily the most hidden slot. It can be equally a waste of time to make a lot of helmets if everyone decides to hide them, too, which is really unfortunate, because artists put a lot of work into these assets.
Do you hide your helm, and if you do, why do you do it? If you do hide your helm, what steps could be taken to encourage you to not click that hide helm button? Would you prefer to see less helmets that are more customizable / able to be toggled and have your hair/face showing, or would you prefer to just see a lot more helmets in the game but have people hide them more often?
People don't get a haircut (or dress themselves for that matter) to stare at themselves in the mirror (3rd person) but instead to allow a form of self expression. I put a lot of work into designing my character for that reason. I also find that most helmets in games have poor designs in "my" opinion. I REALLY hope that we can hide our helmet/hoods so that I can determine how I want people to perceive my character. My avatar is a perfect example of "hidden" helm for the sake of not looking stupid... originally the DE Plate Helm was the absolute coolest helm in the game being a metalic skull with horns (looking super cool really encouraged me to continue playing the game even though the DE was not an optimal choice for a melee class in classic). 3 years into the game, they changed the helm appearance to look incredibly stupid (IMO) and I had no option other than show or hide.
Something that would encourage me to show my helm would be a transmog type of mechanic, but that would lead to a lot of other issues (if other slots were allowed to change appearance it would be a step in the opposite direction of PRotF's vision).
I won't play a class if it looks stupid (i.e. forced to wear moose antlers as a helmet or pauldrons covered in peacock feathers... )
I generally show head slot items if they complement my outfit or hair. But, most of the time, they do not. Then again, I am pretty dead set on style being more important than substance, with skill to makeup the difference. If an item would be an upgrade but only by a tiny margin, I would judge the appearance as a tipping factor and probably only use the (comparatively) ugly item if I'm doing something that just needs every ounce of min-max possible.
I very much enjoy hoods, but run into the same problem quite often that's being described in the OP: Helmets either don't look good, don't look good with your gear, or make your hairstyle meaningless (since they often just put a baldcap on your character when a helm or hood is on).
I'd love to see some options when it comes to hair style, and I'm guessing we'll be seeing more/new hair styles as they start to beef up their art team - so, if anything, the time is now to add some sort of additional customization here. While, yes, it is more work - I also get what you're saying: It's a lot of work to make those helms that many people will just hide in the first place. So, while it's a tough call, I would like VR to consider some kind of system like is described - where you can either show a piece of your hair style with a helm or hood on, or at least choose an "alternate" kind of generic style that works with most hoods & helms.
Vandraad said:No, I don't hide it because I play in 1st person. Also, I could not care less about looks..stats are what matters.
Thankfully artistic development is up to artists and not mathematicians, if it were, Pantheon would be a theoretical table-top game with pencil and paper, or at most a grey-boxed game.
Jobeson said: Helmets shouldn't be hidden in combat. The toggle needs to be tweaked to out of combat only for hiding the helmet.
I gotta ask, why does it make a lick of difference?
To answer the OP, I think showing my head makes my char. much more recognizable to my friends than when wearing a helmet. (Depending on circumstances I've often found name plates not showing up in crowded areas)
So I tend to leave the helm hidden, until I get one that I really like. Then I turn it on for a while, until I get bored with it and go back to showing my handsome face :)
I like to see my character, but not enough to want a toggle. I'm fine with the hoods/helmets being shown. Not seeing my face is not a big deal to me.
I hide my helmet because in every game I have ever played the helmets are just horrible looking. In my group of friends, the looks of helmets are so equally hated I just assumed everyone even the artist didn’t like them. Granted some are tolerable and maybe like .01% are good looking the rest are embarrassing.
Am I wrong do people actually like helmets looks?
I usually hide helmet, because in most MMOs, they are ugly or are too over-the-top, second only to shoulder pads :)
More importantly, though, is because, obviously (to me, anyway), the face of a character is pretty fundamental in its identity, and immersion is greatly enhanced by a sense of your character having its own identity.
The same as seeing characters' faces in a movie is pretty much vital to seeing/feeling those characters as 'real', I think it is very important in an MMO.
This is also connected to the reason I mostly play 3rd person in an MMO, when possible, since I want to see my character portrayed in the world and get as much a feeling for that situation being 'real' as possible, but not wanting to try and feel like *I* am *in* the world (first person), which never works as well for me.
I totally get that some folks play as if they *are* their character though and prefer first person. Either way, I think most care about what their character looks like though, whether *they* are looking at it all the time or not, so even if you're a first person player you might want to hide your helmet.
I get the whole weirdness of a helmet toggle not showing something you are 'wearing' and benefiting from, and, though I think, for identity and immersion, it's worth it, I would be fine with not having a toggle, or perhap a toggle, but your helmet goes on when you're in combat or something like that.
I do not care in any way about the *face*. Why should I? All I ever see while adventuring is the character's arse and the back of the head.
I do care about the hairdo. I spend a lot of time getting the best hair option I can and then getting the precise color that I think matches the race and class and backstory (if any).
dorotea said:I do not care in any way about the *face*. Why should I?...
Because that's what others see :) Even if you don't care or even see, most of the time, what you look like, others see it all the time you group up or pass them by, or whatever.
In a social game, like it or not, worried about it or not, what others see of your character will shape, to some extent, what they think of you, at least initially and then subconsciously forever, unless they know you IRL.
Even if you don't care, others do, and they will, subconsciously or not, react to some extent as if you are like them and do care, and so interpret your look as if you chose it and intend it to reflect your character or even you yourself.
I know it's a game and I get that lots of people don't care if there are minor misunderstandings of that kind *shrug*
I guess I'm saying, I *do* understand if you mean "why should I?", if you don't care what people think when they see your character, but if you mean "why should I?", but you *do* care how others react to your character, well, then, what I said above applies.
For me, being able to see faces and hair styles/color of my character and many of the others around me is very important for these reasons:
I hope that casters and most other classes that aren't front-line melee will have head items that offer equal or better stats as a helmet so that we will mostly not be in helmets. For instance, things like magic tiaras, crowns, headdress, etc. This is a better solution than a simple "hide helmet" toggle.
Whoever figures out a game engine that gives models flexibility and engineers a way to have rigid layers flatten out flexible layers so there is no clipping will finally solve the issue of helmets needing characters hair to switch to short / bald to prevent clipping.
Until that happens, I suggest hair styles should all have two models: one for no helmet and a second which is applied when a helmet is put on. The helmet version will flatten hair in helmet-covered areas and have the correct length and style sticking out below it. The same thing goes for hoods.
I spend very little time on what my toon looks like. I wear a helm that's visible because to me that's more "real." I also play almost exclusively first person for the same reason. It seems more real to me. I don't really care much what my armor looks like. What gives me the best stats is what I wear.
dorotea said:disposalist - I agree with what you say but I don't especially care what others think of my character's face. Unless it is especially grotesque I doubt anyone will care. I do spend 5 minutes on the face but it is the hair that matters.
I'm actually fine with your answer, but only because of the excessively weird amount you appear to care about hair! Hehe
FYI: I'm all for 'hairdressers' in MMOs, so you can change hair when you fancy, BUT of course this only makes your face that much more important for recognisability!
I usually hide my helm because most helmet graphics are horrible, and often disporportionate to the rest of the character.
That and people look wierd runing though town with their helmet on, like riding a motorcycle to the grocery store and wearing a helmet inside the whole time.
You're only in "combat" a short period of time of your in-game experience.
I follow the super simplistic and easiest method. If you don't like the way your helmet looks, take it off.
When you get to make things look exactly like you want, hide it, or change it's look with cosmetics it defeats of the purpose of wanting to upgrade your equipment. Not liking something is an incentive to update it. It's really that simple to keep players engaged with your game.