WRUP: PAX for some, doom for others edition

This weekend, some of our writers are out enjoying the sights and sounds of PAX Prime in Seattle. On the other side of the country, some of our writers — including the one penning this particular feature — are preparing to get hit by a hurricane far outside of the realm where it has any business being. Tune in next week when Massively starts looking for a couple of necromancers to animate one group or the other, depending on how the weather and the convention goes. (PAX can get kind of crazy.)

In the meantime, let's kick off another installment of WRUP! As always, the Massively staffers will tell you what they'll be up to over the weekend and answer this week's bonus question of how important appearance tabs are to games. So jump on past the break to see our plans, and let us know what you'll be doing in the comments!

Beau Hindman (@Beau_Hindman): I'll be switching to Face of Mankind for my new Rise and Shiny. I'm excited because it claims to have been redeveloped with a better newbie experience including a free apartment. I enjoyed the game before, but the community bothered me with its non-RP chatter. That doesn't work in a game that supposedly "enforces" roleplay. Then I'll be getting some time in on finalizing my list of my top 25 games... most of which are now browser-based or tiny client games. It's crazy what I have come to.

Appearance options are honestly some of the most important options to me. I would rather have a weak, unique-looking character than a powerful character who wears the same thing as everyone else. I like looking different! It's nice to see World of Warcraft finally getting appearance tabs, but honestly the game's developers are always about six years behind everyone else. Still, it might even pull me back into the game for a bit.

Brandon Felczer (@bfelczer): This weekend I will be focusing my attention on ramping up a strong team and preparing for my Star Trek Online livestream of the third Borg STF, Khitomer Accord. I'll be streaming it next Friday, September 2nd, and am hoping to beat my best time of 80 minutes. I am also excited to be playing a new semi-MMO, Magic: The Gathering Online. I used to play the trading card game when I was a child and have renewed my interest in it by trying out the online version.

As far as appearance goes, it plays a huge part in Star Trek Online, since the game, at least on the Federation faction, is all about different races allying through Federation membership. It would be horrible to see just a few varieties of avatars running around. I love running around social zone and just people watching — there are some pretty interesting characters out there.

Brendan Drain (@nyphur): I'll be getting up to mischief in EVE Online this weekend and flying around nullsec snapping screenshots for upcoming articles. I'll also be paying attention to forum discussions on the upcoming nullsec revamp as I speculate on how EVE's territorial endgame will change.

I think appearance tabs are by definition non-essential, but more games should definitely have them. Playing dress-up is embarrassingly fun, and it's always a shame to upgrade gear to something that looks worse.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): I've got guests in town this weekend, but I'm hoping I can sneak in some small games. I have to admit, City of Heroes has been calling to me again, but I'll probably be back in Star Wars Galaxies first. The latter game has an expiration date.

I'm not a fan of looking like a hobo. All MMOs should have a-tabs or cosmetic gear, armor dyes, or some other form of detaching stats from appearance. No excuses.

Eliot Lefebvre: Friday evening through Saturday I'm going to be getting some time in with Final Fantasy XIV and trying to get work done ahead of time because who knows what's going to happen Sunday. I'm remaining hopeful but trying to plan ahead. So it's not exactly going to be a fun weekend.

Appearance tabs aren't entirely essential, but they show a certain level of care from the developers about your image of a character. It means that the game is focused on letting you determine what your character looks like, which is a major element of making the game immersive and interesting for a variety of players. Most of the arguments against them center around either discerning enemies in PvP or the art team's wanting to enforce a specific look, neither of which speaks to any particular care on the part of developers about how players feel regarding their characters.

Jeremy Stratton (@Jeremy_Stratton): Runes of Magic has slowed me way down, thanks to a hiccup in the economy. That means I'm off to raise my plant skill level and get some much-needed scheduling done for the event guild. I'll also be feverishly rating houses — and decorating mine to get published — in EverQuest II's new housing leaderboard.

I think I'm a bit spoiled, and maybe a little egotistical, but I think all MMOs should offer appearance customization the way Runes of Magic does. Having the ability to customize the way my character looks is essential.

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): With RIFT's six-month anniversary happening over the next week, I'd be a fool not to take advantage of the boosts while the event is going on. However... I've also signed back up for Fallen Earth, and every time I sit down to play a game, I feel the craving pulling me back into the wasteland. So it's a tough call.

Appearance tabs might not be essential, but like car air conditioners, people pretty much expect them nowadays. They strongly appeal to players' sense of individuality and are one of the few places in modern MMOs where personal creativity can be expressed within the game's systems. So, yeah, they should come standard.

Matt Daniel (@mvmatt): I'm playing the jet lag game, and as I write this I'm lying awake at 3:30 a.m. Seattle local time due to the fact that my mind is set to Central time and it's telling me that I should be awake. Got a really busy three days ahead of me, running around covering the entirety of PAX with Rubi, so I doubt I'll be playing much of anything, though I'm hoping to sneak some Dragon Nest and/or RIFT in when I have some spare time. Also, Minecraft.

As far as appearance tabs go, yeah, I think every game should have them, but I think there should be limitations on them. In PvP, your appearance tab options should be disabled so that other players can tell at a glance what kind of gear you're rocking in order to gauge what kind of a threat you are. But in PvE and such, appearance tabs are a must. As a roleplayer, I want to be able to wear equipment that looks nice and represents my character without sacrificing those precious stats that enable me to... you know... not suck. It's about time WoW got around to adding an appearance tab, since its armor is absolutely the worst culprit of "what the hell am I wearing" syndrome I've ever seen.

MJ Guthrie: Friends are all trickling back from vacations (and some illnesses), so I am up for taking advantage of the reduced cooldown timers on instances in Aion and running through everything I can. I swear I am the only person who can't get Stormwing gear to drop!! I also have been tackling carpentry in EverQuest II and hope to be making some fine furniture soon. Add in that Fallen Earth just invited me back for seven days and my weekend is pretty full up.

Appearance tabs are essential in my opinion (and better than things such as "skinning"). I honestly cannot stay enthused about a game that does not allow some form of individuality, specifically appearance. I am anti-carbon copy. I also love variety and seeing how everyone expresses themselves is very interesting.

As for the idea of appearance slots turning off on PvP, I have to completely disagree. You can't know the strength or training of a person just by his look; you won't know that some short guy is really a black belt that will pulverize you before you get in his face. If you think you are man (or woman) enough to take someone on, you should just deal with the consequences of your decision, not rely on the look of gear to tell you whether you are "safe" to attack or not.

Patrick Mackey (@mackeypb): World of Tanks for me, mostly. I may dabble in some other stuff. I've been tempted to play a few other games, but I doubt I'll do much of that this weekend. I expect to do a lot of logistics this weekend for my Rifts PnP game.

Are appearance tabs essential? I'd say yeah, probably. I personally don't care, but individualization is important for the average customer. If each character wearing a certain type of armor looks mostly the same as the next character in the same armor, that feels bad. Personally, I don't like them. I like to be able to identify enemies in PvP as threats based on the armor they are wearing, so it's all-around bad for me. Oh well, I guess?

At the start of every weekend, we catch up with the Massively staff members and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game — and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!