Aging Clothes

[adrift]

I think it would be a great idea to have clothes that wear down over time. It seems rather unrealistic that you can wear the same silk clothes set for months and have the appearance of being rich, without paying for the cost of what it would take to maintain silk clothes in top condition.

[Patuk]

I think it would be a great idea to have clothes that wear down over time. It seems rather unrealistic that you can wear the same silk clothes set for months and have the appearance of being rich, without paying for the cost of what it would take to maintain silk clothes in top condition.

This.

So much this.

Not only would this make the game more realistic, I think it might also make it easier on people with crafting skills.

[Sav]

I've been on games with clothing decay, and as long as it was set to a reasonable rate (not wear clothes one day = lol now they're rags) it made for a nice visible caste/wealth marker, and extra IC work for whoever could do the repairs.

I have no idea how much coding work it would require, but I like the idea. Sturdier materials like sandcloth should decay more slowly and be cheaper to repair, enforcing them as the better choice for active PCs without a ton of coin.

[Yam]

Silk garments wouldn't decay in the (comparatively) pristine environment most nobles inhabit. Heavy overcloaks are usually worn outside in sandstorms, so that wouldn't be much of a factor.

Regular clothes already get dirty as fuck if you do outdoorsy stuff. Silk clothes will get shredded, tattered, and stained very quickly if they're put through any sort of rigorous use. That's already coded in.

[Patuk]

It's also laughably easy to clean off any kind of mess made on your perfect silken clothing when things happen to it.

[adrift]

Silk garments wouldn't decay in the (comparatively) pristine environment most nobles inhabit. Heavy overcloaks are usually worn outside in sandstorms, so that wouldn't be much of a factor.

Regular clothes already get dirty as fuck if you do outdoorsy stuff. Silk clothes will get shredded, tattered, and stained very quickly if they're put through any sort of rigorous use. That's already coded in.

Silk worn constantly will certainly wear down. Nobles have the luxury of either buying a new set or getting the minor wear fixed, but not every "rich" commoner would be able to afford it.

I would think regularly having to scrub the stains/blood from even regular clothes would wear them down, and the only way you get 'tattered' clothes is if you get hit on the body part, and most city-dwelling commoners would not get hit enough to realistically get that tag.

Maybe make the process of cleaning your clothes provide a chance to age clothes? The more often you get dirty and have to clean your clothes, the more chances your clothes will age and wear down.

[musashi]

As long as repairing clothing were available as a skill to players I would be all for it. But if it's like tailoring to change clothing size and it just becomes one more trip to an NPC vendor who only lives inside cities ... meh. No thank you.

[X-D]

I hate anything that forces micro manage of minutia. All that stuff is what my PC does when he becomes a VNPC every time I log out. Fix, repair, clean, purchase new, at least on the everyday wear and tear. The exceptional wear is what I actually deal with.

As to nobles, how exactly do you know they are wearing the same item, I find it more likely that they have 50 of everything that they like to wear.

[musashi]

The other kinda funny part about the idea is that the poster seems to think this will make nobles have fresh clean silks and commoners have ratty ones .... when in the sad reality, indie commoners have so much more bank than nobles it will almost certainly be the other way around.

[Feco]

I think a nice compromise would be to have nice, non desert clothing degrade in the wastes, or under certain conditions not normally experienced in cities.  Maybe leave desert wear alone.

That would likely require a LOT of coding effort, though, so I'm not sure I could get behind pushing it as something the game desperately needs.

[Cind]

I've had boots, the starting newbie boots you get when starting in Allanak, age to appear "used". So I sort of just assumed everything aged. Was that sort of a more random thing, because I rarely have a pc that doesn't get stored or dies before a rl month is out.

[musashi]

Those boots count as armor, and armor is already coded to deteriorate with use and need repair (PC's can repair it with the proper skill ... I think anyway, unless the skill is buggy) or NPC armor smiths can do it on a ticket system like tailors do.

But armor doesn't just wear down with age. You have to get hit for it to wear down.

Clothing doesn't wear down like armor does, gradually, with use. But clothing can still get stained, bloodied, sweat soaked, burned, tattered, and even destroyed under the right circumstances.

The OP is proposing clothing that just gets worn down with the passage of time, I think.

[hatchets]

I hate anything that forces micro manage of minutia. All that stuff is what my PC does when he becomes a VNPC every time I log out. Fix, repair, clean, purchase new, at least on the everyday wear and tear. The exceptional wear is what I actually deal with.

As to nobles, how exactly do you know they are wearing the same item, I find it more likely that they have 50 of everything that they like to wear.

Genious, completely agree.

[jstorrie]

Yeah, I'm with X-D on this one. My PC takes care of that offline, along with sleeping and pooping.

[Majikal]

Yeah, I'm with X-D on this one. My PC takes care of that offline, along with sleeping and pooping.

[armandhammer]

I think the problem is more that people who don't fix their clothes while they poop have no way of representing this with a coded tag.

Ed: That isn't to say there aren't ways to do it that are fun to find out IC.

[Morrolan]

I like the idea of aging clothes. I further think that coding could make clothing degrade when hit, like armor. Only, most clothing would degrade faster when hit with a sword.

I have never liked the thought of being able to chew someone up with a blade, only to find that their shirt is magickally fine (and only a little bloody). It is way too DIKU for me.

But to return to the OP, I think that adding clothing wear that mirrors armor wear would be brilliant. Further, mirroring "armor repair" with "clothing repair" would be awesome.

Further adding a "sizing" command that works clothing size downwards or upwards a size would also be brilliant. It could just run off the armor repair and proposed clothing repair skills, and have a slim chance of wearing out the clothes a bit.

Now, I know that some people will suggest that this is too much time worrying about the fiddly little things in life. On the other hand, I think that much more common armor repair and clothing replacement will

• make life more interesting for crafters, who will be able to do more than sell to shops, work for houses, and dispense their monthly unique item,
• assist criminal investigations by making it just a little bit harder to cover up a murder (keen assassins will buy clothing in matched bulk, I am sure,
• add a touch more realism to fighting,
• make many people in silks think twice about fighting (oddly, people seem to care more about their items than their own precious skin), and
• do more to mark social class within the game, noting that nobles are people who have things done for them.

I like this idea. I think it would be an excellent addition to the clothing code. Slow wear of items over time (the OP's idea), plus the expected effects of getting a sword to the chest on your sandcloth shirt (my hijack).

[palomar]

While I like the idea of aging clothes, I think that a similar effect could be had by making clothing degrade when hit, like armor. Only most clothing would degrade faster.

I have never liked being able to chew someone up with a blade, only to find that their shirt is magickally fine (and only a little bloody).

Some cloth gets 'torn', but maybe that's just cloth armor.

[Synthesis]

It could be done well.  It could be done badly.  *shrug*

[tiptoe]

While I like the idea of aging clothes, I think that a similar effect could be had by making clothing degrade when hit, like armor. Only most clothing would degrade faster.

I have never liked being able to chew someone up with a blade, only to find that their shirt is magickally fine (and only a little bloody).

Some cloth gets 'torn', but maybe that's just cloth armor.

Silk gets torn pretty easily. I've had combat-oriented characters that wore silk and had to replace it quite often.

[boog]

I agree with the micromanaging. It's a fantasy game, grr.

And yes. I seem to recall one of tip's characters having to purchase new garments quite often!!

[ShaLeah]

I have hunderwares dating back to... maybe I won't use that anecdote.

I still have my arm sweatshirt and THAT is old as hell, and I have tshirts that are older than my oldest kid that are still white as hell and wearable.

Clothing lasts as long as you need it to. I'm Meh with this whole tihng.

I wouldn't mind if they removed the words new and used though.

[boog]

I have hunderwares dating back to... maybe I won't use that anecdote.

I still have my arm sweatshirt and THAT is old as hell, and I have tshirts that are older than my oldest kid that are still white as hell and wearable.

Clothing lasts as long as you need it to. I'm Meh with this whole tihng.

I wouldn't mind if they removed the words new and used though.

Hells yes. I was just staring in amazement the other day at a shirt I've had for 11 years still fitting and being rather healthy looking for 11 years old.

[Semper]

Put those clothes through that contraption in Allanak a couple times, in very low ph, and they'll wear down...

Just saying... 

[musashi]

While I like the idea of aging clothes, I think that a similar effect could be had by making clothing degrade when hit, like armor. Only most clothing would degrade faster.

I have never liked being able to chew someone up with a blade, only to find that their shirt is magickally fine (and only a little bloody).

Some cloth gets 'torn', but maybe that's just cloth armor.

Silk gets torn pretty easily. I've had combat-oriented characters that wore silk and had to replace it quite often.

So it sounds like this is already in game then.