Speed Wings, and the Dangers of the New Hat Syndrome
by BONZO, HSM Editor
The New Hat Syndrome. Maybe it’s not a real term, so I am going to coin it.
What is it? If you aren’t a Simpsons fan, let me attempt to give you a quick synopsis.
Warning: I will spoil this episode for you.
Malibu Stacey – an allegory for Barbie – comes out with a new talking model. Lisa, the middle child and a smart, headstrong young girl with a growing sense of feminism, is deeply disappointed by the frivolous comments coming out of the doll she admired so much. Lisa wanted something deeper from the doll, from which so many young girls grow up with as a standard of femininity. She fights for a redesign, only to meet opposition from the male dominated toy manufacturer. She tracks the original creator and convinces her to work on a redesign for a more positive female images for young girls.
The creator reluctantly agrees, naming the doll Lisa Lionheart, with a pull string function to activate the female positive phrases to embolden the spirit in young girls. When the doll hits the market, the Malibu Stacey manufacturer responds by releasing a new Malibu Stacey.
Actually, it’s just the same old Malibu Stacey, but she has a new hat. That little upgrade makes it new, and makes the consumer forget that it is the same old flawed product with just a new hat.
There’s very strong messages in that episode, which speaks volumes of consumer behavior, and the deeper message about what children grow up with – what is too often disregarded as frivolous toys.
There’s a point behind my rant, so bear with me. Here’s the deal, nDreams beat the other developers to the punch. New wearable active items with custom emotes are great, but nDreams cornered the market with a simple flying emote. They exhausted it themselves with a zen pose, and fire-engulfed versions. But then thought outside the box with skateboards, and ice gliding.
So what does this mean for other developers? Do they not get to take advantage of these new features?
Of course they can, and I am hoping they do, but therein lies the problem with New Hat Syndrome. It can’t be the same thing repackaged with a simple accessory. It has to offer more than that.
So here come Speed Wings from Hellfire Games: a flying emote with an accessory of custom animated, flapping wings.
What do they offer that the flying emote from nDreams doesn’t, besides an animated accessory? A serious speed boost. The initial PR for Home 1.7 specified a speed increase of 50% above the norm, and Hellfire is pushing it to that limit. That is a huge boost, and definitely a major selling point. The wings look good — but they are just wings. The only difference between them and any other wing accessory you can purchase now is some aesthetic difference and an appropriate animation to adhere to the emote.
However, is this enough of a selling point? Are they different enough to differentiate them from an existing product? The utterly dynamic virtue of the nDreams flying emote is that you can equip wings to it if you want; they won’t be as specifically animated to the emote, but aesthetically they won’t differ greatly. The danger the emotes face is of being saturated very quickly; how many flying variations can you really have? At some point, you will face a situation where you either change the product, or all you are doing is adding a new hat to compete.
So, how do you change the product without simply adding an accessory? You change the emote itself. Play with the animation; different motions will be the key selling point because one superman move indistinguishable from another developer’s will not help you stand out. Change the stance motion, make the character spin in the air, or do a loop. Don’t rely heavily on an accessory, because users do not like being restricted. If you absolutely must rely on an accessory to make it more palatable as a selling point, think outside the box. Make it something worth buying.
What frankly surprises me is that Hellfire Games were the first to give us flight. In the public space and in the personal space, they were the first to give us the zero-gravity effect. Hellfire Games already has an accessory-based custom emote. The zero-gravity simulator works only in the Novus Prime public space, but now is a perfect opportunity to retroactively update that item, bringing new life into it and selling it as an accessory you can use anywhere! Hellfire also has a solid lock on the science fiction genre, yet they’ve opted for fantasy wings, rather then play to their strengths. Where are the mech-wings, the jet packs, the space walk emote for public spaces? If nothing else, play with particle effects, for a trail in the wake of your flight path.
The major selling points of the Speed Wings is the speed boost, and to some extent the design of the wings, but moreso the complimentary animation than the wing designs themselves. When these new emotes are released, consumers will either make a choice on the look of the accessories or the speed boost generated by the emote, and if there is a competitive pricing in comparison to what nDreams has already released. But the flying itself will be secondary as a selling point, and to some extent having wings might just hurt the decision to buy.
The wings themselves don’t take up any clothing slot; nDreams’ custom emote items have already shown us that we don’t sacrifice wardrobe items, but we sacrifice a companion. So for those who enjoy a level of glitching with wardrobe items and have already found a way to equip a double set of wings, you will now have a means to equip three sets of wings and fly around. That in and of itself could be a selling point for those unique consumers.
Some consumers didn’t jump on the new Locomotion items introduced by nDreams because they wanted to wait and see what would come our way from other developers. But if there is no real differentiation between them – because they are all using the same standard flying emote – the choice will come down to a pure impulse decision on the judgement of the accessory or the lack thereof.
October 11th, 2012 by BONZO | 5 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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I dunno Bon, the Hellfire wings ‘flying stance’ looks a bit like they’re farting their way around TBH! The nDreams wings have a much smoother, more natural looking animation and pose while moving. But that’s just my opinion.
The new hat thing has been going on in Home now for years, just with “how to get around” as the question it becomes much more obvious to see. Since Halloween is so close I’d liked to have seen a 150% speed increase to something themed more closely to that, like your avatar dissolving into a shower of bats or a cloud of ominous smoke while moving at full speed.
It looks however, as if Home Devs are going the same way as game devs; rather than take chances in original or unique ideas, they’re just gonna churn out the boring “sure sales” junk that those without imagination will think is cool. Home products have NO EXCUSE for going the same was as CoD, MoH and every other cookie-cutter-shooter has done in the last 10 years. A saturated market is an unhealthy one, and imagination is the key to keeping things fresh.
Actually, I think your avatar DOES look like it’s space walking while using these new Hellfire wings and, I’m sorry, but I don’t think it looks “natural”… if such a word can be used about avatars flying with wings. So, I heartily agree that Hellfire should have stayed with the space genre that they do so well. Jet packs, metallic motorized wings, heck, even space suits would have been a better look for this style in my opinion.
I really like the ideas about partical effects. Dissolving into a shower of bats! Clouds of ominous smoke!
Moving from one end of a room to the other in a flash of lightining! Lighting that effects the entire area you were just standing in. Ummhmm!
I think it’s a bit early to judge any ( or all) dev on that. v1.7 is not a month old yet. So we got the fast, easy and obvious. I’m surprised Hellfire did anything at all, with the release of Home Tycoon. But, I was too expecting something more in the line of jet pack.
As Krazy pointed out, the new hat syndrome had been (is?) the base on PsHome economy. Let see whats comming next.