It’s absolutely clear from the recent mythic discussion thread that the game has gone way too far with some of the artwork. Charydbia is absolutely disgusting and Bridalith, from a few months ago, already looked like hentai. This is NOT what most of the people are here to play the game for. The battle system and monster collection is incredible to play, I love this game far more than any mobile game I’ve encountered and I think I speak for many of us here with that. I want to stay playing the game for many years to come, but for that to be possible we must keep people playing and spending money. If we keep getting more art like this, a large number of players are going to be pushed away. Even if the sales numbers don’t reflect that, it should be evident from the community reaction that many players are really displeased with the artwork and a solution to appease them business sense.
The way I see it, there are two solutions:
-
A line is drawn for what is “too far”. Mythics can be sexualised, but not beyond this point.
-
We implement a proper “skin” system into the game.
Drawing the line (option 1)
Personally, I doubt this can be done successfully and I do not trust ZigZaGame to abide to it properly, given the artwork we’ve seen so far. However, if they’re open to this idea then I hope it can be done sensibly. It’s clear from the fact all the players are still here after years of waifu that we have some tolerance to the art. Most people who talk to me about it are reasonable and say they don’t mind some cool looking waifu who show a bit of skin, they just don’t want them almost naked.
For example, here are two which are both “sexy looking waifu” that the neo monsters players quite like because Kirina has a cool pose with the bow and Apollonis has a nice display of the flared gown and sun thing floating behind. We could have the occasional mythic that’s a bit more sexualised than these, but if the majority are like this and with some artistic flair then that’s an ideal compromise for all players I think.
Skin system (option 2)
The concept here is something monetizable that adds more to the game without any negative by letting people have it both ways. It obviously requires more effort with coding and with additional artwork being created, but that’s why it’s got to be monetizable!
Here’s the idea I came up with:
- Skins are made only for mythics.
- Skins are bought in the exchange shop for “skin tickets” and can be bought for any monster that’s released (not just ones you own).
- Skin tickets are obtained as rewards from some events, but the main place you get them is from buying gems (each bundle comes with a different number of them).
- When you equip a skin, it applies to all enemies that you meet in the game too (it literally replaces the artwork with the equipped skin).
- The only exception is PvP, where you see the artwork that the player has equipped (so people can show off how they like to have their monsters).
- In PvP, a monster with non-default skin will have a special symbol on it to make it clear to the opponent it’s an altered skin.
- Perhaps add a toggle in the options to have PvP opponents always have their monsters appear with default skin (if it’s a big problem for people to identify them).
- Obviously, skins will offer either non-waifu variants of the waifu monsters or at least offer a non-sexualised version.
A mostly paid-only customisation feature is something we often see in games. It doesn’t affect gameplay and people can use it to either customise monsters they own or remove particular artworks they don’t want to see in the game. If free players could get, say, roughly 2 skin alterations a year then they could still remove the absolute worst of the waifu but if they want to remove more then they’ve got to pay.
If skins lead to a lot of gem sales then I have no doubt you could continue to add more skin variants for existing mythics so there are multiple options. For example, similar art but in a different pose (Dragulus roaring and bearing his claws?).
I hope these ideas sound reasonable. As it stands, my teams are being filled more and more with waifu and it’s really putting a downer on my enjoyment of the game.
To everyone who’s read through this, definitely share your thoughts on the ideas and if you have skin ideas for monsters then let us know or show it!
P.S. @Dev_VKC Give me a Fiona skin as a snow leopard and I’ll open my wallet before you can blink.
EDIT:
It was pointed out below that I forgot to add…
Even if neither solution above is possible then I, and others, feel it’s really important Charybdia’s artwork (and Bridalith too?) gets altered. What is in the game right now is too inappropriate. I mean, people have to censor them in YouTube videos to avoid breaking rules!
