Community Poll: Puffer Jackets

[witchkit]

hi!! i've been wanting to poll the community on the puffer jackets for a while. i didn't realize the "winter" cycle for goon would end with the beginning of march but i did know the puffers were going to be seasonal. but not everyone did!! so its a bit of a surprise for some people to see them gone, whether they liked them or not.

anyways GO TAKE MY POLL: https://strawpoll.com/1MnwO2zQKn7

first post on the forums too btw sorry if its shit

edit (3/2): i want to clarify that this poll is intended simply as a method of giving feedback on something i've seen multiple people have strong opinions on. as it has been stated, a decision has already been made, and there's no guarantee anything would change if the poll were to be heavily in favor of keeping the puffers. nevertheless i still think its helpful for people to be able to discuss features that matter to them and give simple feedback.

[Azrun]

For reference where some discussion was had: https://github.com/goonstation/goonstation/pull/16407

[babayetu83]

i don't really see the point in making them time-restricted. kinda america-centric when other parts of the world have their winters when we have our summers and vice versa

[Spyritdragon]

I think they've been a wonderful addition to the station, honestly - granted, I only play on RP, but I think things that can make your character feel more unique are wonderful.

I guess the poll will have to tell, but from my experience in-game they've been almost universally beloved and their impending disappearance lamented. They fit super well and recognisably within each department, allowing people to have a few more options for looks without having to go for generic options from the clothing booth. The existing winter coats set a pretty clear precedent for me that it doesn't feel weird to have an option for winter coats year round - lots of people might simply want an extra layer for the chillier places - while the puffers are visually very distinct so as to not conflict with the existing winter coats.

Most of the discussion on Github also seemed to be about how they might be obtained, rather than being winter only or not, and I think beyond that some pretty neat arguments were given as to why their presence would make sense, if the existing winter coats don't say that enough.

So yeah, I honestly think it'd be great to have them year-round.

[Solwra]

I don't see why there should be no variety in clothing, hopefully they will add these to be all year.

[Cal]

I think it's weird to make a poll for something we already decided on

I'd rather see more seasonal fits. Department themed Hawaiian shirts for summer would be cool (and we could open tourist slots for the summer or something)

edit: to elaborate, I really do like the puffy sweaters, it's just a tad distracting to see them because of their bulk (for me)

[444explorer]

Since the choice to make em time restricted has already been made I agree with Cal. More seasonal outfits, it'd be neat to see players change up their sense of fashion every so often. I know I'd use seasonal clothing more if we just had more of it.

[WhatMG]

I think having a discussion on the topic is still important when it seems so many still feel very strongly about the matter.

[witchkit]

i agree w/ minty that rotating seasonal pieces would definitely encourage people to play around with different looks more often. i do still like the idea of seasonal clothes (and i would LOVE to see department hawaiian shirts, i love that idea), but i think a lot of people have grown to like the puffers a lot. it would be nice if we could have some type of seasonal clothes available year-round, with other ones being rotated per season. terrainify rounds with snowy land have come to mind a lot with the puffers since a lot of people like to go out exploring in those cases.

this is my first year playing but to my understanding rotating seasonal clothing has been a thing for a while, though there's some seasonal clothes that were made available year-round (thinking of the summer section in the clothing booth, but correct me if im wrong if that wasn't originally introduced as seasonal or something).

i understand a decision was already made, but i still think its a topic worthy of discussion. a lot of players seem to have strong interest in clothing customization and i think its helpful for people to have a way to give simple feedback to decisions about features they care about, even in just a simple poll. its not necessarily intended to change things, even if the results are heavily in favor of keeping the puffers available. in my mind it was purely intended as a feedback thing that is just there for community discussion.

[Spyritdragon]

Personally it definitely feels relevant to re-open the topic. I was actively following the discussion over on GitHub, and the seasonality of them came as a complete surprise to me - I thought the main talk was around whether or not they should be a medal-reward, in the vendor, or somewhere else. My experience in-game and talking to people around discord, which very much seems to be backed by this poll, is that there's a noticeable majority of people that loved them and would like to see them around on a more permanent basis - many of whom were also disappointed to see them seasonally locked even around the initial point the decision was made after their first testmerge PR.

I don't see why we shouldn't re-open discussion on a decision that a significant amount of people seem to disagree with.


On the topic of seasonality, I agree having more seasonal outfits would be quite nice too, but as of yet we simply don't have that, let alone in the fits-most-situations department-colour-coded way these jackets are. Not only that, but the puffer jackets to many also seem to carry the feeling of a department sweater/hoodie very well, something people wear througout the year too - they feel a lot less seasonal to me than, say the autumn options, in a world where sticking to your department's colours is already quite hard if you want to customise much at all.

[444explorer]

On a quick second thought - We originally made it a 'For now' on the PR, no? Unless that was a miscommunication makes sense to bring it up again. I saw the Puffer Coats used a lot, alongside the original Winter Coats too so why not keep both. If we just had the Puffer Coats named differently from the Winter Coats (which might already be the case) I don't see why not. Departmental Vendors would seem fine. Would still like winter departmental stuff to replace the spot though, but, that needs spritework done.

[babayetu83]

i agree w/ minty that rotating seasonal pieces would definitely encourage people to play around with different looks more often. i do still like the idea of seasonal clothes (and i would LOVE to see department hawaiian shirts, i love that idea), but i think a lot of people have grown to like the puffers a lot. it would be nice if we could have some type of seasonal clothes available year-round, with other ones being rotated per season. terrainify rounds with snowy land have come to mind a lot with the puffers since a lot of people like to go out exploring in those cases.

this is my first year playing but to my understanding rotating seasonal clothing has been a thing for a while, though there's some seasonal clothes that were made available year-round (thinking of the summer section in the clothing booth, but correct me if im wrong if that wasn't originally introduced as seasonal or something).

i understand a decision was already made, but i still think its a topic worthy of discussion. a lot of players seem to have strong interest in clothing customization and i think its helpful for people to have a way to give simple feedback to decisions about features they care about, even in just a simple poll. its not necessarily intended to change things, even if the results are heavily in favor of keeping the puffers available. in my mind it was purely intended as a feedback thing that is just there for community discussion.

personally having clothing items and choice be arbitrarily restricted would make me want to engage with it less. after all why would i want to get attached if it's going to go away? and it all just seems boneheaded when we have players who live in the northern and southern hemispheres so what might be winter for us is not winter for them

[Varshie]

I like the puffer jackets and seasonal outfits. It's a shame that we won't see them outside of their respective seasons so I think it would be nice for them to be obtainable through other means at the very least.

[Kotlol]

I think puffers would be funny to have outside of season. Since some people actually do wear this stuff in the summer as a punk fashion statement!

[Flaborized]

personally having clothing items and choice be arbitrarily restricted would make me want to engage with it less. after all why would i want to get attached if it's going to go away? and it all just seems boneheaded when we have players who live in the northern and southern hemispheres so what might be winter for us is not winter for them

Unrelated to the puffer jacket discourse (which I don't really care much about personally so I don't have much of a horse in that race), I think this is a very strange take about seasonal clothing items and features in general. For better or for worse, we've already established that the game's seasons (and sense of time in general) follow the hosting location's; I think lots of people can see that it's a cute idea to have seasonal elements that adds some nice visual variety to the game, and we really do have to arbitrarily pick one seasonal calendar to use to accomplish that. This is just a concession that literally has to be made to implement a year-round seasons mechanic. It'll be snowy in Spacemas even though it's not winter everywhere and I assume people in the southern hemisphere can live with that.

You wear the items because it's fun to dress up a little doll in-game. Seasonal items can contribute to a tone or encourage some variety every now and then. I don't really buy that people will want to avoid wearing a piece of clothes in the game because it won't be something you can *always* wear. Like is it really about getting "attached"? If anything I personally feel that we have so much stacked up variety in clothing that it's nice to see a few articles that have something that genuinely sets them apart a little.

I haven't heard many complaints about the autumn sets and autumn/winter clown suits that I've implemented, so I assume other people either enjoy or at least understand this sorta mechanic with those implementations. Again, disconnected from the entire talk about puffer jackets, I'm more arguing for the existence of seasonally locked clothes and items in general. Helps make those times of year feel all special and cool.