Costume Packs, if a user hasnt gotten that Costume pack, they will just see the Alternate Costume that the player originally created, and there will be a faded out exclamation floating above their head that shows up fully opaque as you get close and closer to them.
This will indicate that you cant see what that toon Really looks like because you dont have the Costume pack they are using). And from the players Bio Panel, you can examine the players Profile and see what Costume packs they are using in a listing, which you can left click on or highlight and it would open up the Costume Pack in question in the Game Store for download.

And of course, from a central Game Store kinda GUI, you can also Delete any Packs that are already present (on that machine).

[b]Scott Jackson wrote:
.. Izzy's method is one way to make it work, though I think it's best to have all MWM-designed costume packs be part of the official game patches and thus viewable by all, without a separate download.[/b]

I'm thinking, if you really want, you could enable the Option to download All New Costume Packs made by MWM by default. Another Option to download All New Costume packs made by 3rd Parties, if they are FREE! ;)

There are allot of talented designers out there, so it wouldnt be so bad to get their work to show up in CoT . At 1st they could charge as much as $4.99 for their work. After the Costume Packs start to build in popularity and saturate the Asset Store, the price could even out around $.99 for the majority of the Assets in the Asset Store.

Its not just about creating a marketplace, its about driving attention toward CoT.

And once they have enough time to perfect the Cut Scene Creator, allowing players to capture it with the Demo Recorder, it will go viral as everyone who uses Blender to 3DS to a normal Hobbyist, will want to cheaply produce movie shorts. And this in turn will make them want more and more variety in scenery (once the Mission Builder is ready), different backgrounds, different costumes, different voices, etc... which in turn will.. get allot of other MMO players interested in COT, and could take a large bite out of other MMO's. Since most of the RP'ers in every other MMO will finally get what they always wanted.. to be the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrbKuOaVF3k&feature=youtu.be&t=5m34s]STAR[/url] of their own fantasy world. MWM Might need a few more Servers after that! ;D

Its not always FREE that gets to people, its Good Quality at a Bargain Price, too. ;)
MWM could skim some of the profits to keep the servers up, say 20% to 30%?
This in turn could allow MWM to lower any monthly subscriptions down from $11.99 to about 7 or $8.99.
Later on, MWM could have a promotion to lower the monthly subscription to $6.99 (6 or so Months only) when that account holder has sold a number of Assets in the Asset Store or whatever other means will exist. Always have a monthly subscription for VIP's, even when the Asset Store is raking it in, just lower the VIP Subscriptions to make them feel Very Good for being paying members.

Of course VIP's might even get some of the Assets FREE from the Asset Store the 1st Two weeks they are available on select assets. MWM would have to get the Asset creators 2 Week donation approval 1st, and if the asset creator was looking for a way to give back to CoT, that might be one way. And the asset Creator could be granted the 1st 2 Months a discounted fee.. instead of skimming 30%, lower it to 25% (or more, left to the MWM Asset Store Managers discretion, who will consult heavily with the marketing department, since a portion of the budget for Promotions will go towards wisely approaching certain asset creators and making such deals as noted earlier).

Also, to get players to keep logging back in regularly, the assets that are made free, wont be automatically downloaded in the background ( Some players wont want every free asset out there ), so in order for a VIP player to get select Costume Packs FREE the 1st 2 Weeks it becomes available, they will get into the habit of firing up CoT just for FREE Assets, even if they weren't planning on playing CoT. And those type of people will most likely see if there is a Deal on any other costumes they had their eye on, and might stumble across a really cute accessory and pay for it. ;) I bet many players from Second Life will flock to CoT. ;D

[b]Dr. T wrote:
You presume much about how the costume pieces work here.[/b]

true, but this approach could sustain CoT in the long haul.

It might mean having to create a Costume Designer (not Character Creator) just like you have the Mission / Base Designer. The majority of the Costume Designer (at 1st at least) will be just swapping out Textures for newer ones that the designer created... and making sure it tiles, stretches( UV maps ) appropriately for the different Male / Female dimensions. (and possibly have a separate texture for each if tiling, stretching of just one texture doesn't look right)

Later on, as more Vertices are added to certain garments, they can use Morph Targets to slightly modify the height of a Collar on a Shirt, or the length of a Shirt sleeve, or the width of Stiletto Shoes Heel, etc... and apply textures that match those new dimensions perfectly.

[b]Tinkhard wrote:
... I know if I'm paying for a costume pack I'd sure like if I weren't the only one who could see it. I mean I do design my character's looks for myself to enjoy but its nice having them seen and all you know.[/b]

I dont understand. The costume would download in the background as you are playing (maybe even show a very tiny download progress bar somewhere), but just because you can SEE it on others, doesnt mean you can use it on your own toons, unless you already paid! ;)

If you rather not download EVERY single 3rd party Costume pack out there, MWM could come up with a mechanic that would start the Costume Pack download only when you come across another player that has a new Costume Pack (new being.. one that You haven't seen yet). And if you're on the road in some flea bitten Motel and their WiFi is shitty, you can disable the OPTION that Automatically download such assets on your laptop. ;)

Whats your opinion on the matter?
Post below with Pro's and Con's.

Thanks. :)