Well, I’m back in business, for the moment; but, right now, I want to talk about, in addition to new designs, setting expectations.
The most recent SKINR snafu, which apparently the edges are still being ironed out, really brought home in a very graphic manner just how much expectations shape our perception of value.
In this thread:
I posed the question did CCP owe us, their “captive” consumers, accurate representation of the final product (the skin) at the point of sale.
For those not inclined to read/reread the thread this is an example of what I’m writing about:
There are very obvious visual differences between the two images. The image on the right of your screen is what I the designer “designed” and the image on the left is how the game engine during the “snafu” rendered the design when applied in game.
Well, anyone would complain about that kind of difference. And, I, for one, did.
It is my firm belief the skin, when applied for the very first time on a ship should mimic as closely as possible the sales image presented in the Paragon Hub. I won’t waver from this stance.
However, there is a certain amount of latitude I’m willing to indulge.
To my mind, what follows are acceptable, and certainly to be expected, and allowed without complaint, differences, between point-of-sale and application:
Point-of-sale images:
Image Two:
(Please bear in mind, this is a Tootsie’s skin. The color change is intentional and “baked” into the design.)
Images after application, in game:
Image Two:
Now, I personally find this “difference” in execution perfectly acceptable. I’m allowing for the in game lighting, the ambiance of the station, the accumulated grime on the ship.
The Daredevil where color is missing, and the pattern “vanished”…is not.
But, what happens, when eventually CCP redesigns a ship? Changes the layout. The megathron of EVE’s conception, while recognizable, is nothing like the modern day design. Textures, visuals, even the shape is subtly different.
And, if you could go back in time, and design a ship skin on a SKINR, of yesteryear, for the megathron…well, it wouldn’t look good, at all, on the contemporary iteration, without lots and lots and lots and lots (well, you get the idea) of tinkering.
Does CCP owe us, their “captive” consumers that…tinkering?
Honestly, on that question, I am of two minds; but the arguments pro/con fall out conclusively on the…nots.
SKINR is a hotbed of code. I think I would wish CCP to spend their efforts on other areas of the game, tbh, rather than taking every individual skin and somehow “manually” updating each skin to match each ship, after an update.
Unless there is someway to take a static “snapshot” and make it apply when hulls are updated, I think in the end, the more complex a pattern (I’m writing in terms of the overall design of skin) the less likely it is to stand the “test of time”.
And, I think we, the “captive” consumers may just have to come to grips with that.
Life and EVE is a matter of juggling limited resources, cosmetics, in life and in game, are non-essentials.
How long these non-essentials should have as a “shelf-life” is a matter for another debate, and outside the scope of this post.
And considering this whole thread is a “service” thread, showcasing my “goods”, I’ll close it with snaps of a malediction:
This is a work in progress:
And also a Tootsie’s design, so best seen on a 3k screen/monitor, cause it is an active color change skin.
Activating “scroll wheel, Captain, o7”
You can change the color, at any step of the “clicks” and the game will remember.
Since, I’m talking about “truth in advertising”, the pilots viewing your Tootsie’s have the same option. So, we can all look at your ship and see basically…but, not exactly…the same thing. At the same time. 
o7