Speaking to Eurogamer, City State Entertainment founder Mark Jacobs has elaborated on the character ageing system planned for the new crowdfunded MMORPG Camelot Unchained, explaining how it had originally been intended for Warhammer Online, but was unceremoniously culled.

"As to Warhammer, I thought it would be great if we could use visual clues to show not only how long a player had played the game but also to help enhance the silhouettes players saw from a distance," he said. "The former would help drive a player's feeling of both immersion but also a feeling of being rewarded for his ongoing play.

"In terms of the silhouettes, if you saw a very long and elaborate beard on a dwarf, you would know he's a veteran player. Similarly, a larger than average greenskin would also be experienced and probably a bit tougher.

Jacobs and fellow Mythic veteran Andrew Meegs reflect on how the feature was culled from the game without their knowledge before going on to hint at how such a feature might be implemented in Camelot Unchained:

"The first stage will be the quickest and each subsequent one will take progressively longer," Jacobs said.

"There will be some downside to ageing," he added, "but there will also be a greater amount of upsides, because we want it to be a net-positive experience for the player. However, players won't have to worry about getting old to the point of major gimping [becoming not as effective] of their characters, or worse, perma-death, as that would simply be no fun.

"The changes that take place due to ageing will be not only cosmetic but also meaningful in the world of Camelot Unchained."

The Camelot Unchained Kickstarter project raised over $2.2 million early last year and is expected to ship in December 2015 on PC