Okay, maybe some of these look like wishlist items. But the question was how could users contribute content in-game, so this list is what I came up with. I'm not asking for this stuff to be included, just offering ideas. Many of them aren't remotely feasible at the moment, and may never be. But I'll post them anyway, because you never know, and they could trigger some thought process leading to something similar that
is feasible.
Sketching in the sand would be cool. Kind of an non-portable impromptu thing needing no supplies. Of course, I haven't messed with the new sketch/map stuff, so maybe they don't need supplies either and I just don't know it. But considering I haven't seen a "make map" button, I believe you do need either materials, training, or some NPC interaction. Drawing in the sand however, wouldn't. It would just be really simple, temporary, and non portable. Probably you'd have to actually right-click, view it rather than just look at the ground.
Custom clothing would be interesting. The level of customization could vary from just dying the whole thing some shade to adding intricate embroidery and custom logos. Depending on how much detail we could add, worrying about OOC stuff may not even be necessary. Painting on shields would be cool too. Then you could have a coat of arms. Oh, and flags too.
Custom drinks/potions? I know there are strength potions, though I have no idea how they're made. I'm assuming it's a rather simple combination of stuff. But what if many small items had certain properties, so you could just mix random stuff and come up with something? Like, if you use apple juice, it's an apple-juice drink, and helps your stamina a little. But then you could add a little bit of potion to it to have it help your hp too. It's like in real life, where adding ingredients will have subtle effects, possibly both bad and good. Increases strength but hurts endurance, for example. Then add something that helps endurance but hurts mana. And they'd all effect it in varying amounts. If you've ever played Harvest Moon and tried cooking, you probably know what I mean. Come to think of it, this could apply to cooking in general, though in that case it would need some pre-defined dishes and your ingredients would tweak it, again much like in Harvest Moon.
The shear number of possibilities would mean the item itself couldn't be classified as "such and such potion", so you'd have to label it yourself. You could label it whatever you want, like "Toomin's Rat-Shroom Soup", or even mis-label it if you're feeling mischievous. The color could also vary based on what you add, giving a slight visual clue to the contents but nothing really descriptive. "Is this tomato beer or blood beer? Hmmm...."
On a side note, that could lead to a new "profession" within PlaneShift: being a food tester, to make sure nobody's trying to poison your employer. At the moment, you'd just get sent to the DR if it's deadly, then come back. But in the future, I hear that it might take much longer to escape the DR, so preventing a rich guy from wasting his time there could be a lucritive process, and it wouldn't have the risk of (permanent) death like it does in real life.
When music comes in, how about composing? I don't know how it's going to be implemented, but what about a "manual" mode where you can create a tune, and the you could store it on some parchment to be played back in "automatic" mode. You could distribute it to other people that way. Maybe make them play it manually from the sheet music before they can do it automatically, but I'd say don't bother and make the accuracy based on their char's musical abilities. Otherwise untalented players playing a talented character would be in trouble.
A custom stride would be cool, but that's much to complicated to happen anytime soon. What could happen is a custom speed though. You set how fast you run and walk and sneak (and it burns the correct amount of energy too, so you can't just max out without the consequences). That would add a little more variety to the people wandering around, allowing player/character preferences to contribute to the realism a little.
Along those lines, custom faces would also be nice, though I assume it's been mentioned to death already.
I assume there will be room for stylistic changes when house owning/building comes in. Building from the ground up, hanging tapestries, that kind of thing. Again, probably done to death so I won't bother to expand on it.
Another method for user contributions is sculpting. When houses and land-ownership are implemented, people are going to want statues and stuff to decorate them with, or to put up a memorial or whatever. So there could be sculpting to create custom statues. That may be too much to add though, unless you make them "sculpt" it outside the game in Blender, then try to get it approved and in game. Along with that would go painting, of course, for those who prefer mostly 2d (paintings often have a slight third dimension when seen up close, due to thick paint. Gives them texture).
I imaging farming will one day be added, thus building fences and fields where you choose. That's a good way to "get out of" having to do so much map design for some of those long stretches between cities. Just make it empty plains and rolling hills, then let the farmers fill it up with content for you
This one's probably further off, but active paths. As in, when people walk by (or pull a cart, when those come in) it harms the grass a little. If the same path is taken, the ground gets bare. Otherwise, it heals itself over time. That would allow paths to create and then drift around as the landscape changes (as in, a new town gets built, so the path eventually bends by it rather than it's old course). That could also aid in tracking things/people, if they left foot prints for a while. And blood trails. Also, maybe the roaming herds of mobs that will one day exist will create or follow paths too. So if you're wandering the wilderness, you might stumble onto a "cowpath" left by some herd, or if mobs come to a new area, they might take advantage of the existing trail and wander near town (they'd likely stay out due to the activity, but it depends on the mob and the town).
Okay, I'm running out of ideas now, so I'll shut up for a while
