Trying to picture the size of the cache needed to allow everyone having
their own skins blows the mind, thumbs down.
Oh, I agree that there are FAR too many issues with overhead and monitoring for something like this to ever work. But just to play Devil's Advocate since this IS a wishlist thread:
1) How many people would you HONESTLY expect to submit their own personal skin? Would we suddenly see 5000 different people wanting their own skin all at once? Not particularly likely (see #4 below).
2) Maintenance of the skin library could be somewhat eased by, as I suggested, allowing players to submit ONE personal skin for ONE aircraft only, using a similar upload to the squad nose art interface. This would be the only way to submit a personal skin for approval.
3) Concerns about bizarre skins like are being used in IL-2 could be managed with a review process akin to what happens with skins already. The skin doesn't have to be HISTORICAL, but it MUST conform to the appropriate markings for that particular aircraft as used during WWII (IE, no Soccer War Corsairs).
4) Considering the limited number of skinners, the volume of skin submissions is highly unlikely to increase significantly. The skinners are already busy on their own projects, so contracting for personal skins would take a back seat.
5) In-game overhead on the player side could be managed by having an "Enable Personal Skins" checkbox. Uncheck it, and personal skins would be replaced by Default on your front end (make it separate from the Enable Player Skins option that already exists. Make it two options: Enable Historical Skins and Enable Personal Skins). Players concerned about the added performance hit of loading 25 individual personal skins in addition to the maybe 5 or so historical skins also in visual range would then be able to turn either off as to their preference.
Anyway, I'm well aware of why HTC elected against it, but it still doesn't mean someone can't put out thoughts on how it COULD be done.