Paper doll
The term "Paper Doll" refers to the human figure seen in the Inventory window, which players dress up with various items. In Diablo III the paper doll is part of the Inventory menu.
This interface has undergone numerous revisions during the game's development. The most recent, seen in August 2010, was said by the D3 Team to be nearly-final, and unchanged during the past six+ months of development.
Changes from Diablo II
The Diablo III version of the inventory/paper doll is changed in a variety of ways. The Inventory page details the improvements to the inventory and character storage space. Other differences include:
- There are two more item slots in Diablo III -- Shoulder Pads and Pants are new item types, joining the Helm, Amulet, Rings, Chest Armor, Belt, Boots, Gloves, and Weapon slots of Diablo II.
- There is probably not going to be a weapon switch hotkey in Diablo III. At least not in the initial game. Thus no tab to select it.
- The Talisman is a new type of item/function about which many mysteries still remain.
- The Adventurer's Pack is out of the game as of 2010, and will probably stay gone. In earlier builds this was an item slot that determined the size of a player's inventory.
Paperdoll Evolution
The Inventory Window and most of the other game interface screens have changed many times during the development cycle. And can be expected to continue evolving. Here's a view of the much less polished paper doll/inventory from the WWI Gameplay movie. This is how the interface looked back in June 2008, when the game made its debut.
During the GamesCom 2010 Artisan reveal video, a new updated avatar was seen. This is probably not the last iteration of the inventory.
See the inventory article for more on the changes to this interface during game development.
