It’s All About the Look

Very rarely have gamers been known as fashionistas.  And even more rarely do gamers set trends that reach the fashion world.  In fact, the common gamer garb is simply sneakers, jeans, and a t-shirt.  Add hoodie if it’s cold or swap t-shirt for polo shirt if you want to be formal.  And that is where gamers and the realm of fashion end their rather short dance together.  Yet while gamers may care little for their personal appearance, the apparel worn by their characters is of the utmost importance. 

In a game, the way your characters look can say many things about how we play.  From the top tier raiders to the most casual roleplayers, gamers will spend hours at the auction house trying on different outfits or combinations with different color schemes just to get that perfect look.  Entire add-ons have been created in World of Warcraft to feed this need to make your character look just right.  But why is this so important to players?  It is an entirely cosmetic application, right?  It does not help your character in any way, you don’t get a stat boost from it, so why do players spend so much time on it?

Origin of Fashion

In a way, it is a very simple answer that reaches back to the days of the original Everquest (and possibly beyond) when there was always one overriding fact known to every resident of Norrath.  If that warrior walks into the bar and has on his full set of high end plate and his epic 2.0 swords you knew, without a doubt, that they were awesome incarnate.  You may not know their name, but what they wore spoke volumes.  Nothing shouted a player’s greatness more than a glowing sword and dark hardened plate armor.  Even the newest players could tell this was someone of power.  And, perhaps unknowingly, it sparked an entire new aspect of gaming.

Top tier raiders want to show off the best gear in the game they worked so hard to obtain.  Roleplayers want their gear to match their character’s persona or back story.  PvPers want their gear to spark fear into their opponents hearts.  Even the casual gamers wanted to wear the armor they loved from raids long past while maintaining their newest upgrades.  Today, years after its demise as current content, many players return to old dungeons just to gain that one piece of gear they want to be seen wearing.  Good examples can be found in the armor of the Rift of Narz Gashu, from Lord of the Rings Online, still being worn by many players today–or within the Black Temple and Ice Crown Citadel raids, whose weapons and armor are often sought for cosmetic purposes. 

The Need to Customize

And with this new yearning for cosmetic abilities, many game companies have risen to the challenge.  World of Warcraft introduced their transmogrification system.  Lord of the Rings Online allows cosmetic outfits to be worn or dyed.  Star Wars the Old Republic lets players swap modification items to new pieces of gear and unify their coloring to the chest piece.  In fact, when Star Wars the Old Republic launched, there was an outcry that there was no way to unify the coloring by the community.  There was another similar outcry among Warcraft players demanding the ability to cosmetically alter their characters equipment to the older tier gear they had loved from Vanilla or Burning Crusades.  Each time the cry for cosmetic demands has been heard and, eventually, answered. 

As games become ever more customizable, players will want their characters to continue to stand out.  Every gamer has an image in their mind of what their character should look like and it is becoming increasingly the job of the company to provide the method to allow the player to bring that image to life.  Whether you want to be the evil Shadow Knight, the holy Paladin, or something in between, the way your character looks will always be your first introduction to anyone you meet.

Setting the Trends

Gamers may not set fashion trends in the real world, but they are setting them in the games they love.  While T-shirts and jeans might work for the player, their character is always going to be another story.  Gamers love their characters, and how could they not when they spend hours a day with them?  It is only fitting that they care about what their characters look like.  After all, to be truly epic it is all about the look.