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Playing Dress Up with Avatar Costumes

Posted by Cole Stryker

I finally got around to playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl this weekend and I got to thinking about how much time developers must spend designing alternate costumes for game characters. Brawl isn't so bad, condidering that most of the costume changes amount to a swapped pallete. But there are a lot of games out there that feature dozens of costumes for each character. In some cases it seems to serve a practical function. For instance, it's less complicated to stage a Scorpion vs Scorpion fight when one's a darker shade of yellow. But it's often just superfluous. Developers must spend hundreds of man-hours designing different outfits for game characters. Why? Do gamers have a pathological need to play dress up?

The first time that I can remember having more than two outfits to choose for my avatar was probably some wrestling game for Nintendo 64. Ironic, considering the testosterone-heavy nature of the game. Today, we are often met with an array of accessories, fabric patterns and footwear. There are now even websites devoted to hosting galleries of user-submitted avatars from popular video games. Real life fashion brands pay to include their products in video games. There is a guy who makes a living designing pink tights for Tony Hawk's virtual doppelganger. Think about that. 

I understand this mentality when it comes to life simulation games or games that allow you to show off your fashion sense online, but other than that, I can't get my head around it. Do you like dressing up your character in all manner of finery? Let us know in the comments.

Related Links:

A Letter to the Industry: How to Destroy the Female Gender Barricade
John’s Games of 2008: Year of the Character
Up All Night: Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe


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Comments

AlexB said:

I can honestly say this is one thing I've never quite understood with gaming, either. I see no need for dozens of alternate costumes. Though I am happy they included "classic" Wario in Brawl.

January 12, 2009 4:26 PM

Demaar said:

I like to think I have the ability to make the character my own, even if anyone else can use the exact same costume and get the same result. This is mostly in roleplaying or competitive games though. Otherwise I tend to not care.

January 12, 2009 6:39 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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