I don't know how it happened, but at some point in time, I discovered that if you can customize a character with clothing, jewelry and hair styles purely for aesthetics and with no other game play value, I have a tendency to go overboard. In other words, I am a compulsive in-character shopper.
I certainly didn't have this problem when I was playing the Discworld MUD, as I was all business there, even with the wide variety of customizable options, so this has to be a recent occurrence.
Perhaps it was back in 2001 when I first started playing The Sims and my pack rat mentality slid past my inhibitions and I went insane downloading as many free skins and objects as I could so I had options. I also remember doing something similar though to a far lesser extent with Unreal Tournament, but since I ended up using nearly every model and voice pack to create a unique set of personalized bots, it wasn't really the same thing.
But things always seemed to be different on the console front. I mean, on most of the earlier console games, it seems like there weren't the kinds of customization options there are now. I mean, at most you might be able to choose between 5-8 different parts and between a few skin tones or clothing shades to make a character unique, both after that, it was pretty much cookie cutter.
And then I bought a Playstation 2 and customization is the way to go. I remember having the impulse to buy things that I really don't need when I first started playing Def Jam: Fight for New York, and there is the whole clothing aspect of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as well. But as I bought more games, it seemed like this neat little innovation was everywhere: EA Sports Big's Street titles, Soul Calibur III, and even The Simpsons: Hit and Run encourage you to shop for clothing in their own little worlds.
I finally realized I had a problem last night while I was playing Bully and I noticed that I was basically wearing the same shirt as the lead character. It was a heart wrenching moment for me. Put it this way, it has to say something about me that I own more clothes in a lot of individual games than I do in real life.
So I ask you, my peers, if any of you can relate to this particular mental peculiarity?
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment