4 ms·

My son explained it to me (11 year old) - Basically if you are "default" you suck. I have 20+ gamedev experience, and I didn't know what it means. Basically if

by malkia 7y ago

My son explained it to me (11 year old) - Basically if you are "default" you suck. I have 20+ gamedev experience, and I didn't know what it means. Basically if you have the "default" skins you suck. You need to get shiny new outfit, that would cost some v-bucks.

dvh 7y ago
Wouldn't being constantly killed by the same default guy hurt more? If I would be a pro gamer I would do just that, just to troll them.
- kd5bjo 7y ago
  People are social creatures, and have a strong innate desire to stand out and express themselves. If a game successfully creates a social atmosphere, selling cosmetic items can be a lucrative business. It's essentially the digital version of the fashion industry, which most people seem to viscerally understand-- aesthetics are the primary motivator for most people's clothing choices, and they are willing to pay a significant premium for some items on this basis.
- Animats 7y ago
  There's a whole genre of Fortnite pros trolling as defaults on Youtube.
Bombthecat 7y ago
Feels like fortnite is the new addidas and Nike...
- malkia 7y ago
  Exactly my thoughts. Growing up in Bulgaria in the 90s - that was the thing. I was (and still am) into heavy metal so did not care a bit, but could still "feel" the pressure...
kaoD 7y ago
I have the opposite experience (in LoL which I played for too long some time ago). If you encountered an enemy in default you knew you were in for a beating. Most probably a smurf (high level player on a fresh low level account). Most of the really good players I knew couldn't care less about skins. People that did suck bought skins to feel better about themselves ("yeah, you won, but I have a $20 Udyr skin, noob!") Except one guy which was pretty good but had a gambling problem and liked the random aspect of buying chests. What you describe is probably the social dynamics in your son's group of friends, which are probably kids and mostly suck, which makes buying skins the social signaling of their worth, for lack of a better metric.

by malkia 7y ago

dvh 7y ago

Wouldn't being constantly killed by the same default guy hurt more? If I would be a pro gamer I would do just that, just to troll them.

kd5bjo 7y ago
People are social creatures, and have a strong innate desire to stand out and express themselves. If a game successfully creates a social atmosphere, selling cosmetic items can be a lucrative business. It's essentially the digital version of the fashion industry, which most people seem to viscerally understand-- aesthetics are the primary motivator for most people's clothing choices, and they are willing to pay a significant premium for some items on this basis.
Animats 7y ago
There's a whole genre of Fortnite pros trolling as defaults on Youtube.

Bombthecat 7y ago

Feels like fortnite is the new addidas and Nike...

malkia 7y ago
Exactly my thoughts. Growing up in Bulgaria in the 90s - that was the thing. I was (and still am) into heavy metal so did not care a bit, but could still "feel" the pressure...

kaoD 7y ago

I have the opposite experience (in LoL which I played for too long some time ago). If you encountered an enemy in default you knew you were in for a beating. Most probably a smurf (high level player on a fresh low level account). Most of the really good players I knew couldn't care less about skins. People that did suck bought skins to feel better about themselves ("yeah, you won, but I have a $20 Udyr skin, noob!") Except one guy which was pretty good but had a gambling problem and liked the random aspect of buying chests. What you describe is probably the social dynamics in your son's group of friends, which are probably kids and mostly suck, which makes buying skins the social signaling of their worth, for lack of a better metric.