My Gallery: Aesthetics Independent of Gameplay
While for many, video games are a way to compete and play with others, showing their skill in matches against others. Even in single player games, there is a goal to complete, and the objective is to reach that goal. Even with this, many games released these days have extra cosmetics, items or outfits that have no intrinsic value. These items add no power to your character, they don’t progress you towards your goal, yet people spend money, sometimes hundreds of dollars to buy skins and accessories for their characters. This gallery will go over three games I play in which the cosmetics have no effect on the gameplay, yet people put effort and sometimes money, into creating a look.
Heroes of the Storm
Our first game, heroes of the storm is a Battle arena game designed by Blizzard. When my friends and I play, we make sure to coordinate our outfit colors. Each hero has a different ability set, yet these characters also have a wide selection of aesthetic options to choose from. We often joke that a color coordinated team wins more games, but in the end, these choices have no effect on how we play.
Grim Dawn
Grim Dawn is an action RPG played from a top down perspective. You collect items to fight monsters, and as you kill monsters you collect more loot and items to power up your character. As you collect these items, you are given the option to “transmogrify” these items to look like any others you may have found earlier in the game. Of course, you items stats and abilities are still based on the original gear you chose to wear, but you can choose to make it look like any other item you have found. Below is a character from Grim dawn, with items transmogrified to fit the theme of thunder, as most of this character’s abilities are lightning based. With blue and white as the main colors for his attacks, the outfit matches with the attacks themes.
Dungeons and Dragons
While not solely a virtual game, dungeons and dragons is a game where storytelling and aesthetic is just as important, if not more important. Many of the game’s rules involve the rolling of dice, but the game itself is abstracted by the players and by using their imaginations, they can visualize how the world unfolds about them. With the coronavirus lockdown, many gaming groups have moved online, using sites like roll20 to help them create a game that is able to follow the system, but again, aesthetics that have no inherent gameplay ability are just as important. Below is a world map created from a campaign I am running. The map is not necessary, as locations could be described to the players, but using maps gives it a more real feel to everyone at the (virtual) table.
Ronald Art110 