Top Item Mall Costumes in MMOs
Halloween is coming, and even Iron Realms games are celebrating in their own ways. For instance, characters in Achaea are enjoying Mayaween, a popular knockoff of the real holiday. A special item mall sells edible treats, holiday-themed decorations, and costumes. In the past week I’ve seen top player costumes as simple as a single pair of fangs, to elaborate ensembles based on a player's favourite NPC. A surprising number of players are just as jovial about dressing up for the real life event!
Wear a Costume, Play Video Games for Life
Wearing costumes goes beyond the obvious holiday usage and masquerade parties, though. In 2005, Gears of War animator Chris Bartlett applied for a job with Epic Games. When the receptionist told him they had over 200 resumes of artists to go through, he didn’t settle for the, “don’t call us, we’ll call you” response. He dressed as Storm Trooper TK409 and marched into the office building, portfolio in hand. Fate landed him in the path of the CEO and a few other top executives as they headed into a meeting with the entire company. He not only handed over his portfolio, but he was also the talk of the meeting. Best of all, he got his prized job in the video game industry!
Just a couple of weeks ago, costume company BuySeasons dressed 425 people in costumes depicting video game characters. The reason behind it had nothing to do with Halloween, but everything to do with breaking a world record. 376 video game convention-goers in London held the previous record. Busyseasons President and CEO Daniel Haight said, “Our team works tirelessly to ship millions of Halloween costumes to our customers, but today the celebration was all about them!”
While these incidents are pretty neat, as a parent my favorite costume-wearing person is Dale Price, from Salt Lake City, Utah. On his son’s first day of his sophomore year of high school, Dale thought it would be fun to embarrass him by waving to the bus as it pulled away that morning. After hearing the lad complaining about it to his mom that evening, Dale kicked it up a notch. The next morning, and each morning afterwards on the entire 180-day school calendar, the creative father waved goodbye to his son each morning -- in costume. I’m not sure if my favorite was Donkey Kong or Princess Leia.
Regardless of whether a video game costume is for you or your character, creativity matters. While interviewing people for this article the most amusing costume mentioned was a rabid opossum. A player created custom-tailored clothes from opossum fur and an opossum mask for a costume contest in an Iron Realms game. When their turn came, they had a friend plague them with epilepsy, the affliction causing them to foam at the mouth and shake. After the person displayed the affliction for me, I could only imagine how fun it was for those who were able to see the costume firsthand.
What’s the most creative fantasy costume you’ve ever seen in an online game? Do you still take the opportunity to dress up and celebrate Halloween? Answers to these questions and your comments are both welcome in the space below!
Author: Sid Jennings
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Comments
not a fan
I'm not a fan of dress up.
Yeah...not really my thing
Yeah...not really my thing either. It's rare I dress up for something.
same
same here
ditto
^
Me
I'd rather just be me.
Stunned
Dressing up is ok, just not like that picture
Mayaween?
Is it like Mayaween?
That is a terrible picture
The above statement is true.
Agreed
Agreed
Envy! ^^
C'mon Dras you know you want to look just a tad like princess Leia!
That picture is painful to
That picture is painful to see.
Uh, true
Uh, true
I think I saw that person
I think I saw that person idling at the West Gate of Bloodloch...
Right along Ezrax eh?
:P
No way, that's a great costume!
Anyway, he could have chosen the gold bikini...
Which would have been much
Which would have been much more amusing.
agreed
agreed
Poor kid. Lol.
Poor kid. Lol.
Painful but awesome at the
Painful but awesome at the same time.
lol
lol
i don't know, the idea of
i don't know, the idea of completely embarassing my kids on their way to school while dressed up in some rediculous costume really speaks to me. *rubs her hands greedily* my poor poor kids
I wish my Dad loved me enough
I wish my Dad loved me enough to embarrass me like that.
Great Fun
Yes as my boys get to be the age that they are worried about how they are viewed by others I think it would be great fun as well, and they would like it heh!
eep!
eep!
LOL Rabid Opossum
That was Perl! Loved her rabid opossum costume. It still makes me laugh now, a year later.
Naomh - Bus stop embarrassment, or even just the threat of it, is a powerful motivator. Although if you home school, then you get the bonus of just embarrassing your kids everywhere. Muhaha.
Just remember...if you
Just remember...if you homeschool and humiliate them...your kids will choose your nursing home ;)
:)
:)
Cheer up, you're always so
Cheer up, you're always so miserable.
:-)
:-)
:D
:D
:P
:P
I am dressed as a pirate
I have a pirate costume wheee!
Interesting. It's not really
Interesting. It's not really occurred to me to actually dress up in a costume in game, but it is probably cheaper than actually going out and buying a costume. Or spending time to make a non-digital one yourself.
I find it a tad sad that
I find it a tad sad that getting a text costume for your text character to make their text description say that they have it is being compared to anything irl. Just a tad, though
er
I am more for the digital type...
Fun for the masquerade?
However, how often do I visit one...
I haven't played Second Life,
I haven't played Second Life, but I imagine that is where you'd find a lot of creative costumes!
As for the most creative I've seen, it would be on games that let you wear social clothing (no stat benefits, only visual). I can't say I've seen many creative things, since most people go for the stereotyped cool look.
No! I was too slow in
No! I was too slow in designing a costume
I want to have a costume for
I want to have a costume for my char as well!
Haha
Like the one in the picture?
lol, that picture is awesome.
lol, that picture is awesome. So good
I'm meh
I mean, I'm very into Halloween, enough to have run a free haunted house for kids in the neighborhood for the last 7 years, getting over 200 kids a year, but as far as playing it in character? I don't know, I doubt Tema has time for such frivolity.
treat or treat
Gimme that treat
Tron Guy
Did anyone see Tron guy from Americas Got Talent? That's what this reminds me of. Heh!
I love costumes!
I love costumes!
costumes are great
but I really love the eyeballs from the haunted mansion.
me too
love how they *POP*
Costume
Meh who needs a costume
lol
My dreams are always bigger than my wallet!
tee hee
I'm not wearing a costume Damn it!
Howl
Oh man are you in trouble then!
Costumes are a waste of
Costumes are a waste of money, or time if you make them yourself.
moreso than anything else we
moreso than anything else we do?
I like costumes
Put a pack of beanie babies on an umbrella and go as "raining cats and dogs."
Halloween.
First American Halloween, can't dress up. Sucks, swamped with school.
:)
:)
:-)
:-)
:o)
:o)
I want to be slave princess
I want to be slave princess leia
That picture is great.
That picture is great.
not it
not it
Nice
Moobs
Mayaween
My Mayaween costume decayed before Mayaween. Not getting a new one. Hmpf.
Being a Glomdoring member in
Being a Glomdoring member in Lusternia, our everyday-wear is basically Halloween :D
Haha
Cute ^^
Actually
Halloween is not that important in Sweden.. :(
Not in Australia either.
Not in Australia either.
never
i've never been a big fan of dressing up, tbh
Yes!
Still love dressing up!
Sexy nurse.
Sexy nurse.
I'd like to dress up as a
I'd like to dress up as a free credit
And maybe even two free
And maybe even two free credits!
Perl and opossums...
*insert giggling here*
oooh
Costumes? Who doesn't like dress up!
Always
I always try to dress up for Halloween. Gets expensive though.
Halloween isn't really
Halloween isn't really celebrated here, though every day in Magnagora is like Halloween!
That picture makes my eyes
That picture makes my eyes bleed.
^
hell yes, woah
:)
:)
i honestly just didnt want to
i honestly just didnt want to bother with it irl or ic
Agreed. To each their own,
Agreed. To each their own, though
Happy birthday to me!
Yay!
dressing up for Halloween is
dressing up for Halloween is a fine tradition and there's nothing wrong with it.
Can we also get free candies
Can we also get free candies in-game?
I don't understand people
I don't understand people that dress up
I am meh
I agree. I do not think Mayaween is cool.
Tow's in-game costumes
Are always so cute... I have seen several creative ones through the years in game -bows in praise-
In game costumes
Could be cool. But this guy scares me.
Costumes? Why bother?
Costumes? Why bother?
lol
lol'd at picture
Gah...
Thanks for scarring me for life with that picture! Only thing worse... on second thought, I'm not going to say it, considering you'll probably post THAT to!
You were going to say...
...Man-Faye weren't you.
Horrible
Pic was horrible. Other than that, pretty good stuff.
I dressed up as a naked
I dressed up as a naked person once
Costumes`
Christelle, my character, would never put on a costume, whether for Mayaween or any other occasion. However, for this year I plan to go as someone from The Enigma of Amigara Fault.
Dressup is for Halloween
Dressup is for Halloween only!
Great picture.
Great picture.
wooow
that is all
Halloween is just a
Halloween is just a convenient excuse. The real fun is in a ridiculous get-up when no one else is in one.
So
true, that and scaring people. The great joys of holloween.
Costume
Costumes are fun RL if a big group is doing it. I'm bummed that I can't afford to get a decent one for work tomorrow and am just going with a pair of cheap devil horns.
Carnaval
The only dress-up I know of is carnaval or hen parties. No Halloween here.
pic
still funny
PIcture is going to give me
PIcture is going to give me nightmares. Although to the topic at hand, I don't dress up.
Hahaha!
Haha
I went a step further and
I went a step further and became a vampire fo real, yo.
For realz?!
On a scale of 1 to 10 how glittery are you in the sun?
Glittery? I said Vampire, not
Glittery? I said Vampire, not clean shaven chest with sparkles and metrosexual hair and makeup who pretends to be a vampire. Think Anne Rice not that other woman who thinks she can write "vampires". XD
Though that seems to be the main "Vampire" stereo type now. Truly a shame. MAybe I should add sparkles to my description.
Such a shame really, kids
Such a shame really, kids these days are ruined by the wrong kind of vampires. Personally, I'd love to attend the Grand Masquerade someday, the World of Darkness convention which has a lot of LARP events during it. That's proper vampires, too!
Ghost costume
I once wore a ghost costume that was enchanted to glow slightly in the dark. That was cool, and only 10 silvers. I would never buy the 1 gold or so Prince Arutha costume.
Dressin' up.
Never been a big fan of costumes and such. Hell, barely even like to put on a shirt with a collar when I go out to dinner. Ya'll are lucky I'm even wearing pants as I type this.
:P
Funny picture
That smile
It's that smile in the picture that's worst, that slightly manic expression just makes it creepy. He fills the dress out nicely though. :P
never have created a ir costum
I never really have. Lusternia the past few years had a different haloween kinda event. the fate atrapos lost her shears so, souls were not being reincarnated. when you kill denizens there souls might not be rewoven. you put those souls inthe portal of fate and after a sertin number you would be given a chockelet candy shapped like body parts of all things with varieing health, mana, or ego blessings. sortof neat and utilitarian at the same time I thought.
I temorarily became a ghost
I RPed having a magical accident make me transparent and glow in the dark slightly, but then a god made some distateful illusions, and so I stopped in disgust.
I really need to stop bashing
I really need to stop bashing and start roleplaying
Mmm
LARPing...
What is this I don't even
What is this I don't even
Larping
Seems so silly to me! I'd def try it sometime, though.
Old Achaea
They used to have a Pretty Princess Pageant in Hashan, where all the contestants had to be male. It was amusing and a bit disturbing.
In Lusternia, we call it 'any day of the week.'
No thanks.
No thanks.
dressup in real life?
No. Just, no. As for in-game, there's a small part of me that cares about how my character looks, but it's never anything too outlandish or fantastical.
don't know
not too many people I see playing dress up
I liked that story!
I liked that story!
always
every year.