Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
As 2014 draws to a close, bloggers and writers everywhere are looking back at their year and trying to remember anything that happened before June that might be worth including in a wrap-up post. 'Tis the season for recaps, and we're certainly not immune from that here at NWN.
While my upcoming Game of the Year post didn't require much digging at all (it's been a very good year for my Steam Library if nothing else) I did have to roll up my sleeves and dive into the archives to find my favorite articles from 2014. I'm entirely too quick to dismiss my own work, which makes these kinds of lists quite hard for me to write... But also makes this an easy choice for a low-traffic Monday.
10. "Hey ASUS, I Fixed Your Incredibly Offensive Gamer Ad"
Who could forget ASUS' incredibly uncool gamer-focussed ad from this past October? I know I'll remember it the next time I'm in the market for a laptop. Released in the wake/midst of The Movement That Shall Not Be Named, this ad appeared and then promptly disappeared from ASUS' Twitter... But not before hundreds of irked gamers (myself included) had saved it to their HDs to have some fun in Photoshop.
9. "Why Are Clumsy Games Like Octodad and Flappy Bird So Big? Watch This Video To Find Out"
Dopey, derpy, clumsy games only gained momentum this year, and releases like Octodad and Goat Simulator had a lot of people scratching their heads trying to understand the appeal. But if you've ever seen old Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin films, that appeal may be pretty darn easy to wrap your head around.
8. "Body Snatchers: Second Life's New Mesh Avatars May Do More Harm Than Good to New Players"
2014 also saw a long overdue update to the starter avatars available to new players in Second Life. This update didn't come without a cost, however, and some considerable new challenges for new players to overcome. Mesh starter avatars aren't necessarily a bad idea, but these ones just aren't up to scratch.
7. "The 13 Best Costumed Characters in Videogames"
This year I started writing for Paste Magazine in addition to NWN, and naturally I've continued carrying my torch for virtual fashion and design there. The surest sign that my list of the best costumes in gaming was a success are the commenters arguing that I clearly didn't know anything about games or that I clearly knew too much.
6. "Versu's Epilogue: How an Interactive Fiction Pioneer's 15 Year Project Ended Up in Limbo at Linden Lab"
Linden Lab did some significant streamlining this year, which may have made them a better focussed company but at the cost of a lot of promising projects left on the cutting room floor. Versu was one of these, and thankfully Versu's story did eventually get its happy ending.
5. "Early Access: Failbetter Games' Sunless Sea is Anything but Bleak... At Least for the Player"
The city glittered like a wet-backed beetle as you approached, lamplight occasionally faltering as though a dew drop had been dislodged from London's polished carapace. At least that's what the zailors would say as they shared in the short-lived comforts of home. If one was already caught up in the romantic notions of a life spent zailing the vastness of the Unterzee, they could be forgiven for missing the tremble in their voices, or the dread that lived in their hollowed eyes.
'Nough said, right?
4. "Fantasy Life: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor"
Reviewing Fantasy Life for Paste was one of the highlights of my year, purely because that game was such a joy that talking about it in any capacity became a joy too. Conveying that joy was a huge challenge, but ultimately this may be the review I'm most proud of writing this year.
3. "Seabeard for iOS: Great Animal Crossing-Like Potential... If Pacing & Profit Model is Improved"
I wanted to love Seabeard. I tried so hard, I really did. At the time it was a textbook example of how poorly-implemented free-to-play mobile monetization can ruin a game that gets everything else right. Since this post was published Seabeard has been released worldwide with some changes that are, to be honest, just too minor to renew my interest.
2. "How Grand Theft Auto Is Like Barbie"
Well with a title like that, how could this Paste post not be near the top of my list? I've been sick and tired of people looking down their nose at games like Style Savvy while happily indulging in their own dress-up games and mini-games for a while now, and this year I put my foot down. Dress-up play is as valid as anything else, and it deserves vastly more respect than it gets. Period.
And speaking of taking game fashion seriously...
1. "Dragon Age Fashion: Feminine Clothing is Never Just Feminine Clothing"
When I see this particular fashion sense employed in a medium I love above all others—a medium that is making tremendous strides, though it still has a long way to go—it’s frustrating to see it used either as a sign of fragility and vulnerability, or a sign of threatening power. I desperately want to see that taste represented without it being the butt of a joke, or some sort of coded message. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the closest I can get to this is making the blouse under my own character’s boxy leather coat out of a bolt of elegantly detailed silk. Meanwhile, Vivienne and Morrigan swan about as characters just like them have for longer than this medium has even existed. Perhaps with a little more nuance than before, but not so much that they are unrecognizable.
Femininity is either weakness, or it’s weaponized. It never just is.
So there you have it, my favorite pieces from 2014. It's been an eventful year in gaming and in Second Life, and here's hoping they both only improve in 2015!
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