I Miss Earned Cosmetics, Like, A Lot

For those glamours we’ve missed, for those we can yet acquire.

‘Fashion is the real endgame’, a rallying cry bellowed from the mouths of MMO fans the world over. There are transmog hunts in World of Warcraft, glamour collections in Final Fantasy XIV. Yet while MMORPGs have a host of cosmetics that you can earn through play, other genres have let them fall to the wayside in favour of the nickel and the dime.

Games go through phases of monetization schemes. Whether it be the meme-worthy and humble horse armour, the infamous loot box, or the current age of the battle-pass, one thing has stayed consistent: cosmetics are the first thing to go. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as gamer backlash has always been aimed at ‘pay-to-win’ titles.

These card-swiping strategies used to be relegated to free-to-play titles, but they’ve infected full-price titles too. Games have become incredibly pricey to make, while the initial buy-in has stayed the same, so the extra buck has to come from somewhere. On paper, this is fine: the core gameplay stays intact, but you can get a shiny armour set or a cool skin to support the devs. As long as it’s all cosmetic, what’s the harm?

Such cool outfits, and I’m not going to buy a single one.

That’s what I thought too, but I’ve been gripped by a paid-cosmetic fatigue. As I stared at Darktide’s FOMO-powered cash shop, looking at armour sets I would never buy, a nostalgic ennui crept in. In an alternate universe, being able to earn these sets through play would have kept me going. All the effort put into this armour, from the concept art to the modelling, would encourage me to play the game I actively enjoy. I could be proud of more than just a stat-stick and a recolour of my scrappy prison rags. Now I watch through a window as aesthetics slowly pass me by, just another way to strangle further patronage from me.

Heck, there are World of Warcraft players who stayed subscribed during the harrowing days of Shadowlands, and many did so for the mount, pet and transmog collection. I myself ran through dozens of Final Fantasy XIV’s Nier raids just for a cool jacket. Cosmetic rewards might be the first carrot to be cut from the stick, but we need to stop treating them as inconsequential to play. They’re a vital part of the rewards structure.

Even Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a game I can’t recommend enough, plants its paid skins in your face every time you customize your team’s appearances. While the Hunter is equipped with an armoury of cool alternate options to be earned through play, two out of three cosmetic options for your teammates are cash-shop only, and the one you can earn (the ‘Midnight Suns’ outfits) have a unified theme and colour scheme.

Seriously, I’m so bummed that I can’t get this skin in-game.

I can’t help but wonder if I’d have played for longer if I was able to earn these skins in-game. If they stood there as a goal, beckoning me to a New Game+ playthrough or a no-K.O challenge run. We can wave the flag of ‘it supports the devs’ and ‘it’s entirely optional’ all we want, but these are fully-priced games, and they’ve had a chunk of them hacked off for further monetization. After all, getting a new piece of gear is made all the sweeter when it looks super, super cool.

It's not just their absence that’s felt; to promote these paid options, you need to put them in the player’s face, too. I don’t want to be advertised to in a product I already paid for. It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll get better any time soon. Even WoW and Final Fantasy XIV have a few paid cosmetics in their online stores.

As publishers push the boundaries further and further to see what they can get away with, the glamour grind will be the first to be completely replaced with battle-pass fast fashion. One of my favourite rewards from the medium I love is endangered, and that’s a great, great shame.