The dedication of the fans sometimes goes beyond all boundaries. Tattoos with your favorite characters, sons and daughters named after the characters of your favorite game are just the tip of the iceberg. So what else are gamers willing to go to prove their commitment to virtual worlds? Here are some crazy examples…
Own figurines and dioramas
Let’s start with the simplest, but no less interesting – with collectible editions of games. Often you will find figurines of the main characters or entire plots in the form of dioramas.
Among gamers, there are many skilled crafters and cosplayers who take on complex yet amazingly detailed projects, so it’s no surprise that some wanted to create their own version of the “collectible figure”.
This is how we wrote about a fan not so long ago Elden Ring, who created a diorama dedicated to the battle with one of the game’s bosses – the dragon Eghill. Another player, also a fan of FromSoftware projects, made a scale copy of a wandering mausoleum weighing 13 kg. and with a total number of parts of 5-6 thousand.
Throughout the game industry’s existence, players have repeatedly impressed the community with their work. You can view some of them below.
Looks great, right? Here we can see the Murloc village from the universe Warcraft (MiniQuest), scene from Diablo 3 (Romance of the Temples), empire and rebel fighters crashing into the desert on Jakku from Star Wars (Romance of the Temples), and even a village from Minecraft (Flickr).
Replicas of devices, weapons and equipment from games
A separate category includes replicas of devices and weapons from fictional universes, carefully transferred to reality by various craftsmen. There are entire channels on the Internet devoted to “making” such weapons.
For example, the inventor and owner of the popular YouTube channel Colin Furze created a working prototype of a hidden knife from the universe Assassin’s Creed, as well as a built-in ax and umbrella from Sekiro: Shadows die twice. He even demonstrated the latter’s effectiveness by taking on a flamethrower while hiding behind this umbrella.
No less interesting is the team of the AWE me channel. They “make” weapons out of games. And the material used is not epoxy or paper, but real steel.
Of course, Comic-Con doesn’t allow such a weapon — it cuts (or rather, chops) fruit, bottled liquids, mannequins, and even furniture. So the creators had to keep together the cult sword of Cloud Buster from the Final Fantasy universe – it turned out to be so huge.
Customization of anything and everything
Figurines and weapon replicas are good, of course, but most of the time they will collect dust on the shelf and delight their owner with their existence. And what about something more… entourage? Applied? In general, let’s talk about gamers who decided not to limit themselves to one topic and dedicated their home to their beloved universe.
For example a fan American Truck Simulator nicknamed ricotrucker1 decided to recreate a truck cabin in his room – repeating all the interior details: seat, steering wheel, a copy of the front panel with a glove box and all devices, gear lever and pedals. Four monitors serve as “windows” in the virtual world.
A YouTuber nicknamed BANKII decided to keep up with him. Here the scale is even more striking – the entire room was styled like the interior of a Star Citizen spaceship. To do this, I had to order a separate frame and spend about $ 30,000 (about 1.8 million rubles) on finishing. And yes, automatic sliding doors are included.
Finally, Tyler Kirkham, a DC comic book artist and avid fan of the series, is completely immersed. The older roles.
He recreated the interior of Tamriel’s expanse in his home: he covered the walls with stone, bought stylized wooden furniture, hung various swords and axes, and even hung mannequins with armor. Not without an alchemical laboratory and a small secret room. All this magnificence cost the artist $ 50,000 (about 3.1 million rubles).
Musicals, songs and fan shorts
Songs dedicated to the characters from the games and the projects themselves are not so rare. In any case, think of the musical project Miracleofsound, which for many years has been creating original songs based on known universes, or the St. Petersburg band The Chalkeaters, which recently thundered with a song about a crossover. Downfall and Crossing animals. You can listen to (and view) their latest work below.
But maybe there’s something bigger? Naturally! The Russian theater group Etherius Theater has been pleasing fans of the Elder Scrolls universe for several years now. Their repertoire includes the musical Song of the Dragonborn, the protagonist of which is the viewer himself – he will have to remember and relive all the adventures of the Dragonborn: from escaping from captivity to meeting dragons.
No less interesting is the second musical “A Dream at the Red Mountain”, which tells about the events of antiquity in the world of the Elder Scrolls. An hour and a half of acting, beautiful voices and a beloved universe – all this is absolutely admirable.
But much more popular on the internet are fan-made short films about games. We wrote about many of them: fans filmed projects in the universe Metro 2033, first BioShock and even an indie hit Papers, please.
Remake of an entire game in 8 years
Are you ready to give the gaming universe 8 years? Not relaxing in your free time for eight years, but painstaking and exhausting work? The authors of the fan remake of the first part Half-Life titled Black Mesa is ready.
As a result, we’ve received an update in all aspects of Half-Life, from graphical innovations to enhanced opponent intelligence. All-new soundtrack, voice acting, overhauled level design and many other fixes and improvements.
The work was so loved by the community and by Valve itself that it was added to Steam as a standalone game. This is almost the only case of a commercial release of a game based on someone else’s intellectual property. If you want to know more about the project, you can read our history material.
Name for the child
The whole game is of course good. But somehow long and gloomy. Is there a shortcut to fame? Several players seem to have opened up this “shortcut” – they named their sons after video game characters.
For example, this was done by the ex-player of the eSports team Alliance Dota 2 Joakim “Akke” Akterhall. His team won The International 2013 and the girl, who loves the same universe, was not against it.
A simple Dota 2 fan from the Philippines went the same way. The man named his son Strygwyr, which is exactly what the Bloodseeker character is called according to the lore of the game.
Esportsmen of the camp League of Legends, another popular MOBA, isn’t far behind. Kang Chan-yong, known by his nickname Ambition, named his son Jarvan 5 after his champion Jarvan 4, thanks to whom his team managed to take the championship title in 2017.
By the way, the prototype of Chan-yong’s appearance formed the basis of the Riot Games animation video dedicated to the next tournament – this is how the company often celebrates the most notable players.
Virtual real estate for real money
Long before the “boom” of NFT tokens in the universe Second life and Entropia Universe players actively traded virtual items for real money.
The first project was something like an improved version of Roblox with an emphasis on an adult audience. Here, as in the project that is popular with children, most of the content is created by the users themselves, there is a concept of personal worlds and mini-games, and the emphasis is on social interaction.
Entropia Universe is a rather controversial game, which has always made a lot of noise. First of all, because of the ambiguous monetization system – it is the “grandmothers” who decide a lot in the game, and it is almost impossible to earn them without investing real money in the project. You will literally have to clean up animal droppings or pick fruit. But if you put more money into the project, there’s a chance to make money from it: there’s the opportunity to convert virtual currencies into pretty real dollars. And some have succeeded.
For example, the author managed to sell a copy of real Amsterdam (several of his quarters) in Second Life for $50,000. And in Entropia Universe, as in a much more “gambling project”, for the Crystal Palace – a potentially profitable location for “agriculture” – the player gave $ 330,000 (20 million rubles). As an owner, he can assign a “tax”, which earns on each monster killed by other characters.
That virtual AmsterdamAlthough this still cannot be compared to buying an entire planet in the same EU: virtual property went under the hammer for an incredible $ 6,000,000 (373 million rubles). This is of course not just a “skin for the machine”. The main feature of the planet was a player-created and developed economic system – another potential object of high profitability. But you have to admit – the amount is astronomical for a simple player.
How much money have you invested in one game?
Civilization Day 5
Almost unnoticed in the gaming community was a funny case – in 2010, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (Martin O’Malley) declared September 21 Civilization 5. This is what he said then.
Known in Maryland as a video game pioneer, Sid Meier founded his first studio in Baltimore County in 1982 and today continues a proud tradition of fostering creativity and talent among new generations.
I, Martin O’Malley, in my capacity as Governor of the State of Maryland pay tribute to Sid Meir on this day, July 28, 2010, and declare September 21 as Civilization 5 Sid Meier Day, and encourage the people of the state to join to party.
A whole vacation for one game – sounds very cool, right?
* * *
We deliberately left the real “craziness” of the players behind the scenes – giving birth in an internet cafe, marrying “Tetris” and escape the army to watch a movie in the universe warship. If, as they say, this material comes to you, we will certainly continue the story.
What do you usually spend money on in games?
Source: VG Times