The ‘Gamification’ of digital fashion.

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October

2021

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Digital fashion has been established since 2018, where companies use VR and AR to show off their new collections in a virtual space. The Fabricant, a virtual fashion designer firm, has made it clear that designing clothing online allows for more creativity, less required resources, and less-risk when designing clothes, and necessary to battle the restrictions of Covid-19 (The Fabricant, n.d.). But lately, a new development has emerged in the fashion industry: using games to advertise and sell clothes, the “gamification of fashion”.

Gamification is defined as the process of adding game elements to non-game activities (Fitz-Walter, n.d.). For fashion brands, such as Burberry, who partnered with Tencent Games and their game “Honor of Kings”, justified their partnership: “Interactive digital content is increasingly become a source of inspiration in (luxury) fashion, games offer another opportunity for consumers to connect with our products online” (Key, 2020). Some brands go as far to create their own free-to-play virtual gaming space, such as Balenciaga, to show off their new collection in virtual dressing rooms. (Key, 2020).

The partnerships with game publishers have become a prominent way for fashion brands to show and sell collections, yet other brands, such as H&M, take it even one step further: selling digital fashion in games. H&M has partnered with Nintendo and their game “Animal Crossing”, which saw major influx of sales due to Covid-19 (Orland, 2021), to recycle their in-game clothes and receive H&M catalogue for their virtual avatars. In addition, H&M created a virtual avatar in the gaming space, which will act as a brand ambassador across games (Scandinavian Mind, n.d.)

Lastly, to illustrate the significance of the emergence of the virtual space of fashion, Digital fashion courses have also been integrated into Bachelor and Master programs in Fashion (Digital Fashion Communication, n.d.). The fashion industry has adapted to the limitations of covid-19, and it is expected to stay.

What do you think about digital fashion? Is it an effective way to showcase collections, or do you still prefer to visit stores and see tangible clothing?

References

Digital Fashion Communication. (n.d.). Master programmes in (digital) fashion communication. Retrieved 8 October 2021, from https://digitalfashion.ch/list-of-masters/

Fitz-Walter, Z. (n.d.). What is Gamification? Gamify. Retrieved 8 October 2021, from https://www.gamify.com/what-is-gamification

Key, M. (2020, December 9). Fashion Gamification: Why high-end brands like Balenciaga are turning to virtual gaming. Reydar. https://www.reydar.com/fashion-gamification-balenciaga/

Orland, K. (2021, February 1). Why Animal Crossing: New Horizons ’ 31 million sales are so incredible. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/putting-31-million-animal-crossing-new-horizons-sales-in-context/

Scandinavian Mind. (n.d.). 6 brands that are leading the way for virtual fashion. Retrieved 8 October 2021, from https://scandinavianmind.com/news/6-brands-that-are-leading-the-way-for-virtual-fashion

The Fabricant. (n.d.). The Fabricant | A Digital Fashion House. Retrieved 8 October 2021, from https://www.thefabricant.com/

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From mourning to finding closure, VR as a potential solution?

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October

2021

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We all know Virtual Reality as a staple in the gaming industry to play games in another (virtual) world and interact with the objects within. That premise will not change anytime soon, but Virtual Reality still has untapped potential to uncover. This blog post will discuss such potential which has been uncovered recently with VR, revisiting your passed loved ones.

The goal of the VR technology is to effectively find closure with your loved ones that have passed away. First introduced in a Korean Series called “Meeting you” in 2020, the virtual world generates a virtual avatar of your loved one, which look and sound strikingly similar using Deepfake technology. In addition, through sensory gloves, you are also able to interact and “feel” with the avatar in the program. Although not available for commercial use yet, initiatives and companies focused on therapy or grief therapy specifically have shown interest to make it happen widely available in the future (Brockwell, 2020).

Although the advancement in VR to make this possible is a milestone in itself, people do link ethical constraints with seeing “people” who are deceased, and whether it effectively works as grief therapy. Indeed, the term “Technical resurrection” has people speculating whether the deceased should be “resurrected” in VR to find closure. Others speculate and observe that, virtual reality is still in its early development stages, and cannot be used a medium for grief therapy. In addition, it might even damage the grieving process (Brockwell, 2020). Jong-Woo Kim, the producer and director of Meeting you, does indicate that due to technological and budget constaints, the VR program is scripted, not based on interactive elements (Kim, 2020)

Although the current constraints with the VR technology does introduce limitations, it does seem to work to find closure. As a Korean mother stated seeing her deceased child in the VR world: “I think I’ve had the dream I’ve always wanted” (Meek, 2020).

What do you think? Should VR be used as (grief) therapy and be used as “Technical resurrection”? Or do you think that it should not be commercialized at all?

References

Brockwell, H. (2020). I long to see my dead dad – but I’m unsure virtual reality’s the answer. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/virtual-reality-dead-relatives-daughter-mother-deepfake-black-mirror-a9332501.html [Accessed 4 Oct. 2021].

Kim, V. (2020). The Uncanniness of Watching a Grieving Mother and Her Dead Daughter Meet in VR. [online] Slate Magazine. Available at: https://slate.com/technology/2020/05/meeting-you-virtual-reality-documentary-mbc.html [Accessed 4 Oct. 2021].

Meek, A. (2020). If you could use VR to see a dead loved one again one more time, would you want to? [online] BGR. Available at: https://bgr.com/tech/vr-headset-grieving-mother-meets-dead-daughter-again/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2021].

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