Animal Crossing, Skyrim, Zelda: these players integrated into their favorite game – News

In recent weeks, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have collected resources, raised money, decorated their homes, but also looked for ways to attract new residents to their islands. Among the potential neighbors with the rating is Monica, a wolf who is one of the new characters in the opus, and who has the distinction of referring to a real person in the flesh. This practice is far from being isolated within our medium, which has regularly incorporated real players into its productions.

Whether they are known or less, many players have already had the opportunity to appear in a game. And if the most obvious for developers seems to be to create a character in their own image, it is not surprisingly of the only means used by the latter, capable of finding alternative solutions when it comes to offering a place of choice to their community.

Playful grandmothers at the rendezvous

In recent months, a rather funny trend has emerged through two titles, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Elder Scrolls VI, which have chosen to integrate two players of 88 and 83 years respectively among the characters visible in game The first cited is none other than Audrey, nicknamed “Audie”, who made a name for herself with the Animal Crossing community thanks to her 3500 hours spent on the New Leaf episode. An anecdote shared in early 2019 on Twitter by his grandson, a game designer named Paul Hubans:

My 87 year old grandmother has been playing Animal Crossing New Leaf on her 3DS every day for 4 years now. His 3DS finally broke this year, so we gave him a new one for the holidays. During a system transfer, I went to check his activity log:

The tweet received more than 90,000 “likes” and almost 25,000 retweets, generating a strong response from the community, which then subscribed to allow them to obtain the latest title in date in the series, as well than the special Animal Crossing Switch and some accessories for the console. But the best surprise finally came from the developers, who added a new character by the name of … Audie, direct reference to the nickname of their retired fan. The tribute is less noticeable in the French version since Audie has been translated into Monica, but the main interested party will surely not hold it against them.

If Audie's story is best known to fans of Animal Crossing, that of Shirley Curry, on the other hand, had a slightly more pronounced echo among players, and for good reason: this 83-year-old woman has a YouTube channel of more than 800,000 subscribers, on which she regularly shares her sessions of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. His growing notoriety has also allowed him to acquire the affectionate nickname of Skyrim Grandma. Visibly uncomfortable with the idea of ​​maybe never having the opportunity to play the next episode of the series The Elder Scrolls, it will still have the opportunity to play a role: following his comment, a user launched a petition inviting Bethesda to model Skyrim Grandma in his next title.

A successful initiative since a few months later, the American editor announced in the bend of a video celebrating the 25 years of the license (above, from 8:41) that the octogenarian woman would be well in the casting of her next production. Her precise role is still mysterious, but she benefited from a motion capture session which clearly suggests that she will be a non-player character, even a companion. If the wait seems too long, know that Shirley Curry will also be available as a comrade-in-arms in Skyrim thanks to a mod announced at the start of the year. Bethesda is also customary of the fact, since he had chosen to pay tribute to one of his biggest fans, Erik “Immok the Slayer”, tragically deceased before the release of Skyrim, by creating in it a NPC named “Erik The Slayer”.

Fans and famous, they also have the right to their model

As Shirley Curry’s example shows, integrating your favorite game without getting enough exposure remains difficult. It is for this reason that many celebrities have more easily had the opportunity to arrive in their favorite title in recent years. The example does not necessarily apply to football players of a certain level who are systematically added to the new versions of eFootball PES and FIFA, even if their modeling can be the subject of lively discussions when they have not had the chance to benefit from a motion capture session. More players, the latest generation of footballers do not hesitate to have fun with these models, a sign of the importance taken by football simulations with them. A case that notably concerned Franck Ribéry, whose in-game avatar was not very similar to his real counterpart.

I recently played FIFA 20 with my son. Hey EA Sports, who is this guy?

Other sports games have managed to integrate some celebrities who are certainly outside the community, but fans of their productions, such as the NBA 2K20 series. At the end of 2012, the famous author, composer and performer Justin Bieber, a great fan of real and virtual basketball, was thus modeled in NBA 2K13. Closer to us geographically and temporally speaking, Mister V, the videographer and rapper (among others) to 5.5 million subscribers on YouTube also had the right to his in-game avatar, with a little subtlety: he was the only one to be able to use it, privilege certainly linked to integration into the soundtrack a few weeks later. This did not stop him from share some pictures of his model with his followers on his Twitter account… before internet users grab the image to make it a meme. Good prince, the videographer later had fun with this unexpected outcome:

NBA Playgrounds has also allowed players to embody certain amateur youtubers of the title, while another production outside of sports simulations also appropriated the idea: Fortnite. Never stingy with original concepts, like the recent concert of Travis Scott organized directly in game, the title of Epic Games launched last January its series of skins "Icons". It was launched with the famous Ninja streamer, popularized thanks to his videos on Fortnite. News obviously welcomed very positively by the main interested party, a sign that as famous as they may be, the personalities included in certain games are nonetheless fans and players above all. While waiting for others to join the cast, Fortnite enthusiasts have already had fun creating their own skin concepts based on their favorite personalities.

Integrations in a more original form

We mentioned it in the preamble, in addition to the “classic” character integrations, other titles have opted for more original approaches. Won the memories of World of Warcraft players for his unlikely video become a viral phenomenon, the famous character of Leeroy Jenkins (played by Ben Schultz) has been reused several times by Blizzard teams. He was first entitled to his own achievement in game, which is more like the easter-egg than integration, before appearing as a fief subject to the arrival of the Warlords of expansion. Draenor in 2014. But the most astonishing homage is that operated by another title in the lap of Blizzard, Hearthstone, which modeled it in the form of a legendary card having a charge and a war cry , direct reference to the behavior of the character in the video that popularized it.

Much further in the past, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past also lent itself to the game of original fan integration with the “Chris Houlihan Room”, a difficult-to-access secret room that probably served as developer test. Its name, it takes it from a player who won a contest a few years ago through the 16th issue of Nintendo Power magazine : by sending a photo of the Warmech from Final Fantasy, a boss on which it was difficult to fall, the young player won the right to appear in cameo in the next installment of Zelda. And if his wish will be realized at the exit of A Link to The Past, his notoriety will not reach our borders, however, since his name is curiously absent from the European version. The most curious among you can however find it in the American version, which clearly signifies its presence by a message written on a telepathic stone at the back of the room:

My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my most secret room. Let it stay between us, ok?

To return to the latest generation, Sea of ​​Thieves has taken up the challenge, like World of Warcraft with Leeroy Jenkins, to pay tribute to the memorable achievements of its players by then integrating them into the adventure. But the title of Rare took the concept to a whole new level by adding many nods to the perpetrators of these achievements in different places on his map, partially listed in an article from our Eurogamer colleagues. Thus, the very first player to board the ghost ship, a certain hallower1980 saw part of his gamertag be integrated in an inscription on a pillar close to the passage to the other world, "Hallower MCMLXXX". Others, such as OnEl-Falcon, ArchAngel-Aeon or ZZ-DE-TOX-ZZ have also been immortalized for their respective exploits, going from the death record linked to a fall of the crow's nest to that of the number of swallowed grogs passing by the longest swimming session.

For an extremely popular license, paying tribute to the players who brought it back to the surface is also a viable solution. This is the path that the miraculous Shenmue III recently followed, long awaited by its fans for many years, passed to Arlesian status, before emerging from the shadows and being funded by a Kickstarter campaign . A long journey that led him to its release in late 2019, and the establishment of a museum highlighting some of its most memorable contributors. On entering, you can discover several walls housing the portraits of certain contributors. Appearing in Shenmue III was not, however, given, since you still had to contribute up to $ 1,500 to benefit from such an honor.

If you hope to one day be able to appear in your favorite game, then you will need a little luck, a certain status, money or enough talent to mark your community and enter collective memories. But there are also other ways not mentioned, such as working for the team behind the game. At Sports Interactive – the studio behind Football Manager – employees can have their names taken over by a newgen, one of these new young players created by AI and who come each year to fill the training centers of clubs with your careers. The randomness of the statistics of the newgens does not however guarantee you to become the new Kylian Mbappe, but with the employees, the idea does not remain about it less amusing and appreciated.