Would you ever get a video game tattoo?

It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites ponders one burning question. Then we ask for your opinion.

This week we ask Kotaku: Would you ever get a video game tattoo?

Ian

Tricky question! I’m wrestling with it honestly.

I didn’t blink when I got mine war of stars Tattoo, simple as it is, but I would have to come up with a very good reason to permanently etch something video game related into my skin. This shouldn’t mock anyone who Has Done, I just … I don’t know, for some reason I don’t want to be the guy who has Pikmin on my chest just because he really likes it Pikmin. And I think that’s interesting, given the silly things I’ve already done to my body.

So, final answer? May be! Like everything else, I would need a good reason.

Fahey

No.

May be.

Therapy sailors are an integral part of the tattoo experience. Also available for parties!

Zack

I don’t have any tattoos. I don’t have any moral objections to them, in fact I think they often look pretty cool to people. But personally, I can’t imagine choosing something that I would like to permanently imprint on my skin. I honestly feel weird buying shirts that are tied to video games or movies because I don’t know how long I’ll be into that particular thing. So I just sit down and think about what I would ink on myself for a couple of hours, give up and repeat the process a few years later when I get the random urge to try again to get a tattoo.

Maybe one day I’ll finally break But then I’ll see the prices for a good tattoo and probably pass again.

31 more and you've got yourself a very impractical chess game. — 31 more and you’ve got yourself a very impractical chess game.

Lisa Marie

I would definitely get a video game tattoo! None on my skin at the moment, but I’ve been thinking about getting a chess pawn. The farmer is a motif that is used throughout the indie puzzle game Superliminal. I downloaded it on a whim because I was looking for a good brain game. I was unemployed in the middle of a pandemic and had little else to do. Without spoiling the good stuff, it was a game I didn’t know I had to play until I did. Superliminal was short and sweet, but it gave me the fleeting feeling that everything would go well together at a time when I needed it most. I think having a reminder of it on my body forever is not a terrible idea.

This transistor thing is my favorite Ari story so far. — This *transistor* This is my favorite Ari story.

Ari

There is no easier way to get people to talk than bringing up tattoos. Those who don’t have it will say they would get one, but they are undecided and don’t want to commit to dyeing anything on their bodies forever. Those who have them will say it’s no big deal forgetting that they even exist … before diving into a lively discussion of meaningful pieces, favorite artists, top studios, why these studios are so darn expensive are what trips they have made specifically for these studios and any plans for future ink. Oh yeah, and they will say it doesn’t hurt. (They lie.) They will also say that once you get your first one, you’ll ask for more. (You don’t lie.)

Coincidentally, the one I worked in is a game-themed tattoo. A couple of years ago my best friend and I shared a bottle of bad tequila and did what all shitty people do: talk about how damn amazing transistor is. Someone – not sure who – had the idea of getting one transistor Tattoo. Fuck it all. Why not right? I drunk opened Photoshop and mocked this really sloppy, deconstructed version of the transistor from transistor. Basically, we broke the thing down into a series of geometric shapes, removed the color, duplicated it, and then inverted the black and white tones of the second so we would have two matching but different tattoos. The art was [no comment]but the idea was good, and some good people in a Queens tattoo parlor worked magically with the messy JPEGs we brought with us.

Now I have many (many) more. I suppose if you want to get pedantic you could say that is another game theme. Long before fate‘s Beyond the light Expansion was even announced, I got a tattoo of Jupiter and the four Galilean moons. Europe, the smallest of the four, is the main location for Beyond the light‘s narrative. Does that count?

Anyway, dear Kotaku Reader, I can’t wait to see all of your Triforce tattoos.

I mean, at least it would have been way better than a Limbo of the Lost Tat. — I mean, at least it would have been way better than one *Float of the lost* did.

John

In an old life I was a youth worker. And if teenagers asked me about tattoos, I would say a very old thing: “Are there clothes in your wardrobe that are more than five years old?” Which was clearly a cheating because of course they don’t turn out to be teenagers, they wouldn’t fit. But they have the idea. Wait until everything you care about doesn’t change every six months before etching things indelibly into your skin. I applied the same rule to myself, and since I never seem to have grown up, I’m relieved. Because goodness knows The longest trip Tattoos that I would have painted myself in 1999 might feel a little uncomfortable to me now.

I know I sound like a Curmudgeon, but I am also a hypocrite. I think it’s so damn cool when people pull up their sleeves and envy both their commitment and their tolerance of pain. I could record all of my gaming loves, something that works Day of the Tentacle, Knights of the Old Republic, Deus Ex, Dragon Age, Dungeon Mastersomehow some Hexcellsand yeah damn it The longest trip to. It would be just right.

ash

I’ve always wanted a video game tattoo and since I’ve been a real adult with real money, the urge to get ink that absolutely embarrasses my parents’ shit has grown stronger. I don’t have anything yet, but unlike most of my peers, I’m more interested in tattoos of words than familiar images. Lyrics of one of Dragon Age: InquisitionThe songs from “The Dawn Will Come” are high on my list for literary tattoos.

The night is long
And the way is dark
Look at the sky
For a day soon
The dawn will come

Dragon Age is one of my favorite video game series. I am also a very word-oriented person (duh, writer) and have a strong connection with images of the sun, sky and stars (my Twitter handle comes from the Latin phrase “Per aspera, ad astra”). Of course, I’m drawn to the idea of a tattoo that combines both my love for heaven and mine Dragon Age. It’s also not out of the realm of possibility of getting an artistic tattoo, though I’m less sure what it would look like. Are strong competitors Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s Inquisitor symbol, Mass effect‘s N7 logoor an emblem that represents that four chocobros of Final Fantasy XV.

Oh yes, almost forgot. If the Shanghai Dragons ever win For the Overwatch League championship, I’ll be at the tattoo parlor the next day.

Ethane

My partner and I were supposed to get matching tattoos before the pandemic (no, I’m not telling you what they were). The plan then was to work into some other cool designs from there. Things that make me feel good, like maybe a bowl of ramen or a popsicle. These sound like jokes and yet are the best I can think of. So it doesn’t seem any worse than the alternative, as silly as it feels, to get a gaming tattoo. It would probably be something of EarthBound, maybe the Bubble Monkey. He looked friendly and happy, two vibrations that I would like to continue to cultivate in myself. Or the shiny gold Final Starman. I too want to be a star of a man. We will see. Perhaps one day it will be when it is moderately safer to have a foreign ink on my body.

The meaning of this picture is left to the reader.

Stephen

It is a great honor for me to have been invited to return there Kotaku to answer that question. I’ve thought deeply about the matter. Look at it. I thought about it. And I like to give an answer: No.

How about you?

Kotakuis weighed, but what do you think of it? Do you go down in ink or do you leave this stuff far less tense to people? Kidding, kidding. Share with us! We’ll be back next Monday to discuss another nerdy topic. See you in the comments!