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| FlyingSquidWolf's hat, see what I did there? |
At some point in the very near future I will create my 500th Twitter Hat. (You can see them all here) Most likely that number is entirely arbitrary and the 500th hat was passed awhile ago, it is hard to determine. Some hats I created out-of-game, or out of Twitter, or for other purposes. And then we had Frills. So it gets rather confusing. I also forget sometimes to post them on that collection page. So the count comes directly from the folder on my hard drive where I keep them all. So that is what I'm going to consider the "official" count.
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| There they all are |
The first hat was created on June 11th, 2011. And the first half-dozen or so were created on my own Eve Avatar as a form of protest against Incarna. The idea quickly spread and that Summer saw a ton of hats being made for members of Tweetfleet. Back then I was making them quickly and at a very small (256x256) resolution. Mostly they were silly, the more silly the better. The idea was to be ludicrous as a counterpoint to how much was being charged for fashion back then. Fashion you can't even see in-game.
Since then hats come in waves. Months can go by without a request, but then suddenly a new group of Tweetfleet members wants a hat on their Avatar. One of the most surprising things is just how popular hats continue to be. Its easy to understand why. The only representation of "us" in-game is our head shot. Our avatar remains the 'face' of our character in chat, local, Slack, Twitter, pretty much everywhere we go. A hat makes a statement about our character and represents us to the outside world. It is a fashion statement with a purpose.
I remain convinced to this day that it is the great un-tapped $$$ maker for CCP.
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| I've even made mock-ups!! |
Hat requests come in two forms - easy and extremely challenging. A lot of it comes from the position of the avatar's head. Finding a hat that fits is the biggest challenge. Characters with straight-on looks are easiest and characters with weird angles are the hardest. I've learned a lot of tricks over the years to make a hat fit, but there is only so much you can do. The more specific the request the more difficult finding and fitting become. If you look at all the hats, you can start to tell the ones that were specifically requested from the ones I had free reign to create. The specific ones are not quite as good for one reason or another.
I've put hats on logos. I put a hat on CCP Chair. Cats. A couple of dogs. Spaceships. Pretty much everything at this point. I never intended hat making to become something I did for five years. It just happened like that.
The best part about the past five years of hat making is something that often takes me by surprise. If you scroll down thru the hats on that page you'll see what I mean. It is a very emotional time-capsule, so many of those faces are no longer with us. It is a weird little memory of people who have left the game, or changed, or disappeared. I think it is extremely interesting in that regard.
I plan on making some sort of video once I pass the 500 mark. I haven't decided yet what form it might take, but I think it is a moment worth remembering.
I don't suspect I'll ever stop making hats for Tweetfleet. Why stop?
