New Tattoo and thoughts on Gaming Ink [PIC inside]

[danosaurus]

So this is my 2nd gaming tatt now, it's obviously Okami inspired. My amazing girlfriend designed it and I endured the 4 hours and $600 bill to immortalise it ^_^ Admittedly, it's a little hard to make out cos the Tokidoki girls head is warped by where my rib starts but the tatt is flawless in terms of application.

I've had a few people surprise me (non-gamers mainly and even non tattoo-fans) saying that it's one of the better tatts they've seen whilst (predictably) many people are just flat out against gaming tatts, usually for no good reason either.

Anyway, onto the discussion - What are the escapists views on gaming tatts? I fathom that some of you would probably already have gaming tatts - if so, I invite you to share photos or at least the design.

 

[comadorcrack]

I want a gaming Tat. But I'm having a rotten time trying to decide... =/

Was thinking of getting the Kanto Badges from Pokemon somewhere... or the or maybe the Lambda Symbol...
Who knows....

 

[danosaurus]

I want a gaming Tat. But I'm having a rotten time trying to decide... =/

Was thinking of getting the Kanto Badges from Pokemon somewhere... or the or maybe the Lambda Symbol...
Who knows....

If I may offer one piece of advice - Don't rush the idea.
My first gaming tatt was on the backburner for nearly a year before I went ahead with it. In the long run, I personally know I will not regret gaming tattoos. Games have been a part of my life for the majority of my existence, I also make sure that the characters or design hold intrinsic weight to me personally.

Lambda is a great idea in my opinion, Maybe try work it into something else so it's not just the symbol, but part of a larger design? It helps to have artistic friends that you can just toss around ideas to that they can sketch up, luckily I'm blessed with many of them

 

[kwagamon]

I love the idea of tattoos, but now how they are applied. If they had anesthetic available or were just less painful (I'm a horrendous wuss of a man), I would get one. Neither of those things being true, for now I'm going to stick with not getting one.

If I did/do get one, it would probably be something TF2 related. Maybe a small picture of the Heavy with his typical goofy smile saying something like "The _____ is credit to team!" under it. Can't figure out a good noun, because although I play Engineer in game enough that it might apply, I am not an engineer in real life so it would be kind of silly.

 

[Vault101]

Theroetically If I did get a gameing tat it would have to be somthing that looked nice/cool and also somthing that most non gamers wouldnt know what it was for example

I would not get pacman , mario or sonic (not that I like any of them anyway)

and I also would have no idea where to put it

 

[HuntrRose]

I'm thinking about incorporating the Assassin's seal from Assassin's creed ina tattoo. Actually thinking about having it as markings on the head of a snake

 

[danosaurus]

Against gaming tats. If I am gonna mark my body its gonna be with something personal to me. Sure gaming tats may be a step above the generic skulls or butterflies but still kinda meh.

In other and totally hypocritical news, I wants a 40k sergeants honours tattoo...

Fair enough - Thanks for being honest and providing your reason against.

I have a question for you though, if gaming is not something you'd consider a personal trait of yours - is it merely a recreational past-time for you?
Have you never, ever felt personally attached to a game or its characters?
Have you never empathised with a storyline or a protagonist?
Have you never looked at a landscape in a game and thought 'this is somewhere I wish was real', or at least fantasised of living such an adventure?
How is gaming different from any other medium - be it art, story, movie, music, etc? Why is it that you cannot perceive a game to hold the same weight as any other form of expression or perception of immersion?
For me, my first gaming tatt was Boo, holding an NES Zapper. The zapper was released in 1984 (my birth year) and it was also the first gaming peripheral I had on a console (short of a controller obviously). These 2 reasons, as well as the fact that Boo was and still is one of my most cherished gaming enemy memories holds so much more importance for me than any other medium I can think of. I grew up with Games, I enjoyed games over many years and I know I will continue to do so in the future.

So if you could, please enlighten me as to what you would consider to be more personal than these types of experiences? Why should video games take a backseat to any other personal experience when they're at the forefront of mine and many other peoples lives. I would say that video game tatts are WELL above the region of cookie-cutter designs such as tribals and butterflies - even more so if you make it your own, for reasons personal to you.

 

[sms_117b]

After seeing this artists tattoo pictures I kinda wanted something like this:

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/244/e/5/anders_by_louvette-d2xr4l5.jpg

Spoiler

yes that's a grey warden tattoo, I think it would be awesome

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

I love the idea of getting a gaming Tattoo, but will probably never get one on account of the pain. If I did it would probably be a generic Griffin tattoo, because in the words of Stanley Woo "Who doesn't like Griffins?".

 

[Baby Tea]

Against gaming tats. If I am gonna mark my body its gonna be with something personal to me.

Pretty much this.
I mean, tattoos are permanent. I love gaming and all, but a gaming tattoo? Screw that.
Honestly, I don't see the need for any tattoo of any kind. I don't hate them, and I'm not against them, but I just don't see the appeal. I love Baldur's Gate, so I play it. I don't get the skull of Bhaal tattooed on my arm. I love my wife, so I spend time with her and enjoy our marriage, I don't get her name tattooed on my chest.

Just seems pointless.
But to each their own, I suppose.

 

[Layz92]

If it looks good who can rightly question what you consider significant or have an affinity for? I have no qualms about people with gaming tattoos. Honestly I wouldn't but games just are not THAT deep in meaning to me. I enjoy many of them immensely but they do not carry that value with me.

I am going to get that soon for it carries affinity with me.

 

[7moreDead_v1legacy]

I'm placing together a elfen lied tattoo - It came to me in a dream and it just looked bitching...But that's a dream so it could look utter shit but all the same (not quite gaming but close enough).

 

[Keava]

Nice, however odd choice of place for such tatt. Usually the waist is better for something that you can compose into bigger project while clealry closed tattoos go better for back/arms/thighs.

Personally i wouldn't go for a gaming tat tho, too many other awesome ideas in my head and i prefer the bio-mech theme that im trying to keep going, i like when my tattoos make a whole rather than being just random.

 

[Meggiepants]

As someone who has been in the locker room of the Y, I am not really into tats. There is only so long before your cool dragon looks like a weird plate of spaghetti.

My man has a tat on his shoulder blade, and it isn't bad looking. It has faded over the years - it's about 15 years old now - and even he says that although it was neat at the time, and that he probably would have blown the $1,200 on something else anyway, he never shows it to anyone and forgets it's even there. He isn't particularly attached to it, even though he designed it and drew it himself.

I think tats are kind of a permanent mark to indicate a particular time in your life. Looking back at my life, I'm not all that upset I didn't mark any of those times into my skin.

 

[DazZ.]

I have a Pacman tattoo that got drunkenly etched into me at a house party of mine.
It's most certainly not the worst tattoo of the night, but it is slightly wonky. Don't regret it though, I've done worse things to myself.

As for actually planning a tattoo I doubt I'd bother, but I like seeing them on other people.

 

[Lyri]

I wouldn't stamp a gaming tat on myself at all, that or names.

It's just like getting hungry, hungry hippos tattoo'd on you but for the modern generation.

 

[Liberaliter]

I love gaming, but not enough to permanently put it on my body. Tattoo's are something everyone regrets soon enough anyway.

 

[danosaurus]

I love the idea of tattoos, but now how they are applied. If they had anesthetic available or were just less painful (I'm a horrendous wuss of a man), I would get one. Neither of those things being true, for now I'm going to stick with not getting one.

If it's the pain you're worried about - Just get the tatt done in a few sessions rather than one sitting. The pain is nowhere near as bad as you're thinking, at least in the first hour it's not. The only time the pain starts coming through to shine is after 2 hours or so, the skin becomes red raw and agitated and that's when you'll know the definition of discomfort.

Seriously though - the first hour is borderline enjoyable