INTERVIEW WITH: ASTYLER

You’ve been playing MOD4 since it came out: what’s your favourite part each time you play? And how did you hear about MOD4?

Ι love design, style and fashion in all scales of things: thinking of an overall look as being made up of many details and perceiving all the details in an overall look. Being an architect, I love both creating and focusing on details, and this is how I conceive styling. When it first came out, it was only a matter of time before I discovered MOD4 and became a passionate player. I started playing around spring 2021; very soon I became a diehard collector of all the items in the app and got quite addicted. I don’t know if it’s the addiction that makes you a collector, or the opposite, or they go hand in hand, but I have to admit that while I was collecting all items, including some that were very similar and others that I underestimated, I discovered so many ‘hidden’ gems in the game and how many original looks can be styled, even if they are not widely worn or known.

Hard to say, because many parts and aspects of the game offer different kinds of pleasure, which change more as time goes on. The key aspect for me is creativity, as well as the “newness” I find in the game, to put it briefly. Let me explain. I have always believed that, at the end of the day, ‘the winner’ is the one who has managed to obtain pleasure from creativity. As I see it, this is a personal victory one can achieve in the game: I trying to support and encourage creativity any way I can (and in any role). At the same time, I think that creativity is what will keep the game alive in the long run; it is a prerequisite for its sustainability. Of course, when our creativity is acknowledged and rewarded in challenges, the pleasure is multiplied. So tough challenges are another favorite part of the game for me: I like the most ‘difficult’, where the ‘solution’ is not obvious, or revealed in the requirements. In this way, you can experiment, creating something new, which is not necessarily original, but which at least stands out. Furthermore, as a collector – and here comes another aspect of the newness – I love when new items are added; this is also a part of the game I love sharing with friends. So, unboxing and particularly finding items I don’t already own is another pleasure, which often become quite a ‘guilty’ one in my case.

I’ve been a LVR customer for a long time – although I definitely spend more time browsing MOD4 now- so the apocalypse began one rare, lazy afternoon on the LVR website. What attracted me and to play and keeps me here is the fact that my creative spirit is constantly challenged.

What’s the inspiration behind the looks you create?

First, there is a pattern within the game, so trends take root here deeper and for longer than the way fast fashion and trends out there do. I try to bear this in mind, since I want to win and claim rewards, but I also partly resist that and try to focus on my way of creating. As I said, I’m obsessed with seeing the overall picture as a set of details. I do pay attention to the details, but I mainly focus on how the components of a look come together. These are only a few elements of my styling approach. The items themselves function as the source for inspiration: either as aesthetic objects (I often check their original look, including the texture, shape etc.) – standing alone or combined with others -, or as requirements in challenges. If the context of the challengeis specific, it further defines both how an item inspires me, and also how the avatar being styled plays a particular role and finds herself in particular conditions. So, sometimes I create looks which, when seen as a whole are designed to stand out in a certain setting to play a specific role. I do this by experimenting with the continuities of their styles (including the color nuances), materials, and textures, but also their forms. I love contrasts and transitions; I like using transparencies or cut-offs of items. Layering things in a visible way is something that I find extremely challenging. At the start I was more experimental and braver than I am now; at the moment I’m more aligned (or most of the time, depending on the challenge) with my more minimal look in real life close to a matchy-matchy logic.

Tell us about your daily routine within the game.

MOD4 is quite integrated in my routine, at least most days, regardless of how busy I am, and this a paradox for anyone who is not familiar with this passion. It keeps me good company, almost like a friend. I enjoy creating for/entering challenges when I can find slots of free time, and so relax. The whole day is further spiced up by waiting for the results of the challenges. This can sometimes feel like a ritual. I prefer the days when I am expecting more challenge results, whether these turn out to be good, bad or ‘neither good nor bad’, since it’s all about the feeling of looking forward to something.

If you had all the MOD4 items in your actual wardrobe, which pieces couldn’t you live without?

When I first read the question, I skipped the word ‘actual’ and focused on ‘all the items’ perhaps with the speed of a collector. This is not far from my real-life attitude, in the sense that I collect design items that I love, I don’t just collect anything and everything. I’m tiny bit more selective, especially when it comes to my actual wardrobe. What I can tell is that your physical experience with the items changes how you see them in the game, and vice versa: the game has introduced me to many items or made me perceive items I knew differently. I have adored many items in the game, which – as expected – change over time. Let me try to give some examples. I would never give up black (and perhaps white) items from designers/brands that I admire a lot, such as Alexander McQueen, Bottega Veneta, Valentino, YSL and others. Three samples of their aesthetics are selected and combined in my cover picture: the Alexander McQueen Ruffled Cashmere Blend Knit Cardigan (I wear the black one there, but I prefer the white one in the game because its graphics are better); the white Valentino cape and matching skirt – along with most of the Valentino items in the FW21 collection. I am particularly passionate about sunglasses, and I would never give up my YSL (SL 244) ones. The hardest thing I have to do is choose a Bottega Veneta bag since I like most of them. I chose the one in my cover photo, the Black Leather Chain Top Handle Bag, perhaps I think it’s closer to the one I dream of owning rather than one I might actually be able to own.

Have you made virtual friends within the Community?

I feel that MOD4 is a microcosm of society/life or at least a simulation; it’s also life but that’s another discussion, so the fact that smaller communities develop within the larger community is something important that is to be expected. It took me a long time to find the right kind of people with whom to share our thoughts about this world we have in common, but I think it was a relief when I did find them, because it’s better when you share. It all started because I was searching for some missing items. I met, by chatting to – agreeing and disagreeing with- many players, who offered me different points of view not only about the game and everything related to it, but also about things beyond that. We are all so different, with very different lives/lifestyles, ideologies, and backgrounds, coming from more or less different cultures or even time zones but we also have very different aims and reasons for entering this shared world. This is sociologically very interesting, but it’s not always possible to talk with lots of people, since we all have busy lives: for now, I have few, good friends within this community, with whom I share much more than things related to the game. At the same time, they also inspire me; We tend to like the same items; we even share common perceptions of aesthetics, although we all have very different approaches. I am lucky to have met them and I’m still surprised as to how this happened in such an unexpected way, starting one lazy afternoon.

What advice would you give to entry-level MOD4 gamers?

I could give lots of advice depending on what kind of player one wants to be and the reasons for which s/he or they play. So, I’ll stay on a general level of tips that I think might benefit most kinds of players. I would advise entry-level MOD4 players to try to enjoy all the phases of the game, including the entry phase and all the difficulties they will encounter there. Each small achievement, which in its context might feel big, brings a kind of pleasure; moving forward this can be very flattering and inspiring. No matter which flow/trajectory one chooses to develop in the game, my advice is to enjoy the things that will unavoidably become taken for granted later on (although nothing should be taken for granted!) and so the excitement of each new beginning will inevitably not be as thrilling. Having said this, I recommend having patience but also persistence; persistence accompanied by the bravery to express your own taste and style. That means focusing on how the personal aesthetics of the player evolve by adapting to the dynamics of the game – rather than being absorbed by them. This way you can really play an active part in setting trends, or at least negotiating – rather than reproducing – the established ones. I am making these suggestions because I consider them key to the development of creativity in the game, which – as I mentioned – is the main feature this game has to offer. Patience and persistence as a combo also apply to how one contributes to the Market, which seems crucial for current standards: a wealth of credits usually comes with effort and time, along with respect for those behind the mobility in the Market – for me, mobility is the thing that can control the so-called price limits. Whether you are driven by pleasure, creativity or the Market, all my advice has to do with gradually becoming more and more active in the game in an enjoyable way, otherwise we risk getting bored, and boredom is always just round the corner. So, try to have fun.