Do you find yourself interested in the topic of player expression? Then you might be a passionate gamer who likes it when the in-game character resonates with you. This article discusses the combined role of rare and custom items in enhancing player expression. Let’s start by understanding what player expression is.
What is Player Expression?
Player expression is your ability to express your personality or individuality through in-game choices and actions. It is about playing a character in diverse ways. It is about engaging with the game in a variety of approaches.
Developers are designing games to allow more player expression. You are no longer confined to using only one optimal strategy to play and win. Latest games allow players the freedom to express themselves through gameplay. You can follow a unique playstyle. You can customise your character. Or you can equip your character with special items.
Why Does Player Expression Matter?
Gaming is not just about e-sports winning tournaments. Passionate gamers play for fun and leisure. So the freedom to play a character or a game in different ways certainly enhances the overall gameplay experience. You will be able to connect with the game on a deeper level.
Let’s take the Diablo 2 Resurrected (D2R) game as an example. Imagine slightly manipulating a character’s design as per your choice. Imagine the freedom to manoeuvre your character in multiple styles. Or imagine equipping your character with specific weapons and gear available at the D2R item shop.
Player expression is about being able to make your character different from that of others. It is about being able to use different playing styles and gameplay designs to make your character distinct.
Check out the Diablo 2 Resurrected items list. You will notice that you just cannot equip your character with all the gear and weapons. You need to choose the specific items for your character. This is how you can make your character and playstyle unique. This is how you can express yourself in the game.
How is Character Personalisation Different From Equipping Items?
Game characters generally come with designs that fit their archetype or game plan. You can customise the design of your character to make it look more like you. Or you can design it to resonate more with how you view yourself. There is no doubt that game characters become the identity of players.
Customising character design is cosmetic. It changes the visual or appearance of your character. But what about manoeuvrability?
Making changes to character design does not impact its performance. Changing the outfit of your character from blue to red would not make it stronger. But equipping your character with gears like the Highlord’s Wrath amulet will definitely increase its attack speed. You can unlock it or get that from the D2R item shop.
In-game items can be rare and unlockable. You can also craft customized items in games like D2R. Let’s check how the rare and customised items help with player expression.
How Do Rare Items Help With Player Expression?
You can use rare in-game unlockables to give unique abilities to your character. There are items that you can only unlock in specific seasons. You can no longer unlock these ‘ladder’ items once the season ends. So what does this mean? It means that these ladder items are rare to those who managed to unlock them on time.
There are also items that you can unlock by playing at extreme difficulty modes. For example, Griffon’s Eye is a rare equipment in D2R that can make your character more effective against enemies who are immune to lightning. The item will make your character stand out from other lightning builds. The item can only be unlocked by playing at ‘hell’ level difficulty. But you can get it from the D2R item shop as well.
Rare items will give you the opportunity to make your character different. It is about those special abilities of your character that most other players cannot have. Now let’s talk about the player expression allowed by customised items.
How Do Custom Items Help With Player Expression?
Modern video games also allow rafting mechanics to players. It means that you can create your own items to enhance the performance of your in-game character.
For example, the Diablo 2 Resurrected items list also contains custom crafts. The crafting can be done through “Runewords” using the “Horadric Cube.” Combining certain runes with base items can help you create unique items with special effects and properties.
You can also find custom items made by other players on the D2R item shop. Or you may choose to trade such items with the ones you own or have crafted.
Custom items significantly contribute to player expression. You do not even have to depend on what rare items you can collect to gain an edge. You can simply craft items that you want to use on your character.
Final Thoughts
Customising options helps players get more creative with gameplay. Customisation is important as it lets players create character designs and items that resonate with them. Game characters become a part of player identity. Players tend to develop an attachment to a single character. Customisation opinions allow engaging in different gameplay with the same character.
Rare items just add a layer to player expression. These items allow players to establish dominance over other contenders. Rare items also help players enhance a character that is significantly weaker than the rest of the cast.
The freedom to craft high-performance items for your character will help with player expression as a competitive gamer. So, check out the Diablo 2 Resurrected items list and express your in-game character closely.
