To explain the nature of these cosmetics, know that meticulously designed and slapdash patterns are applied to the default weapon-models in this game to give them a sense of flair and variation that serves as another cosmetic reward for investing real-world money into the game (they wouldnt do this if it didnt make a profit).
Now, they dont simply just exist in the examples Im citing, as the nature of digital economics requires that there be plenty of more variables at play to generate and remove value.
The main factors that determine value are artificial rarity and grade. Grade is easier to explain, so will start with that: Certain grades of quality are applied to the skins, usually from being very worn and scratched to appearing in mint-condition.
As could be predicted, low-grade skins are worth less than high-grade skins. As for how many grades there are, that depends on how much variation a digital stockbroker wants there to be in price-range.
Artificial value is a more ethically questionable factor: Essentially, its entirely up to the cognitive biases of a games item-programmers as to which items rolled out in a particular update or “collection” are worth what at market-value.
What this amounts to is slapping an arbitrary rareness onto an item to make it worth more or less. Usually, this is accompanied alongside a nifty color-scheme to let traders know at a glance what an items rarity is.
With these two elements combined, you have the two factors that influence the distribution and availability of skins. At this point, its an observational spectacle to see how these elements formulate their own economy among a player-base.
In its modern incarnation, weapon skins have developed an association with online gambling, the absurdity of immaterial objects holding immense, real-world value, and a sense of stylization that many hold valuable and digestible.
The issue is that the appeal of weapon skins innately — not their profitability but aesthetic appeal — has an irrespective existence to that of virtual goods.
Customization of visuals has been a thing since the tools were created to allow that per game, whether itd be tuning the picture of your TV or wiggling the cartridge until it produced an interesting effect.
Because of how broad it is, theres no documented history as to the first game to introduce aesthetic variation let alone the choice to engage with it. While many games change the appearance of the player as they progress or perform certain actions, the option to choose a whole new look — to embrace a sense of vanity — hasnt been documented well in the early days of video-games.
Itd take until at least the dawn of the new millennia for there to be an explosion in aesthetic variation and deviation from developer intention that, for a long time, was limited to secrets, unlocks, and Easter eggs.
Modding has been a thing in the medium since the 80s, but at that point, it could be characterized to be entirely in the realm of smiths working on their cabinets in isolation.
You didnt exactly have an easy resource to access abilities to change the color of Lances pants in Contra. No, that didnt come around until the Internet became mainstream in the 90s.
This was also coincidentally the same time where the power of computers was starting to outpace that of consoles. Officially, the oldest mod for Doom was released in 1994 by Jeff Bird, who was working on it from his dorm-room in James Cook University.
It was uploaded to the Internet and, as could be reasonably extrapolated from Doom being the catalyst for online file-sharing among virtual modifications, it flowed like a river into the Aughts. A date of contention to focus on here is August 18th, 2000: This is the date where the domain FPSBanana was registered.
Why Messi will always be the Greatest there was, is and forever
Messi made his debut for the 'Blaugrana' back in 2004 and he has since gone on to become the all-time top scorer of La Liga, the Spanish domestic league football.
The Argentine has scored for Barcelona a total of 474 goals in 520 appearances.Lionel Messi also holds the record for most home goals (277) and away goals (197) in La Liga history.
He has netted against 38 different opponents in La Liga history.
His rival Cristiano Ronaldo takes the second spot, with a total of 311 goals, though the Portuguese international had only appeared for his club Real Madrid 292 times.
Messi, who holds the record for most number of Ballon d'Or, with 7 wins, is also the only footballer to win the FIFA World Player, Pichichi Trophy and Golden Boot, all during his 2009/10 campaign, when the then 22-year-old won his first Ballon D'or, beating Ronaldo by over 240 points.
He then went on to win the Ballon d'Or for 3 consecutive years.
Apart from being a prolific goal scorer, Messi is also a remarkable playmaker, who along with being the Spanish league's all-time top scorer, also holds the record for most assists provided, with a total of 216.
His former teammate and current FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez is in second position with 129 assists.
Apart from being crowned La Liga's top scorer in 8 seasons, Messi also holds record for most number of goals scored in the league in a single season, with 50, during the 2011-12 season, while his Portuguese counterpart himself managed 46 goals that same season.
Ronaldo came close to breaking Messi's record in the 2014/15 season, but fell short by just 2 goals.
Messi also holds record for most goals scored in a calendar year, in 2012, when he scored a total of 91 goals for both club and country.
He however went on to play for the national team another 150 times, making him the most capped player for Argentina, surpassing Javier Mascherano, who appeared for Argentina 147 times.
He took the captain's armband in August 2011, leading them to Copa America glory in 2021. He also went on to become Argentina's top scorer with a total of 90 goals.