Ink Against Flesh

I’m always interested in the subject of video game tattoos. I like learning the inspirations behind the design choices fans make, and I think the popularity of game tattoos says a lot about the future of video games. Mario tattoos are not exclusively for the rash and mentally ill: people genuinely want to immortalise their childhood influences.

Kotaku published Ink Meets Flesh last winter, so the article’s a bit aged but still full of great advice for anyone who’s contemplating a game tattoo. There’s also some interesting commentary from a non-gamer tattoo artist who’s done his share of Marios and Zeldas:

“The Zelda Tri-Force is a pretty popular one. I have done four or five of those, mostly due to references from the first one I did. Honestly, I didn’t even know what the hell it was the first time I saw it. When the guy told me what it was I vaguely remembered watching my little brother play it when we were kids, but I was never really into video games after high school. I’ve also done a couple Marios, but other than that most have them have been pretty random.”

The feature’s author, Flynn De Marco, doles out some valuable advice about what you should consider before branding yourself with pixels for the rest of your life:

“It’s a tattoo. It will be there for the rest of your life. Are you still going to love that cute Animal Crossing character in 20 years? Is it really worth it to spend the money on that completely obscure character that you yourself might forget when you get older? Is your band’s name in Rock Band so awesome that it will last the ages?”

(Screw you man, Jetlag Bakery will last 4-everrrrrr!)

De Marco also shows off one of his latest acquisitions (though that may have changed since the article was published), the wrist chain-links made famous by Bioshock. He explains the logic behind his choice:

“The tattoo was the small three link chains that your player character has on his wrists and can be seen throughout the game whenever you fire certain weapons of shoot yourself up with a plasmid. It turned out to be the perfect tattoo. Smallish, and to the untrained eye, just a simple chain but to anyone who’s played BioShock, it’s instantly recognizable. For me, it was the perfect blend of video games and tattooing.”

I am in agreement. If I ever acquired a game tattoo, it would be a subtle compromise between real life and gaming. Nothing too obvious, nothing too far removed.

…This explains why I haven’t thought of anything yet.

I’m curious though, wouldn’t wrist tattoos hurt like a mofo? :(