Hats are earned by completing tasks set by the game’s achievement system, they are also distributed randomly during play at a rate that is monitored and adjusted by the developers (Johnson, 2010).

The addition of hats in TF2 has attracted new players, reinvigorated veterans and invited significant contribution in the form of user-generated content. Games developers have typically resisted such individualization, limiting players to preconfigured uniforms in order to maximize standardization in the highly competitive gaming environment. Rarely has the FPS genre featured the means for differentiating player avatars through customisable wardrobe options. Hats for player avatars were introduced in TF2 in May 2009, eighteen months after its initial commercial release. The argument then finally turns to the function of the millinery reward system of TF2 and the role of hats in the construction of an online gamer persona. It then considers the achievements and rewards system of TF2 as an integral part of the digital distribution platform, Steam (Valve, 2003), and the potential for generating and maintaining affective bonds between games, games developers and gamers. This article first examines the game’s aesthetics and the connection between the game world, the intensity of the play experience and affective resonance of the player.

The introduction of a millinery reward system in Team Fortress 2(TF2) (Valve, 2007) is exemplary of the game’s design philosophy and history of incorporation of player-gifted content, which have combined to produce a specific affective tone unique within the FPS genre. The Sniper, Meet the Team series (Valve, 2007). “Feelins? Look mate, you know who has a lot of feelings? Blokes what bludgeon their wives to death with a golf trophy! Professionals have standards.” Keywords: affect, achievements, persona, FPS, Team Fortress 2, hats The article examines the iterations of affect involved in the design and play of a game no longer imagined by its publisher, the Valve Corporation, as a distinct commodity but rather a commercial community service. This study investigates the intersection of virtual millinery items, player achievements, user generated content and the implications for online gamer personas as they are connected to the digital distribution platform, Steam. Hats of Affect: A Study of Affect, Achievements and Hats in Team Fortress 2 by Christopher MooreĪn iconic staple of the First-Person Shooter genre, Team Fortress 2, is popular for its chaotic action, distinguished by its painterly aesthetics, and made unique by the introduction of hats as rewards for its players.

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