University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2020 Are They Really Just Cosmetic? the Impact of Cosmetic Items on Fortnite's Gameplay and Game Design John Joseph Fennimore University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Mass Communication Commons, and the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Fennimore, John Joseph, "Are They Really Just Cosmetic? the Impact of Cosmetic Items on Fortnite's Gameplay and Game Design" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 2494. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2494 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARE THEY REALLY JUST COSMETIC? THE IMPACT OF COSMETIC ITEMS ON FORTNITE’S GAMEPLAY AND GAME DESIGN by John Joseph “Jack” Fennimore A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee December 2020 ABSTRACT ARE THEY REALLY JUST COSMETIC? THE IMPACT OF COSMETIC ITEMS ON FORTNITE’S GAMEPLAY AND GAME DESIGN by John Joseph “Jack” Fennimore The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2020 Under the Supervision of Professor Michael Newman Cosmetic microtransactions, the act of paying for virtual items that customize certain parts of video games and virtual worlds such as skins that change the appearance of the avatar, are looked upon more favorably in the gaming community than performance-enhancing microtransactions, where one pays for virtual items that enhance the abilities of avatars or speed up the progression of the game.