Competitive Consumption in Virtual Reality

Benedict Cotterill

Competitive Consumption in Virtual Reality As video games and immersive online social spaces attempt to transcend physical social spaces, competitive consumption will effectively follow. The innovation of VR technology, video games, and immersive digital spaces (such as Meta) pushes the versatility and accessibility of digital worlds. As an evolution of contemporary social media, these spaces become areas to showcase and exercise status through competitive consumption. Although the technology has yet to become a social phenomenon the same way Instagram or Twitter had at the beginning of the 2010s, current modes of social media and digital environments such as video games and immersive apps already showcase how digital technology streamlines competitive consumption. In this paper, I will explain the process of competitive consumption, outlining how it is exemplified in contemporary culture, most notably, the fashion industry. I will then discuss fashion's influence and presence in digital environments such as video games, the meta-verse, and VR chat rooms. Lastly, I will outline how competitive consumption is exemplified and amplified in these settings, despite the lack of physical consumables.
Competitive consumption is when individuals attempt to elevate their perceived status over others by consuming products that would indicate affluence (Veblen, 1899). A typical example of competitive consumption occurs when individuals sport luxury clothing items in ways that showcase brands that hold cultural significance for being luxury items, such as Louis Vuitton or Gucci. This indicates that the person in question has the wealth required to purchase said article and risk wearing out in public, proving their affluence. This aspect of competition is systematically indicative through capitalism, as capitalism facilitates the idea that class positions are not fixed, and therefore, the person wearing luxury garments has the status of being higher class through either their own or their families' hard work (Veblen, 1899). This can only function in a capitalist system since members of a given community must understand the symbols of wealth (recognize the Louis Vuitton or Gucci logo) while also envying the position that is being gestured toward.
Competitive consumption arose during the time in which class positions were no longer fixed, and individuals began to decorate themselves in luxurious items in order to evoke a sense of royalty (Freudenburger, 1963. 40). Luxury and royalty were associated as a result of sumptuary laws; laws that prevented serfs from purchasing or accessing certain luxury items in order to keep them royalty status (Freudenburger, 1963. 37). With this, the consumption of luxury items became a staple of the ruling class, and the ruling class became desirable among the serfdom. At the time, class positions were fixed, and therefore, there were not many avenues for the serfs to pursue a life in which they could eventually transcend the sumptuary law's boundaries. It wasn't until the paradigm shifts as a result of the scientific revolution that individuals began to understand their positions as a result of imposed hierarchy instead of positions bestowed upon them through divine rule (Giddens, 1997. 74). With this, class positions became static, and individuals attempted to work in ways that would grant them the ability to enjoy the luxuries previously withheld from them. In this instance, competitive consumption became a way of expressing their importance among their peers and began to represent other qualities about themselves. In turn, luxury brands emerged to exploit this specific part of those who aimed to express their worth. In this instance, consumption became a common activity, birthing consumer culture (Freudenburger, 1963. 47).
Conspicuous consumption requires the consumed object to be visible and consumed in a way that expresses value to a desired audience through various forms of cultural phenomena (Veblen, 1899). As conspicuous consumption exists as a way to show off wealth, the Veblen effect occurs when individuals become more likely to purchase something as a result of it being a higher price (Zhang & Whang, 2019. 64). With this, the individual feels they are getting a higher quality product, as well as the fact that they can flaunt it as the higher price makes it a luxury item. This effect is amplified even more so when the product at hand's price far surpasses its intended utility. For example, a Gucci coat may offer as much warmth as a department store winter jacket but will be priced higher purely due to the brand's attention to the coat's aesthetic appeal. This lends itself even more so to conspicuous consumption as the product at hand no longer has an increased expected utility value, but a value that resides solely on its luxury value.
These effects propel their competitive consumption in ways that transcend the aspect of merely being purchased. Consumption occurs not only when the product is being purchased but also as it affects one's lifestyle as they develop a life around the products they purchase. Some rituals take place with the consumed that allow it to alter the individual into being the consumer, most notably, the divestment ritual (McCracken, 1986. 79). The divestment ritual is when the consumer alters their identity to cater to the product at hand (McCracken, 1986. 80). Whether it's a newfound sense of confidence due to the product's reputation or a product that allows the consumer to identify with a different social class, the consumer can take on a new sense of identity to consume the product. This in reference to Veblen gives competitive consumption its weight in consumer culture, as individuals who attempt to climb the hierarchy of social aesthetic must possess the necessary items to appeal to such aesthetic and then alter their own life to suit that of the product at hand. Each product caters to a cultural category that the consumer can identify with.
Cultural categories are different lifestyles expressed through consumer goods depending on the rituals of the product and the way these rituals are executed (McCracken, 1986. 72). How these rituals affect a consumer's life can determine in what ways they socialise and how they identify (with themselves or others), generating different social groups or subgenres. With this, entertainment media often caters to distinct cultural categories through pop culture. For example, the video game industry not only generates a cultural category of its own but creates different games to appeal to other existing categories. For instance, if a new movie has become popular, the gaming industry often makes a game that reflects the style and narrative to appeal to fans of the movie, featuring settings, characters, and plot points from the film.
Cultural categorization happens in game through fashion. Customising your character has become a pivotal part of role-playing games, increasing the immersive aspect to make the experience more personal for those players (Attebery & Pearson, 2018. 56). As a consumer's cultural category is often expressed through their fashion, the same consumers can then express their intended category in game if it allows, making for a more immersive and social experience.
Games like Grand Theft Auto or Roblox feature systems where certain items exist for the purpose of conspicuous consumption. Both games feature avenues to customise the way the player's character dresses, purchased through in-game currency. This has been a feature for many role-playing games where the game's purpose is immersion, but for Roblox, Grand Theft Auto, and other online games, dressing your character becomes a way to express status (Attebery & Pearson, 2018. 56). Players who have spent more time playing the game can sport articles known within the community for being luxurious through points they've accumulated by completing tasks in game. Even more so, players can use legal tender to accumulate points, making luxury items in game parallel to that of luxury items in real life, items that surpass their utility to function merely as instruments of conspicuous consumption. In these cases, online luxury items become mere instruments of conspicuous consumption that offer no other utility.
The existence of digitised conspicuous consumption also occurs on social media. Users actively alter their lifestyle to showcase a more luxurious life, only documenting the parts of their lives they choose to share, often catering to competitive consumption. Luxury, in this case, is often conveyed through conspicuous consumption, either referring to events such as vacations or parties in which luxurious outfits, beverages, events, or any other form of consumption is present (Duffy. 2015. 6). Quite often as well, the consumed article is the basis of a given post. For example, individuals may post 'fit pics,' posts that feature an outfit as its focal point, often showcasing the Veblen effect in order to convince an audience of their status (Abidin, 2016. 92). This furthers the existence of conspicuous consumption in the digital world. With this avenue, like video games, the consumption of the product at hand occurs in the digital world, surpassing any utility originally arranged in the product.
As competitive consumption moves online and becomes easier for individuals to engage with, the digital world continues to develop ways to make platforms more immersive. As follows, this would mean the competitive consumption will become easier for individuals to engage with, as the physical world is transcended more so and digital spaces not only offer easier avenues to manoeuvre but new realms to express conspicuous consumption. The recent announcement of the Metaverse and its competitors show how this could be possible, as well, as audiences and developers mature, video games are being altered to feature conspicuous consumption more so to benefit the platform. Games such as Pokemon GO! Or Roblox already feature articles by Gucci, a luxury haute couture brand that has become a staple for competitive consumption for players to purchase (Pokemon, 2021 & Campbell. 2021). As such, the logo is always showing and meant to be sported on one's avatar for other players to see online, as the social aspect to these games play a major role in the overall gameplay.
Digital fashion shows have also become a common occurrence due to a recent shift to digitising physical media as a result of Covid-19 (Technicolor, 2021). These digital runway shows showcase digital models of the clothing at hand on avatars of the models. This has provided a way to host runway shows without the contact of any models or designers necessarily present, but has also provided a way for runway shows to break the boundaries of the physical world. Since the shift to more conceitual pieces of runway fashion over retail fashion in the 90's, haute couture fashion has attempted at generating artistic arguments rather than merely selling clothes. With this, the clothing that can be featured on runway models in contemporary boundaries does not necessarily defy the designers' intention. Some designers may in fact wish to convey a message rather than specifically creating clothes to be worn. Despite this, the selling of digital fashion can still function aesthetically in a digital world. The clothing featured on these runways can still exist in immersive digital environments. For example, the 'Roblox exclusive' Gucci running shoes do not exist in a physical form (Campbell. 2021). They can only exist in a Roblox digital environment.
The recent emergence of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) has also shown the rise in purchasing digital art for conspicuous consumption (Singleton. 2021). As the focus and security around cryptocurrency has risen, NFT as art linked to the Ethereum blockchain has allowed those with cryptocurrency to purchase art to collect art, much like the art market linked to any other currency. This art market relies on the value of Ethereum cryptocurrency and therefore has made a large impact on those involved in the trading and selling of said currency. With this, the culture surrounding NFTs has become riddled with conspicuous consumption, with NTFs being purchased for upward of $69 million and promoting these purchases at performances and on social media (Singleton. 2021). Much like digital fashion, some of these NFT's are simply digital paintings in lieu of a physical piece, or in anticipation of the Metaverse, one can purchase a digital plot of land in hopes of property value increasing.
As Meta (FKA Facebook) attempts to build a fully immersive digital lobby in place of contemporary social media and video games continue to feature fashion that would otherwise not exist in the physical world, competitive consumption transcends physical objects to exist merely in the way we present ourselves aesthetically. This transcendence displays the strength that competitive consumption has as a driving force for contemporary media as it follows art beyond the physical world. It has become clear that Meta and video games are attempting to replace physical social spaces. With this, the forms in which conspicuous consumption are limited to the producer's imaginations. The products that individuals can consume become endless, but competitive consumption will persist and continue to transcend with it. Although utility can be transcended through these spaces, competitive consumption cannot.

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