The fashion magazine of Destiny 2 “Threads of Light” is a cool idea in itself. It was supposed to appreciate and promote the fashion awareness of players. However, this has now backfired significantly. The community finds the developer’s fashion sense simply atrocious after only two issues.
“Threads of Light” is the digital fashion magazine of Destiny 2. It released its second cover with new looks earlier this week. However, fashion and excellent taste are no joke for Destiny 2 players. Bungie had to learn this the hard way when the Guardians no longer wanted to share the developer’s sense of style.
Destiny 2 players criticize Bungie’s fashion choices: After the reveal of the latest cover stars, a storm of outrage broke out. This went so far that not only Bungie directly but also the featured players, Vanquish, Twisty, and Dawsonson, felt the full brunt of the community’s displeasure.
After the announcement of who graces the cover this issue, Destiny 2 player Ash asked on Twitter:
Seriously? These are the best you could find?
And the player Onislayer commented:
[…] It’s a fashion competition. Why on earth are players who look like they’ve just started the game and thrown on their highest light armor showcased in a FASHION magazine?
ToxicNipples then speculated about Bungie’s selection criteria:
So basically, you dress your Guardian like a clown and Bungie picks you? Caught!
The question of what criteria Bungie uses to select the winning looks has always been a topic of discussion. “Is there a shooting range where they throw all these submissions in and someone from Bungie just keeps shooting at screenshots?” asks KatNPP the developers.
Surely Bungie doesn’t make it easy for players to assemble cool looks. So far, participants have always tried to make the best of it, even if not all armors were well received in the community.
This taste in fashion has always been questionable
Players have long felt that Bungie doesn’t always hit the nail on the head regarding fashion. Surely, there are some really cool armors in the game, no question. But sometimes Bungie has interesting “taste deviations,” where players wonder what absurd idea led the developer to implement something like this.
These armors are very special:
Creative freedom meets surrealism: The current Season 15 Iron Banner armors from Destiny 2 feature massive “alien nests”. And who remembers the Warlock owl from the moon? Definitely one of the looks that doesn’t particularly impress a Warlock.
After so much complaining, Bungie had enough: After these comments, things got increasingly rude, and this did not sit well with the studio at all. An opinion is an opinion and should be able to be expressed. However, many comments were personal attacks against the winners and therefore disrespectful. Ultimately, Bungie community manager Griffin Bennet responded with his own tweet.
Bungie urges players: “Be better!”
He made it clear that the Destiny 2 community had gone too far. If the community continues to be so toxic and negative and unjustly attacks other players, it would be better to stop participating in the fashion magazine altogether.
Surely, “fashion is art. Taste is subjective.” But he also appealed for players to question their comments: “Imagine you come across in the responses and someone insults your art. Ridiculously inappropriate.”
What was the community’s reaction? The wake-up call actually had an impact. Many commentators added to their statements or later apologized to the winners for their personal attacks. It was disrespectful to forget the time and personal effort the players put into their looks.
What does the future of Threads of Light look like? It was certainly a harsh statement to consider stopping the entire concept of the Destiny 2 fashion magazine due to such inappropriate comments. However, it is also understandable that Bungie hesitates to continue a project that attracts so much criticism. Who wants to participate in a contest where winning means being mocked by hundreds of Destiny 2 players?
At the moment, it seems that the developer is not considering giving up the magazine option anytime soon. “It has definitely improved since I made my comment. Great to see,” Griffin Bennet later added to his critique.
How you can participate in “Threads of Lights”
If this doesn’t deter you, you can of course continue to join the action and send your looks to Bungie. To participate, post a shot of your Guardian’s look on Instagram or Twitter and use the hashtag #ThreadsOfLight. Don’t forget to tag @DestinyTheGame in your posting.
Let’s hope that the Destiny community takes something from this and becomes a bit more tactful in its criticism. Because many players enjoy showcasing their Guardians in this “true endgame of Destiny 2“. The community posts countless new looks daily. Alone in the r/DestinyFashion subreddit, you can see many new submissions for the magazine cover. And it should remain so in the future.
What is your opinion on the competition? Was the criticism justified, or do you say that is art and it is always in the eye of the beholder? Was Bungie’s reaction too harsh?
