Capes, Emotes and Abducting your Friends: The not-so-hidden consumerism of Sky: Children of the Light

The closest I’ve ever gotten to physically befriending someone in a virtual environment is any time I play Sky: Children of The Light (or Sky for short). This very adorable indie game, released in 2019 is (sometimes frustratingly) reliant on human connection and team-work. Usually that is fun and incredibly charming, except when fellow players disconnect while opening a crucial door, or you get shoved from one server to another and get separated from your friends. However, the premise of the game is pretty simple. You’re a little creature, capable of flight, whose goal is to free spirits trapped in the mortal realm and escort them to the afterlife. In exchange, you can learn emotes and earn cosmetics from them. A pretty good deal if you ask me, when most if not all Sky gameplay is cosmetics orientated. 

Screenshots of Sky: Children of the Light gameplay with friends

Sky is the only game that makes me feel old, since it’s the only game where a player’s experience is both clearly visible through cosmetics and described through community terminology. If you’re new, you are a Moth, with the default brown cape and simple hair. If you are old, you’re a Veteran - someone who knows the game-world like the back of your hand, with a wardrobe to put any fashion influencer to shame. I am, with my five or so years of intermittent game-play and numerous game completions, firmly a Veteran.

Left: Veteran, Right: Moth with default cosmetics

It is probably already pretty clear that the visuals of the game are crucial. It is genuinely very beautiful, with wonderful music (some performed by AURORA herself), a Moomin collaboration, the Season of The Little Prince, and six unique realms that are constantly being added to by developers. Each player has a favourite place to go, a favourite season, and a most hated and thoroughly avoided area too (for quite a few it’s probably Wasteland due to the Dark Dragon but I’m personally a huge fan). And then there are the cosmetics themselves…

Screenshots from 'Season of Moomin'

Unlike many games where you can earn some limited in-game customisation through XP, or purchase gun skins or character skins, the entire game-play system of Sky revolves around earning in-game currency in exchange for cosmetics. Beyond saving spirits, the rest of the game functions through consumerism and it follows a similar cycle every time. The developers release new capes, hair-styles or props and we as players have between a few days to a few months to collect as many as we can or want to get. And it is exhausting.

The problem lies in two places. One: the cosmetics themselves are expensive. Two: there is a limit to how much in-game currency you can collect within 24 hours and collecting it takes a lot of time. Candles are the in-game currency used, and collecting candle-wax in different realms and areas of the game adds up to whole candles. You can collect 20 candles per 24 hours. Gamers are so keen to collect candles that there are systems in place for people to do it most efficiently. There are recommended routes through the game-world, shortcuts, glitches which help to break the game, and taxi services where a large group of about ten players link hands and get chaperoned by one, very kind, gamer. The alternative of course, is collect up to 10 candles in a gaming session and leave it at that. Of course, since the game is free, they need to sustain themselves somehow, and exclusive (particularly pretty or rare) cosmetics are for real money, and they aren’t cheap either. For those, who like me, refuse to spend real money on a game, we end up spending our time instead.

Various candles in the game

Now you may ask, why on earth I’m writing about the unhealthy consumerist habits that Sky encourages. I promise I’m getting there! See, the other crucial thing about Sky, beyond cosmetics, are the gays. In fact, it is the queerest player-community I’ve ever encountered. I’ve learnt about queer identities I hadn’t heard about before from people I’ve befriended in the game, and being fruity is just a given. I think the Sky player-base is the only place I know that operates with homo-normativity. And the game-developers know that!

Every year, they release a selection of items to collect for the duration of June and July, and when I was more invested in the game I made a point of getting all the ones worth candles that I could. I got a lovely pair of dungarees, and a rainbow cape to match them. Was it worth it? For the in-game gratification of not being a Moth and having an ever-expanding wardrobe: absolutely! 

Left: pride cape, Right: pride dungarees and cape

We often talk about being able to customise ourselves as people, whether that be by getting a tattoo, changing our hair colour, wearing a specific brand of shoe, or wearing really bright eye-shadow, and to some extent, Sky lets you live out that dream. Despite being expensive, the range and variety of cosmetics allows you to customise your avatar as often as you like. It's quite freeing, as you can dress seasonally (my autumn/Halloween outfit is particularly stunning), and you can dress completely outside of gender expectations. There are no rules about what colours signify what, or hair styles associated with a particular gender or sex, and it's not controversial for you to wear a skirt. Anything goes in terms of Sky fashion and since fluidity and freedom in gender expression is quite important for a lot of queer people, it definitely has appeal.

Outfits for spring, summer, autumn, winter respectively

However, my love for the game has gradually extinguished, as I became burnt out from playing for a few hours every day. And I’m not the only one. So many, if not all, of my online and in-person Sky friends do not play the game anymore. And if they do, we all notice a difference. In the past few years, the game has changed. Staying alive is a lot easier, the stakes are lower, and the cosmetics are still expensive. I hop onto the game about twice a year, if there is a particularly interesting season, or if I want to introduce someone to it. But the appeal to consistently play dwindles much faster. The system that the game operates on is so predictable and unchanging that it traps you. Unless you’re hanging out with friends, teaching each other cool tricks, abducting each other or figuring out how to break the game (since that’s all you really can do as a Veteran), there isn’t really much else to do except log on and quickly fly through the entire game to essentially get rich. It is a shame, since the game is genuinely so beautiful, and the world-building has had a lot of time and effort put into it. Games are such a great place for escapism, connecting with people and having fun, but I’m not sure that Sky is capable of consistently delivering on all those fronts. If they made cosmetics less expensive or rewarded players for helping each other then perhaps that would re-ignite my own love of the game. In the chase for candle-wax, many players forget to have fun, and their appreciation of the game burns out.

by Mariya (they/them)