Goth Ninja RPG was a Reddit fashion advice post dressed up as a game

During a bout of pandemic-induced nostalgia, I reexamined my old fighter build for Goth Ninja, a late-2000s-to-early-2010s MMO, and wondered how it played. My DRKSHDW jacket, T-shirt with double layer, and my boots had all been sold. My sorcerer build didn’t work either; I didn’t have the high-neck blazer or any of the distressed tanks. Therefore, I made a reference to a guide.

A few things are not right with The Goth Ninja RPG Fashion Guide. It’s sparse in specific advice for character builds, instead outlining the classes. It doesn’t explain how to transition your low-level character into a fighter, rogue, or warlock. This leads to a waste of money on lower-level gear. The guide also mentions that the RPG is incredibly expensive and can rival any gacha game. There’s no method to deal with the vicious mockery from NPCs. This advice was clearly written before 2012, when the meta changed from skinny blazers to leather jackets.

And it’s a guide to a game that doesn’t exist.

GarleyCavidson, a user on the subreddit R/malefashionadvice (also known as MFA), posted the 2012 guide. It was tongue in cheek. This guide was a hit with high-end fashion designers such as Rick Owens or Boris Bidjan Saberi. While the Goth Ninja guide wasn’t completely serious, it sincerely tried to introduce an aesthetic, albeit an inaccessible one for many.

In the last days of forum culture, after the Golden Age of GameFAQs was over, hobbyists still wrote free detailed guides. Game guides are no longer available on community forums. Instead, they can be found online at Polygon and independent YouTube channels. For fashion, TikToks of the same outfit at different budgets or YouTube videos of Shein hauls exist alongside GQ’s standard wardrobe essentials articles. Advice is easily monetizable. It builds brands.

For several years, I served as a moderator at MFA. When I started out, I wanted to contribute as much “helpful” content as possible. The problem I discovered was that there was no correlation between the things I wanted to do and what my community was looking for.

“I think the most useful guides, fortunately or unfortunately, were the ones that gave more prescriptive advice than ones that were more casual suggestions and inspiration,” said Derek, a former moderator, in an interview with Polygon. Other moderators interviewed cited guides like “Shujin’s Comprehensive Fit Guide,” “How To Proxy From Japan,” or the “Basic Bastard” guides as examples. However, when they were asked which guides they used, enjoyedWriting and reading guides were referred to as themes. Guides that looked like PC builders were more popular in the community. However, they weren’t very common. Have fun. What people wanted to write were guides on “how to breathe” (an exploration of movement and silhouette) or gorpcore (hiking-inspired fashion). What people wanted to read was another “how should a suit fit” for prom.

It might appear that either has a short life span. Former moderator Walker mentioned that he tried to use “copious” amounts of links in guides, but “due to link rot a lot of them will eventually die and not be useful anymore.” That’s not taking into account how fast fashion trends move; the “goth ninja” aesthetic in the guide really is 10 years outdated.

They can also be used for informational purposes, not just as inspiration. These guides can be used to show the aesthetics being talked at that time. You can also search the internet for farm guides. Elden RingYou can see a chronological timeline that shows how members discovered more effective strategies and iterated on their discoveries. Even if outdated, these snapshots are valuable for understanding the evolution of ideas in fashion and gaming.

But were these guides of any use? “I’ve used guides for gaming now that I have a PC, like best practices for certain builds and such,” said Ethan Wong, writer of the vintage menswear blog a little bit of rest, in an interview. “It works better there since there is a ‘means to an end’ whereas fashion for me is almost purely self-expression. A guide takes the creativity out of it.”

Nay, a current moderator, was more generous: “Everyone is different and has their own lived context… I see guides ultimately as a way to both educate and offer recommendations. Then it’s up to people to use their own common sense.”

This is what it means for those who want to go beyond guidebooks. Brandon Chan, a self-described “corporate goth,” said that if you were interested in avant-garde fashion, “having friends or acquaintances who you can talk to matters a lot. […] Ultimately, my advice to anyone who’s looking to go into the goth ninja/avant-garde/weirdo fashion scene is just have fun. […] A hobby you don’t enjoy isn’t worth the effort.”

Wong was also a manswear expert. “I don’t see many guides [anymore]. I think this has to do with a big emphasis on community,” he said. “It’s better just to talk and ask questions!”

The next month Elden RingAfter I launched the game, I used to spend hours talking about it with my friends. “How did you beat that boss?” “There was a quest there?” “Here’s a powerful early-game staff.” While you could have that sense of discovery now, it was that Sharing discoveryThis made the game transcendental and memorable. I was able to overcome the Souls problem with help from my guides, and it made it worth trying again. Although I have never been a co-op player with my friends, I’ve never really played by myself.

I don’t plan on playing Goth Ninja again, but I don’t regret it, apart from the hole in my wallet. It introduced me to an entirely new realm of fashion. It helped me get past my first hesitation when trying a new style. But the community I found asking for advice turned into real-life friends, and it’s that I want to preserve.