You’re strolling down the street, bored and looking for something to do. Then someone passes you by who captures your attention. They seem so stylish. You glance down at your own grubby jeans and unassuming white T-shirt. Perhaps you should have worn something with a bit more panache?
With that in mind, you decide to pop by Binco and Ponsonbys, searching for anything that has some personality. A bog-standard hoodie? Boring. A $6 million spacesuit? Maybe that has too much personality. Then you spot it: a swag tracksuit and matching balaclava. It’s perfect. You pay and exit the shop in your brand-new attire, wondering what you should do to celebrate this momentous occasion. Maybe you’ll invite some friends over. Maybe you’ll steal an approaching car to complete your next mission.
Except … the car isn’t real. And neither is the tracksuit that you just bought. Because this is not real life; you’re playing Grand Theft Auto.
The Rise of Gaming
A study from Razorfish found that Gen Z spend twice as much time per week gaming with their pals than actual time together in the real world. With declining nightlife in countries like the UK, young people are hanging out less frequently at pubs or clubs. Instead, they’re donning their headphones and firing up their monitors to socialise with others online.
Whether it’s chatting with one another in Roblox or visiting each other’s islands in Animal Crossing, hunting down ghosts as a unit in Phasmophobia or building a fortress together in Minecraft, multiplayer games involve human interaction and teamwork. And whilst friendships formed over a screen should never be a substitute for real-life relationships, evidence suggests that the online world gives Gen Z a space to get to know one another better. For example, nearly a quarter of this age group report feeling more confident to be themselves in the metaverse and 29 per cent say it helps them to connect with others.
But as we spend more time gaming together, we’re also becoming increasingly preoccupied with how we look in-game. Hence, the boom in avatar customisation.
Boom in Avatar Customisation
Avatars are the digital representations of players in a game. These characters are usually customisable. For instance, players have the option of selecting which armour to wear in Call of Duty or dressing up their Sims families like they’re dolls. But the luxury of customisation doesn’t come for free.
Currently, there is an enormous appetite amongst gamers to carve out a unique and personalised online identity for themselves. The demand for limited edition skins has soared to new heights, with the Counter Strike 2 skins market reaching a record-breaking $5bn in Summer 2025. As well as this, gaming companies are now generating more money from players buying their avatars’ accessories than from actual game sales. For example, Fortnite and Call of Duty Mobile have made $20bn and $1.8bn respectively from in-app purchases, whilst Take Two Interactive, who produce games like GTA, reportedly made 78 per cent of their annual revenue from in-game purchases in 2023. The question is: why?
Opportunity for Experimentation
The answer is that Gen Z are redefining self-expression. Today’s teenagers, much like those of previous generations, enjoy pushing buttons and discovering their interests. From wearing makeup for the first time to going through an emo phase, this is a normal part of growing up. Only now, this period of self-exploration is being mirrored in-game. From altering your avatar’s hairstyle to showing off your stylish streak or shapeshifting into a llama just for a laugh, a person’s avatar reveals a lot about their personality without saying a word. It also offers Gen Z the chance to experiment with different looks without having to commit to them in real life.
For some, avatar customisation is a chance to play around with their identity. For others, it’s simply about following the enormous hype digital fashion has garnered. With the metaverse holding its very own virtual Fashion Week, and brands like Nike, Valentino, Burberry and D&G all jumping on the bandwagon, it is no surprise that trend-savvy Gen Z are indulging in designer pixels. But these digital accessories are pricey. Recent evidence lays bare the true cost of young people’s desire to fit in with others, even online. A report from Roblox, which sold 1.65bn digital fashion items in 2023, found that half of Gen Z are willing to spend $10 a month on their avatars, whilst 19 per cent would spend $20, and a further 18 per cent would happily part with $50-$100 a month to keep upgrading their online persona.
Expressing Their True Selves
But could there be a more sinister reason behind the boom in avatar customisation? It is no secret that many Gen Zers suffer from body dysmorphia and poor self-esteem. This could mean a reluctance to leave the house and instead turn to gaming, where you can hide behind an avatar.
This is an idea that the book Ready Player One toys with. The story, which is largely set in a futuristic VR universe, features Samantha Cook, a teenager ashamed of revealing her true identity because of the prominent birthmark on her face. But Samantha’s malady seems to be more rooted in fact than science fiction.
When young people are dissatisfied with their physical appearance, being able to customise their avatar allows them to construct what they believe to be the perfect representation of themselves. It liberates them from the judgment they might otherwise receive. In turn, this improves their self-esteem and helps them to make friends in-game, something which they might struggle with in real life. A 2023 survey found that over 40 per cent of Gen Z find their avatars help them to embrace their ‘authentic selves,’ whilst another claims that over half of this age-group feel ‘more like themselves’ in the metaverse than in the real world.
So, is it an exaggeration to claim that young people are spending more money on their avatars than they do on themselves? Maybe. But record numbers of Gen Z are evidently splashing their cash on avatar customisation to experiment with their identities both on and offline.
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