It's even funnier because it's a first person shooter. So you only see your hats 1. When you taunt 2. During humiliation 3. Use bonk

I myself couldn't understand the obsession for a long time. I started a few weeks before the engineer update and never cared about hats until the beginning of this year.

It's silly but it's kinda like in real life. You can't see your face without using a mirror but you still care about your hairstyle. Many people buy expensive hats for status or they just have no taste. That's why most traders look like this

[img]mod snip, way to big[/img]

I myself wear what I think myself looks good. I would never wear a shitty expensive hat like a houwar or a flies anger. I just like the feeling of knowing that I look good, even if I can't see myself or get any compliments. It rarely happens on normal servers and I don't miss it. Another reason is standing out. You can't really stand out without an unusual. 92359435 Players wear a killers kabuto. Only 13(random number) a burning one. It's natural for people to want to stand out and be individual. (even if its showing your individuality with a an unusual that exists more than once).

I am not rich but could get a relativly nice sum if I would sell my hat. But I just can't do it. I love it too much even if I fear the day tf2 economy will crash and unusuals will be worth nothing. I would even add a big sum money to my unusual to get a nicer one. I think if you spend so much time in tf2 that it becomes you second life you dont have to be ashamed if you spend money on hats.

But the prices for unusuals are really crazy. (mine are probably off) but $3500 for a burning team captain? And it's not a 1 of 1 hat. It exists several times. And it's by far not the only item that breaks the $1000 wall. It's crazy that so many people are ready to pay that large sums for hats. Some of those people dont even wear them but just have them sitting in their backpack. Locking them away from people who would actually wear the hat.

I noticed that many high tier traders are shit at the game. I stalk some of them sometimes and see them in 24/7 2fort, strange farm or trading servers. I myself am pretty bad too. I think it should be more important to improve your skill. Just look at a comp match. Most good comp players look poor. Only a small number have an unusual hat and its often a low or mid tier one. But still they could destory your burning team captain ass. And without your fancy hats you would be not better than some average player.

tl;dr you should care about your skill more than hats. But wearing unusuals is nothing to be ashamed off.

Oh what I kinda like is that if you have a noticable unusual like a purple energy or scorching you can easily spot spies disguised as you.