Carolly, Well, you said that your references might be biased because of the games industry... so that's why I was curious to whether it was computer related or not. Hmm, styles of tattoos or piercings may be an "indicator" of a possible sub-culture. If everyone in an area were suddenly and mystically naked, the goths might be more likely to have tattoos with creepy designs: thorns, vampire imagery, etc. However, tribal patterns (thorns again, forked patterns, celtic knots) might be worn by anyone. Piercings are another story, I think. Many folks have tongue rings, an eyebrow ring and/or a lip ring. However, someone with many facial piercings is very likely to be part of a sub-culture - goth, rivethead, etc - an urban based one. Reality aside, cinema in particular plays up the gothic aspect with regards to tattoos. Did you happen to see "Blade 2"? Many of the vampires in that movie had extremely noticable tattoos, especially about the shoulders and face. As a matter of fact, some of the design consultants on the movie were artists who did imagery for White Wolf games. Extreme tattooing or piercing is very likely to conjure gothic imagery and those folks are pretty dedicated since working in any normal job would be impossible. I hope some of this is answering your questions and I don't want you or anyone else reading this thread that I assume to know all the answers to "how it works". Also, if you met me, you'd never know that I was gothically-inclined by how I appear when going to work or participating in something requiring normal dress. I don't have ANY tattoos and one piercing, but can goth-out with the best of them when going out to a club.

.