Body Mod Battle: Tattoos vs. Piercings

It might still seem “fringe” to some of us, but across the globe, more and more people are getting inked or pierced. And in plenty of cultures, these forms of body modification are not only considered normal but have served as meaningful rites of passage for millennia. Assuming you can handle the pain and effort, though, there are some pros and cons to tattoos and piercings alike. If you’ve already gotten either, or if you had to choose, what’s more to your liking?

Tattoos

• Incredibly personalized, colorful, and gorgeous, from ancient traditional styles to modern biker chic.
• After your tat’s fully healed, you can mostly treat it like any other part of your skin, apart from the occasional touch-up work.
• Choose wisely! Nobody wants to deal with laser removal.
• Ouch factor: for some people the process involves excruciating agony, for others it’s a prickly little buzz. And a tattoo of any great size or details may take hours (and hours) to complete.

Piercings

• Nothing says “intense” like a face full of metal, and there’s an ingenious variety of piercing types and techniques to choose from.
• The hole may or may not close up, but if you don’t want the piercing anymore, you can always take it out.
• Maintenance is a bit higher— gotta keep things clean and ungunked!
• Ouch factor: usually pretty high, but it fades pretty fast too.

Choose your body mod, and let’s duke it out on Eyewire!

The usual bonuses
Earn 5,000 points – 2,500 bonus
Earn 15,000 points – 5,000 bonus
Earn 25,000 points – 10,000 bonus
For every 25,000 points above 25,000 – 5,000 bonus
Member of winning team (if you’ve scored at least 2,500 points) – 10,000 bonus
Highest scorer on each team – 5,000 bonus
Player with #1 overall score – 10,000 bonus
Player with #2 overall score – 5,000 bonus
Player with #3 overall score – 2,500 bonus

The competition starts at 11 AM EDT on 5/11 and goes for 24 hours!

Artwork by Daniela Gamba