Anyway. I'm long overdue in pointing out to you a couple recent articles of mine you may have missed. Lately, I asked Ian Bogost what he thought of the indie scene -- we ask the same question of all IGF finalists over at Gamasutra (check 'em out so far; Bogost's will run soon). His answer was, "You mean the puzzle platformer scene? It's awesome, isn't it?"
Sad but true. It seems that brutally difficult platform games have become the new paradigm for genius. In my latest Gama editorial, I wondered whether there's a new trend going on -- how did "hard" become the new "good"?
You can't have missed my Kotaku feature, right? RIGHT? Well, if you did, you're in for a doozy. I write about Katawa Shoujo, the erotic novel about disabled girls that originated on 4chan. As I like to say, if you hated that I was okay with Bayonetta, you'll hate what I'm okay with now!
What about you guys? Favorite IGF nominees? Currently playing?
9 comments:
Katawa Shoujo is something I really enjoyed, personally, but I was deeply disturbed to find out it is planning on going down the hardcore sex eroge path. Either way, I liked your write up.
Your Katawa Shoujo article affected me so much that I actually played the game and wrote a response on it: http://www.laurenraeorsini.com/2010/02/04/katawa-shoujo-empathy-or-exploitation/
I would be honored if you would read it since it was your article that inspired me. Plus, it'd be much harder to explain my feelings about the game in just a comment!
I think your Katawa Shoujo piece gave 4chan more credit than it was due. The idea started on /a/ but the developers have pretty much distanced their work from the site since then. More importantly, "4chan" - as an entity, as what we think of when we think of 4chan - didn't have any input on the game's production.
Just saying... There's kind of a knee-jerk reaction among most people when 4chan is mentioned, and I think an adverse opinion can be formed by strongly associating it with 4chan. I mean it implies tactlessness; I think we all know that.
Which is a shame because I think it colors an otherwise interesting discussion on how games can deliver an empathetic experience beyond elaborately-penned epics, or even the depiction of handicapped characters in visual novels. For one, the devs could have done a lot to fetishize the girls but they don't; they're typical dating sim types given personality by their conditions.
But hey, if anyone had to tackle the subject, I'm glad it was you. Maybe I'm just too knee-deep in this kinda stuff that I forget it's "weird" no matter how you write about it.
I understand the point about the current creators wanting to distance themselves from 4chan, but the cultural origin is not disassociable.
As an anon that expressed strong disappointment in your defense of Bayonetta, I actually agree with your defense of Kawata Shoujo. Why? Because while women struggle with oversexualization, people with disabilities struggle with desexualization. Fetishizing disabilities is creepy, yes, but the perception that disabled people are unworthy or incapable of intimacy is also damaging.
There aren't enough brutally difficult games around these days!
Ethan @ Infusion Canvas Art
Great post, thanks so much for this was an interesting read!
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That is really true, thanks a lot for bringing this up!
http://www.simplycanvasart.co.uk/
Great read, your blog is great and I could spend hours here reading all these articles!
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