Text, UN: xXGalOmegaXx [Forward-dated to charity stuff]

[goodgames]

hello everyone. my name is nanami chiaki. i haven't been here very long, but i have a request to make. i know things have been scary lately and people got hurt, but i hope you'll still hear my idea out. it's because so many need help that i want to do this with as many other people as possible.

you see..... i noticed lots of people are doing different things to raise money for charity. especially to help everyone who got hurt. but what if you don't have a lot of chroma to give away, right? or it's not easy for you to get more, right? i think..... the more ways everyone has to help, the better.

so what i wanna do........ is put together a kind of video game tournament.

if people donate lots of prizes, we can have lots of different goals, like...... rhythm game played longest, or adventure game finished fastest. most monsters collected, or cutest monster created. there's so many different types of games! so anyone can play, and they can play however they wanna play and still have a chance to win something. all they need to do is pay an entrance fee, and all the fees we collect can go to helping people.

as for consoles and games, it'd be easiest if people who have those things already let other players borrow them or join them for co-op or versus play. video games are most fun when you play with other people, you know! and it's not like games are one-use consumable items, so.... it'll be fine. everyone will get a chance to play, and all the helpers should get their games back. i think.

...but if there aren't enough, i'll try to get more... no, i'll definitely get more! even if it takes a lot of chroma, i really think we can help this way, so i'm gonna do my best!

......probably.

so.... if you think you can help with prizes or games, or you know you want to play, please reply to this post. i can't do this by myself, so.... i hope it's ok that i'm counting on you all.

Comments

[loungelizard]

Oh, you know how to go WAY back, huh?

[A gamer after his own heart.]

Did Sierra On-Line exist where you come from?

[goodgames]

yep, but it was a pretty long time ago. interactive fiction games lost a lot of ground to consoles over the years..... but hobbyists and indie developers still put out really interesting takes on the genre.

1/2

[loungelizard]

So I've heard. [Everything from "the genre lost ground to consoles" and "but indie devs still put them out."] Like tiny German indie game studios, for a totally random example.

2/2

[loungelizard]

Perhaps you've heard of me, then?

Leisure Suit Larry.

[boy you better hope she hasn't played your games or else this conversation might go real south real fast.]

[goodgames]

[Unfortunately for Larry--and for all of us, probably--Chiaki has played Many Games. Not even the raunchy titles are safe.]

really? really??? are you saying you're really a game character in real life?

[loungelizard]

[It's nice that she doesn't discriminate at least.]

From my perspective it's always been both real life and a video game, but yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

[goodgames]

yeah, i know what you mean.....

[...Wait, what?]

hey, does this world feel different to you at all, or is it just like being in the games? does your body feel different?

[loungelizard]

[Yeah, that's an interesting thing to say...]

Oh, uh, that's a pretty deep question...

[And another game of tip-toeing around explaining how journal RP works, else risk setting off someone else's existential crisis. He's glad that he's typing this up, so that he can think about how to say it.]

First off, no, my body doesn't feel any different.

As for the other part, well...it's exactly like being in a game, but a different kind of game. I don't have an explicit goal, a score, or time frame to accomplish it. Instead of following a predetermined story, my Narrator and I get to choose what I'm doing in real time, like an improvisational narrative.

It's nice. I like it.

[goodgames]

an improvisational narrative.... hehe, that's a really cool way of putting it. i wonder if it's easy for you to understand cuz you're a player character... well, and the style of game you were in probably helps, too.

i was kind of thinking of chroma and demichroma as different types of points to win, especially since they're energy, you know? so they're kind of like hp or pp, a little, but also like money, so you definitely can't let it run out. imagining it like that makes being here feel a lot like playing a game for me, too.

[loungelizard]

If you really want to get down to brass tacks about the craft, I think it's important to define the difference between resource and reward. Points are irrevocable rewards to give the player a sense of accomplishment and forward progress, while resources like currency can come and go when needed. To remove points would lessen the significance of the reward to begin with. After all, the only game where you WANT to take points away from people is golf.

However, I've used cash as both an actual currency in one game and as a key item in another -- in the former context, it's part of the gameplay for the player to manage my money, while in the latter context, it's the concept of money, rather than the amount of it, that has narrative significance. In other words, if it's not intended for the player experience to include cashflow management, then it shouldn't be handled as a currency.

[Look at what you've done, you've made him go on a rant!]

That being said...

Why would Chroma currency management feel any different than managing money where you come from? Or, is that just your philosophy on bookkeeping in general?

[goodgames]

[A fascinating rant articulating points she wasn't even considering, all so concise and easy to understand! Heh, articulating points about points.

But anyway, her response to that takes a moment. Maybe because of all the ellipses she has to type out.]

i guess.... you could say it's more like my general philosophy, yeah. in most cases, games are easier for me to understand than the real world, so i often end up thinking that way..... that's probably how it is.

...and..... i've never had to keep track of money on my own before. so i dunno how different it should be or not.

[loungelizard]

Well, it's close enough. Who started saying that video games rot your brain? They teach you valuable life lessons.

[Like needing to wear a condom when having sex with a prostitute or else you'll end up regretting it for the rest of your life.]

But maybe I'm the wrong person to ask, haha!

[goodgames]

the lessons i learned from your games...... aren't the kind i think i'm gonna use a lot in real life, laffer-san.

[loungelizard]

You'll understand when you're older.

I'm assuming you cheated past the age verification quiz. Even I can't remember half the answers and I wrote them!

[goodgames]

it's not cheating if you look up the answers to the questions before you play and then remember them later! then it's just learning.... probably.

[loungelizard]

Of course it counts as cheating! Back then, you couldn't "look it up". Not even the hint book would help you.

Don't worry, I'm not mad. Just disappointed.

[Not really, he's just messing around. I mean, there's street art and billboards around here that are more graphic than some of his games, for crying out loud. It changes your perspective.]

[goodgames]

.............i think that's wrong, but... i'm sorry.

[She could've looked up some of the answers in an encyclopedia back then, she thinks, or asked someone who knew things about movies and politics, or even pressed CTRL+ALT+X, but...]

i didn't want to skip it. the age verification quiz.... is part of the experience of the game, right?

[loungelizard]

Uhh...yes and no?

It primarily serves as a barrier so I'm not the reason why some kid asks their mother what a "lubber" is. But there's some naughty questions in there for fun, too.

[goodgames]

it also asked about cooties. i remember that.

[loungelizard]

[???]

Uh, what version was that?

[goodgames]

the original, i think..... 1987.

[Google wouldn't lie to me, right?]

[loungelizard]

[I've never had it come up in my own playthroughs and it's not in my reference guide, buuuuuut I never claimed to be an expert and neither is Larry. It may be his own life but you live through several retcons and it all becomes a weird blur, especially when your mun throws out a ton of outright contradictory material.]

Huh. Like I said, I don't remember half of them.

Please tell me I didn't make it an allegory for STDs.

[goodgames]

[God, I can't believe something I read on the internet probably wasn't true. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO ME.]

is that what they are....? i read it was a kind of schoolyard game kids play, but... i don't think we have something like it in japan.

[loungelizard]

[If Word of God says it's true, it must be.]

No, you're right about the schoolyard thing. I think it had to do with lice or something?

Actually, now that I think about it, if you consider lice a disease, then crabs would count.

[Larry.]

Oh, sorry. Anyway, do kids do this thing where they're like "other kids of the opposite sex are gross" in Japan? That's probably what it's in reference to.

[goodgames]

hmmm.......

my girl classmates.... definitely tried to keep some distance from the boys. at least, some of them did, usually during the free time we had. it wasn't cuz they were gross, i think, but sometimes they... did things that were weird.