Effects on Players [mechanics post]
Mechanics post time!
So seeing somebody get so pissed off at a negative reaction to “Trahearne” and telling them to “check stuff out before posting” has given me an idea for a mechanics post to discuss story, characters, and the effects on players. Please note: this isn’t an attack on that person (although I do wish they’d been a little bit more respectful and hadn’t told everybody to go spoil everything for themselves BEFORE posting reactions) it’s just a point of interest that they have highlighted.
Therefore, let’s look at emotional investment in video games!
First of all, I think we need to highlight a very important fact:
Everybody’s emotional investment will vary from one person to the next, and you should never tell somebody their emotional investment is wrong just because it isn’t the same as your own.
At the end of the day, if somebody can reasonably justify why they feel a certain way, within reason, then they are not wrong. They simply have different investments in the story than you do, and this isn’t a bad thing! This kind if diversity is natural. For example, if you play on a Charr character and join the Priory, maybe you don’t feel all that attached to Sieran (I think that’s her name?) and her inevitable death at Claw Island just doesn’t bother you that much.
But somebody else might have played the same path, except on a Sylari, and perhaps they felt far closer to Sieran than you did for this reason! Maybe they cried when she died, because of this. And it is completely natural, and neither player is “wrong” in either scenario. They simply have different emotional investments into that character.
More below the break!
I Admire
tabletop RPG players more than most people, because it’s irony free enthusiasm. It’s putting your heart and yourself into something without some false pretense of “I’m joking around with this,” or “Isn’t this so funny what I’m doing guys?”Being emotionally attached to something, anything at all, is a lot more than most people can say and I admire the hell out of someone when they can admit they’re legitimately emotionally invested in something.
I've become a bit emotionally invested on the last episode of the Hollow Crown...
The beginning saddened me a bit but then, the way they transitioned from the scene before the last one, was just…asdhkdhgkljgklj…i’m just sad right now, damn it all! And it’s 5:30 AM and i should be going to sleep! Damn you Tom and you’re acting!!
Emotional Investment
Hmmm sometimes I feel like I have talked about these things before and I am just repeating myself. Oh well, here is my topic for today. It is Emotional Investment.
I dislike being emotionally invested in someone. I dislike it because after I awhile I become too attached to them and once they are gone I feel like a part of me is missing. When I spend enough time around someone I start to build a persona for them and only them.
I do that because it helps me relax and become comfortable around them. The downside is that once they are gone I cannot be that persona anymore. I can no longer be that part of me.
I guess that is part of the reason why I seem so different to everyone. I have different mask and persona for every person. Each one of those masks are me. There is no one me only a thousand pieces me.
Anyway that is all I have to say; I hope whoever is reading this has a lovely day :)
I just watched the season 5 finale of Merlin and I CANNOT, I CAN’T, I HAVE LOST THE ABILITY TO BE ABLE, IT IS TOO MUCH AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO VOICE MY FEELINGS… I started out watching this series not caring about any of the characters, it was just a bit of light-hearted fun but then gradually it became something more and the writing got better and the emotional gravity of everything and AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! IT’S TOO MUCH!!
