KS in 50 years

[ThistlewickVII]

I was posting on a topic about forgetting KS to play it again,
And said that in 50 years I Might have forgotten some of it, so then I could Play it again,
And that I'd leave it in my will that everyone should play it.

And this got me thinking, what will this game say about our Generation when people look back at 2012?
Will the game lose some of it's impact when it is written in Archaic Text (as it will be to them)?
People won't know about mobile phones or music-boxes or

maybe there won't even be disabilities as technology and surgery improve.
I know the game is about "irrelevant of disabilities, not despite or because", but would the game still work?

[rydiafan]

Honestly in a year this game will be dead except for the hardcore fans .... the next big must have vn will be out and everyone will be playing that .... it's a great story but without the boards here and it being free how many hard core fans would have passed it over ... the free part more or less sold the game to ppl ... it came out at the right time ( everything is a frist person shooter , an ea spots games or online rpg ) and ppl wanted something different .... im curious just how many copy of KS were downloaded ?? is there a way to get the numbers ??

[ProfAllister]

In order to look toward the future, look toward the past.

50 years ago:
The Incredible Hulk was introduced.
The first Target store was opened.
The first Wal-Mart was opened.
Marilyn Monroe died.
Spider Man made his first appearance.
Silent Spring is released, leading to the rise oft he environmentalist movement and the banning of DDT.
Johnny Carson takes over The Tonight Show.
Dr. No premieres.
Pope John XXIII convenes the Second Vatican Council.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Lawrence of Arabia premieres.
The interrobang is invented.

And, of course, there are many cultural milestones prior to that year. The language used then isn't archaic - some of the phrasing may be a little stilted, and the slang is largely outdated, but that's far from archaic. A bigger question relates to the cultural relevance of the Video Game and the Visual Novel in the future. There is perhaps some hope in the history of comic books, but they're in a weird space between culturally relevant and culturally irrelevant.

In 50 years, someone who's willing to put up with the antiquated presentation would likely get much the same effect it's had on us, assuming KS manages to be successfully preserved in such a manner that it can be meaningfully experienced. Old does not mean irrelevant, though it often means obscure. I figure that the resonance of KS reaches far beyond the idiosyncrasies of this generation toward universal truths, but, on the other hand, the average teenager has trouble appreciating a lot of the great classic movies.

So, culturally relevant? Unlikely. Personally relevant? Much more likely.

[ravenlord]

I think KS will be known 50 years from now as the Grandaddy of Western produced and English language Nakige. Already there are about a half dozen similar projects right now, and the big question is "How will each compare to KS?" As great as KS is, its hidden greatness is the spawning of a new genre and the expansion of an old niche.

On the flip side, I think 50 years from now we will see total immersion in interactive entertainment. And that could be really dangerous. Considering the intensity of the feels that I got from KS in this form, I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I had experienced KS in a fully interactive 3D world. A true virtual reality version of KS would be like a drug, and it would be really hard to leave and return to real life. We already have hikikomori lost in the 2D world. I think things will even be more critical when "2D" basically becomes "3D" and is indistinguishable from true reality. Maybe there will be legislation limited how "good" a VR game can be, especially one with feels

[Snow_Storm]

I gotta agree with Rydiafan on this one. IN 50 years or so, this game may be forgotten since it's really isnt' a Triple A title. Now, if more Westerns and indie devs start working on Visual Novels and try to make 'em popular (which I dobut will happen), KS may be consider a granddaddy of sorts.

[Tomate]

My name is Katawa Shoujo game of games:
Look on my HNNG ye mighty, and feel!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The empty directory stretches far away.

[Megumeru]

I don't think it'll just 'vanish' or 'forgotten' in 50 years time.

Just like Superman and whatnot, I think KS has established itself as one of the internet's many sub-cultures. The possibility of it disappearing completely is...still in the air when you think about it.

[Helbereth]

I think anyone who played it will remember.

Like the first time you saw Star Wars or E.T., or read Lord of the Rings, or heard the 1812 Overture (or whatever other media you might have popping to mind); Katawa Shoujo is a bit of a cultural phenomena that's on a smaller scale, of course, but has had a decidedly impressive impact on the people who've been lucky enough to encounter it. I know I'll remember it, and probably compare things to it in the future. I've done that with every game I've played since 1985 when I got my first Atari 2600, and I don't see that stopping anytime soon.

50 years is not so long a time in the annals of cultural history.

[yummines]

it depends really

the internet is still a more recent phenomenon, i think my generation (those who are 18 currently) are probably the first generation to grow up with video games and the internet, so it should have a greater effect on those afterwards (cause they are born with it). depending on its popularity on the internet, it may differ on who remembers it.

i for one will likely remember it, cause i remember all the games ive played. i dunno about everyone else. in a way Katawa Shoujo may be remembered as "that game made by a bunch of 4chan people about having sex with crippled girls" or "the first real western visual novel of a touching coming of age story" depending on the source.

after all 4chan is still relevant today, even though /b/ lost its relevance a long time ago.

[Surreal-mind]

In 50 years ....
After a failed awesome motorcycle stunt involving several rabid crocodiles and countless explotions,
an old lonely man lies on his deathbed. Suddenly he raises his clenched fist, a single tear rolls down his cheek
"MAI WAIFU!!"
...and with those words he dies.

That man was me!


But seriously, everyone who played will remember it, that's for sure.

[WorldlyWiseman]

Quick, someone get a flash drive of KS into a space-bound time capsule!

[Helbereth]

i think my generation (those who are 18 currently) are probably the first generation to grow up with video games and the internet

That's accurate. My generation was the first to grow up with home video games - being born in 1980. The internet was, technically, already around and in sparring use by the mid-80s, but it really hit its stride in the mid-late 90s as I was finishing High School. Kids your age now were, perhaps, in preschool around that time, so they would have been exposed to the internet almost at the same time as they were developing cognitive thinking skills and such (I'm no expert, but I believe that happens around age 3-4 - at least the higher reasoning anyway. Cognition starts at birth, I'm pretty sure. There's got to be some kind of brain function saying 'i need to breathe' and 'i need to eat' at that point).

In any case, the internet - barring thermonuclear war, meteor strikes or other civilization-destroying disasters - is here to stay. The amount of information out there at people's fingertips is already staggering and it's still growing.

In 50 years, virtually all of human history will be recorded and reviewed through a fast, digital interface and available at any time. I might be overly optimistic here, but I think you get the point. Everything we know now, everything we knew once before, and anything we'll know by then will be carefully cataloged and dog-eared for our convenience, hovering in an invisible cloud. KS will be remembered because everything else is remembered.

Maybe even this thread.

<insert conspiratorial Kenji rant>

[Eclipse]

Quick, someone get a flash drive of KS into a space-bound time capsule!

GO GO GO!
Well, at the least, I'll certainly *try* to remember KS within a time period of 15 years.
I'll play it then. (Along with a few other branched-off projects) But within 1 year, I wonder how active will this forum will be?

[cpl_crud]

Everything we know now, everything we knew once before, and anything we'll know by then will be carefully cataloged and dog-eared for our convenience, hovering in an invisible cloud. KS will be remembered because everything else is remembered.

Maybe even this thread.

<insert conspiratorial Kenji rant>

Something about that reminded me of 1984. The George Orwell version, of course, not the Murakami. I haven't finished that yet. I foolishly bought the hardback copy instead of a digital one, so it's hard to read it.

It might have something to do with all of the nonsense here about a mining overlord trying to buy her way into a position of power at a newspaper, but who knows.

I don't really think that KS will be remembered, unless we end up in a weird, Idiocracy version of the future where you have the Masturbation channel on free-to-air TV. The stigma cast by the graphic content will always put people off. If there was a major groundswell of "popular" VNs (as in VNs that reach far into the population, not laying on the fringe) that cited KS as an influence then maybe it would have a place, but I'm afraid that KS's influence probably hasn't spread that far.

Still, on my 78th birthday, I will try to recall the fulfilling ordeal that was KS.

[ThistlewickVII]

I think you misunderstood me, I wasn't suggesting that KS would continue to generate a steady stream of popularity,
more that if someone in the future were to stumble upon this, what would they think of it?

And of course the text is not outdated now, but in 50 years?
At the current rate our language is changing, it might be the equivalent to Shakespearian!
And in this age where there will be no disabilities and things like racism and homophobia (hopefully) cease to exist,
diversity will not be an issue.

If they have no frame of reference, they might not understand the game. It's about overcoming misconceptions, that these girls are people and legitimate love interests.

If they have nothing to overcome, what does the game become?
A game about a crazy guy who wears a leaf when he showers and drinks on the school roof?