What If Katawa Shoujo Never Existed?

[MrColin]

Actually if Katawa hadn't existed I could of been dead. I came home one day from school just utterly mad at how my life was going so I had the feeling of simply ending it all. As I was thinking about my feelings I got on my laptop and began browsing youtube. One of the guy's I was subscribed too started playing this. After a few videos it had gained my interest and I downloaded it to give it a try. My first thoughts were of how skillfully planned out and how profesional it looked. It became so meaningful to me that everday I strived for the end of school just so that I could play. I had an emotional connection with it and I began to wish that I could be moved into that world. As I have finished some of the paths already I still find myself playing through once again or listining to the soundtrack on my ipod. Thank you for making this game.

[ArazelEternal]

Life would have gone on as usual. Nothing would have changed.

KS did have an effect on me. It caused me to reevaluate my life a bit, but more so how I treat and look at everyone around me. I never did judge people on what they were on the outside, even before this game. I just never was that person. However I did have times where Id see someone with a different disability and say within my own mind "Whoa....look at that person...." and stare for a moment. I find myself doing that less now. Now its "Hmmmm. I wonder how they have learned to work around that."

KS shattered my heart and also made me smile genuinely more times than anything else ever has. Some of its because it relates to my life. However, I dont think it has to, to hit you emotionally. People like me who (Ill admit that I am) are very emotionally available, who feel emotions very strongly are also deeply effected by such things, even if they have absolutely no resemblance to ourselves or anyone we know.

Thats just my opinion.

[Axelownz]

Well I think my life would have went on more or less the same. Katawa Shoujo was something i got a bit obsessed with when it was around, but after i beat it, that died down. It introduced me to wonderful new characters and storylines that i loved and will never forget, i may have had a bit insight into my life too, but nothing major. In one way it may have been a good thing though, i have to deal with some, lets say emotional situations with a longtime crush of mine that ended up being unrequited, the game did actually depress me more when that happened since i was in Rin's route and it made the emotions worse, but after that it gave me something to do and focus on and forget about it. Im sure i would have made it out of that slump without KS though. I probably also would have found some new form of fiction to obsess over though....i tend to do that alot.

[Alexbond45]

I'm more observant of what I say, and I genuinely care more due to ks.

[shiro_midori]

Well, it brought feelings to the fore I had forgotten I still had. It also put me back into drawing again, which has really allowed me to have a constructive outlet for excess mental energy.

[Eclipse]

I wouldn't have taken up reading, writing, art, a plan to run this summer, have a slight interest in sign language, and give me a few pointers on how I should act around other people.
Ultimately, this gave me hobbies and made me a better person.
Ohoho.

[Oddball]

KS really got me back into writing and doing art. I hadn't done much of either for ... well, a long time before getting into the game.

As for why it didn't affect you, who knows. I hit me hard and I'm no stranger to other VN or emotional writing.

[Black Knight]

You obviously have no soul. Consider a career as a lawyer.

Kidding, kidding. First of all, this forum is strongly subject to self-selection bias. Generally, the only people who would care enough to post here are the people who were strongly affected by KS; everyone else who played it, and didn't have such a powerful reaction, just went on with their lives. It's quite probable that the majority reaction is actually the same as yours, i.e. impressed and entertained, but not absolutely blown away. Certainly not to the extent that they took time to extensively google KS after their playthrough, and spent enough time poking through the interwebs to stumble onto this place.

Secondly, I don't think your previous experience with other literary works or their level of "quality" when compared to KS have much to do with anything. I'd also read a great deal of literature before encountering KS, and yet found it more personally impactful than many other things I'd read. One's own biographical details play a big role in shaping how you react to different works. Perhaps KS simply doesn't resonate enough with you, on the level of your personal experiences.

As to your last question, KS didn't influence me to change my worldview or habits in any particular way, because the character I identified the most with was Emi, and the Hisao of Emi's route. At the time I played KS, my approach to life's shitstorms was already to attack them head-on while being honest with myself regarding my own fears and insecurities vis-a-vis the challenges in question (that is, pretty much the same as Emi and Hisao's mindset post-good ending), so my fondness for KS is in seeing myself in it, rather than having had an epiphany because of it.

[b12c2018]

I understand your point. As far as I know, people react differently to different stimuli. Some get very emotional on, say, fictions, while some receive help from other kinds of media, such as sudden turns of events.

Don't get frustrated. If you find yourself making mistakes and being unable to receive help from KS, just keep yourself open and relax. If you keep paying attention to little things in your surroundings, chances are that you can get help from many other stimuli.

As for me, I received immense help from this fiction (see my other posts), but I also receive help elsewhere, even from the slightest details of things. I keep myself open-hearted, open to criticism, and correct myself while trying to make others happy.

Hope it helps ^_^.

Tkiss, new to KS and this forum

[WorldlyWiseman]

I might chalk it up to experiencing it in isolation. It's kinda the ultimate 'you had to be there' at this point.

The 'life-changing' reaction to the game, at this point, is something of a meme. The game does a good job of capturing depression, isolation, and coping mechanisms from a variety of viewpoints, which as far as I can tell a lot of VNs don't bother with. Not accessible ones anyway. Being free meant distribution among internet people was guaranteed, being a creation of 4chan meant they couldn't just dismiss it as tumblr nonsense, and both of those factors meant that the first big wave of its spread had both ironic and sincere elements. I think the expectation that it was literally 'life-changing' began as an ironic joke that got out of control when those liking it sincerely decided that, "yeah, maybe I should do something about my fat ass or my bad relationship," and rode that messaging to a thriving fandom full of crazy sad people cheering on one another's accomplishments. People on the forum here sincerely loved it, and expressed that through the developing narrative that one should find lessons in it. I was no different.

I don't think I can attribute that many changes to the game itself. I was already in the process of therapy but it was turning out really ineffective. I was already sold on the idea of games being a serious medium, but had a lot of fears about going back to finish my programming degree. I went back shortly after I disappeared from the fandom here, but it's hard to call KS the tipping point. On the other hand, I'm back now to try and get more than two words of fiction to stay on a page at a time. If the game didn't exist I would have, objectively, put less fiction into the world than I have now. And I suppose I've gained the experience of joining a fandom at all, I've tended to shy away from them in the past.

I guess the teal deer here is that I would emphasize the combination of the game's themes, its accessibility, and the general state of the internet in 2012 being that of a weeping wound of cynicism as things you should keep in mind if you go back deep in the archives. It created a zeitgeist that probably can't be replicated in isolation. I'm glad you liked it though. Stay a while, and maybe go running a bit.

[Mirage_GSM]

I wouldn't say KS has been a life-changing experience to me.
For me it was a) a very well-written novel and b) it had a small but active community to participate in without getting drowned out.

There are other novels that I enjoyed as much, but either there wasn't a community at all or it was something with thousands of members where individuals could not meaningfully contribute - a reason I don't frequent reddit or stuff like that.

[emmjay]

...being a creation of 4chan meant they couldn't just dismiss it as tumblr nonsense...

No, they just dismissed it as 4chan nonsense instead.

[WorldlyWiseman]

...being a creation of 4chan meant they couldn't just dismiss it as tumblr nonsense...

No, they just dismissed it as 4chan nonsense instead.

Well, I was referring to channers, as in 4chan being interested in something other channers had created, but that part of my spiel is pretty speculative even compared to the rest anyway. I do remember actual games press coverage having a tone like it was trying to suppress its bafflement more than dismissing it outright.

[emmjay]

My comment was more or less meant as a joke, but I have seen cases where people couldn't look past KS' origins.

[Xaredian]

I don't think it has or had anything to do with your experience within literature, but rather that it simply didn't speak to you as much as it spoke to others.
If you don't mind me asking, have you ever taken a personality test? Did it end in -A? If it did, then you're emotionally stable or emotionally in control.

Anyways. I'm not saying the story wasn't for you, as you played and read through the entire VN. It just didn't speak to you (or me for that matter) as it did to others. This doesn't mean it failed, as you seemed to enjoy it enough to 100% it.

As for speaking to me, I oddly enough never bothered with Emi, Rin, or Shizune's routes. While I liked Hanako's route, it didn't touch me. Lilly's route, however, did. While Hanako's route is about trust before courting and the gentle touch in relationships, Lilly's route involves not keeping secrets and trusting one another during a relationship.

Though, I haven't read through the VN in a long while, so my memory is a little foggy.

As for if it didn't exist? I probably wouldn't be as honest as I am now with my best friend's sister (or honest in general).