RPS Article
LINK TO GAME
Wasn't sure where to post this. I thought it would be interesting to go through and raise awareness.
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Depression Quest: An Interactive Game (about depression)
- Thread starter Enco
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LINK TO GAME
Wasn't sure where to post this. I thought it would be interesting to go through and raise awareness.
Aquavelvaman
Banned
It's just a link to a free WoW trial?
That's odd. Try this.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Messofanego
Banned
I can personally see how dealing with depression as a game might have real life consequences, because of the interactive element and the fact that a game is a goal in itself.
I didn't realise how long it would be, but I felt uneasy of whether it would save so I soldiered on to have some sort of accomplishment. I liked the progress ticker at the bottom like "you are now moderately depressed". I liked how "you" used Alex as the scaffolding for some kind of goal or happiness, then Amanda, attic, and finally the therapist. Humans are social beings, yes it's nice to be thought of as individualistic but talking with someone helps.
I feel like the game will be remembered fondly if I get better at my scheduling, compartmentalisation of tasks IRL, and have this game to thank for it.
I get some days like that, and even though I'm not particularly depressed, I can definitely relate to feeling like an "alien" when I was in my teens.
Other things I related to, especially the sleeping thing lately:
Relatively benign, but I had to take a minute about whether to accept a cat. I hate cats and dogs, and didn't like the guilt tripping, even though having a cat as a companion might help the loneliness and have something to do when bored. I couldn't take the cat on, but was thankful it didn't lead to a bad consequence.
Online communication really is easier than real life:
I'm fine with therapy, CBT, but take a hard stance against medication. Most of the psychiatric medication still isn't scientifically proven, and I'd rather not risk worse side effects, don't want anything messing up my brain chemistry. Should be the very last resort.
I didn't realise how long it would be, but I felt uneasy of whether it would save so I soldiered on to have some sort of accomplishment. I liked the progress ticker at the bottom like "you are now moderately depressed". I liked how "you" used Alex as the scaffolding for some kind of goal or happiness, then Amanda, attic, and finally the therapist. Humans are social beings, yes it's nice to be thought of as individualistic but talking with someone helps.
I feel like the game will be remembered fondly if I get better at my scheduling, compartmentalisation of tasks IRL, and have this game to thank for it.
I get some days like that, and even though I'm not particularly depressed, I can definitely relate to feeling like an "alien" when I was in my teens.
Other things I related to, especially the sleeping thing lately:
Relatively benign, but I had to take a minute about whether to accept a cat. I hate cats and dogs, and didn't like the guilt tripping, even though having a cat as a companion might help the loneliness and have something to do when bored. I couldn't take the cat on, but was thankful it didn't lead to a bad consequence.
Online communication really is easier than real life:
I'm fine with therapy, CBT, but take a hard stance against medication. Most of the psychiatric medication still isn't scientifically proven, and I'd rather not risk worse side effects, don't want anything messing up my brain chemistry. Should be the very last resort.
TheContact
Member
Is this supposed to make you feel better about depression or put you into one? Cuz it's pretty depressing.
I played this. I almost felt that it was too "easy" to make the right decisions and that the status displaying the character's mood made it feel too much like a game. Though, playing this I realized how inhibiting clinical depression actually is. I might be miserable, but I suppose I should be thankful that it's because of my circumstances and not because of some chemical imbalance or something that prevents me from being happy even if things were going well in my life.
Messofanego
Banned
We all have moments like it, and the game might help someone realise that procrastination can be helped by just talking to someone. Talking to someone isn't as fraught with negative consequences as they might expect and not everyone is out to think negatively of you because you're depressed.
At least that's what I got out of it.
Escape Goat
Member
That wasn't much of a game. I got bored. Maybe that means I don't have depression?
kurisu_1974
Banned
Noble but misspelled. Only the second sentence on their first page too. Now that's depressing.
Salvor.Hardin
Banned
For real. It felt more like someone trying to gather data about how people deal with depression for their university research project.
A very accurate depiction of depression, though it's set in a near "perfect" world where everything is geared towards helping you get out of it. Doesn't say what happens if your meds and CBT have no effect.
And all the paths were still reliant on you actually having friends or family members who can deal with this stuff the right way.
And all the paths were still reliant on you actually having friends or family members who can deal with this stuff the right way.
Out of Working Order
Member
Can you relate to depression, though?
I found the imagery and descriptive writing to be enough to engage me on some level.
Yeah, this game is breaking me at the moment.
It's meant to help people understand what it is like to live with depression.
Fuck my life :/
It's meant to help people understand what it is like to live with depression.
Fuck my life :/
Some of that sounded a little too close to home... some of those ways of phrasing things "I'll just watch TV for 30 minutes to clear my head". Replace "Watch TV" with "Play video games" and "30 minutes" with "an hour", and it's very familiar. Makes you think, doesn't it?
Interesting "game", and a very good idea for spreading awareness, though. I approve!
Also, that more than one of us here say we can relate a bit probably means that, no, we aren't fucked. We just became aware that thought like this are something we have to keep an eye on.
Interesting "game", and a very good idea for spreading awareness, though. I approve!
Also, that more than one of us here say we can relate a bit probably means that, no, we aren't fucked. We just became aware that thought like this are something we have to keep an eye on.
Zeouterlimits
Member
Just found this and played it.
Highly recommend it, as someone who has struggled a lot recently with what this game talks about.
Highly recommend it, as someone who has struggled a lot recently with what this game talks about.
It's incredible how much of this is me. I'm quite worried now.
Doogington
Member
I think I may still may severe depression. This game mirrors my life. I am on medication but I do not feel good. It feels almost like I am unable to feel happy about anything most of the time. I rarely get excited about anything. I have no hope for the future. I see myself as a failure. I don't want to talk about my problems with anyone because I've tried to fix them before and thought I succeeded. I've dropped out of college classes countless times. I have no direction. No ambition. No energy or motivation outside of uncommon bursts of making something that is highly interesting to me. Any real work get pushed aside. I just wait for my life to crumble around me. Feels like I deserve it. I don't have it hard. I'm being supported by my parents. I don't have any right to complain.
QuicheFontaine
Member
There's a bit where Alex is in sexy lingerie, but you can't click the "get laid" button >:-(
Holy FUCK this is me. Holy fuck. Holy shit. Like I know I'm depressed but this is incredibly accurate.
The part where your friend comes online to talk... yeah they left out the option "close window and avoid facebook because you don't want to converse with people online because it makes you anxious and is worse than real life because there is seemingly no dictating conversation so when/if the person leaves you're left wondering what you did wrong".
Fuck.
The part where your friend comes online to talk... yeah they left out the option "close window and avoid facebook because you don't want to converse with people online because it makes you anxious and is worse than real life because there is seemingly no dictating conversation so when/if the person leaves you're left wondering what you did wrong".
Fuck.
Cymbal Head
Banned
I tried this out for a little while. Found a lot of it all too familiar. Brilliant idea to have actions that appear to be options, but you can't actually select them.
meltingparappa
Member
Uuuungh.
That just tells me everything I need to know about the game, and how it's kinda too soon for me to think about being in that completely irrational but frighteningly real state of mind again.
That's simply not true. It's an especially odd claim as the response rate to therapy and medications is almost identical - we've known that for as long as we've had antidepressants (and the combination of medications + therapy is way more effective than either alone). The debate isn't about whether or not antidepressants (I'll leave aside the larger question of whether "most" of the huge number of psychiatric medications haven't been validated) work - it hasn't been for a long time now. The arguments from people like Irving Kirsch are about whether the meds work any better than other therapies, particularly for milder cases of depression. Even Kirsch will grudgingly admit that they work pretty well for severe depression.
Also, for many of us, having depression "messing up [our] brain chemistry" is a way bigger deal than the potential negative effects of the meds. You certainly don't have to take them, but saying that there's insufficient science supporting their use is simply misleading to other people who may benefit from drug therapy.
Whew.
So I really liked Depression-Quest. I'll cross-post my comic from our excellent depression thread, if that's okay.
Title: (suggested by EdmondD, and getting more appropriate all the time): The Bagels' Comic of Arrogance Look At Me Love ME Someone Pay Attention To ME
Soon to be a weekly feature!
Presented in stunning "I can't write straight, apparently"-o-vision!
Am I a terrible person for getting slightly irked that the main character starts off with friends and a significant other?
Does remind me a lot of my life beyond that though. Which irks me in its own way since I just had a intake session last week and the therapist said that I didn't have depression, just a mood disorder. And now I have to wait two weeks before I can see her again and until April just to meet someone to talk with me about medication. Jesus, it's hard getting help when you're poor as shit.
Does remind me a lot of my life beyond that though. Which irks me in its own way since I just had a intake session last week and the therapist said that I didn't have depression, just a mood disorder. And now I have to wait two weeks before I can see her again and until April just to meet someone to talk with me about medication. Jesus, it's hard getting help when you're poor as shit.
What the shit does that mean? Depression is a mood disorder. You can't just tell someone they have a mood disorder, you need to be a tad more specific...
shanshan310
Member
So what happens if you finish and realise someone you know has depression, but is unlikely to want help?
OverBlood 3
Banned
Even though I've suffered for years it's still strange that the things talked about in the story are obvious symptoms. I've been through pretty much everything in the game yet it still feels like a personal thing, maybe because I'm a bit solipsistic. I teared up a few times reading it.
I do feel like "go get therapy" "go take pills" is a bit old hat for me. I've done it all and I still feel the same way, I just do my best to distract myself from life otherwise I'll go mental.
I do feel like "go get therapy" "go take pills" is a bit old hat for me. I've done it all and I still feel the same way, I just do my best to distract myself from life otherwise I'll go mental.
Be supportive.
Depression, yo. It effects what you think is possible.
I think it's meant to let people who aren't depressed understand that some options for a person who is depressed is basically impossible. It's like someone telling a depressed fellow to "snap out of it" or "go out and enjoy making some new friends" - someone who's depressed just can't do these.
It's often that someone who's depressed knows, or imagines that his presence is completely toxic to others and thus withdraws from any sort of interaction whatsoever, this is very well shown in the protagonist's relationship with Alex, his family as well as his therapist.
While as a true gamer I played the game by not role playing as a depressed person, but rather I tried as hard as I could to pick to right answers to reach a happy ending, I could recognize a lot of the scenarios in the game. I think I may have been living with undiagnosed depression for a long time.
Vipershark
Member
Played it as accurately as possible.
Ended up breaking up with my girlfriend and being probably-close to being fired.
The game ended as I was being lectured by my mom yet again.
Ended up breaking up with my girlfriend and being probably-close to being fired.
The game ended as I was being lectured by my mom yet again.
DiscoJer
Member
I feel sorry for the depressed people. But what about those of us that apparently actually are completely toxic to others and don't have friends to lose in the first place? Or find a significant other. (I mean, hell, I've been on OKCupid for like 8 years now, you'd think I'd get a random message once in a while. That's not an insult).
I realize depressed people have serious problems, but at the same time it's hard to feel sorry for them when they have problems you wish you had (coping with friends/family).
What the fuck is this shit? You do know that depressed people are not all blessed with friends and family, right? You do know it is a disease, not a social condition, right? And hey, maybe YOU are a depressed as well which is why you feel toxic to others.
Fake edit: Sorry if that sounds harsh. Your post is a bit ridiculous though, assuming some sort of delineation between people with depression and the rest of the population categories.
I think DiscoJer meant that the protagonist in the game starts off in a pretty good position, he has a job, a girlfriend, someone to talk to on IM, as well as an engaging family etc etc, and hence it's hard to feel sorry because he's in a poorer position than that.
I kind of understand where he's coming from, the only thing I have is my folks. But I don't think the game is about trying to get people to feel sorry for depressed people, it's more of trying to get people to help those they think might be depressed.
Maybe, but it is sort of like saying 'I know amputees have problems, but they have problems I wish I had, dealing with family and stuff'. It makes no sense. People all have problems. Depressed people may not have family and friends before they have significant symptoms, hell, most of my family died years ago.
That's a good point.
Maybe, but I should have put it better in my first post.
DiscoJer, apologies for launching into you like that.
Zeouterlimits
Member
Maybe it's part of what the creator experienced?
Does it have to appeal/apply to everyone equally? That's a weird staple to put on "art" or anything that tries to have a message.
There's scope for people to depressed in all walks of life.
Why isn't it an elderly person living alone? Why isn't it xyz?
[I get it not being as resonant per person depending on an individuals circumstances, but I don't see that as a negative part of the piece itself, merely a fact]
I simply don’t like the idea about a person getting depressed but also at the same time being in a perfect and the best possible
Situation to be also cured from the disease as if depression only has effects on you and does not destroy people around you.
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