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Argobot

Cibele

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Yes! I played it on Monday and very much enjoyed it immensely.  I was particularly struck by lots of memories of what it was like to be Nina in the game's age (18 or 19 or so) and trying to figure out what it mean to be a sexual being in a society that both celebrated and scolded me for that. I had a weird online only relationship through WoW my freshman year of college that I used in place of meeting people and dealing with my social anxiety that stunted my grown a lot, so this game particularly really hit home.

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I'm so not the target audience but a game about sex that isn't creepy/exploitative about sex sounds like something I have to experience even if I'm so sure it'll bounce off me hard...

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Nina is brilliant, and the premise for this game is really compelling. Bought it on steam and I'll probably get to it once I finish SOMA. Now that is one hell of a tonal shift.

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I never played any MMOs or multiplayer games where I chatted with other people, but I like that the game depicts a relationship that isn't typically seen in games or a lot of popular fiction. So often it's a black and white situation where everyone loves each other and it's perfect, or a person did a bad thing or is a bad person and of course it ends because of that.

 

Typically stories I see of young love are sunshine and rainbows a la Anakin and Padme rolling around in a grassy field (ugh). But seeing it as awkward, messy, and unsure feels much truer to life and closer to home. It reminds me of my first relationship when my girlfriend at the time said something to the effect of: "I wish I had met you a few years later than I did." Which at the time I didn't quite get, but in retrospect I totally understand.

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I know we've already discussed this a little but I'll add a few more thoughts -- I feel like a huge amount of what drew me in was just even the surprise of seeing things I identified with in another artwork. Like the manga on Nina's shelf is manga I read around that age, I know that exact feeling of mindless click click games to while away time so I can carry on multiple chat convos, and I met my first bf over the net (though very differently, with very different outcomes).

 

It's still really unusual to "play" a real person, and I'm still thinking about that. Like Being John Malkovich, but where you have control over the hands and the decision to talk to people, but not the content. But then Being John Malkovich is a weird movie creatively, having an actor play themselves but in fiction, not biography or cameo. hmmm.

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I just played it last night and I am of two very distinct minds about it.  

 

Mechanically, I wasn't crazy about it.  I know that the MMO sections of the game were meant to play out as they would in real life, but I spent too much time* just waiting for someone else to say something.  Also, no keyboard shortcuts for closing the windows you opened up on her desktop (at least, none that would work on my computer) made it a bit longer than I wanted it to be, especially with the small closing buttons.  The mechanics felt like an obstacle to get to the actual interesting parts.

 

That said, artistically, it was fascinating because it was so raw and honest.  Playing as a real-life person, with their real-life pictures and experiences presumably their real-life schoolwork really grounded the game well.  Games almost never handle romantic love and sex beyond the superficial, but this one felt mature and properly realized.

 

Nina's voice acting and delivery was tremendous and natural, but Blake's felt very rigid and forced.  To that end, I really cringed when Blake was talking because if you listen to all of the things he says to her, he's commenting on her appearance like 90% of the time.  It really made me uncomfortable.  I just wanted to shout "NO!  NINA, DON'T FALL FOR IT!"  I had high hopes that it would turn out well, so at the final development, I actually said "Oooooffffff" and was very sad for her.  I felt badly for Blake's obvious social issues - we at least know about Nina's offline social life through e-mails, even if she prefers to spend time online with Blake - but I struggled to identify with them and with him; I identified much more with Nina.

 

All in all, I was glad that I played it, but I acknowledge that this may not resonate well with people who don't have experience with internet-only relationships.

 

*yes I know it was short, so "too much time" probably doesn't carry a lot of weight as a criticism, but I didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything when I was waiting for someone to talk.

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