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Depression Quest
Sep. 7th, 2015 03:17 pmFuck me, but I finally played this game:
www.depressionquest.com/dqfinal.html
I ended up going through it four times to get a sense of where all the branching paths lead. I know it's not politic to say this, but I kind of feel like Depression Quest fails both as a game and as an educational tool. It's really committed to a single narrative, which is:
admit you are depressed > find a therapist > start taking medication
If the player deviates from this narrative in any way, diegetic punishment is immediately forthcoming, and it's impossible to test out alternative scenarios without getting a bad ending. This fails as a game because it does not reward play. This fails as an educational tool because it refuses to acknowledge the possibility of a variety of experiences, treatments, and temporary coping mechanisms.
To expand on the second point, finding a licensed therapist in the United States is not as simple as making up one's mind to do so, and finding a psychiatrist is even more difficult. In most cases, there are likely going to be problems with scheduling and insurance and compatibility. Even should you manage to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist who accepts your insurance (or any insurance at all) and isn't a complete asshat, there's no guarantee that this person is going to be willing to prescribe medication. And even if you get medication, there's no guarantee that it will have the intended effect, or that your insurance will agree to cover what you need. So what do you do in the meantime? The game doesn't say, because it's too busy forcing you into the "admit you are depressed > find a therapist > start taking medication" narrative.
What also surprised me is that the game is obviously written from the perspective of an extrovert who finds normal introverted behaviors unhealthy. I'm personally very lucky in that the strongest emotion I typically feel is hunger (followed by infatuation with fictional characters, followed by rage at the patriarchy), but whenever I become overwhelmed by depressive thoughts like I am shit my life is shit this is as good as it will ever get and we all die alone I know it's time for me to disengage and spend some quality time in my apartment with myself. In Depression Quest, if you turn off your instant messaging service and don't go to parties, you lose. Apparently introverts are doomed to be depressed forever, what the fuck.
This goes back to my first point, which is that, in order for a game to work as a game, there needs to be room for player creativity and experimentation that presupposes not all players will approach the game in the same way. If such variables aren't accounted for, then a game like this feels like Baby's First Twine Adventure, which is no fun for anyone.
I'm not saying that Zoë Quinn deserved anything that happened to her, but I think Depression Quest could have benefitted from legitimate criticism, which is of course impossible now.
My response to Depression Quest reminds me of a male game critic friend's recent epic drunken rant about why Gamergate was just about the worst thing that could have happened for feminist gamers. His essential complaint was that the whole mess was so polarizing that there's no longer any room for a middle ground. Like, you may have serious objections against Brianna Wu's statement on Twitter that Setzer is a rapist and Celes is his victim, but you can't say anything in opposition to her without sounding like you came directly from 4chan with the express purpose of picking a fight.
This shit is so weird. Honestly bros I just want to drink and play video games.
www.depressionquest.com/dqfinal.html
I ended up going through it four times to get a sense of where all the branching paths lead. I know it's not politic to say this, but I kind of feel like Depression Quest fails both as a game and as an educational tool. It's really committed to a single narrative, which is:
admit you are depressed > find a therapist > start taking medication
If the player deviates from this narrative in any way, diegetic punishment is immediately forthcoming, and it's impossible to test out alternative scenarios without getting a bad ending. This fails as a game because it does not reward play. This fails as an educational tool because it refuses to acknowledge the possibility of a variety of experiences, treatments, and temporary coping mechanisms.
To expand on the second point, finding a licensed therapist in the United States is not as simple as making up one's mind to do so, and finding a psychiatrist is even more difficult. In most cases, there are likely going to be problems with scheduling and insurance and compatibility. Even should you manage to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist who accepts your insurance (or any insurance at all) and isn't a complete asshat, there's no guarantee that this person is going to be willing to prescribe medication. And even if you get medication, there's no guarantee that it will have the intended effect, or that your insurance will agree to cover what you need. So what do you do in the meantime? The game doesn't say, because it's too busy forcing you into the "admit you are depressed > find a therapist > start taking medication" narrative.
What also surprised me is that the game is obviously written from the perspective of an extrovert who finds normal introverted behaviors unhealthy. I'm personally very lucky in that the strongest emotion I typically feel is hunger (followed by infatuation with fictional characters, followed by rage at the patriarchy), but whenever I become overwhelmed by depressive thoughts like I am shit my life is shit this is as good as it will ever get and we all die alone I know it's time for me to disengage and spend some quality time in my apartment with myself. In Depression Quest, if you turn off your instant messaging service and don't go to parties, you lose. Apparently introverts are doomed to be depressed forever, what the fuck.
This goes back to my first point, which is that, in order for a game to work as a game, there needs to be room for player creativity and experimentation that presupposes not all players will approach the game in the same way. If such variables aren't accounted for, then a game like this feels like Baby's First Twine Adventure, which is no fun for anyone.
I'm not saying that Zoë Quinn deserved anything that happened to her, but I think Depression Quest could have benefitted from legitimate criticism, which is of course impossible now.
My response to Depression Quest reminds me of a male game critic friend's recent epic drunken rant about why Gamergate was just about the worst thing that could have happened for feminist gamers. His essential complaint was that the whole mess was so polarizing that there's no longer any room for a middle ground. Like, you may have serious objections against Brianna Wu's statement on Twitter that Setzer is a rapist and Celes is his victim, but you can't say anything in opposition to her without sounding like you came directly from 4chan with the express purpose of picking a fight.
This shit is so weird. Honestly bros I just want to drink and play video games.
