Revisiting Princess Peach

On August of 2013, I wrote a blog entry on Princess Peach, where I made the argument that she isn't so much an object for Mario to rescue as much as she is a fairly realistic depiction of a brave woman in a hostage situation. A link here: http://vidgameanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/08/princess-peach-versus-feminism-is.html. However, when I shared that blog with a Facebook group I've long since abandoned, I was accused of being sexist, idiotic, and cherry picking. In hindsight, I should have really known better than to share a blog entry with a Facebook group that had become little more than an echo chamber for Third Wave feminism, atheism, and champagne socialism, but hindsight is 20/20. However, a mod from that group said something that had stuck in me ever since: "I didn't find much argument." And I asked myself, did I really make an argument? Since then, I've taken many moments to read and re-read my entry, and I said to myself "I can do better." And that's what today's blog is all about: a second analysis of Princess Peach and her role in the Mario games.

Open Letters to Zoe Quinn, Phil Fish, Adam Sessler, Devin Faraci, Samantha Allen, and Kotaku

Dear Adam Sessler:

  Your words are those of a comfortable man, a man who has never in his life had to confront the horrors of war save from the safe distance provided by a couch and a television set, or in this new day and age, a chair and a computer. Let me show you some pictures, Mr Sessler:
(CAUTION TO READERS: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES MAY BE UPSETTING FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES)

Waifus- On the soul crushing loneliness we sometimes feel, and how some of us cope with it.

We gamers, sometimes, tend to feel a little lonely. We often feel like we are missing something, missing someone. The loneliness gets to us, and so we keep on immersing ourselves in our hobby to dull out the pain and sadness we feel. But sometimes, we do something that, to avoid sugarcoating it, is just plain sick: We take a waifu.

Yes, this guy is, in fact, sleeping with a picture of a fictional character, made a Facebook account for said character, and entered into a relationship with this character. I really hope this is fake. EDIT October 10 2018- It has come to my attention that this photo is NOT fake and the person pictured has spent time in jail for possession of child porn. I do NOT support that shit.

White Knighting and Katawa Shoujo.

She's the typical gamer's fantasy girl. She's meek, she's shy, she's quiet, she's frail, she looks like she could cry at any minute. She's the girl who sits way behind in class, away from everyone else, the one who buries herself in her book. She could cry at any minute, she has extremely low self esteem. She's short, but not too short, with milky white skin, long, flowing hair black as midnight. She's thin, almost like a supermodel, and holding her is like holding a little bird. She's Hanako Ikezawa, from the freeware Visual Novel Katawa Shoujo.

"Uh...hello...you...want to...talk to...me? Uh... no...don't stare... uh...IGOTTOGODOSOMETHING!"

I feel like I'm forgetting something about her. What was it? Hmm. Did I mention she was shy? I did. Did I mention she has low self esteem? I did, didn't I? What did I forget about her? Hmm... Oh yeah! The reason Hanako is so shy and withdrawn is because when she was 8 years old her parents died when her house burned down. Oh, and she's also physically scarred due to third degree burns obtained from said fire. 

Princess Peach versus feminism- is the Princess as bad as they claim?

Feminists hate her. She's the quintessential damsel in distress. She's weak, can't fight very well, extremely girly, blonde, and wears a lot of pink. She's Princess Peach. 

And upon seeing this, the feminists reading my blog have just puked in their mouths.

We've all heard the criticisms. "Peach is anti feminist because she has no character", "Peach is the ultimate example of a weak woman." To be sure, no one can ever claim that Peach is a feminist icon. When you get down to it, Peach is a distressed damsel, someone that needs to be rescued (constantly). You can make the claim that this is harmful to women in gaming, and honestly, that's not entirely wrong. A character that is constantly getting kidnapped does seem weak, and to have her be not just a female, but also the major female character in a series that otherwise lacks them, it doesn't look good. But! We also need to take a step back and look at things from a wider perspective.

Second Life- on escapism

The whole point of gaming, it can be said, is escapism. To escape from this world, to be so immersed in an experience that you forget everything else about you, even if for a short while. When you're playing a game, you're not you anymore. You are a witness to an epic adventure when you play an RPG, a powerful electronic athlete when you play a MOBA, or a romantic hero when you play a dating sim. But there is a game that takes this notion and runs with it entirely, turning it into its Modus Operandi. That game is Second Life.

Second Life is a free to play three dimensional game. Some may claim it is not a game, as there are no goals or anything of the sort, but I disagree. However, I am not here to debate whether Second Life is a game or not. I am here to speak about how Second Life brings escapism to a whole new level.

The very name in itself gives away the purpose of the game. Second Life: a second life for you, the player. Here is a game world unlike any other. Here is a world for you to create, to be free. To buy what you like, to be who you want to be. You are limited only by your imagination.

And yet, therein lays a question. Is this right? Is it right to escape from your real life to pretend to be someone you are not?

In Second Life it is easy to be someone you're not. No, let me rephrase that. It is easy to pretend to be someone you're not. In Second Life, you can start your own business. You can dress your avatar down in the latest Gucci suit, give him sunglasses, a chauffer, the works. You can rent out a house made to look like a mansion, in a sim that closely resembles West Hollywood. You can have an office, you can sit your avatar down in meetings. You can be this huge success, and honestly? That does not sound so bad. But, when you turn off that computer, where will you be? Back in real life. Hopefully with a family that loves you, working a job that pays the bills, on a nice enough house that may not be a mansion, but it provides what you need. I wish to God this was how it always is. And for most people, it is. But not everyone is like this.

Too many people take the game more seriously than they should. Single people go on here looking to start relationships. Sometimes they find it, and their avatars enter a pretend relationship, where they go on pretend dates to places that are simply not real. I have seen avatars go to sims made to look like amusement parks. It may be fun to pretend you are on a date, but you're not. You're not in a real amusement park, you're at home, on a computer, watching two avatars go up and down a fake roller coaster. Too many people forget this.

Far too many avatars are done up to look like glamour models. I understand that, sometimes, we are unsatisfied with how we look. We often wish to ourselves "if only I were skinnier", "if only I were more tanned", "if only I were white, blonde, blue eyed, slim and petite." Second Life does not give you the chance to live that life, no matter how much we wish to pretend we were. Second Life only allows you to make an avatar that looks like what you wish you it to look like. By itself, that's not bad, but some people take it too far. I once had the misfortune of knowing someone who ditched a friend, just so she could date someone who's avatar looked like her favorite rock star. The guy behind the avatar was married in real life, but the two began an online relationship anyway.

That's another issue. People catfishing, pretending to be someone online when in real life they are someone else, beginning online relationships on false pretenses. I have seen this happen far too many times. I once met two people on Second Life. A boy and a girl. They were in a relationship. They were in love. Thing is, the guy was really a girl in real life, and the girl was perfectly straight. The 'guy' eventually confessed, and they broke up afterwards. No harm was meant, but the 'relationship' was simply false to begin with.

That's why I don't believe in relationships that start on Second Life, or anything from Second Life at all. There is always a falseness to it, to everything. What you are seeing may look like something, but it is not. It is simply a bunch of 1's and 0's, gathered together to create data to look like an object from real life. It is not real.

It is not real. That tiny phrase, to me at least, became almost like a mantra that I repeated to myself every time I logged in to Second Life. It is not real. It is not real. It is not real. So why treat it like it is? Why treat something fake like it's real?

Sometimes, real life becomes too much to bear.We often fail, we often grow tired. We often just feel like retreating, to get away from the hustle and bustle. Video games offer us a retreat from this. In a video game, we can rescue the princess, we can develop a farm, we can save the world from the Magic Emperor, we can date a high school girl. But this retreat is not meant to replace your real life. After you're done, you're supposed to be re energized, so you can take on the world. But when you start neglecting your real life, for a game? That's when you have a problem.

Escapism is not the answer to anything. Running away from your problems does not solve them. It is OK to take a rest. It is not OK to abandon yourself in a game. You don't need a Second Life, if your First Life is not what you wanted it to be. You just need to get out there and make it happen.

don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story- It really isn't

The genre of the Visual Novel, which is horridly under represented outside of Japan, is a medium with which one can experience unforgettable tales of love (like Clannad), tales of justice (like Ace Attorney), and so forth. Because it's a niche market, you don't see many visual novels available commercially in the West, which is too bad, as we're missing out on far too many good titles. Because of this, there is an alternative: independently made, freeware titles. Some are excellence beyond excellence, like Four Leaf Studios' brilliant game, Katawa Shoujo. But this is not that game, today we look at a game called "don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story".

Pictured left to right at the top: Kendall, Charlotte, Isabella

Pictured left to right at the bottom: Taylor, Nolan, Akira

An interesting title, and one that gives away the true meaning of the game. But let's recap, shall we?

You play as John Rook, a 38 year old man, twice divorced, who has switched careers to teaching due to some bizarre midlife crisis. It is the future, and social networking has not just become commonplace, it has become a part of daily life for practically everyone. John Rook, in a word, sucks. He's by no means a good teacher, and I speak as someone who has studied to become one. He's judgemental, dislikes some of his students (to be fair, Taylor is hard to like, but Kendall is undeserving of his scorn), and overall, he most certainly gives off the impression of someone who teaches because it's his job, not his passion. He gets better overtime, such as when he presents a movie adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night under the justification that theater is meant to be seen and not read, but there is room for improvement. And by the player's choice, he can enter a relationship with Adriana, his sixteen year old student.

John Rook is the man with the purple hair and glasses. What you are seeing here, well, it speaks for itself.

The story begins with John's first day on the job. He is given a tablet for him to view his students status updates and chats on Aimee-Connect, the Facebook of the future. He is also told not to divulge his capacity to spy on his students to anyone. Class begins. He offers his students his assistance in regards to any problems they may  have, academically or otherwise. The moment she sees him, Adriana falls for him, hard. In her Aimee profile, she describes John as 'teh smex', which is Internet jargon to describe someone as physically attractive. The player is given a choice here: either give in to Adriana or brush her off. This is one of the few player choices that affect the game, and at the same time, it doesn't. But it raises many questions regarding not just Adriana, but John Rook as well. Questions we will leave for later.

Chapter two is all about Nolan, and how his classmate, Akira, is attracted to him. NOTHING John Rook does changes what happens: Akira and Nolan get together and stay together until the end of the game. Wait, why? Ahh, this is the first time we realize the meaning behind the game's title, isn't it? Ah, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

And in fact, that's something that happens all throughout the game. In a normal Visual Novel, your choices have a direct impact on how the story progresses. For example, in Katawa Shoujo, during the first chapter, you are given the choice between going to the library, going to town, or going to bed. If you go to town, you will begin a certain route of the game, and romance one of the girls. If you go to the library, you will romance a different girl, and her story is widely different from the first one's. And if you go to bed, same thing, you romance a third, wildly different girl. But in "don't take it personally", this does not exist. Very little of what you do has any impact on the overall plot. Why?

Ask yourself this question: Have you ever gone outside and looked at the people that go by? Maybe you've seen a man running a store. Maybe you've seen a woman out jogging. Maybe you've seen a little boy playing with sticks. And to you, that's all they are. But they are all living out their own stories. You may be the hero of your own story, but to them, you are a piece of the background. You are no major player, you're no one.

And that is what John Rook is to his students. Yes, he is their teacher, and yes, he can be friendly to them, but in their own stories? He's a minor character, someone who gets a chance to shine every now and then, but who is ultimately no one. Does Nolan care that John is twice divorced? No, because in HIS story what matters is his relationship with Akira. To Nolan, his trial is accepting himself and allowing himself to be loved by someone.  Likewise Charlotte has her own story. Her tale is one of love versus duty. She loves Kendall with all her heart, but she also feels she's been neglecting her studies as well. Prior to the game, she had broken up with Kendall so as to focus on her studies, and for most of the game she struggles with her feelings. In the ONE instance in the game where the player's choice impacts the game, what happens? The player does little more than to either encourage Charlotte to win back Kendall, or encourages Charlotte to focus on her studies more. And here is where things get interesting. No matter the choice, Charlotte is happy with herself, but, if she chooses to get back with Kendall, then what happens is something that is straight out of a movie. Charlotte, by her own volition, goes to Kendall's house, under the heavy rain, knocks on her window, and declares her undying love to her. The two then head back into the house. Does John Rook witness any of this? No. He gets to hear about it on Aimee Connect. And it's not even Kendall posting about it on her profile, no. She's talking about it to her friend Akira, in a private chat.

That's how Kendall actually talks, by the way. Here, she is expressing gratitude to her teacher for convincing the girl she loves to let go and accept her feelings. One chapter later, Kendall asks John to buy her alcohol so she and Charlotte can have a night of drunk sex. It's the player's choice whether he does or not. (Warning: Purchasing alcohol for minors is against the law)

Why would a visual novel tell a story that has options, but at the end of the day, barely any choices made by the player matter? It's because it's not John Rook's story entirely, no. The game is showing you several stories, including John's. The game is showing us how big of an impact other people can have on us, yet at the same time, how unimportant we are to other people's stories. Yes John encourages Charlotte to get back with Kendall, but that is the only moment wherein John has any impact at all in their story. If this were a Visual Novel told in Charlotte or Kendall's point of view, he'd be a minor character with ten minutes of screen time, at best. If this were a normal novel, written on paper, again focusing on Kendall or Charlotte, John Rook would appear in twenty pages, have a few unimportant lines here or there, and then get this ONE moment where he encourages Charlotte to win back Kendall.

From Nolan and Akira's point of view, John is the nice enough, but ultimately ineffectual, teacher who couldn't do a thing about Nolan's ex girlfriend, Taylor, attempt to sabotage the budding romance between the two boy. In this story, John just stood there, able to stop Taylor thanks to his access to Aimee Connect, but who did not, and only stepped in once Akira's mother demanded that he do something, the day AFTER Akira had cried himself to sleep after Taylor had gone too far.

And from Taylor's point of view, John Rook is the boring teacher who once either yelled at her for what she did to get back Nolan, or the guy who sat her down in his office to try (and fail) to get through to her head that what she did was wrong. Taylor, the least likable character in the game, beautifully sums up the main theme of the game thus: We are all the centers of our own Universes.

And that's the thing, isn't it? We are all the heroes of our own stories. We all have our struggles, we all have our obstacles to overcome. But that does not mean we are the only ones struggling. Take a step back and look around you. Everyone in this world has a story to tell, a life being lived. Ask yourself this: who am I to everyone else? What impact have I made to other people? We are the heroes of our own stories, but we are but background characters in the stories of other people. Beautiful, isn't it?

John? Look at me. What you are doing? That's illegal. Having a relationship with your student is illegal, immoral, and unethical. She is sixteen, she has been trusted under your care, and you are betraying that trust by sticking your dick where it does not belong. I know you're a twice divorcee, you're lonely, you're just starting a new career, you have no idea what you are doing, and overall your life sucks. But come on, this is not the answer. John, let go of the jail bait, drive her home, and we can all pretend this didn't happen. She's just a teenage girl with a crush, John. Don't take advantage of her.

On the fall of the Scarlet Moon Empire- A tale of the death of a nation.

Suikoden 1, one of the greatest Role Playing Games ever, is more than the story of a ragtag bunch of misfits overthrowing a corrupt empire. It's a fable, a warning to all nations, to all heads of states and to all citizens. Here's why.

Suikoden 1 takes place in the Scarlet Moon Empire, a country located in the nameless world of the Suikoden series. It completely surrounds a lake called Toran, a lake so large it is almost an inland sea. The empire is located south of the City-States of Jowston, which is officially an enemy nation; east of an as yet unnamed country, and north of what was once known as Kooluk, a nation which was also hostile towards Scarlet Moon due to border disputes.

Map of the Scarlet Moon Empire, not to scale. 

The Scarlet Moon Empire was founded well over two hundred years before Suikoden 1 takes place, in the year 230 of the in game calendar. Founded by Kranach Rugner, nicknamed the Knight of the Scarlet Moon, this region used to be a part of a much larger nation known as Harmonia, a nation that still exists during the time of Suikoden 1. Seventy years after its founding, the new empire began to have several border disputes with its southern neighbor, the Kooluk Empire. During the time where Scarlet Moon gained the upper hand, many of its nobles would ride unto the villages south of the Scarlet Moon-Kooluk border, where they would engage in what would cruelly be called "Human hunts", a fancy name for pillaging, murdering and probably raping the defenseless Kooluk citizens. These "human hunts", through a turn of events far too extensive to discuss at this moment, eventually led to the dissolution of Kooluk. With Kooluk destroyed, Scarlet Moon found itself facing a new enemy: their northern neighbor, the newly founded City-States of Jowston. To counter the threat, the Empire built a new prison, named Soniere, and a slew of new castles, including Scarleticia and Moravia. With its borders protected, it appeared that no outside force could ever defeat the Empire.

And it was true, no outside threat could topple such a well defended empire. But inner threats can topple any nation, no matter how powerful.

In the year 446, a mere forty years after the completion of Moravia Castle, Scarlet Moon entered a civil war. The emperor, Michelan Rugner, had passed away, and it seemed his son, Barbarossa Rugner, would inherit the throne. However, there was a problem, for Michelan's elder brother, Geil Rugner, wanted the throne for himself after his birthright as the first born was denied by his father. Having convinced, and blackmailed, the nobles of Scarlet Moon, Barbarossa's right to the throne was denied, and Geil himself was crowned. However, Barbarossa knew that it was he, and not his uncle, who was the rightful heir to the throne, and thus he amassed his own forces to reclaim what was rightfully his.

Barbarossa Rugner, last emperor of Scarlet Moon, armed with his trusted sword, Prakk

After many months of fighting, Geil's forces were defeated, and the pretender to the throne was thus executed by the rightful Emperor. But the war was not without sacrifice. Aside from the deaths of soldiers and citizens, the Empress Consort, Claudia, was assassinated by Geil's forces. It was a loss from which Barbarossa would never recover.

Emperor Barbarossa was a kind man, warm and wise, he was nicknamed the Golden Emperor. Under such a man, any kingdom or empire should flourish. But, Barbarossa was a person, first and foremost. And if there is one thing that's certain about people, is that we are flawed, and make mistakes.

A mere months after the civil war ended, the forces of Jowston invaded Scarlet Moon. The people of the empire, tired of war, were not happy that so many resources were being spent on the war effort. Barbarossa asked his supervisors for a way to rid Scarlet Moon of Jowston's armies. The chief strategist, Leon Silverberg, came up with a simple, yet horrifying idea: take the occupied town of Kalekka, drive off the occupying force, massacre the citizens leaving behind no witnesses or survivors, and blame the whole thing on Jowston. It worked, a pro war, anti Jowston sentiment arose across the empire. But, at a price: a great many soldiers, generals, and government officials that had known the truth of the incident defected from the Empire. With such a loss of talent, the Empire began to fill these roles with people that were far from deserving, such as the monstrous and corrupt Kraze Miles, who was made Captain of the Imperial Guard.

Pictured: Kraze Miles. Not Pictured: a decent human being.

Anti Imperial sentiment spread across the Empire like a flame in the night. Perhaps one of the most famous dissidents was a woman named Odessa Silverberg, niece to Leon Silverberg, and leader, as well as possible founder, of the Liberation Army, an armed force dedicated to toppling Imperial rule.

Pictured: Odessa Silverberg, one of the most awesome female characters in video games. Anita Sarkeesian has probably never heard of her.

Unfortunately, Odessa loses her life, sacrificing herself to save the life of a child. (On my next entry, I will discuss why Odessa is one of the best female characters in gaming, even after death.) She passes on leadership of the Liberation Army to Tir McDohl, son of the undefeated Imperial General Teo McDohl, and the main hero of Suikoden 1. Under Tir's leadership, the Liberation Army overthrows Scarlet Moon, to be replaced by a new, more representative government, the Toran Republic.

Tax theft, corruption, brutality, starvation, piracy. These are all problems that had plagued the Scarlet Moon during its waning years. And where was the Emperor during all this? Why didn't he do anything?

Emperor Barbarossa lost all motivation upon the loss of his wife, Claudia. During his ten year reign, he went from being a beloved ruler of the people, to a despot that did nothing as his empire crumbled. His Court Magician, Windy, used her strong semblance to Claudia, and the emperor's love for her, to fulfill her own dark ambitions. The emperor allowed his emotions to cloud him, disconnect him from the empire he had fought so hard for. His hands stained by the blood of innocents, it was the Golden Emperor, a man so loved by the people at first, a man who, when you remove the crown from his head proved time and again to be a good person, who brought down the end of the empire. Barbarossa's rule could have been the start of a Golden Age for Scarlet Moon, but was instead its downfall. But why? Why did it happen?

Because, at the end of the day, Barbarossa was a man. He had his strengths, and he had his weaknesses. But Barbarossa was not given the position of just any man, he was Emperor. He was a ruler, a leader. And when you're a leader, there is no room for flaws, no room for weaknesses. Barbarossa's weakness was that he never got past the death of his wife, Claudia. And therein lays an interesting question. What of the people who died for him? Did he mourn them as he did his wife? Did the people that died for Geil deserved to be mourned as well? Did Geil deserve someone to mourn him as Claudia did? If you will mourn someone who died in war, why not mourn everyone that has died? How many names of the people that died for him did Barbarossa memorize? And what would they say if they found out what they died for? Barbarossa didn't just destroy his empire, he sullied the sacrifices that were made in HIS name. In the end, power was placed in the hands of a weak man, a man who, when it came down to it, had no business being an emperor. The system that placed him in power had fallen into decay, allowing the cruel, the brutal, and the corrupt to assume positions of undue power. And when a system like this fails the people, it is the people themselves who rise up and destroy the system, replacing it with a new, better one.

And this happens in real life. When corruption is law, the lawless become heroes. When rulers show themselves to be inept, the followers look elsewhere for a leader. The governments that try to rule by fear, end up facing a population that is unafraid. Such is the spirit of revolution.

A warning to all governments, to all heads of state: You exist because of the will of the people. When you attempt to bamboozle your citizens, they will rise up and overthrow you. And if you need to use deadly force to quell dissent, then you have already lost. For power comes not from the threat of force, but from the consent of the governed.