Jump to content

How has visual novels affected or influenced you as a person or your life?


NowItsAngeTime

Recommended Posts

Outside the more direct things like being entertained or having a waifu/husbando or whatever.

It can be positive or negative influences.

So I've been thinking of why I have such a high attachment to VNs as a whole compared to others. Thinking all the things I got and accomplished through VNs made me realize how much VNs affected my life:

  • A lot of my online voice chat experience has been through online visual novel fans
  • My closest online group of friends was through VNs, sometimes I talk to them more than my IRL friends through voice chat
  • In general these days, the discords I mostly hang around are VN-related and the ones I'm active in go at the right speed in terms of activity for me.
  • Visual Novels have become the major reason I even go to Anime Convention these days (mostly Anime Expo since I live an hour away). Meeting at least 1 new person at an anime con that has VN stuff has become a personal goal of mine.
  • Speaking of which, rooming with fellow VN fans/industry people at a hotel for a con was something I did was really cool
  • And meeting someone who I can actually cosplay VN characters is something I never thought would happen. I'm not usually a big cosplayer.
  • I've even done my own visual novel panel at smaller conventions before. I've never done a panel at a con otherwise.
  • I've been a major cohost (and not just a guest) of a podcast through VNs, something I never thought I'd ever actually do
  • Visual Novels have become around half (if not more) the reason and inspiration for me actually studying Japanese. 1 year so far and still going strong.
  • I've been on a (fan)TL project as QC (Konosora Retranslation). Never thought I'd be on a project like that for anything.

Of course on the other hand...

  • My attachment to 2D porn has probably increased due to VNs (though some may view this as good)
  • I've kinda started comparing other media to how well VNs do certain things
  • I know have more reasons/excuses to stay inside my house, especially with how long VNs are.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The biggest way VNs affected was in giving me a small handle on spoken japanese through brute force. They only made me more aware of storytelling through art and visual cues after comic books had already done so. They didn't encourage me to exercize or kept me from reaching depression like pro-wrestling did.

Edited by onorub
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could write about how much Visual Novels have influenced my life for hours and hours. My life has been great overall, but I was not blessed by some important things like a big and caring family or an enjoyable childhood. For that reason, my traumatic experiences are a bit bigger than normal, and for 7 long years my life has been ripe with strife and despair. But Visual Novels managed to teach me things that inspired me to change myself and be a better person who can move onwards and pursue his goals. For that I'm trully greatful. Plus, Visual Novels are what made me start learning Japanese not so long ago. Hopefully once I achieve my dream of learning Japanese I will be able to enjoy those fantastic stories for the rest of my mortal life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've talked about it in the past, but I got back into VNs/anime after years of them being a lesser side-hobby specifically to modify my habits/cut down on my video game consumption. It's proved mostly successful, as I really limited my involvement with traditional video games, got way more physically active (a bit counter-intuitive, but it is way easier to combine VN reading and anime watching with regular, light exercise than it was with my compulsive gaming) and found an outlet for more creative approach to my media consumption through Fuwa and later my own blog. It's all way more satisfying than how I was spending my free time before. 

On the other hand, I'm a bit closed in my own weeb world right now and probably even more out of touch with the rest of popculture. This means little smalltalk material when I interact with normies. :P I also have a very hard time setting my priorities right: if I could stop doing anything else in my life and just write stuff for the blog and Fuwa, I probably would. And I really don't do much beyond bare minimum in some departments... 

Oh, and VNs made me fully realize my yuri obsession. Which is obviously a positive, as life without yuri is pointless. :nico:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I've talked about it in the past, but I got back into VNs/anime after years of them being a lesser side-hobby specifically to modify my habits/cut down on my video game consumption. It's proved mostly successful, as I really limited my involvement with traditional video games, got way more physically active (a bit counterintuitive, but it is way easier to combine VN reading and anime watching with regular, light exercise than it was with my compulsive gaming) and found an outlet for more creative approach to my media consumption through Fuwa and later my own blog. It's all way more satisfying than how I was spending my free time before. 

On the other hand, I'm a bit closed in my own weeb world right now and probably even more out of touch with rest of popculture. This means little smalltalk material when I interact with normies. ;) I also have a very hard time setting my priorities right: if I could stop doing anything else in my life and just write stuff for the blog and Fuwa, I probably would. And I really don't do much beyond bare minimum in some departments... 

Oh, and VNs made me fully realize my yuri obsession. Which is obviously a positive, as life without yuri is pointless. :nico:

Man, I feel you. I'm so closed off of the rest of the world that when I speak with people I don't know bringing up any normie related topic is difficult, but mostly boring. I have to really get back into anime though. Been too much into Visual Novels lately, so much so that I cannot keep with what otaku watch these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has had some pretty incredible effects on my life. For starters, it got me my job. Had I not started reading VNs I probably would never have started learning Japanese, and I certainly wouldn't have thought of starting up a fan translation, which is what led me into full-time translation. I realize now translating has always been my dream job, I just never knew it, heh.

It also got me to Japan. Sitting in my new Japanese apartment typing this right now, actually. :) Once again I never would have thought much about going here, let alone moving here, had it not been for VNs.

And of course, it has introduced me to so many great people, both online and in real. I met so many great people at uni, which I started to study Japanese as a result of my interest in VNs, and of course, I've met tons of great people in online communities like this, discord, etc, and through work and whatnot.

So overall VNs have affected my life very positively, and I don't know where I would be today without them, honestly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven’t watched anime nor read manga when I started playing VNs, so they were my introduction to Japanese pop culture. So seeing a different experience than the one I had in my country was really positive, albeit I had to suffer a lot to get less shy later on.

It helps that I choosed Katawa Shoujo as my first VN, since I suffered a mental disorder ever since my childhood, so I was able to relate to Hisao and accept myself the way I am.

Also I was able to go to a convention one year ago, and even meet a girl interested in Japanese pop culture, whom I talked about some VNs. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take her to a date, but it was one of the best experiences I had so far.

And lastly, VNs led me to study Japanese, just like most of you. While I didn’t get along with my then-classmates, I found interesting people to talk about random stuff, even though none of them so far know what a VN is.

As far as I can think, the only downside I found is that I don’t find a lot of interest in anime and I couldn’t find a book I’d like to read so far. Guess I’ll need to ask book recommendations somewhere...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

on one hand, i get to enjoy a multimedia form of art with lots of cool stories, and i even get a new platform to create my own stories with. on the other hand, i am isolated further from society because vns are niche, and i can't publicly promote my stories because all vns are commonly equated to child porn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's given me the opportunity to play through a few truly incredible stories that have had a lasting impression on me and influenced a lot of the writing I want to do

Plus, it's shown me a bunch of truly great female characters that I would never had encountered had I just plain regular old videogames

 

Negative

Fuck man I can't hardly talk about it with anyone without a shit ton of caveats and provisos. You know, I think it might have something to do with some vns called I Want to Throat Fuck You Till You Pass Out~Fun Sucking Whore Time!!? or I Dream of Semen Filled Sluts!

But, maybe that's just me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Prior to Subahibi, I was on an somewhat anti-philosophy binge namely because of my upbringing and how annoying it all was. I kinda just ignored all the newer philosophers come of the 20th century. Then after I finally read the damn VN,  I realized the importance of philosophy, again... I picked up some Russell and read up Wittgenstein, after Ayana kept talking to me about it in the final ending.  Next thing I knew, I was reading critical theory ......and actually enjoying this shit.  I guess I’ve always been interested in philosophy since I watched evangelion 10 years ago, but that was basic shit I think every high school freshman should learn. But what made lose my interest in philosophy,  especially philosophy of science, was Sam Harris. I blame him in his book, end of faith.  It’s kind of surreal, reading a moe eroge that talks more about empiricism, falsifiability, and scientific revolutions than a book whose sole focus is epistemological. 

 

 

  This is exactly why I consider visual novels—literature, a form of critical theory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Happiness+ said:

Prior to Subahibi, I was on an somewhat anti-philosophy binge namely because of my upbringing and how annoying it all was. I kinda just ignored all the newer philosophers come of the 20th century. Then after I finally read the damn VN,  I realized the importance of philosophy, again... I picked up some Russell and read up Wittgenstein, after Ayana kept talking to me about it in the final ending.  Next thing I knew, I was reading critical theory ......and actually enjoying this shit.  I guess I’ve always been interested in philosophy since I watched evangelion 10 years ago, but that was basic shit I think every high school freshman should learn. But what made lose my interest in philosophy,  especially philosophy of science, was Sam Harris. I blame him in his book, end of faith.  It’s kind of surreal, reading a moe eroge that talks more about empiricism, falsifiability, and scientific revolutions than a book whose sole focus is epistemological. 

 

 

  This is exactly why I consider visual novels—literature, a form of critical theory.

Just out of curiosity what do you consider the importance of philosophy to be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/1/2019 at 1:37 PM, NowItsAngeTime said:

Just out of curiosity what do you consider the importance of philosophy to be?

That's a hard question, but personally, I like philosophy that serves a practical and/or material purpose. I am not a big fan of idealism. I used to be, but I realized that I kept making so many assertions on certain propositions. Whenever you adopt an epistemology for example, you run into assumptions in order for it to work. There's no perfect one, but pragmatism has the least amount of assertions I have to make for it work, so I am fine with that. The main reason why I study philsophy has changed over the years, but the main reason now, it helps understand myself and the people around me a bit better. It's just fun to explore things that people never think about. The interesting thing about visual novels is that they are very good for cognitive mapping, they explore scenarios most people wouldn't even think of concerning and rely on reader participation to some degree. This is partly why I consider visual novels not games. The main mode of interaction in a visual novel is reading and interacting with ideas versus mechanics. This is why I liken visual novels more to literature. This is why I read and develop visual novels. :meguface:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...