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By the way, if anyone's actually wanting a Dreamwidth invite code, let me know.
So, in an entertaining inversion, for the past couple of days Chas has been playing Demon's Souls on my PS3, and I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins on his computer.
My Romance Status: I was at the point of occasional kisses with Morrigan, but I was getting frustrated with the fact that she is, essentially, a giant bitch who gets pissy with me every time I'm nice to someone in front of her. And then we met Zevran, who's all friendly and charming and nice and has had such a hard life and he just needs love, and who actually likes you more when you just talk to him for a while, and who doesn't get pissy at you all the time. So my character fell into bed with Zevran almost immediately. So we've spent a lot of time talking, and had really a lot of sex because Zevran likes you slightly more every time you do that, so Zevran totally adores me and eventually, I swear, I WILL convince him that there is more to life than sex and death and THERE WILL BE GAY LOVE.
When I made the case to Chas that it totally wasn't wrong to drop Morrigan like a hot rock after making out with her, because we never actually TALKED about anything to do with Our Relationship because she wouldn't let me, and therefore there were no promises made even implicitly, he agreed that it was okay, but only because it's Morrigan and she's a GIANT BITCH.
I may play the game through again as a jerk, in which case we'll probably get on better, but it just doesn't seem consistent for my current character. Maybe if I play as a mage. Or an elf. Both categories have grounds to be grumpier people.
Apparently it's not that strong in later parts of the game, but the gameplay experience does have one thing I find very cool: if you play as an elf, it can offer grounds for gamers with societal Privilege to empathise more with the experiences of minorities.
Because in the Dragon's Age world, people are racist towards elves, and it seems to be a thing where people who play as an elf are angry and bitter towards the bastards who treated them so shabbily. This could be good for people who wonder why minorities seem so angry about stuff - being able to empathise with it and see that no, it's actually a completely reasonable way to feel.
Of course, this could make playing an elf unpleasant for people who have similar experiences in real life. It could also be cathartic for some. DA:O isn't really pretending that the origins are fun - playing as a city elf could be inherently triggering for some people, too. Games aren't always nice.
Note to self: Posts should be forthcoming on Florence Nightingale and why she deserves to be lauded in part for being such an awesome person with severe disabilities, and also why she's emblematic about how common perceptions of historical figures can be viciously skewed by the kyriarchy; on Demon's Souls and its reception and what it says about games and gamers; on revisionist history and why people are stupid.
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