victoria

Haraiva on twitter made a post and then deleted it about orientalism in "cozy/wholesome" games specificially about fetishizing and infantilizing japan.

They went on to say that just because something is cutsey and charming doesnt mean that it isnt a form of racism. Celebratory intent doesnt negate harm and appropriation.

Its a real shame they had to delete it because they got harassed. i think is completely correct and this conversation needs to be more in the public conscious. Ive been seeing some of it in ttrpgs vis a vis 'ghibli aesthetic', but i'd like to see more of it esp within ""wholesome"" games discussions.

This is especialy relevant given there are 2 different games made by different teams that are using japan as a backdrop all while using fake kana. There is genuinly no reason for this other than fetishization.

Edit/Amendment: I want to acknowledge that orientalism is an issue throughout all genres of games, but for the purposes of this post I was focusing soley on those listed as "cozy" or "wholesome"

I am not a scholar, not an expert, and i am a white man, but the term "cozy orientalism" a la "techno-orientalism" really seems like an appropriate phrase for this phenomenon

USED TO BE back in the day if you were going insane, you would wrote down your crazed ramblings in a journal. so that when you died, the protagonist could find it and see your descent into madness and they called it "environmental storytelling". people would praise it. good writing, they said.

but NOW, in the digital era, it seems hardily NOBODY'S keepin madness-journals anymore. you just post your despaired rants on your social media and it's called "venting" and everyone blocks you for it. and THEN the website shuts down and all the posts are gone, and how's the protagonist gonna read about your downfall then huh?

and let me tell you, you can't even write in erratic directions on a tweet. can't draw eyes in the margins. can't scribble neither. nothing beats good old paper in pen, nope! but folks just don't appreciate a descent into madness anymore...

the extent to which a pixel art game not rendering its pixels right resulting in mixels gets under my skin is inexcusable. for them. render your pixel arts right or die

Every friend group got that one homie who is saying "but it is forbidden!"

Every circle has someone who says "but what will the Elders say?" and if you don't know who it is then it's you