enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2023
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@Zayir
CW: Discussion of abuse, trauma and its possible repercussions, especifically talking about real cases.
This has been edited to exclude more sensitive sections that were improper to discuss on a videogame forum (my bad!), so it might be a bit less coherent, but hopefully my points still stand solidly enough. I do appreciate your answer, though I was not speaking out to a specific person (and I wrote this especially above my explanation), but wanted to add some of my knowlegde to the discussion of "it's an excuse to get less jailtime" "a lot of abusers claim" etc., pointing out, that childhood abuse can be an explanation for developing personality disorder - among other things of course. I will just answer to you, but we shouldn't go on in this heavier topic as the mod suggested. I don't know if that's what you meant by your last sentence Eh no. In no way I was referring my last sentence to you or the people you know or have talked with (I don't know any of them!), it was meant to be a general statement for prevention. Prevention is important. And I was not referring to any „Astarion is a child abuser“, it’s odd, I really don’t think he is. He might be antisocial toward a lot of people from different ages. There's a difference between being mean to someone and generally lashing out vs the full extent of what Astarion does in the game. Lots of people IRL will be toxic without necessarily having a personality disorder. Yes. Being mean to other people or bullying others doesn't need to occur from a personality disorder, it can occur from personality traits or mental health issues as well. Being mean to other people or teenagers in school is an antisocial behaviour which can lead to depressions, anxiety and other mental health issues or illnesses, personality disorders etc. for the one, who got bullied, but if the "toxicity", how you called it, occur from - for example mental health issues, abuse, disorder etc. - I think it's important to provide psychological support not only to the victim but to both, the victims of the bully and the bully. It can help both. In my case I can at least pretty confidently confirm that while I do have some mental illnesses (Depression, OCD) I don't have any personality disorders. A long time ago, I was just a mean teenager who was plain mean towards other teenagers, and I regret it a lot, but I understand now why I was lashing out like that and I'm glad I eventually had a support system to unlearn those behaviors. It's good, that you could unlearn those behaviours, and to talk about these things with others can help, and it's good to engage in it, but others still might be not. So you said you had the support, I wish others, would get it too, and for that, I was giving the advice. Whether having a disorder or a mental illness or a personality trait or feeling insecure, etc. asking a professional could help. Also the „anger“ and the ‚everyone out for themselves‘ philosophy“ (how you called it) can be supported if the wish is there to unlearn it. Of course, I really much understand that this "just" is a differentiation from Astarion's murderous actions, and that's just what you mean, but being mean to other teenagers (or adults), as mentioned, can lead to disorders or depressions or influence personality development in a negative way, especially (but not only) in children or adolescents. So the best thing we all could do, is to prevent or at least try.. (...) had no possible (loose) real life parallel and precedent, and the idea stories are literal and 1:1 in what they mean vs what they're grabbing from irl. (...) I don't think it's completely unfair to compare the game to reality, because writers /do/ grab from something, (...) Yes, I see it the same, as I commented on the OP, Astarion's story and personality is very much fiction (in all paths) and cannot be 1:1 into reallife, though different things are of course related to real life. But even if a story is meant to be 1:1 taken from real life (like taken from history, a personal story, etc.) it still will be fiction for the audience, because the audience, or in this case, the player, is right now sitting in front of their screen, it is not their real life story, they are sitting in a safe place, when they press key A or B, it is happening on the screen with pixels. At the end, it doesn’t matter in this case, how much a game looks realistic, it is and will be still fiction and unless you know a person and know, why he is doing a specific action or enjoying something, it’s not possible to say, players would enjoy the things, they are doing in a game (like killing or shooting characters, which is a very common gameplay), in their real life too. Like some people may do and some people don't. I was mainly thinking of the constant disapproval. Everyone is so different, I would not want to downplay anyones choices in game. I can totally see the allure with having a good Tav falling for Astarion who "corrupts" them. Honestly it was kind of my first playthrough! Although my Tav lost much of their shy, naive nature by Act 3, hehe. Ah, haha, well. Astarion disapproves – reload, put him some metres side, Astarion disapproves – reaload, put him some metres aside. Something like that. But in the goblin camp, I could get some approval for some mysterious reasons.  And there are also a lot of personal things in the camp, where it's possible to get approval from him. And yes of course, my Tav trusted Astarion and so also may did some questionable things or allowed Astarion to do so lateron.
"I would, thank God, watch the universe perish without shedding a tear."
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