188: Crazy in Love

[ReverseEngineered]

I'm glad the author maintained the point that this isn't limited to, or due to, video games. Crazy people have lived in fictious worlds for as long as anyone can remember.

Just like kids shooting up schools, it's easy to blame these cults on the video games they emulate, but the obvious truth is that these people are already messed up. If it wasn't a video game, it would have been a movie star or a best friend or some woman they say walking into a coffee shop. A reasonable person can tell the difference between imagination and reality -- lose that distinction and any fantasy is fair game.

For the sake of the uberfans, I think it's important that we make this distinction. To be enthralled with, or even to with you could marry a fictional character like Sonic the Hedgehog is fine. Normal people can imagine such things and acknowledge that they can never be, and if that makes them happy, that's great. But when a person goes to the length of truly believing they could or did marry a fictional character, they've lost their hold on reality. At that point, they need help. Badly.

 

[thatanimeguy]

what...the...fuck....this is just...purely insane. How can this woman honestly think she's married to Sonic...HE'S A FICTIONAL CHARACTER...it's that kind of fanaticism that makes me lose my faith in a good portion of the human race

 

[thatanimeguy]

oh...and she's batshit insane...just purely..insane, case closed, lock her up, throw away the key..she's lost allllllll touch with reality and needs to have a nice padded room away from people

 

[iris_dreams]

I just love how so many people gossip about The Sarah Saga without /actually reading/ any of the stories in detail, with a critical eye. It was a hoax, and Something Awful took it too damn far by /believing it/ and linking it to real people. There is, I'm sure, a fascinating article somewhere unwritten about how people have reacted to the stories, and why stories about people like that fascinate and repel us so, but, please note that the Sarah Saga is /not true/ and that stories like this actually have power to hurt people. Please, be good to each other.

 

[sandywinnie]

oh...and she's batshit insane...just purely..insane, case closed, lock her up, throw away the key..she's lost allllllll touch with reality and needs to have a nice padded room away from people

You've read absolutely nothing about this girl from this article, this conversation or about anywhere else, right?

 

[Pat M.]

Whether or not that story in itself is true or not, it's not like this kind of thing doesn't happen. I should know.

ooh! story time?

 

[gamegod25]

The way I see it there are four general levels of fandom. Obviously they can overlap a bit. Level 1)Fan: just the average person who likes a series or character. This is what I would call a normal healthy relationship. They buy the products if it's good, they may get the occasional swag, but it doesn't get in the way of daily life. Level 2)Fanboy(or girl): These people have an almost fanatical devotion to something. If you don't agree with them that their idol is perfect in every way then you are an idiot. And no amount of debate will change their minds, you'll have better luck turning a chair back into a tree. Level 3) Cosplayer: Someone who likes something so much they feel the need to dress up as it. Not necessarily a bad thing if done once in a while just for fun during halloween or something, but definitly can be taken too far. And lastly Level 4) OMGWTF?!?!: People who are obviously bat **** crazy! All of the people in this article would be good examples of this. When the expression of their love goes beyond simple fandom and spirals out of control into absolute insanity.

 

[Pat M.]

There you go, a few minutes of your time, and my dignity, exactly what it said on the tin.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I agree to the extent that some of the suggestions may help. But I find myself somewhat oppposed to the ideology that games should be something like that of a novel. I love games with a story ... don't get me wrong ... but if I want to read a book, I'll read a book.

Catch-22 is a great example of this ... the book poses us with a list of extremely versatile, strange, and perplexing characters ... yet every character in the book any reader will beable top identify with ...

Whether you feel like a bit of a Capt. Yossarian in you ... in that theres no way to escape your life and that you are merely being pushed to the goal that suits everybody else BUT you.

Or whether you wish to avoid all work and responsibility, and merely disappear from everybody's proverbial 'radar' like Maj. Major Major Major....

But the movie dropped many of these character's plots in exchange to make something feel like a movie and less like a book ... which makes it a great movie even though it is nowhere near as complex.

GETTING BACK TO THE POINT: Games should be entertaining ... I think if games developers solely created games with complex elements then it would promote MORE fandom, as fewer people would pick up games and just stick to reading a good book ... (heaven forbid, hur hur hur <.<). Story is nice ... but games aren't novels for a reason, as are movies not games or novels for a particular reason ....

People are less likely to think of themselves as a reincarnation of Jack from the upcoming Wii title 'MadWorld' for a reason ... because it's going to be a celebration of mindless violence. 'MadWorld' wouldn't have made a very good novel .... nor a very good movie ... but it stands to make a potentially good game because of it's mindless brutality.

There's nothing to attach to him, nothing to empathize with ... given he's a chainsaw wielding anti-hero ...

Games are always going to attract the estranged ... because it represents interactive alienation. But making all games have a stronger stroyline with complex plots is neither healthy for the industry, nor going to help for as long as games remain games in the way that they are still interactive...

I like games with stories and complex characters ... I also like many games that are mindless romps, full of gun-fuckery and blade-thrusting violence. Both are necessary to help maintain the diversity of the gaming industry ....

I think this is merely a case where 'Lunatics will be lunatics .... just depends what tools of their lunacy are at their discretion'.

Look at DnD for example .... principe paragon of geekyness and story-based gaming.... and you still get shitloads of DnD lunatics.

 

[gamegod25]

Level 3) Cosplayer: Someone who likes something so much they feel the need to dress up as it. Not necessarily a bad thing if done once in a while just for fun during halloween or something, but definitly can be taken too far.

You don't need to be fanatical or crazy to be a cosplayer... I think that's the most misunderstood area of fandom out of any of the rest. You don't even need to be a fanboy/girl. Some people just like dressing up, that's it.

I didn't say that you had to be crazy to dress up, but you do need to be a fanatic. For example I like Halo a lot but I don't have to dress up like master chief to show it. And as I said it's not always a bad thing just that it can be taken too far.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Level 3) Cosplayer: Someone who likes something so much they feel the need to dress up as it. Not necessarily a bad thing if done once in a while just for fun during halloween or something, but definitly can be taken too far.

You don't need to be fanatical or crazy to be a cosplayer... I think that's the most misunderstood area of fandom out of any of the rest. You don't even need to be a fanboy/girl. Some people just like dressing up, that's it.

I didn't say that you had to be crazy to dress up, but you do need to be a fanatic. For example I like Halo a lot but I don't have to dress up like master chief to show it. And as I said it's not always a bad thing just that it can be taken too far.

I don't know, heaps of cosplayers, and particularly crossplayers, do it because they see it as a challenge. Just like people who do those ship-in-a-bottle things and strive to create as realistic a depiction of a particular historical ship with the added difficulty of having only the mouth of the vessel's vessel (English is fun <.<) to work with.

Personally, I think for most people anyways, that cosplay events are just a source of fun <.< How's it any different then wanting to only wear tailor-made suits ... and gold watches from Omega or Rolex because you like the look of them in ads and in storefront windows? o.o

 

[Kogen]

I was at the Sonic site when it was still public (I made the Robotnik poll in that article), and some of the stuff there is truly disgusting. Alix had images of herself urinating on the floor, told everyone she wants to eat Sonic's /snot/, said she wants to be /trampled/ by Sonic, and has dozens of sex toys with Sonic's face glued onto them (as well as plenty of pictures).

I think it is clear that she has a mental disorder.

 

[Pat M.]

Personally, I think for most people anyways, that cosplay events are just a source of fun <.< How's it any different then wanting to only wear tailor-made suits ... and gold watches from Omega or Rolex because you like the look of them in ads and in storefront windows? o.o

i was about to answer with something pithy like "only one of those gets you laid", but apparently a lot of sex happens at anime conventions.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Personally, I think for most people anyways, that cosplay events are just a source of fun <.< How's it any different then wanting to only wear tailor-made suits ... and gold watches from Omega or Rolex because you like the look of them in ads and in storefront windows? o.o

i was about to answer with something pithy like "only one of those gets you laid", but apparently a lot of sex happens at anime conventions.

That assumes if you perscribe to the bentham-like hypothesis in the mechanics of Morality, that moral decisions should be based in the ascertaining of happiness for yourself and others in Utilitarian moral efficacy.

Differing somewhat from Mill's approach of "I like Chocolate Ice Cream ... and no amount of Vanilla Ice Cream, despite being nice, will substantiate my lust for even a taste of chocolate ice cream."

Of course in Mill's context Chocolate Ice cream represents intellectual and Philosophical pleasures ... whereas Vanilla Ice cream represents physical pleasures. Different from Bentham's differentiation of all pleasures being equal .... being if Bentham's approach were true we'd all be like pigs and playing in mud ... much like children ... but we grow up and learn differently that intellectual pleasures are much more rewarding.

So to answer your question in a round about way ... I think of Cosplay as an Intellectual pleasure ... and the Tailor-made suit wearing wanker being dressed to indulge in the pleasures of flesh .... as suggested by the comment "only one of them gets laid" lol n.n ...

Or my angst against wearing clothes because other people say I should might be that when asked to dress as a penguin (Tux and so forth) to my cousin's wedding so I could 'Look nice for her' and because she had someone she'd like to introduce me. So I decided that Gothic Lolita would be more fun ... and she told me to look nice and I figure looking 'nice' would mean a knee-length Black jsk and cutsew with an ultra poofy petticoat, knee high socks and a pair of Mary Janes <.< ... all as a lesson to those that expecting mundanity from people is like expecting all people to like bacon and eggs in the morning .... not the case at all :x

Or it could be that I'm nerdy and dson't have a girlfriend and shake my fist at the world stating physical pleasures are second to intellectual pleasures because I'm not "getting any" and the dressing up probably prohibits getting one to an extent <.<

 

[Sparrow]

Whoever wrote that "Sonic Passion" website spoof is a genius.

"Suddenly, just not having a date doesn't really seem that pathetic anymore."

 

[angryscotsman93]

Ye fucking gods. I looked at one of the links put up, and I honestly think that sooner or later, I'm gonna just randomly puke, then some dude's gonna ask why, and I'll have to say, "Oh, just some disturbing fangirl site."

Goddamn, this is fuckin' BAD, mates- I mean, a friend of mine at school is a HUGE fan of Sonic, and when I told him that such a site existed, expecting disgust, HE MOTHERFUCKING DELIVERED. He was mortified! This is something so disgusting, that I'm practically ashamed to say that I come from the same species as Alix Henriol and her cabal of woodland-creature-molesting deviants!

 

[angryscotsman93]

I was at the Sonic site when it was still public (I made the Robotnik poll in that article), and some of the stuff there is truly disgusting. Alix had images of herself urinating on the floor, told everyone she wants to eat Sonic's /snot/, said she wants to be /trampled/ by Sonic, and has dozens of sex toys with Sonic's face glued onto them (as well as plenty of pictures).

I think it is clear that she has a mental disorder.

First order of business: YOU made that Eggman poll that the guy spoofed? Ye gods, that thing made me weep for the human race's continued survival.

Okay, that aside, I totally agree with you: this chick needs help.

Preferably something involving a straight-jacket.

 

[matsugawa]

I had never heard of FF7 House until now. The concept of a videogame cult shouldn't be all that surprising, bigger cults are based on less, but it's still alarming that it would exist and do so to the extent that characters believe themselves reincarnations of certain characters, whether those characters have actually 'died' or not.

In a way, it's kind of vindicating that videogames are getting the same treatment as ancient myths or religious tracts (I once made the statement to one of my film professors that videogames could be every bit as 'cinematic' as most movies and was laughed at for it), but it may end up doing more harm than good. People shun the Holy Bible because certain men, if they can be called that, use it as an excuse to oppress women. That's not really fair, the book is just a collection of stories, most of which may or may not be literally true, it did nothing wrong. It's the interpretation that led to all the misery and chaos. Hopefully, people will use reason and look past the source material.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

This is just messed up. I mean holy crap, I like Sonic too (See avatar) but that's just messed up. And don't even get me started on the FF7 cult.

 

[S_K]

Some mixed messages here, I think you were getting obsession mixed up with wanting gaming as a medium to mature. I'm not saying I don't want it to, but how would it stop people being obsessed? If anything it would have the opposite effect and give them more reason to do so x.x