Oooooooooo, I am not happy at all with this. I know that a lot of people have already talked about this, but dammit! I'm salty and angry and I want to state how bullshit it is. Basically, a 15 year old killed themselves and the parents are blaming Doki Doki Literature Club for this because their kid either played it or watched a play through of it before they died and said they liked it. Now, I want to start this by saying that I have nothing but sympathy for the parents. That is such an awful thing to go through, and I know that when you're grieving the loss of someone you're looking for something to blame for the cause of it. I get it. But, somewhere you have to draw the line and say," I don't know. It's kinda ridiculous blaming a game for this. " And obviously the main stream media just had to get on the band wagon as well. And don't worry about me explaining what Doki Doki Literature Club is. It actually explains the game alright in the clip and this game has over 2 million downloads so you're bound to find someone that knows what the game's about. So without further ado, here's 7 reasons why this is bullshit!
1. I want to first state that Doki Doki Literature Club is not a game that's suitable for children or those that are easily disturbed. How do I know this? Well, it gives you three warnings at the beginning of the game, the creators made a list of things for players to look out for and be aware of in case they're thinking playing isn't the best idea for them, it makes you agree to a Terms and Conditions stating that you are at least 13 years of age or older and that you consent to witnessing the disturbing content in the game, and when you get on Steam, it states the warnings on the download page yet again BEFORE YOU EVEN GET THE GODDAMN GAME! Jesus Christ, how many warnings do you need?! It's not like this shit is hidden! Dan Salvato clearly stated what was going on in this game and that you should be careful if this kind of thing affects you in a negative way! This just makes me think that this world is filled with idiots that run on Patrick Star logic!
2. The main point that the news reporter tries to drive home is that this game is not suitable for children and that it is dangerous for children, but it is being targeted towards children. ( Have you noticed how many times I said children? Yeah sounds like a broken record, doesn't it? ) This will be broken up in two reasons just because I really want to make clear how much this is not targeted towards children. First, we'll start with the games target audience itself. The two main cores of the game is a parody of a Japanese Dating Simulator game and a Psychological horror game. Neither of those categories have children as their demographic. I would argue with some games in these genres you have to be at least 18. Let's take Huniepop as our dating simulator example. Would you think that little Timmy would want to play a game where there's actual sex scenes in them when he's still in the girls have cooties stage? Or something like PT or any of the other Silent Hill games where there is freaky imagery, blood, gore, etc. ? And even the game creators clearly state that children is not it's target audience.
3. This one is the one that hurts me the most and the one that I'm kinda pissed off about more than anything. She states that the artwork and graphics in the game are designed to appeal more to children aka. " anime is for children " . Very, very, very little anime out there is innocent enough for children to watch. The most universal anime genres which is shounen and shoujo are aimed at 13 to 18 year old viewers. Notice the age range right there? That means that the youngest that anime creators try to go for is teenagers. Not children. The closest I can think of to maybe being okay for kids is Dragonball or My Hero Acedamia, But even those cover touchy subjects like being bullied and made an outcast, child neglect and abuse, dealing with lost loved ones, and both have a fair amount of violence. Also, the artwork is standard visual novel style art. It's supposed to be bright and colorful and appealing because one of its cores is a Japanese Dating Simulator. It's supposed to appear friendly so later on in the game, the twist is that much more impactful. They even state that they know later on the game becomes more sinister, so wouldn't it make sense for the art to match the tone of what's happening in the game?
4. What I love about this clip is the people they bring in to interview and that they basically just go against any agenda the news reporter has. One of the things they discuss is that since it's free to play and doesn't go through a ratings system like other games, that parents should monitor more what their kid is doing online, because it can be just as dangerous to them then if they went out alone and got mugged. Now, I'm not saying the game itself is the cause for it, but for people that have existing issues or they aren't old enough to process what's happening or haven't been exposed to it, usually witnessing such content as Doki Doki has to offer may not be the best thing mentally for them. So, parents need to try to talk with their kids more about what they're doing online and have some kind of monitoring that's not super controlling, but don't give them complete freedom.
5. Another thing that they talked about was discussing a child's mental health and talking through feelings and issues as if it's just normal conversation, so if there's warning signs of a mental illness arising, they'll be able to catch it and get their child the help they need before anything serious happens, and I completely agree. My mom always suspected that something was wrong with me, but she never asked me about how I felt or what was wrong because that just wasn't something we did enough to feel comfortable and I would probably end up just saying I'm fine. Mental illness is a problem, probably now more than ever, and parents should be aware of that.
6. One thing that I love about this and how bullshit it made the news reporter look is the fact that all the people she brought in to interview ended up defending the game, and one of them was actually a fan of the game.
7. Team Salvato didn't reply to there response. Even Dan Salvato seems to think this is bullshit.
Well, that's it for now! I hope enjoyed this and I'll see you in the next chapter. Keep reading!
