Hello everyone!
I’m really excited to start this new series today, since I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.
I’ve always wanted to make this blog more personal and interactive, to share my feelings and experiences with you: I’ve been in the otome game fandom for more than 7 years, I have a lot to talk about, besides my usual TOP10 and reviews!
I’ve decided to avoid sharing these posts on twitter or instagram, since they are a bit more personal and I want them to be read mostly by people who come here on regular basis.
Even if I rarely receive comments, I know exactly how many people read my opinions and come here from time to time, just to check if there’s something new: if you’re one of them, I guess you should check updates a bit more often, from now on!
Before I officially start talking about the first topic, I have a little request: I know many of you are too busy, to comment on a blog; but since I want to open my heart to you, expressing freely my feelings, I’d love to have some kind of feedback, about this new type of content.
Google analytics just gives me cold numbers, it obviously can’t tell me if you’re enjoying what you read or not; sometimes it feels like I’m just talking to myself, and since I put a lot of effort and passion in this, it can become a little depressing.
If you enjoy this place, could you please remember there’s a person behind it? A person who sometimes needs a little pat on her shoulder, to feel motivated?
Sorry for the rant, I stop immediately. But thanks to all the people who took their time, in these past years, to leave me any kind of feedback, I really appreciate a lot, when people don’t take things for granted.
So, for today, I’d like to talk about a weird period of my life, which lasted for 4 months.
It’s a short span of time, but at the same time it can be very long, if lived intensively.
It was about 7 years ago, at the end of 2013. Oh, the old times, when I was still a young girl living with her parents, trying to find her path in life!
At that moment, I barely knew about otome games and I was slowly approaching to the genre: it was a new world I was exploring for the first time, mostly while watching reverse anime, trying to figure out how to play those games in japanese.
It was just one of my many hobbies, those days I was mostly invested in kpop and I even went to a concert. But something about otome games captured my interest and even my soul: it was a combination of a book (I’ve always loved reading), an anime (2D ikemen with sparkly eyes and coloured hair) and a game (you gotta catch em all, like pokemon!), so I was immediately sold, it was exactly what I’ve always hoped for, but I didn’t even dare to ask.
All those handsome guys, waiting for me to enter their world, live amazing adventures together and finding love…. why should I live in the real world, with annoying people, if I can live a wonderful dream? It almost became an obsession. I kept finding something new, there were literally hundreds of games to choose from… it was driving me crazy!
I was able to keep a balance until I was working, but when my contract expired and I found myself unemployed, I lost every common sense.
I remember myself waking up early in the morning, just to start a new route: I literally played 4 hours straight, losing contact with everyone around me, alone in my room and absorbed completely by that new world. I stopped for a short while just for lunch and then I started again, for hours, until my mum complained and I had to force myself to make some effort to find a new job.
This situation lasted for 4 months. Then I finally started working again, I had to go back to real life, my mind was focused on many other things and my “addiction” naturally decreased.
Years went by, I still play a lot as you can see from my reviews, but I’m a decent human being who plays 1 or 2 hours every day, not a sociopath who depends of her family to survive, locked in her dark room.
Even if I realize that it wasn’t healthy, I still consider that one of the best experience of my life: I was living someone else’s life, not mine, and it was very fullfilling.
But obviously, it could have been very dangerous, if it lasted longer.
Why am I telling you this story?
Because I know many people go through a similar situation, but they aren’t lucky or strong enough to get out and face reality; living in a fantasy is amazing, it feels like the world outside doesn’t exist anymore. But it’s not the truth. Sooner or later, you’ll need to stand up on your own.
I hope you all find a good balance in life, this is the key to happiness.
Have a nice day!
Yue
Hi Kyu! I never leave comments on blogs because I’m too shy, but your post made me realize that content creators need feedback and interaction to keep going.
I love otome games for basically the same reasons as yours: I like reading, beautiful art and seiyuus! I have to admit that when I first heard of the concept, I was surprised and confused. “Why would people play this kind of games?” But now I understand that there is much more in otome games than self-inserting/looking at pretty boys. It’s an amazing experience to read so many different stories with the same tropes written differently, to make choices that will affect the outcome, be it happy or sad, to root for the heroine so that she can end up with the person she fell for.
It is indeed comforting to play these games, since we are under the impression that we are in control of the story. I do often find myself playing for hours in one sitting. Even so, you’re right. Having fun with otome games – and video games in general – is not all there is to life. The happiness that comes from fiction is real, but so is the happiness that comes from living a fulfilling life and social interactions.
I’m glad you were able to find a good balance between otome games and real life, and hope you can continue writing reviews/top 10 as you’ve been doing for years on this blog. I’m looking forward to your future posts.
otomeland
Hello! ^^ thanks for taking your time to write a comment, I really appreciate it!
I didn’t want to sound desperate for comments, I’ve been struggling for a long time before I decided to write about this problem, but I needed to get this out of my chest: for bloggers, feedbacks are the best source of motivation, to work harder and improve. We are just people who are doing this for passion, it’s not a job, feeling alone is sad! but you made my day brighter.
Thanks for sharing your feelings about otome games, I completely agree: there’s so much more about otome games, than pretty boys to date! some of the plots and the settings, are even more interesting than books or movies usually considered “classics”. I’m a person who reads a lot and my friends hardly believe that this kind of game is not just “dating 2D characters”, but can be a “masterpiece” too.
Sadly, if I say that I read a lot, people would think I’m a smart person, but if I say that I play otome games, people would judge me, as if I’m wasting my time.
They don’t care at all about the plot, the writing, the characters… they just assume that books are better than games.
This is an interesting topic, maybe I’ll write about it in a separate post.
I hope you’ll keep enjoying my blog! ^^
Esse
Hello Kyu, I saw your newest update on Twitter and came to wish you the best, in addition to finally making this comment that I’ve been putting off for a while. Do take rest, and be careful 🙂 we will wait for you patiently.
In these current circumstances, I assume it is only too much easier to try to escape from reality and immerse oneself in something much more comfortable. Even then, 4 months is a long time, and I can only take your word for it. I have only ever invested whole days over the span of a week or two, during breaks from school or so, and it was a very good distraction. But it also left me pretty empty afterwards. My family also similarly complained about the lack of contact, and well, the rest is history. I do remember those days with a strange fondness, but I don’t know if I would ever like to go back to such a time again.
Otome games certainly seem to be in a decline nowadays, and the reputation of it among the majority male players doesn’t seem to be helping. But I swear, one more assumption from people who have never played these games and I’ll slap someone. Really.
I totally understand how the lack of feedback can be grating, we’re a community! Just lacking a bit on the social aspect. And since you’re such a seasoned player of otome games, I suspect newer players are in awe haha. I know I used to be, but I realise how much important feedback is, so I’ll try my best. ^^ がんばってね！
otomeland
Hello! ^^ thanks for your comment!
I’ll take some time to recover fully, without forcing myself to play, write or anything else… when even hobbies become like some kind of chore, the stress gets out of control! I think a few days will be enough, but we’ll see what happens. A couple years ago I did a “15 days without twitter” challenge, which helped me a lot to get rid of social media addiction; this time, I think I’ll do it with otome games and my blog, so I’ll start missing them and they’ll become again a source of joy! but I’ll keep using twitter and instagram in the meanwhile, I want to feel connected to people who share my hobbies!
In truth, I’ve always wanted to be more friendly there, but the lack of time always put me at a choice: “should I play, or talk to people? should I write, or talk to people?” and I think I made the same choice for too long. But now I want to interact more, like I used to!
Talk to me there whenever you want! 😉