Altorin said:
If you have a reason for the depression, it's probably not clinical depression. the problem is having depression when there is no reason. That's the whole freaking point. The point was that even if you're in an alright place in your life, depression all by itself can lead you down a path into a much worse place. If you want to take your logic to the highest degree, you never experienced depression because you have never had to walk 10 miles to get dirty water so that you don't die.
The thing about depression and things like social anxiety disorder is that they're irrational thoughts and feelings. If they were rational, and there were real reasons for them to feel that way, it wouldn't be a fucking problem. He doesn't feel like he has a girlfriend who trusts him. He doesn't feel as if he has any friends. He doesn't feel as if he has loving parents, and the attempts of his loved ones to reach out to him feel fake or misappropriated. That's the whole point. It's a brain sickness, not an accurate measure of the shit that's actually happening in a person's life.
But the thing is, he has all the tools handed to him on a silver platter. Yes, depression can come even when there's no real outside reason for it, but people facing it will often not have such optimal conditions. This was depression lite. His GF was understanding, his friends were understanding, everyone seemed involved in helping him cope, integrate and seek help. That's unrealistic, or at the very least unlikely. A far more likely scenario would have his GF getting fed up with him and dumping him, his friends drifting away from him, him losing his job and as a result access to funds to pay for therapy.
Depression destroys lives, and I feel it wasn't properly communicated here. If the goal was to raise awareness, it was a terrible example. What are people unfamiliar with depression going to see? As I said, a person who's in a good spot in life suddenly whining about it, and then dealing with it through a series of simple, common sense actions (talk to people, maybe seek counseling, etc.), all the while being pampered by everyone around him. So what's the point of the game? To show depression is an easily dealt with issue and there's nothing to see here, move along? Because that's the message the game sends.
I understand they wanted to allow for a "win condition", a way to get the guy's life in order, at least to some degree, but the way the set the whole thing up was unchallenging and as a result I feel it conveyed the message poorly or not at all...
