It's not easy when your favorite game isn't mainstream.
This one's a bit more recent, but it struck a chord with me. Log Horizon has done a fantastic job of not just making its game world believable, but also its characters and their motivations. One of the things that really sold me on the show was the way the characters still approached the world like it was a game, and then how they changed when they realized that not all of the old rules still applied.
William's speech in Episode 10 of the current season speaks to that, but also digs a little bit deeper. This season has touched on the character's real lives more than the first season did--or at least the lives that they were living before the game world became real. And while everyone has adjusted to living their lives as their game characters, I think its safe to say that the tables have been turned from real life--the outcasts who spent all their time playing PC games are now the leaders everyone turns to.
However, as the world gets increasingly real, is it worth it to hold onto that same gamer mindset? Can they still fight just for the thrill of the game? In the previous episode, William's guild was beaten by not just one raid boss, but three. They're facing a thematically similar problem to what William had to deal with in his day to day life. It would be far easier to just give up and forget about finding glory through victory and rejoin the masses.
William's response is to basically say screw that way of thinking. It's important because they feel it's important. It has meaning because they gave it meaning. It doesn't matter what society at large thinks about it. It matters to them, and that's all that's really important in the end. There's also a nuance to what he's saying here in that it's not so much "rah rah gamers are the master race" but that he recognizes that this game is really the only space where he can connect with other people. He knows that it's not normal or healthy to be as obsessed as he is, but he can't help it. Playing the game is his reason for pressing forward, and he wants those feelings to be validated.
On the whole, his speech works as a great rallying cry in the current plotline as well as a reminder to those of us on the other side of the screen in light of the fallout from The Hashtag That Shall Not Be Named. Don't all of us on some level play games to make friends and have fun, to see how far we can get? Who cares if it's just data in a server? If it means something to you, then that's all that really matters.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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