THE iDOLM@STER and your family

[Cael K.]

My friends think I've gone off the deep end whenever I mention starting a figure collection or buying manga, posters, and the like. My sis isn't helping either cause all she does is spread discussions about my interest in such things to all of her friends. The only time I'm not seen as a weirdo in class is when I raise my hand to answer a (rather easy) Physics or Math question; because when that happens I'm seen as a show-off.

I'm rather hesitant when it comes to buying this stuff now.

You know, are you doing anything morally and ethically wrong? I doubt it, but answer that one for yourself. Are you harming anyone with your hobbies? How about yourself? If they don't disagree with that, well, what are they disagreeing with?

'Bout the only thing I can say is, if someone else isn't interested in something you like, don't force it on them. If they don't like you talking about something you like, don't bring it up much. They're rejecting your interests, nothing you can do. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy it - just don't try and bring along those who don't wanna come along, 'cause then you're invading their world.

If you continue to be attacked even when you're not doing that, then they're invading yours without due cause. In which case, you know you're not at fault.

If you want a personal anecdote, though, following your interests could lead you to finding your calling in life. You can use your interests as a springboard for bettering yourself or learning a skill. The child's the father of the man, right?

[TaKai]

Stick to your guns, enjoy what you enjoy, and try your best not to worry about detractors.  There'll come a time when you won't have to worry, just have some patience.  Good luck and stick with it!

Thanks, I appreciate the motivation.

'Bout the only thing I can say is, if someone else isn't interested in something you like, don't force it on them. If they don't like you talking about something you like, don't bring it up much. They're rejecting your interests, nothing you can do. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy it - just don't try and bring along those who don't wanna come along, 'cause then you're invading their world.

Yeah, you're right. I probably am pushing my interests onto them without realizing it; not something I want to do.

If you want a personal anecdote, though, following your interests could lead you to finding your calling in life. You can use your interests as a springboard for bettering yourself or learning a skill. The child's the father of the man, right?

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to keep it in mind

[nublet765]

My friends think I've gone off the deep end whenever I mention starting a figure collection or buying manga, posters, and the like. My sis isn't helping either cause all she does is spread discussions about my interest in such things to all of her friends. The only time I'm not seen as a weirdo in class is when I raise my hand to answer a (rather easy) Physics or Math question; because when that happens I'm seen as a show-off.

I'm rather hesitant when it comes to buying this stuff now.

I bought some of the iM@S cards cause I found them at a gaming event (a starter deck and a booster - ... really regretting buying that starter now, since I can't play the thing, and all those duplicates), and the reaction was quite muted.  Now, I don't know what that's from.  That might be them just not knowing what iM@S is, or it might be them just trying to not hurt my feelings, idk.  But meh, I really don't mind their opinion, be it positive or negative.  What I asked myself was: "Does iM@S make you feel happy?"  It's about what iM@S means to you I think, not what other people's perceptions may be to it.  So, it happened.

That is very counterintuitive since I'm not a big fan of violent games and prefer more of the RPGs, platformers and stuff. What's wrong with producing a female idol and all that good stuff when the Producer is susposively a male character. Different culture I suppose, but I definitely prefer it over the rehashes of Call of Duty and stuff.

Exactly, ... can we start a thread on the decline of Western Gaming?  XD
I'm partially kidding, but we have an incredibly difficult problem with the pervasive violence and destructive behaviour in video games.  The yearly Call of Duty should attest to that.
Though I can see how they're appealing - I find it frightening the kind of ... zeal goes into it.

Stick to your guns, enjoy what you enjoy, and try your best not to worry about detractors.  There'll come a time when you won't have to worry, just have some patience.  Good luck and stick with it!

Have to agree.  F*** the haters.  My family totally doesn't understand it, but they haven't really responded - they're more indifferent of the whole thing.  Friends - just mentioned them, unsure.

You know, are you doing anything morally and ethically wrong? I doubt it, but answer that one for yourself. Are you harming anyone with your hobbies? How about yourself? If they don't disagree with that, well, what are they disagreeing with?

Mills's Harm principle!  You have your freedoms as long as it doesn't infringe/cause harm to someone else's.

[ninjamitsuki]

Now that I have the PS3 version, I told my brother I am going to get platinum just so I could have the bragging rights. He said "Yeah, good luck with that". XD

My mom saw S4U in iM@S 2 and was amazed at how nice looking it was compared to the PSP games and all the idols on stage. She says that she hates Yayoi as soon as I told her her name. It's because her brother/my uncle used to be married to a Japanese woman named Yayoi, but my uncle's dog bit her and he didn't want to euthanize the dog so she thought he loved the dog more than her and they got divorced. The dog's dead now. 

Also, my mom asked me why there were no black idols. I went "Really mom, really?!" and laughed.

Also, both me and my mom are HUGE Trigun-tards and we kept making jokes about how Hokuto looks like Vash and Knives had a baby.

[chikorita157]

Exactly, ... can we start a thread on the decline of Western Gaming?  XD
I'm partially kidding, but we have an incredibly difficult problem with the pervasive violence and destructive behaviour in video games.  The yearly Call of Duty should attest to that.
Though I can see how they're appealing - I find it frightening the kind of ... zeal goes into it.

Thinking about it yesterday, and of course with the earlier posts, it gave me the idea of another editorial, which you probably already noticed already. But here is a shoutout: http://chikorita157.com/2012/02/28/anime-and-the-perception-in-the-west/

So yeah, I don't think there is anything wrong with myself playing Idolmaster even though it's perceived as a girly game. For that matter, I stopped caring about what people thinks because I saw so many anime with cute girls that it's not funny... I prefer it to the number of war-mongling shooting games out there (although, Portal was great and all, which is the only real exception). The matter is, just be yourself and don't take other people's criticisms too seriously.

[nublet765]

Thinking about it yesterday, and of course with the earlier posts, it gave me the idea of another editorial, which you probably already noticed already. But here is a shoutout: http://chikorita157.com/2012/02/28/anime-and-the-perception-in-the-west/

So yeah, I don't think there is anything wrong with myself playing Idolmaster even though it's perceived as a girly game. For that matter, I stopped caring about what people thinks because I saw so many anime with cute girls that it's not funny... I prefer it to the number of war-mongling shooting games out there (although, Portal was great and all, which is the only real exception). The matter is, just be yourself and don't take other people's criticisms too seriously.

Didn't see you move this post back in here!  I wanted that to happen which is why I commented to that effect.
But yeah ... as of now, western gaming ... all the violent games.  While I see the appeal of mindless and senseless death and destruction ... I'm not attuned for all that :/

[chikorita157]

Didn't see you move this post back in here!  I wanted that to happen which is why I commented to that effect.
But yeah ... as of now, western gaming ... all the violent games.  While I see the appeal of mindless and senseless death and destruction ... I'm not attuned for all that :/

Aside from Portal 2 (which I really liked because of the story and character development), I didn't play much western games since they just didn't appeal to me. Too much violence and stuff, I'm not too big on killing stuff either.

Yeah, Minecraft is okay, but it gets rather boring after awhile, unless you have a creative mind... otherwise, it's Japanese Games that is the rage these days, especially since I'm studying the language on my free time.

[SakuraMaxX]

I play a fair mixture of Japanese and Western video games, though I'm finding it kinda funny that despite buying a Japanese Xbox 360, I've been playing a lot more Western stuff than the games I originally intended to buy a Japanese system for (and if you account for my PC games, most of them are from Western developers too).



I don't think my parents really care about the games I play, but I don't like showing them off to them either.  They'd be confused if they walk in on me playing iM@S, but I think they've usually been seeing me play things like Forza Motorsport 4 (probably my favorite game of 2011, and by the way, it's a Western game that doesn't involve violence.  I'm pretty sick of that stereotype) or Battlefield 3 (by the way, I'm Asian and I love playing Western games, some of them I enjoy loads more than iM@S, in response to that one blog post).

One thing I will agree with, in regards to war games, is that there seems to be a slight difference in their focuses.  This point is still a little bit naive, but bear with me.  What I feel makes some Western FPS fun (Call of Duty probably applies to this point more) is that they badassify war to the point where it's outright obnoxious and fun to just run around and shoot stuff in.  A war game coming from a Japanese developer such as Ace Combat series (minus Ass Horizon) still badassified dogfighting and the such, but the story also told more than just killing faceless enemies.  They showed the causes and effects of putting the nation in war, and gave the player a little more of an emotional reason to fight than just for the sake of running around and being a badass one-man-army.

There are still some Western FPS that provide amazing stories though, I personally liked Medal of Honor 2010 (yes, the game sucked, but the story was a nice tribute to the troops still), Deus Ex: Human Revolution (the primary reason that science fiction exists is to expand and inform on a current-world issue in a futuristic setting), and of course, the Half-Life series.

[blake307]

I played a combination of Japanese and Western games. But honestly I have been more aimed toward Japanese games such as im@s and a few JRPGs since lately I seem to have more fun with them than most of the modern western games out there right now. I think it's mainly due to the fact that I completely lost interest in military shooters such as COD over the past year. Though I still enjoy some western games once in a while such as Assassins Creed and Batman Arkham Asylum and City.

Anyway, my family never really cared about what I played. So I guess i'm lucky like that.