Thread by @craigperko

So, let me talk about how "close to the pain" stories are.

I've noticed a rise in the number of video games which are literally about trauma, as in they flat-out say "here's representations of this character's trauma, use cards to beat it up and win!"

These are "close" stories.

However, many video games are about the same kind of journey, but abstracted.

For example, Outer Wilds is not "here's the terror of death, here's some cards to battle death with!"

It's still a game about coping with death.

This is a "distant" story.

There's not necessarily anything wrong with either option, but the medium does matter.

See, if I read a three-page comic about someone personally coping with something, it's one tweet and takes twenty seconds.

But playing a game about it takes hoooours and requires downloads.

Now, if I want to cope with the same pain, if I am a fellow sufferer in the same place, I might be happy to download and spend hours with your pain.

But in general, the connection is fainter than that.

A reader can sympathize for a minute or two... but hours?

The problem here is a lack of empathy, but it can't be solved by magically willing humanity to ascend to a more sympathetic species.

Instead, it is solved by getting them on board. They can sympathize if they empathize, so your art starts with one before introducing the other.

This is why so many stories - anything longer than 30 seconds - tend to be a few steps removed from whatever they're actually about.

To get people interested and keep their interest.

Otherwise, your audience will only be people who are in basically the same place as you.

... I hope that doesn't sound super callous.

You can't change how people empathize. You can, however, learn how to make your art so that it allows people to empathize.

... Also, strictly from a position of pain, I don't think I'd want to represent my trauma as something that can be overcome by card battles.