i think the single greatest example of environmental storytelling in video games is in Unpacking. it's a game with no dialogue that consists entirely of unpacking your stuff out of moving boxes and placing it into the correct places around the place your character is moving into. there are a lot of subtle storytelling beats, like the same stuffed animal coming with you through every single move, but there's one level in particular that takes place right after your character graduates college and moves in with her boyfriend that goes normally at first.
but then you get to your framed diploma.
you go to hang it on the wall in the kitchen, but there's a bigass painting already there that you can't move (presumably your boyfriends) that takes up the entire wall.
you go to hang it on the wall in the living room, but there are already a bunch of posters there - again, presumably your boyfriend's. there's clearly space for your diploma if the posters were scooched closer together, but again, you can't even move them.
with a growing sense of dread and desperation, you move to the bathroom. this room has the only wall space in the apartment for you to hang your diploma: directly over the toilet.
but if you try to place it there, it gets a red outline, indicating that it's in the "wrong" spot and the level won't finish.
you go to the bedroom.
there is no wall space.
you click under the bed.
the level finishes.
youtube
the next level has you moving back into your childhood bedroom.
when doctors ask if i have any history of cancer in my family and i have to say that yes my grandmother had 2 types of gastrointestinal cancer and they're like oh wow okay so we'll keep an eye out for that but i'm like no it was probably just all the nuclear radiation and they're like ok hm ok what the fuck do you mean and it's very weird seeing the look on american doctors' faces when you have to explain to them that believe it or not atomic bombs were dropped on this earth 2 generations ago and it did have consequences
Since the OP made their post unrebloggable (and blocked me. Both actions they are well in with their right to do)
I'm going to make my response it's own post because I think the point is important
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As someone who is autistic and has BPD and CPTSD and loads of trauma yes you sometimes need to change how you interact with others to keep people around
When I was 13 I hit the few friends I had when I was angry
I had to change that in order to keep those friendships
When I was in my early 20s if I was losing an disagreement with my husband I would threaten to kill myself. My husband told me it hurt him and was cruel and manipulative behaviour, because it was.
So I worked hard to change that to keep my relationship
It's easy to say "I shouldn't have to change for others" and that's true to an extent. You shouldn't change your interests or passions or dim your light. And you should have space to be imperfect and flawed and not have to pretend your ugly bits aren't real. But if something you are doing it causing other people harm you kinda need to change that.
That's called "living in a society"
People adapt to each other and make space for each other in their lives. You adapt to them and they adapt to you
You start being more diligent about throwing away the empty toilet roll because it really bothers them. They start warning you before they run the blender because you hate loud noises
I stopped threatening to kill myself because I was mad I was losing an argument and my husband stopped being so vocally judgemental amount media he personally dislikes
There is a certain type of person who heard the phrase "your emotions are valid" and took that to mean "my emotional reactions and my behaviour are always objectively correct because my emotions are valid and if you have an emotional response or react to what I'm doing negatively then you are wrong and you can't be hurt because my emotions are valid"
And that's a recipe for disaster
Your emotions are valid to feel. They are how you feel and there are reasons you feel the way you do
However, your reactions and behaviour are something you can learn to control and can be irrational
We live in a society and we as people change each other as we interact and that isn't necessarily a bad thing
In this sonification of Perseus. the sound waves astronomers previously identified were extracted and made audible for the first time. The sound waves were extracted outward from the center. (source)
have you ever shipped something so hard that you become irrationally happy and make a sound akin to steam escaping from a kettle everytime they so much as stand next to eachother
Sometimes I remember that "I'm so fucking normal right now" is a line from disco elysium. like that's such a sentence from a tumblr post to me but no. harry du bois said that. out loud. he would do numbers on here