Visual novels are a medium, like literature, film, or games. It is a recent medium, a hybrid of games and literature, but does not stand apart from either one.

Dating sims are a genre, like first person shooters, romantic comedies, or military thrillers. Dating sims can be games, or visual novels. If someone writes a CYOA book on romance, it could probably exist under the medium of literature as well.

Please note that genres and media are orthogonal — that is, they vary independently from each other. The medium is the form that something takes. The genre is the style (or styles) of the content of that something.

Just so we’re clear, visual novels are not necessarily dating sims. In fact, most VNs involving relationships aren’t, seeing as the criteria for a dating sim includes management of relationship statistics. So please, journalists, stop confusing the two.

With the recent release of visual novel Katawa Shoujo, I’ve been watching controversy unfold about it. It seems to me that there are a fair number of people who have automatically dismissed it as exploitation porn from 4chan, without bothering to read it for themselves, or even bother doing any research about it. This has me thinking about games featuring social minorities such as the disabled, or even large groups that are treated or ignored as minorities such as the poor or recent immigrants.

I’d like to see more games featuring the world from their perspectives. Through the interactive medium of gaming, I want to be able to experience life through the eyes of someone who can’t walk, or the poor of a third world country, or even here in Canada. I want to know what it’s like to be a new immigrant, unaware of cultural differences and scorned or pitied for it.

Why, though? Why do I want to play something that sounds so unenjoyable?

Because it helps me understand others better.

Games like Katawa Shoujo, or a wheelchair simulator, let me realize how life can be for others. I can better comprehend their perspectives, understand their challenges, and experience the lives that they have.

But I doubt that many would even consider trying such games, writing them off as they have with Katawa Shoujo. Because people don’t want to experience things that may make them uncomfortable, or potentially shift their own world-views.

That, frankly, is terrible.

By passing off Katawa Shoujo as “cripple porn”, people bolster their own bigotry against others with disabilities, denying that the disabled could have rich and full lives. By dismissing a game about third world living as exploitative, they can more easily ignore the crimes committed against such people by their own governments and our first world businesses. By ignoring a game demonstrating life on the streets, they can keep writing off the unfortunate as lazy bums who just don’t try.

I hate that kind of thing about people. But it’s that thinking that makes games putting us in the shoes of the minority all the more important.

I’ve really dropped the ball during the last few weeks, and I’ve decided to just let things slide until the new year. With the calendar turning over, I aim to start again with a fresh slate, to fill to the brim with ideas, tasks, and all sorts of other wonderful things that will keep me busy (but hopefully not overly stressed).

Chris 2012 begins with a DayRunner two-page-per-day planner. I unfortunately bought the slim binder for the planner, so I’m only able to hold two or three months at a time (the latter quite uncomfortably), but I’ll take that over a one-page-per-day planner, as I really need that entire second page for journalling moods, tasks, and activities.

The second step is a new phone and hopefully IQTELL’s new GTD service. I plan to get a WP7 handset before the end of January (preferably, as early as Saturday). I had hoped that Telus would have had the new Mango era handsets out by now, but it seems all I can do is pick up the old LG Optimus 7. Hopefully by the end of the year, the new sets will be out, and I’ll have the money to buy one outright.

As for why “hopefully” for IQTELL? While mobile apps for Android and iPhone are in the pipe for them, so far there’s no word of a Windows Phone app. Perhaps if they paid me, I could help them with that, but it seems they’re more likely to do one in-house or not at all.

The third, and probably most important step, is maintaining a positive outlook on everything, and maintaining focus on the here and now at all times. A lot of the problems I have with my projects is that the stress from other things in my life bleed over and prevent me from concentrating and putting all my energy towards what I want to work on. This of course leads to more stress, bleeding over even more into everything else… A vicious downhill cycle. In 2012, I need to redouble my efforts to manage my workload, my stress, and my attitude. Without that, the rest means nothing.

I hope that in the coming year, I will be a far more happy, effective, and organized person. Wish me luck!