I say I’m being vulnerable here but it’s for a couple of reasons. There’s something inside me that is driving me to be very vulnerable about this to you, dear reader. When I’ve hit the point that a friend is saying “it’s not that deep”, then I’m happy. Or how it can be said that dating simulators allow us to fulfill some of Carl Jungs most basic archetypes– The persona, the self, the anima vs the animus, the shadow.īut- I wanted to be more open about all this. That for the first time a game was not specifically just for cis people, that it thought to reach out and shout out for transgender people too.
Like how for the first time Dream Daddy was a game that called out for people like me. Like an analytical essay to be studied, and for everything to be understood. I’ll be honest, I did think of writing this article purely from the point of view of the psychology of why I like it. And the part of myself I’m referring to there- about the base level- is known as the Id. I mentioned above I’m studying psychology of games narratives. I loved being able to acknowledge my dad status while still connecting back to my body physically.Īnd by always, I mean I’ve played through 6 times so far. Would I want to carry them? Would it be dysphoric? Would we adopt instead? Would it even be physically possible by then? I’ve never wanted to have kids personally, so these were large questions for me. Regardless, I did have to sit with these options for a while. You reminisce more about baby Amanda and find a photo of her as a newborn. I obviously picked the father option, considering my current partner is male. This allows you to make choices relating to how you had her. In reminiscing, you talk about her parent that has passed away. There’s a very sweet montage at the beginning in which you go through some old photos with your daughter Amanda. There’s not only just the option to be a dad in a binder, but it shows real critical thought as to how queer trans men interact with the idea of marriage and babies. It’s like looking in tin foil, you can kind of see yourself, but it’s all distorted and jagged. A characters who’s entire identity can be boiled down to “I’m trans”. Bioware’s Dragon Age Inquisition gave me Krem, a trans male character who glitches in and out of chairs and can be killed off pretty easily. No one tells you you’re real, that they understand. If narrative is how we create our own ideas and model ourselves, what happens when there is no narrative to base it off? You have alluded narratives in the Hero’s Journey (Year 10 English class anyone?), you have cycles, you have things you can stretch for, but never you. So I tried to think what exactly does that do to a person? What does that do to a person?Ĭurrently, I’m studying psychology relating to games and narrative. Hell, you might have gone a lot longer than me. I know some of you are going to be able to relate. Engaging with a form of media for literally 20 years and never finding a mirror character for yourself. Before we go any further, I want you to imagine that. And I found myself in Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator.įor the first time in my gaming life (Nearly 20 years) I found myself in a game. I’m a queer trans man! A queer trans chubby man. A non binding one that’s causing more rampant queerphobia to bubble up than usual. If you aren’t aware of Australia’s current political issues, we’re having a big postal vote on marriage equality. To be open and proud and to hope that in doing so I’ll make it a little easier on the next person who comes along.
What with everything going on in Australia at the moment, can you blame me? As the case may be though, I always want to be true to myself. I was thinking of being very closed off, and not letting anyone know I’m trans. I’ve been thinking of a thousand different ways to write it. You’re probably all sick of hearing about it by now.
As an opener, I’m sorry! I might be writing this long past the Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator hype.