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For anyone who's played Zelda, Breath of the Wild, there is a character who patrols a bridge to keep it safe from monster. If you jump on the edge of the bridge

by graeme 7y ago

For anyone who's played Zelda, Breath of the Wild, there is a character who patrols a bridge to keep it safe from monster. If you jump on the edge of the bridge, he will talk you down and then offer to continue conversation. I thought I read it was based on a japanese person, but it may have been based on an american cop who patrolled a bridge in san francisco. Either way, it reminded me of this story. At the point at which you find this bridge character you are likely feeling quite down about the game world, and isolated. So it's a more poignant scene than I can describe in text. https://checkpointorg.com/zelda-mental-health/ https://checkpointorg.com/zelda-mental-health/

iscrewyou 7y ago
The cop, Kevin Briggs, you maybe thinking of did a TED talk for a person he saved on the Golden Gate bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CIq4mtiamY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CIq4mtiamY The Zelda game character maybe based on the person, Chen Sah, who talks to people who are about to jump off a bridge in Naan-jing, China. You can listen to it here in Act One: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/407/the-bridge https://www.thisamericanlife.org/407/the-bridge While we are at it, I was reminded of this podcast as I was getting the above two links for you:https://www.thisamericanlife.org/597/one-last-thing-before-i-go https://www.thisamericanlife.org/597/one-last-thing-before-i... The phone booth one brought me to tears. I think the link is related to the above two links i posted. Listen at your own risk.
RandomBacon 7y ago
Great article, thank you for sharing the link. I forgot what else prompted me to consider playing Zelda on the Switch. The last Zelda game I played was the free one that came with the black Gameboy Advance which was a Black Friday special about 15 years ago. I don't even have a Switch (the Gameboy Advance was my last console), but I think I'll buy one just to play this game.
- graeme 7y ago
  It's worth it. I recommend reading/watching nothing about the game, if you can help it. Including while playing. Eventually you'll get the sense of it and likely want to look some stuff up, but I'm very happy I went into it with literally no idea what to expect. I got through 30-50 hours that way.
jjakque 7y ago
There's also a similar story at cliff 'The Gap' in Sydney. The person known as 'Angel of the Gap' who lived near by often patrol around the area and talk people out of potential suicide [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(Sydney) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(Sydney)
- graeme 7y ago
  This is wonderful. I posted the zelda link thinking "surely they modelled it after the man in this hacker news story" But as it happens there are several such examples worldwide to serve as a potential model. A nice glimmer of hope and compassion.
alimw 7y ago
There's a patrol at Beachy Head in the UK too. https://bhct.org.uk/ https://bhct.org.uk/. I know I'll get downvoted for this but I feel a little resentful that they would seek to deny me peace in my final moments.

by graeme 7y ago

iscrewyou 7y ago

The cop, Kevin Briggs, you maybe thinking of did a TED talk for a person he saved on the Golden Gate bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CIq4mtiamY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CIq4mtiamY The Zelda game character maybe based on the person, Chen Sah, who talks to people who are about to jump off a bridge in Naan-jing, China. You can listen to it here in Act One: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/407/the-bridge https://www.thisamericanlife.org/407/the-bridge While we are at it, I was reminded of this podcast as I was getting the above two links for you:https://www.thisamericanlife.org/597/one-last-thing-before-i-go https://www.thisamericanlife.org/597/one-last-thing-before-i... The phone booth one brought me to tears. I think the link is related to the above two links i posted. Listen at your own risk.

RandomBacon 7y ago

Great article, thank you for sharing the link. I forgot what else prompted me to consider playing Zelda on the Switch. The last Zelda game I played was the free one that came with the black Gameboy Advance which was a Black Friday special about 15 years ago. I don't even have a Switch (the Gameboy Advance was my last console), but I think I'll buy one just to play this game.

graeme 7y ago
It's worth it. I recommend reading/watching nothing about the game, if you can help it. Including while playing. Eventually you'll get the sense of it and likely want to look some stuff up, but I'm very happy I went into it with literally no idea what to expect. I got through 30-50 hours that way.

jjakque 7y ago

There's also a similar story at cliff 'The Gap' in Sydney. The person known as 'Angel of the Gap' who lived near by often patrol around the area and talk people out of potential suicide [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(Sydney) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(Sydney)

graeme 7y ago
This is wonderful. I posted the zelda link thinking "surely they modelled it after the man in this hacker news story" But as it happens there are several such examples worldwide to serve as a potential model. A nice glimmer of hope and compassion.

alimw 7y ago

There's a patrol at Beachy Head in the UK too. https://bhct.org.uk/ https://bhct.org.uk/. I know I'll get downvoted for this but I feel a little resentful that they would seek to deny me peace in my final moments.