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A Japanese hikikomori released a game after 6 years of development [video]
- vippy 3y agoDude's English is solid for a shut-in. Wonder if he studies online. Fun game idea, though. Basically Home Alone.
- boyka 3y agoSince shut-in, he probably spends the majority of his life immersed in an English speaking environment. MattVsJapan[0] is a even more extreme example. [0]https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCpf4BknRWAjb_oYIHoMDGVg https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCpf4BknRWAjb_oYIHoMDGVg
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- armchairhacker 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori A neat thing about today's society is that you can be a participant and contributor entirely without ever stepping outside your room. Work a remote job or side gig (doesn't have to be "real work"), order everything from Amazon and Instacart, do check-ups online. In an emergency (medical, natural disaster, house issue) you'll need to go outside, but otherwise everything is in your room and all interactions are virtual. You can even get fitness equipment and artificial sunlight so you can stay healthy, and VR googles if you want to experience "outside". That is, assuming you're introverted enough that zero human interaction doesn't affect your mental health. Besides that, you have the entire internet, so it's easy to entertain yourself.
- soygem 3y agoindustrial society and its consequences
- VelesDude 3y agoUrge to move to Montana log cabin rising! But without the crazy stuff that follows.
- kiba 3y agoIf you are a participant in society, then you aren't a shut in. Nothing of significance happen. No promotion, no falling in love, no completion of a project, no failure but also no success either. That is a shut-in. To be a shut-in is the inability to access the full spectrum of what life has to offer. Beside, as anyone familiar with using the internet, there may be so much entertainment, and yet there's nothing on the internet either.
- ffsm8 3y agoThat's your definition of the term. Most people have a broader spectrum they'd classify as shut-in, which you can discover by clicking on the provided wiki article. Personally I think your definition doesn't actually work, tbh. Where do you draw the line for "no participation in society"? Wouldn't that mean any interaction? Now they can't even order through a web portal, can't comment on social media like reddit etc. You'd need to create an incredibly controlled environment to make that viable, which would remove the self-imposed aspect of it. Even the article you're commenting on has a hikikomori releasing a game project after several years. He wouldn't be one according to your definition either, even though everyone that knows about him IRL would absolutely call him one.
- kiba 3y agoNah. I define the hikikomori by necessarily the state of despair. That obviously came through the participation in society. For the record, a hikikomori makes a video game? Wow. I wish I can do that. It's a matter of effort, of putting a foot in one another. The thing is, developing a video game and releasing it to the public is inherently a social activity, unless you write the code only for yourself. Things are happening. Playing video games which is what creates despair for me. Nothing happens outside of that video game. Don't get me wrong, playing video is a lot of fun, but it isn't beneficial when there's too much of it.
- ustad 3y agoThat was a refreshing video. Wishing you all the best with the game. Keep it up.
- rdl 3y agoI just bought it -- will be interesting to watch the progress (I love Early Access games like that).
- jdmoreira 3y agoWhatever it takes to ship!
- xandrius 3y agoWelcome to the NHK!
- jjice 3y agoI actually just read this book a few months ago. There is a some weird stuff in the middle there, but the latter half of the book is really sweet and emotional, especially the very ending. It was one of the most interesting pieces of fiction I read in the past little while.
- mtremsal 3y agooh god "NHK ni Youkoso" came out 20 years ago already... Watching it as a teenager made a lasting impression on me, especially the depictions of depression and anxiety, the animation by Gonzo, and also the trumpet in the jazzy opening. That being said, it properly did not age well, so I'll stick to my nostalgia-tinted glasses.
- xandrius 3y agoI watched it last year, I think it still holds pretty well. What's wrong with it?
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y agoIdk. The protagonist might be kind of an incel, but the show does not frame that as healthy. My least favorite bit is that it's kind of about two people rescuing each other from mental illness, which is sweet when it happens but very unreliable and a recipe for instant heartbreak quicker than you can say "I lived off microwave noodles for a year"
- xandrius 3y agoAgain, I see nothing wrong with that. The show to me is still holding up to people who don't need to insta-judge characters which do not align to their own values. For me it's a really interesting story on an aspect of society (in this case Japanese) which is not sugar coated or "happily-ever-aftered". People have their faults and positive sides. I love that at the end things are not better, they are just different. Characters have gone through events and come out of it different. I just love the feeling of helplessness many of the characters have, while still trying to do something, anything. That's life for some and it's ok. The worst is not doing anything at all.
- gcatalfamo 3y agoI warmly recommend to go see the TV documentary about this guy they made some time ago, when I saw the videogame I immediately recognised him.
- _zd38 3y agoComment deleted. Thank you for the constructive comments. I’m reading, just not responding.
- sydd 3y agoAre you getting professional help for your son? This might be too serious for just you to solve
- _zd38 3y agoDeleted.
- kstenerud 3y agoI know nothing of the specifics so please forgive me if this sounds obvious or insulting... It might help to sit him down and have an adult conversation with him about the whole situation. Kids show a surprising amount of astuteness when necessary. The important thing is to approach the situation as a team (you with your son against the world, as opposed to you against what your son is doing). Maybe framed as "If you don't want to go out anymore, we can work together to make you comfortable and safe, but the government has rules and they're going to fight us - so we all need to put our heads together to figure out how to make this work!" Figure out what compromises he'd be happy with, and what ways there are for "enlarging the pie" so that he feels like you're on his side in the end. With greater trust between you, he might start talking more about what's going on in his head. This might make it easier to have specialists come in to see him, because you can explain to him that you need diagnosis X from this guy to get the government off the family's back. Just whatever you do, don't trick him (lie about why someone is there to see him). Lose his trust and you lose him.
- moritonal 3y agoDeleted following OP.
- _zd38 3y ago
- INTPenis 3y agoSo does everyone on HN just understand this Japanese word? Even the original video says (shut in).
- setr 3y agoit's pretty well known/used in english online communities, yes. especially if you go anywhere near anime.
- HPsquared 3y agoEspecially online communities about computers.
- INTPenis 3y agoNot to me, and I've been involved in online english communities since the late 90s. I have heard otaku though.
- extragood 3y agoIt was a pretty popular subject on HN as recently as a few years ago. I dont know very much Japanese, but I am familiar with that one due to the other articles that explore the culture. I suspect that there's also some bias at play: the people who are commenting are ones who are already familiar with the term.
- oniony 3y agoはい。
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_N.H.K https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_N.H.K. If you like anime dubs, especially the ones with the same two guys who voice the protagonists of _every_ Funimation dub, they're in the dub of NHK and it's pretty funny.
- therockspush 3y ago[flagged]
- johnnyanmac 3y agoDefinitely a societal difference in diet.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
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- angra_mainyu 3y agoNot to hijack the thread but I always think of Grimoire and the effort that went behind it. A single man's tribute to classic RPGs like Wizardry and Might & Magic, developed over the course of 20 years.
- otterpro 3y agoThis reminds me of the anime "Welcome to the NHK"(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLsjJ8RThQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLsjJ8RThQ) where the protagonist is a hikkomori and works on creating a video game with his neighbor.
- gamesbrainiac 3y agoMy goodness, this guy's English is fantastic! He's also super charming :)
- Modified3019 3y agoLink to it’s steam page:https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179890/Pull_Stay/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179890/Pull_Stay/ It’s a trip to watch, definitely not what I was expecting.