I have a take but I'm not sure people want to hear it. https://twitter.com/KSlackie/status/1194662016020930560

Jfc what's wrong with you

I don't feel the take is quite mature enough to share, I'm trying to work it out

okay fine, here is the most recent draft of this i sent to someone. Have at it. That's it. That's my thought. This is why I think cozy games have the most toxic and aggressive fans out there.

I think a lot of people who make cozy things do it because they want an escape from the not-cozy things. The reason I think people wouldn't want to hear it is because I am, in effect, arguing that people who make cozy things as a respite are accidentally complicit in toxicity

To take it one step further: a lot of people understandably go "respite from bad things is good" so they make those things for themselves, but then other people ONLY engage with the cozy things and REFUSE to engage in a healthy diet of media (not the cozy creators fault)

the creators can't control what other people engage with, after all, and it's okay to make a work that is, in and of itself, not challenging. Not all work should be something that harrows your soul, though Tarkovsky would disagree with me.

the ~problem~ is that advocates of cozy works VERY OFTEN see challenging works as ~bad~ and their works as An Antidote and some of them maybe go a bit too far in trying to champion art that babyproofs reality

I actually really like Death Stranding because sometimes horror murder monsters fuck with you and babies cry but other times there's this zen of just walking someone over a mountain while low roar plays and she talks to you about how much she loves her sister and starts to cry

so yeah uh

I'm still trying to work this out but what if I said some people refuse to do anything that makes them uncomfortable, perceive anything that causes discomfort as EVIL and worth aggressing, and these works fuel that by failing to promote introspection

ultimately it's on the audience to seek out introspection, and the people who make cozy works, idk, if you can promote more introspection in your work instead of just "isnt this cute and happy and not challenging" that might be good

Everyone who has ever abused me for my disability was someone who felt the inconvenience my disability caused them ("sorry, I'm having a bad pain day, I can't make it to your concert, wish I could") was me _trying to harm them_ and then felt morally justified in hurting me.

villains are always people who think they're morally better than you and thus their actions cannot be bad. harming someone is righteous. it's okay. it's not harm. it's for their own good. doc needs stronger moral fiber so I'm going to literally poison him. that kind of thing.

my buddy @WritNelson asked me why I'm so interested in evil characters and i still don't really have a good answer but I think I like examining ugly people. because i don't really understand them. they fascinate me. i cannot comprehend wanting to treat people like that.

so my theory is a stab in the dark, i genuinely don't get wanting to hurt people because you got upset on the internet unless those people like half-life 2,