What is the reaction to the text you just read or viewed?
I chose Depression Quest because it was the first game on the list and it didn't require a download to play. I wasn't prepared for what I was getting into. Depression Quest can be summarized as a bummer; it's hardly a game at all but rather a depression simulator. At times I found myself laughing, not necessarily at any of the jokes (if there were any) but at the fact that some of the prompts were so unbelievably sad that all I could do was laugh about it.
What connections did you make with this story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work in which you were able to connect.
Even if I've never been officially diagnosed with depression, it does run in my family, so I've witnessed it firsthand. I do believe I've experienced depression in short bursts of about one to a few days as well. I feel very susceptible to depression when I'm not feeling particularly motivated or that the work I produce isn't living up to my own self-imposed standards of quality. In Depression Quest, the main character struggles with a feeling of obsolescence and pointlessness which I can relate to quite heavily. I know what it's like not wanting to work, sitting on the couch, and staring at the wall or pretending to watch TV.
What changes would you make to adapt this story into a different medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
The only other mediums I could see this story working as is either a comic or a book. But the large drawback would be the loss of interaction that the game provides. The point of Depression Quest that makes it stand out and helps it sell itself is the fact that you have options to continue the narrative, but the healthy choices are struck out and cannot be chosen. You are forced to go down a self-destructive route. The only way to adapt this story is to remove the aspects that make it work in the first place, so I'd argue that you cannot adapt Depression Quest without ruining the entire point of it being a simulation.
