Harvest Moon can be so real to me that often I begin to operate on a Harvest Moon schedule for a moment or two without realising it. For example, when I looked at the clock a few moments ago, the time was 11.50 a.m. I thought to myself, 'Almost time to fetch my packed lunch from Douglas!' Fortunately, I realised my error immediately. The day I need to be sectioned will be the day that I actually leave the house to begin to go to the School to look for Douglas...
Instead of being upset by these little lapses in consciousness of reality, I find them rather intriguing. I always wished to believe it to be possible that there is more than one reality in our universe. There are cases of collective hallucinations where many individuals experience a vision at the same time. I wonder if, by virtue of intense concentration and repeated actions, players of Harvest Moon actually have created a Harvest Moon universe somewhere... Wishful thinking of course, but there are those who claim that wishes create reality.
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6 comments:
Put down the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory, and go on vacation for a while. Haha
Wow, I've had similar experiences before too! Just the other day as I was enjoying the slightly chilly temperature outdoors, I kept thinking: "Nice autumn/November weather!" (a result of my hours of immersing in the Alvarna world where it's currently autumn). It was confusing to try to persuade myself that no, it's actually spring! :P
Btw, interesting theory on the alternate HM universe! Yep, since we the players are able to imagine and visualize it so clearly, that means the HM reality HAS to exist on some level, right? ("We think, therefore it is"?!)
...LOL. I wish that were true! :)
I've had similar experiences XD
...and oh how I've wished for an alternate Harvest Moon Universe. ^^
Ooh, I love the idea that the collective consciousness of HM players has actually created a HM universe somewhere! Like Fantasia from the film 'Neverending Story' (first watched when I was 5 or 6 years old, and christ does it have a lot to answer for in the way my psyche has developed in the 20-odd years since!)
I first picked up HM: A Wonderful Life during a period of brief unemployment - for at least 3 weeks my farm WAS my job. I played for at least 6 hours a day, from the minute my flatmates left for work until the time they came home. NO other game has had such an impact on my subconscious... During my first game, I relentlessly pursued Nami as, being female myself, she was the character that I fancied most resembled myself. More than I realised actually - after finally winning her hand in marriage, I couldn't cope with the constant snippets of conversation where she wistfully remembered her free, single life and the reasons she travelled to Forget-Me-Not Valley in the first place. So horrified was I at trapping this wonderful, independent free spirit in marriage and motherhood, I had to start the game over! In my next game I married Celia. She at least was confortable in the role of farmer's wife, and the fact it saved her from the bi-polar (and slightly scary!) Marlin was an added bonus.
I swear, I dreamed about my life in tha game. When the second generation began, and I first saw Galen's shrine to Nina, I actually wept. While I adore other game series for their rich stories and beautiful characters, such as Phoenix Wright and the Zelda games, NOTHING has come close to the feeling of living in an alternative reality than the Harvest Moon series.
Vive Forget-Me-Not Valley, Mineral Town and Sunny Island and their wonderful inhabitants and stories!
Anon, I wish it were true as well. Who knows? Perhaps it is. Certainly, the world BECOMES almost as real to us who exist in it as the 'real world'. Did you ever hear of a game called 'Second Life'? There are people who actually marry in that game... and ultimately divorce their real spouses for the person they 'met' in Second Life! There are people who actually support themselves in the 'real world' with money earned by selling items they built in Second Life... so what is reality?
Harvest Moon is such a balanced, wonderful universe that I cannot imagine existing there could be harmful. I personally believe that the acts of farming, ranching, fishing and helping friends are good for the 'real' soul.
D.F.: Harvest Moon IS my vacation from a lot of 'real' problems and stress. Guide writing can be a little stressful at times, but that's not the fault of the games themselves.
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