#adwd2

(Not my Obey Me! ass immediately cackling at the name + abbreviation)

(God even the tech names remind me of her (Obey Me! SWD))

(OBSESSED with these ads you have no idea)

(I love 0204 already. He’s my dumbass in orange. Hey, what do you know, I STILL have a type-)

(Good to know and confirm this is set after the first ADWD, didn’t screenshot the convo abt Casper + the MC of the first game but I was enjoying myself too much in my defense)

I’ll reblog w more tomorrow bc I didn’t screenshot the character creator + walking chibi and I NEED TO

There's a principle in psychology that an individual will not change until the pain of changing is less than the pain of staying the same. There's also a principle that you should only try to deliberately change one aspect of behavior at a time, if you can afford that kind of time and focus.

There's another pattern I have seen and studied, which is that a person can change a lot in one way and not really change in another; and a pattern I have observed that a person's core traits tend to stay the same save for instances of massive upheaval by necessity.

I think the most interesting characters are written to have post-arc traits that are a fluid extension of hints of behavior that are hidden under other strata of experience.

This is displayed beautifully with Casper. His base traits are confidence to the point of vanity and arrogance (which does not change, because the events of the game do not require that of him, therefore he does not), as well as intelligence. Especially self-perceptive intelligence, but other intelligence as well. He knows he's good at what he does and so it does not make sense to him not to be confident.

What changes is his learned attachment style and his ability to be flexible. What makes this work is that we see hints of the potential for change there since day 1 without clashing with his other traits.

"Don't shoot the messenger, and all that. You're actually starting to make me feel guilty." There's something underneath the Reaper -- Casper -- that is capable of compassion. I think that's why names are so dangerous to the reapers' organization. Numbers cannot feel. People can. Ironically, the reaper organization is taking advantage of the very fact that reapers think like the humans they were madd from by using the psychological principle of depersonalization to shut down critical thinking.

(As a side note, the fact reapers cannot lie is actually very telling. They're forbidden to talk to mortals and have no time for their fellow underworld denizens, so who, exactly, are they forbidden to lie to? Their superiors.)

"Can I change my name and profile picture? I just want to."

"I suppose you can."

"That easily?"

"What, did you want me to say no or something?"

Behold, capacity for flexibility. Casper may have been annoyed by MC but he had no reason to say no, so why would he? He is very capable of quick cognitive shifts.

The time spent talking to Casper over the following days allows the player to slowly cut through the what and why of Casper's detachment. It is demanded of him, and it protects the layers of traits and behaviors that are intrinsically Casper from being destroyed. But he is able to leave that detachment behind when he learns more information -- at first about the player, and then about the reapers and his organization. His innate flexibility of thought emerges as something that is suddenly much more useful to him than his prior rigid behavior, and so Casper changes.

THAT'S REALISTIC CHARACTER CHANGE BABEYYYY

So seeing what we have about Casper (my beloved), here's some of my predictions for the sequel, based on what we know so far about the LIs.

- 0204 is new to this too. He has no idea who he is yet and he's smart enough to realize he's being molded into something that scares him in some way. His behaviors look, so far, like escape-motivated ones to me. 0204 does not feel safe and he is trying to find a way to look untouchable, but he's on uncertain footing. I think his arc is going to be about focusing his risk-taking tendencies into something that actually matters to him, and that that purpose is going to solidify slowly in him over the game until we have a character left that no longer feels a need to reject whatever forms and shapes other people tell him he belongs in... like his glamour, perhaps? 👀 I think what we are gonna find under his layers is strength of will and hope.