#triple jump

Taisiya Dmitriyeva 🇷🇺

Kira Wittmann 🇩🇪

Lafond dominates the Triple Jump with a 15.02m national record

CONGRATS 💛💚🖤❤️🤍

I once saw a post about Disco Elysium, a story that begins with a human disaster recovering from the bender of a lifetime. The game will let you indulge in all forms of drugs and there's no detriment in gameplay for it spare for the fact it can be noticed and observed by your in-game partner and negatively impact his opinion. The game has an addiction system that is entirely based on giving you a choice that seems attractive and letting you pick it.

I never interacted with the drugs in Disco Elysium. I wanted my Harry to be clean. The game does not praise me for this, mind. As far as the fiction is concerned Harry has been clean for 2 weeks maximum and has had relapses before. I made the entire experience more difficult for myself by denying stat upgrades because I wanted to play a version of the character who is trying to get better.

In Metal Gear Solid V, a game which does not in any way shape or form involve roleplaying mechanics, I have a Venom who starts off as Big Boss but over the course of the experience his (our IRL) skill ceiling forces him to start giving up the perfect stealth/no-kill facade. The game does not punish you for it (S-Ranks do not require No Kill or Perfect Stealth) and I am simply not a good enough player to get through A Quiet Exit without bursting out the rocket launcher.

In a game like Celeste, the narrative is about climbing an impossible mountain that weens a player in on the experience one screen at a time. It is the most forgiving video game I have ever played. It urges a player to keep trying. To take their time. Take as many tries as they like. What was once a level that took 40 deaths to get through becomes a level where I collect Golden Strawberries. The grind that Madeline makes becomes the grind that the player takes and you share the experience (doubly so if you play while on HRT. Triple if also going through therapy for DID).

It's one thing for the "Intended Experience" mingling with player experience. Sometimes a game that you can only interact with violence will call you out for only interacting via violence. But when a game pulls you in so heavily that you and the character are acting in unison and your decisions are made not for mechanical reasons, not because the game guides you down a path, not because it is the most effective way of playing? But because it is the experience that you are creating for yourself and it belongs to you and you alone?

Oh that's the sweet spot.

Our climb up Mount Celeste is as unique to me as our gender transition is. Our decision to reject the title of Big Boss and become Venom Snake was our own. Our refusal to dose as Harry was ours.

In essence it's no different than selecting the top route or the bottom route in a Sonic game. One is more difficult, one has access to a special stage, one is faster, one is an area we've not explored in a while, one has more rings... the list of variables is vast but they all contribute to a decision that is made in the moment and on the fly.

But gosh, when the choice is filtered through my in game avatar? Fuck it just hits right.

DOUBLE BRONZE! 🥉🥉🇺🇸