Comments on: :'-(

:'-(

empath — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:17:03 -0800

A sad story about Animal Crossing and a dying mother.

Single link YTMND, via Digg, I know. You're going to cry anyway. I apologize in advance. Call your Mom and tell her you love her.

By: graventy

graventy — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:20:43 -0800

I just came here to post this. That made me cry.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:25:16 -0800

Here it is as a regular comic.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:29:08 -0800

Damn near posted this myself. Touching, and I can't help but be moved by the cross-generational game playing. I've a friend/ex that fell deep into that damnable game - but I still do fondly remember curling up next to her with a book whilst she whiled away at it. I think I enjoyed being around her playing that game more than most of the others. It seemed to elicit the least amount of cursing and frustration.

By: cmgonzalez

cmgonzalez — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:35:42 -0800

This story is actually quite old. I remember reading it at least three years ago. Hadn't seen it done in comic form though. And it always brings tears to my eyes since my mom has MS and loves video games.

By: dixie flatline

dixie flatline — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:37:40 -0800

Thing is, the game itself sends you those presents that say "Love, Mom". It's just a little random thing that's thrown in there. If you just leave the game sitting for months you'll wind up with a bunch of those presents--I don't think it had anything to do with the real-life Mom. Not to ruin the touching moment or anything... (and maybe I should be embarrassed that I know this).

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:53:00 -0800

If what dixie says is true, does that make this story even more sad, or ever-so-slightly funny?

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:53:35 -0800

Wow, it's true, it is cheesy.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:54:08 -0800

Yeah, so, of course you had to post this right when my mother has decided to be unbelieveably, incredibly, mind-numbingly selfish, rude and nasty to me and for the first time in a decade I am momentarily trying to pretend she doesn't exist, right? Daaaang. Like I'm not already wearing a fancy invisible suit made entirely of maternal guilt trips... Sigh.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:00:32 -0800

I'm going to just pretend that I didn't even read what dixie said.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:02:41 -0800

http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/ac/mail.html Those are the letters from in-game 'Mom'. I think you'd be able to tell the difference.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:03:04 -0800

And what, you are too busy commenting on Metafilter, you couldn't maybe call once in a while. I understand if it's too much trouble to spend five minutes to call your Mother, even after she spent 96 hours in labor with you, and then worked her fingers to the bone, the bone I tell you putting food on your table, and the parent teacher conferences, and donating the organs after you selfishly drank your way to organ damage... There you go Miss Lynnster, I thought you could use a stole to go with your coat.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:10:19 -0800

Oh honey, that's AMATEUR stuff. My mom poops guilt trips bigger than that.

By: EatTheWeak

EatTheWeak — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:12:53 -0800

what dixie says is true. And I wanna call my mom this minute, anyhow.

By: MaryDellamorte

MaryDellamorte — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:20:09 -0800

I agree with empath. I spent many an hour playing that damn game and the letters that the in-game mom sends are cheesy and the presents are always lame, like a piece of fruit or something. I'm almost certain the author of this story would be able to tell the difference between the real life mother and the in-game one. Also, if the mom did spend so much time playing the game, I think there's a great possibility that she spent some of that time sending her child gifts to his/her mailbox.

By: Addiction

Addiction — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:06:37 -0800

totally hetero.

By: Peach

Peach — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:14:43 -0800

My mom, who has severe and horrifying Parkinson's and is busy dying in slow motion over the course of decades, would NEVER send me gifts, assuming she could remember how to use a video game, let alone a TV remote control. However, this sweet and cheesy story made me sniffle a little bit for other people's mothers, which is always pleasant.

By: greenskpr

greenskpr — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:20:26 -0800

If what dixie says is true, does that make this story even more sad, or ever-so-slightly funny? ...so much more sad. [mental note] make Mom pay for future passive/aggressive guilt trips with the 'Geez-Mom-it's-not-like-you're-in-a-wheelchair-with-MS-playing-video-games' retort I love you Mom.

By: Henry C. Mabuse

Henry C. Mabuse — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:01:53 -0800

This doesn't move me at all. In fact it makes me resentful that someone would try to manipulate my emotions. Fluffy bunnies, different story.

By: the quidnunc kid

the quidnunc kid — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:31:18 -0800

Did you know that British people don't even have moms? They have mummies, which are basically over-bandaged long-dead Egyptians. Every year they have a Mummy's Day and all go to the British Museum to rub their snotty little faces against the display glass and weep. God, they're such fucking babies! If I kept my Mom's internal organs in four canopic jars dedicated to the sons of Horus I wouldn't whine about it all the time while drinking weak tea and jerking off to Benny Hill re-runs - but, that's the limeys for you.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:46:20 -0800

Another story: Traces of Past Crossings. Animal Crossing is a strangely engrossing game. The version for the DS is awesome. I'm scared to play it again though, having ignored my town and animals for so many years.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:10:01 -0800

I wouldn't whine about it all the time while drinking weak tea Reminds me of the hymn we used to sing at chapel when I was at the behavior modification centre: Weak tea are we new brewed, But stirring makes us strong, We eat no angel's food, Our times of trial are long.

By: waraw

waraw — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:25:13 -0800

Your mom poops guilt trips? Eww.

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:43:58 -0800

Call your Mom and tell her you love her. good advice

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:54:39 -0800

And that you need to borrow some money.

By: czechmate

czechmate — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:22:16 -0800

Animal Crossing sounds like something my own homebound mom would like to play, but now I'm too scared that she'll leave presents for me too and I'll find them later. That would push me over the edge if that ever happened.

By: Billegible

Billegible — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:31:58 -0800

I'm glad no one else has showed up at work yet, because sitting and crying at my desk is not quite the professional image I'm looking for.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:28:27 -0800

Ditto, Billegible.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:03:52 -0800

Aw, heck. Normally a single-link YTMND would have my flagdar pinging like crazy, but I think this might just be that Unless It's Something Really Great exception.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:07:48 -0800

Thanks for posting this.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:31:16 -0800

RUINITWITHTECHNICALDATAFILTER: Animal Crossing is a strange game, but interesting in this way. It was originally envisioned as a "communication" game, where multiple players could interact on the same village and communicate with each other, in various ways, using it. The metaphor the developers went for was a kind of house message board. Some of the same ideas (and people, I think) were responsible for the Wii Message Board, which seems like kind of a weird thing to put into a game console at first. That said, there is indeed a "Mom" character in the game, although it's never seen in person by the player. It exists solely in messages sent by the game from a huge stock of possible sends. They're somewhat indexed according to time of year so they tend to be moment-appropriate in a vaguely seasonal way. Most of the messages are actually pretty funny (outside of a tragic context, of course), and the attached gifts range from the very common to the semi-rare. The messages tend to be somewhat silly, and outside of context paint an upbeat picture of a slightly dotty old girl who has generic familial adventures (occaisionally along with a Dad character, who the player never hears from). Nintendo's writers are among the best in the game industry, and their English localization team is just as great, so it's rarely a negative point. I had always wondered what effect these messages would have on someone who had recently lost their own mother. Well actually, my own mother died a couple of years before I started on Animal Crossing, but the Mom-notes never had this kind of effect on me since she was largely game-hostile and would never have played. Anyway, you guys understand that there is a negative side to this meme, right? If this spreads out too far there's a great chance that Nintendo'll remove the feature from later versions of the game. It sounds exactly like the kind of thing they'd do....

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:31:59 -0800

I see your dying mom playing video games and raise you a Last Thanksgiving with Mom, which caused me to be late to work in order to compose myself.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:47:48 -0800

So, is the video game that periodically sends us "letters from Mom" after Mom passes away analogous to the baby porcupine who believed a toilet brush was his mother, only adjusted for language and technical proficiency? mindless data or not, the YTMND had me choked up a bit, and while I was there, I had to watch this a few times to level off.

By: astruc

astruc — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:49:48 -0800

My mom has been fighting ovarian cancer for three years, and frequently sends little messages to my cel phone, the things she needs to say but can't say out loud. "I love you." "I just want to live long enough to see you settled and happy." "I pray for you every day." I should not have read this first thing in the morning.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:56:05 -0800

As long as her mom's character on Animal Crossing wasn't named "Mom," it would be completely clear if the messages were from her real mom or the game mom. Animal Crossing tells you who your message is from independently of how they sign it. One from her real mom would say "From: Pippa" (or whatever), and then be signed at the bottom "Love, Mom." Also, if the daughter had previously spent time playing the game, she would know that the game mom sometimes sends you messages. It's not like she had never seen the game before. I choose to believe that the messages were from the real mom, not the game mom.

By: clarkie666

clarkie666 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:04:09 -0800

Due to some teenage so called ownage the op link is now NSFW (and loud). Maybe we can change it to interrobang's link

By: not that girl

not that girl — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:06:00 -0800

Why did your link take me to a page with a bright flashing background and naked young men with words written on their bodies in black marker? It _did_ make me cry, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

By: phyrewerx

phyrewerx — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:15:04 -0800

VERY NSFW.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:37:13 -0800

Yeah... um, someone might want to change the fpp link to the comic version. Looks like that little dead mom tale probably exceeded the sincerity bandwidth available for YTMND. It was only time until it would have to be replaced with some leveling agent that would return things to the proper standards of retardation.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:37:55 -0800

*Still ticked off at my mom*

By: empath

empath — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:53:40 -0800

man, people fucking suck.

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:54:59 -0800

Empath, I thought it was sweet! Thanks for sharing.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:57:51 -0800

They must have unhacked it.

By: rhapsodie

rhapsodie — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:07:23 -0800

My mother routinely packed my school lunches all through high school. She added little notes to the lunches periodically, notes about having a good day, how much she loved me, good luck on the test I know you'll do great. It didn't matter what grade I was in, third or 11th, I loved getting those little notes. After I helped my mother set up her new printer/scanner/fax over the phone, she started regularly sending me faxes at work, little I love you notes, and have a good day. I would hang them up on my bulletin board. When she saw my office for the first time, she laughed seeing the faxes on my wall. She said she never thought I liked the notes because I never said anything about them, even when I was in school. I'm going to call her right now.

By: CitizenD

CitizenD — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:44:03 -0800

you all are lucky. no cute little cyber gifties or cel phone messages here. no, my mom used to tell me that she wished i'd never been born. i'm not kidding

By: unixrat

unixrat — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:44:38 -0800

After my father died from a long illness, my step mother gave me my last birthday card that he had gotten for me but was never well enough to send. It was still sealed with my name on the front in his shaky hand and everything. I still have it, unopened. I've moved with it, always taking great care to pack it carefully. I don't think I'll will ever be able to open it, but it damn near makes me cry whenever I have to touch it. I suppose it's the last 'new' bit of communication I'll ever get from my Dad and I just. don't. want. it. to. end. ... On a lighter note, I played AC for a couple of months and got bored with it. I had to give it away unplayed after letting it sit for six months because I knew those little bastards would be pissed that I hadn't been around in a long time.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:47:41 -0800

Anyway, you guys understand that there is a negative side to this meme, right? If this spreads out too far there's a great chance that Nintendo'll remove the feature from later versions of the game. It sounds exactly like the kind of thing they'd do.... What?

By: BostonJake

BostonJake — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:54:42 -0800

Wow. That was sad. Nice post though.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:24:21 -0800

Can someone change the FPP link to this: http://duggmirror.com/nintendo_wii/The_Saddest_YTMND_ever/

By: czechmate

czechmate — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:41:05 -0800

Aww unixrat :( That made me choke up more than the comic.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:20:36 -0800

Unicorn on the cob: I think empath was saying that people sucked because someone had hacked the site and replaced the sweet little story with an animation of Jesus with a boner.

By: Ian A.T.

Ian A.T. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:34:13 -0800

Reading that (great) Game Girl Advance article, I have to ask: why in the world would you ever play this game? The knowledge that, long after you've grown tired of the game, your little animal neighbors are still there waiting for your return so it can be like the old days again. Their village falls to ruin around them, but they tell themselves you're coming back even as the weeds grow higher around them. I'm totally not being sarcastic here; there's no way I could have something like that in my life.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:38:12 -0800

thanks Korea. jerks.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:21:25 -0800

Ian A.T., the game is so engrossing you don't think about it at first. Now, I'm afraid to put my AC:WW game into my gameboy for fear of being berated by my Animals.

By: blendor

blendor — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:24:48 -0800

re: Ian A.T.'s post it reminds me of that futurama episode where fry's dog waits for him to return outside that pizza shop. saddest cartoon moment ever.

By: jinjo

jinjo — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:34:23 -0800

I weeded my town out just last week, actually. You don't really get berated. You get one conversation per neighbor about 'Gosh, has it been X months?' and then all is forgotten. And the animals running the stores and stuff don't even do that! But yeah, Ian A.T., that's why I deliberately never picked up Nintendogs.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:37:51 -0800

no, my mom used to tell me that she wished i'd never been born. Yeah, I know how you feel. Lately, my mother has turned into Livia Soprano. There may be a hit on me. I'm not sure.

By: churl

churl — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:56:04 -0800

Just to reply to dixie; despite the fact that there is an invisible computer "mom" in the game, I myself sincerely believe the narrator's mom actually sent some (if not most) of the letters/presents in the story. I played that game for about a year with a number of housemates including my girlfriend, and she and I exchanged presents by mail all of the time. I find it quite natural to assume the narrator, having played the game a lot him/herself, knew the difference.

By: UseyurBrain

UseyurBrain — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:01:09 -0800

"it reminds me of that futurama episode where fry's dog waits for him to return outside that pizza shop. saddest cartoon moment ever." Yeah...this episode gets me every time. The first time I saw it I was stunned that a cartoon could deliver that kind of emotional blow.

By: inqb8tr

inqb8tr — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:30:47 -0800

sigh.... Since it was a YTMND link, I was expecting a variation of Secret Nazi Forest with Animal Crossing or something involving that pink haired child from Lazy Town. This was actually sad. :(

By: revmitcz

revmitcz — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:06:12 -0800

I too was worried about the YTMND link - thinking it probably wasn't actually going to be sad. Boy was I wrong. My mother's battle with cancer is soon to run out, so the docs say, and I've cancelled all holiday plans for both Turkey Day and Xmas just to spend time with her instead. I keep trying to think of ways that I can keep her around, in memory/keepsakes/whatever and seeing this kinda makes getting through the workday this evening a little bit more difficult. But, hey, thanks for posting it. While it's sad - it's also heartening to see someone look past the cold digital realm and see the metaphors locked inside.

By: Ian A.T.

Ian A.T. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:55:33 -0800

This is pretty hilarious. My mom just brought me some dinner ("Don't get excited, it's just leftover Kung Pao chicken without chicken or peanuts") and I was telling her about Animal Crossing, specifically the depressing issues I raised up above. Her comment: "It's like having a stuffed animal that knows you're taking him to Goodwill."

By: symbioid

symbioid — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:33:11 -0800

To play or not to play... 1) I'm borrowing New Super Mario Bros (have been for over a year now) from a friend. Last year, my nephew wanted to get a DS when he saw me playing it at x-mas, and my sister told him to save his money. Well in February, they got it, and she sent me an e-mail asking me about a level. I pointed her to gamefaqs. I got to level 8 sometime in the first half of the year, and stopped, not really digging that level. Then the accident happened. My sister was killed by a drunk driver (she was 8 months pregnant as well)... Every time I think about starting that game again, I hesitate, because it makes me think of that e-mail she sent. I know it's stupid... I'm sure some of it is not really liking that level anyways, but I know that the issue is definitely deeper than just not liking that level. 2) On a lighter note: We had a friend move in a few years back, who (we sadly found out later) had borderline personality disorder. She ended up taking over my Animal Crossing town, essentially turning what was a fun game of exploration to me, into a competition. She didn't have a dayjob, so all day she played that, while I was working, then when I got home, I didn't feel like "keeping up with the joneses"... So, there I was, a game I purchased on my own, desecrated beyond belief, with the giant statue of HER in my town. I picked it up a year or so later, and the weeds were in full bloom, and I really just didn't feel like weeding and doing the whole thing all over again, so it's never been played again. Thanks a lot!

By: symbioid

symbioid — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:35:16 -0800

Can I say "not liking that level" one more time?

By: dr_dank

dr_dank — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:03:11 -0800

I thought for sure it was going to end with a joke like "Ha ha FAGS!". I didn't know YTMND could have something so tender.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:12:01 -0800

Responding to cortex's "What?".... Nintendo tries to make games that are safe, and safety takes many forms. It's the same reasoning that caused the DVD of classic Sesame Street moments to carry a warning saying it was unsuitable for children. I was always surprised they'd name a character Mom without thinking about players who may have lost their mother, or have strongly negative relations with theirs. Or, for that matter, referring to "Dad" when the player may well not have one, or another woman in that role. It always seemed like a very Fifties assumption for them to make. While I disagree that Nintendo games are "for" kids, they are marketed to children.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:51:37 -0800

Okay, I can follow you there, JHarris, but I think you're tilting at windmills in this instance, and I say that as a conflicted long-time Nintendo fanboy. I can't see any plausible path along which Nintendo would travel that would lead them to proscribe letters/gifts from an archetypal "Mom" NPC as a reaction to potential mom-related trauma in a real player's life. The idea that it's a "Fifties assumption" seems like giving them far too little credit, to me; it strikes me that the designers—and even younger players—can and do fully understand the idea that this is intended as Charater's Mom as a figurative device in the game, no less and no more. Besides which, the degree to which there's a dedication among Nintendo's A-list designer/producers to make games that feel comfortable and which have a sort of quiet (if generally very lighthearted) emotional resonance runs kind of at odds with the idea that they'd try and avoid any specter of parental affection in a setting. So, yeah. That's where my "what?" is coming from. Thanks for explicating it a bit.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:26:30 -0800

I have something in my eye.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:56:38 -0800

Okay, I can follow you there, JHarris, but I think you're tilting at windmills in this instance, It's not a case of tilting at anything (like I could do Thing One to modify whatever course of action they take anyway). I can just picture them doing it, and I just hate it, that's all. The designers aren't the people I'm worried about, it's Nintendo of America, who basically rewrites all the text we see in these games, and who must, of necessity, play a far greater role in the production of the Animal Crossing series, which are half-recreated for each market anyway. Let's just say that I will be quite pleased if they don't do what I expect, okay? I suppose it is encouraging that the Mom character has been in two consecutive games by now.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:00:33 -0800

I'm happy to leave it and wait and see, but I'm not entirely comfortable staking the argument on the unprovable notion that if for whatever reason Mom is left out of a future title, it's a reaction to this. I think this specific concern is far-fetched, even if I hear where you're coming form.