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Hey y'all:

Since we're in December and I recently discovered this interaction fiction story game, I thought I'd just post it, in case any of y'all are feeling kind of depressed. If this game was on our site, it would be under the Edutainment category I think.

Seasonal affective disorder(SAD) symptoms include feeling sadness or hopelessness, loss of energy, sluggishness, tiredness.

Spend time outside and soak up all that natural light since we don't get that much anyway during these winter months.

Now moving on to the actual game:

It's called Depression Quest and it's basically where you play as this person who gradually goes through depression. You have choices on how you deal with it and usually choosing to confide in people or get help gives you the better endings, I thought the game was well written, and it's actually engaging, it's not just info dump but there's a story and stuff, so it's pretty good.

Here's the link in case any of y'all are interested, or if you guys are feeling depressed or down, I think it can help: Depression Quest

After playing it, tell me what you thought, we can make this post a discussion place to talk about whether the game was good or bad, if it was effective or not, etc...

I played through the most depressing path where you don't seek help, you isolate, etc... but I'd be interested to see what the other paths are like.

Stay safe y'all.

I really like their writing style, I found it realistic and engaging.

They didn't trivialize the serious issue of depression and they made it really realistic. I also felt that the author shone at writing relationships, particularly with the partner, the online friend, the older brother, the mom, and how your character would have different inclinations to tell each of these people when they ask you if something is wrong.

That was a nice touch.

I hope the author of this story is in a better place, because it sounded like they experienced the full scale of emotions of the depression.

Thank you for sharing. I'm sure most of the themes in the game are relatable to most people. At least at some stage in their lives. One thing i found interesting was how hard it was to get 'the worst epilogue'. Feels like there was constant chances to turn around and get help if we were willing to go outside our comfort zone, it felt quite realistic.

For anyone who may be reading this does experience Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). A great way to manage symptoms of it would be to invest in a high strength vitamin D supplement and magnesium pills, since most of the population is deficient in these vitamins which has been shown to likely have a strong impact on SAD.

I'm really glad you found this interesting Crimson. Thank you for mentioning the vitamin D pills and magensium pills, that's really insightful.

I agree that it was hard to get the worst one. I got it in the game because going in I chose to isolate, and to do all those options, but I also feel like the game was a bit optimistic in thinking that multiple people will quickly notice because I don't think people are that perceptive in real life. Plus depressive patients are known to mask, it's a whole thing. And if they are that perceptive, they're probably just annoyed that you're being a Debbie downer but I could be wrong. Maybe im being overly cynical, but to be honest I wish no one had this at all, and depression didn't exist.

The mom though was 100 percent accurate, I've seen a lot of people talk about beating depression with a positive attitude and hard work and it annoyed me to hell.

Hmm karen, let's see, it's a neurological disorder that has been shown to actively decrease gray matter in your brain, with studies showing lower amounts of gray matter volume in frontolimbic areas and caudate nuclei and the same inflammatory pathways found in CANCER are also found in depression patients("Given the shared inflammatory mechanisms implicated in both depression and cancer, it is no surprise that depression in these individuals is intensified because psychological stress combined with cancer-related inflammatory pathways may have a synergistic effect on cognitive symptoms."), so depressed patients are literally losing their minds(not in a derogatory manner, I mean in the neurological manner and just to emphasize the seriousness of the issue), but go off on how scented candles, happy slogans, and fake Facebook posts about caring about mental health will fix all these underlying cellular and neurological issues.

Yeah, I don’t really think depression is a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” phenomenon. There’s many days where I wake up and feel great, and others where, regardless of any kind of positive mantras I can come up with, I just feel lethargic and almost like a ghost.

What you said about depression affecting the grey matter in the brain is really interesting. I didn’t know that.

From what I’ve read, depression seems to be an epigenetic trait. People can be genetically predisposed to it due to gene expressions, but whether those genes actually “activate” is mostly determined by environmental factors. For example, if you didn’t get enough childhood nutrition or vitamins, your odds of getting depression can go up astronomically.

I think the first step to a healthy mind is a healthy body. Your brain needs all the nutrients and vitamins it can get to perform its job optimally. Of course, it’s way more complex than just that. Outside of physical health, having a community where you feel appreciated and seen makes a huge difference. Being around people that value you and whom you value back can really help. For some people, having a larger-than-life ambition is also important. Most of us don’t get any of these things to the degree we need though.

Still, I can’t stress enough how much lacking basic vitamins, like omega-3s, puts so much stress on our brains and bodies. A lot of supplement companies don’t use therapeutic dosages, so if anyone does buy these things, make sure they’re dosed to actual therapeutic levels. Most cod liver oil and omega-3 supplements are basically snake oil if you look closely at the labels.

What ever happened to nerds just pretending to be Conan or something?