Game for Change

OCDearest

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw8Y7L1_NQ5WNXdManpMLS12MG8/view?usp=sharing

Artist Statement        

        OCD is a legitimate disorder that some people suffer from.  Some cases are more extreme than others.  I decided to use OCD for this assignment because I have some of the less extreme symptoms and I have known some people that have very extreme symptoms.  For people that have extreme symptoms, life can be very difficult and frightening.
My game follows a few different paths that vary on levels of extremity.  The end to each path is based on information that I found using my three sources.  The most extreme scenario was also inspired by a man that I met on my mission in France who suffered from OCD.  He had difficulty touching dirty things (including cleaning his own apartment), hated being interrupted while speaking, and had to do certain “rituals” every time he wanted to do something.  It was really hard for him to interact with other people.
My game, entitled “OCDearest,” is similar to the game we looked at in class “Depression Quest.”  They have a similar structure and help you follow different stories based on the extremity of a particular person’s situation.  “Depression Quest” also gives you a “diagnosis,” for lack of a better term, that is supposed to help you understand the severity (or non-severity) of your disorder.  “OCDearest” attempts to do the same thing.  While I am not a doctor, the information that I gathered from my sources and from personal experience was helpful in deciding which scenarios would be triggered by OCD or by other motivations.
I did as much as I could to make this game aesthetically pleasing by making the story interesting and even amusing.  Some of it is random (such as the knitting part).  It was difficult to make it look “pretty” because it is a text based game, which is a technology in which I am very limited.  So, because I am lacking in capability and knowledge in this regard, I tried to make it fun through the stories.  
A reason why I chose OCD is because I feel that it is not often presented or discussed in media.  While doing this project, I could only think of one character off the top of my head from a children’s show that has OCD: Rabbit from Winnie-the-Pooh.  Rabbit needs his garden to be untouched and perfect.  He is impatient with others, needs to be organized, and likes to have a clean house.  However, his disorder is used more as a source of entertainment.  I really feel like this disorder, which is sometimes extremely serious, needs more attention in the media and needs to be treated correctly.

       Sources :

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/obsessive-compulsive-disorder

http://iocdf.org/about-ocd/

March, John S., and Karen Mulle. OCD in Children and Adolescents: A Cognitive-behavioral Treatment Manual. New York: Guilford, 1998. Print.