Trophies for Mental Health II

[Beyondthegrave07]

 

 

Hello, everyone!

 

This event will be a bit more on the serious side, but don't worry! It will be fun AND maybe you'll learn a thing or two about mental health and be able to spot a mental illness and help someone with it in the future or know where to go... or at least, that's the goal. The month of May is the official Mental Health Awareness month and wasn't sure if I was going to do this event again, but with all of the overwhelming support I received last year, I just couldn't make it a one-off event. The event will operate very similar to last year, but before we get started with the details, let's revisit mental health and discuss what it is. Take notes; you may need it for the final exam (the trophy hunt).

 

 

What is a Mental Illness?

 

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI):

 

"A mental illness is a condition that affects a person's thinking, feeling, behavior or mood. These conditions deeply impact day-to-day living and may also affect the ability to relate to others. If you have — or think you might have — a mental illness, the first thing you must know is that you are not alone. Mental health conditions are far more common than you think, mainly because people don’t like to, or are scared to, talk about them. However:

 

• 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
• 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
• 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
• 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24

 

A mental health condition isn’t the result of one event. Research suggests multiple, linking causes. Genetics, environment and lifestyle influence whether someone develops a mental health condition. A stressful job or home life makes some people more susceptible, as do traumatic life events. Biochemical processes and circuits and basic brain structure may play a role, too.

None of this means that you’re broken or that you, or your family, did something “wrong.” Mental illness is no one’s fault. And for many people, recovery — including meaningful roles in social life, school and work — is possible, especially when you start treatment early and play a strong role in your own recovery process."

 

That's right. It's more than likely you or someone you know has experienced a serious mental illness each year, and in this day in age where everything moves at a million miles a minute, it's important to always be aware of it with your friends, family, and even strangers.

 

How can I help?

 

There's a few ways you can help actually! One way is to always donate money to your local mental health association (MHA), spread the news of mental health awareness and have people realize that having a mental illness is okay, and let people know that the stigma that someone struggling through it is "weak" or is a lesser person is just simply wrong, and lastly, you can always just be there for anyone who you know struggles with mental illnesses and support and encourage them as much as you can.

 

The Event

Now, hopefully, you read through the stuff above and have a good understanding of how you can help so now let's get on to the event. The event is very simple, very chill, and should be an easy dub. I plan on having badges this year again, so if you enjoyed them last year, you'll like it this year. For your theoretical badge just have to do 2 things:

 

1. Earn a platinum or 100% on a game that tackles mental health issues or mental illnesses. This can range from a specific character (such as Ethan from Heavy Rain or Ellie from TLOU2) to the entire game having a theme revolved around mental health (GRIS, Actual Sunlight, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, etc). However, games that use mental health issues as satire (Psychonauts) or is portrayed in a negative light/don't actually tackle the issues themselves (Joker from Batman Arkham games or Dead by Daylight) will not count. The goal of this is to learn something new or to see something in a different perspective, not to simply spot the obvious. I will be lenient on this rule, but try to remember the goal of this before choosing. If you are unsure if a game fits, feel free to ask here. I will also count games that help with mental health if it is blatantly obvious like Flower or Aery. However, you have to explain how it can help others improve their mental health. It doesn't matter if you are starting a game from scratch or you have all of the trophies except one, as long as you pop it during May, it will count. Late sign ups are welcome, but you must earn the final trophy AFTER you join. It's not really participating if you sign up and are done instantly!
2. After you finish your game, post here and explain what you learned from the game or explain what illness your character had (if applicable). This is important too. I would like some real thought put into this event for those brave enough to participate. Simply saying, I finished Gris or I am Bread will not count. Explain how mental health was addressed in the game, what illnesses did you observe, did the person suffer from depression, anxiety, or something else? How did the character or characters cope with it? What were your thoughts on it as a whole? It doesn't have to be a book, but some general thoughts or discussion on the game would be nice. Not just two sentences. Though, I realize not everyone is an English speaker so I'll be pretty lenient on this one.

 

NOTE: Please post to let me know you are signing up so I can put you on the list. It's a lot easier to do it this year than have a bunch of lurkers try to join last minute.

 

Here is the previous event. It has a list of recommended games, games people completed, examples of descriptions people did for part 2 of the event, discussions made, etc. It really is a great read and would highly recommend reading it. Just don't plagiarize someone else's work please! 

 

 

However that's not all...

 

Bonus Badge (got an artist!)

 

I can acknowledge that some of you can finish a game in a day and be done with this event earlier than expected. Therefore, we will have a second part to this for those who really want to go the extra mile again. The theme for this year is #TogetherforMentalHealth which is supposed be for encouraging others and to spread the word via social media, TV, internet, etc. So for this year, to earn this badge, you must play a game that prominently uses social media, radio, TV, or the internet in the game. I don't mean that the game has TV, I want it to be used to convey a message. It's a little obscure, but as long as you can explain it simply, I will accept it. Examples are Persona 5, Life is Strange, Infamous, Borderlands 3, GTA V, Fallout 3, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, etc. Anything where you spread a message through different media outlets. It shouldn't be too complicated.

 

The REAL Reason You Should Join:

 

I would be a terrible host if I did not put my money where my mouth is. I plan to do something a little different this year to try and raise more money. The amount of money donated will be based on the rarity of the game. Instead of doing just $1 measly dollar a game, I will donate money based on whichever game has a lower rarity %/better rarity between your two games, which, if you look at the calculation, will automatically be more than $1 a game. Therefore, choose your games wisely as you could sneak in a UR in there if you are clever enough. However, you must complete at least the first badge or any of it to count so plan carefully and don't forget what the event is really about! Furthermore, do not keep submitting games after your two are done. I will only take the first game submitted for each badge when calculating the donation so only submit your games when you're ready.

 

The formula is not complicated, so feel free to calculate yourself. The game must be 2 weeks old from the date of the post for it to calculated. Otherwise, it will be calculated after the event is over.

 

Here's the calculation: $2*(1+(1-Platinum %))

 

Feel free to pledge your own amounts if you want to donate. We had a lot of generous members last year and hope others join in as well. Anyways, thanks as always for reading and hope to see a reply from you!  

 

Other Donors:

@ninjamonkee9900

@Starrk_01 

@Briste

Participants:

 

@Beyondthegrave07 ✓ ?️ 3.89

@Briste ✓?️ 3.51

@AK-1138 ✓ 2.62

@TimeLordCrow13y ✓ 3.69

@Cassylvania ✓ 3.03

@kevao97 

@DrBloodmoney ✓ ?️ 2.91

@Crispy_Oglop ✓ 3.36

@Dzware 

@s68sc ✓ 3.84

@willythom88 

@Sylvanticore ✓?️ 3.40

@Arophous 

@Mesopithecus ✓ 2.96

@Inuty ✓ 2.99

@Mori 

@Platinum_Vice ✓?️ 3.78

@IntroPhenom✓ 3.33

@ninjamonkee9900 ✓?️ 3.43

@Quixotesque ✓ 3.57

@kingofbattle8174 

@HusKy 

@StygianWolf4 ✓ 3.12

@GuitaristZag ✓ 3.79

@ZOMBIESLAVES ✓ 3.21

@Han_the_Dragon ✓ 3.70

@Mr-ttaM ✓ ?️ 3.71

@ThunderJ6 

@Jens ✓ 3.79

@Starrk_01 ✓ ?️ 3.66

@Jeanoltt 

@MattbluePT ✓?️ 3.67

@SP71Q 

@MAUSZX 

@Violino✓?️ 3.25

@Caesar Clown ✓ 3.36 

@rjkclarke ✓?️ 3.74

@Im2Fast_4U ✓?️ 3.88 

@breakingthegreen ✓?️ 2.91

Edited June 2, 2022 by Beyondthegrave07
Updated

[Briste]

Love this one. I'm in!

[AK-1138]

Wow, I was just thinking about if there was gonna be one this year not two minutes ago! I'm totally on board this mental wellness vessel thing this year too.

 

Off the top of my head, I pledge to play Celeste, which I have been putting off for far too long. I have also recently obtained Life Is True: Strange Colors, which I do believe may be a good fit. Gonna reach into the old Backety-Loggington to see if I can scrounge up some more...

 

Moreso than my own small part in this, I'm looking forward to see people share their stories, as last year's thread was... well, it was kinda special and stuff. It's time to do do do do do do do do it mental healthy!

 

[TimeLordCrow13y]

I enjoyed this event last year, and would love to return this year, though I don’t know what game I’ll play. I’ll have to look through my backlog. I could try to finish up Blair Witch, but I’m already planning to Plat that game for another event, so I don’t know if it would count. 

 

ETA: I just realized I’m not doing Abzu for my other event, and I was also thinking about picking up Pinstripe in the latest sale, so, one of those will be my game (since I’m not sure if either fulfill the requirements for the second game). ? I’ve been wanting to play Life Is Strange for awhile, though, so if I can find a physical copy somewhere, I might pick that up for my second game. 

 

Anyway, thanks for doing the event again! I hope a lot of people join in!!! 

Edited April 30, 2022 by TimeLordCrow13y

[Cassylvania]

Always a good one. I'm in.

[Guest]

wow, amazing it's been almost 6 months since the last event, time flies!

[Dzware]

I'm in again. Will have to see what games I have that fit both the badges though?

[DrBloodmoney]

Count me in ☺️

[MissShake]

Damn, I would love to join this, but I'm gonna be out of town for the whole month of May! I hope many people join up this time, this is definitely a favorite event of mine

[s68sc]

Like the last time, I'm join in and i starting with LiS 2 and Psychonauts

[willythom88]

Count me in.  Love this idea.

[Crispy_Oglop]

I missed the last one, but i'm 100% in for this one!

[s68sc]

and I don't know if it count i got FF XIII ready to go. 

[Sylvanticore]

I would like to join this myself! I'm looking over the games I am playing, wanna play and such and coming up a little blank on what to play, Celeste I could do and one I'm uncertain of but looking it up I can see one character is suffering from mental health issues. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens since Kylo Ren suffers from personality disorder. If that one does count I could then use it to get my backside moving and 100% the Skywalker saga too hehe.

[Crispy_Oglop]

11 minutes ago, Sylvanticore said:

I would like to join this myself! I'm looking over the games I am playing, wanna play and such and coming up a little blank on what to play, Celeste I could do and one I'm uncertain of but looking it up I can see one character is suffering from mental health issues. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens since Kylo Ren suffers from personality disorder. If that one does count I could then use it to get my backside moving and 100% the Skywalker saga too hehe.

 I just got done with Lego Star Wars' main episodes and they don't touch on any of that aspect of his character in the Lego games, everything is played for laughs, so it might not be what you are looking for.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Crispy_Oglop

[DrBloodmoney]

I’m not too sure what game to choose for this - a lot of the ones I naturally think of I’ve already done…

 

…but looking at my “bought, but not played” list, I have four in the wings that might(?) suit:

 

Last Stop

The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day

The Longest Road on Earth

Road 96

 

I guess I’ll just play them, and hope one turns out to fit the theme appropriately ?

[Arophous]

I’m in, does Beyond Two Souls count, got half the ? still to earn such as 2 player mode.

[Crispy_Oglop]

If anyone is looking for titles to play as part of this most excellent event, I'd recommend Outlast 2.

It tackles a range of mental health issues like PTSD, anxiety, loss based grief and childhood trauma. It's also a very challenging and very solid standalone horror game in general in my opinion.

I didn't see it on the pre-made list of suggested games in the last event, but I would personally recommend it. I thought was way more interesting and intelligent than the first game and it was an almost profound experience for me. One of those rare games that really stuck with me after I had finished it and made me reflect on my own life and experiences for a long while after, I still think about some of the scenes that occurred in the game.

I will say though, that it's most definitely a harrowing game. Not like the first one, which leaned on supernatural a little too much. Outlast 2 is a bit more mature in what it tackles and there are some truly heavy themes that are explored in there.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Crispy_Oglop

[Mesopithecus]

I'd like to join please   Now to find some shorter plats I can actually finish during May

[Inuty]

I join. Not sure what i should play but maybe a game i will play have the same theme

 

Not sure if i overread it, but is my understanding correct that we will have time until the end of May? @Beyondthegrave07

[Platinum_Vice]

I'd love to join too, please!

 

...now just to figure out what to play... ?

[Mori]

I'm in, love the idea.

[ninjamonkee9900]

Love it. I am in, and I will donate at least $1 for every game completed by this group in May.

[IntroPhenom]

Me too, please. I'm going to keep an eye on this forum for game ideas. 

 

Update: I've settled on Life is Strange. One of the first PS4 games I purchased digitally, and it's sat idle ever since. Fine time to address that.

Edited May 5, 2022 by IntroPhenom

[Caesar Clown]

I'd like to join, is Immortals Fenyx Rising alright? It deals with some pretty serious mental health issues for each "chapter".