It’s pretty common for video games to have low populations of tanks, but adding the full-dive VR element on top of that? Yeah, I get it.
“Do you use any weapons other than your dagger, Mr. Mohawk?”
“I use purification magic and Projectile on the filth! Hyah ha ha ha!”
“Purification magic? Ah, you mean fire spells?”
“I’ve got wind spells to turn up the heat too. For long-range enemies I can’t hit with spells, I’ve got no choice but to use Projectile on the suckers!”
“Are visuals the most important thing for you?”
“Gyah ha ha ha! Damn right! That’s the first thing I think about.”
“He’s a true RPer. He’s playing with self-imposed restrictions.”
“Hee hee hee! But it’s real fun,” he cackles.
“I can tell you’re enjoying yourself, but you really limit yourself that way.”
“No need to think about all that stuff! Sometimes just havin’ a preference is no different than roleplayin’!”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I know this one chick who dresses like a mercenary. She’s got a spear, round shield, and a mace as her secondary weapon. She wears leather armor with chain mail and a big overcoat. She says she’s not playin’ as anyone other than herself, but she just likes dressin’ a certain way. Wouldn’t ya call that RP? She told me she loves that grimy fantasy style!”
“Aaah. In other words, there’s no need to put on a whole performance like you, Mr. Mohawk?”
“Princess is a pretty good example too.”
Yeah, there’re many different forms of RP out there. Some players will create an entire character they perform at all times like Mr. Mohawk. Some players fully become their character through their choice in weapons, armor, and even the way they speak, like Mr. Musasabi.
Other types simply value the setting they’re playing in—in other words, they immerse themselves in the game world. They can maintain their normal personalities that way, but they dress just like any other resident. Mr. Mohawk described the girl as being dressed like a mercenary, but more accurately, you’d probably call her an adventurer, considering I hear they’re who she hangs out with, plus that’s what she registered herself as during the tutorial and everything.
Then there are types like Princess, who adjust their character depending on the time and place. Ah, maybe the group of young ladies fit into that category too…
“I’m gonna go huntin’ now,” Mr. Mohawk tells me. “The young ladies are right over there for ya.”
“Huh? Oh, you’re right!”
“Gyah ha ha ha! Come find me if ya need something else! See ya, Sis!”
So this is the “loud but nice person.” He even laughed really hard when he saw the forum post saying, “This Mohawk guy dresses like a wacko and says really lewd and crazy things. I can’t take it!”
I thank Mr. Mohawk and see him off on his hunting trip.
Next up are the young ladies.
“Hey there, ladies! Do you have time for an interview?”
“A green camera fairy? Does that mean you’re streaming?” Ms. Abby asks.
“Make sure we look nice on camera,” Ms. Eliza demands of her attendant.
“Yes, my lady!”
There’s two young ladies in dresses and two maids! They look so fancy! It’s amazing!
“Please start by introducing yourselves!”
“I’m Eliza. Letty is my attendant.”
“We’re Abby and Dory!” Ms. Abby says next.
“My name’s Yura! It’s nice to meet you all!”
Ms. Letty and Ms. Dory stand silently behind their mistresses. It’s most impressive. These four players truly have a very different atmosphere than everyone else. The only thing that could make it more impressive would be for Princess to be here.
“What’s your relationship with Princess?!”
“We’re childhood friends,” Ms. Eliza replies.
“Our parents visit hers, and that’s when we get to see her!” Ms. Abby adds.
“Oh! Does that mean Princess invited you to join her in this game?”
“No. It looked interesting in all of her videos, so we decided to study abroad.”
“This game isn’t offered overseas yet!” Ms. Abby explains.
“Huh?”
“Excuse me? You’re studying abroad just to play a video game?”
“That’s obviously not the only reason, but the timing worked out.”
“We hadn’t been to Japan in so long!”
“Whoa. You two are actually rich young ladies, aren’t you?”
“I suppose. But we’re dressed like this because we wanted to look a certain way. Oh ho ho ho!”
“LOL, she’s got the high-pitched laughter down. She sounds like a villainess.”
Mr. Mohawk is one of a kind, but these ladies are distinct too. Did she practice that high-pitched laugh? There’s no way that’s her real voice. It can’t be, right?
Yes, she tells me she practiced it. That’s a relief.
“Do you have a concept for your characters?”
“We’re a heroine and a villainess, obviously. Though, that’s just for our appearances. Everything else is the real us.”
“I thought about getting pink hair, but I decided I wanted to have matching drills with Eli!”
“So you have different hairstyles in real life?”
“You can’t wear your hair like this without wires. I don’t want to go to all that work just for this style,” Ms. Abby explains.
Ms. Eliza acts how you’d expect based on her appearance, but Ms. Abby is actually quite forthcoming. How interesting. Perhaps you would describe her more like a realistic heroine rather than the more sly girls you might see in the genre.
“While I have you, there’s something I’d like to ask of you,” Ms. Eliza states.
“Oh? What would that be?” I reply.
“Can’t you find a way to make the Japanese language a little less complex?”
“Yeah, that’s fair.”
“Ah, yes, I hear learning it is quite tricky.”
“Although, we’ve been hearing Japanese since we were little, so it’s easier for us than for most people,” says Ms. Eliza.
“Kanji are naturally complex, but counting numbers is pretty hard too!” Ms. Abby complains.
“Numbers?”
“Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, ku, jyuu,” Ms. Eliza begins.
“And in reverse, it’s jyuu, kyuu, hachi, nana, roku, gou, yon, san, ni, ichi!” Ms. Abby finishes.
“Some people switch up ‘seven’ and ‘four,’ while others don’t,” Ms. Eliza observes.
“Uh, I guess that’s true?”
“Ichi, ni, san, shii, gou, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, jyuu. How’s that? They’re easier to say that way,” I offer.
“But you say ‘ku-ku’ when you’re multiplying nine times nine, right?” Ms. Eliza asks. “You don’t say it as ‘kyuu-kyuu.’”
“Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, tou.”
“I know that one! It’s hi, fu, mi, yo, i, mu, na, ya, ko, to, right?!” Ms. Abby chimed in.
“I’ve never heard anyone do it that way before.”
“I just can’t learn them by ear!”
“That’s a very old way to count,” I explain. “Maybe grandmas would count that way from time to time, but that’s about it.”
“That comes from Yamato kotoba, the native Japanese words. You count years with ‘tose’ and ‘ka’ for days. For a person’s age, being twenty years old is called ‘hatachi,’ which is the one exception to the counting rule.”
“Same for ‘tsuitachi’ when you count days. It means the first day of the month.”
“It’s so much trouble,” Ms. Eliza concludes.
“There’s just so many exceptions!” Ms. Abby adds.
“Ah, come to think of it, you can count using the Hi-Fu-Mi norito or the Iroha poem too, can’t you?”
“And those are just an arbitrary prayer and poem used out of convenience because they don’t repeat any syllables.”
“I see!”
“I’ve heard of the Iroha poem but not the Hi-Fu-Mi norito.”
“I only know the ‘iroha nihoheto’ part!”
“Iroha nihoheto, chinuru wo. I don’t know the rest.”
“Japanese is really great when it comes to expressing something! Lots of words seem the same, but they actually have different nuances! Of course, I’m sure it’s hell if you have to study it intensely though.”
“Japanese is beautiful and unintelligible. Honestly, we don’t really understand it either.”
“Agreed!”
It turned into a discussion of the Japanese language by the end, but that’s fine!
I got to talk to Mr. Cecil, Mr. Mohawk, and the young ladies. It was a great success!
I did more chatting than interviewing, but at least I had fun talking to everyone. Should I give it another shot sometime? I hope I can speak to different people in the future. I didn’t run into Princess, Ms. Kotatsu, or Ms. Mead this time.
Yeah, I’ve gotta do this again. But for now, I’m stopping the stream and heading out for a bit of hunting.