it's nice that the genre framework of a mass-produced action novel tend to gamify empathy, isn't it? makes human interaction so easy to understand. if you choose an incarnation to raise, you can see your understanding of them increase, and watch their power levels grow as their bonds with others increase. save a person, and they are in your debt. play on their traumas you already understand, and you can earn their loyalty. this action earns you an ally, this one an enemy. human hearts reduced down to words on a page, skills, stats, bonds, understanding that can be used to borrow their skills.
makes it simple for kim dokja, a man who has next to no practical experience with deep human bonds, to comprehend how people work, doesn't it?
#narrates#orv#kind of an evil post here. raven's been pointing out the commodification of empathy#and how kim dokja's skills specifically tend to engender a mindset where other people are tools he can used#while she's been reading orv for the first time#rly got me thinking.#when the only framework you have for understanding the world still gives you a starting place for empathy#but is still a little bit fucked in how it functions ‼️‼️‼️‼️