In the first half of this year, "Out of the Circle" of "Detroit: Becoming a Human" dominated the screen on forums and social media for a long time. This game, known for its plot, has made many people remember the male protagonist "Connor Sauce", and even Brian, the actor who took him with him, is on fire. The story of the game's heroine Carla is equally profound and moving, and last month a woman shared her experience inspired by Kara on reddit to get rid of her alcoholic boyfriend.
The woman's username on reddit is "reallifekara" (real-life Kara), a name derived from Carla, one of the main characters in Detroit: The Transformation.
In the game, Carla is a housework bionic who serves todd, a male protagonist with violent tendencies. Todd often angers his daughter Alice for small things, and these violent acts stimulate Carla's motherhood and awaken her to become an abnormal bionic person. To protect Alice, Carla escapes from Todd's house with her.
The "real-life version of Carla" has a similar experience.
She has been in love with her boyfriend for four years and has a child. Having a new life with a lover is the beginning of the next stage of happiness for many people, but her boyfriend has a serious alcohol addiction.
"Whether he was conscious or drunk, he drank all the time." She said. Whenever she was drunk, her boyfriend would smash things and sometimes insult her, and this torture lasted for four years.
During these four years, the "real-life version of Carla" has also tried many times to leave the drunkard. But every time she left, she would hear all kinds of accusations that she shouldn't have left, because her boyfriend didn't physically violence her and the child after he was drunk, but would just swear and smash some things in the house.
The gossip forced her to feel like she was "overreacting," so after leaving again and again, she went back to her alcoholic boyfriend again and again. She fell into a frog-like situation of boiling water, and after a long time, even she would wonder if her boyfriend's alcohol addiction was really no big problem. The "real-life version of Carla" endured this ordeal in silence until the appearance of Detroit: Becoming Human.
Carla and Alice
After buying back Detroit: Becoming Human, she quickly became obsessed with the game, and at that time she didn't realize that her situation was similar to Carla's, but simply thought it was funny. This game makes her look forward to life, and after taking care of her son's diet and living every day, she will use her free time to play for a while.
As the game progresses, Carla gradually discovers that Detroit: The Transformation is subtly influencing her. "Whenever I'm in a terrible situation, the lines from the game come to my mind. And when my boyfriend yells at me and throws things at me, and I cry and get laughed at by him, the voice of my favorite game character will ring in my ears. ”
"Detroit: Becoming Human" became the force that underpinned the "real-life version of Carla" to face the difficulties. The opportunity that made her realize that she was so similar to Carla was Alice's drawing in the game. Those paintings include a little girl whose forehead is injured and bleeding, and there is also a bionic carla scattered on the ground, all of which are caused by violence.
"I began to think, if one day my son also draws this, then what should I do?" Carla began to feel fear. Realizing this, the game plot she is familiar with overlaps with her own encounters: a violent boyfriend who is difficult to communicate, an isolated child, a life without hope... She grew increasingly anxious, and the game seemed to demonstrate for her what kind of pain she and her son would face in the future.
Watching Alice lose her temper as Todd rushes to block the TV, she figures out one thing: if this life continues to be the same, one day her boyfriend will lose control, and then she will not be able to protect her young son from harm.
After starting to play Detroit: Becoming Human, her boyfriend would sometimes watch from the sidelines, and the game's plot also touched the alcoholic.
In the "Night of the Storm" chapter, Carla awakens to her sense of self and escapes with Alice from the tyrannical Todd. The boyfriend who was sitting on the side watching the plot suddenly tentatively asked her: "I should not be as bad as Todd, right?" ”
Apparently, the boyfriend realized that he was actually quite similar to the bad Todd. She didn't answer because she knew that even if it wasn't that bad, her boyfriend's performance was already very close to Todd's.
After controlling Carla and Alice to escape, she woke up like a dream and began to cry uncontrollably. Looking back on these four years, it is precisely because of my weakness and laissez-faire that things have become so bad.
She began to try to make a breakup list, just as the game gives the player options, recording the reasons for leaving her boyfriend one by one. However, out of fear of her boyfriend's violent behavior, she was still hesitant and unable to make up her mind.
The last straw that broke the camel came when her boyfriend went drunk again. That night, her drunken boyfriend punched five big holes in the five doors of the house, and she was fed up with this endless torture, decided not to listen to other people's "you can't leave him" nonsense, and took her son and immediately left this place of right and wrong.
In her opinion, the sub-ending of the death of Carla and Alice in the game is like showing her in advance what kind of abyss the unvirtual self in parallel time and space will fall into with the child, and she has the choice to reverse her fate. She grasps the revelation of this fate and can finally bravely escape the nightmare life of the past.
It is worth mentioning that before the release of Detroit: The Transformation, there were several institutions and associations in the United Kingdom that strongly resisted the plot of Todd killing Alice in the game. In their opinion, setting up child abuse scenes in games for entertainment is simply too perverted.
The "realistic version of Carla" decided to share her story after more than two months of hesitation, just to tell everyone that although "it sounds ridiculous to wake up because of a game", Detroit: Change of Man really changed her.
She said: "I'm glad the game made me realize that I've always had a choice. ”
Perhaps the "real-life Carla" experience could also inspire more people who have suffered from domestic violence, so that they can summon up the courage to say no.