Super Happy Love Award: positivity and video games

Each blogging award is truly valued. To show my appreciation, I’ll usually devote an entire post to one of the questions posed by the nominator rather than answer the entire set. This gives me the chance to write a unique article and dedicate it to them to properly thank them.

But every now and again, an award comes along where it feels right to not do this and instead follow the rules to the letter. This is the case with the Super Happy Love Award received from Emily at Monsterlady’s Diary recently (thanks so much!). Following the nomination track backwards reveals it was a tag created to heal the internet: as shared by Pinkie from Pinkie’s Paradise, we should give love to those who deserve it and praise the individuals who have done something important for us.

There’s so much going on in the world right now and we could all use a little more positivity. It’s an important message so that’s why I’m going to stick to the guidelines and not be a rebel for once. Here we go…

The rules

Thank the person who tagged you

Share the original post

Display the Super Happy Love logo in your response post and share the rules

Answer at least two of the following six prompts

Tag six bloggers for the Super Happy Love Award

In addition, everyone who leaves a lovely comment on your response post is also nominated to help keep the positivity going

Prompt 1: tell us about a person you love

There’s only one person who has my heart completely. They make me smile whenever they walk into a room; we have interesting conversations every day; and they show me affection to let me know they want me around. You know who it is: our cat Zelda. She’s never far away and is usually trying to sit on my keyboard while I blog, when she’s not appearing in our streams and stealing the show. I guess my husband Pete and stepson Ethan are alright too, because they make me laugh with their stupid songs and give me chocolate.

Prompt 2: write something about a fandom or a franchise you love

There’s nothing else I could write about for this answer other than the adventure genre of video games. I guess you could say that Later Levels is one big love-letter to them; I’ve been playing since discovering The Secret of Monkey Island as a kid and point-and-clicks will always have a special place in my heart. I know that many will say the genre is on its way out, but storytelling is such an important part of being ‘human’ that it won’t ever die completely and will simply continue to evolve. Long live the adventure game!

Prompt 3: tell us something about a character you love

Murray from the Monkey Island series may have had his body blown to pieces by a cannon but did he let it hold him back? No. Many would have been crushed by this tragic accident but my favourite skull turned it into the opportunity he’d been waiting for: to become a demonic overlord and conquer the land of the living. Despite his reduced state, he still considers himself to be an object of pure evil and dreams of spreading chaos throughout the Caribbean – showing that sometimes all you need to get you places is a positive mental attitude.

Prompt 4: tell us something about a piece of music you love

I adore the To The Moon series and get tears in my eyes whenever I hear Everything’s Alright by Laura Shigihara. The words beautifully encapsulate how difficult it can be to explain to someone just how much you love them, and how if you have that special person next to you then everything is going to be ok. The third instalment in the series, The Imposter Factory, is due to be released later this year and I can’t wait to play it; expect a marathon stream of all the titles (and a few Twitch tears) when that happens.

Prompt 5: show us why you love a piece of media so much

I played Eastshade a year ago and it’s now one of my favourite games, thanks to the way it tackles the RPG genre. When you look at the individual parts of a painting in real life, it’s easy to notice some tiny imperfections but look at that piece of art from afar to take in its entirety, and it’s amazing; that’s just how I feel about this release. I’m not sure I’ve ever had such a peaceful and relaxing gaming experience which lasted over 15 hours, and would highly recommend it to anyone who needs to escape for a little while.

Prompt 6: write something about yourself that you love

This prompt is the hardest because it’s far easier to write something positive about those you love than yourself. I thought long and hard about an answer, but still couldn’t come up with one. It turns out I’m still figuring ‘me’ out and you know what? That’s ok. It shows that there’s still room to grow and improve regardless where you are in your life, and there are always new things to discover at any age. That means there’s more to look forward to in the future – including many video games.

The tags

These six awesome people have kept me sane during the UK lockdown over the past month. I’d like to thank them for the conversations, streams and memes, and for putting up with Pete’s singing!

Solarayo from Ace Asunder

Luke from Hundstrasse

Jett from In Third Person

Dan from nowisgames.com

Teri-Mae from Sheikah Plate

The Gaming Diaries

And that’s the Super Happy Love Award done! Thanks once again to Emily from Monsterlady’s Diary for the nomination, and to everyone in the WordPress community for supporting each other during these difficult times. Let’s continue that positivity and get through this together.