Delicious Fruit
Download Game Screenshots
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by Dog
8 Reviews:
Cthaere
One of the biggest follies of human nature is the thirst for mastery over knowledge, of being confident that we can bind the phenomena we experience in boxes of simple terms and chains of mathematical formulae, in which many tiny yet important nuances are discarded aside in the pursuit of coming up with easy to understand theories. As the famous Greek philosopher Diogenes has shown us with his plucked chicken so long ago, trying to define complex concepts using simple, common labels is a futile effort, doomed to fail. This game stands as a beacon to this immutable fact of nature, that definitions and labels are imperfectly designed.
From the very name, this game seeks to make itself a critique of the Avoidance label. The avoidance tag on DelFruit is the second most used one, right behind Needle, with nearly 2700 games at the time of writing this. However, I have more than once rolled a game with the avoidance tag, only for it to be an adventure in which the avoidance plays a minor role. Even NANG, a nearly pure needle game, has the avoidance tag for what amount for 0.5% of the game's contents. These ventures have lead me to the distrust of the tag. After all, the needle tag is far more straightforward, as needle tends to be the bulk of content screen-wise (if not time-wise or development-wise) and so adventures can get away with the needle tag a lot more easily. Seeing the amount of games that wouldn't qualify for the avoidance tag for the average person's purposes but do technically have avoidance-based content, this game seeks to deliberately stretch the line and join that list: A single fruit is moving slowly across the screen, satisfying the requirement for moving projectiles, which is a key element in avoidances.
While my definition of art may not align with yours, I will say that this is one of the few games that, even if they may not be art, are definitely close to it. Very few games exist to make a statement, many of which have had large controversies around them: Volatile Presence, Independent State of Taiwan, and Desert Bus all have an underlying statement to them, some more blatant than others. These provide internal fangame community critique, commentary on global affairs, or even a statement of the human's perception of their surrounding, of their mental fortitude and psyche. This game, by virtue of existing for making a statement, stands among these games as equal.
Unfortunately, Delicious Fruit has been made to be a review site. A site in which members give their subjective opinions on games, and try to use common language so that the subjective feelings of one translates over to others. While there are many games tagged as avoidance that most people would disagree on, the reviewers who chose to give them said tag believe that they do qualify, and so as a subjective review site, these deserve to stand... Or do they?
Generally, I fully believe that people have the right to form their thoughts on a game, so long as they do so in good faith, even if these thoughts stand against the experiences of everyone else. However, these thoughts have to be formed and expressed; Abnormally high or low reviews for otherwise mediocre games should be accompanied by the reasoning for them, lest ratings become a tool to promote or hide games on any person's whim. To this end, I believe that abnormal tags are no exception, and should be accompanied by a justifying review. If you can make a good faith argument that can convince me that you truly believe that the avoidance in NANG is a significant enough part of the content to deserve the tag, I would have no problem with it.
To add a small, final comment, I fully believe that the issues posed by the game can have adequate solutions, even if no steps have been taken for it. With a small change to rules and more moderation, with a more comprehensive community code agreement when it comes to reviews, or even with the high-tech features of the mythical DelFruit 2 (which I hope takes into consideration issues raised by the community about delfruit, even if not all of them end up being implemented), we can provide an answer.
On that note, I would like to thank the game for providing the perfect platform for talking about these issues, which have been on my mind for quite a while. While some may view it as a cynical joke, I for one would like to see more games of this nature, as they draw attention to themselves and thus create a space for having these discussions.
[18] Likes
From the very name, this game seeks to make itself a critique of the Avoidance label. The avoidance tag on DelFruit is the second most used one, right behind Needle, with nearly 2700 games at the time of writing this. However, I have more than once rolled a game with the avoidance tag, only for it to be an adventure in which the avoidance plays a minor role. Even NANG, a nearly pure needle game, has the avoidance tag for what amount for 0.5% of the game's contents. These ventures have lead me to the distrust of the tag. After all, the needle tag is far more straightforward, as needle tends to be the bulk of content screen-wise (if not time-wise or development-wise) and so adventures can get away with the needle tag a lot more easily. Seeing the amount of games that wouldn't qualify for the avoidance tag for the average person's purposes but do technically have avoidance-based content, this game seeks to deliberately stretch the line and join that list: A single fruit is moving slowly across the screen, satisfying the requirement for moving projectiles, which is a key element in avoidances.
While my definition of art may not align with yours, I will say that this is one of the few games that, even if they may not be art, are definitely close to it. Very few games exist to make a statement, many of which have had large controversies around them: Volatile Presence, Independent State of Taiwan, and Desert Bus all have an underlying statement to them, some more blatant than others. These provide internal fangame community critique, commentary on global affairs, or even a statement of the human's perception of their surrounding, of their mental fortitude and psyche. This game, by virtue of existing for making a statement, stands among these games as equal.
Unfortunately, Delicious Fruit has been made to be a review site. A site in which members give their subjective opinions on games, and try to use common language so that the subjective feelings of one translates over to others. While there are many games tagged as avoidance that most people would disagree on, the reviewers who chose to give them said tag believe that they do qualify, and so as a subjective review site, these deserve to stand... Or do they?
Generally, I fully believe that people have the right to form their thoughts on a game, so long as they do so in good faith, even if these thoughts stand against the experiences of everyone else. However, these thoughts have to be formed and expressed; Abnormally high or low reviews for otherwise mediocre games should be accompanied by the reasoning for them, lest ratings become a tool to promote or hide games on any person's whim. To this end, I believe that abnormal tags are no exception, and should be accompanied by a justifying review. If you can make a good faith argument that can convince me that you truly believe that the avoidance in NANG is a significant enough part of the content to deserve the tag, I would have no problem with it.
To add a small, final comment, I fully believe that the issues posed by the game can have adequate solutions, even if no steps have been taken for it. With a small change to rules and more moderation, with a more comprehensive community code agreement when it comes to reviews, or even with the high-tech features of the mythical DelFruit 2 (which I hope takes into consideration issues raised by the community about delfruit, even if not all of them end up being implemented), we can provide an answer.
On that note, I would like to thank the game for providing the perfect platform for talking about these issues, which have been on my mind for quite a while. While some may view it as a cynical joke, I for one would like to see more games of this nature, as they draw attention to themselves and thus create a space for having these discussions.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Jun 24, 2021
aliceNobodi
"On the floor, I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting." -Jackson Pollock
[2] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 1 1
Jun 24, 2021