Found myself emotionally invested in a company CEO I've never met

[kerou]

Recently, Nintendo's CEO Iwata Satoru died. This is a man that I have never met, talked to or had any meaningful relationship with other than watching his Nintendo Direct Q&A's and playing the games he programmed as a child.

 

When I heard of his death, however, I found myself crying--and I have no idea why

 

I tried doing a lot of reflecting as to why I felt so emotional about it, and the only thing I can come up with is because Iwata had such an integral part to making Nintendo the company that I love. He was a key programmer and designer for a lot of my favorite childhood games (Kirby, SSB, Pokemon, etc). I guess there was a legacy that he left behind that I found so beautiful yet tragic.

 

And so that left me wondering, is part of the reason I found myself so emotional over his death because I could see the legacy of joy he left and felt like I would be lacking in the same way or is it something much more simple?

 

What are you thoughts on weeping for people you have never met? Especially in this case where this was just a guy who ran a company that I liked to give my money to.

[fractional slacker]

That is a touching story. You sound empathetic and in touch with your emotions. Where and how those emotions originate is difficult to ascertain. Obviously, I couldn't say.
From a philosophical perspective, this brings up a contrasting dichotomy or juxtaposition. If a narrative, in this case your high regards for Mr. Satoru, causes an emotional reaction without regards to any empirical emotional connection, what can we say about this reaction?

 

I don't know if that makes any sense. Let me try this. If you had never played Nintendo and knew nothing of Mr. Satoru until you read his biography postmortem, how do you think you would react?

[Tomas van de Wiel]

Hey kerou, what an interesting post!

I can see you have tried to come up with reasons as to why you had this reaction when Iwata died specifically, but my guess is that there's a deeper cause.

You say this was just a guy who ran a company you liked, but that seems to contradict the fact that you has this emotional response to his death, right?

 

What your message reminds me of, is the nostalgic feeling i get when i think about the games a played for whole days since i was very young(in my case Playstation). Although I don't play nearly as much games as then anymore, i'm still very interested in new games coming out and the progression of the industry in general. It's clear that some part of me still has an emotional connection to the game world. The reason why I'm telling this is because in my case this is very logical. Gaming was a way for me to escape real life, the neglect, the boredom, the agression. For years the lives depicted on the screen were substitutes for my own, and the people i played with online were my family(That's how it felt at least).

 

I know this is not an uncommon experience and that games are often used as a way to escape real life and not experience what it is really like. Was this the case for you? Maybe I'm totally off here, but I think it might be helpful to ask yourself why those games are so important to you. If those games gave you something that was of great value to you at the time, more than just amusement, then your sadness would make more sense.

 

Tell me if this was helpful in any way

[MysterionMuffles]

Maybe you're just thankful that he played a hand in making your childhood enjoyable with the games you mentioned. 

[Tomas van de Wiel]

oops, repost

[Artist707]

When I heard the news on reddit, I felt a bit emotional too. I believe it was saddening because I really enjoyed playing pokemon as a child and it was like my parents in a way. This is what I think after Tomas' post. I think I emotionally bonded myself to games and when the creator of those games died, I felt sad. And I think it's natural to feel that sadness when something (or someone realted to the thing) you loved disappears. 

[kerou]

I know this is not an uncommon experience and that games are often used as a way to escape real life and not experience what it is really like. Was this the case for you? Maybe I'm totally off here, but I think it might be helpful to ask yourself why those games are so important to you. If those games gave you something that was of great value to you at the time, more than just amusement, then your sadness would make more sense.

 

Tell me if this was helpful in any way

 

I actually had a very happy childhood, so video games were never a dysfunctional escape for me. However, my brother and I did play a lot of video games together, especially when he got older than 10, we used video games to build our own social circle of friends--good friends. I think there is a certain amount of implicit gratitude I feel towards Nintendo and Iwata for these memories.

These have been very useful thoughts for me, thank you

 

Let me try this. If you had never played Nintendo and knew nothing of Mr. Satoru until you read his biography postmortem, how do you think you would react?

I definitely would not. That's why I was so surprised that I found myself actually weeping at the news and feel so emotional over it. I have never cried over the death of a celebrity or someone who I didn't personally know

 

So this was a very new experience for me--I take solace in the fact that I felt emotional over this man because of the value he provided me and millions of others.

[Alan C.]

I occasionally feel a swell of emotion when I hear about somebody's death who had provided me with joy when I was growing up. I remember feeling emotional when Gary Gygax died. He created Dungeons and Dragons. I also felt like I had been kicked in the stomach when Leonard Nimoy died. Although everyone knew him as Spock, I also remembered him as the host of In Search Of which was one of my favorite shows as a kid. There are probably more, but only those come to mind (especially with LN's being so recent).

[Artist707]

I actually had a very happy childhood, so video games were never a dysfunctional escape for me. However, my brother and I did play a lot of video games together, especially when he got older than 10, we used video games to build our own social circle of friends--good friends. I think there is a certain amount of implicit gratitude I feel towards Nintendo and Iwata for these memories.

These have been very useful thoughts for me, thank you

 

I definitely would not. That's why I was so surprised that I found myself actually weeping at the news and feel so emotional over it. I have never cried over the death of a celebrity or someone who I didn't personally know

 

So this was a very new experience for me--I take solace in the fact that I felt emotional over this man because of the value he provided me and millions of others.

 

Sorry this might be a little bit off topic, but I got really curious when you said you had a "very happy childhood". I got very curious and skeptical when you say this because I generally get a sense that people don't gather in this board if they did in fact had a great childhood. That's just my assumption and it could be wrong, but that's just my impression. So if in fact you did have a great childhood, first I'm immensely jealous, but also I'm curious what value the boards bring for you? 

[MagnumPI]

Something I've always reacted to in similar situations, is that with a negative outlook on the future, I'm always saddened when anyone who is competent or exemplary in their field dies, or loses their company, whatever causes them to stop doing what they do. This, was one of the most profound points in Atlas Shrugged, for me. It's very, very difficult to accept that the best cars, books, movies, clothes(videogames) have already been made. Regardless of whether or not it's true, and probably isn't, I don't think I'm alone in feeling this dread, and I've discussed it with people in my life. They agreed and kind of fell silent afterward. It's probably reflective of such an unstable and volatile present to have such an emotional attachment to the past.

For example, I'm into car so when the F-Type came out, I finally thought... OK, they can still do really cool things, despite the (safety, MPG, emissions, arbitrary alphabet soup dictat)regulation, anti-car sentiment and public's total lack of excitement for actually, really driving . Then they announced a 6-Speed? Fuck yes. I'm getting it. In a sea of bland and beige mediocrity, the exceptional shine that much brighter through the fog. Yeah, yeah, Porsche. But they've been doing the same shit, same designs, same engine for soooo long it's not something new. It's just still doing what's good. Great, good for them, but it's not quite the milestone. However, the day they announce they're in the red, bleeding profits, and shutting the doors, the spigot's going full blast. And that's just the companies that I'm talking about. Not even the people associated with building them.

 

Or it could be less dramatic. Just a change in the times, end of an era type of deal. We're not doing that anymore, now we're going to have to come up with something new.

[kerou]

Sorry this might be a little bit off topic, but I got really curious when you said you had a "very happy childhood". I got very curious and skeptical when you say this because I generally get a sense that people don't gather in this board if they did in fact had a great childhood. That's just my assumption and it could be wrong, but that's just my impression. So if in fact you did have a great childhood, first I'm immensely jealous, but also I'm curious what value the boards bring for you? 

This is a very bizarre sense I've seen a lot on this board. It's not bad, it's just odd that everyone gets skeptical and almost punchy at the mention of a good childhood.

I've made posts in the past about my experience of childhood and my relationship with my parents and brother. You can PM me if you want to chat more about it, I'd be happy to.

 

To answer your question, this board has value to me because I inherently value philosophy, self knowledge and entrepreneurship. To me, the extension of the NAP to childhood is a looked over but not revolutionary concept. I've worked with kids a lot in the past (taught math to 3rd graders and held art classes for elementary kids) so I've always had an interest and love for children. Getting into the psychology aspect of children is fascinating to me since I only studied STEM fields--I never took time to look into psychology--and it turns out I really love it.

[tasmlab]

FWIW, I was bummed too with the news. Zelda has been in the family for about 30 years.