Hi everyone! I'm a PhD student studying asynchronous interactions in digital games. Kind Words is tagged as "Asynchronous Multiplayer" on Steam, and I'm interested in understanding different player perspectives about that aspect of the game.

If you have a few minutes to spare, I'd love to hear your thoughts! In particular, I'm interested in understanding:

• What kind of asynchronous interactions exist in Kind Words and how do they affect the gameplay?
• How do you feel about these interactions and what do they bring to your experience?

You can answer as much or as little as you'd like. Your responses will be anonymized and analyzed as part of a research study. If you decide you'd like to withdraw your responses at any point, just send me a DM. Every contribution is greatly appreciated! If you have any questions, feel free to message me. Thanks! 😀

I’ve had a rough day today and my mental health has been rough the past few days. I really don’t if my brain will let me put the details of it in text that would make sense but I just wanna hear some good news or see smth cute.

It is 2-3 days before my birthday too and really I’m just tired :/

I know I'm a very great person. My mid jest keeps telling me "are you?". Some words from another person will mean the world to me.

I'm finishing (the polish exuivilant to a) middle school. I will definitely get to a good high school (my friends are there). I have the (2nd, that girl literally does not have a life, no offense) best grades in my class. I never in my life had a grade worse than 3 (comparable to like a C). I'm a great swimmer - I've recently won 2 medals in local championships. I'm good at games - I beat Cuphead and Awaria, and I recently reached silver in Valorant. I even live in the great country of Poland 🇵🇱.

I know that I may sound weird. I say so many things about myself. I just don't believe myself.

I’m a senior in college now going to be turning 22 in June. I can admit that high school and college have been the worst years of my life. I grew up a very lonely child I never really fit in with anyone and felt no one really understood me not even my own parents. The only escape I had were comic books and tv, pretending I was Superman made everything easier. It was a way to deal with the loneliness and the very strict parents. I did my best to get through high school although it was very tough. Since I graduated with low grades I had to go to community college. The first two years were even more difficult then high school the loneliness only intensified. I really tried connecting with people but it didn't really go well and so I used my outlets to escape again to just pretend. My third year I transferred to a university and tried very hard to get out of my shell however since everyone had already established their friends and groups there wasn't really any room for me to join in. And now I am entering my fourth year of college. Despite the pain and suffering I have gone through I have very decent grades. Perhaps pretending I was superman helped get through the hard times. Even now I wear a superman shirt and a superman cap just to pretend to be strong for a bit.

This may sound strange but I have felt that I wasted my entire life. I don't quite see how things will get better. I have some clubs I want to join and people that I want to get closer with in my final year but I feel it's too late since I will be spending another birthday alone and having a very lonely summer.

I really could use some uplifting words. My whole life I feel life has been an uphill battle that's getting harder and harder everyday. Pretending to be super isn't working as well as it used too.

I'm scared it's too late to find people I connect with and that it only gets harder from here

You are not hard to love just because life made you careful and cautious Your softness is not gone. It is protected.

There is nothing shameful about needing patience, reassurance, or gentle hands. I know, You are carrying a lot. So please, do not become cruel to yourself, just because the world already has been. You are still worthy of kind things.

Sometimes life acts like you’re carrying ten things at once.

Work, responsibilities, expectations, other people’s moods, your own thoughts… it piles up quietly until one day even small things start to feel overwhelming.

If that’s where you are right now, here’s something worth remembering,

You don’t have to solve everything today.

It’s okay if progress is slow. It’s okay if some days your only achievement is getting through the day itself.

People often talk about strength like it’s something big or impressive, but it looks a lot simpler than that.

Strength can look like getting out of bed when you didn’t feel like it, Replying to a message you’ve been avoiding, Taking a walk when your mind feels crowded, Or just deciding to try again tomorrow,

Small steps still count.

And if today feels messy or unfinished, doesn’t mean you’re failing, you’re human and still moving forward.

That’s more than enough..!

I wanted to get Kind Words 2, and I noticed that the steam keys are like suspiciously cheap. Is this because of a bundle or something?

I'm all for not spending money, but I'd feel bad if the keys were stolen. Should I just wait for a sale?

Ი ༘𐑼when the insinuation is to sell my mind, body, and •ᴥ• soul for the opportunity to maintain the earthly dynamic my better half and I share… dare I say that I almost feel vindicated in my plight?

Alas, as always and forever ~
𐌁𐌵𐌍 𖥧𖤣𖥧𖤣𖥧𖤣𖥧𖤣𖥧𓃹𖥧𖤣𖥧 𖡼𖥧𖡼 ♥

You might not know it. They might never say it out loud. But something you did, a small kindness, a patient moment, a conversation you barely remember, stayed with them longer than you think.

I feel sad. I feel lonely and unloved. Kind words help me a lot 😭

I’m feeling overwhelmed and tired of advice.

Sometimes I don’t need steps, techniques, or solutions.

I just need words that don’t ask anything from me.

If anyone else feels like this today, I just wanted to say:

you’re not broken for needing gentleness.

In every area there's a little floating "cloud" that when u press it, it's like a GIF and its very relaxing (for example in the "snow mountain" area it was shooting star or something like that and in the "Plaza" its called "skyline". I can only find skyline as I have never watched that but all the others are gone. Can I no longer see them after I've seen them once? Thanks in advance!

Hey! New to Kind Words 2(thanks to a generous stranger gifting it to me <3) and one of my favourite features is going out of my room and having short, async conversations with random strangers. Now, I understand how it works from my end(I talk to someone, get a response from them and talk to them for 2-3 messages and the conversation ends), but how would it work if someone initiated a conversation with me? Thanks!

I think that I would like the game but I do not know if it is worth buying the game if there are little to no active players. Your feedback is appreciated!

I couldn't get into the game. Listening to other peoples' problems just gave me too much stress. It also didn't help that most of the letters were from students and their problems with relationships, grades, concentration, etc, felt quaint and far removed from my own concerns as an older adult.

You make life softer for someone, even if you don’t realize it.
Just wanted to leave that here in case you needed to hear it.

I just graduated College a few months ago, and have been using my lifetime savings of 7k dollars in the stock market, and I've steadily grown them into 17k through careful strategy up until yesterday. Today, I've lost all of it in the mini crash, ended up panick-selling and now my dad is furious at me for wasting money (he's calming down over time).

I honestly just feel in need for some encouragement, anything really. I'm just feeling quite down after losing all the work i've done. The stress the stock market has induced on me for the past few weeks has made all food extremely unappealing and downright agonizing to eat, I often feel like vomiting, and like there is a lot of pent up negativity within me that I don't know how to vent. I can't even cry or do any emotional venting, I just feel like throwing up what little I've managed to eat today.

Well, that's pretty much it, thanks for reading, hope you have a great day.

Not sure if this is the place but I've adored this community for ever so long and wanted to share this message i found that i wrote a year ago to me, now or whenever in the future. Hoping it helps another like it did for me. <3

Hello everyone! I've recently been posting venting points to allow people to write what's on their minds without necessarily receiving a reply, but I haven't received any replies in the last few days. Is there a limit to the number of Make a Request posts a person can make to avoid spam, for example?

I wish I could be friends with C, their energy is peak chaotic good

Am I the only one who has been receiving responses to ask ChatGPT for help?