Other Me: A Visual Novel Accompanied by a Digital Comic on Breaking Down the Experiences and Stigma of Having Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Abstract

This thesis paper studies how a certain disease called Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV can affect a person’s way of living, relationships as well as their mental and emotional state. In cases like this, we tend to focus more on science and physical wellness. Certainly, that’s not a bad thing, but the researchers wanted to show that a disease could destroy not just a person’s physical body but also their minds, emotions and life in general. For them, it’s necessary to give the same attention and care to these things. The researchers created a visual novel (interactive storytelling video) and a digital comic that tells two different stories of “Andres”. For the visual novel, the story is about the blossoming relationship of Andres and an HIV positive person that he meets online. For the digital comic, the story tells more mature themes— Andres’ relationship, deceit, depression and coping up. With this kind of project, the researchers believe that it can spread awareness and somehow can give viewers knowledge and idea that these things happen and it’s important to recognize them. The project is very applicable and timely since it is in the form of digital media, and usually media and online resources are the most used outlet of people nowadays.