Writing short sighted MCs

[lirvothethird]

When I read, I usually find that maybe 1/1000 MCs have short sightedness. Of course, if they are short sighted it usually translates into complete blindness. Writing without sight is very hard so they somehow get their vision back in like 2 chapters. How does a MC with glasses work? They are inherently at a huge disadvantage in fights, making them only pop up in like urban style novels. Could a MC that wears glasses work in an action novel? One way I would describe my sight is that without glasses, it's like setting the render distance on low.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Learn drunken Monkey and focus on getting in close. Drunken monkey teaches you your inner ear and eyes lie to you. You learn to tell which way is down by feeling it in your arms, legs and gut. This is why they sway so much. You need to keep moving in order to tell which way is "down" so you can do all those fancy moves. By learning to ignore your senses and fight on impulse, you basically don't need to see, or even have a sense of balance. Having a "vague blury outline" of the target is enough for Drunken Monkey.

 

[lirvothethird]

Learn drunken Monkey and focus on getting in close. Drunken monkey teaches you your inner ear and eyes lie to you. You learn to tell which way is down by feeling it in your arms, legs and gut. This is why they sway so much. You need to keep moving in order to tell which way is "down" so you can do all those fancy moves. By learning to ignore your senses and fight on impulse, you basically don't need to see, or even have a sense of balance. Having a "vague blury outline" of the target is enough for Drunken Monkey.

Blind people are said to have 'enhanced' senses because of the lack of sight, so something based like that?

 

[Corty]

I am also shortsighted. Are you really shortsighted?

Being someone who needs glasses doesn't mean you can't see what the fuck is happening. If it means that, then you are legally blind and not shortsighted. It means that without glasses, good luck reading signs because the worse your eyesight is, the sooner the letters turn into splotches and squiggly lines. It doesn't mean I can't recognize a human body, a car, or a wardrobe. This means that the details are blurry, and I need to get close to see them clearly. Hell, it meant that as a kid, I recognized people from afar, not by their faces but by the way they walked and held their posture.

Edit:

In a fight, it wouldn't make a difference because you still can see what is coming your way; you might just mistake a knife for a spoon. If you see a human body as an amalgamation of a mass without shape or form and by that, you fail to recognize an incoming punch, once again, you are not shortsighted. You are blind.

 

[LilRora]

I think it could be really cool to have a mage that uses lenses (metal magic? water magic? light magic?) to work around their poor eyesight. You could have a shortsighted mage be the greatest seer in the world because he had to learn to make lenses with his magic to see properly.

It's definitely possible to have a shortsighted character, you just need to think a bit how they would work around their issues - sometimes you just need to step outside the box, and remember that in most cases sidestepping the problem and finding a workaround is far easier than solving it.

Also I think what many people forget is that the people that get a kind of blurry outline when they look at things are extreme cases. The vast majority of people who are shortsighted and use glasses have problems with seeing details from the distance, not objects.

 

[Fariy]

For writing a character with glass note that’s because of them their clear vision is limit more than an other character. That means the less likely to notice something at the side of their vision without turning the head. Basically it might be easier to hide from them.

Taking away the glass might even be a win condition for an enemy. On the other hand it might be to get to the glass to see better.

Also the Character might want to learn to better use their other senses.

As for character who don‘t think they action through the might be in for a rude awakening when something goes wrong because of their actions

 

[lirvothethird]

I am also shortsighted. Are you really shortsighted?

Being someone who needs glasses doesn't mean you can't see what the fuck is happening. If it means that, then you are legally blind and not shortsighted. It means that without glasses, good luck reading signs because the worse your eyesight is, the sooner the letters turn into splotches and squiggly lines. It doesn't mean I can't recognize a human body, a car, or a wardrobe. This means that the details are blurry, and I need to get close to see them clearly. Hell, it meant that as a kid, I recognized people from afar, not by their faces but by the way they walked and held their posture.

Edit:

In a fight, it wouldn't make a difference because you still can see what is coming your way; you might just mistake a knife for a spoon. If you see a human body as an amalgamation of a mass without shape or form and by that, you fail to recognize an incoming punch, once again, you are not shortsighted. You are blind.

My vision is like -7.00 on both sides, no glasses makes anything past like 20cm away from my eyes as blurry. Anything small or thin is pretty hard to see, meaning a needle flying at me is invisible. But I can notice moving things easily.

 

[Nolff]

When I read, I usually find that maybe 1/1000 MCs have short sightedness. Of course, if they are short sighted it usually translates into complete blindness. Writing without sight is very hard so they somehow get their vision back in like 2 chapters. How does a MC with glasses work? They are inherently at a huge disadvantage in fights, making them only pop up in like urban style novels. Could a MC that wears glasses work in an action novel? One way I would describe my sight is that without glasses, it's like setting the render distance on low.

Ahh... Now that you mentioned this, I should add some moments where Alf wipes his glasses.

When I read, I usually find that maybe 1/1000 MCs have short sightedness. Of course, if they are short sighted it usually translates into complete blindness. Writing without sight is very hard so they somehow get their vision back in like 2 chapters. How does a MC with glasses work? They are inherently at a huge disadvantage in fights, making them only pop up in like urban style novels. Could a MC that wears glasses work in an action novel? One way I would describe my sight is that without glasses, it's like setting the render distance on low.

They're not at huge disadvantages, IMO. It's not that they can barely see, it's about can they predict movement with blurry vision. I've gotten into situations that require me to take off my glasses (pillow fights, etc). Your short-sightedness is more of an inconvenience. And that's it unless your eye-sight is so bad 144P video quality feels like a huge difference.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Blind people are said to have 'enhanced' senses because of the lack of sight, so something based like that?

No.

What happens if you pay attention to other cues. The human brain is 99% automated. You create subroutines and then the you that makes you "you" chooses to activate those subroutines.

People who ignore traditional senses and work with other senses set up WAY MORE automatically triggered subroutines then normal people, so it SEEMS like they have enhanced senses, but they just have better attack and defend subroutines out of necessity and stress on the system.

Anyone who starts young enough can do this shit. Being blond doesn't make your other senses better, you just pay attention to them and use non traditional triggers for automated responses.


Edit: blind was autocorrected to blond.

I'm leaving it in because it's funny.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

When the Mc enters a warm room when (s)he's been outside, if there is a large temperature difference, they can't see anything because their glasses fog up. When looking at lights without glasses, they look like fuzzy splodges. If something hits their head, their glasses have a possibility of falling off, and then they have to pick them up.

If the MC's pair of glasses are old, the screws on the side of the glasses come loose often. The MC has to tighten the screws once a week or risk one of the glasses' lens falling off.

Whenever the MC takes off a shirt/jumper, they always remove their glasses first, otherwise their glasses may fall off while removing the shirt/jumper. The same things holds for putting on a shirt/jumper, although its less likely the glasses fall off.

And MCs with glasses may struggle to use telescopes, microscopes, binoculars, or anything else that requires pressing your eye up to something.

Basically, it's a minor inconvenience. Unless Their trying to shoot down something with a bow or gun and forgot to bring their glasses with them.

 

[RepresentingDesire]

No.

What happens if you pay attention to other cues. The human brain is 99% automated. You create subroutines and then the you that makes you "you" chooses to activate those subroutines.

People who ignore traditional senses and work with other senses set up WAY MORE automatically triggered subroutines then normal people, so it SEEMS like they have enhanced senses, but they just have better attack and defend subroutines out of necessity and stress on the system.

Anyone who starts young enough can do this shit. Being blond doesn't make your other senses better, you just pay attention to them and use non traditional triggers for automated responses.


Edit: blind was autocorrected to blond.

I'm leaving it in because it's funny.

I think you're right but it still seems quite possible that the lack of a sense allows the brain to allocate more synapses to other senses, the brain has a limit on activity, full brain activity is called stroke, but I'm no neurologist.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Timeloop MC are usually short sighted by the nature of their power, as they focus more on instant reaponse and relust they searched for, while the long tern effect are usually just an afterthought, or something to be fixed in another loop if possible.