Why would anyone choose Gommage?

[Serasin]

Just started the game. Still in the prologue. But why would anyone choose Gommage rather than trying to go out and do something? There's even an NPC that's like "My father chose expedition rather than an extra year with me" WHY does that make you upset? If there's even a slight chance he could make a difference, wouldn't that be better than just waiting 1 single extra year for your inevitable death?

And the woman you know at the festival is all "Yeah. I choose gommage. Maybe denial (or whatever word it she said) is true happiness. And The Paintress can't take that from me"
I wanted to stab that lady. Holy crap. idk, I just don't understand.
Maybe someone can explain it to me? The mentality that someone has to have to not want to try something, anything, to fight back.

[eRe4s3r]

Because 51 expeditions prior, ALL better equipped with FAR more men and women, failed catastrophically with ZERO communication back....

[WZ]

they are resigned to their fate is all, many believe expeditions are doomed to fail
some are willing to gamble their last year away on the off chance / just in case
but many think "we're all doomed, might as well enjoy every minute we got left"
objectively the expedition is the right choice, but objectivity isn't part of this
humans will come to accept almost any horror with enough repetition & time

[Serasin]

I suppose so. It's just not a feeling I can really understand myself.

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by eRe4s3r:

Because 67 expeditions prior, ALL better equipped with FAR more men and women, failed catastrophically with ZERO communication back....

Act 3 spoilers. There weren't 67 expeditions. The first expedition after 00 was 84. There also were people that came back. To be fair though, before Maelle there was no chance that an expedition would ever be able to kill the paintress. Also since the paintress is not responsible for the erasure, they would have all died no matter what.

[Stone IV]

At this point of the story, everyone is just tired and most likely had given up.

[DaylightDemon]

going on an expedition is just as much of a death sentence. if you are no fighter or adventurous type, you might aswell enjoy life while it lasts within the safe heaven that is lumiere. i can understand it. i think i too would think twice if i really want to face the horrors of what lies beyond for all i know or just live life to the fullest until the gommage.

[drackmire2]

Gommage wasn't a choice. Everyone was dying the year of their gommage regardless. Not everyone had families, and many wanted to try and find a way to stop it from happening before the entire population was just dead by expedition 15-20, at which point there wouldn't be anyone strong enough to stop the Paintress.

[eRe4s3r]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Originally posted by eRe4s3r:

Because 67 expeditions prior, ALL better equipped with FAR more men and women, failed catastrophically with ZERO communication back....

Act 3 spoilers. There weren't 67 expeditions. The first expedition after 00 was 84. There also were people that came back. To be fair though, before Maelle there was no chance that an expedition would ever be able to kill the paintress. Also since the paintress is not responsible for the erasure, they would have all died no matter what.

Yikes, you are right. It was 51 ~.~ Got me conffuddled with another number there

[Miro Fox]

Originally posted by eRe4s3r:

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Act 3 spoilers. There weren't 67 expeditions. The first expedition after 00 was 84. There also were people that came back. To be fair though, before Maelle there was no chance that an expedition would ever be able to kill the paintress. Also since the paintress is not responsible for the erasure, they would have all died no matter what.

Yikes, you are right. It was 51 ~.~ Got me conffuddled with another number there

not to mention that only Maelle is able to go into the monolith because of who she is. the big statue woman that does the animation of painting, is just her avatar made of stone and paint

[Rubyeyed]

Well OP, not everybody has the guts for it. The choice is basically this: 1 - go f knows where to try and kill a monster lady. 2 - fade away painlessly at home.

irl plenty of people would have picked option 2. Especially if there were so many prior attempts and all failed. Morale would be rather low and people feeling rather hopeless.

I was more concerned with that one guy who picked option 3 - join a paintress cult/religion and hope for the best.

[Estellese]

Learned Helplessness. -> https://www.simplypsychology.org/learned-helplessness.html

Learned helplessness is a psychological state in which an individual, after repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events, believes they are powerless to change their situation, even when opportunities to do so arise.

This leads to passivity, decreased motivation, and a sense of hopelessness, which can persist even when circumstances change and control is possible.

Learned helplessness is often associated with depression.

After all the previous expeditions failed, the general public succumbed to 'learned helplessness' and stopped trying. That is a very, very oversimplified version of it. But that's a big part of it.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by Serasin:

If there's even a slight chance he could make a difference, wouldn't that be better than just waiting 1 single extra year for your inevitable death?

How would you know there's any chance of making a difference, given every expedition to date was a failure?

Maybe someone can explain it to me?

Sophie does that for you in the prologue when she describes the expeditions as 'a bloodless guillotine'. If it's a death sentence either way, would you rather die in comfort at home surrounded by the people you care about, or torn limb from limb by Nevrons?

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by Miro Fox:

Originally posted by eRe4s3r:

Yikes, you are right. It was 51 ~.~ Got me conffuddled with another number there

not to mention that only Maelle is able to go into the monolith because of who she is. the big statue woman that does the animation of painting, is just her avatar made of stone and paint

That's incorrect. Expeditions 00, 70 and 60 made it into the monolith.