I have been working on Dreamwalker now for quite a while. And I have to say, it has been an eye-opening experience, in ways that you probably wouldn't think.

I have obviously been very excited about my project, it comes from a place of passion after all, and naturally this has included to some extent sharing things about the creation process with my friends and acquaintances. Asking if they would be interested in trying the novel out, to see what I've managed to do. And that sharing is exactly what has lead to some rather unexpected developments, and made me reconsider a lot of things.

I have of course informed people that I absolutely don't expect them to read the whole thing. I understand that not everyone is interested in reading and/or video games, and the people I know probably aren't part of my focus group (I did try to focus on people who I know are readers though). I've told them (and meant it) that I won't be offended if they're not interested. I've just asked people to perhaps try the novel out if they'd like to, because every little bit of feedback would naturally help me greatly. Basically, there have been three types of responses from people: 

1. The most common response: "Oh, that sounds really interesting! I'll be sure to check it out, this "visual novel"-thing is completely new to me, so that alone is enough that I want to see what it's about!". These are always people who have absolutely no intention of ever looking at your work. This is the one that really surprised me. These people never even opened the web page. Is this what political correctness has come to? From saying "Sure dude, yeah yeah, I'll check it out" in a way that you can tell they don't care, we have advanced to this faked false (and to be frank, quite disgusting) enthusiasm? I would have much preferred had they told me they're not interested in reading.

2. Then there is the group of people which (sadly) includes many of my closest friends(?). These people completely ignore everything you say about your project. Nothing gets any kind of reaction, and sometimes I have even seen some hints of hostility. And it's not like I spam them with this every day, or even a week. I'm sure I've gone months without mentioning Dreamwalker. Again, I don't expect that everyone is interested in visual novels, but weren't you supposed to be my friend? Even if you're not interested in the game, is it too much to ask that you could at least try to be supportive?

3. Lastly, there's the rare breed of people, who actually do try your stuff out, even if it's not their "thing". In my personal experience, these are either close relatives, or just awesome supportive friends. This group also seems to include mostly people who are in some way or other creators themselves (but I did have at least one musician, whose tracks I've formerly given my feedback on, jump straight to group #1). The creators in this group have probably experienced this themselves at some point, and their eyes are already open. Or perhaps they are just actual honest people and real friends.

I wonder if this distribution described above applies only to people in my circles, or if this is the common reality nowadays?

Of all the people I asked, there was never anyone that told me they weren't interested in trying out my novel.