This is long. Sorry in advance!
I do a weekly radio show that I prepare material for ahead of time, and I've recently taken to having this game open as a way of providing some entertainment/positive reinforcement for the work that I do which can get a little repetitive or intellectually draining at times. I broadly like what I've experienced so far, but I have a couple of gripes, both around Aya's interpretation of time.
Because of my show's schedule, I only open the game once a week. I then have it open probably for about nine or ten hours straight. I just got chastised for apparently "slacking off", presumably because of how far apart my sessions are. Maybe I'm taking this game too seriously, but this incident has pissed me off, and I've closed the game and very possibly may not play it this week in the hopes that that will teach her something about not holding others to her own standards without them agreeing to such standards first.
I can think of two possibilities for why this scene is in the game. First, this may be something everyone gets in order to give Aya more depth as a character and make her feel more realistic. If that's the case, genuinely good job, because I'm actually kind of mad at her.
Second, this may indeed be an indication that I'm not playing the game as often as intended. If that's the case, I think that's a pretty limited scope of intention. My work schedule isn't the same as a student's study schedule, and I'm not particularly inclined to have the game open while I'm not working because I think I would lose my association of the game with work, and it would stop helping me keep my concentration when working. I would prefer to have an option to set my weekly "study"/work schedule with Aya (by clicking on the calendar behind her, maybe?), so she knows what to expect, and possibly an option to disable Aya's expectations of how often you have the game open entirely.
My other annoyance is that closing the game and then reopening it gets an annoyed comment as well, something to do with "not taking it seriously" because the game wasn't open long enough last time. I think this is a poor metric for that assessment. Consider that Aya regularly leaves her desk to go clear her head, or get a snack. Why shouldn't I be able to indicate that I'm doing the same by closing the game and reopening it when I come back? I think that a better metric for "how seriously is the player working" would be a count of how long the game has been running across all sessions within the last 24-48 hours. That way, if I need to step away and don't want Aya to time out when she asks how work is going (which feels kind of rude on my part, frankly), I can just close the game and reopen it when I get back. If you'd rather still have "closing the game" mean "work is done for the day", then another post-it near the Exit one to indicate "BRB" or something could serve a similar, satisfactory purpose.
I also have more of a comment than a gripe. I would enjoy if Aya could give me the occasional hint on how to unlock new items in the store. I'm still on the first three items only, and I've had the game running for at least eight hours once a week for the last five weeks. I've clicked on everything I can think of. I'm stumped! I'm not asking for the answers on a silver platter, of course (though I wouldn't turn that down), because the idea of discovering the new items does sound fun. But a nudge or two in the right direction every now and then would be welcome.
And the only wish I can really think of would be more music on the radio! I found out about this project from being a fan of brutalmoose, so I know this wish is mostly up to him, but the songs in the game are good, they just repeat a little too quickly for my taste. That would be helped by having more of them! That, or integration with local media files on my computer or services like YouTube Music, SoundCloud, internet radio, etc. That would be cool as well. It'd be pretty amusing if I could find and plug in a playlist of Radio New Vegas songs and have actual DJ announcements from Mr. New Vegas, haha.
I'm very happy with the game, and it has definitely made my weekly news grind less foreboding. I would enjoy it even more if some of my feedback could be taken on board. Thanks for making it and for reading my thoughts!