#MC is meta

[wwillywonka]

rewatching where no man has gone before and it's wild how different spock's characterisation is in this versus the rest of the series. like i know logically (haha) that the episode was so early that the show and nimoy didn't really have a grasp on the character yet (made evident by the "one of my ancestors married a human woman" line), but it also strikes me that this is technically kirk's first episode in timeline (production) order, meaning jim and spock have barely started to get to know each other. it's obvious from the chess game that they're already very close and likely have been joined at the hip since their very first meeting, so i like to think that spock is almost, ya know, giddy at this point, adjusting to the comforting warmth and joy and security he feels just by being around jim all the time because it's all so new, because he's never had anything like this before. spock likes jim so much and so immediately and wants to get to know him better and feels safe enough around him to let jim get to know him better, too. the interaction at the end, "i felt for him, too" and "there might be some hope for you yet, mr. spock." followed by a very not-subtle, fond smile from our dear vulcan first officer, just stands out so much against the rest of the series. young spock and his brand new blossoming crush for his captain and he hasn't gotten to the point where he's afraid of those feelings yet, just basking in how nice it feels to have a proper friend. so damn cute. it fills me with butterflies.

[qqchurch]

dungeon farming economy setting with a healer girl MC suffering crippling boredom due to her subclass being inefficient for the most effective farming parties so she's stuck guiding noobs over and over again on the upper levels

then she meets this absolutely unhinged berserker woman that's bleeding all over the place but damn she's good at fighting and it turns out she needs a healer that can work with her that isn't one of the pansy barrier healers that the meta teams want and noone wants a berserker because they're insane and get stronger the closer to death they are, which barrier healers can't help because they're designed for preventing damage and topping off whatever slips past their mitigation. MC's healer class is fucking awesome at sustain and keeping people from dying but all the meta parties use classes and equipment that rely on constantly being topped off, which she can't do because she mostly has beefy heals and defense buffs

so, seeing nothing else to do, MC and Zerker go dungeon diving and after a rocky start, they hit off immediately because MC is actually insanely fight-happy and just wants the rush of a good fight, while Zerker is partly a masochist and partly doing this as a coping mechanism

and thus they become badasses that get further down the dungeon than anyone else in recent history all through sheer gumption, spite, and a looooooot of hyperviolence

oh, and they have hot sloppy yuri sex, can't forget that

[bellshazes]

dreaming up a syllabus for an imaginary course on metanarratives about gameplay, which i think would go something like:

unit 1: who do you think you are i am - auto-documentary & games

Vlogs and the Hyperreal, Folding Ideas

The Slow Death of Let's Play Videos, Meraki (to ~10:00)

World Record Progression: Mike Tyson, Summoning Salt

ROBLOX_OOF.mp3, hbomberguy

Life as a Bokoblin: A Zelda Nature Documentary, Monster Maze

optional: Braindump on the History of Let's Plays, slowbeef

unit 2: what like it's hard? - intro to challenge narratives

Chapter 26: Games as Narrative Play: Two Structures for Narrative Play, Rules of Play

A different kind of challenge run: Minimalist 100% (BOTW), Wolf Link

Surviving 100 Days on Just Dirt, Mogswamp

Can You Beat DARK SOULS III with Only Firebombs, the Backlogs

Is it Possible to Beat Super Mario 3D World while permanently crouching?, Ceave Gaming

The Pacifist Challenge - Beating Hollow Knight Without Collecting Soul [CHALLENGE] - Sample

optional: How to 100% Snowpeak Ruins in under 15 minutes, bewildebeest

unit 3: nelly you don't understand, i AM the narrative - form and function

The Future of Writing about Games, Jacob Geller

Can You Beat GRIME Without Weapons?, the Backlogs

Mushroom Kingdom Championships, Ceave Gaming

My Life as a Barber in Hitman 2, MinMax (Leo Vader)

MyHouse.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod, PowerPak

optional: Mega Microvideos, Matthewmatosis

the theme and structure is mostly intended to introduce at least one critical or historically contextual work followed by examples of the type of narrative in question.

in unit 1, this is the idea of "How do people talk about their own experiences in the context of YouTube and playing video games?" across three rather different kinds of documentaries. unit 2 is intended to take that lens of who is telling what tale and dial in on challenge running, where i first noticed the way some videos turn the story of overcoming a challenge into its own narrative that is distinct from but related to the narrative events of the game itself. unit 3 circles back to the bigger picture with a variety of examples that, to me, are maximally metanarrative, the emergent story of the player-narrator now functionally replacing the game's embedded narrative.

bonus unit: broken narratives

Glitch & the Grotesque at the MLA, Sylvia Korman

Watching time loop movies to escape my time loop, Leo Vader

The Stanley Parable, Dark Souls, and Intended Play, Folding Ideas

Breaking Madden, Jon Bois

The TRUTH about the Pizzaplex in FNAF: Security Breach, AstralSpiff

this one is highly underdeveloped, but i'd love to work out something more robust building on randomizer challenges that produce intentionally bizarre, semi-ironic "lore," and bois-esque endeavors to break games so hard the story itself crumbles. but that's really out of scope so i'm just including the links to things i couldn't bear to get rid of. more rambling abt the challenge runs I chose under the cut.

Challenge runs represent one of the most obvious places to start, due to being extremely plentiful and having a hook that makes a "here's how I did X thing in Y video game" format almost unavoidable. Minimalist 100% is an underrated and sweet straightforward example that I mostly include as a baseline for reporting-out style narrative; here are the facts, here's what happened, this is the thing that it is. Mogswamp's 100 Days on Just Dirt is similar in style, but the physical measuring of days is a delightful and, more importantly, external narrative device.

Now oriented, we get a taste of Ceave Gaming's narrative approach to Mario challenges with the no-crouching run, and while we still aren't at the degree of player-characters being constructed for the narrative's sake, the spirited belief in crouching sets the stage for other rhetoric in more extreme cases we'll see later.

The Backlogs' entire body of work qualifies here, but GRIME is the strongest inspiration for putting this list together. I include the DS3 firebombs run because what was initially a factual description of how his wife's use of firebombs inspired him to play differently in the original DS1 firebombs run has developed into full-blown multi-game narrative arc with the Firebomb Goddess (his wife, who also voices the character) compelling his in-game character to achieve his destined quest. Grime takes that even further,

In-Game Documentaries

I include Life as a Bokoblin mostly as a contrast to My Life as a Barber - there is a level of fictionalization and roleplay involved in the Zelda in-game documentary that highlights exactly what I want to single out when I am talking about metanarrative, the story about a story.

[archetypal-archivist]

Lmaooo the poor people in charge of the QSMP plot must have an interesting time in the background as their job is to promote conflict so the players have something to react to. And you know what they get for their efforts? 

Cellbit blasting through their insanely hard ARG in two weeks, Foolish and Aypierre skipping huge chunks of their puzzles through clever use of game mechanics, and everyone being so friendly and communication-oriented that any chance of internal conflict driving the plot is slim to nil because they keep talking about their problems and solving things maturely and with good faith. Interpersonal disputes get resolved in like, a few days! Tops!

 Even the egg event has had a wrench thrown into it because people fell so in love with the eggs that they are just part of the server now. Pomme has two lives and that’s just a thing. They can’t kill her, lol, everyone is working too hard and with too much cohesiveness to allow anything to happen. Code monster sweeps in and it’s boom, just an immediate 1 v 7.

I love the Q-mmunication smp with all my heart but man, from an admin perspective, they must be constantly screaming.

[rubberbandgirlme]

another interesting piece of exchange between mhin and leander that caught my eye 👁

indeed, it seems baffling that leander, our reliable man, our nice guy, the nicest of the nicest, just forgets to warn mc about such a tiny little detail, easily forgettable for sure — that eridia's streets are unsafe at night 💀

he quickly covers it up by flirting — and boy, can i wait (can't, need this game right now) to see more of such instances, because he seems to master this craft, and it is working on most people, — hinting at mc's beauty and/or the intimate (and it is intimate for mc, whether you like leander or not) moment they shared.

but do you know the most important, tasty nuanced thing this tiny, blink-and-you-miss-it dialogue reveals? leander doesn't care about mc, about their life and safety; he's niceys, it's all just an act. sure, cap, you might say, we already know leander is a manipulative titty shit, what's new? but look at it another way: we know this because rss kindly backed us up with all this additional info and content so we don't starve to death while waiting for the release (rss, i would have gone through content drought anyway. this is not a shade, take your time, i love you). now imagine playing this game for the first time without a pile of lore stacked at the back of your mind and seeing these discrepancies in his behaviour (check out my previous post on this), foreshadowing that he's not as good as he seems and his path might be dark and gritty as hell.

and now, my fellow leander girls/gays/whoever else is there, imagine how it would feel when leander cares (faints).

[cozymochi]

pls.. pls. Tia crumbs

I am facing withdrawals 🥺

ERMMMMMM i wanted to finish something for the ongoing Stitch Event (for reference, i started it during it’s JP run 😭 and even wanted to repurpose it for the old wardrobe meme months ago, wheee) but i don’t think I ever will truly finish this tbh. So I haphazardly cobbled the gist together on top of my wip and i’m calling it on this attempt!! Do you see my vision

thought it’d go well with Grim’s Lilo 🥺

[mxtxfanatic]

Wei Wuxian at His Best: Arrogant

The cultivation world liked to slander Wei Wuxian about his "arrogance," but is it really arrogance if one knows perfectly well of their own capabilities? Wei Wuxian, for one, can follow through on all his promises. Here are some of my favorite moments where Wei Wuxian is deservedly arrogant:

Wei Wuxian stepped inside the hall, and, one on the left and one on the right, lifted Lady Mo and Mo Ziyuan’s dead bodies. In a low voice, he urgently said, “Why aren’t you awake yet?” As soon as the words left his mouth, their souls returned. An instant later, Lady Mo and Mo Ziyuan’s eyes rolled into the back of their heads, their irises replaced with a blank white gaze. The characteristic piercing shrieks of newly revived vicious ghosts tore from their mouths. In the middle of the screeching, one high and one low, another corpse, trembling with fear, also crawled its way up, and in a voice which was as quiet as it could be, joined the chorus with a soft, soft cry. This was Lady Mo’s husband. The cries were loud enough. The resentment great enough. Wei Wuxian was extremely satisfied, and smiling lightly, said, “Do you recognize the hand outside?” Then he commanded, “Tear it apart.” The three Mo’s were like three black winds; they flew out in the blink of an eye.

—Chapt. 5: Feral IV, fanyiyi

Wei Wuxian stood in front of them, lowered his head slightly, and greeted them politely. The paper effigies returned his politeness and then some by bowing. Wei Wuxian pointed outside. “Bring the living person inside. Eliminate everything else.” ... In only a short period, the twin girls chopped the fifteen or sixteen walking corpses into so many pieces they were impossible to reassemble. The dead body parts tumbled all over the ground! Having secured an overwhelming victory, the paper maids followed their orders and carried inside the weakened man who had been running from the walking corpses.

—Chapt. 36: Flora IV, fanyiyi

Only vicious corpses could fight such a ferocious battle. If two living people fought the same way, they would have long lost an arm and a leg, or cracked their skulls open and splattered their brains everywhere! “Guess who’ll win?” Xue Yang asked. “Is there a need to? Wen Ning, of course,” Wei Wuxian said.

—Chapt. 37: Flora V, fanyiyi

Before he could finish speaking, Wei WuXian had quickly tied the ribbon over his eyes to cover his sight. He positioned his arrow, drew his bow, and released—it hit! The series of actions was both smooth and fast. The others didn’t even realize what he wanted to do. They couldn’t even see his movements clearly before the center of the target had been pierced through. After a moment of silence, overwhelming cheers rang throughout the watching towers, with even greater intensity than those for Jin ZiXuan. The corners of Wei WuXian’s lips curved slightly. Spinning the bow within his hands, he tossed it back.

—Chapt. 69: Departure, exr

[any-n-everything]

The Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations

So to put my mind off of Thorns Under the Moon, I went down a research rabbit hole because I suddenly thought, 'Hey, isn't it cool that there are four love interests now? That reminds me of that Four Symbols thing common in CNovels.'

🤨😦😧😲🥴

So. Research rabbit hole.

The Four Symbols are mythological creatures appearing among the Chinese constellations along the ecliptic, and viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions.

These four creatures are also referred to by a variety of other names, including 'Four Guardians', 'Four Gods', and 'Four Auspicious Beasts'.

They are the Azure Dragon of the East,

the Vermilion Bird of the South,

the White Tiger of the West,

and the Black Tortoise of the North.

Each of the creatures is most closely associated with a cardinal direction and a color.

Although it's not a perfect fit, I just thought the resemblance was uncanny. It's possible that the four symbols inspired some of the styles of the love interests.

Also, you know what also goes together with the Four Symbols?

A fifth symbol. After all, with the four cardinal directions covered, who looks after the center?

Apparently, the central symbol oversees the Four Symbols. And it's commonly known as the Qilin.

Although Qilin generally have Chinese dragon-like features (heads with antlers, eyes with thick eyelashes, manes that always flow upward, beards, scaled body, hooves, etc.), a modern depiction conflates the Qilin with the Western concept of...

Unicorns.

And guess :) who :) was :) once :) called :) Subject :) Unicorn :)

[rabbitprincessthief]

gog i still can't get over minish cap vaati's Everything. He is So Fucking Stupid (affectionate)

Like. This guy's establishing character moment is, in order:

he's introduced as having won an entire tournament to get to touch a magic chest and get a cool sword, which was the prize for said tournament

turns around and does a goddamn evil soliloquy TEN FEET AWAY FROM THE GUARDS who were about to hand him his macguffin on a platter

(like this man fucks up his own horribly planned daylight heist because he cannot keep a lid on the dramatics for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES, IN PUBLIC)

(THE BAR WAS ON THE FLOOR VAATI, FUCKING GANONDORF PLAYS THE PIPE ORGAN FOR HIS OWN BOSS INTRO AND HE STILL KNOWS BETTER THAN THIS SHIT)

proceeds to fight the guards (it is, admittedly, a curbstomp for him, but it still clearly wasn't his plan, because otherwise why bother with the tournament)

gloats evilly

opens chest, unleashing a whole bunch of monsters

exposits out loud about Zelda's powers like a nerd while she is actively charging up her magic powers to kick his ass

RECOGNIZES and IDENTIFIES said magic as the special power carried by the female royal line

completely fails to recognize it as the light force he is currently trying to get his hands on (he spends like 99% of the game not figuring this out.)

petrifies her

(i have no idea if link could have deflected this spell if he had managed to get the right angle with his shield but i like to think somewhere there is a very short and very funny alternate timeline where it happens)

(more importantly: no part of vaati's original presumed plan would have involved doing this. he 100% created this situation for himself by being an dramatic idiot and picking a fight for no good reason.)

looks in the chest

there's no light force

considering his stated goals he might be as confused as you are about the monsters tbh

uhhh

evil laugh

teleports the fuck out

He then proceeds to spend the rest of the game trying to figure out where the light force is and ends up having to wait for Ezlo and Link to figure it out first because he was, as far as I can tell, GENUINELY stuck on this part. He fucking kidnaps and impersonates the King, not for access to Zelda, but to… send guards to go look for the Light Force, presumably because he was either running out of ideas or genuinely thought that would work.

None of the guards even had any idea what he was talking about. He's not even good at impersonating the King. He's already sent like twenty people to the dungeon by the time you get there and it hasn't even been a week. Somehow the game spins this as a cunning plan and clever manipulation or something.

(Meanwhile the guards are just. Poking around in random bushes and shit hoping to find the light force. One of them asks you what you think it might look like.)

Zelda is literally right next to the throne and Vaati does not figure it out until you find an actual honest-to-goodness LORE TABLET spelling out that the Light Force is Stored in the Zelda, at which point he's like "ahahaha you've done my work for me this was definitely my plan all along" and takes over the castle and throws a bunch of monsters at you to stall for time while he figures out how to extract the force from her. Somehow he still doesn't think to actually lock the fucking door.

[zeravmeta]

still not over issekai shikkaku im still recovering from the fact that this is the most pained expression that sensei ever shows. a man who is thoroughly depressed hates his own life leading up to his isekaing and actively tries to kill himself 24/7 has his most agonized and distraught look when he sees that the supposed village of love is demonizing someone for not conforming in how they love. it's especially painful because for all of this mans pessimism its entirely self-directed: he wholeheartedly believes that people can become better through and despite suffering and even when encountering absolute monsters and pathetic people in both native inhabitants and otherworlders he still holds a fondness for their complexity as humans and believes that they can always be better, so seeing this truly bleak scene before him does hurt him in a way that quite frankly nothing else in the story does

he also has one of his softest and fondest expressions watching diantha and eliza leave towards their happy future

[skynapple]

Spoilers for Xavier: 21 Days!

It's been a while folks but I'm back with the essays.

Mentions: spoilers for Xavier's completed myth and anecdotes as well. Read at your own risk below!!

I. Initial Thoughts

FIRST OF ALL

akskdkjshHhwhLWKJEKWH;ksjdSg;kdhdga

NEXT OF ALL

This card is so beautifully written for so many reasons. I am literally,,, going insane already.

YOOOOOOOOO OK SO LIKE

A. Xavier has been holding back a long time

It's so clear Xavier has been holding back, holding on for SO long. But he's also?? So freaking scared.

BUT THIS RIGHT HERE.

He holds soooo much for that girl who died in his arms; that girl who loved him so much and it was too late before he realized. And now he knows deeply that the roles feel reversed and he's terrified.

B. Contrary to Popular Belief; MC Has A Right To Be A Lil Confused

I don't think they show enough that MC still does fear losing him, and it's so obvious she's so curious about him, and wants to feel closer, but she DOES feel that wall he's built to protect his identity.

I groan a lot at how flippant and distant MC is, almost seemingly constantly rejecting Xavier's affection.

But Idk if you had a coworker who was scarily good at his job, also militant, gone for god knows how long, who knows where, and then was weirdly affectionate but then when you ask him like idk what his favorite color is he gets all "that's classified" which ok hasn't actually happened but it FEELS like it has.

He's always misdirecting anything super deep with her so yeah it goes without saying but she has every right to think that maybe he's trying to keep things professional so why wouldn't she always want to keep things professional even if she wants more?

But now he's actually being really honest. He's telling her things he's held on to for centuries (not that she knows that LOL) and you can literally see the relief in his eyes (and major props to the VA for conveying this cause my godddd it literally sounds like Xavier is TREMBLING??). And she still feels the need to clarify, hey is this real or are you lost in the moment?

Because honestly, I do feel MC does want this and has for so long. Her little "sneaky kiss" was her way of trying to say that like, what took you so long? and yes, because she does want it, she needs to be sure that he's being for real.

And props for Xavier for not wanting a three-peat of what happened with her past versions and all the miscommunication. He's done with that. He's putting his foot down to get what he wants.

C. Xavier Finally Being Honest With Himself

And for a former prince who literally gave up everything for her, he has never once allowed himself to convey just how deeply he does want her, and how much he really actually needs her and wants this with her.

I gotta hand it to @rose-tinted-kalopsia for saying this, too, cause like, this really is him accepting the whole of the past, and all of him, and saying like, "no, it's been like this all along, and I'm done hiding from the past versions, screw that, screw this, I'm getting my happy ending with you."

Cause for all of his sneaking in bits of lore (i freaking died!)

I KNOW IT'S A JAB AT HER PAST SELF I JUST KNOW IT. YOU JUST KNOW HE TENSED A LITTLE BIT AT THE ELOPE LINE.

THAT ARGUMENT HIT TOO CLOSE TO HOME.

They didn't elope because of communication issues!

He did leave and break ties with his family and she couldn't possibly know or remember that (It literally slips out and is not part of the script and you know he feels guilty about it but even that feeling and maybe mixed emotions - not anger but idk maybe a lot of THICK mixed emotions about it; none of which are regret! but STILL) like he has never been able to say it out loud and he does, he DOES. He FINALLY DOES.

So now there's a lot of the table.

D. The Spilled Cherries But It's Not What You Think

It's messy, my god how could it not be. Even the spilled cherries is like.... it's more of like "this is a mess, we're a mess, this relationship is all over the place" and the bowl gets knocked over, cause this whole situation has really literally tipped their bowl over. It's all out on the floor.

All her emotions of feeling that wall that she references a Lot™️ in all their cards, she finally breaks through and gets him to be honest with himself and with her

They actually kinda did sort of have a real genuine argument and maybe it's the first time he felt that way with her and i think honest to god he panicked a little bit - and I think that's why he says "that was normal" to her like, he has to reassure himself that's kinda normal?

good god the cooking!! he really has to wrestle with the fact that there are things he just can't do well all the time and he puts the work in to actually learn and he's semi-decent now! like maybe this man isn't about to make chicken fricassee anytime soon, but he can make some stews and simple dishes. So even that emotion of "i'm learning i'm trying to be better" is out

Their actual physical connection - she's finally stopped pressing him away, and has dropped the denial that she wants it too, but I think mentally she's a bit tired so that bowl toppling over is like, nah man I'm done with this rollercoaster too

They really do have so much synergy. Like who bought the cherries in the first place? She did, because she knows they're his favorite

The shadows merging like- his whole tearing in their earlier conversation "Do you think our shadows look like there's?" they don't specify what they were looking at out the window but it was probably a couple passing by, maybe sharing intimate proximity and a kiss and honestly that's helped tip the bowl too

the cherries being like- almost a metaphor of all these factors; all the times they've had so many, many, many miscommunication issues but it's all gone and said and done now (maybe not ALL but many of their issues)

So I'm really excited to see how it all goes moving forward.

This does not even capture half of my entire breakdown over this card but that's a majority of my brain dump.

What was your favorite moment in the card? Comment below!

[1000sunnygo]

IMO a lesser mentioned reason behind Luffy's overwhelming success as a protagonist is Oda's extreme overprotectiveness. Like he'd rather jump off a cliff than let Luffy be controversial.

Marineford is an easy example. An arc heavily featuring Luffy's low point, but Oda didn't make him responsible for Ace's death. In 1000+ chapters of screentime, I can't think of an instance where Luffy did something irredeemable in fandom eyes. Only controversial scene that comes to mind is picking a fight against Zoro in Whiskey peak? Maybe Oda had the luxury to let his guard down back then bc online discussions weren't a thing PFFT

It's not like Luffy doesn't make mistakes, but Oda makes sure Luffy is immediately called out by someone in the story so he stays grounded and can apologize if he has to.

And that's not all, Oda is vocally supportive of Luffy in the polls, he can't not include Luffy in magazine covers even when the editors press him to, he made the timskip 2years bc he wanted Luffy to stay a child during story's runtime, he doesn't let a single character outshine Luffy in an arc, he cushioned Luffy's past with TWO brothers and kept one alive after taking away one of them.. he's spoiling Luffy rotten and I love to see it bc that's the right kind of spoiling, that's what keeps Luffy the happy boy he needs to be, shonen authors should take some notes methinks

[bellshazes]

been thinking a lot about people's varied reactions to the chaos & perceived inconsistencies around the rules of limited life and because i taught games professionally for a decade and have done a lot of reading on games academically, I have a few propositions for the fandom to consider.

proposition one: Your interpretation of gameplay events is not the same as a monolithic "the narrative" to which all players are equally subject.

Narrative is not what happened, but the interpretation and meaning attached to the events that occurred. Narrative is when we "give experience a form and a meaning." (Harris-Miller)

This construction of narrative - giving meaning to experiences - can occur in the way a video is cut an edited, as well as in the audience's interpretation after the video is released.

Social play is player interaction, both in the derived from the structure and rules of the game (being "It" in tag) as well as the social roles brought from outside the game. (1)

In transformative social play, players use the game context to transform social relationships.

Most players in the life game are more concerned with narrative as it relates to transformative social play - such as, what does this event mean for me, my alliances, my enemies, and the shifting of roles along that spectrum?

Narrative within the game is dynamic and always changing in response to ongoing events and shifting relationships. Viewers' narratives about the games are more static since they exist outside the game context and are not a part of ongoing social play.

Letting go of a single unified "narrative" lets us think about the differences, tensions, and resonances between players' in-game construction of narrative, the narrative constructed by the player's video edit, and the retrospective audience construction of narrative. (*)

proposition two: Fairness is decided by the players, not the rules.

Playing a game requires trust and safety with the other players. (DeKoven) Even in tic-tac-toe you have to trust that your opponent will take reasonable amounts of time per turn before you sit down to play.

We can distinguish between ideal rules (rules as writ, such as a physical rulebook) and the real rules (the general consensus on what playing the game should look like). (2)

Real rules can include how sportsmanlike behavior is defined, and when "breaking" a rule doesn't count; a common example is forgiving a player who genuinely made a mistake on accident and did not intend to "break" the rules.

The real rules are what actually matter in developed gameplay, and they can be negotiated and constructed inside the game as new events, situations, and dynamics occur. (3)

Brushing past Scar's "illegal" kill on greens is not him getting away with breaking the rules, it's the group coming to a consensus on the real rules of the game. Cleo asking Impulse if her kill on him can count and him finally agreeing is not the breaking of (ideal) rules so much as it is defining the real rules.

proposition: Players' own individual motivations and definitions of sportsmanship or interesting play inform their contribution to the general consensus on real rules and leading them to play "imperfectly" in favor of having more fun or staying true to something.

Purely optimal play is boring to the players and viewers, and taken to an extreme allowed by the ideal rules, would violate the real rules implicitly agreed to by the players.

"Optimal" gameplay in the life series could look like hiding in a hole underground for the entire game if the end goal is to survive the longest, but that would make a boring video and would likely be considered supremely unsportsmanlike by other players and their audiences.

Playing perfectly optimally is one motive to play a game, but is basically never the sole motivator if it's one at all.

Even if everyone in the life series has a goal to "keep playing the game as long as possible," that could mean being focused on winning, or being focused on making allies or not making enemies, or it could compel you to give up your life for someone else who's running out of time because to you to play the game is to play together. (4)

Scar is a perfect example of someone who consistently chooses "non-optimal" goals such as always having the enchanter and goes to great and stupid lengths to achieve it even if it means sacrificing winning.

This "non-optimal" play provides something for other players to play off of and react to, often leading to transformative social play, significantly meaningful narrative, or interesting negotiations of real rules. (5)

synthesis: The most interesting narratives are born out of situations where players negotiate the real rules, not ones where the (ideal) rules are broken.

The life series is inherently highly experimental - even as more seasons build on the experiences of prior ones, the constant addition of new mechanics mean the game is more or less always being playtested rather than simply played.

The "rule" against carrying Third Life into Last Life failed because it is basically impossible to eliminate the out-of-game contributions to social play, especially in a social deduction game where knowledge of other players' habits and behaviors is useful metagame (6) currency that can't be un-learned.

Some of the series' most iconic narrative moments - the end of 3L or DL, he loves me, etc. are born out of the tension between ideal and real rules, where players are forced to take a stand or advocate for something opposed to the "ideal" rules such as allying with reds, sticking with your soulmate, or that there can only be one winner. (7)

I'm offering the above as a way of showing that I think these imperfections and changes between seasons are actually the coolest thing about them and have the potential for transformative fan works in addition to transformative play.

if limited life's copious tnt minecarts via skynet and highly-manual, inconsisent giving and taking of time for kills which may or may not be deserved according to strict interpretations of the rules as stated aren't to your taste, that's just how it is sometimes! It's understandable to not enjoy ideal rules that are loosely defined or interpreted or are imperfectly implemented from a mechanics perspective, but understanding that the players of the actual game did agree and consent and get to negotiate the consequences and meaning of these imperfections is not some unfortunate side-effect but in fact an important part of any gameplay.

The various types of narratives and the various motives for playing mean there can't be a single unified narrative for all players - but thinking about these things in terms of tensions and synergies opens doors for talking about the many narratives and the relationships between them. you can hold multiple seemingly-conflicting narratives as a viewer and put them in dialogue and produce new meaningful narratives in their contradictions or overlap! go forth and embrace the chaos and tension between the chains of context that produce meaning and the freedom to look at that complex web and derive fuller meanings from it!

because this post isn't long enough, more citations and examples from the series below the cut:

Some footnotes:

(1) Social roles within the game are more artificial than the ones that exist outside of it. That doesn't make them less meaningful, but when we consider the consequences of breaking a social role defined by the game compared to a real-world breaking of a promise or law, it's hard to forget the artificiality of the game. The consequences are relatively minor; the morality of betrayal, for instance, during a game can be acceptable because of that artificiality where it would be reprehensible in real life.

(2) A few different ways to think about game rules that are not mutually exclusive but complementary to each other:

Three layers of game rules: the underlying constituative rules of a game, the operational rules that directly guide player action, and the implicit rules of proper game behavior, such as etiquette.

Piaget's developmental stages from the Moral Development of Children are useful background here: the first stage is loose play without rules, second is strict adherence to ideal rules, and the final adult-leaning stage is the understanding that the real rules are what matter. You could call putting ideal rules over the real ones juvenile.

"Ideal rules refer to the "official" regulations of a game, the rules written in a player's guide to Zelda or printed on the inside cover of a game of Candyland. Real rules, on the other hand, are the codes and conventions held by a play community. Real rules are a consensus of how the game ought to be played." (Rules of Play)

(3) "It is not that the basic rules of the game undergo a radical change; rather, they are experienced within a social context that decreases their value in favor of a socially-biased ruleset over which players have more control."

(4) I'm thinking of Bdubs in Limited Life session 7 here, since he gives time and stays alive, but if you take this concept a little further and more broadly you just get players like Skizz.

(5) Metagaming, defined broadly for my purposes as the larger social context of the game and not just the pejorative, could be its own too-long post, but I think it's worth mentioning as an avenue for thinking about the complex dynamics of the life series as social play. For example, Etho consistently is thinking from a metagame perspective, from stalling by accusing Cleo of metagaming or remarking that Scar's lost the dramatic moment so he can't attack now in Last Life, or threatening to break roleplay in Limited Life when he's mad at Scar.

(6) From Rules of Play: "Sutton-Smith's model for player roles includes an actor, a counteractor, and an overall "motive" or format for play. For example, if the motive is capture, the actor's role is to take, while the role of the counteractor is to avoid being taken. [...] In Sutton-Smith's model, the roles of actor and counteractor are both equally important in constructing the experience of play." I don't think this model is sufficient on its own, but it's a worthwhile point that conflict is part of the game and is in fact desirable within certain bounds.

(7) Scott in LL is really interesting narratively because his motivation is at odds with what the game asks him to do: he is extremely true to his word and chooses to take the penalty of being knocked down to red rather than trying to kill someone and making an enemy of them and/or failing and dying anyway. He's not breaking any rules, but his choosing to experience consequences because of his own motivation and social relationships is compelling. It pays off when he wins, and it pays off again when Cleo can't bear to kill him in DL - the metagame element of past social play relationships and player knowledge of other players contributing to the current dynamics of social play.

ETA: An important point I also wanted to make but didn't have space for up top is that Jimmy being a "canary in a coal mine" as a result of always dying first is not some immutable truth about fate that actually influences his games, but if you can accept that it's not actually fated then you can start to think about and react to the way that the in-game players construct narratives in response to the actual events of him always permadying first. Joel's futile attempts to prevent this are a product of previous seasons' social play, the transformative current social dynamics, and his own player narrative (again, narrative as meaning giving form to experiences).

Also, I strongly disliked DL's premise and thought the best parts were the chosen soulmates precisely because I think predestination is best left to Calvinists and choice, especially in opposition to prescribed rules or narratives, is the most interesting thing in the world. Of course Etho and Bdubs in Last Life is what hooked me and I am also smug that the players tend to refer to the series as "last life" even if 3L came first and it's been two whole seasons since then.

(*) On meanings:

I think that meaning is necessarily the complex web of relationships between any given things, and there is no objective meaning to anything. Words and events have no meanings outside of our interpretations of and dialogue about them - this is not nihilism, but a beautiful gift of communicating with other people. A real deep dive into semiotics is beyond the scope of this post and also my own abilities, but it informs this view. I don't think you have to read academically to know it; you can find the proof in arguments about whether a pop tart is ravioli. A stupid argument, but one that is negotiating the boundaries of words' meanings by drawing on the words' relationships to other words and the things those words represent. It's the act of making meaning, not uncovering it. So too is watching the life series and arguing about or making arguments for a certain narrative angle or emphasizing a detail etc. - I just think it's a loss not to celebrate the complex web that tugs in many different directions with many different motives. It's less simple, but much richer.

[secriden]

something i really appreciate about prapai is that even at the start he never pulls the asshole rich guy move of trying to buy/impress sky by throwing money or expensive gifts at him/his problems.

when sky makes it clear he's not interested, prapai almost immediately bounces back and decides to 'try again'.

rather than getting angry, in an unexpectedly sweet move, mr playboy "i love my freedom" goes for actually getting to know sky.

i mean yes, he's absolutely still just trying to get into sky's pants at this point, but at the same time this isn't a move from the rich asshole playbook at all.

when prapai shows up at sky's dorm unannounced again, it's clear he doesn't really have a plan other than 'try to be sexy around sky' and he fails terribly at this because prapai is NOT as smooth as he thinks he is.

he's so, so bad at flirting, but...it absolutely works in prapai's favour because it disarms some of sky's defences. look at sky's expressions here:

it's hard to see in screenshots, but we hear that sky suppresses a small laugh, and towards the end he's very clearly fighting not to smile. prapai's not living up to sky's expectations of finding a suave playboy type. he's ridiculous and sky is very reluctantly charmed by it.

and when they have breakfast, prapai doesn't try to show off by bringing sky to a fancy restaurant or try to make a big deal about paying for sky's meal. even though he also likely overpays for his meal.

sky leaves what looks like two 100 bhat notes while prapai leaves a single 500 bhat note. (my experiences in places like this in Bangkok says that sky left a reasonable amount/slightly more than he needed to, while prapai probably left a tip that was bigger than the cost of his meal.)

so if he wanted to, prapai could've made a big deal about this but he doesn't. this isn't for show because sky never even sees the amount prapai puts down.

look at prapai's emphasis: he queued up for it since 5am. he didn't try to pay extra to jump to the head of the line or order it to be delivered to him or send someone else to buy it for him. this was prapai's time, effort, energy and he didn't use his money to take any short cuts.

purely speculative, but assuming sky is heading directly to classes, his dorm is located within walking distance of the university, and the first class is at 8am, it's possibly around 7:30am at the earliest. which still gives a conservative estimate of prapai having a whole 2.5 hour window of queuing for the food and bringing it to sky right before his international flight and a slew of business meetings.

for a man with money, with power, with influence, this is so, so much effort.

even before prapai ends up taking care of sky when he's sick, he's already shown how real his commitment is. this is intentional, focused, dedicated pursuit. of sky. not just a warm body for sex, but very specifically: sky. because prapai is not a man who has to work this hard just to get sex.

and then there's this moment:

i think this was the moment when prapai realises that his approach was working on sky. before this point, prapai's entire strategy is 'throw stuff at wall, see what sticks,' but here he realises: sky has been moved. first, by the reassurance that prapai wasn't looking for sex anymore (at least not just sex), and second by the attention and forethought inherent in making sure sky still had food ready for him after prapai left. this is the kind of care you show when you genuinely want the best for someone, not just to make a good impression or to elevate their opinion of you, and it's working.

it's super telling that after this point in the show, about 85% of prapai's wooing strategy becomes 'send sky food', whether in person or via delivery. he's paying attention and when something works he doubles down on it with zero hesitation. and everything he does give sky either meets a basic need (food, medication, a safe space to rest) or involves directly helping sky with something he finds challenging (helping him with his assignments). primarily, prapai's focus is about spending time with sky.

and none of this, none of this, was the approach you would expect from a rich fuckboy. and i really, really love prapai for that.

[rubberbandgirlme]

back on stage in my big clown leander shoes, a promised post. here's what i talked about previously: part i, part ii, part iii

let's go back to the last two points in part i (starting with 'now hear me out'): i replayed the whole scene and turns out i was wrong. here's why: 1) never write any theories at 5 am 2) never take things out of the context. sorry for misleading you, lemme make some amends:

if you choose the 'keep touching him' option, leander will notice how desperate and touchstarved mc is (he's constantly pausing before speaking: afraid of hurting anyone with his words or skillfully manipulating? i know it's the latter, but what if it's both? 👁), keeps eliciting information and, when his suspicions are confirmed, he puts his trusted weapon to use: flirting (empty flattery, as vere said). we all know he's lying and he's not infatuated with mc at all (his pulse was steady). BUT!!

power?? is that some kind of doublespeak because leander doesn't want to mention the curse and ruin the moment OR is it a slip, and the curse is not a curse but something that mc just cannot control (yet?)? 🤔

for now the 'level-headed' line in the context seems to be used just for building mc's trust, not for hinting that controlling the curse is difficult; same with "we match" — to stress that everything is okay, and leander's completely reliable, because hey! he and mc are alike! (i am squinting suspiciously here though, i still have a hunch he means so much more) however, that's yet to be seen how much truth leander actually reveals in his speech.

the question is: why does leander need mc to trust him with their life? he can control the curse, can he teach mc how to do that? or does he want to use them however he likes, feeding them lies and using mc's "curse" (or even mc) as a weapon? much to think about.jpg

[hylialeia]

not going to bug people in the tags but it is (legitimately!) interesting to see a character in asoiaf who is so clearly meant to be the traditional fantasy red herring chosen prince, and to see people - including the readers! - gravitate towards that romanticism, often unquestioning. I think one of asoiaf's major motifs being "ruling is hard" (see GRRM's thoughts on Tolkien) and that consistently showing up across every pov regardless of their morality or ideals or circumstances, yet both people in universe and in fanbase stalwartly believing that surely this does not or will not apply to their ruler... now, that IS fascinating