(no subject)

One thing I really like about Crosscode is the degree to which it obfuscates which mechanics are on which level of “in-universe.”

Suppose Lea’s character within the MMO fails at a task. She leaves, return, and start over. She failed “in-universe” of the MMO.

Suppose Lea fails at a task within the MMO. She restarts as if it never happened. “In-universe” of the game you’re playing, Lea failed, but her failure is “out-of-universe” of the MMO.

Suppose you fail, but the plot requires Lea to succeed. You restart as if it never happened. Your failure is out of both universes.

Crosscode often makes it ambiguous which level you failed on. Is Lea breezing through the game, and all your failures are non-canon? Or is Lea struggling when you struggle? By not answering the question, it maintains suspension of disbelief for both Lea’s story and Lea’s character’s story simultaneously.

(no subject)

You know that thing where you play a game according to the rules, and you win, and the other player gets mad because the way you won was “cheap”? Some people get mad that same way about society. “In my imagined version of thousands of years ago, I’d have more social power than you, so it’s cheap that I don’t have more social power than you in the social game we’re currently playing!” Dude, it’s your job to convince people to play the social game differently.

(Or possibly guillotine people who refuse to play differently, if the social game they’re playing is “I’m the king and you all have to listen to me.”)