I found this story incredibly moving. It may just be my new lead contender for People's Choice this year so far. Just finished my second listen, and still not entirely able to scrape my thoughts together in a coherent way, so I'll just list them:
1. Oh, to be living in the future, when Portal 3 is released!
2. I don't care if Stonehewn is evil. I would still play it, and happily run myself to death. It does sound like it's based on Minecraft, except derpy Steve has been upgraded to a creepy badass who builds you stuff while the game's idling. This story took me back to playing Minecraft in beta for the first time: the endless, randomly generated world, the surreal lack of any objectives, the beauty and loneliness of hours spent turning the wilderness into civilization. Sorta a post-apocalyptic feel, or maybe prehistoric. I've never stopped to think about what that impulse to toil and create means, when there's no one around to enjoy it. At least in Minecraft, the monsters come out at night, and those dang green creepers jump out of the shadows every once in a while to blow a hole in your stuff.
3. I really connected with the characters in this story. This could have been me and my friends back in high school. I've been known to marathon "My Little Pony" with my husband... often at his suggestion. As a snapshot of gamer/nerd culture and awkward teenage friendships, this story was fantastic.
4. For me, this story was mainly about grief and regret, even more so than some of the philosophical questions raised by the ending regarding free will. The death of Lydia, and the way this poor kid's trying to come to grips with it, dominates the whole story. He's driven by feelings of guilt over maybe being responsible in some ways, and regret over not making more of their time together because of his cowardice and indecision. One possible way to read the ending is that he goes insane from grief and hallucinates the whole bit with being controlled by Ameinias, and running into the woods really is his suicide.
5. Originally I thought that Lydia had changed places with Ameinias in the game (who, being a video game character, mindlessly ran her body to death), and that Joshua was going to unintentionally torture Lydia to death in the game as he attempted to glitch it to death. So well done, author, with a well-executed surprise ending.
6.
This photo of a street in Africa side-by-side with its Minecraft recreation comes to mind.
7. Great episode artwork, Oskar, and welcome to the forums!
8. Loved the Drabble and Twabble this week, too.
