Idea for a book (does the premise interest you?)

[Akira Kurusu]

Okay, so this is a cyberpunk noir detective story revolving around this ground breaking VR game called ‘P.S.Y.C.H.E’ which gathers all data from the player’s psyche and customizes its genre with procedural generated levels tailored to his thoughts. The game has incredible social media features that allow people to share their memory logs and make it playable to other people.

 

Our protagonist is a private investigator who has to team up with a lawyer on a case revolving a child who had a mental shutdown after experiencing traumatic events within the game. His parents have filed a lawsuit against the production company asking for it to be shut down. This case has gone viral due to large number of similar cases. However, opposition to this is very strong as well with many cases existing where players have found themselves overcoming their fears through the game and also finding inner peace.

Is P.S.Y.C.H.E actually dangerous to humankind?

 

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Just got this idea in last 30 mins and had to jot it down. But, before I began elaborating it, I wanted to understand if this is something people would like. Considering this place seems to be the most accurate representation of the target audience I am going for. What do you guys think of it? It's pretty obvious that this is a commentary on the perception of videogames and social media in general.

What do you like/not like about this? What would you guys want in a story like this? What would you hate to see in a story like this?

[Bookish Badger]

Hi there and welcome to the Rebellion!

 

I think you've got an interesting premise there. Here are the questions that I'd have as a reader:

1. If the game is tailored to the individual, why are some (many?) people being shattered by it? 
   • Are the victims playing it wrong? Did they set their security filters wide open or turn off internal security protocols to make it more "real?"
   • Is there a software glitch? - a bad DLC, for example, that only some players received? (and for extra complexity, by which only some were broken?)
   • Is there some basic incompatibility (Physical? Mental? Biochemical?) between the victims and the game?
   • Is the human psyche too complex to be reduced to computer algorithms?
   • Were the victims already broken in some way that the game made worse - or was the game trying to make them better and they quit playing too soon?
2. Why do some find so much benefit from the game? What are they doing differently, if anything?
   • Are they self-deluded, and actually as messed up as the obvious victims?
3. Are the victims being intentionally targeted?
   • By the software studio? (why? over-enthusiastic beta testing?)
   • By other gamers? Maybe by the very ones who reaped the most benefit, but at the victims' expense?
   • Hackers employed by the competition?

As for what I'd "hate" to see, I'd not want the antagonist to be a shadowy faceless evil mega-corporation that puts profits over human suffering. First, we've all seen that done to death from Alien onward (and well before then, I'm sure). Second, corporations - no matter how faceless and mega - are run by humans who would have to be able to live with themselves while doing evil, shadowy things. Such humans would be either fanatics or sociopaths, and neither play well enough in large numbers to keep such a big operation going.

 

In fact, my only complaint about Ready Player One was that the evil corporation representatives were so generically evil and callous. Why? What made them that way? Other than that, it was a terrific, thoroughly enjoyable book!

 

Almost as bad would be a conspiracy of god-complex scientists using the mega-corporation and their game to either take over the world or modify humans in some way to make them "better," which has started to go horribly awry.

 

The other thing you'll want to be careful of is anything that might seem derivative of Ready Player One, Snow Crash, and other novels that revolve around VR video games. 

 

Hope this helps in some small way. Good luck to you and happy writing!

[Akira Kurusu]

8 minutes ago, Bookish Badger said:

Hi there and welcome to the Rebellion!

 

I think you've got an interesting premise there. Here are the questions that I'd have as a reader:

1. If the game is tailored to the individual, why are some (many?) people being shattered by it? 
   • Are the victims playing it wrong? Did they set their security filters wide open or turn off internal security protocols to make it more "real?"
   • Is there a software glitch? - a bad DLC, for example, that only some players received? (and for extra complexity, by which only some were broken?)
   • Is there some basic incompatibility (Physical? Mental? Biochemical?) between the victims and the game?
   • Is the human psyche too complex to be reduced to computer algorithms?
   • Were the victims already broken in some way that the game made worse - or was the game trying to make them better and they quit playing too soon?
2. Why do some find so much benefit from the game? What are they doing differently, if anything?
   • Are they self-deluded, and actually as messed up as the obvious victims?
3. Are the victims being intentionally targeted?
   • By the software studio? (why? over-enthusiastic beta testing?)
   • By other gamers? Maybe by the very ones who reaped the most benefit, but at the victims' expense?
   • Hackers employed by the competition?

As for what I'd "hate" to see, I'd not want the antagonist to be a shadowy faceless evil mega-corporation that puts profits over human suffering. First, we've all seen that done to death from Alien onward (and well before then, I'm sure). Second, corporations - no matter how faceless and mega - are run by humans who would have to be able to live with themselves while doing evil, shadowy things. Such humans would be either fanatics or sociopaths, and neither play well enough in large numbers to keep such a big operation going.

 

In fact, my only complaint about Ready Player One was that the evil corporation representatives were so generically evil and callous. Why? What made them that way? Other than that, it was a terrific, thoroughly enjoyable book!

 

Almost as bad would be a conspiracy of god-complex scientists using the mega-corporation and their game to either take over the world or modify humans in some way to make them "better," which has started to go horribly awry.

 

The other thing you'll want to be careful of is anything that might seem derivative of Ready Player One, Snow Crash, and other novels that revolve around VR video games. 

 

Hope this helps in some small way. Good luck to you and happy writing!

 

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. Here are my answers

 

1. Plenty of good suggestions here. Some that I did not think of first time round.
   • There is essentially no wrong way of playing it. The difficulty settings are adjustable as in a normal game and it's up to the user to decide that.
   • Yes, like all games, there are genuine bugs in this. Some shutdown cases are genuine faults due to the game.
   • I think this routes back to difficulty settings. No physical incompatibility as such. In fact, their physical appearance pretty much is shaped by how they subconciously wish to be percieved. (An Indian in real life could be white, a boy could identify as girl, etc)
   • Yes, as advanced as the game is, it's still nowhere close to the human psyche. What I've thought of is that it takes note of the most important memories and guages other psychological factors like the player's self esteem, to which it assigns a level, and then runs the simulation to create its world. It is by no means as complex as The Matrix.
   • Sort of like Dark Souls. The game merely acts on the narrative that goes on in the player's mind. It provides challenges that the player feels he/she is struggling with. This could be harrowing experience for people but, at the end of the day, a game is designed to be beaten. P.S.Y.C.H.E is no exception. Some people just do not see it that way and give up. So yeah, if the players were broken in a way, the game would only make it worse. This self-fulfilling prophecy that works in real life works here too. It can be addressed as something developers are trying to fix.
2. This is where things get real interesting
   • People who benefit the game already have seen the game as a challenge that can be overcome. They see it as an inner reflection and feel like they are improving as a person while playing it. People who are at peace with themselves might find the game to be a soothing walk along a countryside where they explore wildlife. Some might find liberation in their sexuality, etc. Overcoming the challenges in a way helps them overcome their insecurities and it also improves their real life. A side effect of this could be people getting addicted to the game world, but in this case they haven't really overcome the challenge. A game is meant to be beaten.
3. I haven't really thought deeply about this one. Thanks for pointing it out
   • Nope. The studio has no malicious intentions.
   • Other gamers are good possibility. With sharing and co-op available, it's pretty easy to sabotage the game. People could take their real world grudges and exercise them here. Players are very vulnerable psychologically when playing the game.
   • Hackers are definitely going to be a thing. Can't have a game and not have hackers :). Though I wish to have a prominent role for them that is accurate to how they function in real life currently.

I share your sentiment and I have no intention of a malicious corporation. I had planned it to be a company that's really proud of the breakthrough technology they have created and are trying their best to defend it. They do have genuine concern over the mental shutdowns but they value their business as well and closing down the game would be a huge blow to them. So, they might try to shush people here and there. But, it's purely to keep the game up and running while they fix the bugs and not some evil agenda. Like how GTA 5 is a violent game but that does not make Rockstar Games an evil company.

Again, my aim here is to give a picture of how videogames are currently percieved by the media. There are extreme arguments on both sides of coin whether this is harmful or helpful to people. Whether it can be considered art, etc. This is basically to give a firm perspective on all of that.


Thank you again for your feedback. It made me think of a lot of things I would never have thought of. This community is something else.