Talk:Playing the Game/@comment-7706473-20140712101704

Once again, I truly wish there was a page-function in this site proper. The format doesn't do this story justice, and it would be fantastic to be able to pop new 'posts' out, or flip to them to otherwise create the image of a BBS post.

This was a VERY eerie little story, and I'm glad to see collaboration between two users I enjoy the work of; the mock-ups are unnerving and feel like the sort of images you notice shucked to the side of old manual art. The sort of screencap that makes you take a double-take and think 'oh, this game had that'..? And then spend hours looking to see if anyone else had a similar experience.

People are scary because they hurt one another. I think the idea that some dark force is at work - whether the occult, or cursed cartridges acquired on the cheap - is a way of dealing with the frightening world around us, and I feel the reason they - hell, scary stories in general - are so appealing is there's an element that rings true. I very much bought into the posters on the forum, started to imagine what their avatars and daily routine might be - created little backstories for them, as one might do in the old kind of game that was light on plot, but high on possibility.

And what happens when that line blurs? I think the most unnerving thing in the story is that the moderator closes the thread, quickly as that. That's it - any further discussion is vague and unsaid, leaving us curious and unable to find out more. Possiblity is a fearful thing, and whatever happened to Dan it's in that realm now - leaving us to scrabble for answers. I quite enjoyed this, with my only real complaint again being a wikia function. Oh! That and my first thought on seeing that cartridge was:

"You've just lost the..."