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So, like... I was talking about making a VN with some guys, and the one from Jersey was getting on my case about using the term "Magic system". He was saying stuff like "You really shouldn't bring magic into this story", "Sci-Fi and Fantasy don't mix", and even like tried to forbid me from calling the psychic-murder-women "witches" (even though one of them even dressed all in black and had a wand. (Sure, it was more of a hand-held tesla coil, but it was used like a wand.)
I had to explain to him that "a magic system is any set of rules by which a power or technology that doesn't exist IRL is defined and integrated into the world." and "An author doesn't have to use the term magic in the actual work, regardless of what they call it behind the scenes."
He also tried to tell me that the bad guys in the story would be too scientifically inclined to call the psychic-women-who-manipulate-infrasonic-frequencies-with-psionic-powers "witches"... and ignoring the fact that it's my plot, my rules... I deadass quoted the Decalogue at his ass. "It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and observations be heard."
Never before had I felt so much like an Umineko witch... and god, without love, it was fuckin tiring.
I'd asked him what VNs he's read... and it was just Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head, and Robotics;Notes. He somehow didn't pick up on the fact that one of these stories is basically ALL ABOUT
Also, you may be reading this, thinking I made it up. But I shit you not. This happened around march of 2023... and... like... some people might actually be this stupid.
Curious as to what other Umi fans would've done in this situation.
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As an avid fan of both series, it's really funny. I played both Umi and all SciADV games multiple times. It's funny even how their (meta)physics allign to some extent... Hououin Kyouma vs Beatrice would be funny as F
Innit, tho! I always accidentally find myself calling fragments "worldlines" and vice versa all the time. XD
I dunno how familiar you are with SciADV lore but world lines are just bassically game boards. Okabe is just like meta Battler trying to solve the mystery of his own making...
Oh, yeah. that's kinda why i keep getting the two terms confused. (lol)
Watched the S;G series, and saw Rose Matter play a little bit of the game, so I'm reasonably knowledgeable but nowhere near an expert.
SciAdv latest spoilers World is bassically a simulation that functions as a computer game, with rendering mechanics as "observation", world lines are bassically simulations of the same world with same rules just as fragments are. There is also a concept of world layers. Basically nested simulations. Those on the layer above can controll what goes on in the layer below, simulations are bassically their "game boards". There is even some suggestion, all though somewhat speculative, that the real villains are actually the writers of the story. The company that produces the game is literally called MAGES.
If you don't want to be spoiled, here is the gist. The company that produces SciADV games is literally called MAGES. Just like the witches are the writters of the game boards.
It seems to be a basic premise of our minds, to limit scope of what's acceptable by putting arbitrary constraints. I've learned to keep my mouth shut, knowing that people simply don't want to know.
Ain't that the truth!
I even tried to get the guy to play Umineko, as a lesson in creative writing. He didn't like the pacing, so i made him watch the anime. He simply couldn't give a shit about the Ushiromiya family, because apparently their economic status is more important than their individual personalities. Even though this is fiction, and not anywhere near the punk genre.
if he didn't read umineko then there is nothing else to say.
furthermore he seem to be focused on sci-fi, not mystery. this is completely different.
I mean I was talking to him about a Sci-Fi VN idea... it would've just been a sci-adv inspired take on folk horror, and an exploration if mythological witchcraft through SF.
The guy had a problem with the concept, since he just couldn't see, in spite of being a fan of Chaos;Head, how witches could exist in a sci-fi narrative.
The project has alas since been canceled, due to circumstances beyond my control. But if I do revisit the idea someday, that guy's gonna get the "I told you so" of a lifetime.
i believe people who like sci-fi can be of two kinds : those who like fantasy and those who don't.
this is because sci-fi is less rigorous than mystery and thus the frontier between sci-fi and fantasy is more blured.
I don't care how much bullshit psuedoscience Chiyo throws at the wall, the series has time travel with a microwave, schizophrenia anime swords, and a high schooler building a giant robot, SciADV is just plain magic with a scifi skin (and it's fucking glorious)
Exactly! Now, that's the Gallifreyan spirit!