Dude, when your redneck uncle literally takes up arms against the government, yes, he is a terrorist. AB’s whole argument is predicated on “dumbass” and “terrorist” being mutually exclusive, which they’ve never been.

“They may be jabronis, but they’re still heavily armed and irrational jabronis, and the threat of violent death is the only thing that might deter them.”

He...he just kind of backpedaled for a few seconds before taking the shot. Makes me wonder why he bothers dribbling.

I see the “exposed ductwork” look has crossed the Pacific.

No, what’s at issue is that Wreden made a really interesting story, and then decided to hype that story by using a PR strategy straight from the ‘80s WWF. I think this is a cheap, unnecessary way to bring attention to a really interesting narrative; a whole bunch of other people think that it somehow qualifies as…

“I’m excited for seeing ideas like this play out on a large scale!”

“...aside from not using a pseudonym, presenting believable dates, and the “For R.” thing at the end...when does the creator actually present this as “Based on a True Story?”

“It’s too *deep* for you, man. You just don’t *get it*.”

I actually like them both. But I wholeheartedly agree that the whole “is Coda a real person” angle is pure PR nonsense.

“I’d say Wreden is probably keeping his mouth shut mostly for ‘marketing’ purposes.”

Or possibly just hiding. The game makes it clear that Coda wants nothing more to do with Wreden, or making games at all; it’s entirely plausible that someone in that situation wouldn’t come forward because they have no interest in revisiting this unhappy period of their life.

I just wish they could admit it was just a gimmicky, fun way to wring some extra feels out of the experience, the same way Blair Witch did.

When it works, when the game genuinely gives you some freedom of choice and gives you other options besides the bad one you chose, it’s awesome. But usually:

...yet nobody seems to think “Beyond Belief” is some wonderful postmodern work...

No, gaming caught up to professional wrestling in passing fake off as real and some people think it’s wonderfully subversive and brilliant.

Kind of how Vince McMahon had “no desire to diminish the power of his work unless he absolutely must” in the 1980s?

Bingo. Though he (Wreden) wrote the game and she (Dale) was covering it.

Breaking the 4th wall has nothing to do with insisting your fiction isn’t fiction. Just off the top of my head, Mr. Robot, A Clockwork Orange, and Neverending Story all break the 4th wall, and none of them pretended to be nonfiction at any point.

There’s “unreliable narrator”, and then there’s TV-movie-level “based on a true story” PR hijinks. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Lolita would not be improved by the author insisting they really happened.

“The Beginner’s Guide is effective because it relies on the narrative trick deployed by films like The Blair Witch Project, which traded scares on the tiny chance that it might be true.”