A Comedy of Error Messages

If any game should stand as an indicator of the relative success of the new rule on mid-comp updates, it should be this one. Originally titled "The Elfen Maiden" and dealing with a potentially disastrous date between the main NPC and someone he met through an MMORPG, a substantial mid-comp update opened up the scope by allowing the player to personalise that main NPC in terms of gender and sexual orientation. This update was not carried out smoothly as one might like: in several places, the original gendered pronouns persist. These are bugs to be squashed with later updates, I think.

I will admit, though, that I rather enjoyed restarting the updated game over and over to see what the nature of the disastrous blind date would turn out to be, in the light of whatever characteristics I give to the main NPC. Whereas in the original, the wry observation that all elfen maidens are played by men might have had some edge of truth to it -- the idea being that no woman is so stereotypically feminine as to want to play such a "girly" character in an MMORPG -- in the update we are now treated to a whole slew of wryly observed "scientifically proven facts" that really have no bearing on reality (only women play dwarvish princes?) and are, as a result, simply comical in and of themselves.

The writing has style and flair. The protagonist -- a computer, by the way, belonging to the afore-mentioned main NPC -- has pretensions of being Jeeves. And if it's not quite Wodehouse, it's at least an amusing facsimile thereof.

A croissant sandwich, with ham and cheese and tomato, and orange juice.