THE PROBLEM WITH SORA
YA: you know, this new sora worries me
B: how so?
A: well, I mean no disrespect, but he seems these days like he’s gone totally off the rails! you’d think he’s attempting to leave proper reality behind and turn himself into a fictional character
B: pardon my ignorance, but has he not always spoken of himself this way?
A: sure, about identifying as sora, but this is different
B: how so?
A: the way he talks about himself and the world, his earnest belief in his character friends coming to find him, his insistence on the threat of “darkness” to everyone, this “door” he wants to open…
B: I’m not sure how this is a bad thing
A: are you familiar with the magic circle?
B: what’s that?
A: when playing a game, a magic circle delineates the world of the game from reality. within the circle, certain rules are kept in order to maintain the fun of the game, and outside it is the real world where these rules no longer apply. conversely, the circle contains behaviors and performances that sure, are welcome in the context of a game, but are simply not acceptable in the real world
B: what does this have to do with sora?
A: look… I’ve got nothing against people identifying or calling themselves whatever they want, but I don’t think sora is interested in playing by our rules. he has an agenda. the more this goes on, the less he seems to bother acknowledging his game world and reality are two different places. it’s as though he-
B: he wants to break the circle
A: it’s downright preposterous! the magic circle exists for a reason. how else would we know reality from fiction? truth from falsehood? violence from play?
B: I suppose that sounds rather dangerous if you put it that way
A: furthermore, his agenda… the ones who will be most receptive to it? children! children who don’t know any better will flock to his ludicrous ideas. they’ll lose the distinction between fantasy and reality and never grow into proper adults. they’ll want to play in this video game world instead of contributing to society. worse yet, they’ll surely hurt each other or even themselves, should they take it too far
B: what’s “too far”?
A: well, what if they start attacking people in the streets thinking they’re battling this “darkness”? what if they start rejecting science because they think magic can save them?
B: I don’t know if that’s-
A: for all we know, these children… they’ll want to follow in his footsteps too, and mutilate themselves the way he did
B: …
A: it’s not right, sigurd, and you know it
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