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Comment by cupcake-unicorn | Hacker News Reader

This is an amazing game and I didn't know the whole story behind it, although the author did provide the voice for the computer AM which is pretty creepy.

The game is ridiculously progressive for its time and has a female African American software developer addressing trauma/assault.

I saw the show Maniac on Netflix recently and wondered if they were inspired by this game. The game references psychology in the vignettes and although it's much, much darker than what happens in the show Maniac (and not the intention of AM to help the people in the simulation) the outcome is similar - the people in the vignettes overcome some of the psychological trauma that held them back.

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Ellen seems to have gotten the most growth from the original short story. And I was very happy to see that, because the original had a couple of cringe-worthy passages about her. Maybe they weren't as eyebrow-raising in 1967, but I definitely winced a few times on re-reading it a few years ago.

> Ellen seems to have gotten the most growth from the original short story. And I was very happy to see that, because the original had a couple of cringe-worthy passages about her. Maybe they weren't as eyebrow-raising in 1967, but I definitely winced a few times on re-reading it a few years ago.

Like what? I don't really remember anything cringe-worthy in the story.

Her skin color is repeatedly fetishized--which, okay, maybe this is the sex-hungry narrator's bent.

The cringe-worthy part involves the character of Benny, who AM mutated into a primate creature with enlarged sexual organs. The narrator takes great pains to point out that Ellen obligingly has sex with all of the crew (ehh....), but she really likes having sex with Benny.

Again, I understand this is unreliable narrator's jealousy probably seeping in, but a book written today might be a little more conscious about the optics of the black female character having sex with a Simian/human hybrid.

EDIT: Since I happened to have the ebook on my laptop, here's the passage in question:

> It was too late. None of us wanted to be near him when whatever was going to happen, happened. And besides, we all saw through her concern. When AM had altered Benny, during the machine’s utterly irrational, hysterical phase, it was not merely Benny’s face the computer had made like a giant ape’s. He was big in the privates, she loved that! She serviced us, as a matter of course, but she loved it from him. Oh Ellen, pedestal Ellen, pristine-pure Ellen, oh Ellen the clean! Scum filth.

> The narrator takes great pains to point out that Ellen obligingly has sex with all of the crew (ehh....), but she really likes having sex with Benny.

I don't see anything cringe worthy about that - it's not unusual for women to, uh, prefer bigger organs.

> but a book written today might be a little more conscious about the optics of the black female character having sex with a Simian/human hybrid.

I don't understand this bit either - what does the character being black have to do with it? Once again, in SciFi it's not unusual for humans to have relations with aliens, mutants, etc. Are black people not allowed do so?

> I don't see anything cringe worthy about that - it's not unusual for women to, uh, prefer bigger organs.

Sorry to break it to you, it is unusual

>> > I don't see anything cringe worthy about that - it's not unusual for women to, uh, prefer bigger organs.

> Sorry to break it to you, it is unusual

In a work of dystopian fiction it's very far away from "cringe worthy", as IRL there are already some women who have that preference.

Calling it cringe worthy is somewhat puritanical ...

Hate to break it to you bud if you heard that from a woman they were probably just trying to stoke your ego, no one has a "preference" for getting a bruised cervix

> Hate to break it to you bud if you heard that from a woman they were probably just trying to stoke your ego, no one has a "preference" for getting a bruised cervix

People have preferences for all sorts of pain and discomfort during sex. It's simply puritanical to suggest that a certain subset of the population must not have a certain sexual preference.

And, in view of the story we are discussing, the woman in question was given that preference due to physiological manipulations made by AM; there is nothing I see cringe-worthy about the situation, unless you are off the opinion that women must not like a particular type of sexual interaction, because it makes you uncomfortable.

No, it's only ok for Kirk to do it.

Did Kirk have relations with non humanoids? The Gorn doesn't count :)

Does Benny (I think his name was) in the story not count as humanoid? He's a transformed human, but clearly still remains self-aware, and is considered human by his friends.

Yeah, I think he went much further with the whole ape thing in the short story which had the other problematic issues as well. He was kind of just crippled in the game which made sense as a lot of his self image was based on his physical strength as an army officer.

Isn't the context that the AI altered Ellen's brain to make her particularly sex-crazed as a punishment? Since previously, she had been rather prudish? Not really fair to leave that out.

Authors can't imagine from what bent perspective a future reader will read their works ... to me (non-US) being focused on those issues looks much less progressive than the original.

> I definitely winced a few times on re-reading it a few years ago.

You expected the insane AI bent on torturing the last five humans forever, to be more respectful of present-day sensibilities?

Oh yeah, the short story was not good in that regard at all. The game was such an upgrade to the story.

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