According to the Choir of Numerals, roughly 27% of all melkrinians have personal internet access, the majority of them hailing from countries where literacy is decriminalized. Drairburg’s literacy rates fluctuate wildly based on the fickleness of statistics magick, but there are no laws against it.

In the Hills, and predominantly white parts of the metropolitan area, internet use is common, and a burgeoning indie gaming scene is taking shape. Many emerging design movements wholly reject mainstream forms of electronic gaming that do not require the ability to read—such as the Ur-Casinos in Fuir-Nim, the public arcades of Quiet Home, and the “GovBox” home consoles imported from Agrafascist nations—on the grounds that they promote social sloth and strengthen authoritarian governments.

In this excerpt, a gaming-related internet zine known as “Prey2God” reviews one of CLEAR’s latest video games, a “balking simulator” called Lifelike.