Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

co-op

2023-08-11 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
co-op
Votey panel for co-op
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

This comic shows a group of people looking up at a giant screen or sky displaying the message: "HOLY LIVING S**T. YOU GUYS, THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE COOPERATIVE MODE. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" The caption reads: "We found out the universe was a simulation in the worst way possible."

The joke imagines that humanity discovers it's living in a simulation -- a popular philosophical concept (the simulation hypothesis) -- but the revelation comes in the form of an exasperated game administrator scolding the players. The humor is that the simulation was meant to be a cooperative game, but humanity has been playing it competitively, fighting and exploiting each other instead of working together. The administrator's incredulous, profanity-laden reaction suggests that humanity's behavior is so far from the intended cooperative gameplay that the simulation runners are baffled and frustrated. It's a commentary on humanity's failure to cooperate despite presumably having every reason to, reframed through the lens of video game culture where "co-op mode" means players are supposed to work together.

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