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Simmersion

A game you don’t play. A life you live.

Overview​

Imagine waking up in 1830s Vienna. Not a theme park or an RPG, but a living, breathing world—coffee houses buzz, revolutions stir, composers create. You are fully present, with your five senses and your full consciousness. But there’s a catch: you’re not the only visitor. Other modern minds walk among the historical recreations, and you can never be certain who is real and who is not.

This is a game not of XP, levels, or loot—but of immersion, subversion, and identity.

Required Technology​

This concept assumes a future-level simulation platform similar to the one depicted in eXistenZ:

  • Full sensory immersion.
  • Transfer of consciousness or cognition into an avatar-body within the simulated world.
  • A seamless interface between biological self and digital world—so immersive, the only thing that breaks it is admin intervention.

Unlike eXistenZ, there’s no doubt: you know you are inside the simulation.
But within that world, you must act as if you are not—because the world, and its systems, expect you to be a native.

Only one thing can “leak out”:
You get warned, suspended, or banned for your in-game behavior.
There are no menus, no pause button, no magic narrator.
Only the persistent illusion of life in another time—and your ability to navigate it without getting caught.

Entry Modes and Desync Protocols​

🔁 Entry Modes​

When entering Simmersion, you choose how you arrive:

🧼 Clean Entry​

You arrive as a stranger. No attachments, no past, no obligations.

  • No one knows you.
  • You are free to observe, blend in, or invent a new persona.
  • Good for low-friction immersion.

🧠 Integrated Entry​

You inhabit an existing life. People know you. They expect things from you.

  • The world has records: names, debts, relationships, roles.
  • You do not remember your past—but the world does.
  • You are responsible for interpreting how to act based on subtle environmental and social cues.

Want a notebook? Bring one.
Want a letter from your “former self”? Preconfigure it.
Your tools are your own responsibility.

🔌 Desync Protocols​

There is no pause button.
But you can leave—if you know how.

Before entry, you define your desync ritual:

  • A phrase.
  • A gesture.
  • A symbol.
  • A repeated thought pattern.

The system will not pull you unless you consciously perform this protocol.
Accidental immersion is not a bug. It’s the point.

Foundational Rules​

1. Indistinguishability is Sacred​

  • You must not know who is a real person and who is an LLM-driven recreation.
  • This rule is absolute and universal.
  • Trust must be earned, never given.

2. Modern Knowledge is Forbidden—But Tempting​

  • You know things these people don't—ideas, technology, philosophy.
  • But revealing too much results in "desync": you are removed from the simulation.
  • The art is in subtlety: obfuscation, metaphor, plausible deniability.

3. Speech and Behavior are Monitored​

  • You’re expected to adopt 1830s speech, body language, and worldview.
  • "Slips" (e.g., modern phrases, gestures, cultural assumptions) are flagged by admin AI.
  • You may explain minor oddities with a backstory (e.g. “I’m from a distant village”), but this buffer is limited.

Core Mechanics​

🧠 Covert Handshake Protocol​

A hidden mutual authentication between modern players:

  • You drop a veiled reference to a modern concept:

    “I’ve been experimenting with different methods for separating weeds. You know, trying to find the symmetric difference...”

  • If the other person is AI:

    • They nod politely, perhaps offer a folk remedy.

  • If the other person is a human with knowledge:

    • They respond with a subtle challenge:

      “I once thought of assigning each field a sort of label—maybe numbers—and mapping them to the method. Makes rotation easier, no?”

  • This exchange mimics a SYN–ACK handshake, confirming you're both real without breaking immersion.

👀 Admin Oversight​

Admins or admin AI enforce immersion by monitoring:

  • Speech patterns: idioms, cadence, cultural references.
  • Behavioral ticks: body language, posture, eye contact.
  • Content relevance: Are you introducing ideas that didn’t exist yet?

Too many violations:

  • Results in warnings, session review, or temporary removal.
  • Severe violations may result in "memory wipes"—you lose reputation, contacts, or alliances.

🎭 Social Tension as Gameplay​

This creates a unique emotional loop:

  1. Paranoia: Every person you meet could be a modern visitor or a brilliant simulation.
  2. Curiosity: You want to connect, but doing so carelessly risks everything.
  3. Camaraderie: When you finally confirm someone’s real, the bond is genuine. You both earned it.

Player Goals? Your Choice.​

This is not a quest-based game.

You may:

  • Live quietly as a blacksmith’s apprentice.
  • Attempt to influence a historical figure through subtle nudges.
  • Build an underground network of confirmed moderns.
  • Try to shift the course of history—without getting caught.

There are no XP bars. Only experience.

A Day in the Life (Example Scenario)​

You wake up in a rented room above a bakery. The cobblestones outside are still wet from the morning wash.

You meet a bookseller who shares a curious method for indexing his wares—he uses a small numeric symbol to track where the book should go.

“Where did you learn that system?” you ask.

He hesitates. “Oh, just something I came up with when reorganizing my garden tools.”

You smile.

Later, you see him at a salon. He plays dumb to a discussion on Schopenhauer—but slips in a precise metaphor about memory allocation.

You’ve found your first ally.

TL;DR​

Simmersion is not a game about winning.
It is a game about being, hiding, signaling, and trusting.
It is a game where the most powerful tool is a metaphor,
and the most thrilling reward is a single whispered word that only another real person would say—
and say just right.