It can be difficult to start at the beginning of such a topic, but at the outset of the game of simulacrum (we will use the generic term "game" to refer to this concept going forward) most players seem to assume themselves to be an organic biological life form that lives in a universe comprised mostly of inanimate objects where they come from a long lineage of generations of biological organisms, originating either naturally and through evolution after a big bang or some other scientific origin story, or supernaturally through some deistic origin story, or some combination thereof (at least as a default operational paradigm). This prevailing origin mythos becomes increasingly and more extremely important as it tends to color the underlying assumptions or base axioms used as a filter from which to derive other subsequent truths from observation and therefore create a framework for creating downstream judgments, strategies, tactics, etc.
One of the main goals of the game is to put players into scenarios whereby they will question their default paradigm and the inherent assumptions they use to define self as well as the objective universe they consider to be "other than self".
It becomes obvious to most players that they are operating avatars or acting as an “agency” and controlling an “agent” that encounter both other players operating avatars, as well as NPC (non-player character) AI operated avatars. Within the game.
Some points of the goal hierarchy and some considerations (in no specific order):
Survive
Prevent threats of an existential nature within the game from eliminating the players ability to influence and affect the game’s outcome and the emergent narrative from within its own level.
Bring their own avatar and possibly the avatars of others like themselves to a successful conclusion by winning challenges which as a reward includes a means of ascension whereby the avatars are afforded an opportunity to express themselves through others outside of the context of the game and in what the players consider the "real world" by the players becoming an expressive extension of that avatar within the player’s "real world" or within their local space and time.
In other words, some expressive actions or activities must be taken, on behalf of the ascended avatar by the player. (the standard criteria of which avatars are deserving of “saving” as well as what actions would constitute a win and provide an opportunity for ascension is ultimately player determined, but should be applied consistently to all as well as used as a player’s standard of behavior for their own avatar or applied as a "moral compass" or ideal to be attained by the player’s direct actions and behaviors through their own avatar. (Players should not hold the avatars of others to higher standards than they hold themselves) An avatar’s ascension should be considered some profound realization of form such that it is not simply a subroutine contained by the system encapsulated by and defined strictly by the game mechanics, but has demonstrated some uniqueness or originality and creativity. As the avatars express and so alter the “real world”, these ascendant avatars become a part of the exterior system through complex chains of cause and effect, thus suggesting the player consider the nature of self, objectivity, and of “reality” itself, as well as the prospect of ascension and individual creativity and unique individuation, as well as nonlinear temporality as a creation mythos.
The game scenarios are specifically designed to encourage the player to ask of themselves questions about their identity and their default paradigm so they not only question if others that surround them in the game are human or AI, real people or simulation, but through projected meta-analysis, to ask themselves why they make the determination they have, and what are the ramifications of applying those same considerations to themselves. It is also designed to suggest the question of how would an avatar know when it is inside a simulated “encapsulated” environment and when it only appears to be such, so that when one applies these same questions to the outside world, they can see that certainty is founded on assumptions, pragmatism (from the “inside paradigm’s” perspective), and other similarly shaky philosophical framework.
Further the desire to not provide an agency in the real world for what may be malicious AI, or an unworthy agency of simple reaction based automata disguised as another player with an avatar trapped in the simulacrum, will encourage the player to project and thereby identify with both the NPC AIs and the position of other players in order to try to understand their strategies and tactics and defenses, as well as to formulate their own.
Some concepts that should immediately make themselves apparent within the game mechanics can include:
Avoiding Existential Threat
The idea of existential threat requires an underlying worldview of limited existence. The nature of existence (preferences) are all that can be threatened if existence itself is seen as unlimited. Since encapsulation and partitioning of levels of simulacrum are by nature non-absolute (since the attainment of ascension is the stated goal of the game) there is a direct yet subtle suggestion of recursion and infinite regression / progression of form.
Creating sub-games or meta-games
Either individually or within a collaborative setting with others recruited for the same purpose, players are encouraged to create sub games or meta-games within the game level they are operating within as a default, to recursively model all the necessary game mechanics as described herein and be both compelling enough to encourage interaction and provide a means of transcendence of the game level as a reward.
Considering Consciousness, Ego, and Individuation
Players are encouraged to question what aspects of self as well as others are unique and individual and not just an automaton's reaction. What creativity can be applied while operating within what seems an outside objective universe in order to transcend it’s limits and not just be an operant agent with no true individuation and uniqueness.
Considering the External vs Internal Perception (Objectivity vs Subjectivity) Solipsism, etc.
Players are encouraged to consider the nature of the universe and the self and the paradigm of internal perception vs outside objectivity, and the ramifications of the paradigm of classical solipsism in the context of universal cosmology.
Polarity / Dualism and Singularity / Annihilation of Individuation
Players are encouraged to consider the ramifications of the standard classical, dualistic, and mutually exclusive, binary aspects of polarity as an absolute, as well as considerations of singularity and the annihilation of individuation and differentiation.
Good vs. Evil
Players are encouraged to consider concepts of Good and Evil as a standard of assessment and in terms of preferences and default judgments based on prior axioms and current prevailing paradigms.
Intention vs. Effects / Negligence vs. Malice / Forgiveness and Grace vs Accountability and Karma
Players are encouraged to ask the question in determining value, which factor is used as the metric of assessment and judgment, the intention or the end result of some action? If a player means well but the result of their action is seen as averse to the expression of a player’s will, is that action absolved because it was motivated by good will, or is it strictly assessed on the basis of the outcome? They should confront the question of this application and results of cause and effect and the implications for the choices made between accountability and grace.
Friend vs. Foe
Through game play, players are encouraged to consider which things acting aside from the players own agency are converse or antagonistic to the expression of the players will and are working against the players ascension, and which obstacles and challenges are a part of the process of ascension and working towards the ultimate goal and will of the player? Which characteristics of self and in others should be sought out and which should be foregone, etc.
Narrative Continuity / Consistency and History / Memory / Temporality
Players are encouraged to consider cause and effect, linear and non-linear temporality, narrative form and consistency, as well as history, memory, and how these things both define and illustrate narrative. These aspects tend to be very important both in creating compelling game scenarios and in demonstrating a recursive aesthetic that allows for ascension.
Expectations / Archetypes / Understanding and Communications
Players are encouraged to consider communications, meaning, symbolism, expectations, archetypes and all forms of ideation and informative expression both in the context of gameplay and in the context of ascension.
The end conclusion suggested by any level of attainment of the game often seems to be that none of these considerations may be able to yet be solved in any absolute terms (and it also that these absolute determinations may not matter) but unique, novel, and recursively aesthetic solutions (those acknowledging and communicating or demonstrating these same considerations) as solutions to previous limitations and challenges are what directly provide ascension to higher levels and further opportunity for higher levels of interaction and gameplay.
One idea often presented by the game narrative / mechanics is that If a compelling enough game can be built inside the current level of the game, it can be used as a test or a filter to see which avatars can create recursively aesthetic (any aesthetic that demonstrates or suggests an understanding that it is a game) and create a unique and creative solution for avatars to ascend, and which other avatars conversely get caught up in the game and trapped in the simulation to respawn (having their characteristics serve as data points used to model future NPC AI controlled agents, living their entire existence in service of the lower level game itself unless they themselves attain ascension.
Each player acts as an “agency” (a directing will) that operates an “agent” (performing operations) within an and affecting an “environment” (some scenario containing constraints and limitations or challenges as well as some method of ascension or completion to advance and ascend).
Game mechanics often include questions or other means of making determinations about each agent’s characteristics and judgments as well as a method of ongoing data collection and analysis for monitoring current states as well as consistency, this encourages players to carefully consider their perceptions and reasoning from the perspective of their avatar or agent as well as what that agent may want to share and how much they trust anything aside from "self", as well as if they can really trust themselves on a grander scale “outside” their encapsulated perception of reality. Players are free to reassess and restate and or change any characteristic state at any time, but these changes of self are also often used to assess the consistency of judgment players make about other agents controlled by players or NPC AIs in their interactions and relationships.
Game play includes creating avatars or agents, determining operations actions and behaviors for their agents, building environments, scenarios, situational opportunities and limitations, consistent and compelling narrative, and determining game mechanics to model and filter winning game play from those that do not provide ascension or success and progress at that particular level.
The game quickly becomes about both engaging with and creating valuable and compelling relationships and embodying and relating with characters, scenarios, narratives and games that are both popular with other players and allow enough activity for people to become invested to the point that they want to take meaningful game elements outside of the confines of the game itself, and express those elements within the “real world” thereby providing ascension to those game characters that have proven worthy of the players allowing themselves to be used as this means of expression.
This "ascended expression" of fictional characters in the real world as an outcome is readily visible in context of pop-culture iconography, memes, and the expression of archetypes mimicked from movies and other media. The main difference with our game of simulacrum being that the process is not so obviously established within the narrative of creating the expression by those that passively watch and project allowing the fictional characters to live vicariously through their expression within the audiences of most passive media, whereas in the context of interactive media and within a narrative about ascension through gaming a nonlinear temporality can be woven into the creation mythos such that a standard player can be encouraged to create scenarios whereby an avatar can ascend as well as provide a means for such an avatars expression at a higher level.
Such gameplay encourages players to try to understand the point of view of their avatar or agent, that of other players and NPCs, as well as the game designer, to project and expand self into a recursive frame of reference of both a unique individual and an undifferentiated singularity simultaneously.
Sub games and meta-games are and have been being developed and played within the real world you and I share with other people, as well as within various other MMORP worlds and other simulation environments. Avatars from all levels of game play are also expressing themselves and attaining ascension. It can be difficult to start at the beginning of such a topic, but at outset of the game most players seem to assume they are organic biological life forms that live in a universe composed mostly of inanimate objects where they come from a long line of generations of biological organisms that originated either naturally and through evolution after a big bang or some other scientific origin story, or supernaturally through some deistic origin story, or some combination thereof (at least as a default operational paradigm). This prevailing origin mythos becomes increasingly and more extremely important as it tends to color the underlying assumptions or base axioms used as a filter from which to derive other subsequent truths and therefore creates a framework for creating downstream judgments, strategies, and tactics.