311. How Do Great Stories Help Us Return to Factory Settings?

0 Plays1 month ago

Pragmata released to gaming consoles April 17. The new Capcom title promptly sold 1 million copies by its first weekend and provoked much discourse from fans and some haters. Why the hate? Because players everywhere, especially men, loved the key concept of an outer space soldier teaming up with a little android girl to fight robo-monsters. Gamers declared they would do anything to protect Diana. How do these stories help humans remember to restore our “factory settings”?

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1. The tale of a mecha-man and robo-girl

Capcom announced Pragmata nearly six years ago (June 2020).
The game was later delayed, with sporadic, apologetic teasers.
The pitch? Space marine finds orphaned android girl in moonbase.
They team up to fight rogue robots in hopes of returning to Earth.
Before it even released, Reddit banned one channel (TheGamer).
They said some people were sexualizing the little robot girl, Diana.
Which is unfortunately expected, and horrifying. More on this later.
Last month, the final trailer arrived, and the game itself (April 17).
After release, some men said they felt their “dad senses” awaken.

You all HATE escort missions

But make that NPC a cute kid, and suddenly you’ll burn the whole world down for them

Japan’s population is crashing. Capcom realized people wouldn’t listen to government mandates to reproduce, so they started making “Parent Simulators”

Pragmata feels like a psyop to make you want to have kids, a propaganda disguised as a game to boost the birth rates. And honestly it’s awesome.

The timeline is full of people saying Diana makes them want to start a real family. I love that we really fell for it.

—@‌TheRooster on X.com, April 20

Female players were also positively affected by Diana’s cuteness.
In response, critics blasted this positive response as closeted sin.
They saw nothing but evil motives in the male players’ enjoyment.
Single men, actual dads, and uncles alike said they’d die for Diana.
And the game’s fans began referring to human “factory settings.”

2. What we mean by saying ‘factory settings’

Stephen hasn’t yet played Pragmata but wants to. Great reviews.
It turns out the idea of “factory settings” has great foundations.
This is just a pop-culture-y, meme-y way to say “human purpose.”
It’s a rebuttal to false purposes, e.g. “get rich” or “be an activist.”
In other words, the “chief end of man.” Let’s define this carefully.
In th

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