Track
The Rules of Being
By Justin Empire21 Plays
The Rules of Being
Justin Empire
Every interaction is a game: walking somewhere, having a conversation, falling in love, arguing, eating, working, etc. is understood as a game with rules, objectives, roles, or a particular emotional purpose.
The Rules of Being
Imagine a city where nothing is simply an action.
Every conversation is a game. Every relationship is a game. Walking down a street, sharing a meal, falling in love, arguing with a stranger, remembering the past—all of it is understood through rules, objectives, roles, and consequences.
The inhabitants of this strange city don't merely play games. They live through them.
When they encounter something that has no name, they create a game for it. Once that game has been created, it doesn't remain an idea. It becomes part of the city's collective psyche, shaping how its people perceive themselves and the world around them.
Over time, the city has evolved into something almost incomprehensible to outsiders: a civilization where reality and play have become indistinguishable.
Then something changes.
Visitors from Earth discover the city hidden within a phenomenon of extraordinary time dilation. To the people of Earth, what they find may appear to be a fascinating alien society. But to the inhabitants, the visitors represent something far more dangerous.
They are introducing new rules.
And when the visitors begin to change the games the city has built its existence around, the inhabitants are forced to confront a terrifying possibility:
If every aspect of your existence is governed by a game, what happens when someone else changes the rules?
The Rules of Being is a science-fiction story about consciousness, identity, language, and the invisible rules that govern our own lives.
Because perhaps humanity isn't so different.
Perhaps we already turn everything into games.
We just don't call them that.Released 8/18/26, 1h 8m
genre
Soundtrackmood
Other