A Game Of Skill

I'm just waiting for the masked Pizza Girl to show up again...

The Broken Nomad

I love ALL the characters, but I confess to a preference for the robot/robot and human/robot interactions. There are LOTS of places to read about human/human relationships, and even human/alien ones. There are many fewer good ones with robot(android?) characters. And NOBODY does such a good job with robots that have a creditable emotional life... In MY opinion, anyway. YMMV. There are a FEW that are almost as good or - depending on your preferences - at least AS good. But nobody better...

Kerin Schiesser

It may also be the case that JJ created these "new" characters in order to give HIMSELF a chance to take a vacation from writing characters he's been shepherding for thousands of strips. He'll read this stuff; my guess is he already knows with some precision the number of strips it has been since [so-and-so] was mentioned..

Michael Voorhis

MOAR ROBOTZ

I definitely disagree with you there. I find myself wanting ALL ROBOTS ALL THE TIME. If only Jeph could be cloned...

Tim Keating

You mean the real fictional people?

unpopular opinion time.... less robot comics? i miss hearing about the actual characters.

I know... I just came here and suddenly realized the same thing!

awgiedawgie

Well said, Philip. :)

Joseph Bonnar

You should read Phantoms in the Brain by Dr. Ramachandran. It's all about phantom limb

This is a Friday strip, dammit!

Mark

aw, shitttt.

Joe

I read an early neurologist who said that, with practice, amputees could somehow move their phantom limbs into prosthetics, and thereby make the prosthetic feel like part of themselves. I always thought that sounded entirely too cool to be true. If I may ask without being intrusive, did you find anything like that to be the case?

Your effort seems doomed to fail, because Roko is not a human.

Uniquitous

I think that Roko is going through something *like* Phantom Limb Pain for amputees. I have personal experience, I'm a double leg amputee. I have to imagine that, upon losing my legs, if I'd simply had them replaced moments later with legs that were similar, but obviously different, it would cause me some issues, too.

Jeff Lowes

I am trying to classify Roko's condition in terms of named human psychological problems, and can't. It is not Body Integrity Identity Disorder, because that very rare syndrome combines the feeling that one part of one's body is not part of one with a desire to be rid of it. Roko has something much nearer to what Sacks describes in his book _A Leg to Stand On_ an inability to conceive of a body part as one's own, but with no accompanying desire to be rid of it. With Roko, however, this feeling sometimes extends to her entire body. Roko contrasts in interesting ways with May, who wanted a radically different body and whose body parts suddenly actually do stop being part of her, but who suffers no more psychological distress than frustrated anger. It is touching that Roko, who is so much worse off, is trying to help May.

I wrote like a ten page thing where my mirror universe self helps out. BLATANT self-serving fan-fiction of course.

Shane Wegner

And the interaction between Bubbles and Yay would be interesting. And what ever Yay does, they could call in Emily to assist. She has experience in AI headspace, after all.

Michael Boettger

I'm kind of expecting Yay, Melon and Roko to show up at Union Robotics... Faye: "We don't have the equipment to do the kind of fine calibration needed." Yay: "You will in 12 hours."

Czarzhan

Conversion "therapy" is a foul and abusive practice that marries psuedoscience and bigotry for a match made in hell. Fuck conversion "therapy" and fuck everyone that practices it. I don't think Roko needs to change anything about her mind - the issue still lies with her body. After all, even if you could precisely alter the very select nerve cells that correspond to gender identity to match the physical characteristics, it would be appallingly unethical. You are who you are. I completely get Yaaaaaaay's reluctance to mess around with minds.

Thomas Boys

And I guess we all can think about this till Saturday. A continuation or a new storyline?

Michael Boettger

I must say, I’m kinda surprised Melon knows how to play Dread though! Check Wil Wheaton’s TableTop on youtube: watch?v=H0loSZFsyoQ

Daniel Rydberg

When we went down this storyline I was thinking, "this is going to be about being trans and going through that for an AI" but it's not really like that. Roko can't make her body match what her mind sees/wants. She can't dress differently or even get surgery to "feel like herself." She actually needs someone to go in and change who she is. To me that sounds more like conversion therapy.

Tinwhisker

man have i been there. actually, to be honest, man did i live there for 30 years

Anna Phylaxis

Roko ... 😟

Daniel Blom Paulsen

While sad I love how this was done, also Spookybot's... sorry, Yaaaaaay's reaction is great

Tachpmg

I think that might be a higher pledge level.

Dean Reilly

Yay can clearly afford the high end chassis without any visible seems and top of the line voice synthesizer that doesn't have that "robot voice" quality to it

Fart Captor

I think this comic perfectly represents what makes QC as good as it is - and why I've been reading it for years. It takes things that are difficult to understands and manages to show them, rather than tell them. It does groundwork for people to understand one another. <3

Philip Lautin Jackson

:( that's sad

Igor Mosyagin

Feeling for a robot with body dysphoria in a comic, wow, brains are amazing!

SpookyPenguin

So Yay/Spookybot is human now? I notice the neck seam is gone...

John Peterson

On the one hand, I'm impressed at how much emotion is being felt (personally) by this comic. By our Roko. On the other hand.....she looks like she's giving herself the finger!

Oh man my dissociation is a lot subtler but when it hits this hard i...i definitely relate. Poor roko.

Dylan T

It would probably depend on the model type of the body. Bubbles body is a precise machine where she can disarm a nuclear weapon, May's body, just literally falls apart.

Shawn K. Younkin

That is powerful. Drawing body dysphoria has never been clearer. 😲💜

Cleo Schmitz

I have dissociative episodes, but I don't really realize it until I realize that I've lost time. I'm not sure if that's better or worse.

Chuck Dee

She still is doing well. She’s doing amazing.

KCkittysnores

I have dysphoria and dissociative episodes , and this is so on the money. The next step is flying away.

KCkittysnores

Do AIs (those not experiencing what Roko is experiencing) not have precise body control? I would have thought that Jenga would be kind of boring (at least, the basic kind of Jenga, not Melon's version.)

Firefly Jelly

:-(

Bagge

I found this an incredibly disturbing strip to read, and the fact Jeph was able to evoke a genuine sense of the body horror of dysphoria demonstrates how strong the comic’s storytelling has become. Poor Roko.

Foal Papers

Confirmed we all love Roko and want the best for her.

Clifton Royston

This really feels like body disassociation. While it's a horrible feeling, I'm impressed with how well Jeph captures it

Alcaria Swain

There is one real possibility and Yay (Spookybot) might well be able to help WITHOUT going in and doing "brain surgery" on Roko. There are two parts to this dysphoria. Roko's mind is one, but the OTHER is her new body. It should be possible to tweak that to make it more tolerable to Roko. That wouldn't require anything more than Roko's response to the, um, surgery her body is going though.

Joseph Bonnar

How bout replacing it WITH a chainsaw?

Andrew

Does that make this 5D Jenga?

Andrew

Hey, if the tower stays up, she's coping well!

BobC

I hope so. I feel Yay's going to be helpful, but perhaps not via direct mental surgery.

Andrew Mitchell

I think that’s my favorite part of this strip. Yay is showing genuine concern for Roko.

Populuxe

Roko associated her sense of self with her first body to such a degree that she was subject to involuntary reactions to certain stimuli. Like ticklishness. I seem to recall she reacted to tickling several times. If that has happened enough that it became an automatic neural pathway, she may be subject to tickling in her new body. Experiencing something that developed in her first body may cause her to "accept" this body as "hers".

Czarzhan

it's probably a good thing that Yay and Melon are gonna be at her apartment all the time, huh

LH

Well spotted!

Andrew Mitchell

:( she was doing so well.

Sleepy John

But, it was an accident!

Grace Kieser

I want to hug her in virtual space, so she feels like I'm hugging *her* and not a body that's not her. :(

Czarzhan

I'm glad to see Yay showing appropriate concern here. And I just want to hug Roko.

awgiedawgie

Melon?

allanfranta

I mean, if you gave Melon some time to read up on Dissociative Episodes, I feel confident she could incorporate them into the rules. That's exactly the kind of lateral thinking she shines in.

Mitchell Sealy

Oh, Roko...

Kenneth Carlile

Roko and May would make great twins, just saying...

Pete

Oh, no! Roko… <3

Erin Hartshorn

oh no :(

Tamara Macadam

I was hoping her body dysphoria was in remission, but now this. It breaks my heart. Yay looks extremely concerned, and may choose to intervene at this point. I believe they've never witnessed this personally before.

Michael Boettger

Just make sure she doesn't cut it off with a chainsaw

at0m

Oh shit, get her some comforts

Kyle Major

Poor Roko... I want to hug her. :(

Forgettable

I am mad at CRUSH BOT all over again :(

TMN

Not only is it not her hand, but it appears to have taken a dislike to her based on the gesture it's making.

Nikki

:c

Brian

More games should have rules that are amenable to mental health problems.

Seth Aaron Hershman has they she pronouns