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The Game Kids serie is a trilogy of books centered around a bunch of kids who find an abandonned VR game creepypasta-style and decide to fuck around with it. Usually, when I give this summary, people respond with a variation of "oh so some SAO shit?" But nope! Sorry for all isekais enjoyers. This serie is much closer to Code Lyoko or Shangri-La Frontier; there is no preoccupation of saving the world here. This is a serie about kids fucking around, having fun, clipping through walls, all the fun stuff.

In fact, much like Code Lyoko, one of the first things the kids do by complete accident is pull an AI out of the game right into the real world. Fun, right? The poor sod (Vektor) is dead convinced his kingdom IS real and IS in danger, though the rest of the kids take him a lot less seriously than that. I mean, he's an npc. One with a very good response time! But an npc regardless.

That's how it appears at first, at least. Over time, Vektor, learning program that he is, learns how to be more human so to speak- social cues and emotions and whatnot. The rest of the kids come to consider him a good friend of theirs. Innit cute! Innit great!

Now, I'm not saying Vektor is not a person. But I am saying that Vektor is still very much a program. I don't mean "oh he likens everything to programming haha bot boy" I mean there are things his code will not allow him to do or say. His quest to save his kingdom, regardless of whether said kingdom is real or not, is one hardcoded inside of him. "I was programmed this way. I cannot help it."

Now, isn't it a horrible thought? A person, so easily at the mercy of some bit of code thrown inside of him? With bound actions, bound emotions, bound memories?

Well, here's a follow-up thought for you: if Vektor, as a person created digitally, can be hardcoded like this. What can you do if you take a real flesh and blood person, and digitalize them? Say, through some sort of VR video game?

The Game Kids serie is a serie that is currently unfinished, so I can't go on a full meta-analysis spree yet. But I can say this: it's a serie about kids fucking around, about unhinged romance, and about the bottomless potential for unethical human experimentation VR tech would have if it worked like Code Lyoko (through turning the user into code) or even just SAO (through giving the computer direct access to your brainwaves.) We're not talking "oh die in the game die in real life" kinda deal. We're talking "if someone had admin access to your personal code they could change core parts of your personality, implant false memories, force you to change your goals and priorities, alter your perception of the world at its most base level." Abraham, an otherwise sweet and reasonable guy, is OBSESSED with killing a guy he presumably used to be friend with, because that's what his code says. Dante is physically incapable of sharing any information of value, because it will activate 50 punishment protocols on his ass. Petel can no longer feel fear in the most literal way possille, because this function has been disabled.

And sometimes your code even gets modified in the most horrendous way possible where parentheses are forgotten and you end up with stupid-ass glitches inside your brain.

Anyways. It's a good serie. You guys should read it, book 1's available for free.