thf (01/27/83)
The ultimate video game reminded me of a scene in a science fiction story (don't remember title/author) where an ultimate casino is described. While I'm sure your video would qualify, the book talked of "one-armed" bandits where the player inserted his genitals. 99 times out of 100, the player "won" and received tremendous pleasure, but 1 out of 100 was the "whir of razor blades", and the "screaming losers escorted off the premises by burly attendants." I apologize in advance for not submiting this to net.castration, but if you're into the big 10-4 I don't think you should be too offended.
hickmott (01/27/83)
Just in case anyone's interested, the story with the odd one-armed bandits is A. E. van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Isher." -Andy hickmott@yale-comix
rb (01/29/83)
That's in a Robert Sheckley story, "I See a Man Sitting in a Chair, and the Chair is Biting His Leg."
gnu (02/01/83)
Van Vogt's "Weapon Shops of Isher" is not the source of this fantasy; it must be the Sheckley book. Van Vogt would not be so crass as to write about a player's "inserting his genitals" in the machine, either -- what about the 51% for whom whirling blades would only give a close shave? To give some probably undeserved credit, maybe Sheckley thought women were smart enough not to play the game... John Gilmore, Sun Microsystems PS: If you're into SF suicides, Joanna Russ wrote a short novel (title forgotten) about some shipwrecked people, one of whom refuses to go along with the prevalent "let's the 7 of us tame and populate this planet" spirit, preferring to quietly and comfortably expire. The tamers and populators refuse to give her the option, of course; they want her to make babies. It's not one of her best but what do you want in a suicide book?