Thread unlocked.

Thread unlocked. is a short interactive chat-sim like piece. Following a rough discussion, a (Forum?) thread is unlocked, enabling you to post something. Unknowing of the previous messages, you are given four different choices of words, leading to one of 36 different possible sentences (which you don’t know the content of either).

Ranging from short and sweet (which really makes you wonder what happened in that thread), to pretty antagonistic (which also makes you wonder what kind of arguments we had to deal with), with so few words, the piece does a pretty good job at giving a limited snapshot of what you could see after a Forum argument, when tension has supposedly died down and everyone has moved on. How so little words can really swift the vibe of a thread one way or another. Words that you know will just kill the thread for real, or see another way of doubling down (and maybe some stronger moderation action).

There is something slightly triggering about the first four words on the screen: Thread Unlocked. Slowmode Off. As some sort of slithering anxiety finding its way through your throat and tightening it more and more, as the worry, of people barging in back in and restart the argument that required the thread to be locked in the first place, just… bursts (these threads are emotionally draining).

I don’t think I’ll be able to look at another locked thread and not be reminded of this piece. Also a good reminder to pick your words… or just avoid posting? Yeah… sometimes it’s the best way of action.

Thread Unlocked is a very clever game about the dynamics of group chats on services like Discord. It simulates the experience by turning off slow mode and letting the player choose from a set of words that continue to another set of words before the game unceremoniously completes the line of dialog for the player.

It creates a feeling of deja vu, showing how group conversations often follow recognizable patterns. There must be a reason why slow mode was turned on, and these problems will be familiar to anyone who uses these services frequently.

This is doubly true because the player, through their choice of words, creates the backstory that leads to this confrontation between the speaker and their interlocutor. The feeling I had when the game completed my dialog for the first time was shock, and then the realization that, yes, this was something I could have said in a heated argument with a friend.

The uncanny experience of playing this game makes me reflect on past conversations. No matter what the context, I always felt like I was following a kind of formula: cliches and platitudes seem to be the only rhetorical weapon of choice in the heat of the moment. I wonder if their generality can downplay the source of these tensions -- one line of dialogue in this game seems to suggest that someone may have said something offensive, and the speaker is willing to move past it in order to de-escalate the conflict. It never struck me as absurd when I used it, but watching the game auto-complete it for me was so jarring that I realized how contrived this tactical move is.

The game reminds me of sweetfish's vanitas, another short game about the internet that shows how communities of all ages repeat the same patterns of flourishing and dispersal. The history of communication is a constant state of interruption and continuation.

But Thread Unlocked goes in a different direction: it taps into the subconscious patterns I've developed in communicating with people on the web. The responses I have accumulated from getting into fights, negotiating with others, and so on are on full display here. And I wonder if these were actually useful lessons or detriments to understanding between semi-anonymous people on chat clients.

I don't know, and the game doesn't provide an answer (even if it really cared). At the very least, I will continue to struggle to find a satisfactory solution thanks to this game. It's a thought-provoking simulation that deserves more recognition.