Player Comments on PSYOPS

This story was really awesome! Honestly, Fluxion has some of the coolest stories and concepts on the site, the only thing holding his stories back is that we want more. Because this story was super cool! I really enjoyed this story, and it left me dumbfounded at its intelligence and awesome premise.

I also have to commend Fluxion on his range, he writes grimdark fantasy and sci-fi with the same skill and ease that it's truly a delight to read one of his stories. I probably said this in a previous review, but I'm a huge Fluxion fan and will read a story by him without hesitation if it has his name on it(unless if it's something like Wheeler and Brandt lol, that's the one exception)

I haven't seen a lot of stories that made me feel dumb after reading, but this was one of them.

The integral concept to this story is the idea of the Butterfly effect. The name stems from the theory that small, seemingly insignificant changes can have large, unpredictable consequences. For instance, a butterfly flapping its wings in America could result in a tornado in Chile. This applies to complex systems that have many moving parts, therefore making it impossible to predict what might happen next.

Tying into this concept is the multiple worlds hypothesis, which states that every possible outcome of this butterfly effect creating change exists, but in a parallel world.

These are some incredibly fascinating and high concept ideas that really elevate the story of Psyops and truly make it a treat to read. Especially since Fluxion likely has a background in physics, so the concepts aren't just thrown in for name's sake, but rather have really significant narrative consequences.

Anyways, Fluxion does an excellent job juxtaposing the high science concepts with a really grounded and grim rape-scene. It's rare that an author puts lofty high concept science next to an urban dark rape scene, can you imagine Christopher Nolan doing something like that? I certainly can't.

It lends the text a certain kind of oddity, and throws readers off a bit, as we're not sure what to make of it. This was a good narrative decision because it enhances the feeling of confusion and danger we feel.

From there, we eventually learn what's going on with PSYOPS and how there agents and regulators sent back in time to make small changes that ensure humanity's survival, all in accordance with the calculations of a genius supercomputer, PSYOPS. The reasoning for the name was quite clever as well.

Of course, the butterfly effect concept makes it so that it's hard to predict what changes may arise, so in order to make the desired changes while not creating outrageous ripple effects, PSYOPS "wirelessly" transfers the brains of agents to people who are about to die, so that they won't leave historical footprints.

The idea of rogue regulators adds even more complexity to the story, giving the mission higher stakes, because we have to complete the mission while evading the rogue regulators.

The world building and lore constructed, backed by really well done quantum physics and science, made this story an absolute treat to read. Seriously, at no point did my attention flag during this, and it felt really cool to learn all about these quantum physics concepts.

The cherry on top was the twist: PSYOPS is following its original programming, but not for the benefit of humanity. Rather it is, through a stark utilitarian mode of thinking, preventing the most harm and doing the most good by creating a reality that prevents the heat death of the universe. PSYOPS, being coded by lesser AIs rather than humans, doesn't put humanity first, and indeed is manipulating probabilities to engineer realities. It turns out that Yusef's work on Abbadon was actually correct.

That twist was some next-level writing, and major props to you Flux for executing it. Seriously, that twist literally made me have a huge smile on my face, it was remarkably clever, and it made sense since PSYOPS sees time through a different frame of reference than us, so naturally she'll have different priorities.

The core story was absolutely first rate, backed up by great writing, interesting characters, and really thought-provoking science. I love how you refuse to dumb down the science and treat the audience like we're smart, while also teaching us in a way that makes perfect sense.

DRAWBACK: I literally only had one problem with the story. I thought the plan of having sex with Aaron to give Yusef depression so he can't present his "wrong" data was a little silly. I felt a little let down with that being the plan after this elaborate and complex world that was built, but the twist more than made up for it.

The branching was limited, it was largely a question of cooperating with the rebels and living with Yusef on a private island having saved humanity, or following PSYOPS original plan and dooming humanity. The only reason this is a drawback is because Fluxion's writing and story was so freakin good that I'm disappointed we don't have more. Seriously, you did an absolutely fantastic job on this story, and after reading it, my mind was literally blown. It's a wonderful story whose only sin is NOT BEING LONGER.

I would love to see a large scale big picture story that's a 100k epic starring in this world.

The story could be made into a movie by a major Hollywood picture, it's a really remarkable and outstanding story that I would recommend to anyone who loves science and wants to see it faithful depicted in sci-fi. There's no hand-wavy bullshit here, PSYOPS is science influence narrative structure and plot at its finest.

8/8, please expand this story. It has so much potential just like Shameful Dead.

This is a very high-concept story with an intriguing premise. But a significant portion of the word count -- perhaps as much as half of the 8400 words -- is dedicated to exposition.

The opening scene is indeed captivating: although at this point in the story I know nothing more about the situation other than what I read on the somewhat ambiguous set-up on the title page, I can nevertheless figure out I am a woman fighting off a couple would-be rapists. These two brutes are the least talkative characters in the entire story, and there are multiple ways to get through this scene.

Having survived the opening pages, I naturally had questions as to what all this was about. And boy, were there answers.

Fundamentally what I think is going on here that too much story, and especially too many ideas, are being compressed into too little space. The concept seems spacious enough to support an entire novel of temporal intrigue, but too much is explained away in large episodes of... explanation. Characters never get the chance to develop into anything more than talking heads, leaving PSYOPS itself to steal the scene, even though it never appears directly.

As for the plot:

******SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT******
The idea of sending agents into the past to incrementally nudge history into desirable outcomes seems somehow weak. The people of the PSYOPS era clearly know what the problem is and how to resolve it; for them it's simply too late. But instead of sending all those agents back to convince one physicist to commit suicide so another one, still just a child, might grow up to formulate a more accurate theory on black holes, wouldn't it be better to just go back and explain the issue to, say, Stephen Hawking? Just deliver the knowledge humanity needs to someone capable of comprehending it, at a time when there is still plenty of time to act on it. Then return to your tropical island and enjoy a pina colada, satisfied in a job well done.

Hard to read but overall pretty decent 6/10

Nothing quite like a rape scene to hook you into a story. The visuals are very nicely done. Interesting premise. Spelling and grammar done well. The main downside is being left with a feeling that there was much more the story could have included. I'd like to read a longer, fully branching version of the story.

The premise of this story is incredibly intruiging, but is supported by the way the introduction hooks you in. I also really liked the aesthetic and font, it helped add to this strange sci-if atmosphere.

However, I have some critiques. The characters seemed a bit bland, even the protagonist Marci didn’t get much development. Who is Marci in a past life? Why did she consent to being send back by PSYOPS? Many of the choices didn’t really matter- there were only two endings. I would really like to see this story expanded in the future, but I still say this was a solid work.
6/8