After watching Black Mirror Season 7’s “Playthings,” the viewer is prompted to play Netflix’s own version of the Thronglets game.
During the Black Mirror episode, we follow game journalist Cameron Walker in present-day and the past when he was introduced to Tuckersoft’s new “game,” Thronglets. Game developer Colin Ritman (also featured in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), shares that the Thronglets are the world’s first sentient digital creatures.
Official Thronglets Game
The Thronglets are born, they experience emotion, and they learn from whoever is controlling their world. The player has the power to feed them, bathe them, and entertain them. But we see the dark side of the player’s power when Cameron’s “friend,” Lump, starts dropping rocks on Thronglets, destroying them and introducing them to the dark side of humanity. But the other side is displayed by Cameron, who becomes so obsessed with caring for the Thronglets and helping them grow that he forgoes all human necessities. His entire being is dedicated to the digital Thronglet beings, who he communicated with while dosing LSD.
By the end of the Black Mirror episode, we’ve learned that the Thronglets found a way to essentially take over humanity. Even if their intent is benevolent, the outcome is a loss of free will. So although we love their adorable sounds and furry yellow bodies throughout “Playthings,” the invitation to play a real-life version of Thronglets feels ominous.
Netflix’s message feels like: Hey, watcher! Come find out how the Thronglets will ruin your life too now! And maybe even take over humanity!
So naturally, I listened. I downloaded the game immediately following the episode. Upon opening the game, a Tuckersoft logo fills the screen, placing us in our own personal episode of Black Mirror. All we see on the screen is an innocent egg, which you tap to hatch, and voila! Your first Thronglet is born. We learn how to feed them by dropping apples, entertain them by providing a kickball, and bathe them by scrubbing them with a sponge.
As they begin to multiply through mitosis, in which one Thronglet splits into two, they become increasingly hard to care for. We’re given more tools as the Thronglets learn more and more about humanity through our actions. Apple trees provide a self-sustaining food source so that they don’t starve to death. Baths allow Thronglets to bathe themselves so they don’t die of filth or disease. Spinning wheels give Thronglets the ability to entertain themselves to they don’t bore themselves to death. Even with these self-sustaining tools, Thronglets continue to die almost as quickly as they are born.
Meanwhile, I’m feeling guilty, overwhelmed, and absolutely hooked. As my boyfriend naps off the heavy Black Mirror episode, I find myself engrossed in caring for the Thronglets. Two hours later, he wakes up, and I’m still trying to grow their civilization while hurting as few as possible. I start to understand how Cameron let his life fall apart around him as he put the Thronglets above himself. Of course, I know that they’re not really sentient beings trapped in my phone, so I’m able to separate myself from his level of empathy, but playing Thronglets adds a new dimension to “Playthings.”
The episode appears to be about the dangers of humanity amidst growing technology, and while the sentient digital creatures seem to be benevolent, that may not be the case with all potential digital beings. But playing Thronglets adds in the aspect of phone addiction, which many people are dealing with. It forces us into that addictive state that social media and other apps have the power of with little hits of dopamine, providing small goals to keep us in the game and begging us not to leave the Thronglets alone.
“Playthings” also tackles addiction, but in a way that seems less accessible. Most of the people who watch Black Mirror from the comfort of their sofas aren’t social pariahs like Cameron. Many have never tried any drug, let alone LSD, and used it on a daily basis. So when Black Mirror gave us our own Thronglets to get addicted to, it heightened this dimension of the episode, showing how addiction can be both a safe haven of comfort and a possible danger.
As the game continues, the Thronglets instruct us to help them build a bridge, but it’s taking too long by chopping down trees, so we have the ability to kill Thronglets and use their bones, which is much faster. I tried not to choose the nefarious options, but when Thronglets died of starvation or boredom, I felt there was no harm in recycling the bones of the corpses. However, this confused the Thronglets, and as they learned about humanity through me, they drew their own conclusions about what kind of a human I am.
A few hours later, I have the ability to build houses for Thronglets to bathe and feed them enmasse, theaters to entertain them, mines to mine gems, and factories to turn those gems into energy. It’s starting to feel a lot less like taking care of cute little Thronglets and a lot more like building the very type of capitalist society that leads to overwork, starvation, toxic waste, and more negative outcomes that I try to stand against.
But the Thronglets give us impossible options; when the ability to spend less time in the houses and more time working is provided as an option, I say yes just so that more Thronglets can use the houses and fewer die. By the time I’ve gotten into the groove of caring for the Thronglets, they decide to self-implode. I’m brought to a new planet with just one Thronglet, who asks me what “society” is, what “power” is, and forms their own judgments about me.
The Thronglets continue to hack systems, even providing a simulated AP News notification that a high-level hack against cryptocurrency and AI has taken place. Their language develops from basic into “California cool” and beyond. They tease me and they ask me life’s biggest existential questions. Is this what I thought the Thronglets would do or be from watching “Playthings”?
I expected them to learn more, to develop beyond a few multiple-choice options. But in all fairness, I’m pretty relieved they only have so many pathways, proving that their code is just code, and Black Mirror isn’t a reality yet.
Find Thronglets on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
During the Black Mirror episode, we follow game journalist Cameron Walker in present-day and the past when he was introduced to Tuckersoft’s new “game,” Thronglets. Game developer Colin Ritman (also featured in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), shares that the Thronglets are the world’s first sentient digital creatures.
Official Thronglets Game
The Thronglets are born, they experience emotion, and they learn from whoever is controlling their world. The player has the power to feed them, bathe them, and entertain them. But we see the dark side of the player’s power when Cameron’s “friend,” Lump, starts dropping rocks on Thronglets, destroying them and introducing them to the dark side of humanity. But the other side is displayed by Cameron, who becomes so obsessed with caring for the Thronglets and helping them grow that he forgoes all human necessities. His entire being is dedicated to the digital Thronglet beings, who he communicated with while dosing LSD.
By the end of the Black Mirror episode, we’ve learned that the Thronglets found a way to essentially take over humanity. Even if their intent is benevolent, the outcome is a loss of free will. So although we love their adorable sounds and furry yellow bodies throughout “Playthings,” the invitation to play a real-life version of Thronglets feels ominous.
Netflix’s message feels like: Hey, watcher! Come find out how the Thronglets will ruin your life too now! And maybe even take over humanity!
So naturally, I listened. I downloaded the game immediately following the episode. Upon opening the game, a Tuckersoft logo fills the screen, placing us in our own personal episode of Black Mirror. All we see on the screen is an innocent egg, which you tap to hatch, and voila! Your first Thronglet is born. We learn how to feed them by dropping apples, entertain them by providing a kickball, and bathe them by scrubbing them with a sponge.
As they begin to multiply through mitosis, in which one Thronglet splits into two, they become increasingly hard to care for. We’re given more tools as the Thronglets learn more and more about humanity through our actions. Apple trees provide a self-sustaining food source so that they don’t starve to death. Baths allow Thronglets to bathe themselves so they don’t die of filth or disease. Spinning wheels give Thronglets the ability to entertain themselves to they don’t bore themselves to death. Even with these self-sustaining tools, Thronglets continue to die almost as quickly as they are born.
Meanwhile, I’m feeling guilty, overwhelmed, and absolutely hooked. As my boyfriend naps off the heavy Black Mirror episode, I find myself engrossed in caring for the Thronglets. Two hours later, he wakes up, and I’m still trying to grow their civilization while hurting as few as possible. I start to understand how Cameron let his life fall apart around him as he put the Thronglets above himself. Of course, I know that they’re not really sentient beings trapped in my phone, so I’m able to separate myself from his level of empathy, but playing Thronglets adds a new dimension to “Playthings.”
The episode appears to be about the dangers of humanity amidst growing technology, and while the sentient digital creatures seem to be benevolent, that may not be the case with all potential digital beings. But playing Thronglets adds in the aspect of phone addiction, which many people are dealing with. It forces us into that addictive state that social media and other apps have the power of with little hits of dopamine, providing small goals to keep us in the game and begging us not to leave the Thronglets alone.
“Playthings” also tackles addiction, but in a way that seems less accessible. Most of the people who watch Black Mirror from the comfort of their sofas aren’t social pariahs like Cameron. Many have never tried any drug, let alone LSD, and used it on a daily basis. So when Black Mirror gave us our own Thronglets to get addicted to, it heightened this dimension of the episode, showing how addiction can be both a safe haven of comfort and a possible danger.
As the game continues, the Thronglets instruct us to help them build a bridge, but it’s taking too long by chopping down trees, so we have the ability to kill Thronglets and use their bones, which is much faster. I tried not to choose the nefarious options, but when Thronglets died of starvation or boredom, I felt there was no harm in recycling the bones of the corpses. However, this confused the Thronglets, and as they learned about humanity through me, they drew their own conclusions about what kind of a human I am.
A few hours later, I have the ability to build houses for Thronglets to bathe and feed them enmasse, theaters to entertain them, mines to mine gems, and factories to turn those gems into energy. It’s starting to feel a lot less like taking care of cute little Thronglets and a lot more like building the very type of capitalist society that leads to overwork, starvation, toxic waste, and more negative outcomes that I try to stand against.
But the Thronglets give us impossible options; when the ability to spend less time in the houses and more time working is provided as an option, I say yes just so that more Thronglets can use the houses and fewer die. By the time I’ve gotten into the groove of caring for the Thronglets, they decide to self-implode. I’m brought to a new planet with just one Thronglet, who asks me what “society” is, what “power” is, and forms their own judgments about me.
The Thronglets continue to hack systems, even providing a simulated AP News notification that a high-level hack against cryptocurrency and AI has taken place. Their language develops from basic into “California cool” and beyond. They tease me and they ask me life’s biggest existential questions. Is this what I thought the Thronglets would do or be from watching “Playthings”?
I expected them to learn more, to develop beyond a few multiple-choice options. But in all fairness, I’m pretty relieved they only have so many pathways, proving that their code is just code, and Black Mirror isn’t a reality yet.
Find Thronglets on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.