Interesting point. I quite enjoyed it, but didn't take it as seriously as everyone else in this thread. I mean, it's relating life to an 16-bit computer game, what would one expect?

I expect perhaps there may be a few more like me, upvoting the article because they enjoyed it, but then leaving it at that. There's not much to discuss when you realise the true purpose of the article.

Negative comments seem to come from people who took it a bit too seriously, in which case it becomes easier to generate discussion points.

My theory is that many of us (probably including myself :)) doesn't have much clue on the rules of the game. Imagine playing chess (something many of us are very good at!) and being unable to think one move ahead. The ability to visualize what will happen in the next move is not in your brain. No matter how much practice you put in or how many games you play, you still get beaten even by children because you make horrible blunders like placing your queen unprotected next to a pawn. Sounds frustrating doesn't it? Now imagine someone writes a short chess tutorial basically amounting to "Just practice and think logically!" It would rub you the wrong way, wouldn't it?

Right out of the site guidelines, "would find interesting". Not "dropping out of my religion to make him my new guru"

Also a long list of things I like is boring and not worth talking about, and probably about the same list for most of us. For example I liked his graphics arts style/technique and the story pacing cannot be improved, and I suspect I'm not alone in those opinions. This guy certainly knows what he's doing WRT those topics. Wasn't that boring to read? I'm sure he would feel better if every post was "dude, love your font choice" fawning, but if he wants blind unconditional love, he should buy a dog, not get submitted to HN.

Somehow nobody has brought up ties to the classic Hasbro "Game of Life" which is the very first thing I thought of when I saw the article. Now that is an observation of something weird happening. I can't be the only HN reader to have played the hasbro game and gotten a mild nostalgia kick...

Things that are popular are incendiary to those who don't like them.

If an obscure artist makes some music you don't like, nobody cares. But if that artist sells a million records, you'll see an online explosion of rage.

It seems we're wired to react when our tastes don't match those of the groups we hang around in.

Lack of downvote button for stories.

BTW, the negative commentors need to work on building up their "humor" skill XP.

because the most vocal people are always a minority.

I'm not saying the article is good, but it's enjoyable and the comparison to life with a video game is fun to read. What most of the comments here fail to see.