Trailer available here

Based on Uru Okabe’s manga of the same name Goodnight World focusses on four people playing as characters in an MMORPG called PLANET.

If you have ever stopped by here or any of my socials before you might know I do the FFXIV thing so it probably comes as no surprise to you that I might possibly have decided to give this show a watch.

Some bits of it scream trope and cliche doing nothing to fight against the perceptions of the different types of people and stereotypes for who gets involved in that sort of content but also it shows the more human side of it too about the people behind the screens. It really very much is a “you never know the struggles or lives of somebody else” sort of a story.

It is hard to elaborate more on that without spoilers so skip reading the next paragraph if you don’t want to learn a little (it doesn’t reveal too much but it reveals enough).

They all know each other. They are all incredibly different people. They all use the game as an outlet to escape and put on completely different personas online. But even then is any of that real? Is the world they live in real? Where does one thing start and another end? How much are they really in control of anything?

It feels relatable. But then there’s a few plot twists as you move through the episodes and it really makes you re-evaluate who is good in real life and in game. Are the actions in one place truly based on the other stuff or are they both so deeply interlinked that it becomes one big blur? And that is exactly what happens in MMOs when people actually do the communicating and oh boy have I seen it creating some messy situations several times before.

Never use your characters to RP in a way that discusses in real life topics. Ever. This is a hill I will die on. The minute you leave going around as a couple/group/whatever dynamic you got going on creating this adventuring story and it becomes IRL based realise that you are no longer X and Y character but X and Y IRL people. Never say it’s just “an in game thing” (it never is for both sides). If you want to get to know somebody then sure hang out with them in game, discuss game stuff but accept that the minute you open up certain (E)RP avenues you really aren’t the characters any more. Every concept is coming from your mind. Accept there is a chance the other person will *fall for you*. That is one of the topics Goodnight World briefly touches upon for how these four main characters (plus a few others) all interact with each other as their group specifically has a rule to not discuss real life happenings together.

The way that we get an insight into the in real life of each of them over time really does enhance why perhaps sometimes it is best to “leave IRL in IRL” and it provides that cultural reminder that things can snowball in real life for people around us into ways that cause them want to escape. Can cause us to want to escape. How the modern world can leave us with a void of needing to seek out solace and safety in virtually created environments and how when we cannot become connected to a physical thing we grasp onto something created and pliable to our needs and desires.

I actually really enjoyed Goodnight World and it felt like a fairly powerful watch with a solid handful of Make You Think moments and in a daft way it completely changed my approach to how I approach my own game and community. I increasingly discuss Bhri as “my little lala” or “the cabbage patch lala” rather than “me” and “I” because yes they are an extension of me but often what I say in chats doesn’t fit the Bhri lore specifically. Did Bhri have pizza for dinner last night? Absolutely not but that conversation has Bhri’s name attached to it. It is important to remember the difference.

Would recommend but you might need to get a couple of episodes in before it really clicks with you. Stick with it. It goes for a four up to a solid eight by the time the season is finished.