Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Describe the types of “love” shared among Sadie, Sam, and Marx. What catalyzes

the shifts in their relationships over the years? Consider Sadie’s explanation to Sam

about why they never got together: “Lovers are . . . common. Because I loved

working with you better than I liked the idea of making love to you. Because true

collaborators in this life are rare” (page 393).

How does Dov set the standards for Sadie’s work as a game designer, as a woman,

and as a wife/partner to both Sam and Marx? What compels her to keep him in her

life even after they break up?

Sadie considers how their experience as designers would have been different if they

were born a decade (more or less) before or after when they were born.

Technological advances aside, what else would have been different about their story

if it was shifted slightly in time? Consider Sadie and Dov’s relationship, the options

for Sam’s foot, the proliferation of mass shootings, and other cultural and social

events.

How does Sam’s foot—while it’s injured and after it’s been amputated—shape his

sense of self? Consider his reflections on gender, sexuality, and pain, including how

he constructs his avatar as Mayor Mazer. How do the sensitivities of his relationship

with this part of his body improve and damage his relationships with the people he

loves?

Sam suffers numerous losses in the book—his mother, Anna; his friend and partner,

Marx; his foot; his relationship with Sadie; his grandfather. How does gaming help

him cope with his thoughts about his mother: “There are, he determines, infinite

ways his mother doesn’t die that night and only one way she does” (page 172)?

Whom do you think deserves more creative credit for Ichigo and Mapleworld, their

two most successful ventures—Sam or Sadie? How does the media’s interpretation

of Sam as Ichigo and Mayor Mazer affect their working dynamic?

Do you think Sadie and Sam regret the choices they made for Mapleworld, given

how the game’s political voice led to Marx’s death? Do you think Marx had any

regrets?

From the title of the novel, to Sadie’s invocation of Emily Dickinson, to Marx’s

epithet, “Tamer of Horses,” to Master of the Revels, there are many allusions to

classical literature woven throughout the novel. What does this suggest about the

nature of storytelling—how many ways can the same stories, emotions, and

experiences be reinvented? Does the team believe they can create and are creating

something new in their work, or are they finding new ways of expressing universal

themes? What do video games offer a person in the form of entertainment,

community, and growth that a play, a poem, or other art forms do not?

What does taking over Dov’s class at MIT help Sadie understand about her life path,

including the motives and conditions that helped her make Ichigo, as prompted by

her conversation with Destiny?

Both Sadie and Sam use games to explicitly memorialize their loved ones and

process their losses. If you could design a game to change or preserve some part of

your reality, what would it be like?

Do you consider video games to be art?  How did this novel impact your perspective on this?

In a moment of anger, Sam chides Marx for being an NPC (non-player character), but Marx embraces this moniker.  Do you agree with Marx about the importance of background characters?  In what ways is Marx important to the story?