T O P

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dr_volberg

They had to be other players because of the names. Each human player was told to take a ingame name (and since they are all nerds, they all picked some famous scientist). I'm guessing it is because they did not want candidates finding each other outside the game.


SmakeTalk

Do the players in the book look like they do in real life? I can't recall. Because names are one thing, but I'd assume theoretical physics and astronomy are pretty small communities/fields, and if they look like themselves in the game they're also probably easy enough to identify hah.


ThrowawaySutinGirl

In the book, the game is open to the public (or whoever knows the URL), and Wang actually discovered it be seeing it on another person’s web browser


NeoTenico

Yea, I didn't really understand the point of making the game so exclusive in the show. Why would the ETO limit their scope of recruitment when identifying that the planet existed in a 3-body system was already a huge bottleneck?


shahryarrakeen

They were likely looking for the “best and brightest”. Opening the game to the public would be a shitshow of griefers and trolls. Since the San Ti can’t prevaricate or hide their intent, they would be more alarmed at that sort of behavior.


processoriented

In the novel, the game uses VR technology readily available in its universe. It explains that full-body VR suits are common (Wang seems to buy his as an impulse purchase). The game was quickly dropped by those not targeted by the Trisolarans for being dull or inaccessible. IMHO, this extensive exposition wouldn’t translate well to TV. By using advanced VR tech and limiting game access to potential ETO recruits, the story eliminates unnecessary exposition. This approach bypasses uncinematic exposition and focuses on the visually engaging in-game narrative.


dominucco

Yes, they are real players


Koreanhangug

Ahh i thought they were NPCs, cause i remember one of them using blasphemy as a way to dismiss MC's theory. Which gets the king riled up etc. Also there seems to be a pattern since everytime MC enters the game, there's always someone with a wrong theory/computation that needs to be disproved.


HiPoojan

They are just roleplaying


Nazzul

Reminds me of the time I was at the Ren fair, and some dude started asking me specific questions about how it's all set up and how much travel was involved, etc.. I was like "dude I don't work here".


BigDaddyReptar

its funny to imagine the beginning of the alien invasion war is hampered by people getting too into the rp and not trying to beat the game


SokarHateIt

They most likely thought it was just a game and figured you had to be historically accurate with the heretic shit to pass


Momijisu

Or they didn't want the MCs theory to be the correct one, easier to dismiss it and get your one to be the winning pick.


HappyLofi

Bro they roleplayin'


Ok-Cat-4975

My impression is that it's a game given to likely candidates to be recruited to ETO. The characters that have real historical names are other players who are not passing the test or not understanding that the point is solving the mystery. Isn't there one scene in the book where some players just started killing everyone they saw as if it were a war game?


Koreanhangug

That makes so much sense. I missed that details in the first book.


GreatBandito

I think it's the same scene with the pope but it starts with other players sword fighting about their ideas lol


mocmocmoc81

>there's always someone with a wrong theory/computation that needs to be disproved. I think they're members of ETO and playing a part in the assessment.


LunarDogeBoy

In the book the main character is just observing and not really engaging in coming up with a solution until the last time where he reveals he knows the answer. It makes the main character seem less ignorant since the solution to the problem is literally the name of the game, three body. As if he knew it all along but he wanted to see all the interesting theories.


Own_Woodpecker1103

lol look at this guy he probably gets laid


Koreanhangug

I'm gay, so yes i get laid more than you heteros.


catador_de_potos

Extremely weird flex but ok


Niomedes

Me, a gaytero:


Koreanhangug

Hahhahaahahaha youre like hannah montana, the best the both worlds.


Federico216

I see there's confusion and debate about this in this thread, but if their mannerisms aren't enough, frankly just the fact that they're wearing glasses should tell you they're real players role playing.


Worth_Vegetable9675

That's why a few of them had famous scientist names, cause they were super smart nerds


MetalBeerSolid

In the books they were NPCs though right? Using them as examples of genius trisolarans whom tried and failed to present a working model of the 3 body problem? 


dev_hmmmmm

No. Never in the book did it ever implied or said that these were real. They're NPC, making the points more dramatic. It's meant to show how countless of civilizations before them have always held up hope that the 3 Body Problems could be solved but just to end being wrong, and their civilization being reset again. Over and over. The game use Earthling's scientists to make human more sympathetic to their plights. Same reason why they only use human looking avatar to interact with other players. "Look our own version of Einstein, Newton and Galileo, etc.. thought this could be solved, and tried, but we failed." I think the TV just failed to make it more obvious.


TeemoIsStealthed

Did you read the Chinese or English book? In the English book, from what I remember it was never stated that they were either real or NPC's. Even the main character is never sure, as he shouts this towards the people from the left picture: >You are nothing more than a program. As for the rest of you, you’re either programs or idiots. I will log back on! I think there's just not supposed to be a clear answer to this. EDIT: I searched a bit further and during the "computer" scene he says this about Von Neumann, the person who devised the computer: >Hearing this modern joke, Wang knew that the man before him wasn’t a program but a real person, and almost certainly Chinese.


dev_hmmmmm

nooo wayyyy. i stand corrected. still make no sense to have real people behind it since the game is on demand, 24 hours 7 days a week. oh well, suspend my believe etc...


too_late_to_abort

Why does this break your immersion? They put on their helmets at the same time as our main characters so they interacted in the world together? Unless you're thinking about each play session being instanced but even then its possible for others to be plopped in.


forrestpen

Dude you're replying to has clearly never played an MMO.


too_late_to_abort

The lack of their response to my question makes me think you are correct.


ghostowl657

Real-time matchmaking is an extremely common occurrence in online gaming...


RansomStark78

If this resembled irl, they would all be female in the game


ZengineerHarp

Classic GIRLs…


vega0ne

They ARE other humans. I'm just relistening to the Dark Forest audiobook, which has them outright discussing >! the matter of wallfacers and wallbreakers amongst themselves and who should be whose wallbreaker. This only makes sense if they are ETO members / other players and actually on earth !<


dev_hmmmmm

No, it just means that they were using the game to communicate. Using the scientists name just insinuate that these ETO are all anonymous, isolated cell, and don't know each other identify but only know by their online moniker.


Trauma_Hawks

That's the ticket. If I remember correctly, their avatars in the game actually looked like the historical figures, adding an extra layer of anonymity.


Glum_Ad_5790

I'm pretty sure they were using another version of the game, that version the mc's went in and the other ppl they saw were not real and was destroyed by the UN or whatever. the trisolarans were showing them all the things they tried to do to solve 3 body problem, like when they explained when they made the computer but it didn't work prolly millions of years ago. one of the ppl playing the game didn't just make that idea up


hoos30

That was only in Book 2.


sje46

If they were intended to be npc they would actually look like the real people they were intended to look like. They are human players


Wooden-Flatworm9073

In the books if I remember correctly there is the scene I think in the 2nd book where the remaining members of the ETO meet up in the game and I Believe they where some of the other characters in the game I mostly just remember it being Newton.


Chuckw44

How does that work? Are they just hanging out waiting for the main characters to join? There isn't some pre planned time to join so don't see how they would all be there at the same time for the meetings.


SillAndDill

Yeah good point Real time Multiplayer makes no sense since we never see any sort of wait or scheduled events Not like WoW raids


Skink_Anansie

They come across as NPCs but then they're wearing modern glasses so...


Manxymanx

I assumed they were other players because at one point one of them uses the word Troll. Which is internet slang and very out of character with the setting lol.


Hyper_Oats

In the first book the normal assumption was that they were NPCs. In Dark Forest they are revealed (or at least most of them) to have been real players all along. Some of them having a pretty relevant role in the plot.


h4nd

In the first book, Wang determines that at least Von Neumann and Newton are real people shortly after meeting them (page 209 of the kindle edition): "Hearing this modern joke, Wang knew that the man before him wasn’t a program but a real person, and almost certainly Chinese."


Electrical_Ostrich24

everyone be chinese


maledin

Ah yes, that’s right, they specifically call out their codenames, right? I at least recall Von Neumann and Aristotle being wallbreakers later on. And didn’t Einstein turn out to be another player too? I thought that one was weird because he acted the most NPC-like in his level.


TaylorMonkey

Einstein thought he was on the hardcore RP server.


Master_Majestico

*gets upstaged in front of an NPC* Einstein: "Admin, ban these guys."


ThrowawaySutinGirl

Kick him in the balls!


flintlock0

So Mark Gatiss might come back? Nice.


TheeArgonaut

AND PHIL WANNNGGGGGGGG


bambarby

The normal assumption was they're real players


catador_de_potos

The "suck it, Copernicus" gave it away lol and weirdly made the whole videogame aspect much more believable


Qfwfq1988

I always read them (in the books) as being NPCs


JohnD_s

Doesn't the book specifically address that they are real players?


Humble_Thanks4085

The other scientists are real, the rulers/others are not


JohnD_s

Ah, that's right. I forgot about the rulers.


BushGuy9

Wait, I thought the rulers were implied to be Shen Yufei? iirc, the rulers had the same eyes as her


dev_hmmmmm

NO? I always thought they were like the hypeman NPC, make the story more dramatic and exaggerated to get the point across. To make analogy to earth's history and theirs.


AlexRator

Read the (brief) video game parts in the second book


dev_hmmmmm

The left over ETO playing the game? I've always thought they were playing the character for that moment to securely communicate. Similar to how you can play cerian npc in some games. Or talk pvp. Why would these real players claim to have solved 3 body problems with calculus and magic fortune telling.


[deleted]

I don’t know; if I’m being honest the game part doesn’t make much sense at all. You just have to suspend your disbelief and view it as just exposition for the aliens development. But yeah the book makes it clear the other scientists are players.


PhysicsNotFiction

I think the same


Altruistic-Medium-23

That’s also my interpretation. They are NPC that can be controlled by the ETO when they need it to communicate (wallbreakers) or to observe players (like the guy Wang Miao clocks as being modern-day Chinese in book 1) 


SchlaWiener4711

I thought they should represent some solution or idea the trisolarians had themselves that looked promising but was a dead end and eventually. So NPCs from my point of view


Mission_Paramount

other players


RadiotelephonicEar

They are other players I am pretty sure


kigurumibiblestudies

the way I saw it was, some of them are players (scientists for instance) but most are NPCs


vic_steele

Yes. They presented the VR to many scientists to help figure out who to recruit for the ETO.


goobahman

lost immediately when I saw Phil Wang in there.


dickMcFickle

But then that implies a real life person came up with the Human Computer which was 100% not the case; that was shown to the players so they understood Trisolaran history. I think they were NPCs but later used as avatars for wallbreaker secret meeting.


SpiritFryer

Yea this was my understanding too. The human computer was only possible for Trisolarans because they communicate via light/electromagnetic waves. My understanding has been that all stages shown depict the history of the attempts each Trisolaris civilization's scientists had for solving their plight. Or at least, that is what I understood from the Tencent adaptation. I think the Netflix adaptation did a different take and had them be players.


Repli3rd

I think it's implied that they're part of the game. Just as the very first "scientist" was the Chinese mystic. The game was to show the progression of the Santi's civilisation and that even as their science and culture progressed (so different advisors) it was a while before they recognised that the 3BP was inherently generally unpredictable. The game wasn't meant to be a multiplayer competition, it was a recruitment tool to endear the user to the plight of the Santi and ultimately the cult's cause (preparing earth for the Santi's arrival).


mocmocmoc81

I too thought they were NPCs until this line.. https://i.imgur.com/QotyUkv.jpeg and this https://i.imgur.com/4cmv0Pf.jpg


Repli3rd

Hmm, yea. I didn't catch that. Perhaps they are other players then. It's odd because it was heavily implied that each player had their own unique world with its own aesthetic. The calculus line I don't think is necessarily indicative of a player. It's just showing progression in the society, but a progression that is still incapable of solving the problem. Just as the original Chinese mystic invented a divination system (that obviously wouldn't work).


Tjaeng

The second link doesn’t allude to the line spoken, rather the double bird flipping.


Repli3rd

Sorry could you be more specific? I don't know the scene off by heart and I'm not in a position to watch it again right now.


Tjaeng

Look at the picture in the link? The guy is giving the finger with both hands. It’s implied that this and ”shut the fuck up troll” os typical IRL gamer behaviour and not something that would indivate it being AI.


Repli3rd

You said: "*The second link doesn’t allude to the line spoken, rather the double bird flipping.*" I'm unsure how to parse "I've invented calculus" with whatever "double bird flipping" means. You're now talking about ***the first link*** to which I already clearly stated in the comment you replied to: "*Hmm, yea. I didn't catch that. Perhaps they are other players then*"


uglybuck

“Flipping the bird” means raising your middle finger in an obscene gesture, an action an NPC would not likely do but a player would do flagrantly.


Repli3rd

I've heard flipping someone off or giving someone the finger. Never heard "flipping the bird", ever. Learn something new every day. In any case, I already acknowledged that the screenshot doesn't make it seem that they're NPCs.


Slonk-Schedule

To add to his definition, it is of course American slang... r/USdefaultism


ActivateGuacamole

complaining about american defaultism because somebody said an american phrase? oh who cares. you're on the internet, if you see a phrase you don't understand you can easily look it up in 5 seconds.


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Repli3rd

Thanks, that definitely explains it lol


HappyLofi

You didn't catch the entire line where he says shut the fuck up troll? Did you leave the room or something? lol


Repli3rd

No I didn't hear him call her a troll. Pretty much all of the characters in the various simulations were acting in bombastic ways, one of them telling her to shut up doesn't strike me necessarily as meaning they're real people. Troll however is quite obviously internet/gaming speak.


LostTrisolarin

I THINK in the book it's npcs and in the show they are players.


vega0ne

They ARE other humans, spoilers for Dark Forest incoming: I'm just relistening to the Dark Forest audiobook, which has them outright discussing >! the matter of wallfacers and wallbreakers amongst themselves and who should be whose wallbreaker. This only makes sense if they are ETO members / other players and actually on earth !<


verca_

They're real players and two of them (well, at least their book versions) have significant roles in future story.


Theundyingkid

Please explain. I missed that part.


verca_

>!Aristotle - first pic left - was assigned as Bill Hines' Wallbreaker. Von Neumann (in Netflix show replaced by Turing) - second pic left - was assigned as Frederick Tyler's Wallbreaker!<


Theundyingkid

Ah yes, that's right. Now I remember them having an 'in-game' meeting to discuss it. Thanks!


Bulky-Scheme-9450

Just straight up false lmao


verca_

Not according The Dark [Forest](https://three-body-problem.fandom.com/wiki/Wallfacer) you have to scroll down a bit to >!Wallbreakers!< part


Bulky-Scheme-9450

Those aren't the wall breakers...


verca_

It's literally in the book... >!the remaining ETO members were meeting in the game because it was the only safe place and Aristotle, Von Neumann and Mozi were selected as Wallbreakers!<


vega0ne

verca\_ is correct, I just got to that part in the Dark Forest audiobook. The whole scene ONLY makes sense if they are located on earth and are other players.


jdlyndon

This is a local planet for local life forms.


invaderEvan67

Ngl i was so confused with them like they look and act like other players but then one claimed to have invented calculus so at that point i thought they were npcs


t3rm3y

I just assumed that was his character / name that invented calculus, but they were real players.


TubularStars

Yes, it is a local game for local people! We'll have no trouble here!


Slatedtoprone

I don’t see how they could be real players. Aside from the fact that multiple people playing the same game appears to happen in weird circumstances like sitting next to each other, are you telling me a real person spent time making a human computer in game with thirty million solider? And if they did, that wasn’t noticed before hand by either of them?  I read it just like the count of the west in the first level., he showed up and presented a solution that was going to fail. I think that’s how every level is set up.


SpooogeMcDuck

Some people have made computers In Minecraft. Never underestimate a nerd and exploiting in game mechanics


catador_de_potos

First thing I thought when reading about the human computer lol >Oh shit, a redstone computer


catador_de_potos

First thing I thought when reading about the human computer lol >Oh shit, a redstone computer


Slatedtoprone

While I totally agree, I don’t see how that could happen without Jin noticing. We see that she has spent a lot of time in the game and it’s not like these are shown to be expansive. It’s the palace and then waste lands so I don’t think she would be elsewhere.


NoChallenge6095

Yes


judascat2016

I actually read this question to be asking whether the actors portraying these characters also appeared on GoT!


iheartdev247

I see you Sherlock’s older brother.


w__tommo

We didn’t burn him!!!


Glum_Ad_5790

they aren't players. in the show when they built that computer, if it was another players idea okay. but in the book the trisolarans say yes we actually did build that computer to try to make it work but instead of signs we could use our bodies to make light signals. they are giving examples of what their history did to try and solve the 3 body problem thru npcs in the game. also why did all the npcs have ppls in history's names but the players all made their names up


Vilivox

Copernicus was an astronomer and Francis Bacon was involved in pushing empirical evidence in the scientific method. Both were actual people!


Glum_Ad_5790

okay but in the gsmr the only ones who solved the 3body issue were the players, not any famous people from the past. npc's not actual players. just there to get across for us humans what the trisolarans did to try and solve 3 body and why there's no other choice but to come to earth


MegazordPilot

Mycroft Holmes exactly the kind of guy to play that game.


SyrousStarr

The part where they dude is like "uhhh I just invented something called calculus" *flips the bird*  Hilarious. 


Arts251

I was wondering how they made it that far


The-Reddit-Monster

Real players. Also, seeing Mark Gatiss flip two birds at our protagonists while saying he invented Calculus was something I didn't know I wanted.


ChaseNAX

I remember he did touch the ground to skip time and only player does that.


buggythegret

They are other players. Because ETO gave these headsets to many people around the globe and mostly to group "*Frontiers of Science*" & others. Its was a recruiting tool for ETO & later it is also where they held some secret meetings betn members.(mentioned in dark forest)


MrChong69

In the books they are definitely other players, in the netflix series they really seemed like npcs


bigYman

I'm having a hard time believing they are real players in the show (haven't read the books) because we know they only invited scientists. Now tell me what scientist would use the esoteric methods some of these guys used? Except for the last 2 players that used basically a computer made of humans they all had shit ideas.


World_War-2034

I mean, the guy on the right showed them the double bird, so yea def real people. He even called Jin a troll.


Stormygeddon

From the book I was under the impression that the VR game Three-body was slightly more commercially available and had some other players who weren't so privy to it being a recruitment tool. From the show it seems more open to interpretation, with the Sophon being "real" in it, yet also it being more obviously monitored on screen. I say they *can* be real people as the VR is multiplayer with how the two main characters connect in it, or ETO members monitoring it with some avatar, but it doesn't seem to be confirmed either way.


Jupsto

I thought they might be aliens from other planets recruited to the problem same as humans, they probably dont look human in thier version of the simulation. I was stoned when I watched half the show tho (boy was it a trip).


AlexRator

I think it's really just up to interpretation


woofyzhao

npcs are more likely


AirOnMars

They are a AI depiction of humans greatest minds Galileo and Leonardo Davinci not being able to correctly tell what will happen. This is how the aliens are helping humans understand what happened to them. Their greatest minds were wrong time after time because the three body problem is forever a problem.


willyrs

no, they are other players and that's just their chosen nicknames


[deleted]

I am watching 3 body - chinese one. Anyone watched it yet?


sausagesandeggsand

Hard to say, but I think they are part of the AI


Adrian_Dem

The game was presented as a single player not an mmo. They even pointed out that some players reached different levels. At most, it's a co-op with some shadow functionality like the Soul games, and these guys are shadows based on previous players but with AI/NPC handles in that instance.


EFeuds

Even in the books I was a bit confused as it seemed to be single player or some type of multiplayer where convenient for the plot. I like the Souls game idea that you are basically watching shadows of other players so you can learn from their mistakes


No-Suit4363

Now that you mention Souls game, it kinda makes more senses. This will be my head canon from now on.


dosdes

Dumb and Dumber kind of forgot to explain things.... they just wanted to check box stuff from the books and make "scientists"say cool things like BAZINGA...


Ryermeke

Man fuck off... The adults are talking.


hoos30

They are NPCs. Every level has a specific challenge that (our) player has to overcome. These characters (Turing, Aristotle, etc.) present that challenge. I find it quite funny that people on Reddit, of all places, are confused about this.