Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27997069-20160317174518/@comment-28064260-20160410012519

GetYourFix wrote: Chara is symbolic, not metafictive. If Toby put in Chara to remind us that the game isn't real, then Chara kind of fails as a punishment, don't they? Yeah, it's because Chara isn't metafictive. Toby didn't use Chara as a device to remind us that Undertale isn't real or to comment on the unrealness of it.

'' Metafiction, noun (O.E.D) - Fiction in with the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions and tradtional narrative techniques. ''

Chara makes no indication that the player is outside of Undertale's reality or that they are aware that they are in a game. STATS do not exist outside of Undertale. The timeline mechanic is not outside of Undertale's reality. Chara does not comment on the framework of the game or our reality.

Mettaton (every boss NPC's name is a pun...) is the most meta character in the game. His texts turns to bombs (and he recognizes this), he has a newscast that is not aimed at the playable character, he renames the .exe of Undertale... These are great examples of metafictional devices. Chara is not. Thank you for admitting that you were bsing with your little word game by refusing to give examples. You also refuse to apologize for strawmanning me multiple times.

'' PSA: setting your text larger doesn't improve your argument. ''

Like I said, you fail to understand meta. Completely. Self-consciousness is a function of metaness, not necessarily the purpose. Metaness isn't mutually exclusive with punishment, and you have a huge case to make if you want to prove otherwise.

I'm amazed by how you copy a definition from a dictionary with typos when those typos aren't in the source. I'm even more amazed by how you fail to see the very defintion you quote proves your assumption of meta purpose wrong. Oh, the irony~

I've explained the difference between a character doing meta things and a character playing a meta role more than once, and I won't repeat myself. But hey, if you insist characters like Deadpool are meta characters and are great examples, then I can't really help you. You've given up at understanding meta by this point. Well, I tried.

You have ignored my argument and relevant game content multiple times, so if you want me to take you seriously, then you need to convince me that you are not beyond help by achieving a basic comprehension of metafiction and actually responding to my argument.