Is anyone else watching the new Westworld HBO series?

The program takes place in fictional Westworld, a technologically advanced, Western-themed amusement park populated completely by synthetic androids dubbed "hosts". Westworld caters to high-paying visitors dubbed "newcomers" (also known as "guests"), who can do whatever they wish within the park, without fear of retaliation from the hosts.

I'm finding it fascinating.

Here you have the ultimate gaming experience, a rich & complex world, where most "guests" seem to limit themselves to rather unimaginative scenarios.  Reminds me of SL the "Your World, Your Imagination" place.

On ther other hand, the NPCs or "hosts", seem to be developing human consciousness.  Wonder where that's going to lead?

What do you think?  Have you seen it?  Are you enjoying it?  Do you feel sorry for the NPCs like I do?  Would you go if you could?  What would you do there? 

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I am planing on waiting till the series is over and reading the ending summary on Wikipedia. But it poses an interesting question on artificial intelligence.

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@claire-sophie-de-rocoulle  The first season has ten episodes of which four have already been shown.  If it continues as it started I would hope for more seasons to come.  Time to jump on the bandwagon now  

Perhaps we could have a Westworld Week in SL?  Who do we know with an Old West Estate on the ground and a SciFi Lab in the sky?

On a related note, I was commenting in @leopoldina 's topic that Red Dead Redemption reminded me of Westworld.  I guess I had good reason to make the connection!

Westworld’s creators were inspired by Red Dead Redemption and BioShock

Westworld is about a Western theme park where the “hosts” are all hyper-human robots that the human visitors can interact with. It’s easy to draw similarities between the titular Westworld and a video game. The hosts in the park serve as NPCs, drawing the guests into adventures. That could mean something as innocuous as a treasure hunt, or something as taboo as murder. The guests have free rein to do as they please.

Among the video game inspirations for Westworld were Rockstar’s open-world adventure games — most notably, Red Dead Redemption and the Grand Theft Auto series, which both Nolans played for research.

...

But the Nolans are fascinated by the way that people can use games to explore violent fantasies that might be completely at odds with their everyday personalities.

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I've been watching it since the premier, and I'm loving it. The premise is very interesting, I'm excited to see where the story goes. I'm not sure I'd go to the park if I had the chance, I'd feel so sorry for the hosts. The more you think about how human they are, the wronger it feels. But if I went there I'd try to immerse myself and hold my suspension of disbelief to get the most of it.

Also to complement your post @tatiana-dokuchic , the series are based on the 1973 Westworld movie, which was followed by a movie sequel an a serie in the 80s. In the original movie, besides the West World they had the Medieval World and the Roman World. I think those could be possible and very cool settings for future seasons perhaps.

As for the SL Westworld idea, I've been drawing parallels between the Westworld and historical RP sims in Second Life. In a way the administration is like the company running the park, and the players are the guests, with one big difference being that NPC-like hosts are not that common :p

So in a way, we already have several "Westworlds" in SL, @tatiana-dokuchic !

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I vaguely remember the original movie which is why I'd have some qualms about actually visiting the park.  When things go bad ... boy do they go bad ...

I too make a connection between SL admins & the Westworld management.  All those people not only delivering the physical infrastructure, including the hosts, but writing the narratives to keep the guests entertained.

Westworld recap: episode four – these cigars will blow your mind

While Ford is keen to tell Theresa that he has never once messed up a plan or narrative, he lets her know that any authorisation he might have goes way over her head. He also drops in a quick diss of old pal Arnold for good measure, suggesting that it was his bleak view of humanity that inspired the park’s random and egregious sex and violence.

I don't remember the exact words but Ford said something about writing hundreds of positive scenarios, all which got tossed in favour of the sex and violence.  Kind of reminds me of the media's limited view of SL

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Woohoo!!  Westworld Renewed for Second Season

Westworld 2.0 is officially happening.

HBO has ordered a second season of the sci-fi robopocalypse thriller – along with renewing fellow fall freshman series Divorce and Insecure. All three will have another 10 episodes.

There’s just one catch: Given its epic scope, Westworld probably won’t return until 2018, says HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys. The Westworld pick-up was expected as the show has delivered a mix of critical praise, pop culture buzz, and strong ratings (the series is averaging 11.7 million viewers across all the network’s platforms – more than even Game of Thrones racked up during its first season).

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@tatiana-dokuchic  amazing news! Last night's episode was amazing btw, what a twist!

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Was it?!  I recorded it and I'm watching it tonight.  Looking forward to it

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Yep, that was an interesting twist!

I really should figure out how to put spoiler tags on the forum but here goes anyway.

SPOILER

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I know we are just 2 or 3 episodes away from the season finale, but it would be nice to have a post where we could freely discuss each episode without the fear of spoiling someone new to the series. 

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Why don't I add SPOILERS to the title and we can do that here, @leopoldina.

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That sounds like a good idea Tatiana, let's try it after the next episode

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I love Westworld! It really makes me think, makes me mull over the hard questions of what is humanity? What is existence? What is evolution?

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Spoilers ahead! Last nights episode was intense! I think that scene where the Man in Black recognizes the blonde host pretty much confirms the theory that we see two different timelines in the show, and that William is the Man in Black from the past.

 I'm loving Maeve's storyline, I'm looking forward to what she'll do until the season finale, can't wait! As for Bernard, I don't think he killed Elsie, that might have been a memory that Ford planted on him. I'm thinking Elsie might come back as a host too.

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It's true!  If I understood Ford correctly he said that Arnold had the same questions while Ford thought that it was simple both the hosts & the guests are "the same" in his eyes.

The multiple timeline theory is pretty mind bending!!  William is probably the only human that I like at the moment and to consider him turning into the Man in Black is just freaky.

I'm loving Maeve too!  I'm also fascinated with Dolores, the oldest host in the park.  Loved when she said she was tired of being a damsel in distress and decided it was time she wrote her own story.  Sadly, if the multiple timelines are true I think (though I'm not sure I'd have to re-watch to confirm) she ended up back in a loop.

Poor Bernard.  That would be an interesting twist if he really didn't kill Elsie.

If anyone is looking for more theories take a look at Is the Westworld Multiple Timeline Theory Even More Complicated Than We Thought?

Apparently there are five more episodes to go and I'm not ready for it to end for the season.

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A great recap of Episode 8: Decoding Westworld's Most Confusing Episode Yet - Did the show just reveal the truth about Wyatt?

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Some cool Westworld Easter Eggs:

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Spoilers ...

Dang!  Please don't tell me that Bernard/Arnold has been terminated again.  Holding out hope for both him and Elsie.  I'm guessing Maeve is going to look a bit crispy the next time we see her?  Is Dolores the real Wyatt?  More and more it seems to be so.  Can't wait to see more of her reunion with William/Man in Black.

Read something interesting that proposed that Ford kept Dolores in her abusive daily loop as a punishment for killing the real Arnold.  Mind bending ...

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[spoilers, adding some fodder to keep the info away from the timeline snippet lol!] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla lobortis varius neque, vel rhoncus ante luctus id. Morbi velit lacus, lobortis facilisis purus quis, tristique viverra nunc. Nunc vitae est fermentum, ultricies nulla ut, feugiat arcu.

Wow! Bernardol is confirmed! I've read theories about it before, and its cool to see that it was right. This also makes me think we are not dealing with two, but actually three distinct timelines:

1. The oldest, when Dolores first started to become self conscious and is seen being interrogated by Arnold, who until now most assumed to be Bernard. I wonder if they'll show why and how Dolores ended up killing Arnold in this timeline.

2. Post Arnold's death, with William and Logan exploring the park. Remember that throughout the series characters mention how MIB saved Ford's park? If we continue to assume that William is MIB, I'm thinking there might be a death in the park, maybe Logan?

3. The one with MIB going after the maze and pretty much the rest of the characters such as Bernard, Teresa (RIP), Elsie (#JusticeForElsie), Sizemore,etc.

@tatiana-dokuchic I've read the same thing about Dolores/Ford! Ford is such a sadist, for example he also created a very tragic backstory for Bernard. Can you imagine purposely putting someone through that? I loved the scene where Bernard confronts him with the help of Clementine, and I'm wondering if the shot of him supposedly killing himself on Ford's orders was shot in that silhouette way on purpose, to give us some hope. But if he did shot himself, is this the end for Bernard? Who would "fix" him, since nobody knows he's a host too?

Another subject, I hate Logan's character, but I was told of a perspective that suggest he's not the jerk we're led to believe, and I found it very interesting. If you play games there's a great chance you killed several random characters over the years right? Take the GTA series for example. Can you imagine how a victorian person would feel if you showed them the game? It would probably look so realistic they would feel opposed to even killing an NPC.  

Now, to us, being suddenly thrown in the "world of Westworld", years into the future and with technology that seem impossible to us, we too think its all so realistic that killing the hosts seems very wrong. But imagine all the other technologies that already happened in that universe, the kind of games or augmented reality that someone like Logan must have been exposed to. So for him and others at Westworld,killing a host is not different than when we kill a character on a game.

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It was a really good idea to add that fodder, @leopoldina .  Unfortunately the timeline removed it.  Dang!  I never knew that was even possible - go figure.

I tend to agree with your timeline analysis.  Going to be interesting to see how they actually reveal it.

I do think we've already seen how Dolores kills Arnold but through Teddy's memories it currently looks a bit warped.  The why is yet to be discovered.  Perhaps Arnold's voice in their heads was making them all insane and she wanted to stop that?

That's an interesting view of Logan that I hadn't thought of.  Nevertheless, I'm going to go on hating him for now

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That's a shame about the fodder, hope I didn't ruin the show for anyone!

I think that, for all of Arnold's apparent good intentions, it seems cruel of him to add such levels of conscience to the hosts. At what point is it beneficial to them?

About Dolores, maybe the new Wyatt narrative has something to do with it? They keep suggesting that she might even be this Wyatt person, and as apparently nothing in this show has no purpose, maybe Ford is hinting at some of the major happenings in the park in his usual sadistic ways.

Same for Logan! While I appreciated the different view on him, I can't warm up to the character lol! I like to think that even with all the new technology I wouldn't become so jaded if I ever had the chance to go somewhere like the Westworld.

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Guess I'm not the only one comparing Westworld to SL ...

Linden Lab Vet Compares Second Life to   Westworld , Wins Internet

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Lol at that tweet! While we were making parallels with SL on the sim owner level he took it to a whole other level 

Oh wow, forgot to comment about the finale lol.

It was by far the most exciting episode, I was on the edge on my seat at the party scene. I read somewhere that this first season is just the backstory to the actual story line to be shown in the next season. That's great to hear, I was fearing the current plots would feel too dragged out if they continue on another season, let alone the promised 6 season in total.

It was a bit disappointing to realize that even Maeve's rebellion was scripted by Ford, he really is in controll of it all after all. I wonder what was written in the end of this "narrative"? Maeve stopped that guy from saying it out loud. Also the scene where he has a mini freak out wondering if he's a host like Bernard made me chuckle, I think everyone would have that reaction. I considered the possibility that all people working at Delos, or at least the ones at the bottom, such as that character, were all hosts. It would make sense when you consider that the company operates on this vast desert, far away from everything. Unless they pay was pretty good it seems that working there would be such a hassle. 

I'm almost sure that Ford didn't died, we can't know for sure if the Ford we saw being shot wasn't just another host, maybe even the one that was being created in that separated basement area, where Theresa was killed. 

It's too bad we will have to wait over a year for the next season, but I just can't wait! 

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Waiting until 2018 for the next installment is a real drag.  As they say, this first season was just the prelude to the real story and I'm eager to get into it.

I thought we might see Maeve escape the park and therefore give us a glimpse of the outside world.  Alas it wasn't to be.  Who knows what lurks out there ...

Yes @leopoldina, I loved the "mini freak out" too.  You just can't tell who's who.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out the real Ford is still pulling the strings behind the scenes.  Seems like something he'd do.

Dang William!  You were the only human that I liked.  Maybe he'll find his road to redemption in upcoming years.  Perhaps in Samurai Land?

A most satisfying debut season.  Looking forward to more.  In the meantime I might re-watch from the beginning to see how things developed now that I know more

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