Entertainment as machinery

Stated by three people who profit from it. Odette: a for-profit venture in the entertainment industry, in which the loot serves the show (ch. 29). Zev: 'We are all parts of the same, inexorable machine. All of us are afraid' (ch. 36) — then, in Carl's head, a request for a retake (ch. 37) and a review of the Meadow Lark 'storyline' (ch. 44). The Maestro: the game in miniature, doomed crawlers guessing who dies for an audience of children (ch. 42). Carl's counter is that the machine has prices — he is expensive, and the prince is not — and his suspicion is that the AI made the sex tape.

The machine is now visible from inside: NPCs printed and wiped (ch. 3), serials whose writers give their Elites plot armour and would gladly write in a popular crawler's death (ch. 7), a producer who agrees to a deal in thirty seconds (ch. 11), a trailer schedule public enough to aim a pulse at (ch. 20), a news anchor warning of 'real-life consequences for Borant' (epilogue). Carl works it — ratings for survival, a role for a life — and notes that the outrage over one singer is louder than the outrage over a planet (ch. 19).

The machine's inputs are shown: a fan vote bought to hurt a manager (ch. 7); an audience that wants a party member dead for being boring (ch. 6); an AI-written script about Earth (ch. 20); chats sold (ch. 25); a betting event with odds (ch. 33); a floor theme chosen by paid vote (epilogue); and a floor that is itself a broadcast opinion (ch. 30). 'Your rented slave labor isn't participating like how you wanted?' (ch. 20).

A toy commercial to play at fueling depots, whose makers' research says children want to be spoken down to (ch. 18); a toy company that is a lending fund that advocates slavery for tax debt (ch. 17); an admin who calls human culture a contagion and profits from it (ch. 18); a live-streamed boss fight with laughing commentators (ch. 26); a court, a liaison, lawyers (ch. 19, ch. 28); a puppy made fragile so a god will rage (ch. 29); a girl placed in a castle on purpose (ch. 15); a Walk-On List (epilogue). 'We are all prostitutes in one way or another, I suppose' (ch. 13).

A stadium that came to see a mother face her child's killer — 'giant death cult', a con that celebrates killing (ch. 33); a prison system that franchises prisoners, 'It pays to be wealthy' (ch. 42); a secondary production licensed to kill its own star at the right moment (ch. 24, ch. 63); a fan event as an ambush (ch. 18); sponsors steering a crawler toward a watched death (ch. 64); judges who are not in the room (ch. 66); a boss fight announced like a cage match with boss music (ch. 76); a floor built with corporate money and destroyed by the sponsors' own gifts (epilogue). 'More people than there are stars in the sky are watching this very conversation' (ch. 73).

A murder spliced in from summer for one viewer (ch. 44); 'the impossible was never out of reach, especially if it made for good television' (ch. 72).

Merchandise of Donut's backside she gets nothing for (ch. 7); the AI running a temple fight as a pay-per-view with a 2X Jackpot (ch. 53); a news channel renamed seven times an hour (ch. 43); spectators Carl imagines unfollowing him for a lack of blood (ch. 85); Chaco's chair offered to Carl and Donut (epilogue).

Awakened NPCs run the heats because it helps the story (ch. 5); the losing team's upgrade is chosen by audience vote (ch. 22); 'It’s a game. Don’t you be forgettin’' (ch. 44); every screen in the galaxy is made mandatory (ch. 89).