in regards to your startrekgate posts, i've never seen the og show but next gen reruns were always on tv as a kid. these posts made me remember the moriarty episodes, a sentient holodeck character who became self-aware and wanted to exist in the real world.
a lot of the plot consists of converging the holodeck world with the real one. the major theme being trapped in illusions within illusions.
makes me think about a different interpretation of stranger things' ending. perhaps how the character vecna in mike's campaign could've become self-aware and wanted to exist in the real world.
with all the mr. whatzit/one/vecna items around the room, that would be an interesting thought that his plan to converge worlds was in pursuit of this and he became real. those photos comparing mike's epilogue look to henry ties into this. similar train of thought to d&dgate or campaigngate.
bigger star trek fans might be better at drawing parallels to this plot line, especially the episode "ship in a bottle." (there's ship artwork hanging in the basement, right? then the 'curiosity voyage' quote).
You’re very much in time! As we’ve literally just started discussing TNG references too! @forever-hyperfixating has a lot of points about it, and I added some from myself in that thread, including the holodeck!
Your point of making Vecna alive through the game is very valid, although it is questionable in the matter of who the author is, if it is Mike The Storyteller, or if it is Will who created the UD in the first place — given that the UD is also a metaphor of internalised homophobia, and it “suits” both. (But also Mike is a self-insert, and the DB are writers, so maybe it’s still him who did all that…)
But I must say that campaigngate obviously makes sense at least when you consider Jumanji being put in its base. So ig, this all revolves around pretty much similar ideas and may be the actual case.
And well, Will and/or Mike did create Vecna as an opposing figure of their love, which means they will defeat him when they are both ready to love openly and freely. This “creation” being mirrored by TNG as much as by Jumanji somehow tells me, that yes, it was one of the ideas behind this show, and Vecna, wishing to become the real deal, is somehow a part of these consequences. But ST is a fairytale, which means we’ll win:)