Web fiction rec: 17776

[cjwatson]

I came across 17776 a little while back via shockproofbeats. It's a startlingly original piece of web fiction: it's partly about the far future, partly about American football, and partly about the human condition and its affinity for play. I've heard it compared to Homestuck, although it's very much shorter - I think the main thing they have in common is that they're both making inventive use of the medium.

Some people mentioned they found it tough going at the start and gave up (the first episode is mostly a very long scrolling calendar, particularly bad on mobile, and there's quite a bit of embedded video and such; it may well work a bit better on desktop, although I read/watched the whole thing on my phone). It's worth persevering.

I reckon this is on my list of Hugo nominees for next year, if only I can work out what category to put it in.