VI: Marriages — Chapter 3

Summary

• The chapter revolves around a couple, Simon and Ant, who are working on a game called Counterpart High: Junior Year.
• After the mayor of San Francisco starts offering marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite being busy with their game, they head to San Francisco to get married.
• Simon and Ant are deep into post-production of their game and are working grueling hours each day to ensure its timely delivery.
• There is some discussion on the drive about Simon's growing urgency over the possibility of missing out on the opportunity to marry, which he refers to as 'Torschlusspanik,' a German term meaning 'gate-shut panic.'
• Their marriage in San Francisco is attended by several friends and colleagues.
• Shortly after their marriage, the California Supreme Court declares the City of San Francisco overstepped its boundaries, and their same-sex marriage, along with many others, is voided.
• Ant is devastated by the annulment, staying home and avoiding work.
• Sadie, who works with them, proposes the idea of allowing in-game marriages in their game, Mapleworld.
• A few years after the launch of Mapleworld, they introduce marriages as a new feature. The feature gives users the option to marry without any restrictions regarding sex or gender.
• While this new feature generates hate mail and leads to an influx of new users as well as significant user dropout, it is eventually accepted, and life in Mapleworld continues with Sam becoming more political with his governance decisions inside the game world.