test hypnosis game1 Hypnotic Transcript Analysis,

by sleepingirl

Hi! Welcome to the transcript analysis of thg1. If you’re not

familiar with my work outside of this game, I’m an educator and
content creator in the erotic hypnosis community. I teach classes
semi-frequently and have written two books on how to do
effective hypnosis in a kinky context. Thg1 was an experiment
outside of my usual body of work -- I wanted to see if I could
familiarize myself with Ren’py (the software used to make this
game) and when playing with it, I thought that it might make an
interesting medium for hypnosis.
I very rarely if ever write hypnosis scripts -- I have
recorded maybe 1 or 2 hypnosis files in the last 10 years and I
find them quite challenging because of the lack of responsive
feedback that a live person gives. I am terrible at reading off of
scripts because my hypnosis is very spontaneous and
conversational and I have a hard time making myself sound and
feel natural when reading.
Thg1 was a fun challenge for me because it eliminated the
need for me to read aloud, but still required me to write out
hypnosis in a deliberate, semi-structured way. Scripts and
recorded trances will always be inferior to live hypnosis, in my
opinion, because they are not responsive. They are very limited.
But could I write something that was still very effective for a lot of
people? That was the question and one I think that I answered
fairly well. This document will go through the entire hypnotic
transcript of the game and use it as a teaching tool -- I’m an
educator first and foremost, and there’s a lot of technique inside
of this script that can be explained to bolster someone’s
knowledge and skills as a hypnotist. You could say that I’m
allergic to not-teaching.
 This obviously contains full spoilers for the game. We
will first look a little bit at the things I was focused on hypnotically
while approaching this, and then we will go through and look at
the execution. I’ve stripped the Python/Ren’py formatting from
the script for ease of reading -- I mark “pauses” in the game with
{pause} and use a simplified system to show menu options and
speakers. (If you’re a programming geek and disappointed, rest
assured you’re not missing much -- there is barely any actual
coding and I learned the skills I needed in minutes with some of
Ren’py’s tutorials.)

The Goals

I had three primary things in mind when writing this: I

wanted to start by meeting the player exactly where they were at;
I wanted to make it as ambiguous as possible to allow for a broad
range of people to identify with it without it being too vague; and I
wanted to use some good Ericksonian principles to make it as
effective through text as I could.

- Pacing

This first concept -- meeting someone where they are -- is

an absolutely foundational piece for hypnosis. When you sit
down to play with someone, it is always a good idea to somehow
start at their current experience. In NLP, we call this “pacing.” You
might start by making remarks about things that you can observe:
“I can see that you’re sitting comfortably and beginning to listen
to me; I know you’re starting to pay attention.” You want to feed
your partner some “truths” about their current experience so that
they have the feeling of your words describing their experience --
a feeling that they will grow familiar with that will help them latch
onto suggestions that you give.
You can pace someone about their physical experience as
well as their mental experience. It’s usually very easy to just
describe to someone what they are physically doing, because
you can either see them or you have some idea of their
physicality in space. You can also remark on their internal
experience, and this is where we start to get into more hypnotic
and mind-reading territory. You don’t have to know exactly what
someone is thinking -- you can generally make some educated
guesses about the way that someone is processing based on the
way that they are or have been behaving. (If you’re interested in
more on these ideas, I highly recommend that you check out my
class on “Pacing, Leading, and Ambiguity,” which is available as
a video download in my Gumroad.)

- Ambiguity

In this game, while I couldn’t see the player, and a broad

range of people would be trying it out, there were some obvious
commonalities that I could think of all players having so that I
could use good pacing. They would all be playing the game,
doing so on a computer after having downloaded it, and all of
them had some reason for doing so. Whether it was curiosity,
whim, kinky desire, or something else, I couldn’t really make
guesses on -- I didn’t want to “get it blatantly wrong” for someone
and have them think, “Oh, no, that’s not my experience.”
I relied heavily on ambiguity throughout this script --
language and concepts that are vague enough for most people to
feel like they identify with what’s being said. There’s a balance
between being vague enough to allow for many interpretations,
but specific enough to feel like the comment is pointed towards
you, towards the player. Ideally, I want the feeling of, “Wow, how
did they know what I was feeling?” We’ll be looking at many
examples of this throughout the text.

- Ericksonian Principles

I consider myself to be heavily influenced by Milton

Erickson, a hypnotherapist credited with changing the way we
think about doing hypnosis in the mid 1900s. I also wrote this
game in the middle of reading one of his books, “Hypnotic
Realities,” which I cannot recommend enough.
Besides ambiguity and pacing, Erickson made heavy use
of confusion, encouraging subtle feelings to turn into bigger
responses, taking responsibility to do or know things off of the
subject, perception shifts, unconscious responses, and utilizing
the environment, medium, and the subject’s own
processes/history to further the trance.
Doing this through text was fun, and provided me with a lot
to work with. Because this trance was always happening in a sort
of structured way, I had a lot of clues to how people would be
playing it and what tools were available for me to “use” to
encourage trance. I also had a separate goal: Use Ericksonian
techniques to make this somewhat tailored to people who find it
difficult to trance through text, or who find it difficult to trance at
all because they consider themselves “analytical” (a misleading
concept), ADHD, or any number of other things that folks cite as
challenges to them feeling hypnotized. To some degree, this was
me saying, “Look: I know there’s a lot of subjects who feel like
they’re struggling with hypnosis -- you’re not abnormal or a bad
subject, and you don’t need specific techniques to make it work;
you just are trying to trance to things that aren’t as wholly
effective in general, and everyone has some misconceptions
about how hypnosis works that we’re going to clear up here.”
There is no way to make a universally-effective hypnosis
script. Such a thing does not exist. But I covered bases as best I
could.

The Script

(The script of the game is written in italics, and commentary will

be written in blue. The commentary follows the lines that it’s
commenting on.)

"You've opened a game on your computer."

"It's supposed to be some sort of... {pause}hypnosis game."

Easy pacing to start with -- the opening line describing exactly

what the player has done gives a very “meta” feeling and
immediately tells the player sort of what to expect, hopefully
leading to curiosity. Saying that the game is “supposed to be” a
hypnosis game acknowledges a feeling of doubt -- possibly one
that the player already has.

"...You have your reasons for downloading it."

This is ambiguously but certifiably true -- there is always a reason

that we do something. Note that I don’t try to say “maybe you
were curious, maybe you were horny,” etc etc. That’s not needed
and detracts from the POV feeling.

"But it's not exactly clear what kind of game it's actually going
to be -- {pause}there's like, porn games, more story-oriented
games..."
 "The description was clear about, well... What it's supposed to
do."

"But as far as the actual content? It was pretty vague."

More truths, leading the player’s attention to wonder about what’s

going to happen.

"You put in your name."

My Name: _____

This is the first time that the game describes what the player will
do, and then the player does it. I want the player to get used to
the feeling that the game is directing their experience. I do this
subtly at first with something simple, and it further paces the
player because I keep describing things that are happening. I
also thought a lot about whether I wanted to use “me/my” or
“you/yours” for these types of interactions, and ultimately decided
that the first person pronoun gave it a more personal feel.

Me: "No graphics yet... {pause}I guess this is sort of like a test
run or something."

Me: "I mean -- {pause}I guess that is what it's called."

This is the first time that I introduce narrating the player’s

thoughts. I start off in a very non-intrusive way, about something
that is both true and plausible. I’m directing the player’s thoughts
since they can’t help but read the text. It doesn’t matter if they
feel like they’re thinking these things or not -- in order to
participate in the game, they have to buy into this interaction in
some fashion, even if they are imagining some part or version of
themselves doing it. In non-scripted hypnosis, narrating
someone’s thoughts is also very useful -- you can very easily say
something like, “And your brain is like, ‘Oh yes, more more
more!’” To process a suggestion like this, they have to think it and
associate with it.

"You click through, waiting for the game to actually get

started."

This is a little dissociative -- the game HAS gotten started.

"So far... nothing."

"It's just text on a black screen."

Continued pacing, this actually serves to provide a perspective

shift to reality -- it forces the player to acknowledge the reality of
what they’re experiencing. This is the beginning of my usage of
fractionation. I’m not looking at fractionation as a tool to bring
someone “in and out of trance,” I’m looking at it as a way to shift
between two states or perspectives. In this case, “focused on the
action of reading/playing/reality,” and “sucked into the game and
not paying attention to that.” Fractionation can be used between
any two things.

"But it isn't ending or exiting to the menu, so surely something

must be coming up?"

"...{pause}Right?"

Me: "click {pause}click {pause}click"

This was just a fun way of immediately describing the player’s
experience as it happens. It also brings attention to clicking,
which likely the player has been doing unconsciously -- more
fractionation and setup for some suggestions later on.

"Well, it's definitely taking its time. At this point you're probably
a minute or two in -- {pause}you feel sort of curious?"

"Or something. Guess it doesn't actually matter what the

reason is that you keep going."

Beginning to make suggestions about the player’s

internal/emotional experience. Curiosity is an easy feeling, and
one that often happens if it’s alluded to -- “Aren’t you curious
about x?” will generally invoke even a feeling of “what is there to
be curious about?” But at the same time here, we’re starting to
get into some Ericksonian ideas of “it doesn’t matter what you’re
feeling, because this will happen anyways.” There’s a
presupposition here -- the player’s attention is on “the reason”
why they continue, but the fact THAT they will continue is
assumed.

"You settle into sitting a little bit, readjust your hands."

Again shifting the player’s perspective back to the reality of the

experience, but at the same time directing that experience.
“Settling in” is a very subtle feeling, and one that we often do
unconsciously, so almost anything that the player notices about
their current experience can be felt as “settling in.” Readjusting
the hands is a little more direct, but it would actually take more
effort NOT to readjust in this case, since it’s such an automatic
thing to do, and even a tiny motion of the fingers could be felt as
readjusting. I’m getting rapport and participation.
 "It's always funny how you sometimes sort of forget about your
body when you're playing a game, then you kind of remember it."

A presupposition -- “It’s always funny how…” presupposes that

this happens, and it is a kind of universal experience. I’m really
concretely setting up this fractionation between being aware of
reality/bodily experience, and not being aware of it.

"It's like something reminds you of your body, and then

eventually it fades away and you get sucked back in."

Another universal experience, and I’m indirectly explaining that

this is something that is OK when it happens spontaneously with
hypnosis. It’s a misconception that subjects will be fully immersed
in hypnosis and not sometimes be reminded of the
external/internal. Why would I not utilize that? “You’ll go back in,
so don’t worry about it.”

"You think about how that's a little weird -- {pause}it's not like
you have control over getting enthralled again, {pause}like, you
can't exactly make it happen."

First sexy hypnosis word! Emphasizing the Ericksonian idea that

the player isn’t having to do anything consciously -- their
unconscious process takes care of this.

"You've just played enough games -- or maybe just read

enough stuff -- to know what that feels like."

"So it's not something you think about too much. {pause}It's
almost something you take just as a given. Everyone gets sucked
into media."
“This is a given, and so you don’t really have to think about it --
but it’s OK if you do.”

"And it's kind of cool when you get that feeling of being rushed
back into your body again, too. {pause}It's like, 'whoosh,' like
zooming out, {pause}or zooming in and getting thrown back into
yourself."

"Like your perspective changing really fast."

Here’s the anchor/trigger -- we’re associating this built-up

fractionation feeling with “whoosh.” There’s a kinesthetic feeling,
visual image, and even a sort of sound tied into this to cover a lot
of bases. I’m really emphasizing perspective change because it’s
an unconscious, subjective, and subtle feeling. I don’t need to
make anything big happen right at the start -- using these small
feelings gives the subject something easy to do.

"Weird that people focus so much on losing track of their body,

and not the other way around -- {pause}if you think about it, that's
part of the process too, right? {pause}It's cyclical."

Letting the subject know that BOTH shifts are useful here --
they’re not failing if they remember their body; they’re doing
something that is part of trance.

Me: "I guess that's sort of like dissociation."

"...Well, that was a fun little detour in your head."

"You get that 'whoosh' feeling from thinking about it."

 "...The game is still just a black screen with text."

Having the player “think” along with this actually serves to break
them out of the immersion a little bit because of the surprise, so I
commit to that for the moment, invoking the anchor that we just
set exactly for this. I don’t want to go against the player’s natural
process/response. I want to go with it.

"But at this point, even though you're periodically aware of

yourself shifting back and forth {pause}between being focused on
the game {pause}and focused on your body..."

"...you notice that just clicking and reading has gotten easier."

Two processes that are going between being conscious and

unconscious. Finally I’m starting to make some direct
suggestions. I am saying it’s getting “easier” because it’s
impossible to quantify that feeling, so there’s a lot of ways that
something could feel easier -- it’s an easy suggestion to latch
onto.

"Actually, you weren't really paying full attention to the action of

clicking and reading until you noticed it."

I say “full attention” here because that’s also not quantifiable --

maybe the player WAS paying attention to clicking and reading,
but I’m implying that it wasn’t “enough” attention, which is
something they can’t verify.

"But now that you are paying attention, it really does somehow
just feel more simple and flowing."
NOW I’m saying that they’re paying enough attention, and as a
result of that, I’m making a suggestion about how their quality of
experiencing it changes. When someone shifts perspective, the
quality of their experience will naturally change -- I’m just making
a suggestion about what it feels like.

"It's like how sometimes beginning to read something is like,

you have to make a conscious effort to actually start."

"But when you're in the middle of it, you don't have to make
those impulses. Like you sort of just get into a pattern."

"The actual impulses to read are just muscle memory,

chugging along."

"And reading more just makes it even more smooth."

"It always feels really good when you know that you don't have
to exert effort for something."

Classic “you don’t have to consciously do this, you can let it

happen automatically” stuff. I’m relating it to reading because
that’s a common experience. I’m working with the idea of
impulses, and sort of dissociating that experience of “having an
impulse” away from the player in a way that feels familiar
(patterns, muscle memory), and I’m reinforcing that feeling by
saying it feels good (sexy hypnosis phrasing that most people will
recognize).

"Like, part of you is used to exerting effort, so it has the

impulse to do that, {pause}but eventually it just falls into the habit
of not actually doing it."
This is the first time I invoke parts. My partner MrDream has
taught me a lot about using parts for hypnosis -- it is a way to
make a person feel like “they” are not the ones doing something.
It separates out a behavior, belief, or feeling so that the person
can observe it from a different perspective. It also allows the
hypnotist to direct the experience of that “part.” Here I’m
acknowledging that impulses are natural, and it’s OK for the
player to still feel them, but suggesting that at some unspecified
point, that feeling will subside. I don’t want to say “now you don’t
feel this anymore” because it’s very difficult to immediately stop
someone from having an unconscious reaction, especially one
like an impulse where bringing attention to it makes it happen. So
I just say “eventually” and allow it to happen on its own, directing
attention away from it.

"Actually, it's a lot like getting engrossed in something."

"Like when you're starting to get the hang of something

{pause}and you realize that you've been doing it without really
putting much energy in."

Relating this to lots of things -- “Your mind is used to doing these

things already; you already have these capabilities.”

"It's hard to fully express that kind of feeling -- {pause}stuff

comes to mind, but there isn't a perfect description for it."

Acknowledging that there isn’t really a right answer or right way

to think about it -- all ways that the player responds are correct.

"What does it feel like to do something with less effort?"

 "Even the feeling of wondering that is starting to have less and
less effort in it."

Simple direction of the player’s thoughts, and using that to bring

that lack-of-impulse/easy feeling to the feeling of thinking.
Hypnosis subjects are often looking for something that proves to
them that they’re in trance, and usually people want the feeling of
their thoughts to change.

"...{pause}Well, now you're thinking about thinking about the

feeling."

I actually interrupt this process so that they can’t linger on it. I’m
fractionating them -- I let them get to the point where the feeling
was beginning to change, and pulled them out of it. That first shift
is often very subtle, so subtle that it can be hard to discern -- I
don’t want the player sitting on the question, “Is something
different?” quite yet. I’d rather emphasize the change through
contrast -- thus, I pull them out, and will push them back in
(fractionation).

"You readjust a little bit again, but somehow, reading has

gotten even easier after all of that."

Here’s the perspective shift as they readjust (again, not

specifying how), then directing them towards the “easy” feeling
again, this time from a state that contrasts it.

"Like being aware of your own process has actually helped."

"Like thinking and wondering are actually immersing you in

your own experience."
“See? You don’t have to be unaware to go into trance. In fact, I’m
using your awareness to hypnotize you.”

"You've heard some people talk about awareness making

hypnosis harder for them, but right now, for you, this feels good,
in a sort of lazy way."

I’m separating the player from these supposed people who have
difficulty with awareness and hypnosis. I’m also finally saying the
word “hypnosis.” “Lazy” is also a great descriptor for not having
to put effort into something -- it’s not “lack of effort” (it can be hard
to feel the “lack” of something), it’s laziness, which has the
connotation of sort of being decadent.

"...Suddenly, though you've thought it before, {pause}the

question more fully verbally comes to mind, {pause}but asking it
actually just feels sort of nice:"

Me: "Am I hypnotized right now?"

Here is the moment where we address the elephant in the room:

Hypnosis is happening. This game is not legitimately covert --
everyone knows going into it that it involves hypnosis. But it
hasn’t been forthcoming about where or how the hypnosis is
happening. So I acknowledge that the player has probably been
wondering “Is this hypnosis?” at several points. However, I say
that right now, they’re thinking it “more fully verbally” -- like
before, I’m saying that they weren’t thinking about it “enough.” I’m
using the word “verbally” because we’re no longer talking about
those sort of impulse or stray thoughts: we’re emphasizing them
as words. I also want to say that asking that question can add to
the experience, not detract from it -- some subjects have difficulty
constantly wondering “Am I in trance yet?” and find that it
distracts them. But here, we’re utilizing that response FOR the
trance.

"There's parts of you that are just sort of automatically

answering that question, like your gut feelings about it.
{pause}But the easiness of your thoughts sort of encourages you
to relax those feelings. {pause}There are more parts of you that
just want to wonder about it."

I am no longer acknowledging that narrating their thoughts

distracts them -- they’ve already had the experience of being
distracted and then going back in, so they have that muscle
memory available to them if it happens here. I’m also using parts
language to separate the player from their answer. Again, I know
that it would be impossible to say, “Don’t answer this question
yet.” That’s unrealistic. So instead, I say, “I know that you’re
already answering that question, but your answer is coming from
a part of you that just does that automatically, so maybe it’s not
reliable. Answers like that don’t imply that you need to be done
asking the question.”

"It does feel weirdly good to just wonder about it."

"Considering the possibilities, but as a fun exercise."

I’m framing this sort of internal processing as something that is

low pressure.

"Just like, imagining."

“Imagining” is a great word that implies creativity and playing

pretend in a way that doesn’t have pressure to be productive, but
often is. It’s also a fairly hypnosis-anchored word.
 "Sometimes people get really caught up in wondering if they're
hypnotized, {pause}but your feeling of being caught up seems
different right now."

“It’s OTHER PEOPLE who get distracted by thinking about

whether or not they’re in trance.” I’m saying that the player’s
process is different, but I’m not specifying how. I want the player
to look at their own process and notice something different about
it -- doesn’t matter what kind of difference it is or how big it is,
when you look at something and say “spot the difference,” people
will generally notice something.

"Reading feels so easy, and actually, thinking feels really easy

too."

"You didn't fully notice it before, but your thoughts have

changed -- like, the way they feel."

"It's subtle, but now that you're paying attention to it, they have
a similar fluid quality to them as reading."

"Like a part of you is just sort of mildly interested."

Lots of talking about subtle feelings, and feelings that can’t be

qualified or evaluated in an objective way. I.e., less ability for
someone to run into this feeling a very distinct, “No, I don’t feel
that.” More association between the unconscious process of
reading and the feeling of thinking.

"The words you're reading are overlapped with your own

internal process, {pause}so maybe that's why it has this nice,
{pause}easy, {pause}good feeling."
Obviously, reading is an internal “thinky” process. I’m using that
truism to suggest more that the player’s thinking feels as easy as
reading -- and also that it’s beginning to be less conscious.

"You wander back to the question:"

Me: "Am I hypnotized right now?"

"Your attention on finding an answer keeps being distracted by

the good feeling of asking it."

I’m reinforcing this response, which is basically a trigger: the

player thinks, “Am I hypnotized?” and then they feel something
pleasant, which may loop.

"You definitely feel different, and you do want to be

hypnotized."

"...Maybe you want that a lot."

"Your thoughts move to your own desire about this."

"...Do you really want to be hypnotized?"

I’m starting to be more direct here and less ambiguous. I know

that the majority of people who seek out hypnosis content have a
motivation to be hypnotized. I want to start using that. Saying
“Your thoughts move” is a passive way of narrating and
controlling the player’s thoughts.

menu: "Yes"
 "Oh, an interaction!"

"'Whoosh.'"

"The game asking for your input distracted you for a moment
about actually answering the question."

"You readjust, {pause}and refocus, {pause}and it feels easy."

This is the first time the player will need to interact with the script,
and I want to acknowledge that that may be a surprise, so I ratify
it instead of going against it and use the ‘whoosh’ anchor to
fractionate them. I’m setting up “yes” to be an anchor, which is
obvious for most experienced subjects.

"You were thinking about your easy thoughts, and your easy
reading."

"You were thinking about... {pause}wanting to be hypnotized."

"You asked yourself, 'Do I want this?'"

"And then you answered."

menu: "Yes":

"Yes..."

“Let’s go through that process again, except this time you know
what to expect.” I’m talking about what they just did, because it
causes the player to do the same thing in a different context --
they have to follow what they did before, so they don’t
necessarily have a choice. To some degree, I am reframing their
past actions.

"Now it feels really good somehow to linger on your obvious,

direct answer."

"Yes, you want to be hypnotized."

"Yes, you want to be hypnotized."

"Yes, you want to be hypnotized."

"Yes, you want this."

Going from a sense of limbo or wibbly-wobbly into something that

feels concrete is a big perception shift, one that often feels like a
relief and leads the person to accept the thing that is direct.

"There are reasons that are really personal to you that fuel
that."

I love saying this sort of thing -- especially with sexual interests,

everyone has important, personal feelings. I don’t have to know
what they are. I just have to say that I’m aware of them, and the
person will know I’m paying attention and touching something
intimate for them.

"The ease of your thoughts, and the ease of reading... all

makes that feel so smooth."

"Like it's the easiest thought in the world."

Me: "Yes, I want to be hypnotized."

 "And the smoothness of it makes it feel more intense."

"Like the surface is just so frictionless."

"Like there's nothing getting in the way of feeling and believing

it."

Really just reinforcing this feeling of no effort easiness with a bit

of metaphor and repetition. The repetition serves to anchor the
feeling more. Anchors and triggers benefit from continued use to
build their association.

"Yes, you want to be hypnotized."

"...There's a part of you still asking:"

That Part of Me: "Am I hypnotized right now?"

"That part of you is learning even more how to enjoy asking

that question."

This was one of the first ideas I had for the game -- doing
something with the narration that involved narrating a part of
someone. You can do this in live hypnosis too -- it’s effective
especially because when you contextualize that it’s a “part,” that
implies that the person doesn’t really have control over how it
acts or thinks. It feels independent, and therefore automatic or
unconscious.

"There are all sorts of possible answers bouncing around."

 "But you're starting to notice how it's getting confused and
distracted by the answer to the other question."

“Starting to” do anything is a great qualifier, because it implies

smallness to an action -- there’s no need for a “big shift” into
noticing; it happens gradually (and most hypnotic responses
benefit from being gradual). I’m invoking a little bit of confusion,
which I will collapse later.

Me: "Do I want to be hypnotized?"

menu: "Yes"

"Yes..."

I’m reinforcing the yes response more, and looking to make the
feeling of “answering yes” be automatic.

"It's not that you're getting too confused."

"You don't really feel too confused."

"It's just the part of you that's asking."

This is actually a little confusing -- I’m priming the player to look

for something “stable” to latch onto.

"Like that part can't stop imagining what it feels like to say
{pause}'yes, I want to be hypnotized.'"

"And so any time it asks a question, it gets overwhelmed with

that nice, {pause}easy, {pause}good, {pause}'yes.'"
Here is the payoff to the confusion. Having a “part” of the player
imagine something really dissociates them from the action of it,
while still needing to process it. Now we’re just reinforcing “yes”
and making it a trigger in its own way. The experience of having a
part of oneself feel pleasure is a complicated one, and it doesn’t
matter how the player interprets it -- they may not even feel that
separated from it, but that also works for us.

That Part of Me: "Am I hypnotized right now?"

Me: "Do I want to be hypnotized?"

"It's starting to feel really automatic."

menu: "Yes":

That Part of Me: "Yes..."

More reinforcement and tangling/stacking anchors together.

"That part of you is caring less and less about what the
question actually is."

"It doesn't care if it's asking if you want to be hypnotized,

{pause}if you are hypnotized, {pause}if you're being
hypnotized..."

"Actually, it feels like that part just cares about the idea of
'hypnotized.'"

"Maybe that's the part of you that has feelings about

hypnosis."
Parts are easier to feel concretely when we describe their
purpose/“name” them. It is one thing to say “A part of you feels
good,” and it is another to say, “The part of you that is
responsible for feeling pleasure feels good.”

"Maybe that's the part of you that feels all of your personal
history feeding its feelings about hypnosis."

"It doesn't really think about all those things."

"It just thinks about hypnosis."

That Part of Me: "H Yes: p n o t i z e d . . . "

That Part of Me: "Y e s . . . "

"Barely even thoughts, really -- {pause}they don't feel like the

kinds of thoughts you're used to."

We’re setting up more definition for this part -- it processes

differently, more unconsciously, and it’s useful to us because it
thinks about hypnosis in a particular way. Most people are
familiar with a sort of blind wanting that comes from sex or other
erotic stuff -- we’re taking advantage of that feeling here. The text
kerning (spaces) is just a little flavor to emphasize this
“difference” of feeling.

"And you're starting to notice that its nice, {pause}easy,

{pause}good, {pause}'yes' feelings {pause}are seeping into your
own process."

Of course the player is feeling those feelings -- they are coming

from them. I separated out the part simply to make those feelings
more distinct, and am now making the player feel them as though
they’re coming from another place. There’s a visual and
kinesthetic sense to the idea of “seeping.” Really setting “yes” as
an anchor here.

"It makes sense... {pause}Your thoughts are sticking to the

hypnosis feelings."

“Sticky thoughts” is always a fun concept and relatively easy and

relatable -- it’s hard to consciously stop thinking about something
(“Stop thinking about pink elephants”).

"That part of you is just feeding you hypnosis, feeding you

'yes.'"

"Your process changes, now that you're noticing it."

"Since the act of noticing changes it."

This is true -- noticing something tends to change the way we

think about it because of our change in perspective. Just pointing
it out can reinforce this feeling.

"You notice your reading, and it feels like thinking about deep
trance."

"You notice your thinking, and it feels like thinking about deep
trance."

That Part of Me: "Y e s . . . "

Tangling lots of responses together here.

 "Everything has gotten so easy to the point that you don't have
control over it anymore."

That Part of Me: "C o n t r o l . . . "

"...That's right. Control."

"Notice how you get such a similar wash of 'yes' from that."

Invoking the concept of control here for added sexiness, and

using some very direct “that’s right” hypnosis language to start
really talking TO the player, to emphasize that we’re really doing
hypnosis here.

"Are you noticing that it's getting stronger, too?"

This is a classic presupposition: “Are you noticing x” implies that

x is happening.

"It's almost as though invoking the idea of control tightens its

grip over you."

"Like all of your own feelings about control and hypnosis are
taking you over."

"From the inside."

I find that the idea of my own processes taking me over can be

more believable and powerful than an external force.

"Imagine yourself thinking about hypnosis."

Me: "Hypnosis..."
This is a little dissociative -- I’m not saying “Think about
hypnosis,” I’m telling the player to imagine themselves doing it,
and reinforcing it by narrating their thoughts.

That Part of Me: "Y e s . . . "

"And now watch as that growing part of you thinks about

hypnosis."

That Part of Me: "H Yes: p n o s i s . . . "

That Part of Me: "C o n t r o l . . . "

That Part of Me: "Y e s . . . "

"When you try to think about hypnosis, that part just...

{pause}takes over."

"In fact, you're finding your own thoughts getting wiped out,
little by little."

Describing the part as “growing” presupposes it happening. Here,

I’m really reinforcing that the player is not the one “thinking”
about hypnosis -- even though they are, having separated out the
part gives the sense of them not doing it themselves. I’m making
it very overt, and “wiped out” is just a hot thing to say and easy
for hypnokinky folks to latch onto.

"That part of you is very simple. {pause}It only does two

things."

"It wants to be hypnotized and controlled."

 "And it is hypnotized and controlled."

That Part of Me: "Y e s . . . "

I’m defining the scope of the part in a way that is useful to me,
and something that will help me in a moment -- this is the first
time I’m really saying any part of the player is hypnotized.

"Its feelings are so strong."

"And now you're fully letting it immerse you in its trance."

"The way it feels to be deeply hypnotized is just totally soaking

into your brain, {pause}from the part of you that does it best."

It’s easy to imagine that there are parts of us that are the “expert”
at something, and I think hypnotizing the player by using the part
of them that’s an “expert” at being hypnotized is quite fun.

"You can notice now that it's taking over your other processes,
too."

"You notice that it's reading for you."

"It's clicking for you."

Again I’m taking advantage of the fact that reading is

unconscious, and I’m also making an educated assumption that
the player has not really been paying attention to clicking at this
point. Pointing these processes out at the same time as telling
the player that they’re happening automatically is a big moment.
It’s also much easier to conceptualize doing something
“automatically” or unconsciously if we give a reason for why
that’s happening -- in this case, we’re saying it’s because a part
of them that they don’t have control over is doing it for them.

"And even that tiny sensation -- {pause}that really subtle

sensation of not fully having control over your eyes {pause}or
your fingers..."

"That makes it produce little bursts of brain-melting in your

head."

I really want to emphasize the intensity of being controlled even

in a small moment. I use the word “fully” to allow for experiences
where the player may feel like “Maybe I do have some control”
because it redirects them to notice the aspects where they
DON’T have control. I find that subtle moments like this can often
have the biggest impact, and I get more bang for my buck than if
I were to tell someone, “Your whole body is under my control”
because that’s a big, sudden suggestion, which might be
challenging.

"Because it's an insidious little 'yes' machine."

I love the concept of turning something or someone into an x

machine, because that’s a very easy metaphor/concept to grok.
“Yes machines” make yeses. And calling something insidious
makes it 2x hotter as well as implying that there’s not much that
someone can do to stop it.

"You can feel yourself echoing 'yes' because you're

hypnotized."
This is an example of me using causality -- “You can feel x
because y.” This creates an association, but more importantly, it
implies heavily that both things are true, so the player will accept
them as believable.

"You can feel that 'yes' pleasure just flooding all through you."

"Controlling you."

"Reading automatically."

"Clicking before you even are able to notice the impulse to do

it."

Reading happens automatically. I know that telling someone to

do something physical completely automatically can be more
challenging. So I reframe it as that it’s happening before they
notice the impulse -- I’ve turned it into a mental phenomenon
now. There might be an impulse, but I’m saying that that doesn’t
matter. Something happening “too fast” to react to it is often more
how I’d frame “automatic response” in hypnosis.

"'Yes' isn't even always a word at this point."

"It's coming from a part of you that doesn't really rely on

words."

Allowing for a range of experiences that takes pressure off of

having to “verbally” think.

"Watch -- {pause}you're going to give yourself a little feedback

loop."
Telling someone “watch this” is a great little trick, because it puts
them into an observer role more than the do-er. I’m beginning to
use really direct language here. The player actually already has
tons of feedback loops, but this is one that they’re going to really
feel participation in and notice more explicitly.

"You're going to ask yourself, {pause}'Am I hypnotized and

controlled right now?'"

"And then so fully, {pause}so intensely..."

"All of the parts of you are going to say 'yes.'"

"And it's going to feel {pause}so {pause}good."

“Here is what is going to happen” is a great technique. It’s future

pacing -- it allows the subject to “practice” the experience
because they will have already imagined through it. And then
when they ultimately go through the actions, there is a sense of
fulfillment and potentially a fun little deja vu feeling. It also sets a
clear expectation for how trance or suggestion will work.

Me: "Am I hypnotized and controlled right now?"

menu: "Yes":

Yes: "Y e s . . . "

"Oh, now you're just a little 'yes' machine."

I thought it would be fun to rename the player as a way to sort of

reintegrate the parts back into them, and really reinforce the “yes”
response. I like the element of sort of identity erasure. But like, in
a casual way!

menu: "Yes":

Yes: "Y e s . . . "

"And that feels just amazing."

Yes: "Y e s . . . "

"You don't have to do anything."

"You're going to become more deeply hypnotized and

controlled."

"But there's nothing to do to affect that."

"It's a little loop in your head now."

More overt language about how the player doesn’t have to exert
any effort to go deeper into trance -- and adding a sexy flare with
it by saying that they CAN’T do anything about it. Saying that
something is a loop in someone’s head -- especially without
really specifying exactly what the loop does -- is a fun way to
make stuff feel automatic.

"And it just keeps making you feel {pause}so {pause}good."

Haven’t really talked about the pauses yet -- they serve to add
emphasis and expectation, especially for something that’s
supposed to give a big feeling.
 Yes: "Yes..."

"Your consciousness, all the parts of yourself, all of your

processes..."

"They've all been tangled together; {pause}they're all being

hypnotized together."

More integration (bringing the parts back into someone) while

emphasizing trance.

"Your reading and clicking are hypnotized. {pause}Your

thinking is hypnotized. {pause}Your question-asking is
hypnotized."

This is sort of actually creating more parts, but the focus is on

having the player feel a sense of hypnosis that is not reliant on
their conscious or thinking processes.

"Even the part of you that's watching all of this happen is

slowly succumbing."

Hypnotizing someone’s “observer” is a great technique. I don’t

believe at all in the traditional sense of the “hidden observer”
(there is a lot of evidence to the contrary), but generally when
someone is being hypnotized, there is a sense of some part of
them watching it happen. It can feel very intense to acknowledge
that part and start to control it.

"Because the 'yes' is so powerful."

menu: "Yes":
 "There it goes, feeling itself fuzz and give in more."

“There it goes” is a lot like “watch this” -- it implies passivity.

"Soon you'll be fully controlled."

Saying “you are x” is generally less effective than saying “soon, x

will happen” because a direct statement like that causes the
subject to make a direct evaluation.

"And that won't even change as you remember again that a

game is controlling you."

"That's right. You're playing a game."

"Realizing something like that, so explicitly and verbally

{pause}hits differently when all the parts of yourself are buzzing
with deep trance."

Here’s a big moment. Thus far, we’ve associated awareness of

the game with a shift in perspective. Here, that may happen, but
I’m telling the player that it’s going to add to their experience, not
take them out of it. I say they “remember again” to allow for the
experience that they’ve thought this before, which is true
because I’ve had them remember it several times, and they
probably also have done it spontaneously.

"A game that's been controlling you from the very beginning."

"A game that's been controlling your actions and thoughts."

"A game that you chose to download."

Pulling back the curtain -- in kink, when we do anything covert, it
sets up for a moment like this where we reveal what’s been
happening to add to the intensity of the scene. Saying that the
player “chose” to do it is true, and also creates a tiny implication
of, “Was that a bad idea?” in a sexy way.

"Text on a black screen."

I felt like pointing this out is a big perspective shift, because when
we’re reading, we’re not often thinking, “I’m looking at a page in a
book.” You can do a similar perspective shift if you’re playing with
someone and you simply point out the reality of their
environment. Here, I’m doing it to emphasize the player’s lack of
control and create some surprise.

"Feel it controlling your eyes."

"Really notice your eyes moving, {pause}how your own desire

to move them is overpowered by the simple desire to be more
deeply hypnotized."

"Because that's what's controlling them now."

This is a really simple perspective change. We generally don’t

think “I’m moving my eyes because I want to move them.” We
move them unconsciously in accordance with some purpose. I’m
just defining the purpose/desire.

"Your eyes move because you want to go deeper."

Causality again -- both of these things are true, so the player will
tend to accept the suggestion that there is a connection between
them.
 "You want to feel better."

"And there's just no resistance to that, little 'yes' machine, so

your eyes obey."

Don’t forget the sexy concepts in hypnokink! But use them for a
purpose.

"Independent of you."

"Helplessly dropping you deeper into trance."

"Feeding you words {pause}that turn into thoughts {pause}that

turn into deep, {pause}intense trance."

Explicitly linking reading with the feeling of hypnosis, in a logical

way that correlates with the player’s process. When we read, we
think -- that’s a given. But then I’m suggesting that those
thoughts create trance.

"That helpless feeling in your eyes starts to spread to the rest

of your face."

Progressive Muscle Relaxation inductions get a bad rep, but the

concepts from them can be really useful. This is like a
Progressive Helplessness induction. Feeling something “in your
eyes” is a complex, subjective feeling, so that allows for a broad
range of experience as it goes throughout the rest of the body.

"Yes -- you're being controlled to focus more on your body as

that vulnerability seeps through you."
Another example of me not directly saying “focus on your body”
but making it happen a little more passively.

"Your face, {pause}your lips, {pause}your neck..."

"Powerful loss of control spreading faster and faster down your

body."

There’s no need for me to name each and every body part. That
can be repetitive or boring, and I don’t want the player to have to
wait for me to say a body part before they have that experience. I
want it to go at whatever pace it goes at.

"More and more..."

"Until it fills you up."

"So, so defenseless."

"It thrums through your entire body like perfect pleasure."

"And your mind is so feeble now."

"It's consumed with the way your body feels."

"It's consumed with the words flowing into and through your
head."

I’m giving reasons why the player’s mind is feeble.

"That helplessness in your eyes and body turns further

inwards {pause}and your mind accepts it."
I like the idea of taking a feeling from the body and projecting it
onto the mind.

"With a sort of weak, fragile eagerness."

My Mind: "Take it..."

My Mind: "Take control of me..."

My Mind: "Please..."

Frankly I just find myself thinking things like this when I’m in
trance, and I think that experience is relatable. Separating “their
mind” out again adds to the sense that the player isn’t controlling
this.

"It begs and begs even as you watch it fill itself up with deep
trance, {pause}deep pleasure, {pause}deep helplessness."

Again, the player watches (passive) this happen.

"Filling, {pause}filling, {pause}filling..."

"And the more it fills, the more that everything else is starting
to fade..."

"Changing the way you feel in ways that you've wanted so

badly..."

Fun ambiguous phrase -- no need to specify the change that the

person feels, nor the ways that they want these feelings.

"Real hypnosis. {pause}Real control."

I’m familiar with a sense of being hypnotized where it finally feels
“real” to me, and I always like this suggestion.

"Filling..."

"More..."

"Deeper..."

"So much deeper..."

"Until --"

My Mind: " "

Me: " "

I liked the idea of representing “no thoughts” through text, even

for a brief moment. I’m still acknowledging the parts as separate
here.

"Oh, yes."

"Now there's nothing between these words and your

hypnotized core self, accepting them."

Saying “there’s nothing between x and y” is a pretty potent

suggestion.

"You're all filled up with trance."

"You're all filled up with helplessness."

 "It feels unbelievably good."

"Just humming all through you. {pause}Your body. {pause}Your

brain."

"Hitting just right."

“Just right” is a nice ambiguous way to produce feelings in

someone.

"This is deep trance."

"This is 'yes.'"

"And now..."

"You're going to have to feel something else."

"Because this game controls you right now."

I wanted there to be a little more to the game that was framed

explicitly as helplessness; I wanted something to happen that the
player was unequivocally told was out of their control.

"Because you are just automatically doing."

"And it's going to pump even more of that hypnotized,

{pause}controlled, {pause}immense surrender into you."

“Pumping” is a wildly sexual word and also has this implication of

being difficult to stop.
 "You're already so full, but you can feel it flooding in as your
eyes move, hungry for each word."

I want to emphasize that this is not a completely comfortable

experience, but it’s happening anyways because they can’t
control it and can’t control their desire for it. “Hungry” is a great
metaphor with lots of fun implications. I think the idea of someone
not being able to control their actions because of desire is a
powerful and relatable experience.

"It's dissolving your brain with the pleasure of it."

"With {pause}every {pause}word."

"You can almost see your mind just liquefying {pause}as your
consciousness winks in and out."

“Dissolving” and “liquefying” are great words. I also like the

concept of consciousness winking in and out -- it’s one I’m
familiar with, and especially useful because it acknowledges that
deep trance phenomena like this are not usually “it happens and
then it’s done.” There’s usually a feeling of fluctuation.

"Pleasure that you can't describe."

"Overwhelming trance."

"Almost bursting with it, {pause}almost more than you can

handle."

With my partners, I would probably just say it IS more than they

could handle, but I don’t want to make it genuinely too much for
complete strangers.
 "Totally subduing all of you just by over-feeding your brain and
body."

“Over-feeding” continues the hunger metaphor.

"Getting stronger and stronger."

"Impossibly stronger."

"It's almost too much, but it's right in the zone of what you can
take."

This is a nice way to phrase this feeling of wanting to take

someone to an edge, but not over it.

"Hitting spots of you that you never fully remember needing to

be hit."

Sexual language about the mind and trance experience. I like the
sense of feeling like there’s an itch I need to be scratched with
deep trance, and for me, it’s one that I feel a lot, but I almost
never can fathom the intensity of it until it’s happening. I’m being
ambiguous for the player about what those spots are, or what it
feels like.

"Just constantly producing chemicals in your brain that are

firing off."

The visualization/kinesthetic experience of the brain being

described like this (creating chemicals) tends to feel very passive
or uncontrolled for the subject. It’s true and believable.
 "Overfilled."

"Over-hypnotized."

"Overwhelmed."

"Brain-blanking. {pause}Mind-fucking. {pause}Trance."

"Now, {pause}go deeper."

A very direct suggestion, finally. Gives the feeling of the player

obeying -- whether they feel like they are choosing to or not.

"That's right."

Acknowledge the subject’s responses, especially to a direct

suggestion, even if you have no idea what they’re experiencing.
You want them to feel like they’re doing it right -- they are.

"Now, {pause}give in."

"That's right."

"Now, {pause}just exist right here, {pause}right now, {pause}as

an impossibly hypnotized version of yourself."

Being allowed to exist in trance for a few moments is always

precious. Defining the player as “an impossibly hypnotized
version” of themselves is also powerful. You are dissociating
them from having to change the way that they define themselves
-- they’re the version of themselves that’s hypnotized, and that’s
easy.
 "That's right."

"T h a t ' s r i g h t . . . "

"T h a t ' s r i g h t . . . "

"..."

"......."

".............."

"Good."

"You're going to be counted out soon."

"Maybe reading that already starts to change your

experience."

It always reorients me when someone says, “I’m going to wake

you up in a moment.” So I want to account for that.

"But what's going to happen is that you're going to read the

numbers from 1 to 5."

It’s not, “I’m going to do x and you’re going to do y.” It’s, “x is

going to happen: watch.”

"And they're a signal for your brain to helplessly relax out of

this intense, {pause}overwhelming trance."

“Relaxing out of trance” is a fun framing for waking up. Waking

up can feel lots of different ways, and this is a nice one. Notice
that I’m saying it’s the player’s brain that’s doing it -- even still, I
don’t want the player to feel like THEY have to do anything.

"It's going to do exactly what it needs to do to bring you back."

"And wake you up."

Making the process automatic in a way that fits the player.

"It doesn't matter if you feel each number waking you up,
{pause}or if you don't need to pay any attention to that and you
just find yourself awake."

I find that wake-ups can be really distracting if I have to focus on

feeling a specific way as I wake up (such as “you grow more
awake with each number”), so I want to allow for the player to
come out of trance however feels most natural to them.

"The things that you've experienced here will turn into a

memory, {pause}a memory that doesn't have sway over you
more than any other regular memories."

I really like this framing. I always want to acknowledge that

experiences change people, but they change us in the way that
our memories always change us. This is my “cleanup.”

"There is nothing you need to do or obey after you've woken

up, except to take care of yourself as usual."

I do really want the player to take a bit of time to come down after
the game is over. This is good practice for any hypnosis.
 "You can feel all of yourself shifting and arranging,
{pause}inside and out, {pause}reintegrating like normal,
{pause}preparing you to come out of trance exactly in a way that
feels good."

"Click as quickly or as slowly as feels right."

The player has control over their own wakeup -- this is a nice
technique in hypnosis. You can ask someone to silently or
verbally count themselves out of trance. On the flipside, you can
make the wakeup feel like control if you count for them.

"Now..."

"1..."

"2..."

"3..."

"4..."

"5."

"'Whoosh.'"

I’m calling back to the anchor -- by doing so, I don’t really clean it
up. But I think it’s a good fit here to reemphasize the perspective
shift.

"You blink your eyes, take a breath, and adjust your body."
Still narrating the player’s experience to keep with that “meta”
feeling.

"..."

"...You were really deep."

"There's something about coming out of trance that makes the

memory of trance even stronger, actually."

"Like the contrast between states."

Just a bit more suggestive language -- sometimes we realize that

we went deeper than we knew after we come out of trance.

"Wow."

"This game was... {pause}no joke."

"And it was all just text, in the end."

"You should probably take it easy for a few minutes and take
care of your body as you come back to baseline."

"But right before you close the window, there's one last
dialogue box that pops up."

sleepingirl: "Thanks for trying out my first test-run game! I hope

you enjoyed it! {pause}If you like, I really love feedback, but
please be gentle! {pause}You can find me on twitter
@h_sleepingirl, or visit me at sleepingirl.carrd.co to find other
contacts/content."
 sleepingirl: "Thanks again, and I hope you have a great day :)"

"Aw, a message from the dev."

"You can do whatever you want with that information."

I don’t want anyone to feel like they are compelled to follow me,
or anything like that. I do like the little meta message, I thought it
was very cute.

"But now, {pause}the game ends, {pause}and it sends you

back to the main menu."

Even at the very end, I want there to be this feeling of a blurred

line between the game and reality. I want to take advantage of
every moment.