Editing 1525: Emojic 8 Ball

{{comic
| number    = 1525
| date      = May 15, 2015
| title     = Emojic 8 Ball
| image     = emojic 8 ball.png
}}
{{TOC}}
*To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|1525|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
Emojic 8 Ball is a parody of the {{w|Magic 8-Ball}} using {{w|emoji}} instead of words. "Emojic" is a portmanteau of "emoji" and "magic".

A real Magic 8 Ball is a toy designed to visually resemble a real {{w|billiard_ball#International_pool|pool ball}}, which responds to questions (posed as yes-or-no questions) asked of it, ostensibly by magic. The responses are provided through a window on one face that displays text phrases printed on a triangular shape as depicted in this comic. Vintage balls contained a die with multiple triangular facets suspended in a dark fluid, while modern balls feature an electronic screen.

The ball in this comic provides responses in the form of graphical {{w|Unicode}} "text" (which this comic is suggesting are {{w|emoji}}).

It is possible that this may be commentary on the inclusion of such "meaningless" symbols into Unicode. Ask a question and get a meaningless reply, even more meaningless than the answers given by a Magic 8 Ball.

It could also be commentary about the ambiguous nature of advice from fortune tellers, horoscopes, etc.  Each emoji has an ambiguous meaning (for example, depending on context, the cow symbol 🐄 could refer to beef or farming). The interpretation has more to do with the person receiving the fortune than anything given by the so-called fortune reader.

With the default question being "How will I die?", this may also be partially a reference to "{{w|Machine of Death}}". This book from 2010 is a collection of short stories edited by amongst other {{w|Ryan North}} (of {{w|Dinosaur Comics}}) mentioned here since the idea was based on one of [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=675 his comics]. Since [[Randall Munroe]] wrote one of the stories the reference is very likely. All the stories are based around a device, the "Machine of Death", that can predict, with 100% accuracy though generally with extreme ambiguity, how people die from a drop of their blood. In many of the stories very unusual deaths are predicted, often in a very literal way, but not so you know when or where you will die. From the [http://machineofdeath.net/ official home page] the entire book can be downloaded for free as a [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4648190/MachineofDeath_FINAL_SPREADS.pdf PDF file](broken) [https://web.archive.org/web/20170423012915/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4648190/MachineofDeath_FINAL_SPREADS.pdf 2020/06 archive.org copy]. (Randall's story begins on page 421 - or page 218 of the two sided PDF file. It is simply called "?"). The "Machine of Death" is also referenced in the title text of [[1341: Types of Editors]].

Emoji were previously referenced in [[1513: Code Quality]]. Emoji has since then become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurrent theme]] on xkcd. But this is the first one with Emoji in the title.

===Permalink===
*After the first time you ask a question a permalink will appear below the panel in gray letters.
*The "permalink" is an actual link of the type that is called a "'''{{w|permalink}}'''", a portmanteau of "permanent-link".
*If you wish to "save" any given question and combination of emojis for future reference (for instance one where you think the combo makes sense to your question) you can do so by copying down this link.
*The last two years [[:Category:April fools' comics|April Fools' Day]] comics, [[1350: Lorenz]] and [[1506: xkcloud]] also used the [[1350: Lorenz#Permalink|concept of a permalink]].
*The permalink option did not appear in the comic when it was first posted. This has been seen before. 
*Here a three examples with one, two and three emojis in the reply
**[http://xkcd.com/1525/#eyJxIjoiV2h5IGFtIEkgc28gc2FkPyIsImEiOlsiJiN4MjY3RjsiXX0= permalink with 1 emoji].
***Question: ''Why am I so sad?''.
***The answer is one emoji [♿ (Wheelchair symbol)] (A reply that actually makes sense as to why you might feel sad)
**[https://xkcd.com/1525/#eyJxIjoiV2hhdCBzaG91bGQgSSB3ZWFyIHRvbW9ycm93PyIsImEiOlsiJiN4MUYzRTY7IiwiJiN4MUYzNTY7Il19 permalink with 2 emojis].
***Question: ''What should I wear tomorrow?''. (Version 1)
***The answer is two emoji [🏦 (bank) and 🍖 (meat on bone)]
**[https://xkcd.com/1525/#eyJxIjoiV2hhdCBzaG91bGQgSSB3ZWFyIHRvbW9ycm93PyIsImEiOlsiJiN4MUYzNDY7IiwiJiN4MUY0QTY7Il19 permalink with 2 emojis].
***Question: ''What should I wear tomorrow?''. (Version 2)
***The answer is two emoji [🍆 (eggplant) and 💦 (water splash)]
**[https://xkcd.com/1525/#eyJxIjoiV2hlcmUgd2lsbCBJIGJlIGFmdGVyIHRvbW9ycm93PyIsImEiOlsiJiN4MUYzRUY7IiwiJiN4MUYzQTk7IiwiJiN4MUY0MjE7Il19 permalink with 3 emojis].
***Question: ''Where will I be after tomorrow?''.
***The answer is three emoji [🏯 (Japanese castle), 🎩 ‎(top hat) and 🐡 ‎(blowfish)].
***This is also available as a [[media:emojic 8 ball with answer.png|picture]] - it is the picture linked to above the explanation.

===Bugs===
Note: if you see mostly squares (possibly with six numbers/letters inside) in the 8 Ball instead of actual symbols or pictures, it means your system doesn't have fonts that support the Emoji unicode characters.  Scroll down to [[#Discussion|the discussion section]] below for suggestions on how to get and install the right font for your system, as well as to see a list of emoji characters so you can easily see if they're working or not.

==Transcript==
:[An image of a shiny black ball with a white circle forming a black window at its center. Above the image is a title where the number 8 is written in a black circle, making it look like an 8-ball.]
:'''Emojic 8 Ball'''

:[Below the title is an input field with a placeholder text in grayed out text:]
:How will I die?

:[Below is a gray submit button.]
:Ask

:[The Emojic 8 Ball is below the ask button. The text in the input field can be changed by the user before pressing the ask button. After the submit button is pressed, 1 to 3 emoji symbols appear in the black window, framed inside a light blue equilateral triangle with one end pointing straight up. Once this has been done once, then a link appears below the panel with this text: Permalink].

==Trivia==
*The 8-ball randomly returns between one and three emoji characters. The source code reveals there is 42.1% chance of getting one character, 52.6% chance of getting two characters, and 5.3% chance of getting three.
*The source code contains 507 different emoji characters. For a full list of the supported characters, see [[1525:_Emojic_8_Ball/List_of_emoji|List of emoji]].
*This is the second official comic with [[:Category:No title text|no title text]]. The first was [[1506: xkcloud]].
*The [http://xkcd.com/1525/info.0.json official transcript] of the comic says:
**"Sorry blind people. There is no title text, even. Just a text box, an \"ask\" button, and a graphic that changes to a random emojii.\n\nThis one doesn't seem to be for you."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:No title text]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
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