1950- 21st-century absurdism absurdist absurdity addiction black-comedy boredom bureaucracy bureaucracyinfiction business canada canadian-literature canadianfiction canadianliterature casestudies character-driven comedy coming-of-age computer-programming computergames computerindustry contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-life corporate-world counterculture coupland creative-writing creativity cubicle-life cultural-critique d dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-culture digitalelectronics disillusionment douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunction dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopian electronic electronicgamesindustryinfiction electronicindustries engineering existential existentialism family family-dynamics family-relationships fiction friendship games gaming gaming-industry geek-culture geeks(computerenthusiasts) general generation-x generational-divide generational-satire history humor humorous identity identity-crisis indie-music internet internet-culture isolation jpod ken kutaragi life-in-the-digital-age literary-fiction literature management managementsonycomputerentertainment metafiction mid-life-crisis millennial-culture millennials misfit-protagonists nerd-culture nerds nerdy newyorktimesreviewed novel office-culture office-drama office-life office-politics pastiche pop-culture pop-culture-references post-modernism postmodern postmodern-fiction postmodern-literature postmodernism programming protagonist quirky-characters rebellion relationships satire self-discovery self-identity self-referential smart-comedy social-commentary socialaspects sonyvideogames subculture subversion subversive surreal surrealism tech-industry technology televisionsuppliesindustry unique-characters vancouver video video-game-development video-game-industry video-games videogames videogamesindustry work work-culture workplace workplace-comedy workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire