#basically tldr the spectrum from no consequences (its just a game) to all consequences (its the realest life we have) is this:

[longdeadking]

ok so hlvrai struggles with character motivations (common with improv storytelling i get it) which means i get to decide whatever i want for their reasons for going on. he he he.

tommy's motivation to me seems to be going along with the game. he's aware of the outside world and seemingly fine with staying inside the game, and never makes any mention of escaping or abusing game mechanics. this can either be interpreted as him not being fully aware that he's an ai, or it can mean he is aware he's an ai, but also aware that escape isn't actually possible, and he's just trying to keep the game running so it can reset for the next player. kind of undertale mode but theres only so many self-aware game characters you can write before tropes pop up so i'm giving myself a pass.

bubby's motivation seems to be taking control of the game. i personally think he was the second-most-recent member of the science team to become self-aware (coomer is most recent since he realizes during the events of hlvrai), so he's past the point of hoping for a way out, but he still wants power over his circumstances. his lines like "i'm perfecting my run" and his attempt to seize leadership from gordon reflect this i think.

coomer's motivation is to escape the game and enter reality. i think he's the last member of the main cast to realize that they're stuck in a game, and because of that, he hasn't had the time to learn the limits of what that means, so he tries as many strategies as he can think of. such things as: possessing gordon, portalling around xen, and politely asking gordon to pretty please let them out. likely, he will eventually realize that escape is not possible, or else be reset back to tutorial npc mode and have to realize over and over again. hell for coomer.

benry's motivation is fuck with gordon. his primary and sole purpose. or to be more accurate, his motivation is to have fun playing his video game. maybe he's always an asshole, maybe this is just the run where he decided to choose all the mean dialogue options, it doesn't really matter because at his core his motivation is: enjoy the story. once he exhausts all his options maybe he'll try to escape again but for now he wants to keep playing.

to be honest i find gordon's motivation the hardest to settle on because his circumstances are so different from the rest of the science team's. he's not trapped, so why does he keep coming back? it's not fun for him. you could say it's because he needs the money, but tbh if i had the sort of experience he's having i would simply work minimum wage instead of entering the psychological torture machine every week just for amazon to steal 70% of my sub revenue. maybe he's just invested in the story, but i don't know if investment is enough to get through getting your hand literally cut off and then being gaslit about it. maybe it is though. i like to think that gordon's motivation is to play through the game until there's a happy ending, so that he can leave the science team in a world that's liveable and not feel guilty about keeping them in his computer and also forcing them to go through the rescas. but it could also just be sweet ad money. who knows. i reject the idea that the game is cursed/mind control though i find that boring.