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==Summary==
==Summary==
The game doesn't have a plot as such, rather it is a collection of events.
The player controls a Lain avatar and navigates a hierarchical system of computer files. The events of the game follow Iwakura Lain and her psychiatrist Yonera Touko. The following is a rough summary of the game's events as related by Keisuke Shindo. [http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lainpsx.txt]
*Lain (11) begins to visit Touko (27) because of hallucinations.
*Touko teaches Lain about psychopathology.
*Lain enters junior high, gaining a friend named Misato and an interest in computers and networks.
*Lain's father disappears under mysterious circumstances, and she programs an AI into a robotic replacement of him.
*After 3 years of counseling, Touko thinks Lain has no more problems.
*Touko begins to diagnose Lain again after finding out that Misato does not actually exist.
*Lain programs her father into the Wired and destroys its robotic body, subsequently beginning to program her own personality into the Wired.
*Touko experiences frustration over her lack of mobility at work. Her boss kills himself.
*Touko experiences relationship difficulties, getting dumped by two men in succession.
*Touko becomes emotionally unstable and Lain begins to diagnose her.
*Lain meets her Wired entity and kills her physical self.
*Lain appears before Touko and kills her, absorbing her personality into the wired.
==Characters==
==Characters==
*'''GaTE''' is a series of network applications that are needed to proceed from Site A to Site B. There are 4 in all.
*'''GaTE''' is a series of network applications that are needed to proceed from Site A to Site B. There are 4 in all.
*'''Dc1''', or DATA of CLN## is a series of 57 animated video files, mostly of Lain. While the numbers do go up to 058, Dc1029 is missing. Unlike the other filetypes, these files are presented in mostly random order, Site A containing the first 28 and Site B containing the latter 29. Each video file has its own name. Interestingly, the name "drive" is used twice. It is unknown who filmed these files or for what purpose, or whether there was even a cameraman at all. While some files have a distinctly handheld look to them or are clearly for the purpose of filming a counseling session, others are far more unusual; some appear to be hidden cameras, others appear to be professionally edited to show a series of events from a certain angle, and still others appear to be impossible or difficult shots, like aerial shots or shots of Lain in a bathroom mirror with no visible camera behind her. The CLN number, or client number, varies occasionally, but for most of the files is CLN01, or Lain. A few files in Site B use the designations CLN00 (Touko) or CLN-1 (a seemingly unnamed woman). The missing file, Dc1029, appears to be located between Site A and B, and its contents are located in the short manga "[[The Nightmare of Fabrication]]". The Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide calls these files "Movie".
*'''Dc1''', or DATA of CLN## is a series of 57 animated video files, mostly of Lain. While the numbers do go up to 058, Dc1029 is missing. Unlike the other filetypes, these files are presented in mostly random order, Site A containing the first 28 and Site B containing the latter 29. Each video file has its own name. Interestingly, the name "drive" is used twice. It is unknown who filmed these files or for what purpose, or whether there was even a cameraman at all. While some files have a distinctly handheld look to them or are clearly for the purpose of filming a counseling session, others are far more unusual; some appear to be hidden cameras, others appear to be professionally edited to show a series of events from a certain angle, and still others appear to be impossible or difficult shots, like aerial shots or shots of Lain in a bathroom mirror with no visible camera behind her. The CLN number, or client number, varies occasionally, but for most of the files is CLN01, or Lain. A few files in Site B use the designations CLN00 (Touko) or CLN-1 (a seemingly unnamed woman). The missing file, Dc1029, appears to be located between Site A and B, and its contents are located in the short manga "[[The Nightmare of Fabrication]]". The Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide calls these files "Dcl".
*'''Env''' or network voices? is a series of 12 files that contain nothing but static and assorted voices. The server data for all these files are corrupted. These files are extra content and are not part of the regular game. All of these files are located on Site A's Level 0.
*'''Env''' or network voices? is a series of 12 files that contain nothing but static and assorted voices. The server data for all these files are corrupted. These files are extra content and are not part of the regular game. All of these files are located on Site A's Level 0.
In the game, it is revealed that Lain cut her own hair. The longer lock of hair where she clips her [[hairclip]] is meant to prevent something that "enters from the right" from "going out through the left". Not much is known about the context of this statement (at least to the English-speaking fandom), but it has been theorised that Lain's hairstyle wards off demons or prevents her memories from disappearing.
In the game, it is revealed that Lain cut her own hair. The longer lock of hair where she clips her [[hairclip]] is meant to prevent something that "enters from the right" from "going out through the left". Not much is known about the context of this statement (at least to the English-speaking fandom), but it has been theorised that Lain's hairstyle wards off demons or prevents her memories from disappearing.
According to the [[Serial Experiments Lain Official Guide|guide]], Lain's mysterious statement is referring to her [[crosstalk|auditory hallucinations.]] See [[Q&A]] for more information.
*The chip from [[Layer 09]]
*The chip from [[Layer 09]]
This may be the same in nature as the machine that [[Touko]] received from [[Tachibana Labs]].
This may be the same in nature as the machine that [[Touko]] received from [[Tachibana Labs]].
*Shared [[themes]]
*Shared [[:Category:Themes|themes]]
As part of the same franchise, both the game and the anime cover topics such as the reliability of [[memory]] and the nature of existence and [[reality]].
As part of the same franchise, both the game and the anime cover topics such as the reliability of [[memory]] and the nature of existence and [[reality]].
