xkcd.WTF!?

Explanation ➲

This comic is a take on how vast and rich the world is, and on the thrill of exploring it. The world can be described as sad, as well as it can be described as wonderful, even if this seems a bit contradictory, just because it is so big and there are so many different things happening in it all at once. Cueball comments about this while hanging from a balloon, which brings to mind the expanded perspective over the landscape attained by early experimenters in overland flight.

The title text is the same as the comic title, and both of these invite the reader to Click and drag the inside of the last panel, with their mouse, and by dragging, explore what is hidden outside that panel. The image displayed at first turns out to be part of a huge landscape, filled with big or small things, humorous details, people here and there, cave mazes, things floating in the air, jokes and references, unexpected things, relaxing views, etc.

The fact that we only see a small part of the landscape at once refers to the idea that we cannot in real life comprehend the whole world altogether, but only what is around us and/or in the range of our understanding at the time. The click-and-drag process, in which it is impossible to go as fast as we would want to, also draws a parallel with the fact that exploration is always done gradually, step by step, and trying something (i.e. here dragging in a certain direction) always has a cost. This click-and-drag exploration reproduces the thrill of discovering new horizons, getting lost sometimes, finding unexpected things, seeing beauty, humor, desolation or happiness here and there... which can easily captivate an xkcd reader for a long time (and as such qualifies as nerd sniping).

In comic 1416: Pixels you zoom, by scrolling, until every pixel in this image turns into new pictures, and this can be continued again and again. Once you have zoomed in, you are able to click and drag the picture just like in this comic.

And in 1608: Hoverboard exactly the same idea is used again, but instead of dragging the image you fly/float around in the image with Cueball on a hoverboard. This gives a very different way to explore as he cannot go through walls or the earth etc. You also have to discover that there is a big world outside the initial play area; and where this comic tried to help people realize they should do something, both with the title and title text, Hoverboard directly tries to dissuade people from going outside with a warning message. Another major difference is that hoverboard is actually a game where you can collect coins (spread throughout the picture) and return them to the starting point to gain a score.

The book Thing Explainer that was the reason for the Hoverboard game, also has a direct reference to this comic, as Cueball is seen floating with his balloon outside the cockpit in the explanation for Stuff you touch to fly a sky boat. 1975: Right Click, the April Fools' day comic of 2018, has a title similar to this one, in that it gives away how the user should begin to interact with the comic.

Spoiler alert! The best way to enjoy this comic is to play the game and explore the comic's world the way you're supposed to, get lost in the caves or in the sky, be startled by unexpected things or happy when finding some people after lengthy click-and-dragging through a repetitive landscape. If you didn't do that already, reading anything below will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic.