Pain's explanation (And they can correct me if I am wrong), is basically the stance I assumed you were taking: The "fictional setting" holds no actual ontological inferiority to the "real world," and in actuality is just a finitely smaller thing. In this scenario, as said before, the Undertale universes and the people inhabiting it would be literally, physically electrical impulses, from all points of view including their own. But then, you said this:
Which is basically positing that the Undertale universe is a complete, perfectly normal reality from its own internal point of view, and only exists as computer data from the perspective of the Player. This, once again, is irreconcilable with what Pain described in their explanation, and with the premise you are using as the basis of this downgrade. To repeat myself: You are basically arguing the Player should be downgraded because the fictional world (The Undertale universe) and the medium through which it is being represented (Electrical impulses running inside of a computer) are one and the same. So much so that you even said this:
And yet, when I pointed this out, you explicitly called this a misunderstanding on my part, and said you don't think that's the case at all. So, you are very much contradicting yourself, even if you're not noticing it. You even said I was misunderstanding you in response to me asking if, in your opinion, Undertale characters would be like GIFfany, despite you using GIFfany as a direct comparision for how the gameworld is like in your previous post.
Admittedly this is a bit of a nebulous area, given Tier 2's status as a sort of anomaly-tier (You've certainly heard of the famed 5-D axis between universes, and the necessity of affecting it for a feat to be 2-C and up, no?). But, regardless: Being larger than an infinitely-sized higher-dimensional object to the point that, in your perspective, it is encompassed by finitely large, 3-D objects, very much does breach the gap for Tier 1. That's the case with all Reality-Fiction Interactions, and once again something you are yourself pushing for (All the stuff about the Gameworld being a fully realized reality internally that just so happens to be perceived as data by the Player). So, I'd say you are kind of just objectively wrong here, unless you switch your stance.
The comparision very much does fit: Letters printed on a piece of paper are a medium through which fiction is represented, the exact same way computer code is. Pointing out the implications of your logic is not strawmanning, it's you not realizing the slippery slope that your argument results in. Very different things. And even then I admitted this was a mistake I made on my assessment of your position, as I thought this
before you explained the specifics of your stance in detail, so the strawman accusation is even more unfounded in light of that.
Not sure why you hung onto that word, specifically. The point is that you are still positing the gameworld is a fully complete reality from its own viewpoint, while simultaneously being just tiny specks of electricity, but only from the viewpoint of the Player. For there to be such a switch in perspective, you need to have an ontological jump: If you posit the difference in size between the two is finite by virtue of the gameworld being just data, you, once more, have to abide by the scenario I described in my earlier posts. Yet you apparently aren't, and said this was a misunderstanding on my part.
But you, yourself, are vouching for a difference in viewpoints between the two worlds. The only way for your aforementioned position to work is for you to abide by the notion that the gameworld is literally, objectively data from all viewpoints, instead of the whole "Normal reality from one POV but just computer data from another." So, once again, you are contradicting yourself: You are claiming one thing, and then trying to draw a conclusion that is fundamentally incompatible with it.
Firstly, this is not really an unfounded assumption, so much as it is a fairly simple application of Occam's Razor: When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not unicorns. Especially given how, once again, the intent is fairly blatantly for the Player to be an actual player of a game, said game being Undertale; basic textual interpretation.
And secondly, it is pretty bizarre that you accuse me of taking shit too literally when, as far as can tell, the entirety of your argument hinges on taking things literally. You even complained that the difference between Umineko and Undertale's case is that, in the former, the display of transcendence is not literal (i.e The Human World isn't literally chessboard-sized next to the higher layers), while in Undertale's case, it is (i.e The gameworld is literally a speck of data next to the world of the Player). So, once again, you are contradicting your own words.
Why is absolute control over a fictional world assumed, exactly? Why can a Low 1-C entity (Who is at that tier due to an ontological superiority over a Tier 2 reality) not have limited degrees of influence in the lower world? You've provided no reason for why that cannot happen.
When, exactly? Your last response (In the post before
this one) was
this, which is just an explanation of one of Undertale's setting mechanics (SOUL absorption), without actual scans being provided for why Chara assimilated The Player's SOUL. If you gave me evidence at any point, I'm genuinely sorry, but I just don't see it.
Is it ever explicitly called a True Reset? Two things having similar effects doesn't necessarily mean they are the same, especially if the circumstances in which we are shown them are different: Chara's thing recreating a destroyed world, and the True Reset... Well, resetting it entirely. Although nevertheless I'm not sure where this point came from, or what relevance it has to the discussion.