Retardinals "aren't real" in at least 3 ways of increasing importance: 1 [unimportant] They aren't "real" in the sense that they are a conventional "game" with a set of rules synthetically planned by somebody and adopted by others, just like the game of Chess, or the Ice-bucket challenge on Instagram, or Bitcoin, or Hex Pulsechain, or the Latin language, or the Dothraki language. 2 [somewhat important] They aren't "real" in the sense that they didn't developed organically as an original, lindy, decentralized schelling-point with strong game-theoretical immutability and neutrality guarantees, like the game of Chess, or Bitcoin, or the Latin language, but as short-lived hypes and centralized clones of original conventions, with rules changing frequently and arbitrarily, like the Ice-bucket challenge or Hex Pulsechain or the Dothraki language. 3 [pretty important] They aren't "real" in the sense that they aren't honestly sold (for irrelevant prices) as arbitrary short-lived hypes and centralized clones, like the Ice-bucket challenge or the Dothraki language, but dishonestly sold (for very high prices) as "technologically innovative", or "secured by the original", or "just as conventional as the original", or "good for the original", like Hex Pulsechain.