There is a kind of computer game where the player travels a world, first person, and takes in the sights. There’s a back story, often a mystery that needs exploring, and some mild struggle to navigate it. Mild struggle – the few antagonists, if any, are easily avoided and very rarely would you expect any shooting.
Gamers hate this. The genre is derided as ‘walking simulators’, a reference to the endless simulator games that pour out of Germany and Eastern Europe – ‘forklift simulator’, ‘garbage truck simulator’ – strange dull games for obsessives. Terrible reviews, few stars. Of course gamers themselves are getting some terrible reviews at the moment for their own lack of empathy and insight, so it’s tempting to ignore their protests. But they do have a point. As games, these titles suck. Perhaps that’s a good thing.
Consider Roger Ebert’s denunciation: Computer Games Can Never Be Art. It’s a good read, although his opponent is a bit lightweight. In there he points out the need for a game to have struggle and scoring. He’s on very firm ground here, he agrees with the pantheon of game theorists. You can’t have a game unless there’s a win. You can’t have a win without a battle – and so on.
I would like to turn this whole thing around. We can allow Ebert’s claim that it can’t be art if it’s a game. Therefore, it should not be a game. It can do everything that a game would do, but winning and scoring are not the primary purpose. And voilà – we have a strength, not a weakness.
“no one should have illusions about uncovering a complex game play experience … how am I meant to feel like I’ve just come through an arduous quest if nothing ever made me really think or work hard?” – Game informer on Journey.
As moving pictures became movies, and talking films became talkies, these mobile tales need a similar name – I prefer walkies.
This doesn’t automatically create art. Dear Esther is an example of a disappointing walkie. Ether One is a better walkie, but let down by a desire to be a game – the game aspect is way too hard perhaps as an over compensation. Now I am ‘playing’ (can that word still work?) MIND: Path to Thalamus, which is not a missing Skinny Puppy album but a rather good Spanish walkie featuring a storm chaser – a man that loves tornadoes, but has caused death by his enthusiasm. He is on a pilgrimage to atone for this sin.
Things that I get from this title:
It is visually and musically involving. I see and hear things that bring me excitement and pleasure. I am given time to admire these things. Unlike a film.
I am driven to explore, to see more. I have to admit I don’t play games very long if I’m constantly beaten. Nothing new to see means I lose interest. Gamers will talk about how many hours of play you get and complain these titles only give a few hours at most. Sure, if you ignore everything except winning. Stand still for a while. Then wonder what happens next.
There are ‘rails’ that pace the narrative. Most games have guides that deliver the player from level to level: Pac Man, Bioshock, Amnesia. Few are ‘sandboxes’ with no paths, notably Grand Theft Auto. Rails are the most extreme guide, as they exist inside the level, and Dear Esther has rail-itus. Ether One and Thalamus, not so much. A good walkie probably should not have rails, but this is something that authors are obviously trying to figure out. Yume Nikki is a sandbox.
There’s a strong story arc. You are pretty sure you know what’s going on, but you have to check it out. Or sometimes you have no idea and need to get to the end. Either way the payoff is the third act. You are satisfied by hearing the story to the end.
Some struggle against the world is required. It’s not just walking. But if you pause for thought, the answer comes to you. The world demands your attention and understanding.
“Horrible game. Boring story, just walking around, not scary at all. Great graphics, but that is not the important part. I hoped that i was near the end when i played this game, so i runned through everything that is ‘scary’” – Metacritic on A Machine For Pigs
A walkie is a subset of adventure, but you can have adventures that aren’t walkies. Bioshock is an action adventure – you can’t die, and a plot is revealed over the duration of the game. But I never got to admire the scenery for very long without drowning. Myst was the first walkie but perhaps erred to the unreasonable puzzles that mar adventures (and it had a maze which is instant fail).
Walkie is a helpful word because it takes a negative and spins it around to a call to action. Let’s drop the ‘game’ word. If people want to say these aren’t games then, yes they’re right, and furthermore that’s an advantage. I would have loved Stalker to be a walkie, I really don’t want to have to kill and be killed just to see the zone. The film is great. Why can’t we have something that works like the film on a computer screen?