One of the never-ending struggles facing the video game industry, its creators, and even its fans is the quest for legitimacy. The late film critic Roger Ebert once famously declared that video games could never hope to be art. While he did slightly amend that statement shortly before this death in 2013, it was in the form of saying “Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form.”
But, here’s the thing: The lofty expectations of an entertainment medium being considered art or not and using that as a metric for achievement is seemingly only thrust upon video games. No critic sits in front of an Adam Sandler movie to determine what the film says about the human condition.
The closest we’ve come to such dissection is the YouTube film-crit era. One of my personal favorites is author, YouTuber, and PBS host Lindsay Ellis’ 45-minute look at the Tom Green gross-out comedy Freddy Got Fingered and asking “Is this film so bad that it verges on being a Dadaist masterpiece?”
The answer, of course, was no. That said it didn’t spawn 3,000-word think pieces about the merits of Tom Green, film, and the validity of those who chose film as their entertainment of choice.
Gamers aren’t so lucky. Then again, perhaps gamers don’t deserve the luxury. Let us take a few recent instances of games very much leaning towards the “for funsies” part of the art/entertainment scale. One such game provides, perhaps, the most engaging and engrossing gameplay to ever include a goose and a British man with a hammer.
I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m one hundred percent that goose, even when I’m honking crazy.
Yes, I’m talking about Untitled Goose Game by developer House House, a game which as taken the world by storm — simply by placing players in the wings and beak of a very naughty goose. For those out of the loop, the game is simple: You play as a goose in an open-world, with all the powers and abilities blessed to a goose of average size. You can honk, pick up objects, and run around with your wings out as you annoy humans, drag rakes into lakes, and in general do goose stuff.
And while all of that sounds pretty simple, there’s a charm and whimsy to this game and goose that sells the concept and then some. One part stealth game, one part Goat Simulator, the game satisfies the concept with beautiful use of music, visuals, and knowing exactly what kind of game it is.
And yet, and because this is how the internet works now, this is a slap in the face of all that is good and right about gaming to those who are taking a game about a goose way too seriously.
I came across a post on Twitter decrying people being “sucked into” yet another poorly made indie game that’s all style and zero substance, according to the user. They went on to say that “this is what is wrong with gaming.”
Boy, that’s a lot to put on a goose.
A similar reaction — but for different reasons — happened recently with the release of I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator, a visual novel published by KFC and released for free on Steam.
For those wondering what that collection of words even means, a visual novel is a game that is all text-based, having the player make choices to affect the story. In this instance, the player is attempting to woo yaoi-esque version of Colonel Sanders in a very anime set-up and look.
It’s free. It’s very dumb. And yet, my gut reaction was “Why aren’t I playing that now?” Other critics had different reactions. One of my peers went on a multi-post rant saying that this kind of corporate marketing that attempts a Trojan Horse-like subterfuge to enter the gaming space is not only insulting to visual novels but also to gamers who seemingly continue to fall for their fandom being used as nothing more than marketing.
But that ignores the fact that... all of this is marketing. Everything encompassing gaming. Even this very article I’m writing now is, essentially, marketing by my sheer mention of the evil chicken dating sim. And it shouldn’t matter, because at the end of the day it gets more eyes on a genre that is often overlooked or unknown.
But, also, games are allowed to be silly. They’re allowed to be dumb. Gaming is allowed to have some Adam Sandler in the mix. It’s a wide world of gaming and there’s room for the serious, the macabre, the dumb, and, yes: Even the things that are just marketing.
Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go watch that Untitled Goose Game trailer cut to Lizzo’s “Juice” for the billionth time.
Why? Blame it on the goose.
Contact William Harrison at DoubleUHarrison@gmail.com or on Twitter @DoubleUHarrison.
First Published October 24, 2019, 12:48 a.m.
