Lana Guineay: Welcome to the good place (online): where the aim of the game is kindness to strangers
It’s easy to forget
just how significant an accomplishment the internet, with its power of
connecting us, really is. When you’re scrolling through vitriol in 280
characters or less, being trolled on forums or reading the comments, the label
“toxic” can seem more apt. But there are those
who believe the internet has the capacity to affect our hearts and minds for
the better. Kind Words is
a new multiplayer game about writing nice letters to real strangers. That’s it.
And it’s a revelation.
Here’s how it works:
when you load the game you find your character in the cosy isometric interior
of a bedroom, a lo-fi soundtrack playing in the background. You can play in one
of two modes. In one, you read through a global inbox of requests from other
players, and send your reply (delivered by a deer in a postie hat, naturally).
Players can send you a sticker in response, but the communication ends there.
In the other, you can
write your own request asking for help with whatever is worrying you. You can
also send a paper plane: a tiny message of kindness that players can catch as
it flies through their own room. There are no quests,
no objectives, no puzzles or levels. The game has been likened to social media,
but there are no likes, no shares, no potential for virality, and it’s
anonymous: you’re marked by a single initial, and encouraged not to share
personally identifying information....
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/mar/02/welcome-to-the-good-place-online-where-the-aim-of-the-game-is-kindness-to-strangers
