‘The Crush House’ and ‘Content Warning’ gamify the algorithm

Dale Cooper thinks he’s about to wrap up his investigation into Laura Palmer’s death. However, in a climactic moment, it’s revealed to him that the person inside the cell is not the killer. But it takes me a while to see how this plays out. I paused this episode of Twin Peaks More than 20 minutes ago I read a notification on my phone.

I have a new DM on X, but I don’t read it right away. First, I catch up on Instagram, where I look at the Reels a few friends sent me throughout the day. I respond with variations of “lol” on two of them and react with a laughing emoji on the third. Back on X, I get distracted by clips of increasingly bizarre musical choices for the Democratic National Convention rosters, as well as nine or ten NSFW reactions to Greta Lee’s Calvin Klein photoshoot. I switch to the “For You” timeline and scroll down long enough to find memes to send to my friends via Discord. They respond with variations of “lol” and “yo assf.”

I finally check the DM. It’s from a bot account (which has apparently changed hands in the time between writing and publishing this article), which follows a handful of NFT and cryptocurrency accounts and has posted exactly three thirst traps with motivational quotes. It’s just one drop in a mix of AI spam that has slid into my DMs in the last month alone.

In recent years, some video games have implemented sardonic interpretations of our current media consumption habits and the algorithm-driven tidal wave we are all immersed in. Death StrandingYou might come back to find that dozens of anonymous players have left likes on a ladder you built to cross a ravine. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2Your quiet moments as you web around Manhattan are constantly interrupted by fake-podcast broadcasts.

Most of these game mechanics are designed to take advantage of familiar formats and tie together story elements without requiring much input from the player. However, some developers are emphasizing that precise aspect as a core gameplay mechanic, inviting the player to take control of a narrative in order to please virtual audiences. The goal is to gain an audience—basically, to see a number go up.

Not suitable for transmissionwhich was released on January 25, 2022, after two years in Steam Early Access, lets you control a live news channel. You are free to choose which camera feed to show to the audience at any given time, complete with FMV-style visuals. ImmortalityYou are also in charge of issuing insults, triggering ads, and ultimately steering the conversation for or against political parties in a dystopian climate.

Originally, the team intended to design the experience as a constantly spinning plate game that played out across multiple events that kept the player distracted and engaged. However, during playtesting, the developers found that most people were content to just continually flip through the channels. Similar to using your phone when you’re bored with what’s on TV, this resulted in the buttons in the control room becoming a sort of stress spinner if you feel a similar need to distract yourself with something.

These habits, which arise from our ever-shortening attention spans, shaped the game’s narrative commentary on how we inform ourselves of what’s happening on a daily basis. Jason Orbaum, creative director of Not suitable for transmission Developer NotGames notes that more and more people are getting their news from non-traditional news sources that deliver it in a fast-streaming format, often without proper vetting, such as YouTube Shorts. Orbaum cites the UK general election on July 4 as a recent example. “While traditional media or whatever you want to call it has its flaws… they also have legal and fact-checking teams, which TikTok doesn’t have,” he says. “People are believing in different realities right now because of the lack of consensus on what the truth is, and that’s incredibly dangerous in a democracy.”

“In many ways, it feels like it’s all a reality show,” says Nicole He, director of The crushed housea reality TV-inspired third-person shooter developed in collaboration with Nerial, which was recently released on Steam. In it, you take on the role of a producer who has to record characters from a reality show, satisfying the demands of different audiences in real-time about what they want to see on screen.

The crushed house takes inspiration from the Japanese reality series terraced house as well as similar influences such as Survivor, Big Brotherand Love is blindShe argues that much of the media we consume is further blurring the line between what’s real and what’s not, from the staged performances that TikTokers want to pass off as legitimate moments to the increasing presence of AI in every aspect of our digital lives. Reality TV, then, sits somewhere in the middle where audiences know there’s a degree of fiction involved. But they can still, for example, go on Instagram and see if a couple of TikTokers are in the same place. Love is blind We are still together after the season finale.

Amidst so much artificiality around us (as I was writing this article, one company announced a wearable AI “friend” that can comment on your everyday activities and conversations), there is value in power fantasies where you can take the reins of a narrative aimed at an audience, questioning your actions in the process and, as a result, what you see every day. Even if people don’t have experience as content creators or videographers, the concept of doing things that aren’t 100 percent ethical in order to meet audience goals and not get fired is something that gamers are quick to understand and embrace.

Content warningReleased April 1 on Steam, it has players take on the role of content creators. The goal is for a group of players to venture into eerie alien installations and record their misadventures in the name of Content. The closer you get to the creatures lurking in the darkness, the larger the viewership of the final video. Even better if you can film a dangerous chase or, well, someone’s death. It’s an iteration of the concept that’s been taken to extremes, but remains resonant despite its absurdity. “Scroll through TikTok or YouTube and you’ll see direct public harassment sold as ‘pranks’ or ‘social experiments,'” said game developer Harris Foster, who shared some of the funniest clips from Content warning I have seen it to date, he says.Content warning imagine the next evolution of this. “What if a group of Donkey Did aspiring astronauts have access to intergalactic space travel? What if snooping around on dangerous alien life forms was the next viral trend?

Foster’s take on the absurd and sometimes unethical efforts streamers go to in order to gain an audience resonates differently for real content creators, who face a meta-level question about how to perform for a virtual audience while there’s a real audience watching on the other side. Streamer Mar Katoto says there’s always an element of “acting” for the camera that Content warning Rewards. With mechanics like text-generated comments on the final recording from fake users or chasing views as a means of progressing through the game, there’s an inherent motivation to act like a stereotypical content creator along the lines of a vlogger. When playing outside of streams, your goal isn’t so much to make various strangers on the internet laugh, but to make your group of friends laugh.

Katoto believes this trend of games where the audience controls the pace of game progression is a response to a primal need. “Sometimes you want to do things and get that dopamine rush of people’s approval, especially if you’re doing something creative for people to see,” he says. “You put in all that time and effort, and ultimately you want to see the return on investment in the form of positive reinforcement. That’s how the cycle repeats itself over and over again.”

It’s a small comfort to know that the people behind these games, and those who play them, are aware of their habits. NotGames CEO Andrew Murray carries his phone around the house listening to YouTube videos while brushing his teeth or washing dishes. His co-worker and creative director Alex Paterson has found solace in a movie theater, which forces him to sit and watch a movie “completely engrossed” without stopping to go grab a drink or look at his phone—something he “can’t feel anywhere else” right now. “I often reflect on how I’ve started to need content buzzing around me at all times,” Harris says. “I can’t go to the gym without a new podcast episode. I play games.” Hearthstone on my iPad while I was taking a shower. I turned on the TV as I sat down to answer this email. It’s alarming.”

As our attention spans shorten and our quest for the next dopamine hit only lengthens, video games that force us to confront our compulsive behaviors can be paradoxically cathartic. There’s solace in having some agency over artificial scenarios in which you’re left to the gallery, even if, inevitably, your hand is forced to navigate unethical practices and bad habits to achieve your goals. It’s almost as ironic as pausing a show in which characters communicate via letters and direct phone calls to check how many people have viewed your Instagram story in the past hour.