Word of the Day
Clandestine (adj., klann-DESS-tin)
I'd tell you but the definition is clandestine. Sorry.
Gif of the Day
RollercoasterUp and down and up and downEnglessly looping gifsTycooneryEverything's black and white on a roller coaster
Link of the Day
A Way To Go
Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen. I’m going existential on you today. And it’s all because of this:
A Way To Go is a game that you can play in Google Chrome (at least on a desktop; I’m not sure about mobile). The creators state that you can play it in six minutes. I played it for much longer on Saturday, exploring as much as I could, playing with the controls, looking around, and reflecting on the game. It’s a really well-made game that make me very impressed by modern web browser technology but the technical aspects weren’t what I was thinking of.
My thoughts instead wandered to a variety of places. First: games. I had things to do that night. I had a couple papers to edit and return emails to write, laundry periodically howling at me a room away, things I wanted to read, and items to locate. I got a couple of those things done but thirty or forty minutes also went to the game. Why?
I had somewhat of an answer for that: because it’s a fun diversion. Or is it? Calling it a “diversion” seemed a little off. Yes, it was true. The game was a diversion from *clears through, straightens* serious grownup stuff. But that’s underselling it. Games have a point. Some are simple distractions, a way to keep ourselves engaged amid humdrum existence. Others are more overt and structured. They are designed to teach lessons. All of them, though, challenge us to think differently than we currently do. The person that finishes the game is different than the one who started.
And this is what art is so good at too. Art has a unique ability to reach into places we don’t ordinarily use and cause us to stop, reflect, think, and wonder. When we see a masterpiece painting in a museum, we are immediately taken by its form, style, and themes. Music can unearth buried emotions and give words to them. We are transported and transformed by them.
A Way To Go is a game based around art. It blends the wonder of art with a game's thrill of discovery and challenge. But there are plenty of those. The reason I spent so much time playing it is because it takes such an interest in the small things.
The main part of the game involves stopping to look at small, detailed things like a leaf, a rock, or a spiderweb. The game pauses momentarily while a video clip shows the object coming into focus before returning you to the main area. As you progress through the game and it gets more non-real, the clips likewise take on a different feel. You’ll see the leaf in a different way each time, causing a new and different reaction on each pass. If you get bored, you can exit the clips at any time by moving, but you won’t get as much out of the game. You *can* finish it in six minutes but that is tremendously unsatisfying. Getting the most out of the game involves moving slowly and looking at the small details.
To put it simply, A Way To Go is a game that teaches us to slow down and revel in the beauty of things around us, especially the small ones, thinking about what they mean and coming back to them until we’ve seen them in a different light.
That should sound like what you get on The Dailies because that’s pretty close to our mission statement here too. This site will always be hopeful and full of wonder. I choose to focus on the amazing things found in the world around us and to enjoy them. It may get serious around here from time to time but underneath it is a desire to understand and enjoy this wonderful world better. Whether that’s enjoying nature, complex machinery, intricate drawing, funny things, new words, animals, a serious situation, or whatever else, it all involves a choice. This is no willful ignorance. The world is broken. It is also beautiful. Choosing to focus on that beauty and reflect on it is what we do here.
Go play A Way To Go and play it slowly. Take the scenic route home tonight and marvel at the views. Take time to really listen to a song. Go watch the dog fall off the table a couple hundred times and laugh at all the details. Reread a favorite book. Twice. Enjoy the sublime creativity in this world around us.
We’ll continue this theme throughout the week. Tomorrow, we’ve got a video that touches on one of the most important applications of this principle—which I haven’t mentioned yet. It’s one of the best things we’ve ever featured, so be sure to come back tomorrow.
RamblingsArtGamesExistential thoughtsTake Time