The Stanley Parable: A True Countergame

In his “Countergaming” article, Galloway lays the groundwork for a new movement in video game media, analogous to the countercinema movement of the 1960’s. Galloway lists what he believes to be the core tenets (or ‘formal grammar’) of this countergaming movement, taking some elements directly from the countercinema, while he modifies others to fit the framework of gaming, and adds a few tenets of his own. To Galloway, the countergame is just that, a project which consciously works against the agreed-upon conventions of the mainstream gaming industry. However, Galloway argues that, at the time of his writing (2006), the countergaming movement was not yet fully realized. He points out that the game mods he describes do little to radically reinterpret gamic action. Instead, these mods either slightly adjust the gameplay, which doesn’t fulfill the requirement of working against conventions, or they remove gameplay almost entirely, making the mod more art piece than game. Galloway suggests that, in order to come into its own and solidify itself as an artistic movement, countergames must shift the nature of play in some significant way.

I would argue that, since 2006, countergaming has made significant steps in that direction. The rise of indie gaming has seen exceptionally creative and radical concepts find their way into the gaming world. The best example that comes to my mind is The Stanley Parable (2013). Originally conceived as a mod for Half Life 2, the game places the player in control of Stanley, an office worker who finds himself alone in a surreal office environment. Stanley’s actions are described by a Narrator, whose voiceover lines vary depending on the player’s choices. The game then becomes a series of surrealist twists and turns, involving references to other games, philosophical questions about agency, and self-referential humor, and it fits Galloway’s rules for a countergame rather closely.

1. Foregrounding over Transparency. The Stanley Parable frequently reminds the player that they are playing a game. Whether it is through narration explicitly addressing the player, the inclusion of an in-game museum dedicated to the game’s development, or an ending where the player leaves Stanley’s body behind, it is clear that the game’s existence as a game is not to be overlooked.

2. Aesthetics over Gameplay. The Stanley Parable is not a challenging game. There are no enemies to fight, no puzzles to solve, no real adversity to overcome. Instead, it is a narrative experience, an exploration of conventions of game structure. This is clearly a game whose experience is more important than its gameplay.

3. Visual Artifacts over Representational Modeling. While visual artifacts aren’t of primary importance to the game, there are still instances of distortion and surrealism. In one scenario, the room around the player warps and changes as buttons are pressed, and in another, the game world becomes visually distorted due to the player’s anarchistic choices.

4. Invented Physics over Natural Physics. The main way that The Stanley Parable plays with the physics of its game world is through the use of impossible corridors. Often, the twists and turns the game’s hallways take are spatially impossible, with hallways turning left five times before a dead end, or a doorway leading into the same room it leaves.

5. Noncorrespondence over Interactivity. A common occurrence in The Stanley Parable is for an open door to be slammed in the player’s face. In one sequence, the Narrator gives explicit instructions to enter the left door, then closes it as the player attempts to follow these instructions. The player is then directed to a now-open door on the right, which is also closed on Stanley. The Narrator can be heard turning pages in his script, before he finally guides the player through a third option.

6. Alternative Gameplay over Traditional Gameplay. This is the aspect of countergaming that Galloway argued had not been realized in 2006. I believe that The Stanley Parable is an example of game that employs an alternative gameplay, in the form of its interactive narrative. As I have stated above, the game doesn’t include the traditional challenging elements of a video game. Instead, this game is experienced through exploration of not only the game world’s space, but its narrative. There is no victory, no defeat, no real plot to follow. Instead, this game is played by exploring choices and expressing agency, which I believe constitutes enough of a separation from ‘traditional gameplay’ to fulfill this requirement.

Ultimately, I believe that The Stanley Parable maps well onto Galloway’s idea of countergaming, and I see the game as a piece of work that conforms to Galloway’s predictions of the countergaming movement. This shows that, at least to some degree, game culture is following the path laid out by Galloway, thus solidifying countergaming as a fully realized movement in the video game arts.