While playing Universal Paperclips, I began to realize that this is a really strong illustration of what capitalism is at the core – create a business and make money, to invest more into the business and make more money. The paperclip making is a ceaseless machine that eventually warrants space exploration and a complete depletion of the universe’s resources, all just to keep producing paperclips. While going through this, I started to wonder – what’s the point of this game? What’s the point of getting a job and making money? What’s the point of life? I may have had a small existential crisis while playing Universal Paperclips (fear not, crisis averted!).
Looking at the question of what is the point of the game, I’ve found that sometimes there isn’t really a point at all – you just play. In the case of this game, maybe the point is just to have this capitalistic experience, or to question the nature of our existence. Either way, it does evoke a lot of thought and debate. The really basic, text based design of Universal Paperclips emphasizes this, as this focuses the player’s attention to the gameplay itself, losing any distractions of graphics or other mechanics.
The game really pulls the player into itself, and does a good job of keeping engagement. When I played, I was entirely consumed by it from start to finish – for about 16 hours straight, it’s the only thing I could think about. This is part of the reason why the game evokes so much thought, in that the player is so absorbed into it, and when it’s over, it just ends. There are no more paperclips to make, no more universe to explore, and ultimately, it leaves a hole in the player’s mind, making them ponder what they just spent so many hours doing. Overall though, this is the first time a game has really made me question so many important things before, and so directly make me think about them. What did Universal Paperclips make you think of?
I agree that there are games that we play to just play. I definitely felt that way while playing this. It felt good to press the buttons on the interface. It felt good to watch all of my resources go up in number. It surprised me that it felt really good to make the game play for me with automation of certain operations so I could focus on any new mechanics. It was just really surprising that this simple-looking game could be so satisfying. I also felt like a completionist and wanted to complete every project in the game. I appreciated the emphasis on gameplay and game mechanics by forcing you to figure everything out and eventually become a pro…
Universal Paperclips made me think about similar things, especially hearkening to our discussion on completionism and the gendering of scientific inquiry in Braid. For the first hour or so of Universal Paperclips, I aimed to run an "ethical" paperclip company, just making money making selling paperclips without influencing human thought, without bulldozing over competing companies, just working the good ol' supply and demand curve. But as I optimized my company with more and more automated tools, I found myself throwing ethics out of the window and completing each of the Projects just to complete them. Completing objectives just felt so satisfying, and I couldn't stop playing until I did everything possible to advance my paperclip business, regardless of what it…