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Writer's pictureCatherine An

Don't Save the Date

I opened the screen, looked at the simple pixelated graphics, expecting to play a cliche dating simulation game.I clicked through a few choices, and then the game ended when I was told that my date died from a peanut allergy. I thought that maybe choosing Thai was the wrong option; I should choose the burger place instead. After listening to her sad story, and thinking that I had finally progressed in this game. My date died again. Still, I remained optimistic. Maybe I was supposed to choose tacos! She seemed very excited about tacos. Finally! Maybe I could win the game. But of course, she died again. The cheerful music mocks me over and over again as the game ends.


After way too many attempts each resulting in the same end for my date, I finally realized that I wasn't supposed to win. Similar to Doki Doki Literature Club, Save the Date left me with a sense of confusion and disorientation. What was the purpose of the game if you could not win or accomplish an objective? My strong expectations had led me to play the game repeatedly, believing that there is one strategic route that would lead to a date that didn't end badly. But, after realizing that the game does not have this expected ending, I was bewildered and I was frustrated that I had spent so much time on a video game that led to no good ending. '


But does a "good" ending really add anymore value to my time spent playing a video game? I would feel justified in spending the extra 20 minutes trying to uncover the "good" ending; yet, at the end of the day, I was just sitting in front of a computer and playing a game that has no real effect on my day. Once I stop playing the game, the accomplishments I may have made in the game becomes obsolete for the most part, minus maybe some mental satisfaction. Are video games simply like a waste of time, like my parents used to tell me when I was younger? If they are, then are metagames like Doki Doki Literature Club and Save the Date also pointless despite the statement they make about similar games and choices we make in interacting with those games?

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dcnaples
Nov 11, 2019

This is an interesting interpretation. But I feel like in a lot of ways it can be compared to other aspects of our lives. For example media like movies or TV could be looked at in similar regards. Am I gaining anything from paying money to watch this movie? Are my accomplishments of keeping up with a TV series really rewarding to my day? Not really. There is not so much to gain from them except from a little fun, just as it is in video games. And of course there is also the drive of storytelling that applies to both. The people who develop games and shows have a story they want to tell, and those stories wil…

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Alex Masegian
Alex Masegian
Nov 10, 2019

I think asking if video games are a waste of time may be too broad of a generalization. There are definitely games like The Stanley Parable that are intended to make you reflect on the time that you spend playing video games and how pointless a completionist viewpoint of these games can be, but I don't think all games intend to make that point, even if they don't have a "good" ending per se. Sometimes, the dissatisfaction you get from a "bad" ending after you spent so much time on the game is important for different reasons. I thought DDLC was a critique of the dating sim genre's problematic tropes, for instance, and the fact that the ending made you…

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