I played this game about a week ago, thought, "huh, that's an interesting idea," and pretty much moved on, thinking little about it aside from whether or not I could write a blog post on it. Well recent experiences of mine made me realize I could write about it, so here I am.
Now let me clarify I don't have much to say about the actual game play, but rather the concepts that it the game displays and essentially led to the game's creation. We Become What we Behold is a game that makes a clear commentary on the cycles that result from human behavior, specifically in media cycles, considering the game's core is demonstrated through the use of a central television that often displays some unreliable hashtags. Playing it at the time, I understood a concept the creator was trying to convey, which is how toxic media can influence people's understanding of world events or even impact their behavior toward certain subjects. I often found myself annoyed, as I desperately tried to broadcast the peaceful people in the game, yet they were always ignored because "peace is boring" and apparently no one "tunes in to watch people get along." However, as I finished the game, I simply brushed it off and reminded myself to be careful as to what media I trust.
It wasn't until this past weekend that I realized this simple game applies to much more than news cycles. While hanging out with a group of friends, trying to return our rented ice skates, we faced a large discombobulated line of other people trying to do the same thing. Yes it's a line, they can be annoying, they may be stressful, but that's about it. Most people will simply deal and wait the time as there is no other way around it. That is until they begin to notice how others around them are behaving. For us, it all started when one of our friends was told he had cut in line, when he didn't believe he had done so. The end result was a few harsh words, a stranger trying to be a tough guy with a big mouth, and us heading to the back of this so called "line." So now, I felt a little stressed, a bit agitated, but that was fine, I would wait in the line because that's what was the right thing to do. But as time went on more people began pushing and shoving, others were clearly cutting yet they had not been called out. As I watched the behavior of those around me I started to act the same. Getting tired of feeling people squeeze past me, I decided to wedge myself up further as well. Too can play at that game. And so begins a cycle of people being disorderly, a line turns into a mob, respect for each other hits a low, and more and more people become frustrated and find themselves replicating the behavior of others. Even as I was finally close to the front of the line, I found myself complaining up a storm, vocally enough to the point that the person behind me, who I hadn't yet heard complain at all, agreed with me, describing the situation as a "shit show."
The point is, this experience showed me that We Become What We Behold wasn't solely about media, but about human behavior in all of life. Like the game, that return line fell into a cycle of people getting frustrated and acting on it, resulting in others becoming frustrated at others, and joining the cycle as to not be left behind. And while being unable to click on the peaceful people in the game was annoying to me as an outsider, watching the situation from above, I can't help but notice I not once sought out peace during my stressful line experience. I simply had no interest in it. The only thing that seemed to matter to me was getting the upper hand in the situation and the only way to do that seemed to be the way other people were.
Now the question is, am I attaching meaning to this event just because of what the game tries to show? Was the game simply another tool shaping me to see things a certain way? I guess I'll be pondering this one for another week.