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comment by coffeesp00ns
coffeesp00ns  ·  2489 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Did anyone play the Walden video game

Seems a bit like a "walking simulator". not necessarily a bad moniker - Gone Home was also a "walking simulator" and managed to be one of the best games of the year when it came out in 2013 - but definitely a bit dubious.

For me, I think the thing that will keep me from this game is that I have both read Walden and also read about Thoreau, and know that he was significantly less alone and dependant than he makes himself out to be. The entire enterprise wouldn't have been possible if Emerson hadn't let him stay in his house when the weather sucked, fed him, etc. not to mention the financing.

I can't tell if making a game out of it is appropriate or not because of how fictional so much of Walden is.

I do admire him for his essay, Civil Disobedience, though.





kleinbl00  ·  2489 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This is my fundamental beef with Thoreau - "be independent, pay the consequences, do your own thing, eat at Ralph's."

Civil Disobedience bugged me, too. "If you disagree with a law, break it and go to jail, because that's noble." No, frickin' get the law changed so that everyone with a conscience isn't behind bars. 'cuz lemme tell ya - the guys that pass unjust laws give not a fuck for your suffering.

flac  ·  2489 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I took a class on Emerson in college, and have had a huge love for him since then. In his eulogy for Thoreau, Emerson drops my favorite inconsequential bit of information about ol' Henry, which is that he could reach into a bucket of pencils, and tell you the exact amount of pencils in his hand without looking.

As far as the game is concerned, it reminds me a lot of the "art games" that folks like Tale of Tales put out, like Fatale. Not really something that I would classify as a game, more an interactive art piece, pleasant and interesting nonetheless.