Comments on: Driving the Desert Bus for a Good Cause

By: Jesper

Jesper — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:34:22 +0000

Brennan, I must admit that I am attracted to the idea of actually playing the game. Wouldn’t it be great? Seriously.

Thinking about it, perhaps my attraction to the game comes from the idea of being able to tell people that I completed a level in Desert Bus, so that would support your argument. On the other hand, games always oscillate between the goal and the path.

By: Brennan Young

Brennan Young — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 17:45:02 +0000

This kind of game is only interesting if part of some other goal (such as raising money for charity). Rather like Andy Kaufman reading the entire text of “The Great Gatsby” at live shows. It’s funny, as long as you weren’t there.

…or perhaps it could be a single level in a game based on advancing through the ranks of Tibetan buddhism – in which case it should come with a ‘wake up stick’ which your partner can hit you with when you start dozing.

(BTW, I tried to buy a ‘wake up stick’ online. Nobody is sellin’ ’em. Why? Why?)

By: Dominic

Dominic — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:49:27 +0000

Was just wondering. So it’s “pure” in the sense that it’s a “pure” “poetics of action” then. It’s just doing something, all the time, without any artifices. I agree that it’s got a “pure” quality, though I’m not sure I’d settle on “game”, but it’s certainly fascinating, at any rate. Would this be better envisioned as a game of no-progression (the point total notwithstanding), or a game of non-emergence (the fly that crashes against the windshield notwithstanding)?

Jason, I would actually expect people to start thinking about things like this if they did play Bus Driver long enough to score a point or two. But then you’d already be a huge nerd by that fact alone, so we’ll never know whether filling in a backstory would have the same effect.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:48:23 +0000

What if I write a backstory for Jocko and give him/her a personality? Let’s say they had a minor stroke and their left arm is weaker than the right, which explains why the bus veers. Would that alter the fundamental nature of the game by turning it into the sad story of a man with nobody to care for him, or would it just make me a huge nerd?

By: Jesper

Jesper — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:15:33 +0000

Ah, you called me on it. OK: what I mean is that this is a minimal game that involves no learning, only patience. In that sense it is a bit like John Cage’s 4:33 – pure duration.

By: Dominic

Dominic — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:00:44 +0000

Wait – pure gameness? Can you elaborate on that? In which sense do you mean this?