“The Crush House” and “Content Warning” turn the algorithm into a game

Dale Cooper believes he is close to completing his investigation into Laura Palmer’s death. However, at a crucial moment, he realises that the person currently in the prison cell is not the killer. But it takes a while for me to see the development – I paused this episode of Twin Peaks over 20 minutes ago to read a notification on my phone.

I have a new direct message on X, but I don’t read it right away. First, I go to Instagram, where I look at the Reels a few friends have sent me throughout the day. I respond to two of them with variations of “hahaha,” and to the third I respond with a laughing emoji. Back on X, I’m distracted by clips of increasingly bizarre music choices for the DNC roll calls, as well as nine or 10 NSFW reactions to Greta Lee’s Calvin Klein photoshoot. I switch to the “For You” timeline and scroll down long enough to find memes to send to friends on Discord. They respond with variations of “lol” and “I’m so.”

Finally, I look at the direct message. It’s from a bot account (which appears to have changed hands between the time of writing and the time of publishing this article) that follows a handful of NFT and cryptocurrency accounts and has posted exactly three Thirst Traps with motivational quotes. It’s just a drop in a flood of AI spam that has slipped into my direct messages in the last month alone.

In recent years, some video games have implemented sarcastic interpretations of our current media consumption habits and the algorithm-driven tidal wave that we are all drowning in. Death Strandingyou may return to find that dozens of anonymous players have left likes on a ladder you built to get over a ravine. In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2Her quiet moments while swinging her web through Manhattan are constantly interrupted by Art-Podcast broadcasts.

Most of these game mechanics are designed to use familiar formats to incorporate story elements without requiring much input from the player. However, some developers emphasize this very aspect as a central game mechanic, asking the player to take control of a narrative to engage virtual viewers. The goal is to gain viewership – essentially, to see a number rise.

Not for transmissionwhich was released on January 25, 2022 after two years in Steam Early Access, features a live news channel. You are free to choose which camera feed you want to show the audience at any time, with FMV recordings à la immortalityThey are also responsible for uttering swear words, displaying advertisements and ultimately driving the debate for or against political parties in a dystopian climate.

Originally, the team wanted to make the experience a constant plate-spinning experience with multiple events to keep the player distracted and engaged. However, during playtesting, the developers found that most people were happy just toggling between feeds continuously. Much like using your phone when you’re bored with TV programming, the buttons in the command room became a sort of fidget spinner when you feel a similar need to distract yourself with something.

These habits, which result from our ever-shortening attention spans, shaped the game’s narrative commentary on how we inform ourselves about what’s happening on a daily basis. Jason Orbaum, Creative Director at Not for transmission Developer NotGames stresses that more and more people are getting their news from non-traditional news sources that deliver it in rapid-fire form, often without proper research, such as YouTube Shorts. Orbaum cites the UK’s July 4 general election as a recent example. “While mainstream media, or whatever you want to call it, has its flaws… they also have fact-checkers and legal teams, which is not the case with TikTok,” he says. “People are currently believing in alternate realities because there is no consensus on what the truth is, and that is insanely dangerous in a democracy.”

“It feels in many ways like everything is reality TV,” says Nicole He, the director of The Crush Housea reality TV-inspired third-person shooter developed in collaboration with Nerial and recently released on Steam. In it, you take on the role of a producer who must record characters in a reality show while meeting the demands of different viewers in real time about what they want to see on screen.

The Crush House is inspired by the Japanese reality show series Terraced house and similar influences such as Survivors, Big BrotherAnd Love makes you blind. He argues that much of the media we consume further blurs the line between what is real and what is not, from staged performances that TikTokers try to pass off as legitimate moments to the increasing presence of AI in every aspect of our digital lives. Reality TV, then, is in an in-between position where audiences know there is some level of fiction at play. But they can still, say, go to Instagram and see if a couple from Love makes you blind is still together after a season finale.

Amid all the artificiality around us—as I write this article, a company announced a wearable AI “friend” that can comment on your daily activities and conversations—there is value in power fantasies where you can take the reins of a narrative aimed at an audience, and in doing so, have your actions and, as a result, what you see every day scrutinized. Even if people don’t have experience as content creators or camera crew, the concept of doing things that aren’t 100 percent ethical in order to meet viewership goals and avoid getting fired is something players quickly understand and embrace.

Content warningwhich released on Steam on April 1st, lets players take on the role of content creator. The goal is for a group of players to venture into spooky alien facilities and record their misadventures in the name of Content™. The closer you get to the creatures lurking in the dark, the higher the viewership of the finished video will be. Even better if you can film a dangerous chase or, well, someone’s death. It’s an iteration of the concept taken to the extreme, but still resonates despite its absurdity. “Scroll through TikTok or YouTube and you’ll see blatant public harassment sold as ‘pranks’ or ‘social experiments,'” says game developer Harris Foster, who has produced some of the funniest clips from Content warning “I have seen so far,” he says.Content warning imagines the next development. “What if a bunch of Donkey Wannabes would have access to intergalactic space travel? What if poking dangerous alien life forms was the next viral trend?'”

Foster’s take on the absurd and sometimes unethical lengths streamers go to to gain viewers rings different for real content creators, who must face a meta question: How can you perform in front of a virtual audience while a real audience is watching on the other end? Streamer Mar Katoto says there is always an element of “acting up” for the camera that Content warning Rewards. With mechanics ranging from text-generated comments to finished recordings of fake users to pursuing views as a means of game progression, there is an inherent motivation to play the role of a stereotypical vlogger-style content creator. Outside of streams, their goal is less about making several strangers on the internet laugh and more about making their group of friends laugh.

Katoto believes this trend toward games where the in-game audience dictates the pace of gameplay is a response to a basic need. “Sometimes you want to create something and get that dopamine rush of people’s approval, especially when you’re making something creative that people can see,” he says. “You put in all that time and effort and ultimately you want to see the return in the form of positive reinforcement. And so the cycle goes on and on.”

There is a small comfort in knowing that the people behind these games and those who play them are aware of their habits. NotGames CEO Andrew Murray carries his phone around the house and listens to YouTube videos while brushing his teeth or doing the dishes. Fellow creative director Alex Paterson has found solace in the cinema, where he can sit down and watch a film “completely engrossed” without pausing to get a drink or scroll through his phone, something he “can’t feel like doing anywhere else” at the moment. “I often think about how I’ve started to need content around me all the time,” says Harris. “I can’t go to the gym without listening to a new podcast episode. I play Hearthstone on my iPad while bathing. I turned on the TV as I sat down to answer this email. It’s concerning.”

As our attention spans become ever shorter and our search for the next dopamine hit only lengthens, video games that force us to confront our compulsive behaviors can be paradoxically cathartic. There’s something comforting about having some control in artificial, gallery-playing scenarios—even if you’re inevitably forced to engage in unethical practices and bad habits to achieve your goals. It’s almost as ironic as pausing a show where the characters communicate via letters and matter-of-fact phone calls to check how many people have viewed your Instagram story in the past hour.