Itās tough being someone who, in the search for some sort of meaning in life, has arrived on video games as their foundation. I could have chosen a much worse passion, but I also could have probably picked one that would pass in normal conversation. Instead, no one I meet understands me. Itās lonely being better than everyone.
Elation for the WonderBox 6000 gets me. Unfortunately. Itās a bizarre game about loving one thing so much that it becomes the central source of your alienation.
I think. Thatās as much as I could glean from the less-than-10-minutes of demo.
Elation for the WonderBox 6000 comes from Digital Tchotchkes, the creator of Go Fly a Kite, which I should probably play. They describe the demo as, āit’s a costco free sample style demo.ā
It starts off with a Doom-style text crawl telling you about the eponymous Elation for the WonderBox 6000, a game so transcendental that the protagonist suggests that it is the apogee of video games as an art. That if only more people played and understood it, then art wouldnāt have died. It is the protagonistās goal to acquire this lost relic.
This opening exposition turns out to be something the protagonist is posting on the internet. The outpouring of distilled, potent opinions leads to them getting death threats, followed by a permanent ban from their chosen forum. Weāve all been there.
Youāre then left to explore the wreckage of the protagonistās life. You mouse around to see whatās interactive and then click on what you find to hear about it. Through this, you discover that society has continued its course toward refining the endorphin supply, which is part of why nobody remembers something as artful as Elation for the WonderBox 6000. Easier access to simpler stimulation has caused the masses to lose their way.
Itās difficult to tell if Elation for the WonderBox 6000 is making fun of, or trying to explain, the perpetually repeating discourse of how things were better in the before times. Or both. Why not take the high ground over every other perspective?
It represents a part of myself Iām unable to take too seriously. Some people have to travel abroad or get lost in the desert to āfind themselves.ā Iāve always known myself. I like video games. I might enjoy video games to an extent that other people find annoying. The whole reason Iām here (on this site, I mean) is that I want to support and spread the things Iām passionate about. It keeps me occupied until a bus finally decides to hit me.
But also, and I canāt stress this enough, the Elation for the WonderBox 6000 demo could be finished in less than 10 minutes. In that time, you look at stuff, talk to a person, and then walk to a place. Thatās it. It could maybe be defined as the prologue. The game part of the game is beyond that demo wall.
It doesnāt really get me more excited to play Elation for the WonderBox 6000, but it also doesnāt make me less excited. I was just so disoriented when it ended.
On the other hand, it refers to the protagonistās computer as āMy portal to philistines,ā which is what I will now call mine.
Published: May 31, 2024 01:49 pm