Chapter 274: The meaning of a meta game

Zhao Lei began to explore different routes and tried different outcomes. He even deliberately chose the opposite route.

……

If Stanley didn’t choose to go to the boss and kept going downstairs, then he would fall into an endless loop. Stanley would start to dream and eventually fall into madness.

……

At an office table by the window, Stanley could get out of the window and land outside, entering a pure white space.

However, this wasn’t a BUG, because the caption would remind you that this was part of the game, and it also added some self-deprecation.

[At first, Stanley thought that he destroyed the map, but it wasn’t until he heard the narration that he realized that this was part of the game. He then praised the game’s profound and humorous criticism of the video game architecture, as well as its attempt at a metaphor for the narrative structure.

……

If one entered the boss’s office and left before the door closed, the voice-over would be “locked” in the boss’s office. Players will no longer hear the voice-over.

When the players returned to Room 427, they would find that the door next to it was open, and a message appeared that guided the players to the rescue cabin.

On the way to the escape capsule, Stanley kept going up the stairs. He found that there was Room 427 on every floor, and every floor had the same structure. In the end, he would enter the escape capsule and escape from this place (perhaps).

……

If he chose the door on the right and took the elevator to the maintenance area, then the explanation would be completely dumbfounded, and he wouldn’t even be able to find the way Stanley was supposed to go.

Stanley walked on a path that was completely different from the narration, and the whole scenario was spoiled. The narration had no choice but to restart the game.

However, the game became even more chaotic after the restart. Every time the game was restarted, it would fall into new problems.

For example, the door had disappeared.

For example, Stanley had entered a completely different scene.

The narrator even had to draw a long yellow arrow on the ground, but this still couldn’t save the game’s story line that had been completely confused.

In the end, Stanley would come to a room with the words “chaotic ending” written on it, and the entire process of the chaotic ending would be shown on the screen.

Even the voice-over was shocked. He refused to restart the game according to the process on the screen, but an unknown existence forced the game to restart.

……

The more he played, the more Zhao Lei realized that there were too many things in the game that he was completely unaware of. No matter what choice he made, the narrator would always have a set of explanations, as if she had already guessed that he would do that.

Moreover, there were many interesting Easter eggs in the game, and teasing the voice-over had become a very interesting thing.

If you kept entering the wrong password in your boss’s office, the narrator would hint at you again and again that it was the correct password, and even angrily emphasize it in red font. In the end, you would have no choice but to open the door yourself.

There were even times when the voice-over would be shocked by what happened in the game, causing the entire game to fall into multiple layers of chaos.

Stanley’s [player] and [voice-over] were higher existences, and they formed a huge mystery, making Zhao Lei want to constantly search for clues in the game to find the truth behind all this.

He was already deeply attracted to this game.

……

Before he knew it, more than two hours had passed.

Zhao Lei looked at the time and realized that he had been in the game for a long time.

However, he had a vague feeling that there were still many endings in the game that he had not played out, and there were still many Easter eggs that he had not discovered.

This was the second time Chen Mo had come to check on his progress.

“How was it? was it fun?” Chen Mo asked with a smile.

Zhao Lei rubbed his neck and said,”it’s not exactly fun, but … It’s very interesting.” When will the game be released?”

“Probably next week,” Chen Zhao said.

“Alright,” Zhao Lei nodded.”I’ll definitely buy a copy for my collection when the game is released.”

He paused for a moment before continuing,”also, I feel like the game is hinting at something. If you look deeper into it, there seems to be a lot of hidden meanings …”

Chen Mo smiled but didn’t say anything.

“Can you explain to me what this game is about?” Zhao Lei asked. What’s the meaning behind it?”

Chen Mo shook his head,”it can only be understood, not explained.”

Zhao Lei was speechless. He stood up and said,””It’s getting late. I have to go back and have a good sleep. I have to continue working tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Chen Zhao nodded.”Rest well.”

The two of them walked to the door. Before Zhao Lei left, he looked at Chen Zhao.”Thank you for the game. Although it’s useless to understand some principles, at least it makes me feel better.”

Chen Mo laughed,”don’t think too much. It’s just a game. Life still has to go on, doesn’t it?”

……

The Stanley Parable was not a simple puzzle game.

It was a very classic META game, and it had a deep philosophical meaning. The fun of this game was not in solving riddles or exploring different endings, but in experiencing and interpreting the countless fables in the game.

This game was actually full of designs that went against conventional games. It was more like a joke about the meaning of the “game” itself, or the relationship between the designer and the player.

The game had no clear goal, no difficult challenges, and no rewards in the general sense. When the players ‘time stopped in the storage room, the narrator would even mock them.”Oh my God, are you trying to show off to your friends that you got the storage room ending?”

Moreover, the game was full of sarcasm about the “fun of the game”. For example, Stanley’s job every day was to press the buttons, and he felt that he was very happy. Wasn’t this a reference to the gamers?

The players followed the voice-over’s instructions, opening the secret door step by step, turning on the switch, and finally reaching a seemingly perfect ending. Wasn’t that what normal games would ask the players to do?

The content made the players realize that they seemed to be Stanley. They seemed to have freedom and happiness, but this feeling was very fake.

Behind each ending, there was a kind of philosophical thinking.

For example, the lie ending was the lie of losing free will, the nuclear explosion ending was the consolidation of the creator’s position, the return home ending was a kind of despair with no other choice, the chaos ending was the thought about the end, and the Starlight ending was the use of Stanley as a lab rat for experiments …

And that was the biggest meaning of this game.

It was a reflection of the game itself and life. The players would reflect on their experiences in real life and think about what they should choose.

Of course, the game itself did not have a clear background story. It was more like a work of stream of consciousness. There were a thousand hamlets in a thousand readers, and everyone would experience something different when playing the game.

However, to be able to give the players such an experience was the greatest meaning of the game.