300(ish) Words on Playing Because It’s Fun
Gamers can be forgiven for thinking themselves a sort of underclass; most people don’t like them. My ex-boyfriend was a gamer, he had a PC. My current boyfriend is not a gamer, even though he plays Gran Turismo and is, as far as I can tell, OK at it.
A hobby as a shorthand for identity isn’t exclusive to gaming. This girl I know who wears clogs is a “knitter.” And as not every gamer is a gamer, not every game is a game. I’m a fairly straightforward person. Cut to the chase, say what you mean. No games. Ironically, that might be something I have in common with real gamers. They don’t often make concessions.
Here’s the thing: I do play games. I play one game. I play Purple Diver.
Purple Diver is not like Skyrim or Overwatch, or even Tetris. By name alone, I couldn’t tell you what Skyrim or Overwatch is about, and I’m bad at Tetris. But I can tell you what Purple Diver is about: a purple diver.
Purple Diver utilizes the minutiae of movement of so many mobile games. Tap the screen, flip the diver. The diver is purple-skinned, 3D, bald and Blinn-y, with a shining, faceless head. She wears a lime-green suit and her suit has little cap sleeves. If she misses the pool, she explodes into a half-dozen purple balls. The objectives are ages 3-6 straightforward: “hit the duck,” “depth,” and “duck depth,” which combines objectives one and two.
There is little to unlock, in fact, nothing at all to accomplish. The levels are roughly as difficult at one and at fifty. (The hardest achievement being “Lord of the Rings,” or when your dive crosses through a lazily drifting hoop.) But Purple Diver is not a game a person plays to win. It is a game a person plays because the palate is pretty, ditto the sound of the diver’s splash, and because, who cares, it’s fun.
Is Purple Diver a good game? Is it actually a game at all? And what do you call the person tapping the screen? I don’t know. I know that I am not a gamer and that I don’t play games. But I do play Purple Diver.
Abigail Rowe has written for Gothamist, Complex, the Awl, and the Observer. Posts and frozen meal reviews @birthday_dinner on Twitter.
