Depending on your real job, its a relaxing desktop toy or a horrifying parody of your waking life.
Its a fine example of the overlooked (and previously unnamed) gaming genre of officecore.
The jobs details are usually generic, its fictional results obscured to heighten the potential relatability.
As a player, you might use officecore to work out your workplace frustrations.
You might find it useful for discreetly passing the time at a dead-end job.
Or you might even learn something about yourself and realize youre approaching your career all wrong.
Each provides a different commentary on the modern white-collar workplace.
Desktop Simulation Games
Desktop sims imitate a typical computer interface, with a varying degree of verisimilitude.
You are constantly validated and promoted for your simple tasks.
Cant You See Im Busy!
The ruse is a bit thin, especially now that the fake software looks ancient.
These games are designed to make time pass.
To play them is to admit that you dont even need to be entertained, just distracted.
To play them is to admit you are wasting your life.
When work is play and play is work, neither are very satisfying.
The most common format is first-person.
Most tabletop officecore games also play out on this level, focusing on interaction between characters.
Before it spirals intoMatrix-like ontological absurdism, the game opens in a mundane office, depicting a mundane job.
But the modern office ties strongly into those free-will themes.
It also turnsThe Stanley Parableinto a power fantasy.
When Stanley disobeys the narrator, hes likeOffice Spaces Peter Gibbons ignoring Lumbergh and dismantling his cubicle.
Every office drone has wanted to reject the system like this.
The office level particularly highlights the disassociation between workday and product.
Job Simulatoris afumblecoregame where half the fun is struggling with awkward controls.
Its a familiar feeling to young adults or anyonesuffering from imposter syndrome.
You cant really fail at this job.
Theres no heavy satire here, no frame story or fourth wall to step behind.
Your goals are typical work goals.
you could get fired, or you could do your job and earn retirement.
For an office sim, its optimistic and peaceful.
The bitterest this game gets is a charmingly dreary simulation of an office birthday party.
Oscar shut out unfunny ideas, striving for realism, rejecting friends who all wanted to play as janitors.
Like any good DM, Oscar set boundaries around the roleplaying.
Years later, the current content is mostly middling, but this is still a fun destination for casuals.
Skills include integrity, yes man, and hereditary wealth.
You know the ones,says the About page.
Theyre in every office, acting, not working.
They dont know what theyre talking about, they just know theyve heard all the words before.
Each player took on the role of an employee or executive, dressing the part and developing a backstory.
Asdescribed in the minidoc above, players disappeared into their characters and surprised themselves with cutthroat behavior.
One player had to take a break and cry before diving back in.
Some players told Eirik Fatland, one of the games creators, that they regretted playing.
I am proud ofPanoptiCorp…
I am also troubled, Fatland writes in the report.
Fatland is very aware of the darker parallels.
Running a company with a few clicks feels tantalizingly realistic.
It can make you believe you deserve to be in charge.
Players build an office tower and fill it with staff.
But theres still something to learn from just how few elements it takes to simulate an office environment.
Techno Raiders just uses the office as a setting for a platformer.
Thats a surprisingly optimistic view, even for Dilbert, but thats what makes it a fantasy.
Honorable Mentions
Papers PleaseandThe Westport Independentuse paperwork interfaces to simulate the banality of evil under totalitarian regimes.
Her Storyis a murder mystery that you investigate by digging through a computer, searching and tagging files.
As a simulation of a murder investigation, its much more realistic than the typical detective game.
While its meant for real-world education, it bears a promising resemblance to an immersive arcade sim.
Text-adventure gameOffice Job Simulator 2014is beyond bare-bones; its really just a vertebra.
Click text links to perform a handful of office tasks, each simulated by a lone sound effect.
A full run-through takes about 45 seconds.
They focus on the elements shared by all office jobs, rather than diving into specifics.
Officecores aesthetics lean toward the nostalgic, evoking the lost era of cubicles, neckties, and Windows 95.
Player avatars appear in suits holding briefcases, instead of the aspirational creative-class uniform of sweaters and messenger bags.
These games still feel likeOffice Space, while the real office has evolved intoSpike Jonzes Her.
The same tools that created the always-on workplace could create its simulations.
By catching up to reality, games can help us cope with the changing workplace.
Work shouldnt just be gamified; it should be gamed.
