What’s The Silliest Reason You’ve Ever Picked Up A Game?

Earlier today, we shared a post about Singularity 6’s future plans for its cozy MMORPG Palia. The developer recently released the game on Xbox and PlayStation while simultaneously dropping the Elderwood expansion update, and they’re already teasing what’s to come. Among those things is a new update featuring animal husbandry, and in the post, they showed off a couple of the critters that will likely be included in that.

One of those critters is what I’m assuming is a Scottish Highland cow. If you’ve never seen one of these before, they’re big fluffballs of bovines that could probably do with having their bangs gelled back. They’re still big beasties with massive horns that could skewer a human pretty easily, but… They’re. Just. So. Fluffy! I’ve never met one, but I love them all, and the chance of having one as a pet is almost enough reason to get me into a game.

That silly thought got me to thinking about what other ridiculous reasons I’ve chosen to play a game. Yes, I often talk about story as being my biggest reason for wanting to play games. I do love good storytelling, after all. But, there are other reasons as well. Often, those reasons have to do with whimsy. I’m a pretty big fan of creative people not taking themselves seriously all the time.

Case in point? The Saints Row series (minus the reboot, or whatever you want to call it) is one of my all-time favorite series. Why did I play it? Well, when Saints Row: The Third came out, my friend bought it for me and said that after seeing the iconic purple… ahem… “bat” weapon, he figured it would amuse me. The game just happened to be fun as well, and had characters I actually enjoyed. But my real love for it stemmed from the fact that it didn’t take itself seriously. Yes, that particular weapon was a silly reason to pick up the game, but it worked out in the end.

I played American McGee’s Alice because I’m a big Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass buff. I got into Viva Piñata because the idea of raising cannibalistic piñatas on a relaxing island amused me. Other games I’ve picked up simply because I like the art style. Okami was one.

None of these factors meant the game I was going to end up playing would actually be good. I didn't even bother to look into them any more deeply than that.

Of course, MMO and live service games are a bit different. There’s so much going on in those genres that if you’re going to spend the amount of time in them that they require, you’re going to want to look at something more than just, “does this one thing amuse me?” before hopping in. That’s not to say I haven’t done that before. When Guild Wars 2 was coming out, I was obsessed with the idea of a race of “lettuce people”, and that alone was enough for me to try it. It was, however, not enough to keep me there.

Of course, the upside to games that are free-to-play is that you can try them in a fit of whimsy, and if it doesn’t work out, all you really lose is some time. So, yeah. I’ll probably be hopping into Palia to get my own Highland cow. If I’m being honest, I should have been in a while ago, what with it being a cozy game and all, but I’d kind of been waiting for a PlayStation version. Guess I don’t have to wait now. Just give me some time to finish getting caught up in Zenless Zone Zero first. (And no, I didn’t pick that game purely for whimsy, but now that I’m there, the bangboo are too adorable to ever leave.)