YouTube culture is turning kids against art games

My game “Everything is going to be OK” was included in Double Fine’s Day of the Devs. Yay! I’m happy to get publicity for my game, and Double Fine’s public event for indie developers in San Francisco looked like a great place for that. This is probably the first time, outside of E3, that this game was shown to a more consumer based “gamer” crowd. People without knowledge of art games or the discourse around them. Basically, people expecting game-games, with goals, and magic circles, and in some way or another keeping up with the standards of game design. …

But my game, “Everything is going to be OK,” isn’t that sort of experience. It’s an interactive zine based on abstract life experiences about trauma, PTSD, and surviving difficult situations. By definition it’s interactive art that uses the game format as a way to convey these messages. It’s not necessarily a game in the traditional sense. Unfortunately, my experience at Day of the Devs indicated that game culture may actually be getting more antagonistic toward alt-games, and YouTubers may be at the heart of it.