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[Graknorke]

Street Cleaning Simulator

Or Space station cleaning simulator
http://store.steampowered.com/app/246900/

VCD has charm. Street Cleaning Simulator doesn't. It is dry and unfun as anything.

[Neonivek]

The reason why The Stanley parable and Dear Esther make good gag gifts is because the person who gets them will be expecting a game.

Well... SURPRISE! neither of them are actually games! (well maybe Stanley Parable but I havn't seen that game... Dear Esther though is flat out not a game).

A Gag Gift is also any game that will elicit humor or surprise from the recipient.

[Graknorke]

I think that to be a gag gift it has to be amusingly poor, otherwise it's just a bad gift, and that's no good.
The Stanley Parable is legitimately enjoyable, and there is no enjoyment whatsoever to be scraped from Dear Esther since it's entirely monotonous and slow paced, so neither of them would be particularly good choices.
You want a game that you can actually get a giggle out of how bad it is.

[Sensei]

For all of you debating what constitutes a bad game and what doesn't, I'd like to remind you of our standards here.



While there's no such thing as "objectively bad art", I think we can agree that there are games that very nearly anyone would see and say "Who made this? What were they thinking?" This is the sort of thing I seek.

So, Secret of the Magic Crystals is a good candidate- you might think it looks like an OK kids game, but you haven't seen the youtube videos. Bad Rats works, because it's simultaneously crass and mechanically broken. Daikatana is funny for how broken it is, in particular, if you know its historical context. Air Control is another great example: All of its ideas are both asinine as well as poorly executed. When you play, it continues to impress because every minute reveals a new, strange, broken idea. I wouldn't get Air Control because my friend watches Markiplier, he's probably got all the laughs out of watching it already.

Stanley Parable or Dear Esther, etc might not entertain all of you, but I think we can agree they don't give the same sense of "Oh my god, what were they possibly thinking?" I really truly do not think that Bad Rats has a single earnest fan.

The Your Testament -I've played it- is also a good example, I might still try putting that on a disc to make a gift out of it. It's intriguing, really, I can't think of a single demographic MDickie doesn't accidentally insult somehow while misquoting bible verses, preaching his own back-assward morals, and generally using Jesus himself as an author insertion figure- all in a broken engine he made for a wrestling game, while people run around suplexing eachother to death for no reason.

I also might do, you know, Forklift Simulator or something. But I think those sort of games don't have many laughs to offer while actually being played.

Anyway, there's some good suggestions in this thread, keep them coming! And no matter what side you're on, stop debating which games are bad and who hurt whose feelings or whatever. More obscenely, unquestionably bad games please!

[Cheeetar]

The reason why The Stanley parable and Dear Esther make good gag gifts is because the person who gets them will be expecting a game.

Well... SURPRISE! neither of them are actually games! (well maybe Stanley Parable but I havn't seen that game... Dear Esther though is flat out not a game).

I disagree with your definition of game, and I imagine a great deal of people would.

[Apokaladle]

Along the lines of horrible "simulators", I've got a Steam key for Grass Simulator I'd be happy to give you. I've tried to inflict it on a couple friends, but none of them took the bait. PM me if you want it.

[Sensei]

I disagree with your definition of game, and I imagine a great deal of people would.

Nuuuuuu stop! Stop it! Save it for another thread!

[Quartz_Mace]

Some people might disagree, but I think that even Dwarf Fortress could make a good gag gift to the right person. It's not about wether or not the game is good, but what the person thinks of it. Also, the game only needs to provide laughs for a little while.

If you wanted, you could make DF into a gag gift. I'm not very big on main-stream gaming, but from what I've heard, there's a lot of emphasis on !!AMAZING!! graphics these days. If you downloaded Dwarf Fortress, started a world and started a fort in  optimal conditions with a good embark setup, then burned it to a CD and gave it to a friend as a gift, it could be a really good laugh. When you give it to him/her, stress 2 things:

1:This game has AMAZING graphics

2: It's a city management game that is really easy to learn.

They take the game, put it in their computer, press continue game, and think "WTF IS THIS?!" As they find themselves staring at a wall of ASCII and watching Dwarves die all the time. It could also be a real gift if they learned how to play it and came to enjoy it.

I'm not saying DF is bad(I LOVE DF and wouldn't use these forums if I thought otherwise), but anything can make a good gag. Still, not sure it would count as a gift since DF is completely free and anyone with internet access can download it at any time.

If you want a game that, in all it's entirety, will be absolute trash to the recipient, I'd go with a rock simulator or something else made to be a gag.

EDIT: I just found the game "Mountain" on Steam that would make a good gag and is only 99 cents. Also, to clarify, I was saying anything can be a gag.

[nenjin]

Stanley Parable definitely works. Either someone gets it and likes it and is pleasantly surprised, or they hate it and/or don't get it and go "WTF is this?!?!"

[stabbymcstabstab]

There grass simulator, and yes it's real.

[Neonivek]

The reason why The Stanley parable and Dear Esther make good gag gifts is because the person who gets them will be expecting a game.

Well... SURPRISE! neither of them are actually games! (well maybe Stanley Parable but I havn't seen that game... Dear Esther though is flat out not a game).

I disagree with your definition of game, and I imagine a great deal of people would.

Dear Esther is a game where you walk along a linear path and the game narrates to you. The surroundings do not uncover extra aspects of the story it is just mood lighting.

It is basically a book on tape where you play the tape by holding on the forward button.

Interactive Storybooks? Sure... I'll buy that those are games, afterall they are interactive. Visual Novels? most of them sure (not all of them).

Dear Esther? There is no way that it qualifies as a game... because in order to be a videogame... it needs to be a game first or at LEAST a toy.

[Shadowlord]

That sounds like something you could call a "visual novel," I say while having no clear idea what makes a game a "visual novel" versus an "adventure game" or any other category.

[Fniff]

Videogames are tricky. Videogame is a catchy name, but the more accurate term is "interactive medium" at least if you're including Dear Esther and such.

[Neonivek]

That sounds like something you could call a "visual novel," I say while having no clear idea what makes a game a "visual novel" versus an "adventure game" or any other category.

A Visual Novel is MOSTLY about reading a story to the end, the games do not focus on gameplay elements and when they do have gameplay they are separate from the actual unfolding of the story with some strong exceptions here and there.

Basically Adventure games while they can be very story focused is a story told through an adventure. While a visual novel is basically a "visual novel", as in you are reading a novel with visuals on screen.

Dear Esther though escapes being even a visual novel because the story of the game is told through narration that has nothing to do with what you are doing on screen.

It also escapes being "Interactive fiction" because you do not interact with the fiction. The narrative and the "game" (if you can call it that) are completely separate entities.

One of the major flaws of the game IMO is that it wastes its medium. What should have been you uncovering intricacies and inconsistencies in the story simply through exploring and looking at the linear path... was just you going down a linear path. Quite literally you could have been in space during a space walk on the moon, and it would change nothing. You could be walking through a Zoo... You could be flying on a dragon... And Dear Esther would be completely unchanged.

It is what makes Dear Esther a great gag gift. It isn't a game. Yet it isn't terrible.

And you know what is odd? You know what game Dear Esther reminds me of? That old Jurassic Park game where you look at your breasts to judge how much health you have left. Both games had strong narrative elements that basically were interspersed through long periods of "nothing happening". Except in that game the narration gave away aspects of the park you were exploring.

---

In terms of "Story focused games" there are about four you ever have to care about

1) Adventure: Individual gameplay between story segments
2) RPG: These have numeric representation of stats.
3) Visual Novel: All story with heavy focus on reading.
4) Interactive Fiction: All story with occasional exploration between sections

Adventure and RPG don't HAVE to be story focused mind you.

[Cheeetar]

Dear Esther? There is no way that it qualifies as a game... because in order to be a videogame... it needs to be a game first or at LEAST a toy.

"There's no way this is a game, because to be a game, it needs to be a game."

I'm sorry, but that kind of reasoning doesn't really work. I understand how Dear Esther plays, and still think you're wrong. You may personally think it's a dumb game, but to try to dictate what is and isn't a game is more than a little silly- it's an incredibly loose term.