Kind Words 2
Introduction
Kind Words 2 is a gem. It sets you in a digital world where you can send and receive letters anonymously to other people. It is social media as a game.
Except it isn’t gamified at all and attempts to contribute to a positive environment. The goal of the game is to provide a medium which allows people to express themselves and communicate genuinely with others.
Player Mechanics1
- Psychology: The character is more you than the digital avatar.
- Agency: The choices you make in interacting with the game.
- Emotion: Feelings…?
Game Mechanics
Sending Messages: The key mechanism is sending messages in response to other people. In Kind Words 2, you can write poetry at a salon, ask for recommendations at a record shop, leave life advice at a mountain sauna, or rant into a void. These different environments give the player specific contexts for communicating with others.
Receiving Messages: The flip side of sending messages is receiving them. Players can view messages by heading to those specific areas. My favorite way of receiving messages is at the mountaintop, where it scrolls through the different wishes people have left up there.
Player Customization: Allows you to create a digital avatar who can walk around the set-out environments and talk to people.
Lo-fi BGM: Sets a soothing atmosphere for the game. The game wouldn’t be the same if it were rock music.
Stickers: As far as the developers went in adding gamification to the game. You can collect and receive stickers by sending messages to people.
Themes and Player Experience
Connection: The game, like any other form of social media, is meant to connect its users. Kind Words 2 accomplishes this in a non-exploitative manner by creating an open and curated space for communication.
Expression: Since there isn’t any digital player expression. Expression here means to be yourself, not even the character, but yourself. Responding and replying to messages by being authentic.
Reflection: The nature of the game makes it a reflective experience. How would I react to the situation? How do I relate to the event personally?
Conclusion
Kind Words 2 is the first non-game game I have reviewed. Games without clear goals, like The Stanley Parable and Kind Words 2, are sold on Steam alongside other games.
So, what makes them games? I won’t go too in-depth, but they are games because they allow agency and provide a virtual reality/experience. Essentially, the game provides a framework within which players can act, even if those actions don’t lead to a defined “win” state.
It is an adequate analysis because it fits what makes Kind Words 2 a good game: “the feeling of absurd care and kindness we have become accustomed against”. The game being played here is one of “social communication and interaction”. In Kind Words 2, communication is played with a form of care and understanding.
I want to finish by addressing the critique of: “it’s not real”. I say it’s a fair point. The anonymity and the limitations of not “interacting” with another person face-to-face do exist. However, the anonymity is a feature and not a bug. In Kind Words 2, anonymity can allow people to paradoxically be “realer”.
As with all games offer a virtual experience, it takes a bit of mindfulness to remind yourself it is not the “real world”. Regardless, Kind Words 2 serves as a beacon of human kindness and a game to pick up if you need a reminder of human goodness.
An insight I’ve realized is how games don’t necessarily have a predefined aesthetic. Their aesthetic is about what we, the players, interpret and play them for. For instance, League of Legends can be played for self-expression, fellowship, or fantasy, even if it primarily incentivizes domination.
If you want to play the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2118120/Kind_Words_2_lofi_city_pop/
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I had a hard time thinking about player mechanics because it’s not played via the avatar. ↩