Within the presentation given at the Art History of Games symposium, Over Games, Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn explain “For both the creator and the spectator, art is an exploration of the self and its environment.” This too seems to be the primary case for the arrival of the walking simulator. Game creators endeavor to build a virtual environment that enables an immersive experience rather than to perpetuate a competition or end goal. The video game is no longer a game but becomes the medium for artmaking. Games such as Dear Esther, Gone Home and The Graveyard champion such simulation goals. In the past and even today, walking simulators are not largely accepted by the gaming community. Their player interactivity is generally limited and thus controversy has surrounded their very notion. Screw Your Walking Simulators protests “sitting, walking, listening, looking, playing, just fucking being is interaction”. The games provoke the idea of what it means to use a videogame. Participants inhabit the spaces, explore, and the intentions of the game are left open-ended for the player to navigate. Storytelling transpires as players move through the environment and understand space.
