One Hour One Life: the game in which you are born the helpless baby of another player
There are few games that surprise me. You can get a promotional video with some amazing graphics or a game that amuses me in a special way, but in general nothing that makes me think too much about what I've just lived or seen. I think it's remarkable because' One Hour One Life' has managed to do just that, to break all the patterns.
The idea is relatively simple. You come to a world where you have to survive for an hour, which would last a human life if every minute were a year of our lives and nature had decided that with 60 years we have seen more than enough. The key is that this world is populated by other players like you, and what you do during your life will impact the lives of those who arrive later.
The survival of humanity
Known for other experimental games such as Passage or Gravitation, Jason Rohrer aims to create a multiplayer game here that invites users to shape their own civilization. With hundreds of combinations of objects, in addition to those he creates and includes every week, what today is a virtual version of the first human settlements, one day he will have advanced enough to house motor vehicles or even robots.
It depends on the players, and how they are exploiting the possibilities of' One Hour One Life', whether that comes sooner or later, which together is more than just a video game. By their choices and spirit, it could well be a sociological experiment on how players can bring an advanced civilization to life. In fact, it's a big part of the fun. Either a majority of players collaborate with each other to get ahead, or it will be impossible to advance.
To Hour One Life' can come in two ways, as a baby or as an Eve, the two pillars of this virtual civilization. As a baby, the only thing we are allowed to do is run from here to there, without being able to pick up or use objects, without being able to communicate with the rest of users beyond individual letters, and depending on the kindness of other Eve to be able to feed and survive for more than a few seconds.
Like Eva, your goal is to stay alive and take care of all the other babies that appear. At least until they can fend for themselves. It is enough to approach them and hold them in your arms to feed them, but since your struggle for survival is just as important, you will have to manage to feed them while you survive.
A great idea that makes you think again
The initial inevitable frustration, coming into the world as a helpless child and using the goodness of others to move forward, soon becomes little steps that taste like glory. Learn to create tools, to hunt animals, to be helpful in a community where no one leaves with another advantage that is not to have died more times than you....
Above our heads always fly over that feeling that the gaming community is full of pretty undesirable people. Whether it's a competitive spirit or a lack of empathy, most multiplayer games are focused on making you think you should stand out from the crowd for some reason.
In' One Hour One Life' it is the opposite. Your resources are limited, your chances of survival are limited, too, and no matter how well things turn out, you'll die at some point and nothing you've done will have been worth it on an individual level. Yes, you can manage on your own, kill a wolf to make a hat and create enough arrows to knock down a bear, but with the passage of time your life will come to an end and all that will be left is a skeleton with a nice hat and the body of a bear next to it.
However, there is the other option, that of playing' One Hour One Life' with the intention of leaving your mark on that civilization, however small it may be. That kid you've been breastfeeding since he was a little boy may become the builder who will teach other players how to build fences and thus protect your colony from wild beasts. Or that orchard you've been looking after for 34 minutes can become the food base of all the players who will come later. In the end everything comes down to trying to survive and work for a common good. For a better future.
Best social experiment than video game
Even in the alpha phase and with controls, appearance and management system that are far from ideal,' One Hour One Life' is only recommended at this experimental level, if you are a fan of survival games or you are attracted by what you are trying to transmit. At those levels, no doubt, it is a magnificent idea that I hope will continue to grow at a good pace.
As documentary evidence, it will be interesting to see how players fight against their own existence. Bearing in mind that there are resources that can be exploited until extinction, from animals to plants with several life cycles that should only be harvested at the right time; the mixture of morality, ambition and cooperativism will be key to prove if players can reach the limits of civilization or if, otherwise, we are just a virus that will kill the life of this virtual planet.