The “gamer” identity stereotype has been well established for decades, denoting a negative outlook on those who identify as “gamer” to be antisocial heterosexual teenage boys who do nothing but play video games in their mom’s basement. Because such a negative stereotype is established so strongly in society, many people such as myself hesitate to identify themselves as a “gamer”. In Adrienne Shaw’s research article “Do You Identify as a Gamer?”, gamer stereotype, as well as self-identification, is investigated considering the differences between someone who identifies as a gamer vs someone who counts as a gamer. I found myself constantly coming back to one line in the work:
“There is, for example, nothing casual about playing Farmville on Facebook for hours on end, just as there is nothing inherently hardcore about playing an hour of Halo with friends at a gaming party”(Shaw)
I recalled my countless hours of playing the mobile RPG gacha game Cookie Run: Kingdom, realizing that although I do not feel myself to be a “gamer”, I might have a slight CRK(Cookie Run: Kingdom) addiction which may be relevant in identifying me as a “gamer”. In an attempt to back up Shaw’s research on “casual games” still qualifying people as “gamers”, I will be analyzing the genre, gamic action, and narrative of CRK and show just how intensely “addictive” this game may become.
Although CRK has been defined generally to be an “action role-playing gacha game”(Wikipedia), there is so much more to it that engrosses players and causes massive intrigue. Although the term “action game” may be accurate, I would argue this term is too general as a video game is, by definition, an action game in and of itself. A better term that could be used generally for this game would be “Action-Adventure”, where the game is “set in a ‘world’...made up of multiple, connected rooms or screens, involving an objective which is more complex than simply..” fighting through levels or collecting items and characters, although they do help with the overall goals of the game(Wolf).
Another term I take issue with is “role-playing”, defined in Wolf’s works of “Genre and the Video Game” as “games in which players create or take on a character represented by various statistics”. CRK has one main storyline which is followed throughout the many levels, however, the main character(Gingerbrave) in this storyline is never deliberately assigned to the player, and nor is Gingerbrave very strongly attached to the player as he quickly becomes replaced by the many cookies players may draw in the gacha. Although players may determine themselves as certain cookies in the game, and each of these characters has statistics that you can build up throughout the game, you are never deliberately put into the role of any of the characters and therefore CRK can only very loosely be defined as a “role-playing” game, if at all.
CRK may best be defined as an action-adventure management simulation platformer game, where the main fighting of the game takes place on a running platform and the player is also managing their own Cookie Kingdom where all their drawn cookies reside. Players can craft and collect items in this kingdom which assist in building their kingdom, completing levels, and acquiring/powering up their characters. The number of objectives and connections between these genres can keep a player extremely engrossed in the game, where they simultaneously manage a kingdom and run through storyline levels.
In Alexander Galloway’s “Essays on Algorithmic Culture”, he defines video games to be “action-based mediums”; mediums that are not defined only by how they look or what you do but by the entire act itself. In this way, the act of both the operator and the machine is included in “gamic action”, and of course “gamic action is customarily described as occurring within a separate, semiautonomous space that is removed from normal life”(Galloway 6). Here we define four classifications of gamic action: non-diegetic vs diegetic space, and operator(player) actions vs machine(computer) actions. CRK has examples of gamic action in all four of these classifications, allowing the player to experience all that a video game can offer.
Existing in non-diegetic space is simple for a mobile game, where the characters of the game do not know exist. CRK allows for many nondiegetic operator acts such as changing the voice actors so that you may listen to the cookies in your language of choice. Existing in non-diegetic space, none of your characters know they are speaking different languages; the voice audio exists outside of the game.
Again in nondiegetic space are the prompts that appear as a player leaves the app. In most mobile games, sometimes leaving the app may leave you with unsaved changes or cause you to leave exactly where you left off without warning. However, once you leave the CRK app mid-fight, whether by accident or just to check a notification, the game will immediately pause and give you a “resume game” pop-up once you return. This allows you to join back into the fight when you’re prepared. Although the catalyst for this pause may be the operator leaving the game, it is the machine that sends you a prompt for returning to the game or not, existing in non-diegetic space where the characters fighting are unaware that they are paused.
Diegetic space is where most people typically refer “gameplay” to be based; the “semiautonomous space” in which players are no longer in their normal lives. CRK, being previously defined as a fighting game, includes diegetic operator actions by changing the speed scale for the cookies to be running faster or slower or activating each cookie’s attacks during the fights. These are all done by the operator; you(the player) are choosing to make the cookies run slower or faster, and choosing which characters should perform their attack at a certain time in the fight. This exists in diegetic space where the characters are being affected by the player’s choices in-game.
However, what is most impressive about this game are the non-diegetic machine acts which are triggered not by anything the game itself is aware of in diegetic space. Because the characters have so much to them in terms of narrative and concept, if the game detects you have acquired a certain set of cookies, it will trigger a new side quest according to their character stories and temperaments. This shows us the machine performing actions the operator is unaware of, as soon as you draw the gacha and the machine determines you have a certain set of cookie characters. The player is completely unaware of these side quests or that they should acquire certain cookies for them, thereby being completely activated by the machine to affect the game’s diegetic space.
Finally, CRK holds an incredible narrative within the game and continues to expand with it every few months. As said by Henry Jenkins in his essay surrounding the importance of narrative architecture, “Game designers don’t simply tell stories; they design worlds and sculpt spaces”. CRK creates an entire world where cookies exist, with each their own legends, histories, religions, origins, etc…The base storyline takes us through a world where the great Vanilla Kingdom was defeated long ago after the king’s best friend had found the truth about where all cookies originated, causing her to become evil. The creators have taken so much time to give every one of their characters their own short storylines and backgrounds, allowing for rich characters who are a part of the massive worldbuilding. Maps are created for the game, different kingdoms within the world are all added with their own histories, and every few months new events give us an even richer story with new characters. Even with crossovers, such as Disney or BTS, the storyline is beautifully crafted to give us environmental storytelling within our game space.
Mobile games often have a stigma attached to them; a gatekeeping that says mobile games are not “real” games. However, Cookie Run: Kingdom has so many amazing and engrossing elements to it despite not being a “real” game. The genre of the game alone describes it to be an interactive experience with many elements to keep a player on it for hours every day. You may easily define all four classifications of “gamic action” for this game, and of course, the expanding narrative and storytelling within the game keeps players intrigued even after having completed so much of the game. Truly, Cookie Run: Kingdom is an amazing experience that warrants a slight addiction.