Easter Eggs in Games
While nearly all games use challenges as a method to progress the game, I find that few use an “invitational” approach. Instead of forcing the player to overcome a challenge to bring meaning to a game, an alternative is to simply offer the player an invitation to discover something meaningful. I believe the best common example of this comes in the form of Easter eggs.
My first real encounter with Easter eggs came from the Portal series, whereby in some puzzles, the game would hide a room that contained secret messages from a character known as “Ratman.”
The Portal Easter eggs are a good example of invitation used for narrative in that it is not required to beat the game or even to really understand the story, but by taking the time to find Ratman’s dens, the player is able to progress their understanding of the game without additional challenge. The game invites the player to find these dens, and it is on the player to take the time and effort to find them. Because these dens are not forced upon the player, they are naturally very interesting as they are mysteriously hidden and unlike the rest of the game. They give the player some vague information for them to investigate further, which enriches the experience of the narrative.
One game that relies almost entirely on the use of invitation is The Stanley Parable, a very meta game in which a narrator prescribes actions for the player to do but the player can choose to either follow the narration or stray from it.
The Stanley Parable uses invitation to play on the themes of player agency and the ideas of predestination and self-actualization. The invitation and intrigue acts as a force for progress unlike challenge which acts as a counterforce to progress. While The Stanley Parable uses invitation for primarily narrative, The Witness uses invitation to express surprising awe and beauty.
I have many memories of running around The Witness only to find one of these Easter eggs and for a moment have a great sense of awe and mystery. The Witness uses this invitation to interrupt the player’s thought and allow for a moment of enlightenment. These Easter eggs remind the player of how little about the world they truly know and how beauty often lies hidden in plain sight. I believe that only using challenge to create meaning for games is very limiting and I think that by inviting players to discover something games can better tap into the human nature to search for knowledge.
