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Godville
A Zero-Player Game
December 2, 2010
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Can't believe I missed this. Godville is a browser and iPhone game that bills itself as "zero-player," because, well, play doesn't require a player.

Godville is a massively-multiplayer zero-player game (ZPG), playable in the browser. The gist of the Godville is a parody on everything from "typical" MMO games with their tedious level ups, to internet memes and ordinary day to day things appealing to a wide audience.

I played on my iPhone (see below; my hero is called Depeche Mode), and the experience is pretty close to zero-player, although it is necessary to intervene with "god power" or other small actions in order to influence your character in certain ways. Aesthetically it's a little disappointing, since it does introduce gameplay, even if only a tiny bit. A true ZPG wouldn't require any play at all, right?

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Let's not forget the venerable "Progress Quest," which is about as close as you can come to a 'zero play game' as opposed to a zero player game. In fact, PQ is an MMO, I believe, but it's one where everyone collectively grinds by running it in the task bar.

It sounds like Godville has tainted the purity of zero with actual interaction! Or perhaps it's more of a God-of-the-gapsville, where you are a deity who sits around and does nearly nothing except when needed to fill in certain gaps.

Jim Preston on December 2, 2010 4:02 PM

If a game plays in the forest and no one is around, did it really get played?

Dan on December 2, 2010 4:33 PM

Jim, right, the Godville folks mention Progress Quest explicitly in their introductory blurb. But doesn't PQ also have this click-to-do-whatever sort of interaction?

Ian Bogost on December 2, 2010 8:35 PM


Progress Quest requires a double-click to execute the application. That's all, if I remember correctly.

I believe it spawned T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even some fan fiction.

Ernest Adams on December 3, 2010 6:40 AM
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