Come Together! Candle Rally
An Interpretation
Editor’s note: this article was written in January 2017, but due to human error was not published! A lot of the content here is based on the political movements of December 2016.
Amidst massive protests in Seoul over the corruption and incompetence of President Park Geun-Hye, Raggle Taggle Games has come out with a demonstration simulator available at the Google Play store for android devices: Come Together! Candle Rally. Is this game merely idle fun, social commentary, or something else? I took a look at it in the hopes of finding out what is really behind the project.
Thematically, the game is a demonstration simulator. After asking me what my demonstration is about and what the people should chant, the game starts with a backdrop depicting not the Kim Sejeong statue at Gwanghwamun Plaza. I tap the screen and a lone citizen appears. The first member of my demonstration — Shoelace Enthusiasm — has arrived. She chants the sacred chant passed down from shoelace enthusiast to shoelace enthusiast across the generations, “Shoe…. Lace…. In your face!” Energy wells up inside me as I fantasize about the massive demonstration that could be. Hundreds, no, thousands, maybe even millions of souls gathered together, reminding the world that they love shoelaces! Will it happen? It’s all up to me.
Mechanically, the game is about macro-management. One taps the screen to add citizens to the rally. Citizens chant every once in a while. When they do, you get energy. Energy is spent on upgrades which help the crowd grow faster. A green bar a the top of the screen informs the player of her progress toward the next attendance goal. When the goal is reached, a new goal is set — usually twice the last. The game offers a wide variety of upgrades and plenty to keep track of if one is actually intent on macroing optimally. From straight-up buffs to number of citizens added per tap, to picket lines, snack carts, leaders with megaphones, and even a stage, there are plenty of charming ways to increase the growth curve.
In its execution, Candle Rally has ups and downs. Thematically, the game is charming. Cute imagery, silly — and very poorly translated — dialog, and fun surprises combine to create a light and enjoyable experience. Complete with stereotypes we all know and love, like the idealist student, the rural folk who don’t know what an LED is, and people that wear hats that look like horse heads — we all know that guy, am I right?
To the game’s detriment, it suffers from Dangling Carrot Syndrome. There is no clear (ultimate) goal to the game. There is a clear next goal at all times, but achieving it only causes it to double and it doesn’t take long to suppose that this might go on ad infinitum. When I first played the game, I noticed that I was actually not paying much attention at all; just clicking away because I wasn’t motivated to do anything else. The next morning I tried again with a self-imposed goal: to reach the population I stopped at last time as quickly as possible. Perhaps it was my speedrunner instincts asserting themselves, but suddenly the game was much more enjoyable. I was managing my money (energy), getting upgrades, and even developing strats to grow my bar as fast as possible — if your device supports multiple simultaneous taps, the game counts all of them; get your whole hand up in there for a 5x multiplier. I blew past my old population in no time, and got just past a million attendees in a little shy of two hours. Then I saw the goal double again, to two million, noticed my wrist was tired, and stopped caring. Games need ultimate goals, with some possible exceptions like sandboxes, which can offer a means of exploration or creative expression instead. Candle Rally doesn’t provide this, and it fails as a game as a result.
But what if Candle Rally was never meant to succeed as a game? What if its ultimate purpose is something else, something greater? Given the context of its release, a clear possibility is that this game is a platform for making a statement. But what is that statement, exactly?
Let’s start with the transparent interpretation. I note first that the subject and chant of my rally are completely arbitrary. The game asks me what they are so that it can set a variable and customize the experience. After a million people show up, that decision continued to make no difference. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the game gives no indication whatsoever of how successful my rally is. Are other people getting excited about shoelaces, too? Am I making a difference? Has gathering at not Gwanghwamun Plaza accomplished anything? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that my rally could be twice as big as it currently is.
The game clearly depicts demonstrations as spectacles, rather than a means of social change. There’s a stage, the awe of a gazillion people united in motivation, and even a “fever” mode which features uninspired, but high-tempo, music, a disco ball, and fireworks. So the obvious first stab at an interpretation is that this is all demonstrations actually are: just another distraction for the masses, another means of social control. Demonstrations make people feel like they are making a difference, which stops them from actually making a difference. Massive demonstrations don’t effect change, they maintain the status quo; how ironic.
I think, however, that there could be more to this. Surely, Raggle Taggle Games’ message is more complex than this. Could they, perhaps (also) be commenting on game design? Getting back to the aforementioned dangling carrot, I originally presented it as a detriment to the game. But what if that mechanic is actually the whole point? I tap the screen to add people to my demonstration. Why? Because the people give me energy that will let me add more people faster in the future, obviously! I am adding people, so that… I can… add more people? Wait. I’ve been duped! By this reasoning I might as well slam my face into the wall over and over again. I bet as I acclimate to the pain, I’ll become better at it!
In all seriousness, though, this is what a lot of successful games boil down to. Take classic RPGs as an example. Why do we fight battles in RPGs? To gain experience points obviously. Why do we want experience points? So that we’re better at fighting battles! This sort of mechanic is rampant. It’s a simple trick, it’s ultimately pointless, and it works. My, how badly I wanted to fill up that green attendance bar. Thank goodness that after I filled it up, it got reset to the half-way mark, that way I can fill it up again! Yay, progress!
Still though, I may not be giving Raggle Taggle Games enough credit. This game isn’t about demonstrations. It isn’t about society. It isn’t about game design or mechanics. It’s about the human condition. Filling up that green bar over and over is a clear metaphor for the routines we execute day after day. We do the things today, so that we can do it all again tomorrow. Occasionally we have a day where something exciting happens, like the fever mode in Candle Rally. This gives us hope that perhaps in a few days we’ll experience another exciting thing. Candle Rally is clearly a vehicle for expressing the existential dread that the team at Raggle Taggle Games doubtlessly feels day after day.
In the end, I stopped playing when the costs outweighed the benefits. My wrist started to hurt and I had no more expectation that something new and great was going to happen. All that time I spent building a massive demonstration a million strong, and how quickly I stopped caring.
