the game you feel guilty for playing (the beginner's guide)

Do I regret it? Absolutely not.

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Edited by mee widePeepoHappy

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#dish #thebeginnersguide #psycological

[dishh]

hope you guys enjoy(ed) this game :) it's become one of my favorites.
twitch.tv/dish | twitter.com/companiondish | instagram.com/companiondish

[slavanikolin]

The thing that I understood only after some time, is that Coda put all those messages to Davey in unreachable places, because he knew, that Davey would modify his game.

[theendofit]

back when this came out everyone attavked the creator as they actually thought it was all real and true. and the man was breave and did not immediately defend himself like most would. he alowes it to fester in peoples minds so that they would experience it that way. and it actully hurt him as there was a massive campaign of people geting refunds from steam and people in the forums telling everyone they can buy the game finish it then ask for a refund sence its short.
davey is an intresting complex person who is not just in it for the money.

[valen-qmse]

this games FEELS like i'm stuck in an art museum while a performance artist follows me around while randomly whispering their commentary in my ear

[fosterfoster]

THIS GAME.... Gave mixed emotions, just to remember the soundtrack gives me goosebumps

[sofiaskovski]

So my opinion (not my idea, i think it’s the most popular theory) is that Coda never existed. The games are Davey’s. And the The Beginner’s guide is about disconnecting from your creative side, getting depressed over your work, feeling like you are only as worthy as your games. Davey says he only felt happy and like a good person when he was showing people Coda’s games: meaning his games that didn’t feel like his own, his work that he was disconnected from and had no strength to continue. Coda says he was never depressed and fails are just a part of the process. Meaning when Davey worried Coda was “depressed” and made the game where you have to destroy the creative machine - Davey was depressed himself. His creativity was just fine, he was able to express his feelings through work but that never helped which caused resentment to the craft altogether. I don’t claim to know what’s it really about (and Davey won’t tell hehe) but to me this theory makes sense, especially when you think about it and replay The Beginner’s guide. Also sorry if my language is too harsh or weird - my thoughts are all over the place and it’s not my native language:)
P.S.: Dish’s reaction to the cleaning game was the same as mine and it felt so cool because no other letsplayer i saw payed so much attention to it! It’s my fave of the bunch and i love to see people being impacted by it

[madlyon]

i think that coda is the narrators creativity that he lost. this is a cry from the narrator to get his creativity back, a creativity that was pure and isnt reliant on what other people think of his work. We and the narrator are looking at the person the narrator used to be. The narrator is scrambling to try and get that creativity back. The narrator can only look back at his old work and want to fix it so it is consumable for other people and in doing that he ruins it. he cannot return to who he was he cant escape needing the feeling of outside validation. idk its just the conclusion ive come to.

[kat-yuh]

This is literally proof that video games CAN BE art.
I remember playing this as a kid, after watching Markiplier play it on his channel, and I thought it was great- but I didn't necessarily grasp the extent of this game until now....Watching your playthrough, after going through a really tough couple years where I basically withdrew from everyone....wow. It hits so much harder than before.
Thank you for playing incredible games like this, not just Genshin, and sharing them with your community!!

[zeliumite]

Man. What a game. First of all, I'm so glad dish decided to play through and experience this.

However, this is where I feel like bringing up some things that bugged me while watching this playthrough. I think that this game has a really deep and multi-layered message behind it and I feel like I've only grasped a portion of it. However, what I can definitely say (from my perspective at least) is that taking the route of simply bashing the narrator just feels like it's turning a blind eye to what the game is trying to convey. It's wilful ignorance.

Mini disclaimer: I mean no offence to anyone with this, I simply wish to draw more attention to the positives this game leaves us with, instead of focusing on the wrong things.

It's funny because when everyone thought that Coda was the one suffering from mental illnesses, and was making their journey towards accepting and understanding it, they were all fine and even supportive, mainly due to their interaction with Coda being "positive". They thought his games were deep and insightful.

Yet, when this is turned around and it is revealed that perhaps it was the narrator who was struggling with a mental illness all along, and was in the midst of their journey to accepting and understanding it, the chat immediately turned into this echo chamber of slinging insults and treating the narrator as basically scum. This was most likely because their interaction with the narrator, now given context, was "negative". He lied to the audience/player and seemingly admits to hurting a friend because they were unable to deal with their projection in a more healthy manner.

Not once from the start of the game til that point had anyone stopped to consider the ethicality of showing someone else's games to motivate them to design again. Only when the narrator revealed that he had shown the game to his own friends, did the chat start to realise that they themselves have been ostensibly invading the privacy of Coda this whole time as well.

This is when it got pretty frustrating to watch for me. We can see from the chat that at some points, some of them even mentioned that they saw abit of themselves in the narrator, or that they used to be similar. It's clear, especially close to the very end of the game, that this game all along was like a journal chronicling the journey of the narrator, from still being in denial and unaware of their own issues, to slowly realising their flaws and the need for change and to do better. It's a beautiful journey to witness because it's a very raw and vulnerable side to a person. So when the chat immediately jumps to calling the narrator all sorts of degrading or insulting things, it felt repulsive.

Why is it that we can be so understanding of some people's mental illnesses (Coda) and yet, so rejective towards others that also suffer from mental illnesses (narrator). Is it solely because of what we deem to be appropriate behaviour, without regard for context? Are we to judge others based on what little we may understand, and jump to conclusions/actions? If that were the case, aren't we doing precisely the same thing the narrator himself did. He had the excuse of his own demons that he had not been able to process yet, but what excuse do we as an audience have? It truly feels to me that such acts dismissiveness towards the narrator is, in itself, toxic behaviour too.

This game tells us to not jump to conclusions. It tells us that one's perspective isn't always the right or objective perspective. It gives us context and more of an understanding of the mindset that could lead to destructive behaviour. It shows us that in making assumptions, we may end up damaging or hurting someone more than they may already be. And I'm sure there's alot more lessons that can be drawn. It just frustrates me deeply to see the chat unknowingly walk into the same pitfall that the narrator did, while berating the narrator's choices. Ironic. But that's just my opinion.

If anyone has read this far, I truly appreciate you taking your time. I hope you got something out of this at least.

[zzaeris]

just wanted to point out that i searched what lampposts represent and google says "
What is going to be or has been said should not be told to anyone else. This phrase is usually said along with information that needs to be kept secret." holy shit it all makes sense

[bellamolnar]

when you put "the game you feel guilty for playing" i thought that i wouldnt understand but holy crap. i never thought a game could make you feel guilty, the same feeling you get when you realize you made a mistake but you dont have enough time to apologize.
we're playing coda's game that we now know he didnt want any one to see. we unknowingly broke the protection that he had for himself, and it's not our faults, but MAN, it hurts. we had no idea but still it feels like it is our fault.

[cube]

one of the things that still sticks out to me (after knowing how the game ends) is the moment when davey describes coda’s period of happiness and holding this aura of happiness about him as “gross” - that he was “grossly happy.” its just so clear at that moment that the narrator was never genuinely concerned about coda’s wellbeing; since coda was in a good place mentally, davey no longer had anything to fixate on and occupy himself with, and so he describes it as such. it feels weird to him and it puts davey in a bad place because he cant feed off of coda’s low moments; he cant lean into his savior complex. he wasnt able to view coda as a project in that moment because there wasnt anything for him to fix.
he has this warped perception of coda throughout the game that his depression was making his creative outlets continuously unfulfilling, when coda clarifies that his low points were just part of the creative process and davey still cant seem to grasp that. and it also makes his apologies at the end of the game that much less genuine, since he goes right back to begging coda to create more games; so he can change them into what HE wants them to be, not leave them to be what coda intended for them to be. just to feel better about himself, even if that stripped coda of his own outlet.
im probably reading into that one line way too much but i remembered it after finishing the video and it kinda just clicked since this game is clearly depicting a toxic friendship between davey and coda

[fragaria.vesca]

The cleaning part was Coda's attempt to talking to Davey, wasn't it?
Coda tried to imply to Davey that what Davey does is just keepinv on telling him over and over to do something FOR HIM and giving him "sweet words" in return. Davey didn't get it. He changed that game too cause he thought that cleaning the house endlessly had no purpose.

[TheFruitAssassin]

Honestly, the foreshadowing in some of the editing slapped me in the face and I love it

[Salt_Mage]

This game pairs realy well with Davey’s (the real person) blog post about how he felt after releasing The Stanley Parable in 2013.

His struggles coping with the fact that his work would no longer be seen in the way he intended it, that it quickly outgrew him and thrust him into a space that was unknown and painful for him.

This game to me represents coming to an understanding with your own struggles and uncertainty.

[Yarathe_great]

Coda reminds me of myself actually


Starting something then dropping and starting something new without finishing any of em and it just goes in a loop 😭

[littlemoon]

“ you keep going even if you don’t like it anymore because it’s all you have “
— dish
.

[irawri]

I didn't expect to watch through this whole thing in one sitting tbh, but 20min became an hour and an hour led me to watching it all-- So interesting, unique, and fascinating! Thanks dish for playing this bc I really wouldn't have stumbled across it otherwise lol

[blankness]

Omg I have so much nostalgia watching another playthrough of this game haha...I remember watching the now-big gaming YouTubers playing this

[hyacynth]

I've watched playthroughs of this game from so many thoughtful people and every time something about the whole ending sequence just makes me teary eyed. It's so....artfully made, I still don't really know how to express my thoughts and feelings on it, but... ahh, I'm so glad you played it.