I’ve never really celebrated Halloween, and neither has Papa Strawberry – it’s always been more of “oh, that American spooky holiday – not really our thing”. This year, though, the season does feel somewhat festive, thanks mainly to the in-game events being held in several games that the Junior Strawberries and I have been playing lately on Roblox: Grow A Garden, Dress To Impress and 99 Nights In The Forest (mainly the latter).
(Credit: Fishfishfishyay / 99 Nights in the Forest Fandom Wiki)
At base, 99 Nights already lends itself well to a spooky theme – what with the being isolated in a shadowy forest, having to survive attacks from cultists with deranged perpetual grins, and escaping from wolves and deer monsters at night. The Halloween season takes this further across a total of three weeks, one update per week, with new theme-aligned mechanics (trick-or-treating, potion-making), themed classes to be obtained (Undead, Necromancer, Witch, Vampire), and activities (carnival games, hedge maze), all released at a steady, hype-building pace.
I was the most excited for the hedge maze update because I love hedge mazes even IRL, but now that it’s here I’m feeling like I might be a bit too chicken to actually go in, hehehe.
JS1 also played at least two Dress To Impress Halloween updates – narrowly escaping from shadowy monsters in a gothic Victorian mansion and an abandoned hospital to acquire, at the end – *dramatic angelic chorus sound* – two really nice clothing sets for her collection (accessories included, accessories are always fun). The graphics and atmosphere were really quite good! Had me practically biting my nails watching her hide in lockers and behind lampshades while the monsters swooshed by.
Unfortunately we haven’t had much time to squeeze in Grow A Garden, but the new pets from the Halloween event would have been, as JS1 likes to put it, slay (pun fully intended!). I would very much have liked a headless horseman for my garden; he looks cool and would have gone nicely with my giant pumpkin (which I have cleverly transformed into a chill-out terrace from which I survey the rest of the server). Oh well. As I always tell the Junior Strawberries, you can’t get everything.
Looking back at these, what’s really interesting to me is how games reflect and even magnify cultural…trends? Seasons? Practices? I certainly wouldn’t have felt much of the Halloween spirit (ha! I’m killing it here with the puns – wait, did I do it again?) without these in-game themed events. Mall decorations and shopping displays at the supermarket are one thing; I can just walk right by them without giving them more than a second or two of attention. An in-game event, on the other hand, I actually engage with. Look forward to. Participate in as part of some kind of community. And that…is culture in a nutshell.
I suppose this is more true of live service games, which are frequently and regularly updated by developers actively seeking to engage their playerbase. What better way to do this than to incorporate real-life festivities? To say, “hey, we’re just like you, and if you’re having fun IRL, you can have it here too”? In this way, a live service game functions both as a reflection of its playerbase and a medium for dissemination of real-life cultural norms.
Because I note with some amusement that the Chinese-based live service games that I play have zero Halloween content. Halloween is really not much of a thing in China, I understand, and even frowned upon by some as a “Western thing”. Genshin, despite “taking inspiration” from myriad real-world cultures, has completely ignored the event (although to be fair it does for most events except the Chinese New Year aka Lantern Rite). Love and Deepspace launched a boyband(?) themed update and rhythm game shortly before. Both reflect, I believe, the inclinations of their core playerbase (or what they regard as their core playerbase).
Me, I’m perfectly happy to enjoy the Halloween festivities in the games launched by more “Western” game developers, as well as take a break from it all in the games launched by Chinese game developers. In fact, I might be feeling spook-happy enough to finally take on this game I’ve been eyeing for a while: Silent Cleaning, by Kao (yes, the household cleaning products company)…
