Questaholic

Asset pack from: Goldmetal BE3 Lecture

Workaholism, Completionism, Perfectionism: the triad of -isms that seemingly seeks

to control our lives, searching for each remaining drop of effort at the expense of

everything else. The more they consume us, the more our work becomes our worth

and whatever our best efforts may be may never seem good enough as we continue

reaching for that unattainable high that is always one rung further up the ladder than

we can reach. The world feels narrower as our vision focuses in on the next task that

must be done... and the next one... and the next, until the point where at times work

is all we can see and we feel as if we are dragging ourselves through mud and fire,

slowing down with each step. We may forget to take care of ourselves, our

relationships may go neglected, our sleep may be chipped away at for just a few more

hours of work as we tunnel vision into what begins to feel like life or death. In our

desire to do it all, we become so bogged down by everything we are doing, that either

the journey is an unenjoyable struggle through and through, or we become unable to

attain that goal.

In Questaholic, we sought to experientially emulate this particular perception of the

concept “Workaholism” through the mechanics of the game, while narratively positing

its solution – balance. By placing the player into a classic adventure game, the player

is implicitly told that they should take as many quests as they can, but the mechanics

tell a different story, slowing down the player as they take on too much baggage at

once. Each quest, and all of the work that it entails, is its own weight. The narrative

of the story pushes the player to respect their own limits, to drop some of that

baggage when it is needed, and to live and work at one’s own pace.