The Philosophy of The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide - Wisecrack Edition 

Man I wish I could play the Stanley Parable again. But I'm still working on the "Go Outside" achievement.

Unplugging the phone in the Stanley Parable was like my top gaming experience.

stanley parable blew my mind beginner's guide broke my heart

Just now realizing after having played those games a bunch and seeing people discuss whether or not Sekiro should have an easy mode or something like that; Really shows how The Begginer's Guide was dealing with the same feelings way before they came to be relevant, one side who wishes that all games should be playable by everyone no matter how much you have to change it (The Narrator) and people who just want their work or the work of others to be respected for what they are both in a design perspective and creative endeavour (CODA) and how those opinions can fluctuate so much they could easily come from the same person (Davey Wreden)

Hmm... My entire experience with The Stanley Parable, was watching Let's Plays. I want you to sit and think about how dark that idea is.

Ironically, sharing your own interpretations is part of the game.

I have never had a game so deeply affect me than The Beginners Guide. Whether it's Ryan Roth's incredible soundtrack that I listened to every day for months, or how I'd replay the cleaning game over and over just in the comfort of the atmosphere, or how the idea of Coda helped me seek help for my feelings. I can't describe it. If you haven't played it, play it.

The Beginners Guide legit made me cry, I loved every second of it, it’s a great example of an artistic experience, sometimes I felt like I was walking on an installation in an art museum.

The Beginners Guide convinced me that walking simulators had worth

11:32 *The Beginner’s Guide* 13:06 “Email me” 15:29 Level Modification 17:43 Dealing with Criticism 19:10 Critical Analysis 20:31 Interpretation 21:13 _BetterHelp_

The broom closet ending is my favorite ending.

The Beginner's Game is the only game to actually make me cry from the ending.

See, this is what I tried to tell my wife when I first took the job, but she wouldn't listen! It's not slaving away as a mindless corporate drone, it's understanding the world through art! I still love her though... I miss her. Maybe while they're renovating the office this year, I can take a vacation with her, make up for lost time.

I play The Beginner's Guide about every year. Something about it just speaks to me, and it never fails to make me emotional.

For those that are not aware Crows Crows Crows is developing a new Stanley parable expansion that is about doubling the size of it

7:39 It's also implied in the "Go Outside" achievement,which can be obtained by not playing the game for 5 years straight.

as an anxious person who doesn't play video games there's nothing that terrifies me more than walking aimlessly while I feel that something is going to jump scare me

I loved Stanley Parable. I didn't know Beginner's Guide was a thing until I watched this video. That dude just made another $10 thanks to you!

Oh, did you get the broom closet ending? The broom closet ending was my favorite!

This might have been something you've all already thought of and discarded. But I think The Legend of Korra has a lot that can be drawn from it on the place of a absolute holy figure in modern society. Basically, the avatar represents a absolute good holy figure that the world looks to to keep balance. Throughout the series there is a lot of commentary and conflict come from the idea of whether or not the world actually needs the avatar.

People who enjoyed The Beginner's Guide could also enjoy reading Nabokov's Pale Fire. Similar concept but more complex.

Oh man, this really hits the right spot for me. I have been without real inspiration the last months due to some personal stuff but getting in touch with the things i love and value really helps bringing me back on track, even if just a little. Great video, and thank you.

*Davey* "Games can be an art form and more than point a to point b steps" *Hideo Kojima with Death Stranding* "I agree"

RU-vid: This video you watched a year ago when it first came out - how about you watch it again?

I spent a whole semester studying The Stanley Parable, so it was exciting to see this video! Granted, I focused my studies on the issues of Free Will vs. Determinism, and how the relationship between the Narrator(s), Stanley, and the Player portrayed them. It didn't even occur to me that this was a commentary on gaming, and honestly I feel kinda dumb not realizing it for as long as I studied it, but that made this watch all the more interesting, I may just pick up The Beginner's Guide next.

I needed this video after I finished the Beginner's Guide. At the very least it def a game that leaves an impression and makes you think. I instantly wanted to see discussion on it but could only find a bit on the steam community page. This is what I was really hoping to find.

The Beginners Guide is one of the greatest ever. It's so mind blowing and should be played by all.

Thank you for this. There are so many people who play through The Beginners Guide and simply chalk it up as a “pretentious walking simulator” because they cannot see context and just take everything at its face value

If games are "walking simulators" then passive visual arts are "looking simulators."

I needed a Stanley Parable fix while I work on the Go outside achievement.

Please make a video about Jonathan Blow's The Witness and/or Braid. Both games have a huge phylosophical weight to pull and are aesthetically awesome.

Jared can you please make a Wisecrack Video about The promised neverland I'm curious to know about the theories, historical background and why it's such a great anime

I'm so glad i paused this video and watched a playthrough of The Beginners Guide before returning to this video. I hadn't even heard of the game before this video :0

Have you gotten the broom closet ending? The broom closet ending is my favourite ending!

Philosophy. Of. Neil. Gaiman.

I was waiting for this day. And Wisecrack done did it. Thank you.

Did you guys miss all the shit that went on with “Better Help” a few months ago? That seems like a dubious business decision.

Neither of these are games. To the extent that they are art, they aren't games. Games require winstates and/or failstates, they require structure and challenge. The experience of "playing" The Stanley Parable is the exact same as watching a YT video of it. When Meier talked about a game being a series of decisions he was talking about gameplay decisions, decisions which impacted your success or failure (e.g. which units you're going to move next in Sid Meier's Civilisation), not the cosmetic choice of which dialogue clip you want to hear next. Davey acts like he's too good for videogames, but he's yet to make one. The Beginner's Guide is definitely more interesting than The Stanley Parable because it involves characters and has a few interesting visuals, but it's got all the same problems too. Also, a BetterHelp ad read in 2019? You're still doing those? I thought we all agreed it was fucked up to charge depressed people extortionate rates to access "help" from under-qualified therapists.

Hey wanted to let you guys know that the videos you make are so incredibly insightful and the value you birth into this world with your work is something that I marvel at. The critical thinking and meaning beyond the superficial are both things we need more of in all of our lives and I appreciate the all the work and love you put into your videos

Have you tried his other game Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist ? It has a similar theme, exploring subversion of player expectation through meta narration and gameplay. It seems to invite the player into the mind of a game developer, designing a player experience and encountering real time obstacles along the way.

You guys should do philosophy of The Maxx!

Davey Wreden once gave a talk at a college (I don't remember when or where, but the video is somewhere here on RU-vid) where he explained that Coda was a stand-in for a friend of his as Davey was going through the worst of his post-Stanley Parable depression. The quote "When I am around you I feel physically ill" was something that friend actually said to Davey.

This game damaged me so much it took me 3 years to start playing games again.

The comments are mostly about The Stanley Parable so I just want to shout out that The Beginner's Guide was an amazing experience. Reaching the top of The Tower with all those messages broke me personally because I have a tendency to take my insights of people as facts, disregarding what they think and how they feel about themselves. The game was a pretty cathartic experience.

Are you still supporting betterhelp? Why?

one month left and i can go inside. last played stanley parable on 2.6.16

I really enjoy both of these games, so I'm happy to see you guys covering them! I would love to see you guys cover "Presentable Liberty."

Played both of these games. Really really great experiences!

I'm only halfway through the video but I have to say this is an excellent analysis. Seriously the person or people responsible for this work, if you're reading this, I appreciate the effort and thought put into this. You're literally practicing what you're preaching here by thinking about games more critically.

In music, we have a thing called D.C. al Coda, which essentially means to jump back to a specified mark in the music and replay a part, before skipping to the Coda. The Coda is usually the ending of the song. Maybe the name Coda is a nod to that integral part of music creation and playing?

Old video but this game seems to have borrowed a lot from a contemporary era play called Rosencrats and Guildenstein are dead In the play the two hamlet characters begin to realize they are in a woven narrative with it breaking it down until eventually they get to the scene in Hamlet in which someone proclaims their death The main theme is questioning whether they are alive to begin with. And if they are not alive since they are a product of the narrative then are we alive as we are a product of the environment I assume similar Stanley or games are so limited in choices is because we as players are not used to one

Not the same developer, but I feel like “Getting Over It” has a similar bend

Whatever makes you feel the way you want to feel, be that angry, happy, sad, scared, or whatever else, without harming others is a worthwhile endeavor in my opinion.

I rewatched this 2 seconds ago and came here to see if my interpretation of The Beginner's Guide was off. Looks like I'm not alone, Coda is very real and Reedan(?) is putting his sadness and insecurities and self on someone else's art. And it's also comforting to know that I'm not the only one who cried at the end. Beautiful game... I mean walking simulator.

I didn't even know I wanted this episode but when I saw it on my subscription feed I was so hyped! I really love both of those games and there are no better than wisecrack to talk about their philosophy

There's a few interesting themes and motifs within The Beginner's Guide that I enjoy discussing with other people who've played it. The general ideas of gender within Coda-the-character's games, the repetition of "Devil Tower Star" near the beginning and the very end of the game, etc. I have an interpretation of TBG that resonates with me and my experiences personally, but which I don't feel is definitive.

Wow. I can't believe how obvious the significance of the 3 dots is once it's pointed out. I never figured it out and I've played through The Beginner's Guide a few times.

The Philosophy of Shin Megami Tensei.

Been waiting a while for this

10:22 omfg all my thinking like fell into place after this segment. ty wisecrack.

I’d like to see a video where you break down the concept of over saturation. More specifically, why some franchise with many films (marvel) have largely not been over saturated and others with fewer films (fast and furious, Harry Potter) have.

My current favorite walking simulator is probably Fallout 4.

Great video, thanks for your interpretation of the games. I loved The Stanley Parable, but was never fully able to understand what The Beginner's Guide tried to tell me.

better help... is a scam. Bettere way to find help is to google it, or even Bing.

I like to believe that the stanley parable is more saying “look at how clever and meaningful this is, video games CAN be art” than saying “video games that are literally just pressing buttons and aren’t meaningful are entire wastes of time” because the argument there is a little dangerous. I think it discredits ‘fun’ entirely, and may lead people to become nihilistic cynics that take the meaning and happiness away from everything in their search of meaning and happiness. i love insightful commentary and multiple layers as much as the next guy don’t get me wrong, that’s why i watch the channel, but it worries me that somebody may interpret that message as “well shit yeah i suppose i’ll just not play video games ever again then, it’s right- it’s just pressing buttons,” therefore discrediting their value as well as their potential as a real art form. anyone can be a cynic and break down any recreational activity into its core parts, like “sports are just using your feet to repeatedly kick a ball” or “board games are throwing dice repeatedly,” but that perspective entirely takes away what can make those experiences *more*, what can lead to new friends, less trapped in tedium and more living a healthier life, finding meaning in things more than desperately searching for it. applying that mentality and discrediting everything that isn’t the most important, layered piece of art they’d ever laid their eyes on just isn’t the direction i want anyone to go. it’s entirely possible for people to enjoy simple, fun games ( that can be reduced to just pressing buttons ) AND brilliantly intricate webs of poetry and brain food. EDIT: whoops, I wrote this without seeing the other half of the video on beginner’s guide. once jared said “it isn’t that people should stop pressing buttons and stop playing video games, it’s that by critically engaging with the games we’re playing, it makes them more worthwhile” or something it came together in a much more satisfying way. I ENTIRELY agree with that.

I ruined my chances to get the Stanley Parable achievement for not playing it for 5 years because I had to go back to it after finishing The Beginner's Guide. The most interesting bit I found is that, if you manage to break the game so you can access unintended areas, you can find the 3 dots from The Beginner's Guide behind the fence to the right of the warehouse entrance. I'm not sure what this suggests, but it was an awesome find.

6:30 this game is *the Matrix* if the Matrix was clever...

This game just blew me away! It takes time to unveil the true meaning but patience is the key. I got almost all the endings

How about the philosophy of 'Homestuck' and its epilogues? I guarantee that there are massive amounts of thought put into it.

Hey wisecrack what about dark souls 3 and sekiro, Love you guys!!

What do you wise guys think of Toby Fox's Undertale and Deltarune (what's available of it, anyway) as philosophical meta-commentaries on how we play videogames and interact with stories?

Always thought the message in stanley's parable was that choice is more than picking an alternative, is making your own alternatives. Because if a third party set the alternatives you got, no matter which one you pick, the path was set by this third parthy such as its ending, like shadows on a cave passing as choices...

*Yes! I long waited for this.*

Keanu Reeves’ The Matrix + Will Ferrell’s Stranger than Fiction + all the other working office movies = *The Stanley Parable?*

Coda, in music, is an ending, that is not in the end of the score. It is somewhere in the middle, and (simplified) after getting to the end of the song, you repeat, and replay it until the Coda (Da capo al coda). Maybe I'm a biased musician, but seems like a very deliberate, not-so-subtle reference to me =) Thank you for the interesting video

I think that things like the Stanley Parable are sort of a way to think outside the box in some ways. We would never of found the 'jump out the window' ending without something thinking outside the box, 'hey, what would happen if I tried to jump up these desks and go out the window' or even the other many endings like the baby button one for 5 hours. Someone had to think outside the box in order to get those endings. It may also be satire on the gaming world, but also a sort of outside the box style gameplay where it could test your mind if you don't look up all the answers.

I haven't played either game but I love some Wisecrack.

Spec Ops: The Line was great at making me question a lot of the things I did in all first/third person shooters

I'm not sure if it does exist, but there should be a secret ending where if you listen to him/ignore him enough it will be a true free will ending reflecting your choice was yours and not just because it was the opposite

I only realized pressing buttons was an allegory for games when it was practically spelt out to me while watching the phone ending.

Apparently the black monolith in the art ending is a glitch, but Davey decided to not get rid of it after people said they wanted him to keep it in the game.

Do the philosophy of Undertale

I loved the beginner's guide so much first game in a long time to make me feel any emotion.....i was so sad when I beat the "game"

In the 'essence of divine art' ending, the black monolith is actually a bug. It's not supposed to be there, and it obscures the text.

What about Dr. Langeskov, the Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist? That’s my favorite of the three. Or even the Stanley Parable demo? That in itself is it’s own game and experience even though it is technically a “demo”. This is such a good video!!!!

Is Jared still real? Are my choices on this site my own? Is this comment against my will?

For the Stanley Parable, I think the point of the straight through mission’s name “Freedom” is that the game is trying to convince the player that their time would be better spent away from the computer. So getting through the game quickly, and turning it off would be freedom for the player.

Wow! awesome analysis of an awesome video game. Greetings from a game developer studio from Mexico city. We are Wisecrack fans. Keep up the good work.

Video games are some of my favorite kinds of art. I could go on but I don’t feel well atm. It’s amazing though

Philosophy of House M.D next please!

Hey Wisecrack, would you consider doing the Philosophy behind the game "Little Inferno"? - If you haven't played it, don't read about it and play it. Average play time is about 3-5 hours. I thought it had an interesting message.

That guy saying "video games will never be art" reminds me of that line from a former president of the Michigan Savings Bank "the horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad".

2019 and still seeing better help ads?

Due to the title i assumed youtube put this in my feed years later (its been doing that lately) but its a new video lol

Your sponsor is so unique and I love it.

Could you do a special on kreia from Star Wars kotor, she’s a wisecrackian Nirvana

During of one of Jared's merchandising and the several youtube ads, I started thinking.... "Are we ever going to be free of advertising? is that the ONLY reason why content exists nowadays???"

I like the content you guys put out, but I would seriously reconsider using betterhelp as a sponsor

I dont even know if i want to play it, but the idea of this game is amazing

You know I'll zoom out on the scope, and if you think about it, a lot of what we do today is what is described at the beginning of the Stanley Parable, not just games. Pressing buttons on a screen as we're instructed. Work is just the same. Even the pressing buttons part for many jobs. Studying too, even if not always clicking buttons. It applies to driving, but it adds the fact of pulling levers and spinning wheels. A big part of our lives is just doing actions as we're instructed, what the action itself is... Doesn't really matter. It can be soul rending nonetheless if you let it.