Kind Words is a game about poetry.
Actually, it’s a game about writing and receiving letters to and from anonymous strangers while listening to lo-fi hip hop, but bear with me. It was released by indie dev Popcannibal mere months before the world would need it most; in September of 2019.
What’s the Gameplay Like?
Kind words blurs the lines between social media and gaming. When you boot it up for the first time you’re given a brief tutorial and lay of the land, which exists entirely in a (customizable) bedroom where you will do your writing. There are three main activities in the game. First, you can “say nice things” which are short messages the user can write and send flying into the wholesome ether in the form of paper airplanes. These paper airplanes float across the screen of other users and can be opened optionally. They are typically things like inspirational quotes, jokes, words of affirmation, or short poems. They work great as a short break from the important work of replying to letter requests, which can range from funny and light-hearted to gut-wrenching and emotional. Luckily the fantastic and ethereal lo-fi tracks produced by Clark Aboud help guide you back to center if things get heavy.
Reaching Out
Sending and replying to requests is the bulk of the game. Players can write a request in the form of a personal struggle, a problem they need advice on, a thought they just want to get out anonymously, a request for a cookie recipe, how to be a good D&D Dungeon Master, how to fix your code in python, or how to say goodbye to someone you love. Anything, really. Nothing is pre-defined and you can write whatever you want as long as you’re being respectful.
Those requests get shuffled through another anonymous player’s request feed and they can reply to it. That’s it. The conversation ends there. There is no way to respond to back to anything you receive and you don’t get their username or their gamer tag. You get one reply from a stranger. You can get rewarded for your reply in the form of a sticker sent by the user you replied to and you can give stickers as awards for replies you receive or as attachments, but the interaction ends there. A single exchange between strangers.
Be Kind. Economically.
In my mind, the most beautiful aspect of the game is how much space you’re given to articulate your thoughts. In making a request, you’re given 7 lines of 34 characters. Not words, characters. Every space, period, comma, and letter takes up a character. This forces you to refine your thoughts and avoid “text walling.” Which is very easy to do when trying to unravel one’s emotions. In replying to requests you get 14 lines of 33 characters. This acts as a very useful writing exercise that forces you into efficiency of thought. You have to think deeply about what you want to say and how to say it precisely.
The Poetry of Human Connection
When I was in college I took a writing class on poetry. Before then I thought that I didn’t understand poetry. My professor said it best when he told us “it’s easy to feel like poetry mocking you if you don’t understand every minute piece of symbolism as it drags on and on.” Then later in the class, we had a section on short poetry. An art form that forces writers to convey an emotion in as few words as possible. To simply say something beautiful or convey an emotion in a few sentences seemed a lot more appealing and unpretentious to me. It also posed a fun writing challenge as a student and as a writer.
Kind Words does the same thing. It forces you to articulate the emotion you want to send or receive in an economical way.
It’s about more than words.
It’s a game about empathy, support, and caring for one another. It’s a medium that lets you yell into the dark and get a reply that tells you you’re not alone in the human experience. In my view that’s poetry.
I encourage you to pick it up on Steam for $5 and participate. You might need it more than you think.
I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Mary Oliver:
