Play Nice, Stay Kind

A game that promotes compassion is sweeping the internet

- Dennis Cavernelis

LEFT: In the online game Kind Words you’re represented by a character sitting in a comfortable bedroom with relaxing background music. Unlike most other online games or social media there are no puzzles to solve or likes to accumulate – players can only send or read supportive messages, posted by anonymous fellow players from around the world.

FINDING kindness online can be about as tricky as shopping for toilet paper during lockdown. It’s an emotion rarely associated with the internet which, thanks to social media, has become a bit like the world’s biggest library, brimming with information both useful and useless – and seemingly packed with the world’s worst people.

But a new online game hopes to change the way people interact in cyberspace with, simply, kind words. And heaven knows we could all use a kind word or two in these difficult times.

Kind Words isn’t a conventional online game, although it involves tens of thousands of players. Basically, it’s about writing a short letter. Actually, that’s all it is.

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT

Kind Words is currently available only for computers and is downloadable from the Steam online videogame store (store. steampowered.com) for around R33.

Once it’s loaded, you’ll be represented by a character in a comfortable bedroom, with relaxing background music.

There are two modes. The first lets you read requests from other players, usually a short letter about something that’s worrying them, and write a reply. You might get a sticker sent back in response, but that’s the only communication between you. Players remain anonymous and are identified only by an initial.