Lim

Year: 2012

Creator: Merrit Kopas

Country: US

Platform: Browser

Lim’s theme is violence – of asserting your individuality or conforming. Users decipher a maze, represented as a multi-colored square. As they navigate, they pass brown and dark blue blocks within a series of rooms. These irregular blocks react harshly to sharing the space, shaking and colliding with the player. As the player’s block is pushed around, being knocked outside of the maze entirely is a risk. Once exiled from the maze, players are isolated from the action of the game and are forced to figure out a tricky re-entry. The four arrow keys are used for movement, and then there is a the blend button. When activated, the user’s block assimilates with the color of the neighboring blocks, neutralizing the volatile blocks enough to pass through. However, blending has consequences. Lim ultimately is optimistic and implies that not every block is reduced to its color. Upon completion of the game, players are rewarded with a sense of identification with something that is unlike any of the other blocks previously encountered. Lim was inducted into the Games for Change 2013 Festival Babycastles Hall of Fame.

LGBTQ references in this game: 

Citations:

  1. Jenkins, H. (January 11, 2013). A game level where you can’t pass. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2013/01/a-game-level-where-you-cant-pass.html
  2. Keogh, B. (May 24, 2013). Retrieved from http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/lim
  3. Lim. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/lim
  4. On Dys4ia and Lim. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://thiscageisworms.com/2012/09/05/on-dys4ia-and-lim