The "Can You Pet the Dog?" Twitter account is reshaping the games industry
Well? Can you?
Sometimes, from the dark dungeons of the internet, a Twitter account emerges with such power that it rocks the industry to its core. Grizzled veterans question their designs, their life choices, their wisdom. Paradigms shift. Bars are raised.
Thanks to "Can You Pet the Dog?", you can pet the dog in Enter The Gungeon. The ramifications are profound.
Rover reporter Dominic Tarason did cover this momentous event last week, when the final update Entered the Gungeon. Still, I can't help but feel that Dom didn't pay proper attention to the forces behind the change.
A causal link is far from certain. Developers Dodge Roll Games could well have been planning on implementing dog affection independently of novelty Twitter feeds, and merely engaged with them in a canny and ultimately successful attempt to elicit yet more coverage for The Gungeon. I do not wish to believe this is so.
I believe that "Can You Pet the Dog" is causing developers the world over to fundamentally reevaluate their design choices. I think this is but the start of a tsunami, a sea change that will reforge our relationship with every virtual canine. Perhaps with all animalia.
Other examples have already begun to emerge, albeit in a more disturbing direction than I'd have hoped.
At the very least, "Can You Pet The Dog?" is finally prompting leading industry figures to ask the right questions.
Now someone just needs to make "Can You Belong To a Union?".