When I first tried out Kind Words back in 2019, I'd never experienced anything quite like it. As a game that's all about writing and receiving anonymous letters to and from real people, Popcannibal drew me into a cozy little room where I could share my worries or concerns, find comfort and encouragement thanks to the words of others, and try to respond in kind. Not only did it help me through some difficult times - including the isolation of lockdown that would later come in 2020 during the pandemic - it also made me feel like I was doing something good in return.
In an increasingly online world, where social media is more prevalent than ever, Kind Words felt like a much-need breath of fresh air, providing a social space that's designed to foster compassion and understanding. Now, with the upcoming release of Kind Words 2 this year, Popcannibal recognized a need to expand on what came before, while still maintaining the same spirit of the original game.
"The last four years of moderating Kind Words has been full of surprises. The good news is that people are generally good at heart," Popcannibal founder, designer, and coder Ziba Scott says. "The biggest difficulty has been keeping them on-topic. There's just so much that they want to share about their joys, struggles, passions and ideas. If you give people an open mic, they're going to use it in unpredictable ways. It was never all going to fit neatly into Kind Words. Kind Words 2 is going to do a much better job welcoming a broader set of expressions."
Community and care
In order to do that, Kind Words 2 will open up our world by letting us step outside the room in the first game. With a city to explore, we'll have new ways to express ourselves and communicate with others - from saying hello to our neighbors, to reciting our own poetry in a cafe, and even sharing our wishes on a mountaintop.
Of course, we'll still be able to write letters anonymously, with features from the first game getting some added polish. Those who have a Kind Words save file will also be able to find all their letters, stickers, and favorites in the sequel. In fact, the original game and Kind Words 2 will be running on the same server, so players can talk to each other, with requests and responses written in one game showing up in the other. This means that anyone playing the second experience will be part of the Kind Words community, which will continue to be supported as a whole in both games.
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It's also important that you feel safe to share your troubles or express yourself, which is why anonymity was such a big part of the original game. Not only did this help to ensure the safety of players, but it also offered peace of mind that you could feel seen and heard without being judged. While Kind Words 2 is expanding in terms of the ways in which we can express ourselves and talk to one another, we'll still do so anonymously.
"Everything in Kind Words 2 will go through the same moderation backend that we've been improving non-stop since 2019," says Scott. "We will continue to enforce anonymity. Just as important, we are doing our darndest to create a vibe that brings out the thoughtful, chill, and nurturing sides of our community. That means more of Luigi Guatieri's intensely-huggable visuals and Clark Aboud's instantly-feel-good music."
Be here
"In designing Kind Words 2 we've stripped out any type of feedback that would make you wonder if you're "doing it right" or if you're as good as anyone else in the game. You never have to worry if you're appreciated. You are. Just be here."
Ziba Scott
Above all, Kind Words 2 aims to provide a place where you can be yourself without the pressure that can come from being on social media. It's easy to worry you're not doing it right, or that you don't fit in, with follower counts and likes becoming their own kind of metric for success or popularity. With Popcannibal aiming to extend the ethos of the first game, the follow up is ultimately setting out to give us a social space where we can find comfort, encourage others, and simply be, without quantifiable feedback getting in the way. And I, for one, think it's just what I need more of this year.
"People are endlessly hungry to be heard and to cheer other people on," Scott says. "It's wonderful and a lot of popular social media platforms facilitate this. But they also complicate it for commercial purposes. They attach numbers that suggest how you should feel about yourself and your interactions. Likes, retweets, followers, subscribers. These numbers can help bind a person to a platform by tugging at ambitions and insecurities. Those feelings have their appropriate places in life, but they're not particularly valuable in a context of just making human connections and being truthful about your experiences."
"In designing Kind Words 2 we've stripped out any type of feedback that would make you wonder if you're "doing it right" or if you're as good as anyone else in the game," Scott adds. "You never have to worry if you're appreciated. You are. Just be here."
