S3: Vibe Evangelist

Olli Olli World encourages you to not roll your eyes at its absurdly charming supplemental fun.

"Skate Park #4" by Cedric Meleard is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Olli Olli World, released 2022, developed by Roll7, available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. The game is played from a 2D side perspective. Simple controls let you initiate jumps, grabs, and grinds in relatively short (about a minute) levels that vary in layout and challenges.

I enjoyed a borderline cliché upbringing in a neighborhood outside of Houston, Texas. From about the third grade until we were old enough to drive, we rode our bikes everywhere. We would build ramps and line up to make the jump one at a time. We would find hills to race down. We would attach a wagon to the bike using rope, then compete in absurd chariot races.

There is a pure joy in doing a thing because it is fun, alongside others, and appreciating the moment. No competition, no rivalry, no angst. Just “hey man, nice jump. How did you do that?!”

Skateboarding is really a perfect vehicle for this joy. It’s simple and nostalgic, but it also provides depth to a deeper culture and level of skill. 

But, upon examination, there are a few different worlds presented by skateboarding. You have the X-Games (EXTREME) with ridiculous ramps, aqueducts of Red Bull, and sponsorship adorned blimps too extreme for most skies. Then, you have the thing more akin to what I described above: friends watching friends attempt tricks at the local skate park. Friends building ramps in an empty parking lot. Friends slurping a boba tea (I live in northern California!) as they ride from one hangout to another.

It is that relaxed, floppy-Vans-sneaker-warm-SoCal-sun-setting-along-the-beach vibe that is my preferred milieu from skateboarding. As it so happens, this is the righteous vibe preferred by Olli Olli World as well.

Olli Olli World is a skateboarding game, which means careful timing and tricks and combos and high scores. But more importantly, it is a Vibe Evangelist, which in this case stands in for a narrative to bring purpose, context, and an amazing warm feeling to the experience.

In many ways, that game is a demonstration of an extreme commitment to worldbuilding. Radlandia is a world that literally exists for skateboarding. There is a pantheon of gods who also love skateboarding and have built this place for people to skate. Your crew introduces each level with over-the-top skater lingo, and they are there in the end to see you at the finish line.

You are constantly reminded that your run was good enough. But, you can try again to do even better, which is also quite cool, dude.

The game is a digital expression of passion for a hobby and a culture. It is full of enthusiasm with none of the snark. I think great games are always about something. Olli Olli World is a game, more than anything, about the pleasure of skateboarding. For other games, it might be a gripping narrative, a theme, or player experience (such as extreme challenge in a game like Celeste). Olli Olli World prioritizes its theme and makes it clear with every character, line of dialog, label, or article of clothing, that its theme is that skateboarding is fun, man.

It is one thing to discuss feelings, and another to try to quantify the value. Let's try to do exactly that. Vibe Evangelism constantly makes the player smile while empathizing with a culture and adds a cumulative value to accomplishments. For both of these, I’ll offer some additional pieces of media that also match the value I describe.

Cultural Empathy: It is difficult for games to demonstrate culture, which is often expressed through people’s home lives (food, household), celebrations, and what they value. Most games are not simulations, and so many are dour, whether they are the wild west, medieval Europe, or the post-apocalypse.

It is rare for games to present a setting where I say “I wish I were there.” But, as a 39 year old, Olli Olli World sincerely makes me want to buy a skateboard. I don’t expect to grind a rail. I probably won’t execute a single Olli. But, it might be fun just to kick, push, kick, push, and coast.

Olli Olli World makes me grin when I walk past the Van’s store near my home. It makes me jealous of the teenagers on skateboards. It makes me smile with the childlike delight of traversing the world differently and belonging to something.

Sony Pictures Animation did an incredible job of bringing Miles Morales to life in Spider-Man: Into the Multiverse by nailing the clothing and style of a teenager, the rebelliousness and uncertainty, and pulsing every scene with outstanding hip-hop. I’m an avid fan of Run the Jewels because I feel like I’m getting more than just a killer track. And for games, I think Deep Rock Galactic successfully delivers an anti-corporate, blue collar dormitory. When we played we shouted the taglines and embodied our personas. It was more fun than just completing tasks and using game mechanisms. It elevated beyond just an interactive experience.

Cumulative Value: Games seem to be getting bigger, but not necessarily more interesting. Open world games are filled with hundreds of replicas of the same five core experiences (ex: retrieve my horse, bring me this item, save my family member), and while Olli Olli World is not quite the same scale as a typical open-world game, it similarly draws from a small pool of core experiences.

Track Variation + Challenge Goals + Limitations + Trick Type Focus = Level

This is why it is so critical for games to have a wrapper to propel the player forward. For Red Dead Redemption 2, this is a rich narrative. For Olli Olli World, it’s the vibes. The game is filled with snarky lingo, new looks to collect, new skate gods to appease, and new settings. The key is that all of it is overwhelmingly about skating and the culture. If it were just aesthetic variety, you’d tire of the compulsion loop quickly. But, this subtle elevation sweetens the incentives.

Other games with really strong themes include the anti-corporate Citizen Sleeper, Celeste’s exploration of one’s inner demons, or the Murderbot Diaries’ exploration of humanity through the lens of a freed security cyborg. For an optimistic spin on Murderbot’s themes, check out the Monk & Robot series.

The difference between a cool world and theme - like Dishonored 2 - and a truly next level execution - like Olli Olli World or Monk & Robot - is that the latter sticks with you outside of the experience. Monk & Robot caused me to set down the book to think about what made me happy, what risks I’d be willing to take to attempt to be more happy, and what I value most in my daily experience. Olli Olli World makes me smile beyond its mechanisms. It led to the spark where I gathered a few friends to take skateboarding lessons in my actual real life, at the age of 39, because it seemed worth a sore ass to have a slice of what the game offered. 

To be a Vibe Evangelist, you need to drive real change or action. I’m living proof that Olli Olli World did that.

The One Cool Thing

Olli Olli World is one of the closest things to love I have ever experienced in a video game, and as such is a Vibe Evangelist for the skateboarding hobby. An amazing game to play is still required, but because that exists, the vibes add purpose to an experience that might otherwise feel like something we have all played before.

Because it chooses something beautiful and worthy of celebration, the game becomes more enticing and infectious with every session.

Preview for Next Time

The final post for Season 3 will send us to an alternate past to play Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. The game is available on a wide variety of platforms for a relatively low price if you wish to join along in depth.

Edited by Joshua Buergel