Are Games Like Goat Simulator Brilliant or Stupid?

Here in Oregon it is spring break.  As a teacher I get to enjoy some relaxation and mentally prepare myself for the end of the school year.  Part of that relaxation has included trying to catch up on my backlog of games and gaming videos.  I've mentioned PBS's GameShow before and it is one of my favorites.  Yesterday I watched a video about a game that is most likely far off of anyones radar, Goat Simulator.

I first heard about this strange little game prior to its release on April Fools day of 2013.  As much as I hate to admit it, I was intrigued.  A game where you play as a goat?  The choice of using a goat is great.  Anyone who has ever browsed YouTube for even a short amount of time has undoubtedly come across a hilarious video of goats screaming like humans or goats doing something ridiculous.  Goats are funny, who wouldn't want to play as a goat?

Then I decided to check out the trailer.  It features a goat rampaging across a fictional city causing massive destruction.  Ummm, alright.  So I took it a step farther and checked out a "let's play" of the game.  I watched and giggled as the hosts headbutted humans and used the tongue of their goat to latch on and drag objects around.  Then, to cap it all off they climbed the goat to the top of a tower and managed to jump on a hang glider.  But what was the point of all this?  To simply do stupid things in a game as a goat?  I'm pretty sure that's not worth $10.  Maybe I'm wrong.

I partially believe that Goat Simulator is brilliant.  It's the kind of game where there are very few rules and you can do whatever you want.  You can't die and can perform all kinds of crazy stunts with your goat.  The only limitations to what you can do are in your mind!  I think it also serves as a great example that almost any idea can work in gaming, even one this ridiculous.

Another part of me thinks Goat Simulator is a waste of time and money.  I couldn't believe it when the game was released and it topped the bestseller list on Steam.  Sure, it looked like it offered a few laughs, but it also looked like the kind of game that is a novelty--you play it once or twice and then it sits in your library collecting virtual dust.

My final classification of Goat Simulator is that it's brilliantly stupid--a game world where the sky is the limit and there are no rules.  If getting some laughs is your goal then you can't do any worse than this.  It's not my cup of tea, so I'll content myself with watching goofy videos of goats wearing a jetpack and blowing up gas stations.