If you haven’t already, go check out Merritt Kopas’ Soft Chambers. Part curation, part manifesto, Soft Chambers explores “warm games”. Briefly, Kopas defines “warm games” as those that seek to build relationships, care for the players, and that permit restful or restorative play (among other things). She uses the word “warm” to situate such games as diametrically opposing those that seek to be or are thought of as “cool” (e.i. fashionable, awesome, epic, rad, etc…). The name “soft chambers” also refers to warm digital spaces when they are found in video games that are not otherwise warm.

The first game I thought of when I read what is soft chambers??? was Super Metroid (and apprently I’m not alone in that). I remember running with the Dachora and being amazed as I gradually figured out that it was trying to teach me something. Even once I learned the lesson, I still returned to the Dachora’s tunnel from time to time, especially on subsequent playthroughs. There isn’t another part of Super Metroid that I remember more fondly, and yet somehow the weight of that warm memory escaped me. I wouldn’t have said that this scene was the most important one in Super Metroid, and yet it was certainly the most memorable.

Since I was a child, I’ve always been fond of soft chambers. I called them “bases”. In FFVI, I returned to the belly of the zone eater time and time again. There was nothing there for me, but I loved to claim these kinds of spaces. I would show these spaces to my friends, and say “this is my base!” What’s amazing is that my friends knew what I meant, and they would show me their bases! We shared this feeling of valuing more than what the game wanted to give us.

Soft Chambers is still in its infancy, but the phenomenon it describes has been with us the whole time. Kopas presents a number of games she considers to be warm, among which I am particularly fond of Kitakka’s Secrets Agent and Elwonger’s Morning Coffee. I would add to the list, Kopas’ own Lullaby for Heartsick Spacer, which I am very fond of.

What kinds of soft chambers do you remember fondly? Have you played any warm games?