"Zero Player Game" genre option

[Bobargus]

I would like for Steam to have a "zero player game" genre for people who just want to play/watch games that can run by itself to its success or failure, without requiring constant or any input at all from its players.

[Anxiety]

You mean idlers? That's already a thing and has its own tag.

https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Idler/

With varying amounts of needed input.

[Bobargus]

zero-player games are a sub-type of idle games. I am primarily looking for "zero player games", and not just "idle".

[Crazy Tiger]

Tags are usergenerated. So start tagging those games then.

[Bobargus]

Publicado originalmente por Crazy Tiger:

Tags are usergenerated. So start tagging those games then.

I don't know any zero player game that is readily available in my mind, or could potentially be existing on Steam. Have you, or anybody else for that matter, ever come across a game on Steam that fits the description of the "zero player game" genre, by any chance?

[Tanoomba]

Those are called movies.

[Anxiety]

Or, basically, no-commentary walkthroughs.

[Tanoomba]

OK, serious answer:
There's Twitch, of course, offering many options for watching a game being played.
There are multiplayer games where every player can be set to "CPU". I don't play many multiplayer games so I can't think of any off the top of my head.
There are also emulated retro games that sometimes include a "watch" feature that allows you to watch the CPU play the games (and lets you jump in and take over at any moment). Pretty sure the Cowabunga Collection includes that, as does the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.

[feytharn]

Publicado originalmente por Bobargus:

Publicado originalmente por Crazy Tiger:

Tags are usergenerated. So start tagging those games then.

I don't know any zero player game that is readily available in my mind, or could potentially be existing on Steam. Have you, or anybody else for that matter, ever come across a game on Steam that fits the description of the "zero player game" genre, by any chance?

In that case, it isn't a suggestion for Steam. Valve does not reach out to developers to bring games to Steam (or create games of a certain genre). Find games of that genre wherever you can, contact the developers and bugger them to bring their game to Steam - and then you can start with the tagging.

[Lilim]

Publicado originalmente por Bobargus:

I don't know any zero player game that is readily available in my mind, or could potentially be existing on Steam. Have you, or anybody else for that matter, ever come across a game on Steam that fits the description of the "zero player game" genre, by any chance?

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition allows you to select an AI instead of the human player for player 1. The AI then fights another AI and you can watch the game. The game technically runs all by itself.

I use this feature to watch AI games and test modified AIs (I've been doing a bit of AI scripting lately ).

[Bobargus]

@Lilim, thank you for the AoE 2 info.

[Knee]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/508440/Totally_Accurate_Battle_Simulator/
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator is sort of like what you're describing, except for the part where you have to set up the battles. They play themselves out, but changing things up requires some input.

There's also a campaign with limited number of units you can use per challenge against pre-selected enemies. You can optionally select a unit if you desire to join the fight, but everything has the ability to fight by itself.

[Bobargus]

To those who have given your relevant game suggestions, thank you very much.

[Yzal]

Didn't they remove movies from Steam?

[UrbanMech]

Publicado originalmente por Lazy Dog:

Didn't they remove movies from Steam?

They did. Valves crystal ball warned them about the huge wave of porn games coming in the future so they pulled the movie plug while they could.

[Teddykrieger_Michel]

Zero players pay zero money.