Would spending hours cleaning and polishing different types of objects become virtually the best way to relax? This is in any case what seems to take shape when we see the attraction generated by the game. PowerWash Simulator since its launch in July 2022.
Hundreds of thousands of players have developed a true passion for this simulation game, where the pressure washer is the ultimate weapon to defeat the most stubborn dirt. On the Steam platform, 97% of the game’s more than 31,000 reviews were “extremely positive.” In fact, gaming is a way for many to complement classic video games, which are often more stressful.
“There is something magnetic in this game”
To listen to the players of PowerWash Simulator, this game would have all the virtues in the world. They almost run out of superlatives: “magnetic”, “satisfying” (the word that appears most frequently) or even “relaxing” are on everyone’s lips when we ask for qualifiers to define the game.
A game that many discovered a bit by chance, on the Steam platform, with Xbox Game Pass or through streamers’ live games. “I have always been a fan of management games. Everything that can be managed in the world (zoo, hospital, soccer team), I have done thanks to video games. But the so-called satisfying games where you have to store, clean or sort, is more recent. It came in the thirties, I think”, confesses, for example, Baptiste, who discovered the game in part with the tests of the streamer Mynthos.
Alex also entered the wash cycle after multiple recommendations from acquaintances: “I immediately understood why the title was so successful. There is something magnetic about this game. It is obviously very relaxing compared to the vast majority of games today (if we exclude the independent scene), explains the young communicative trainee.”I’m basically a big fan of satisfying videos. PowerWash Simulator so he provided me with everything I loved. Coupled with my perfectionist character in order and the small details of everyday life, she hooked me from the first seconds.”
And according to Yann Le Roux, a psychologist and psychiatrist specializing in video games, the success of this type of simulation games is very easily explained: “They are games that satisfy the need for skills. You have a task to accomplish with a final objective. : to make things closer than they were”.
Visual satisfaction…
What makes the charm of PowerWash SimulatorThis is how it works based on missions and challenges, with an almost cartoonish game design, not necessarily faithful to reality from a graphic point of view, but which gives little satisfaction as soon as metal or plastic finally shines. The game also offers sound cheats with each task cleared and an endgame time lapse that tracks the epic cleanup.
A visual and sound satisfaction that seduced Marc, an employee in a concierge: “I like that PowerWash Simulator It’s more of a game than a real simulator because when that’s the case, it can become less stimulating, I play mostly for fun.”
Alex also has his little idea to explain the success of the video game: “Unconsciously, the summer period in which the game was released may have added its stone to the building. All these high-pressure water jets have certainly allowed people to beat the heat.” in his way.”
… and calm brain
More pragmatic, Baptiste for his part is confident that this type of game offers, above all, great complementarity with classic video games. because with PowerWash Simulator, “there are certainly goals, but no timer, no stress, no hard-to-beat bosses or anything potentially negative. You can’t fail, die, or even be in trouble.” Career mode doesn’t impose any time limits and leaves the player free to scavenge for hours (the players we interviewed admit to spending over fifty hours each).
Yann Le Roux also insists on this evolutionary and non-binding aspect of the game: “The game is designed not to give you tasks that are too simple because otherwise they would bore you, nor tasks that are too complicated because they would otherwise bore you.” it would hurt your sense of competence and your self-esteem. You are in a constant flow that generates well-being and pleasure.”
The benefits of cleaning up video games would also be the same as those generated by ASMR. Arthur Trognon, a neuropsychologist, also evokes a “meditative state of wholeness” when watching cleansing videos.
And if the relaxing side of the game comes out regularly, the attraction towards PowerWash Simulator is sometimes more surprising. Not being an extreme maniac, however, Baptiste admits that this passion for cleaning wasn’t born with video games but much earlier, with his former job as daycare manager. But the video game, however, has been able to awaken vocations… and neurosis.
“During the game, I take my time, but I hate not completing a level completely before exiting the game. I feel like I’m leaving dirt on my computer,” he continues.
What if this boom in cleaning games, but also viral videos on social networks of the same type, reflected our society? This is one of the hypotheses of Yann Le Roux who wants to analyze the large thematic content that is a trend on social networks and that agitates society and reflects it.
“Les vidéos où on voit des presses hydraulics écraser des objets, un temps tendances, est-ce que cela reflète la compresión sociale dans laquelle on est? Les vidéos de nettoyage, est-ce que ça dit quelque chose d’un imaginaire de la saleté qu’il y aurait à nettoyer dans notre société? video game.
fashion cleaning
Cleaning simulation video games have developed like this in recent months, with variants that also allow you to renovate houses from top to bottom (house pinball) or stages (stadium renovator).
Slightly seedier variants are also available for fans of science fiction or horror. Viscera cleaning detail invites you to come and clean up the crime scenes after an alien attack on a spaceship. Players must then use their mops and buckets of water to clean the blood-covered rooms.
And a new kid should watch the game in 2023: Pool cleaning simulator. This simulation game will allow cleaning lovers to wash luxury swimming pools, jacuzzis and municipal swimming pools. Suffice it to say that the gear of passion for cleaning is not ready to get stuck.
Source: BFM TV
