The Stanley Parable

Art/Baby game Ending

Stanley clicked the button labeled '5'.

"Oh, I nearly forgot! I've got a prototype of a new game I've been working on, and now would be a lovely opportunity to give it some play-testing. You wouldn't mind taking a look at it would you? Perfect. Let me boot it up."

Stanley let out a sigh as everything went black. The last ending had left a lot of things on his mind, so he decided he would play the baby game for 4 hours. Yep. He was seriously doing it. Stanley sulked slightly as the light returned. 

"In this game, the baby crawls left toward danger. You click the button to move him back to the right, and if he reached the fire, you fail. It's a very meaningful game - all about the desperation and tedium of endlessly confronting the demands of family life. I think the art world will really take notice. But, of course, the message of the game only becomes clear once you've been playing it for about four hours. So why don't you give it four hours of play to make sure it's effective. Be sure to keep notes on your experience."

And with that, the baby game started. Feeling mentally exhausted, Stanley started continuously clicking the button. The noise of the button and the baby crying was already starting to become annoying. After around fifteen minutes, the Narrator came back. 

"Good to see that enthusiasm, keep it up Stanley! Just 3 hours and 45 minutes left to go!"

Those words of encouragement sounded forced, as if the noise was also annoying to The Narrator. Stanley of course could care less. A long time passed before the Narrator once again spoke. 

"Ok, so clearly you're in it for the long haul, although I find it hard not to believe you're simply running a program to click the button over and over automatically. Which kind of ruins the point of the game, don't you think? Wouldn't that take the art out of it? You can tell me in your post-playtest analysis."

Stanley planned on taking a nap after this, he was already really tired and felt like he was drifting off.  Once again, a long time past before the Narrator spoke again. At first The Narrator's voice seemed to be far away, as if he just entered the room.

"Just popping in to say hi! I hope you weren't expecting more regular intervals of commentary from me. But that's not why you're here, is it? You're here for the game. For the art! For the endlessly spiraling sense of pointlessness and despair! Yes, this is what drives your every action! Keep clicking that button! For hope! For freedom! For science! For love! Don't ever, ever stop!"

Stanley really regrets doing this. This was soul rendering and The Narrator's 'supportive' commentary only made it worse. A long, long, time past, two hours since Stanley first started the baby game, before the Narrator spoke once again. 

"You know, I've been spending the last 2 hours here embroiled in thought, and it occurred to me: this game is incomplete! It's missing something, it still doesn't have that... oomph. What is it, I thought to myself, what could possibly be missing from this incredible experience? And then in a moment of rapture, as though delivered by angels, it came to me. Before this moment I was blind, but those days are behind us. I now understand the true manifestation of this game. It needs... a puppy!"