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I Get This Call Every Day is a perfect example of how games as a medium have options for artistic expression not available anywhere else.

The game, created in 2012 by David S. Gallant as a means of venting frustrations about his job, is a simple, short point-and-click adventure game where you run through a customer call at the Canada Revenue Agency (though it’s never called out by name). The caller on the other end of the line is very disorganized, not the brightest and a little bit indignant if called on it.

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Watch a video of Gallant explaining the game

Read a full Q&A interview with Gallant about his experience losing his job over the game

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There are lots of ways to screw up the call. You can insult the caller for being stupid at several junctures during the conversation. “Winning” the game entails getting the guy to call back later without you getting fired first.

The reason the whole thing works is that the conversation is entirely reasonable. Sure the kid on the other end of the phone is an idiot, but he’s a believable one. And since this is a game the choices you make are based around how you respond emotionally to the caller. The game weaves its interactive and non-interactive elements together in a way that makes you feel the exact frustration that Gallant obviously did when he worked at the Canada Revenue Agency.

Simply, it uses the interactive medium to evoke a specific feeling in a different way than could be possible in a film or a book. It’s a small, ten minute testament to the power of the medium.

You may notice that I used the past tense when talking about Gallant’s job at the CRA. The Toronto Star ran a story about the game on Tuesday with the headline “Tax department employee creates online game to vent his frustration with taxpayers” and called the Minister in charge of the Agency for reaction. The quote they got back seemed to imply the Ministry thought the game released confidential information about taxpayers. What is a small game about the frustrations of working in a call centre became a screed against the Canadian taxpayer. Gallant was let go of his job.