In IGTCED, you need to verify the details of a taxpayer. But the taxpayer on the line has no idea about his personal details. Hilarity ensues.
I Get This Call Every Day puts you in the shoes of a Canada Revenue Agency general inquiries phone representative. David S. Gallant developed this game as a reflection of his job at the CRA. It’s odd that Gallant didn’t decide to hop onto the boom of indie simulators and call it “Tax Call Centre Simulator”.
Gallant has no time for subtleties.
Gallant says the game reflects his “soul-sucking” job and the game illustrates this in a humorous way.
The whole game wraps itself around a call with a gentleman called “Bill”. At least, that’s what he reveals to you when you ask for his full name.
The man, Billy J Swarth, wants to change his address. But because you’re working for the government, you have many layered and rigid security questions that Swarth needs to answer before he can get his address changed. But Swarth answers questions in the most curt and useless way, compounding the frustration and delaying the process. When asked if he has a online banking statement of his payments to the CRA, he says “my mom handles that kind of stuff for me”.
“Terrible art conveys a terrible work environment,” says the game’s description.
Gallant managed to inject some humour into such a frustrating topic by its MS Paint style graphics. Your office’s atmosphere feels like Gallant drew a few freehand lines and paint-bucketed it with various colours, all while your computer’s font seems like a child’s handwriting. According to Gallant’s website, “terrible art conveys a terrible work environment.”
The juvenile atmosphere coupled with a portrait of Billy J Swarth looking ridiculous tempts you in responding to his ignorance with contempt.
Every time Swarth gives you an answer, you will have options to respond to him. When you ask for his age, you will get an option that says “Young” and you’ll say “Wow! You’re young”, to which he responds, “Excuse me?” Not always do you get a second chance though, if you picked the “OMG” option, he’ll ask to speak to your manager and the game is over. Obviously, you’ll also have the more serious option which will lead you to discover more about him.
Gallant (right) at the Bit Bazaar Winter Market in 2013.
The game runs well on a netbook although you will need to have a bigger screen than the default 1024×600 pixels. If you have an Intel GMA integrated graphics, this guide will show you how to hack your internal graphics card to display 1024×768. Otherwise, you’ll not be able to see the second response option.
You can buy the game off Gallant’s website.
Extra: IGTCED Box!
The CD case of IGTCED. Ironically it has no CD in it.
During the Bit Bazaar last year, I managed to get my hands on a $5 copy of IGTCED. The cover art and the booklet supplement
The most hilarious supplement ever. Hand-drawn titles, Arial-font correspondences and references to the early millennium.
make the purchase worth every penny (or nickel in Canada).
In the supplement, you get a lugubrious tale of Gallant’s life at the CRA. He recounts how his superiors called him to the boardroom to question him about this game and how it violates CRA policy. He rants about his job and how it saps the soul out of him in a way that would pique Rick Mercer’s attention.
Enclosed within the supplement are a few details about Billy. A post from his LiveJournal blog and correspondence between him and a friend which gives greater insight into why he needed to change his address.
Worth every nickel!
Like
Hilarious
Humorous graphics
Fun to try out the different responses
Dislike
Not much fun for non-Canadians
The game does not last
Verdict
It’s $2 and more fun than most $2 things.
Gameplay: Excellent!
Graphics smoothness: Great!
Work needed to get game to play: Some (resolution hack)
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