In a post-Goat Simulator world, anything is possible. This can be both a boon and a hindrance depending on how you look at it. For some, the sheer silliness of the recent influx of "simulator" titles is an endless source of entertainment but for others, the intentionally broken gameplay is an affront to the medium. No matter how you saw the genre last week, it's all likely to change today with Rock Simulator 2014.

Now, what could a game called Rock Simulator 2014 possibly entail? Could this be something in the vein of the 2010 film Rubber in which a a psychic tire terrorized a desert town? It doesn't look like it. Staying true to its name, Rock Simulator 2014 looks as though it will eschew the ridiculous physics that made Goat Simulator so entertaining (check out our review) and instead provide players with a truly stoic, immobile experience.

Should you begin nervously searching for your survival kit expecting the end of the world or at least the medium, you can breath a temporary sigh of relief as Rock Simulator 2014 is simply conceptual in its current form. Brought to life by developer Strange Panther Games on Steam Greenlight, the concept has quickly shot to the service's number one spot. Not only this, but the explosive success has even prompted the launch of an Indiegogo campaign to raise $500.

If there's one ray of solace in all of this, it's that the developers note on the Greenlight page that Rock Simulator 2014 will be a free game and will allow igneous fans to "watch beautiful rocks in any location in the world. From grass plains to salt flats, there are dozens of hand designed BEAUTIFUL environments." Despite its current status as a free game, it's still possible that - should the title come to fruition - the developers could find a way to implement microtransactions. Can you say granite armor DLC?

[gallery link="file" columns="2" ids="230934,230926,230927,230928"]

While this may all seem like fun and games, there's also a potentially damaging effect this could have on the industry or at least the ever-burgeoning indie scene on Steam. It's one thing to joke about releasing an outlandish game with virtually no gameplay to speak of, but with the general proliferation of memes on the internet, it wouldn't be unreasonable for this joke to spiral into existence with funding coming from those viewing the project in an ironic light.

Many gamers are already infuriated each time a new open-world zombie survival title in the vein of DayZ releases so if this joke were to be put on a pedestal, what's to stop a whole slew of copycats from appearing? In the long run, it will simply mark a dark spot on the history of gaming but in the present, it could stand to severely clutter the incoming gaming market should something as ridiculous as "Chair Willem Dafoe Sits On In Spider-Man 3 Simulator 2015" see the light of day.

Fears for the gaming end-times aside, it's undeniable that the news of Rock Simulator 2014's existence evoked a chuckle in more than a few gamers. It's hardly a sign of the end, but it's also not a healthy direction for the industry or the Steam Greenlight platform. The joke will no doubt run its course and leave gamers alone in the devastation left by the end of the Steam Summer Sale, but it will be hard to forget the day that simulators reached their peak.

Do you see this Greenlight concept as a clever joke or a cringe-worthy direction for the service? What type of rock are you dying to play as?

_____

Rock Simulator 2014 is currently on Steam Greenlight with no current release date.

Follow Ryan on Twitter @ThatRyanB.

Source: Steam Greenlight, Indiegogo