Taking a virtual hike: the slow, eerie pleasure of YouTube's video game walking tours
In Robert Walser's short fiction book The Walk, a young writer decides to step away from his desk and stroll through the country town he lives in. On the outskirts, where small farms and the occasional factory give way to open countryside, he discovers two children playing in the middle of an empty road. After a moment of admiration, his mood sours when he remembers country roads were made for cars, not kids. "I never shall understand how it can be called a pleasure to hurtle past all the images and objects which our beautiful earth displays, as if one had gone mad and had to accelerate for fear of despair," he thinks. Read more
In Robert Walser's short fiction book The Walk, a young writer decides to step away from his desk and stroll through the country town he lives in. On the outskirts, where small farms and the occasional factory give way to open countryside, he discovers two children playing in the middle of an empty road. After a moment of admiration, his mood sours when he remembers country roads were made for cars, not kids. "I never shall understand how it can be called a pleasure to hurtle past all the images and objects which our beautiful earth displays, as if one had gone mad and had to accelerate for fear of despair," he thinks.