Games are a fertile area for this kind of self-reflexive success. It is a parody both of gaming and of itself. The title of the game – which has been the subject of some frankly adorable confusion over at the Daily Mail – references the recent explosion in popularity of more straight-laced sims like Euro Truck Simulator and Farming Simulator. Goat Simulator is and was a joke, the product of developer Coffee Stain studios entering a game jam and creating a knockaround sandbox that promises to fulfill all of your goat-based fantasies (not that one).
And the key currency amid this meme madness is animals – well, usually cats, but not exclusively. Through our plethora of sharing tools and instant transmission, unlikely ideas can catch the collective imagination in the morning and be around the world by teatime.
If there is one thing the internet is good at, outside of ruining April Fools' Day, it is creating phenomena.
