Nicky Case released a small, browser-based game back in 2016 called We Become What We Behold. It takes about five minutes to play. You might’ve seen it on itch.io or watched a YouTuber scream at it years ago, but the reason we're still talking about the viral cycle the behold game creates is because it feels more like a prophecy than a piece of indie software. It’s a game about a camera. Or, more accurately, it’s a game about what happens when the person holding the camera decides that peace is boring and conflict is "clickable."
The mechanics are dead simple. You move a viewfinder around a screen filled with "Peeps"—little circle and square characters just living their lives. You click to take a photo. If you take a photo of something mundane, like a circle wearing a hat, the game tells you nobody cares. But if you catch a square yelling at a circle? Suddenly, that photo goes viral. It gets blasted onto a giant screen in the middle of the park, and everyone starts acting a little bit weirder.
The Mechanics of a Digital Feedback Loop
The viral cycle the behold game illustrates is a closed loop of escalation. You aren't just an observer; you are the architect of the chaos, even if the game forces your hand. To progress, you have to find the outliers. You have to find the one person acting "different" and turn them into a spectacle.
It starts small. A square shouts. You snap it. The circles see the photo and get nervous. Now, the circles are more likely to shout back. Because they are shouting, you have more "content" to photograph. It's a nasty, spiraling logic that mimics how social media algorithms prioritize high-arousal emotions like anger or fear. Research from organizations like the Center for Humane Technology has frequently pointed out that engagement-based ranking is essentially the real-world version of this game's viewfinder. It doesn't look for the truth; it looks for the thing that will make people stare.
Nicky Case is known for making "playable simulations" that explain complex systems. This isn't just a game; it's a demonstration of feedback loops. In biology, a positive feedback loop enhances or amplifies changes; this tends to move a system away from its equilibrium state and make it more unstable. That is exactly what happens on this digital playground. By the time you reach the three-minute mark, the once-peaceful park is a powder keg of tribalism.
Why "The Behold Game" Is a Misnomer That Stuck
People often search for "the behold game" because the title is a bit of a mouthful. But the title—We Become What We Behold—is the entire thesis. It’s a play on the famous quote often attributed to Marshall McLuhan: "We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us."
Honestly, the game is a bit cynical. It suggests that we don’t really have a choice once the cycle starts. The Peeps on screen aren't evil; they’re just reactive. When the screen tells them that "Squares hate Circles," the Squares start acting like they hate Circles because they think they have to. It’s a simulated version of the Availability Heuristic, a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic. If you see photos of violence every time you look at the screen, you assume the world is violent.
Breaking Down the Viral Cycle
If you watch the game closely, the escalation follows a specific pattern. It's not random.
First, there is the Isolation of the Outlier. The game won't let you "go viral" with a group of people getting along. You have to find the one Square who is slightly annoyed.
Second, there is Context Stripping. The camera only captures the shout, not the reason behind it. In the world of the viral cycle the behold game, there is no "why," there is only the "what." This is the bread and butter of short-form video platforms today. A 10-second clip of a person losing their mind in a grocery store goes viral, but we never see the three hours of provocation that led up to it.
Third is Mass Mimicry. Once the "Peeps" see the behavior on the big screen, they begin to internalize it. The game shows this by literally changing the sprites. The characters' eyes get wider. Their movements become more erratic. They start wearing hats not because they like them, but because the screen told them hats are what matter now.
The Role of the "Interrupter"
Interestingly, there’s a moment in the game where you can try to take photos of a couple—a circle and a square—falling in love. If you try to make that go viral, the game rejects it. "Crickets," the text says. Peace is not "newsworthy" in this ecosystem. This reflects a very real bias in news media known as Negativity Bias. Humans are evolutionarily wired to pay more attention to threats than to rewards. If a tiger is in the bushes, you need to know about it more than you need to know about a pretty flower.
The game exploits this biological quirk. It forces you, the player, to become the villain. You want the game to continue, right? You want to see the ending? Then you have to feed the beast. You have to take the photo that will cause the most damage.
How the Game Predicts Modern Social Media
When We Become What We Behold came out, the phrase "fake news" was just beginning to hit the mainstream. Today, the game feels like a documentary.
Consider how "rage-baiting" works on TikTok or X (formerly Twitter). Users post intentionally inflammatory content because they know the algorithm will pick up on the high engagement (even if that engagement is 100% negative). The viral cycle the behold game models this perfectly. The more people hate the content, the more the content is shown to others, which creates more hate.
It’s a race to the bottom of the brainstem.
- The Viewfinder: Represents the Algorithm. It only "sees" what it's programmed to look for.
- The Big Screen: Represents the Feed. It’s the shared reality that everyone is forced to look at.
- The Peeps: Represent us. Reactive, scared, and prone to tribalism when under pressure.
There is no "win" state in the game. There is only the end of the cycle, which is total systemic collapse. It's a stark warning wrapped in a cute, hand-drawn aesthetic.
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Actionable Insights: How to Break the Cycle
You aren't a Peep in a simulation. You have agency. While the game suggests we are doomed to become what we behold, real-world media literacy offers a way out.
Stop being the cameraman. In the game, the cycle stops if you stop taking photos. In real life, this means resisting the urge to "quote-tweet" something you hate just to dunk on it. Every time you engage with "rage-bait," you are the player clicking the shutter. You are helping that content go viral.
Diversify your "viewfinder." If your feed is only showing you one type of behavior—usually the worst behavior of people you dislike—your brain will begin to believe that is the only thing happening in the world. Intentionally look for the "mundane" stuff the game says is boring. The "Circle in a hat" might not be viral, but it's a more accurate representation of daily life than the "shouting Square."
Recognize the "Screen" for what it is. The big screen in the park isn't reality; it's a curated selection of outliers. When you see a viral trend that makes you angry, ask yourself: Who took this photo, and why did they want me to see it?
The viral cycle the behold game is a short experience, but its implications last a long time. It teaches us that the tools we use to see the world eventually dictate how we treat the people in it. If we only look for the screams, we will eventually find ourselves screaming too.
To break the cycle, we have to start looking at the things that don't fit in the viewfinder. We have to value the quiet moments that the "big screen" ignores. It's the only way to make sure we don't become the monsters we're so busy staring at.
Next Steps for Media Literacy:
Evaluate your most-used social media feed today. Identify three "rage-bait" posts and intentionally choose not to engage with them—no likes, no angry comments, no shares. Notice how the algorithm shifts its suggestions over the next 48 hours when you stop "taking the photo."