Fumblecore games are designed to make you laugh — and fail. That’s what makes them so good. Developed in 2008, QWOP is a simple video game. You use the Q, W, O and P keys to control the legs of an Olympic athlete trying to run 100 meters. But it turns out that it’s a lot more complicated than that: The controls are wonky and awkward. You’ll try to step high and fall back. After several minutes, due to a fall, I go backward. The strangers crowded around me at the arcade where I was playing — awaiting their turns at the controls — were laughing, and so was I. This is the joy of fumblecore games: They’re challenging, not because the thing you’re trying to do is hard, but because the controls make it so. Also, the game is designed to make you fail. QWOP is considered the first major hit in the genre. | 