ranzware
I haven’t spent a huge amount of time exploring the variety of experiences Roblox has to offer, but when I see a particularly niche one, I feel compelled to check it out. Rather than spending any more time strutting my stuff on the runway, or becoming the best soccer player my newest obsession hits a little closer to home. This time around, I’ve been taking the wheel of a pink Ford Ka and revisiting the humble county of Dorset in the United Kingdom.
All you do in Dorset County is drive around the actual county of Dorset. There is literally nothing else to it. There’s nothing to aim toward, nothing to unlock, and no skills to master. Besides good driving of course. You boot up the game, spawn in a car of your choice from a pretty extensive list, and you’re off. Or so I thought. I actually sat in the car park for way longer than I like to admit begging someone in the chat to help me figure out how I could get my car to move in any direction.
This is because driving in Dorset County is surprisingly in-depth. I expected to just lean on W and shoot forward, but you actually need to change gears with Q and E in order to navigate the roads. This also applies to reversing, since you need to manually select reverse gear too. So yes, parallel parking is still my nemesis and takes me about 10 minutes to do, even in Roblox. On top of remembering to change gears, you also have keys to indicate left and right, and a horn which other players were using pretty generously as I slowly pulled out of basically every junction I came across.
But once you’re remembering all your changes and correctly signalling where to go, Dorset County becomes your oyster. Or moreso, the section of Dorset that’s currently available does. There are quite a few sections currently consumed by a white haze I like to call “the fog” and labelled with a promise that they are coming soon. But still, there’s more than enough of Dorset for you to enjoy for the time being. If you’re anything like me, most of this time will be spent stalling in a car park.
I don’t really play racing games, and driving simulators definitely aren’t a genre I reach for. But there was something about Dorset County that kept me coming back. I wasn’t racing to get ahead or competing with other players, I was just free to pootle along in my own car at my own pace, and there was something really comforting about that. Until a car comes speeding up behind you and pushes you into a ditch before racing off again, but I digress.
Another thing that surprised me about Dorset County is that bad driving gets banned, which is stated very clearly on the experiences page within the Roblox launcher. From my days jumping in and out of Dorset County, I did notice that players were ruthless when it comes to rolling out these reports, too. I accidentally found myself amidst several virtual pile ups while definitely not speeding down country lanes, whether or not these people were roleplaying I’m not sure, but the enraged reactions and threats to report each other were definitely flowing.
These were the only instances where my fellow drivers turned on one another though. The rest of the time I was impressed by how sociable everyone was. Especially since most of my other experiences in Roblox have been competitive and I’ve left feeling like everyone is really mean.
One of the most wholesome experiences I witnessed was a group of people inside the supermarket which definitely wasn’t Lidl who were roleplaying doing their weekly shops. I can only assume this was a group of young kids, mostly because I hate doing a weekly food shop so I just assume everyone else feels the same, but it was sweet to see nonetheless. One day they’ll learn the stress of any supermarket after work on a friday but for now, I’ll let them enjoy it.
Moments like these really made me appreciate Dorset County. For a game that is so simple by premise, the people playing it really love it. I liked it because of the lack of pressure it puts on you, and I assume a lot of the people I came across feel the same way. But also maybe everyone just has a soft spot for Dorset. Or driving around a virtual United Kingdom. Or both, I’m not one to judge.
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Kurt Indovina
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