Why do we love the companion cube?

[deathbydeath]

well, with me, it was a symbiotic bond. i needed it to block glow-balls and to hold switches, and it needed me to haul it around, we were companions. now glados, being the ***** it is, made one of us die for the other to progress, now, since it can't fight back, there is no excuse that not burning it would be detrimental to your health, making the only reason selfish gain, to progress to the next room, and also destroying the companionship formed over the last 20 minutes.

 

[Rabite]

I had no feelings towards it beyond questioning why it was so loved by the internet. Even Wikipedia mentions that one of the devs was told that people felt more attachment to it than the little sisters in Bioshock. This still bothers me.

 

[Professor Cubbage]

The camponion cube was clearly going to betray you. I acted first and murdered the cube as soon as I had the chance.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Let me just say that the most cutesy thing I've ever bought my girlfriend, is a plush companion cube. She absolutely loves it.

There's just something about having this cube help you through an entire level and... oh god I'm crying as I type this... and being forced to... forced to...

</3

 

[MiracleOfSound]

You don't - Glados just thinks that you do - she's trying to manipulate you with her limited understanding of the human mind and its bonding mechanisms... that's the joke.

A lot of silly people don't get the joke but pretend they love the cube because it's apparently a meme now.

 

[krugerrand123]

possibly how useful it was in the level, or the design of the cube.

 

[Scarecrow]

It's a joke....which many people don't get. Kind of makes me sad.

 

[Boxinatorizore]

Can someone spell sexy, because I can.

S E C K S E Y

...and that's why I love the companion cube.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Because GLaDOS tells us to! And bizarrely, being told you love it has a strange effect...

 

[ilspooner]

I never loved it. I never really liked the level with it. The cube sucks! >

 

[chromewarriorXIII]

I personally hated it after it tried to murder me. Oh sure, GLaDOS said it would never threaten to stab me, but instead it just lunged at me (it was a glitch but whatever).

 

[Ridley the Violator]

I don't.

When it burned, I laughed.

 

[Xanadu84]

Irony. We are told to love it in a way that is obviously unreasonable. We want to continue the joke, so we feign attachment. Feign attachment long enough, it becomes a real sort of attachment. Also, the game was very short and sparse. Not many things were characterized. I think that we had you, Glados, Turrents, Cake, and the Companion Cube as identifiable entities in the game. The companion cube is the only thing that you see for a bit, isn't actively trying to kill you. Lock a person in an empty room with a doll for long enough, and they will eventually play with the doll, and come to love the doll. The Companion Cube is that doll, in a sense.

 

[DaOysterboy]

For some reason, I had a sneaking suspicion through that whole level that companion cubes held the unconscious bodies of other experimental subjects and GLaDOS was worried they might wake up and begin trying to work with you to get out of the enrichment center. Then she made you burn it before the person inside woke up. But that's just me...

 

[GeorgW]

I jumped into the pit instead of dropping it in. That's right, I commited suicide for love! I did it a few more times but the game wouldn't let me continue, so I killed that M***** F*****.
I love it cuz GlaDOS told me to. And she is GOD!

 

[Ashcrexl]

when you first wake up, you're in a cold sterile testing facility. everything around you is inanimate and are to be used either as mere disposable tools (normal weighted cubes, buttons) or are out to kill you(turret, energy ball). your one intelligent guidance is a robotic voice with nearly no emotion other than sadism and you learn very quickly that she cannot be trusted. so, you enter one test in particular, and you meet this cube. it looks different. it's bright, it has hearts on it, and you're told to keep it with you at all times as it is the only thing you can use to help you through this test. it does so without judgement, without comment. it never tries to taunt you, you never have to leave it behind, at least until you're forced to euthanize it. your one friend, or at least as close to a friend as you felt you have ever had, killed by your own hand.

 

[ThisIsFiveEighteen]

I love the companion cube because he gives me free advice, and only once tried to stab me, which is better than I can say about some friends I've had.

 

[EvilestDeath]

I think that it's because the game tells us we love it. Plus it has a little heart on it so it has to love you back.

We have a winrar!
We love because it loves us.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

I think Valve accidently tapped into some deep physcological needs with it's players through the cube.

They stuffed you into a world that is lonely, monocrome, and often out to murder you. Gladdos is funny, but threatening, showing only slight amusement as you get shot, burned, melted, or otherwise get killed.

When we suspect somebody is not telling the truth, I think our mind's reaction is to do the opposite as were told. Were told the Companion Cube is lifeless, so we attach life to that little heart. It isn't expended or instantly used, all it does is protect and help the player. The robot woman tells you to murder your friend, so you don't want to do it. The player is not given a choice in the matter. The only way forward is to kill the cube. Simple as that. Their is no choice in the matter, either kill the cube or rot in the test chamber.

They didn't do this intentionally, the designers showed horror that killing the cube was for many players harder to kill then all the little sisters.