Earlier this evening, after listening to the Paul Barnett top ten bombcast, I looked into this game, "Digital: A Love Story", out of curiosity. I found it with a quick google, discovered it was free, and gave it a quick download intending to sink at most a few minutes to get an idea of what this game is, let alone why Paul Barnett seemed so taken with it. Well...I'm posting this minutes after marathon completing the damn thing, and I'm nearly at a loss for words at the sheer tumult of emotions racing through my very being. I came the closest to crying I ever have at the hands of any form of entertainment media.
 
I will leave it at that, as I believe discovering exactly what "Digital: A Love Story" is is a journey of its own. I will close with saying that I feel deeply affected by this game, and while I believe the majority will ignore, despise, or misunderstand it, I feel everyone should at least try "Digital: A Love Story".

Questions: How long is it? And is most of what makes it great consist of tear jerkers or is there more to it than that?

I seeked it out as well after listening to the podcast and remembering that  Carrie Gouskos also put it on her Top 10 list for 2010. 
 
I didn't get too far into it yet as I was playing on my break at work, but I'm very curious how it turns out. The only thing I can say for sure is that I dig the retro vibe. Modem handshakes...

I lost track of time, but I'd guess that depending on how quickly you figure out certain aspects of it, 2-3 hours. I don't profess to be smart at...anything, but the solutions to various progress barriers seemed to come to me fairly quick, and I can only imagine others will be faster. 
 
And no, it's not a constant tear jerker. It's only in the conclusion that it all comes together in what I feel is a very profound way. Maybe it's because I'm a big sappy dork, but I felt it had an excellent ebb and flow with a fulfilling conclusion.

Cool. 2-3 hours is much different than the 8 minutes I heard on the Barnett podcast, but it's free and it seems interesting.

I'd think even a balls-out speed run, knowing every single answer, would take at least a half hour, but perhaps I'm just slow...

Jeez, I'll have to give it a try. Maybe tomorrow, I'm super tired right now.

I thought it was a great game as well. Very unique, very fresh. Probably one of my favorite indie games of this year. 
 
Also, I only expected to be playing it for a couple minutes... and ended up playing through the whole thing as well...

I can attest to it's quality, since I did the same marathon run type deal. It took me about the same amount of time, maybe longer.  
Then again, I'm not so hot with games that don't show me which guy to shoot before i turn their brains into confetti.

I just started it and got to the first barrier and while there hasn't been anything too interesting yet, I can already appreciate the quality of the writing and can only guess at what might happen due to some subtle foreshadowing.  It's on my top priority list tomorrow to find out. 

I hope it ends with digital love by daft punk. 

For all the praises it got from Carrie and Paul, I decided to download it too. Having just finished it, I can say that I really enjoyed it to the point where it might go on my GOTY list. Maybe. I want to say more, but I think it would be better for others to see for themselves. Definitely try it.

how do I shoot?

I love this game. I downloaded it yesterday, and I must say I'm awestruck. It's memorable, unique, and I couldn't put it down until I finished it.

thought it  should have ended at the bbs crash

people who want more free crazy indie pc games, might want to give "Passage" a shot. it's only 5min (for real) and is pretty interesting. But as with this game, be aware. Indie as hell.

"thought it  should have ended at the bbs crash "

I'm just going to spoiler tag this because, fuck, if you haven't played this yet you need to.
 

I'm downloading it right now.  I'm in the mood for something a little different after playing SC2 practically non-stop.

I just played this game in one whole sitting...It's super interesting. I've never played anything like it. Defiantly love the UI and general feel of it.

Just played through this - definitely a really interesting little game with genuine emotion and feeling in the writing, quite refreshing really.
I can see major potential in the premise and design too; definitely room for some deeper interactive storytelling with an element of Uplink mixed in if it was developed a bit further.

I liked it.  
 
The story was pretty cool - a little bit of techno-romance stuff.. a little bit cliché at times, but it's ok.  
It especially reminded me of Bladerunner, in terms of the AI theme.

The way how you had to interact with the GUI made it a bit engaging and sorta immersive for me, even though it's outdated technology compared to today.  
 
The music (at least some of it) was pretty cool!

It also brought back some memories of the dial-up age heh. 
 
Bittersweet part for me was that a lot of the dialogue I read reminded me of some of the conversations I had with someone I haven't totally forgotten... it made me remember about the past in that sense.
 
Are there any other games out there like this?  I wish it didn't end so soon  :(
 
PS:  People complaining about the modem sound - you can lower the volume of it to 0 hehe. 
[ I heard it once and was brought back to the 90's.. but once was enough.. had to mute it]

NIHAOU BITCHES! 
 
That post made me crack up. 

Just started it. I'll have to finish it later. I have a  feeling I know where this is going. I hope I'm wrong :)

" @sgjackson:  I was also turned off a bit at the reveal. I felt it a bit absurd and I almost immediately lost any emotional connection.  I still felt super-compelled to see it through to the end, but the ending didn't get me emotionally as it seemed to with everyone else. Loved the 80s vibe, dialing into BBSs and the simulated forum chat (Nihao bitches, indeed), and just digging to find the truth.  Definitely a must play; even though I may be a cold, heartless bastard. "

I just played through the whole thing in one sitting. I really liked it. The twist in the middle after the first server crash was a bit of a surprise...not what I was expecting. I thought she was going to off herself because she thought I was ignoring her. The excitement of the recompile and the emotion of the last dial-in to ARPAnet...unexpected emotions from a  BBS simulator.

Christ... I just finished it and that was definitely one of the most touching games I've played all year, and it'll stick with me for a long time.   
 
Also, I guess I was hooked from the beginning since I once had a relationship start the same way.  Not to mention that this was playing in the background when you had to make the final, huge commitment:   
  

" NIHAOU BITCHES!  That post made me crack up.  "

Yeah, I checked it out yesterday.  Like others, I meant to just play it for a few minutes but ended up completing the whole thing.
 
I didn't cry or anything, but there were some definite high impact moments.
 

I played this game quite a while ago, after reading  http://kotaku.com/5542790/guilt-and-gaming-the-morning-after 
   
I'm getting teary-eyed remembering the ending.

Wow, this was horrible. Not only do I have absolutely no personal connection to BBSs so the nostalgic elements are lost on me, but I didn't give a shit about Emilia or practically anyone for that matter. Really, the only moment that made me feel remotely sad was when...  

I also just played through this. Meh. Like many others, I felt it should have ended at the BBS crash. That got to me like crazy. I was in a panic. But then when certain "twists" happened... well, that just pulled me out of the story. It went from a rather brutally touching story to a sci-fi yarn. By the end of it, I didn't care about Emilia at all and had no trouble with the final task. I cry at everything, godammit I cried while watching the series finale of LOST two nights back, cried at Grave of the Fireflies, I STILL cry at Bambi and The Lion King, but the end of Digital did nothing for me.
 
So I have very mixed feelings. I kinda feel like there's a lot of potential in this kind of story-telling, but not if it gets filled with uninteresting twists that just take away from the characters.

Man, I do not really enjoy most of these indie games. The only one like this I enjoyed was One Chance, because it was shot, sweet, and had consequences. This game felt way too long and tedious, especially when you had to keep going back to get new c0dez.

What got me was when the BBS crashed the first time. Fuck. " 

I'm stuck :( 
 
I dialed into the Underground Library a few times, and my computer got all jacked up. 
 
Now, I have no clue what to do.

Finished it a little while ago. I feel like the music is partially what makes it; but I really liked it overall. I wasn't annoyed by the twists like some folks were, though I did feel they were a little hokey. I kept waiting for something more severe to happen to ME when I kept breaking into the Underground, which I thought would have been a cool addition to the frantic searching for Emilia. 
 
Also played Passage, as recommended by a user here..  :'(

I thought this game was breath taking. I just finished it moments ago and I'm so glad I read this thread cause I wouldn't have played it otherwise. 

Just wanted to say thanks to you all for making my try this game. I am always a bundle of joy when I discover a game that involves me in its narrative in more profound ways then "play action sequence, watch cutscene" and D:ALS is truely unique. 
It is not beyond fault but if I manage to finish it before the voting is up and if I like the conclusion it might just kick Super Meat Boy from my GOTY list. 
 
Awesome game / time capsule / interactive story.

Interesting little game, very glad I played it
 

Played it at a fever pace.  Was drawn into it immediately.  It's not 100% accurate to BBS', but very close to what I remember them being like when they were the norm.  It captures the mood of them, and that is ALL THAT MATTERS.  The soundtrack is GREAT too.

Loved this little game. Another that I wouldn't know about if not for GB. 
 
I wasn't expecting to be kind of teary by the end, but I really didn't want the inevitable to happen. Trying to figure a way around it but not finding one was terrible. It's rare that a game can get such an emotional response out of me, and the music definitely added a lot to it.

" I also just played through this. Meh. Like many others, I felt it should have ended at the BBS crash. That got to me like crazy. I was in a panic. But then when certain "twists" happened... well, that just pulled me out of the story. It went from a rather brutally touching story to a sci-fi yarn. By the end of it, I didn't care about Emilia at all and had no trouble with the final task.  "

It made my top 3 on my GOTY list and is probably one my favorite games to come out in a long time but "to tears" might be pushing it a little.
 
I think it's tailor-made for those who have ever fallen in love through the internet. There are strings that it pulls that I never thought would be pulled again, much less my a form of interactive entertainment. 
 
It's short, it's not the best of games, it essentially has no graphics and I could of taken a twist or two out of believability's sake but... I dunno, man. I'm still thinking about that game, like if I need to go back to that BBS. It's hit me in a spot no other game has this year, which is super weird for a free, hour-long game.

I thought the ending was sad and looked for any possible way to get a happy ending.
 
Is there only one ending?

When the track "Disappointment" started playing at the end, I finally realized how great this game was.

For those wondering where to get the soundtrack, all the songs are in the games install folder in "Program files".