It may not matter whether everyone got the joke or not. In fact, the guy's behavior suggests it wasn't a joke to him at all - it was intended to be a somewhat serious (and passive aggressive) statement. I think what happened is akin to a guy who hates Impressionism and one day he decides to just smear some meaningless colors on a canvas - just to make a statement about how meaningless that artform is. Then along come people and find themselves attracted to the artwork he created, whether they realize he did it to make a point or not, they simply like it.
Now I never "played" Cow Clicker but I assume there were some players who genuinely liked visiting that page and clicking on their cow. As stupid as that sounds, they had some kind of relationship with the artwork, even if that was never intended by the artist. Also, I believe the concept of Cow Clicker is a whole lot more honest than any of the Zynga "games" so I can see how people might prefer the Cow as their web Tamagotchi...
What I find really sad is that Ian Bogost actually feels tormented by the state of gaming general and the reception of Cow Clicker in particular. If you make a satirical work like this, you probably should have some healthy mental distance to the subject.
One might argue that the consumer/beholder of the artwork is always right by default - as opposed to the artist setting the purpose and judging other people's views of his work by comparing them to that purpose. By this "the consumer is always right" definition there is no such thing as misaimed fandom because everybody is free to feel about the work as they like. If a piece of art (or a game or whatever) makes me feel a certain way, that doesn't make me wrong - even if that feeling was not intended by the artist.
The viewer's interpretation seems like the important one. It leeds to an interesting situation when creator and consumer are diametrically opposed in their understanding of a work.
In this particular case, it seems to have taught the artist a lot in the process.
Now I never "played" Cow Clicker but I assume there were some players who genuinely liked visiting that page and clicking on their cow. As stupid as that sounds, they had some kind of relationship with the artwork, even if that was never intended by the artist. Also, I believe the concept of Cow Clicker is a whole lot more honest than any of the Zynga "games" so I can see how people might prefer the Cow as their web Tamagotchi...
What I find really sad is that Ian Bogost actually feels tormented by the state of gaming general and the reception of Cow Clicker in particular. If you make a satirical work like this, you probably should have some healthy mental distance to the subject.