How has Idle Thumbs affected your life?

[Sombre]

I was thinking about this for sometime, and it finally came to a head today.

Someone in my lecture today started talking about Lord of the Rings, and how they thought Gandalf was a "Pretty sweet Wiz". I laughed pretty hard, and then cursed.

I think the thing that really made me laugh though today was when I went to an icecream place after uni finished. When I got to the front, the lady asked me "Would I like one scoop, or two scoops". Seeing as anything IdleThumbs related in real life usually makes me crack a smile, this was too much, and I burst out laughing so hard that the queue behind me (Which was sizeable) started complaining. Thinking of the afforementioned "Scoops", I just pointed at which ones I wanted and left the store.

How about you chaps?

PS: I got two scoops. I was going to get hot fudge so they could be "Hot scoops", but I was in such a state at that point, I couldn't word it.

[Shakesbeard]

My walk to and from work go from being mundane and repetetive to something I look forward to (at least once a week). I would also like to throw my wizard hat into the ring as I have also made myself look like a goddamn lunatic in public on multiple occasions because of the Thumbs.

In particular, and most recently, was the "horrible future of video games" tangent which came about as I sat around waiting for my motocycle safety inspection to finish. Surrounded by a bunch of old biker dudes, I had multiple laughing to the point of crying fits. The increasingly obscure and horrible devices, the puppet master, the infectious laughter, it was all too much.

Oh and horse bag. Every. Time. And those are only the last couple weeks. Considering I only started listening around episode 25 or so, the week or two it took me to listen to the archive contained many more similar situations.

[miffy495]

Aside from freaking out when I had a chance to play Far Cry Instincts: Paradise Lost at an arcade, not much. I probably make even more obscure references, but I try to keep my thumbs stuff to when I'm talking to other thumbs. I guess laughing in public is a thing too, but it doesn't really bother me or stand out in my mind.

[SignorSuperdouche]

A couple of months ago I started hearing Jake in my head commentating on my life. He's gone now, but for a couple of weeks he basically just mocked me for various things, this included my condiment choices (spicy mango chutney is "douchey" according to imaginary Jake).

[James]

a) Idle Thumbs can lead to harder drugs

I occasionally make references that my friends don't get, which is tedious for everyone.

c) Sometimes I laugh at work, which makes my boss think podcasts are interfering with my concentration, when in fact it's extreme tiredness and lack of interest in the task at hand that's interfering with my concentration.

[mikemariano]

I've been affected severely. Any letters to the editor or other explanatory posts I read are now played in my head in the "Chris Remo Reads Reader Mail" voice.

Also, over a year ago I was trying to explain the appeal of the recently-announced Wii Sports Resort to my co-workers. I lamely offered, "You can throw a Frisbee to a dog."

Then when the game was released, Jake began imagining scenarios for "Frisbee Dog" on the podcast. I have combined my sentence with his term, and now incessantly repeat in Jake's "smooth commercial voiceover guy" voice: "You can throw a Frisbee to a dog! It's Frisbee Dog!"

None of this is bad. Sometimes I miss my own voice in my head, though.

[n0wak]

It has made Grand Theft Auto fun. It has introduced me to Left 4 Dead. It has led to numerous fun multiplayer sessions, more fun than against random internet jackasses. It has led to some overpriced sushi in London and some OK fettucini with foie gras in Paris. I look forward to meeting more people in other places over other foods some day. Maybe at the end of October.

[Kos Luftar]

The time I spent laughing on Wednesday's is considerably much higher than the other days. Unless I am drunk the other days.

[miffy495]

It has made Grand Theft Auto fun. It has introduced me to Left 4 Dead. It has led to numerous fun multiplayer sessions, more fun than against random internet jackasses. It has led to some overpriced sushi in London and some OK fettucini with foie gras in Paris. I look forward to meeting more people in other places over other foods some day. Maybe at the end of October.

Oh shit, are we talking about the forums too? Since 2004, Idle Thumbs has been teaching me that there are places on the internet where people are worth talking to, that online multiplayer isn't always bad, (I've never had a good non-thumb online experience...) and that if you want to have discussions with people in honest to god properly spelled English, you should go to a board where a lot of people are from Europe. There's probably more, but I have to leave for work in 3 minutes, so I'm not making an exhaustive list.

[JonCole]

I've been almost run off the road by some jackasses who couldn't stand me driving the speed limit because I'm so busy giggling at episodes of the podcast.

[Gordy Freeman Jr.]

I named an RPG character "Brad Rapstars" after episode 43. He wasn't a wizard though.

[Nachimir]

It showed me that writers are interested in creating intelligent coverage of games, and that some gaming forums aren't full of 13 year olds.

[Thyroid]

Oh man, here it comes.

I know I haven't fully matured yet, and I still have an incomprehensibly long way to go, but Idle Thumbs was responsible for me going from "OMG METAL GEAR GRAPHICS" to...something else. That classic Ron Gilbert interview was a huge part of it. Being quoted as "one of the many idiots who plague the internet" was also part of it (although I still stand by the thought that I wish WoW was a single player game, but it seems like Deathspank has finally fulfilled that particular wish). It got me writing again, and although I'm not nearly as good as my idols are yet, I'm slowly, slowly, oh so slowly, getting there. I've at least gone from being completely revolted by what I write to only only hating it a little, but still liking a line or two.

Let me put it this way. Although it wasn't solely responsible (and my recent discovery of Old Man Murray is carrying this kind of thing on), I owe Idle Thumbs a lot for 1. Making me feel that I'm not completely alone in this godforsaken country, and 2. Helping me grow-up a bit. I have something like 15 Thumbs articles printed out and sitting in desk drawer and I used to read all the time. Life in Jordan is pretty restrictive, and for the longest time I thought I was some freak of nature for liking things that no-one had heard of, and --

See, my dad wouldn't bother getting internet till 2004, and even then it was dial-up. In the year or so it took me to discover email and get over the initial wide-eyed awe, I somehow managed to come across Ron Gilbert's blog, and get to Thumbs from there. Articles like I Kill You, The Emotion Game, The F Word or, the one I used to think about the most, GameRankings Is Not God, were things that completely changed my way of thinking about video games. Maybe I was just an impressionable 15 year old, but I basically owe Idle Thumbs for a push down the right road.

You know, everything considered, especially living in Jordan, I feel like it's expected for me to be an a-class moron, which is, again, something I'm trying to shake off. But thanks, Idle Thumbs. I still have all those articles I printed out right beside me. I can take a photo to prove it!

[Korax]

Just like everyone else, I can't see or hear the word "wizard" without the accompanying song clip playing in my head. And now when I see something about Jeff Goldblum, I get Chris's "Cool Cool Cool Game" insanity playing, as well.

[Chris]

Oh man, here it comes.

I know I haven't fully matured yet, and I still have an incomprehensibly long way to go, but Idle Thumbs was responsible for me going from "OMG METAL GEAR GRAPHICS" to...something else. That classic Ron Gilbert interview was a huge part of it. Being quoted as "one of the many idiots who plague the internet" was also part of it (although I still stand by the thought that I wish WoW was a single player game, but it seems like Deathspank has finally fulfilled that particular wish). It got me writing again, and although I'm not nearly as good as my idols are yet, I'm slowly, slowly, oh so slowly, getting there. I've at least gone from being completely revolted by what I write to only only hating it a little, but still liking a line or two.

Let me put it this way. Although it wasn't solely responsible (and my recent discovery of Old Man Murray is carrying this kind of thing on), I owe Idle Thumbs a lot for 1. Making me feel that I'm not completely alone in this godforsaken country, and 2. Helping me grow-up a bit. I have something like 15 Thumbs articles printed out and sitting in desk drawer and I used to read all the time. Life in Jordan is pretty restrictive, and for the longest time I thought I was some freak of nature for liking things that no-one had heard of, and --

See, my dad wouldn't bother getting internet till 2004, and even then it was dial-up. In the year or so it took me to discover email and get over the initial wide-eyed awe, I somehow managed to come across Ron Gilbert's blog, and get to Thumbs from there. Articles like I Kill You, The Emotion Game, The F Word or, the one I used to think about the most, GameRankings Is Not God, were things that completely changed my way of thinking about video games. Maybe I was just an impressionable 15 year old, but I basically owe Idle Thumbs for a push down the right road.

You know, everything considered, especially living in Jordan, I feel like it's expected for me to be an a-class moron, which is, again, something I'm trying to shake off. But thanks, Idle Thumbs. I still have all those articles I printed out right beside me. I can take a photo to prove it!

Holy shit. Well, that's awesome.

[Jake]

Idle Thumbs helped me get my current job, and it takes up at least one night of otherwise free time every week. Over the last five years this site has introduced me to a ton of incredibly people, both online and in real life, some of whom have become very good friends. It's also provided an excellent venue for me to get random people I don't know to laugh at stupid made up words.

[Chris]

this site has introduced me to a ton of incredibly people

"this site has introduced me to a ton of, incredibly, people"

[Roderick]

Well, most recently I had a whole day acting like a jackass cracking up randomly amongst other people and family whenever I thought about Nick grunting Jingle Bells in that old-man-voice.

But over the previous 5-odd years, Thumbs has always felt like a goddamn little bastion of internet excellence, a place I gladly call home. No matter what form it has taken over time.

Oh, and it has also introduced me to a dose of shame when I think back to the single article I published here about product placement. Damn, what a pretentious twerp I was, and an idiot at that. Brr!

[Fuzzy Lobster]

I work in a genetics lab at UCSF, a large university hospital in San Francisco where I am the "head" of a section staffed only by me.

My housemate recommended the podcast to me to keep me entertained and I've had a great time of it. Not only do I get a weekly dose of dorkitude and general gamey goodness, but I haven't yet transformed into an quivering husk of a human, like the victim of some weird 1950's isolation experiment. Yay!

Recently, I've had a student rotating through my section and once video games came up in conversation I forced him to listen too. He's become such a fan that my section is now regularly speckled with thumb references and my communication books are full of "the wizard"s, bird noises and "hooray for you"s.

So there you go, Idle Thumbs is an active part of the advancement of medical science.

[gdf]

It's just the podcast for me, so: every time I do something nerdy I get Chris' anorak voice in my head; laughter on the bus and the usual maniac looks; obsession over when the next episode is coming out (if I think it's on the way I won't leave the house until I get it); spontaneous laughter at anything related to the podcast; going out on walks so I have an excuse to listen; horror at how dismal most other podcasts are; horse bag; one-word Jake quotes popping into my thoughts without provocation.

I love Idle Thumbs.

[Marek]

Okay, so I was lying. Working on Idle Thumbs was an amazing and transformative experience. I got to meet and even befriend some incredible people, got to work with incredible people in a team, was able to improve my writing and communication ability well before I even had my first job, and perhaps most importantly it gave me a chance to make stupid mistakes or be wrong or poorly calibrated and learn from it and adjust. Idle Thumbs (coupled with Adventure Gamers) soon got me my first job, and then my gradual entry into the games industry.

Nowadays Idle Thumbs is mostly responsible for making me look like an insane person in public.

Kroms: that rules. It's amazing to read that.

[Moelman]

Mostly looking like a lunatic in public, but since I have become somewhat active on these forums I've really enjoyed interacting with you all. Wish I had known about the site years ago before it became a podcast. I've tried to get some of my friends to listen, but a lot of them just aren't "podcast people". I insisted on like everyone I know listening to Chris read the guy's complaint about FF XIII on suckbox, that still makes me laugh. You guys are all fuckin great.

Also, Kroms, that really is amazing. I also somewhat aspire to be a "real" games journalist so it's neat to see that you can get inspiration from anything.

[Sombre]

"this site has introduced me to a ton of, incredibly, people"

IGN.com

[syntheticgerbil]

Idlethumbs has made me internet.

[Patters]

Not that much really, I really like when they go into sound and music discussion (with reference to gamess) as that is one of the most important if not the most important thing for me.

Oh it also made me like something about GTA 4, which I hated before the thumbs sessions. It's also influenced me to get a hell of a lot of indie games, actually play Farcry 2, replay Mass Effect and by Civ 4 complete (still need to play that).

Edited October 1, 2009 by Patters