Idle Thumbs 129: A Reminder

[RubixsQube]

You guys spend a lot of time in your episodes saying: "man, people are going to hate this." I understand that partially it's tongue in cheek, but you should realize that for every second that you talk about, say, Spelunky, or Super Mario 3D Land, yeah, there's probably someone rolling their eyes, but ALSO, there are people like me who fucking love hearing what you think about these games. I tune in each week to this show because instead of talking about video games in a very surface way, you spend a lot of time discussing games in a discerning, deep manner (interspersed with jokes about wizards). So yes, in some ways, you're doing this for the listeners, but also I like to think you do this because you just enjoy playing and talking about video games! In the latter case, just talk about what you want to talk about! (When it comes to the internet, the squeaky wheel doesn't necessarily need the grease)

 

Also, when Chris stopped talking, I immediately thought "oh jeez, I know exactly what's happening, and it's disappointing since I have a feeling Chris has some really interesting opinions about this." Then disappointment turned to aggravation since I assumed he'd do it for the whole damn episode, but thank GOD Jake pointed it out TWICE and eventually they got things rolling again. You're right though, if you're going to run an experiment, don't immediately introduce a bias right off the bat by talking about the experiment you're going to be running. 

[granderojo]

Killer queen? She's a killer, guaranteed to blow your mind (anytime)

http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/29/4593934/killer-queen-joust-starcraft-giant-snail

Well that looks a lot less interesting than what was described in that email. Welp.

[Berzee]

You're right though, if you're going to run an experiment, don't immediately introduce a bias right off the bat by talking about the experiment you're going to be running. 

 

All part of the experiment, my boy.

[clyde]

I tune in each week to this show because instead of talking about video games in a very surface way, you spend a lot of time discussing games in a discerning, deep manner (interspersed with jokes about wizards).

Indeed. They aren't talking about the same thing every week even if they discuss the same game. One episode they discuss how Spelunky encourages "bite-sized game-play" and the contextual effects of Daily-Challenge versus regular play. On another episode they speak to what aspects of Spelunky encourages a Let's Play community around it (and even compare it to how other games may do the same). It's reductive to say that they are just talking about Spelunky.

At the same time, I bet it's hard to figure out what to talk about on the spot. I interpret what they are saying as "We need to initiate discussion with a different subject so that we can look at the games we have been discussing with regularity, in a different context."

[Flynn]

You guys spend a lot of time in your episodes saying: "man, people are going to hate this." I understand that partially it's tongue in cheek, but you should realize that for every second that you talk about, say, Spelunky, or Super Mario 3D Land, yeah, there's probably someone rolling their eyes, but ALSO, there are people like me who fucking love hearing what you think about these games. 

 

Totally concur.  Don't sweat the repetition.  If the conversation is interesting to you it's probably interesting to me even if it means talking about the same game 100 episodes in a row.

[tegan]

I don't get why you're so self-conscious about discussing Spelunky or Mario for multiple episodes, but not for discussing FAR CRY 2 in more episodes than every other game combined.

[sclpls]

They were self-conscious about bringing up Far Cry 2 for awhile though!

[Patrick R]

They seem pretty self-conscious about Far-Cry 2 as well.

 

And I get it. Mario 3D Land sounds like an amazing game, but it's 1) not the kind of thought-provoking game that spurs your classic long Idle Thumbs conversations about broader topics and 2) a game that only Jake has played, so the discussion that can happen is limited.

 

Also, by definition, everyone who hosts Idle Thumbs is going to have the least objective view of their own podcast. So while surely a huge part of what makes us fans are their hilarious and weird tangents about G-Man introducing the Steambox controller (or whatnot), it's not hard to see how, at the time of recording, it just feels like a bunch of silly nonsense.

[RubixsQube]

And I get it. Mario 3D Land sounds like an amazing game, but it's 1) not the kind of thought-provoking game that spurs your classic long Idle Thumbs conversations about broader topics and 2) a game that only Jake has played, so the discussion that can happen is limited.

 

I donno if I agree with (1), but (2) is true for a lot of games that they play, and it still makes a game worth discussing. I think that the show does a great job being broad with the scope of the games that are discussed, and I 100% definitely think that they could have a fascinating discussion of something like Super Mario 3D Land. However, as I've pointed out in other threads, they seem always skittish to do it because of the same reaction you seem to be having, which is that it's not "thought-provoking." It's easy to be reductionist with any game, but it can be dangerous, since sometimes it closes you off to really interesting gaming experiences.

[Jake]

We love the nonsense. It was us being self conscious about the same 3 non-surprise games of Chris Spelunky Jake Mario 3D Land Nick Dota.

[tegan]

I hope that the next cast has spooky Halloween names.

 

You can call yourselfes Chris Screamo, Jake O'Lantern,  Neck Breakin', and Sean Vampireman.

[Chris]

You're right though, if you're going to run an experiment, don't immediately introduce a bias right off the bat by talking about the experiment you're going to be running.

That was the whole joke though! I only thought of it as I was bringing it up the first time. I wouldn't have done it out of the blue if I hadn't introduced it as a possibility first.

[Twig]

I got the joke and loved it. That absurdity is part of why I love the podcast!

[Twig]

Oops.

[SecretAsianMan]

Chris being silent created a very unusual mental image of the recording for me.  Once I realized that he wasn't going to talk, I imagined him sitting there with a stoic look on his face trying to react as little as possible to Jake and Nick.  But then when Nick said that Chris was going to die laughing, he suddenly turned into a crazy madman who had to be restrained Hannibal Lecter style and was only allowed to speak when Nick "unlocked" him.  I've often wished to see video of the podcast being recorded, but I think I want this one more than most.

 

As for repeating topics, I think part of the concern is that podcasts are mostly one way communication.  Because they don't have readers there live to either tell them to shut up and move on or spur them to keep talking about the thing they think is dumb, they choose to err on the side of caution and try to limit the repetition.

 

I think what I'm getting at with both of these is I want to see a Twitch stream of a podcast being recorded.

[Twig]

I think it'd be pretty cool to see it being recorded live, with accompanying chat, but I'm not sure how much the podcast is edited after it's all said and done. Obviously in some cases (like this one!) there's some weird shenanigans with looping audio or whatever.

[SecretAsianMan]

Yeah, I'm sure the final edited version would be different.  Still, I'd love to be able to see it.  Maybe one of the Thumbs can just secretly turn on the webcam before they start recording and stealth stream to Twitch without telling the rest so we don't interfere with a normal podcast discourse.  Then at the end they reveal there's been a live audience the whole time.

[dmarlett]

Was I the only one a little sad that the Spelunky talk was stifled?

 

Also, my mp3 player is set up to loop all of the tracks in their folder.  This being the only mp3 in that folder, the beginning of the podcast looped about 3 times, which slightly confused me because I couldn't tell if there were slight variations to each intro.  Does the podcast save any of our progress or is every intro the same?

[tegan]

This is a stupid thing to point out but the fact that audiblepodcast.com/wizard was plugged in reference to a book series about an actual fucking wizard just slayed me.

[Problem Machine]

I think what I'm getting at with both of these is I want to see a Twitch stream of a podcast being recorded.

Oh god I don't, I already spend too much time watching bullshit on youtube and twitch

[Nijhazer]

Was I the only one a little sad that the Spelunky talk was stifled?

 

Nah. All the Spelunky talk of late has gotten me to start playing the game, and it's really gotten the hooks in deep. It's so rewarding listening to Idle Thumbs discussing a game that I am also playing.

[sclpls]

Was I the only one a little sad that the Spelunky talk was stifled?

 

Also, my mp3 player is set up to loop all of the tracks in their folder.  This being the only mp3 in that folder, the beginning of the podcast looped about 3 times, which slightly confused me because I couldn't tell if there were slight variations to each intro.  Does the podcast save any of our progress or is every intro the same?

 

Nope, I'm sure there are plenty of us that are hopelessly addicted to this game and can listen to people talk about it all day. Of course there are always the naysayers as well...

[Gormongous]

Nope, I'm sure there are plenty of us that are hopelessly addicted to this game and can listen to people talk about it all day. Of course there are always the naysayers as well...

 

I'm not crazy into Spelunky, though I enjoy it, but I think the line for "too much" is only crossed when and if (big emphasis on the "if") Spelunky talk is pushing out or overriding talk about other games, which certainly wasn't the case this week (or ever, I think).

[dmarlett]

I think this week proved if Chris can't talk about Spelunky he won't talk at all.

[TychoCelchuuu]

What an amazing podcast. Also if it means hearing more Nick, Chris should pull his whole "don't talk for a while" thing every time. Nick is cool! Congrats Nick.