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Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Good evening, gentle listener, and welcome to Distractible. This episode, Wicker Wade heckles Hoctua, disses Diablo, and debates the deterioration of downtime distractions. Mortifying Mark loves boxers, then adeptly identifies the issue is egregious ego, and potentially player purchases.
Baleful Bob samples socks, questions ethics, and claims that commercialization has crippled the creative criteria. From breathable balls to sweet proteins. Yes! It's time for What's Wrong With Video Games? Now sit back and prepare to be distracted and enjoy the show.
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Distractible. I am today's host, Pete. Why? Because I won the last one. Joining us as always are my co-hosts, Mark and Bob. Hello, men. How are you? Hi. It is cold in Cincinnati. We have had like the coldest November start to December. I remember school got canceled because of cold in early December. That like never happened.
That's like February weather. It's like wildly cold right now.
I hate it. You know where it's warm? Inside. Inside where? Inside. I mean, inside anything, anywhere, any place that's inside. Probably pretty warm. I got parts that are warm. All right. He's writing down a point. He's giving me warm points.
I've got warm parts. I got lots of warm parts.
You want to feel some? I want you to feel some. You use your right hand for Mark and your left hand for me and just start reaching. See who's warmer. Yeah, I bet I'm warmer. I bet I'm warmer.
You guys ain't never had a friend like me. That's a callback right there. Give yourself a callback point. Why not?
Man, I don't think Wade's ever earned a point when he owes. He always like loses six points.
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Chapter 2: What are the issues with modern video games?
But this is like some kind of composite with like some stretchy materials in it and like breathable materials. It's very nice. Whatever this is made of. And it may not have been the same story like 20 some years ago.
Regular old stanky cotton tighty whities from middle school. Not good. Modern briefs. Top notch. So I like them. I'm all about it. Fair. I had small talk. I don't even care anymore. I'm excited about this. I never get to brag about my underwear.
I don't think I do either. I've not really thought about it. I've just worn boxers for years because after junior high, I think I switched because I joined the basketball team and I was like, I can't be caught in there with my briefs.
Because that's exactly what it was all my life. And then I finally was like, well, I've worn through all of my pants. And now I'm wearing through all of my underwear. I need to get new ones. I was like, I looked up and I literally just was trying to find out what the most comfortable was. And everyone was saying the specific brand that I bought, the brief style of it. So freeing. So underwear-y.
It's great.
All right. Well, fair enough. That's why I'm so confident today. You do seem like a different man. There's something. I didn't realize that's what it was, but there was something.
Mm-hmm.
bob did you want to have your small talk are you just content what did i have to talk about i'm also already unsure what i gave you your point for mark or not mark bob you made a joke or something warm something i already can't read what i wrote i got warm parts inside me some something like that parts okay because it looks like i wrote warm pub that makes more sense part i won't correct anything so i'll be confused at the end again but just want to double yeah no don't change that just leave that the way it is you'll remember
One day I'll auction off my scorecard here so that way I can pay for some plumbing. Nah, that's gonna stop, buddy.
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Chapter 3: How has the gaming industry's focus changed over time?
I've started wearing like I wear Brooks shoes because I had a lot of foot pain for a while and Brooks are just super padded. At least this one kind I was getting. But lately I got a pair of hey dudes for like a family photo thing. And I've actually been really enjoying the hey dudes, but they are kind of low. So like my socks still stick out over them.
But I've been the hey dude phase of my life right now. Which kind of makes me remind me of my grandpa. My grandpa at some point in life stopped wearing tie shoes and just got like velcro like Reeboks he wore everywhere. Dude, slip-ons are kind of where it's at.
I've never done the slip-on thing till now, but now I'm kind of like, oh, for winter, like taking the dogs outside when it's like fucking three degrees or whatever it is right now. It's having some slip-ons where I'm not wearing flip-flops out in the freezing cold. I'm still wearing my shorts because like I can't change everything at once. But slip-ons are nice. Any more small talk bits?
Yeah, actually, I got a new story. What's the name of the guy who runs like OpenAI? Well, runs OpenAI, Sam Altman or something like that. Wasn't Sam Altman the guy who was at FTX? You're right. Anyway, the same person in my mind.
The crypto guy.
Anyway, headline, OpenAI continues its mission of, quote, ethical AI by partnering with a killer robot company.
That's the headline. Do they really get to say that that's their mission? Like, I'm not, I have no ammunition to fire at OpenAI, but they're a for-profit company now, right? Or are they transitioning to a for-profit company? They just aren't.
If they do that, if they become because they were a nonprofit, if they become a for profit company or if they have already done that, they're not doing ethical AI. They're doing profitable AI. That's by definition.
Their motive is changed from we're a nonprofit doing ethical things to we're a for profit company maximizing profits, doing whatever the hell is necessary as long as it's legal and maybe ethical. They just get to say that. That seems crazy to me.
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Chapter 4: Why are gamers feeling disconnected from their favorite games?
It would appear they may have done textbook sort of rug pull, potentially, maybe.
I feel like we really missed the boat on this crypto coin thing. We could have had a coin, we could have rug pulled everybody, and here we are.
Wade, you and I need to launch Anne Friend's coin ASAP.
We need to get some people in. Mark, we need you to invest in this coin. Yeah, tell me more. I'm very interested. You give us money, you make it eventually, probably, maybe.
No, we don't even need to take Mark's money. That's the thing with crypto. You can take money out of the pockets of the fools who think you're reputable. Listeners! Yeah, them. Those people. We love those guys. You should buy some grift coin right now.
Viewers, there's a special message just for you.
Listeners, you go get that coin. To get back to what Mark was talking about, that sounds very ethic-ish.
I think my suggestion to Mark a few episodes back about collecting battle bots might be a bit more relevant now that there's going to be killer bots.
Oh, yes. Because according to them, the arsenal we need is an order magnitude more than we can build at present to maintain peace and deter war.
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Chapter 5: What role do loot boxes play in gaming?
Yeah. Who brought up gamer?
Is that you, Mark? You get a segue point. Did you know that Michael C. Hall sings in a band? I don't know if he actively does it, but there are videos of him. He's the... You can go and see Hall. Give yourself a point. Give yourself a point.
Dude, I'm winning.
Give yourself a point.
Okay, man. Give yourself a point. That was funny now. That was hurt. Now I'm laughing.
I laughed. You know what's funny? Oh, this is small talk. What are we doing? I realized this recently because Disney movies. You know how I do that voice, the mocking voice? Don't you mean to rub me? Don't you mean to rub me? That bit. I don't know if this is the origin of it, but I realized where I got that from. It's actually from the movie Monsters, Inc. I've never seen that whole movie.
There's a scene in the beginning of the movie where there are characters in a locker room and one of them, the guy voiced by, oh, what's his name? Crazy Teeth. All I can think of is Belushi, but that's not the guy. Gary Busey? No, no, the guy from Gordok Empire. Steve Buscemi? Steve Buscemi voices this character, and he's like talking, and he's like, shh, shh, shh, shh. Do you hear that?
That is the winds of change. And then he walks away, and Mike Wazowski is all, do you hear that? Do you hear the winds of change? That's totally where I got that bit from. Every time I do that, that's what I think of, so.
I have a habit of doing, uh, saying, when people say things, which is the, uh, Geico commercial, when they're like the, why don't we get in the running car? Are you crazy? Let's go hide behind those chainsaws. I just, I mimic that one line from that stupid commercial. Shout out to them, I guess.
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Chapter 6: How do business models affect game development?
And as we're filming this, Path of Exile 2 is about to come out. And Path of Exile kind of had Diablo 3 by the balls. I mean, Diablo 3 ended up as a great game. I think Diablo 3 ended up as a great game by the end, but it took five, six years to get there. Path of Exile just came out. Seemed like a passion project. People loved what they were doing.
They wanted to make a fun game that was like a reference to Diablo 2 and other ARPGs and stuff. Great game. And they've continued to support it. They've continued to just do great things with it. It's very popular. People enjoy it. I never hear anything bad said about Path of Exile. And 2 comes out very soon. And it seems like all of the hype is up for that.
And I've seen some interviews with the guy that's making it. And he was talking about some decision making things. He's like, look, actually what Diablo 4 has been doing Some of the stuff that they're doing, it makes sense that it's a struggle because what they're doing is challenging to make.
And we decided why do the hard stuff whenever we can do easier stuff that makes more content that people like and isn't as difficult to do, which was kind of like taking a shot at them, but also like giving them credit for doing hard work. I'm kind of in a weird spot myself as a gamer. I still play video games quite often, but I've been balancing between games a lot lately.
And it just made me wonder, like, man, I played Diablo 2 for like 10 straight years. I played Diablo 3 for like 10 straight years. I cannot stick with a game anymore. And I don't know if that's an age thing. I don't know if I just need to find a new hobby. Or is something wrong with the video games themselves? So what is wrong with video games?
I'll tell you what's wrong. This is what I really actually think. This is very true. I was going to start off as a big dramatic bit. I think the problem with video games is that so many people in the creative driver's seat of video games are people that wanted to make movies and are instead in charge of making games. Or they're put in a position where they're making games.
And you have this expectation that a AAA game must have almost a movie level of cinematography and acting and a bunch of actors in there and all this cool stuff. And I'm not saying that a good story isn't part of a good game. But in a lot of these higher end titles, I'm not saying Diablo 4 is falling this because it's like it is a bit different.
And Blizzard's always done really cool cinematics that I do appreciate. Yeah.
they've got a great they've got a couple great cinematics and and four they probably got the greatest cinematic team in gaming company history they they pioneered a lot of technology in terms of cinematics so all credit to them but you have and i'm not just talking about like the the the man of madan level where it's literally a movie that you know you do a couple quick time events and stuff like that shaking it like legends bro it's a man of madan quote
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Chapter 7: What is the future of gaming?
Kick It Like Legends, Bro. That's all I really remember about that game. There's been built up this expectation that a game puts story and acting and all this first, and then the gameplay is an accessory to that. But that's... completely the opposite of how a game should be structured and built from the ground up.
The experience, the game mechanics, the core loop needs to be established first, and then the story is built around that mechanics, and the story is constrained by the limitations of the mechanics of your game loop, and not the other way around. Because so many games that are really good games, like let's say God of War, it's a
great game i have never finished it but i know it's really well made and it's really well told story and like the acting is great and the actual like cinematography is great and then the gameplay is also good you know what i mean it's it's you talk about those those things first and then the gameplay which god of war when you go back to the original one the very first which i played every god of war except the two new recent ones even the psp versions of
The game itself in those games was the basics of it was combat that is like Tetris style accelerating there. And God of War has that. It does have that. But it is 50-50 with the story. And that's a balance I can accept. But it creates this expectation for the game developer where the expectation to create that cinematic experience is so high.
And then they have to be like, well, we got to raise up the game to this. And when it succeeds, those meet and it succeeds with that game. A lot of games don't succeed because they can't pull the game up to meet the story that they're trying to make at the same time. So I'm not saying story is bad. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying cinematography is bad.
I'm saying like putting that first is one of the core problems of gaming today.
Diablo 4 arguably did that when it launched playing through the campaign. The campaign was fun. The story was interesting. The cinematics were fantastic. And then you got to like level 50 out of 100, which they've changed the way leveling works now. So they have renovated that a bit, but you have like level 50. It's like, OK, cool. We finished the story. What is there to do now?
I need to get my glyphs leveled up. So let's go run some nightmare dungeons to level glyphs. There's one boss that doesn't give you any rewards. You get achievement for beating her, but that's it. So I'll just level up my glyphs that I can run more nightmare dungeons to level up glyphs.
what is this the mid game the end game it's all of it what do you mean it's all of it and they've spent the first four or five whatever season since then adding mid and end game content because they had virtually none and they've added and like i said it got to a point like a season ago where i was like actually it's in a pretty good spot
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