Extra Credits

Hendo · August 18, 2011

It was on Joypod. Sad, really.

HandsomeDead · August 19, 2011

I cant remember if it was Joypod or Weekend Confirmed who had something about it last week. Apparently they weren't getting paid and their artist needed an operation, the fans on their (Escapist) forums donated a load, The Escapist then claimed they were entitled a chunk of it, so Extra Credits walked

I knew about the operation and donations, that's why they use guest artists now but that is really shitty of the Escapist. Why would they even think they are entitled? Madness.

I wanted to say something about the addiction episode but I just posted them and had to shoot out but are the suggesting addiction is only through drugs. Gambling is universally recognised as something you get addicted to and games surely push similar buttons. I know it's all semantics like they said but it was just something I'm not sure I agree with.

DANGERMAN · August 19, 2011

I cant remember if it was Joypod or Weekend Confirmed who had something about it last week. Apparently they weren't getting paid and their artist needed an operation, the fans on their (Escapist) forums donated a load, The Escapist then claimed they were entitled a chunk of it, so Extra Credits walked

I knew about the operation and donations, that's why they use guest artists now but that is really shitty of the Escapist. Why would they even think they are entitled? Madness.

I wanted to say something about the addiction episode but I just posted them and had to shoot out but are the suggesting addiction is only through drugs. Gambling is universally recognised as something you get addicted to and games surely push similar buttons. I know it's all semantics like they said but it was just something I'm not sure I agree with.

yeah, he's right when he says that addiction is when the way the brain works is fundamentally altered (or something like that), but he's looking at it purely chemically, which means it can only include drugs/drink. It's anything maladaptive that you keep doing, to a point anyway. A lot of alcoholics aren't necessarily addicted to the alcohol, it's a deflection away from something else, so it's behavioural. People who play far too many games fit the same template as far as I can see.

That said he might be taking it a different route, he already said it was semantics. So if he does say it's a behavioural thing, that they're playing to escape or whatever then it's really just he's given it a different name

Sly Reflex · August 19, 2011

The points about people getting whipped up over gamer deaths was still a valid one though, per head of populace people that die while playing games are very minor, and even then it could be argued that it wasn't the game that killed them, rather than their own stupidity to stay up for prolonged amount of hours while consuming unhealthy foods to lengthen the awake session. I'd still only consider the only way for a game or a gaming session to kill someone is if it gave them a fit. You are as likely to die from watching film marathons as you are of gaming. It's a silly scaremongering concept that the media loves to wring out to the people that don't understand and therefore fear gaming.

HandsomeDead · August 25, 2011

Something a bit different this week. Seems the subject is quite a personal one.

HandsomeDead · August 26, 2011

Edited the previous post. Going by their Twitter it seemed they had trouble uploading the first part. It makes more sense now.

Sly Reflex · August 26, 2011

I sometimes look at the amount of time I play and worry, but then I look at other people's time played, one especially has put over 70 hours into games over the last week and I look and think that that is insane. I need to get out and do stuff. Things need doing. People need seeing. I've put people off before so I could play, but then again I've done that just so I can watch a film or spend time with another person that is less of a cunt. I think anything north of 20 hours is starting to get a bit silly. It becomes another job in sorts. And jobs are fucking shit, especially ones you don't get paid for.

DANGERMAN · August 26, 2011

I don't know, you could easily put in 20 hours on a weekend without missing out on seeing people. Depends on your life really, partnered up with kids and a full time job, then still managing 50 hours is going some.

As for this topic, I've not watched all the first video yet, but it does seem like a minority problem. I'm going to try not to be cynical about it and give it another watch later

HandsomeDead · August 26, 2011

Yeah I see people with insane play times and wonder how they do it. But I just tend to spread my time over multiple games so if I just had a 'gaming running time' for the week it may be pretty bad, too.

The videos did get me thinking of my relationship with games and while I do feel they fill a void if I'm honest I would never choose the over doing something even as trivial as seeing a film with friends or meeting someone for lunch or down the pub. I think there are loads of things I'd rather do and I try not to let opportunities slip by me because of a game. But because of my life situation at the moment and partly living somewhere with not a massive amount of opportunities I do find myself gaming a lot, which does bother me a little.

Dunno what the point of that was. Using skills from games is something they've pushed before and with the right motivation and mindset maybe we could be kings of the world.

TopGunKnacker · August 31, 2011

i think it also depends on whether youre where you are in your life. if youve got what you want from life within reason, career, partner, whatever, its much easier to fit in a bit of gaming without it taking over.

recently ive been starting to think i probably play too many games, often at the expense of self-betterment. like mentioned in the video though its not that im completely incompatible with videogames, its the underlying problems, depression and whatnot that make it easy to play games, and hard to actually work on something worthwhile in my spare time

HandsomeDead · September 1, 2011

Yeah, nothing like a game to help you forget you exist during bad times. That's fine in the short term but when that takes over you're fucked.

This week Extra Credits announces they're getting into publishing and looks at publishing generally.

I'm looking forward to what they come out with.

Sly Reflex · September 1, 2011

This is pretty awesome news.

Craymen Edge · September 7, 2011

That sounds great, I really hope they can get it working.

I'm also pleased to see they've got a new home on Penny Arcade / PATV.

HandsomeDead · September 8, 2011

They were gonna get snapped up by someone. Penny Arcade seems like it'll be a good home for them.

Unfortunately you can't embed PATV videos so I just have linkys. And it's moved to Wednesdays too.

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/episode-07-pacing

They talk about pacing.

HandsomeDead · August 1, 2012

With Sly's idea with his Extra Credits thread to get some craic going during the summer drought I was convinced to get the general thread going for anyone who wants their academic look at video games at hand.

I'll reboot the thread with a double bill about how The Hero With A Thousand Faces can be a great tool, and uses Journey as an example.

Sly Reflex · August 2, 2012

That was pretty interesting. The way that it mentions that once the hero crosses the line of no return he can't step off his/her journey is actually reinforced in games by limitations that sort of break the 4th wall unintentionally in a way that would probably be impossible to do in any other media simply because it doesn't give you the freedom to say "Ah fuck it, I want to do my own thing."

I've never really thought about it academically either but they are totally right about the rebirth part and starting over and being the mentor. It is subliminal almost, but thinking about the co-op games I've played with various people both being the mentor and the helper. You're walking the line of the characters in the game. It's something I've never ever really thought about but it was really insightful.

Also, take any game based on a story and I bet you can put the events of it around this wheel. Even the crappy games adhere to the formula. It's been quite an eye opener for me.

HandsomeDead · August 6, 2012

Extra Credits say 'don't moan about imbalance straight away; give it time' or something.

HandsomeDead · August 24, 2012

I've been horrible at this. Please forgive me, because I know you need it.

First off: Games from the 16bit era you may have not have tried. I've not tried any of them. Have you?

And here we have Extra Credits talk about the future of digital resale.

HandsomeDead · August 24, 2012

And this is a really interesting one if you wanna get involved.

they talk about game mechanics being a metaphor and to really get into the discussion you should play this game - http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash

It's important to the discussion. It'll only take a few minutes to go through. Play it before you watch the video, to play along.

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