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the Dao of "games journalism"

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Posts

  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    I really don't agree with Viv's article at all.

  • ButtlordButtlord Fornicus Lord of Bondage and PainRegistered User regular
    yeah i'm disagreeing like whoa with ME not being an RPG for the same reason what'shisface just did

    the "role' part doesn't just mean in combat

    you're literally playing a character, deciding what they'd say and do in a given moment

    the me series does that in spades

  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    even ignoring that role means character wise

    I feel like the classes of Mass Effect count

  • OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Another good article from Vivi.

    I don't really understand how Mass Effect isn't an RPG, though.

    I guess I disagree with her definition of a role-playing game. Role-playing can also mean putting yourself into a character role, which is something ME lets you do and WoW pretty much doesn't. There are roles in combat but you can also view it as a role an actor plays.

    i don't think her definition is meant to hold in all contexts

  • DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    well I mean if you boil down RPG to mean "playing a role" then doesn't that encompass basically every single video game except tetris and even then maybe tetris

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  • ButtlordButtlord Fornicus Lord of Bondage and PainRegistered User regular
    Dichotomy wrote: »
    well I mean if you boil down RPG to mean "playing a role" then doesn't that encompass basically every single video game except tetris and even then maybe tetris

    not true

    you're not really deciding what or who your character is in most games

    in prototype 2 james heller is always going to be a barely restrained violent psychopath whose powers are A B and C and the upgrades are X Y and Z

    you can choose what you do with those powers but not what the powers are or how they develop or anything

    as opposed to WoW where the combat definition of RPG comes in with the skill trees and what not or Mass Effect with the skill trees (kinda) and the character side of things

  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    It is, largely, a completely arbitrary and subjective definition

    I generally cop-out by talking about "RPG mechanics", like by saying that a game from X genre with character advancement has "RPG mechanics" rather than saying it's an out-and-out roleplaying game

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  • DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    yeah the label of "role-playing game" is essentially valueless like saying something fits the monomyth mold bam

    but games traditionally defined as "role-playing games" have a certain set of mechanics inherited from forebears long dead that really needs a new name

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  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    ...also I sometimes feel like we should be bringining these conversations to the article's attached comment thread, or MD's forums.

    Whatever! Discourse is discourse

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  • DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    it's not my fault I've been conditioned to ignore comment sections and official forums

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  • ButtlordButtlord Fornicus Lord of Bondage and PainRegistered User regular
    Dichotomy wrote: »
    yeah the label of "role-playing game" is essentially valueless like saying something fits the monomyth mold bam

    but games traditionally defined as "role-playing games" have a certain set of mechanics inherited from forebears long dead that really needs a new name

    your mother doesn't fit the monomyth mold

    because she's fat

  • OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Edcrab wrote: »
    ...also I sometimes feel like we should be bringining these conversations to the article's attached comment thread, or MD's forums.

    Whatever! Discourse is discourse
    both are pretty terrible at the moment. something i am constantly wondering how to fix

  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    If only you knew a cadre of fascist power-mad lunactics articulate literate types willing to moderate things

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  • ButtlordButtlord Fornicus Lord of Bondage and PainRegistered User regular
    Edcrab wrote: »
    ...also I sometimes feel like we should be bringining these conversations to the article's attached comment thread, or MD's forums.

    Whatever! Discourse is discourse
    both are pretty terrible at the moment. something i am constantly wondering how to fix

    put the word "official" in the link in quotes and just redirect it to this thread

  • LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    Another good article from Vivi.

    I don't really understand how Mass Effect isn't an RPG, though.

    I guess I disagree with her definition of a role-playing game. Role-playing can also mean putting yourself into a character role, which is something ME lets you do and WoW pretty much doesn't. There are roles in combat but you can also view it as a role an actor plays.

    i don't think her definition is meant to hold in all contexts

    Thinking about it more you may be right. It's not a role playing game in the context of what she is talking about.

  • OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Edcrab wrote: »
    If only you knew a cadre of fascist power-mad lunactics articulate literate types willing to moderate things

    i know, i mean more from a UI standpoint. my web dev is working on the mainsite redesign at the moment, hopefully then we can go to a decent forum theme

  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    Ahh, fair enough. Is it feasible to tie article comment trees to the forums in some way? I know of news sites/blogs where the two are inextricably linked

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  • OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Edcrab wrote: »
    Ahh, fair enough. Is it feasible to tie article comment trees to the forums in some way? I know of news sites/blogs where the two are inextricably linked

    it is in some respects, but they're separate databases.

    honestly if the only thing i had to do was MD it'd have been done weeks ago, but it's tough balancing grad school & being a visionary douchebag

  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    Preaching to the flock, Ori

    Preaching to the douchebag flock

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  • AneurhythmiaAneurhythmia Registered User regular
    There's an MD forum?

  • NerdgasmicNerdgasmic __BANNED USERS regular
    yeah, but it's invite only

  • OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
    I'm slowly uploading a decent theme and making the link public.

  • VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    Dichotomy wrote: »

    but games traditionally defined as "role-playing games" have a certain set of mechanics inherited from forebears long dead that really needs a new name

    this is the definition I was using

    Not what is a game where you play a role

    But an RPG as defined by the genre and industry

    XBOX: NOVADELPHINI | DISCORD: NOVADELPHINI #7387 | TWITTER
  • VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    Antimatter wrote: »
    I really don't agree with Viv's article at all.

    I would love to hear exactly why, since I wasn't actually making a point but rather exploring a concept.

    XBOX: NOVADELPHINI | DISCORD: NOVADELPHINI #7387 | TWITTER
  • VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    Antimatter wrote: »
    even ignoring that role means character wise

    I feel like the classes of Mass Effect count

    But the classes are not traditional and you can theoretically roll with any set of squad mates and make it through a mission. Some combinations may be harder, but they are feasible.

    This is not true in traditional RPGs, like Planescape: Torment. Just about everyone who wasn't a healer themselves had to roll with Fall From Grace or you'd wipe in no time flat.

    Same with holy trinity MMOs, where certain classes or roles HAVE to be present for the party to succeed.


    XBOX: NOVADELPHINI | DISCORD: NOVADELPHINI #7387 | TWITTER
  • Kuribo's ShoeKuribo's Shoe Kuribo's Stocking North PoleRegistered User regular
    Vivixenne wrote: »
    Antimatter wrote: »
    I really don't agree with Viv's article at all.

    I would love to hear exactly why, since I wasn't actually making a point but rather exploring a concept.

    I disagree with the byline, "Ms. Chan"

    or should I say

    HARRY THE HYPNOTIST

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  • VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    :o

    XBOX: NOVADELPHINI | DISCORD: NOVADELPHINI #7387 | TWITTER
  • Kuribo's ShoeKuribo's Shoe Kuribo's Stocking North PoleRegistered User regular
    Admit it! You wrote that article to get the deed to the farm! Because of the diamond mine!

    Take him away, boys.

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  • MeldingMelding Registered User regular
    what just happened?

  • Kuribo's ShoeKuribo's Shoe Kuribo's Stocking North PoleRegistered User regular
    I solved the mystery.

    He would've gotten away with it if it weren't for those melding kids.

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  • chiasaur11chiasaur11 Never doubt a raccoon. Do you think it's trademarked?Registered User regular
    I solved the mystery.

    He would've gotten away with it if it weren't for those melding kids.

    I'm always amazed by the Harry the Hypnotist episode of Scooby Doo. Didn't they just pull the culprit out of their asses there? Like it was some guy who'd never appeared before the reveal?

    What the hell was that about?

  • EndEnd Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    He would've gotten away with it if it weren't for those melding kids.

    A whole gang of meldings, huh?
    (also a great dane)

    End on
    I wish that someway, somehow, that I could save every one of us
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  • MeldingMelding Registered User regular
    the horror.

  • ButtlordButtlord Fornicus Lord of Bondage and PainRegistered User regular
    my favorite part about the new scooby doo cartoon that wasn't fred's trap fetish or scooby being jealous of velma when her and shaggy start dating was that it kept riffing on meddling kids

    IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU INTERLOPING YOUTHS was my fave

  • PaperLuigi44PaperLuigi44 My amazement is at maximum capacity. Registered User regular
    Melding wrote: »
    zoinks

  • ButtlordButtlord Fornicus Lord of Bondage and PainRegistered User regular
    oh many Mystery Inc got a second season

    starts this month fuck yeah

  • MeldingMelding Registered User regular
    i lost track of that show, i should probably catch up

  • PaperLuigi44PaperLuigi44 My amazement is at maximum capacity. Registered User regular
    I hadn't heard of Mystery Inc so I checked out the intro

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re_rUF5i_jI

    It also immediately confirmed what Buttlord meant about Fred's trap fetish.

    Look at how much fun he is having.

  • EdcrabEdcrab Actually a hack Registered User regular
    So, just out of interest, are we supposed to have a link to Hollywood Murder at the bottom of the forum?

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This discussion has been closed.