Latest / Critical Error / You Can Trust Me, I’m a YouTuber

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You Can Trust Me, I’m a YouTuber · Critical Error

• 0:00
  The journalist reviewing video games is
• 0:02
  your enemy. Jake, the guy who reviewed
• 0:05
  Crimson Desert at IGN hit me with a
• 0:08
  hammer.
• 0:09
  A critical error is an error which the
• 0:11
  OS cannot reasonably ignore. Jake
• 0:14
  Steinberg is a streamer and writer and
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  certified yapper. Complimentary. Peter
• 0:19
  Hunt
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  tech is a YouTuber, journalist, and
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  certified yapper. Derogatory. These are
• 0:26
  the things they cannot reasonably
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  ignore. Jake, we've heard it over and
• 0:30
  over and over again. Reviews are not to
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  be trusted for this reason and that
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  reason and this reason. The game
• 0:39
  reviewer doesn't know what he's talking
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  about, what he, she, they are talking
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  about. Instead,
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  me, a YouTuber knows. A YouTuber knows.
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  Um, Jake, there's a kind of an
• 0:53
  unfortunate video that went up um I
• 0:56
  believe on the Eclipse channel for um
• 0:59
  Big Boy streamer uh Co-C Carnage uh
• 1:02
  where he was discussing the video is now
• 1:04
  private by the way has been taken down.
• 1:05
  Uh he was discussing
• 1:08
  Crimson Desert and the reviews for
• 1:11
  Crimson Desert and how he is someone who
• 1:13
  really likes the game in that video and
• 1:15
  then another video he talks about how
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  he's really really mixed on it. I don't
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  know. Seems like he's maybe an
• 1:20
  inconsistent guy. not the point here,
• 1:22
  but he's talking about, one of his main
• 1:24
  points is how reviewers
• 1:28
  aren't talking about the actual game
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  that's in front of them. They're talking
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  about the game they wish they were
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  playing. Now, it's important to note
• 1:35
  that this is something that we've talked
• 1:36
  about a little bit, but I think the
• 1:38
  context for the way we've talked about
• 1:39
  that is very different from the way that
• 1:41
  um this guy is talking about it and the
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  way that I've seen it uh uh brought up
• 1:45
  on YouTube in general. And I'm curious,
• 1:48
  does that matter? Is this a big
• 1:49
  widespread problem that you're seeing in
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  reviews?
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  >> So, what's going on here with Crimson
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  Desert specifically is that I think
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  largely it is this kind of game that um
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  there's like an us versus them mentality
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  in its appreciators. This is one of the
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  few games that perks up throughout any
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  given year that for some reason inspires
• 2:10
  people to like wage war on social media.
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  I would say that a game like Stellar
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  Blade has fallen into this category in
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  the past. Yeah. So,
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  >> Wukong too,
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  >> Blackmth, Wukong, a great example. I
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  think that separate from the games
• 2:25
  themselves and what the games are
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  actually doing, there is this meaningful
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  appraisal that we can have of kind of
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  like the audience relationship to them.
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  And I so I think kind of what is what is
• 2:34
  happening here is that we are
• 2:38
  identifying something about these games
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  that speaks to me the YouTuber and that
• 2:44
  specifically does not appeal to this
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  imagined class of the video game
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  journalist or the video game reviewer.
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  There is um something authentic and real
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  and that and and like capital G gamer
• 2:58
  that I possess that the second you start
• 3:00
  reviewing games for an outlet or calling
• 3:02
  yourself um the worst thing that you can
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  be online, a journalist, that you uh
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  fundamentally become unable to
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  appreciate. And that perspective is just
• 3:13
  kind of funny to me because I think that
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  the what what you're doing there is
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  anything in your power to identify the
• 3:22
  reviewer as your opponent.
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  >> Yes.
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  >> Um Yes. One of the most consistent
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  choices YouTubers make is treating video
• 3:30
  game reviews like a position that must
• 3:33
  be defeated. So, you often times hear
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  >> they didn't understand the game. They
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  reviewed it all wrong. They expected the
• 3:43
  wrong thing. And I don't think that a re
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  a review is really ever a claim about
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  the correct way to play a game. It is a
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  claim about what the game is doing in
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  practice. Um, so what the YouTuber is
• 3:56
  actually doing in this scenario is
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  rejecting the legitimacy of the kind of
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  interaction that's happening between
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  them and the criticism and instead
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  saying rather than responding to the
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  criticism, I need to invalidate it
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  entirely and say that this person
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  shouldn't have written anything about
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  the game at all. What's so fascinating
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  about this sort of thing is um this idea
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  that
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  this is something we've run into a lot
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  when talking about the idea of like art
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  criticism and like game reviews and
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  things like that. It's it's the conflict
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  of course of like product review versus
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  like art review, right? And it seems uh
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  to a lot of these like large YouTubers
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  who do take this like anti-game reviewer
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  stance that they are like viewing them
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  solely through the lens of product
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  reviews,
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  >> right?
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  >> You know, uh this uh position taken by
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  by Co Carnage and many other YouTubers
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  of his ilk, this idea that like they're
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  not even reviewing the game that they're
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  playing. They're reviewing this this
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  other game that they wish they were
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  playing. One of his points in this again
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  now privated video was um the idea that
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  Crimson Desert isn't an RPG. And he
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  knows that because the development team
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  behind the game says it's not an RPG.
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  And uh he doesn't think that because
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  when you look at what the game actually
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  is, there's stats and there's an upgrade
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  tree and there's all kinds of like like
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  it's an RPG. Yeah, everyone. This is an
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  RPG. It is not a maybe it's not The
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  Witcher in the sense that like it's not
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  like a choiceheavy video game that is
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  like really invested in its story, but
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  it is an RPG. And he's taking uh issue
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  with this idea that people are saying in
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  reviews like, "Hey, this is an RPG that
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  kind of gets a lot of these uh elements
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  wrong because they don't work in the
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  totality of the systems and whatever."
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  And he's like, "Well, it's not an RPG
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  because the people who made it say it's
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  not, which apparently uh overrides what
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  the game actually is in practice." And I
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  think even this this to even formulate
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  this argumentation is simply to reject
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  what you are supposed to do as a critic.
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  So there is um kind of an implicit
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  anti-criticism stance in saying oh well
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  all these people expected an RPG but
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  it's actually something else. It's
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  actually this thing that I'm making up
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  right now called a sandbox. And um to to
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  a to a audience that is not looking for
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  criticism, that is instead looking for
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  affirmation, this is going to sound like
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  clarification. But um this completely
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  kind of renegotiates the fact the fact
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  that expectations are not random. The
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  reviewers did not turn on the game and
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  go, "Okay, I'm about to play an RPG.
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  Time to situate my criticism within
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  something that I decided beforehand."
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  like that really crazy time when I sat
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  down to play Sonic Frontiers and I told
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  myself that it was a rhythm game and
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  then my review came out and everybody
• 6:46
  was like, "Well, why did he think that?
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  Why did he?" So, yeah, obviously this is
• 6:50
  like a kind of a just like a fake
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  >> situation that doesn't happen. But what
• 6:55
  this does is it completely assues the
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  critic the the the the critics's job to
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  >> understand and demonstrate how
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  expectations are produced by the game,
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  >> right?
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  >> Um like why did players expect the wrong
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  thing? What did the game do to produce
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  that expectation? Yeah. Because I think
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  that if if if
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  you read a bunch of reviews and a bunch
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  of reviews are saying, hey, uh the RPG
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  elements in this game don't all add up
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  the right way, that is not necessarily
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  like, okay, one critic might be wrong
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  about that, but when you take a look
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  like in their assessment, right? But
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  when you look at the uh large sort of
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  movements of criticism with this game,
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  maybe that tells you that this game,
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  okay, let's say it's not an RPG, but if
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  enough people are saying, hey, this game
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  is kind of an RPG, but it doesn't get
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  these elements right. Maybe there's
• 7:48
  something in that game and maybe they
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  are reading it in a way that is like or
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  being being uh fed this idea that like,
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  hey, this is an RPG, but these elements
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  are not working well. And so, hey,
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  that's with the game that's not with
• 8:00
  these critics. You know what I'm saying?
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  >> Of course. And it's funny because kind
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  of that initial complaint of um oh
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  players are and critics are incorrectly
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  interacting with the game and instead
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  are too focused on the thing in their
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  minds. I would say that this criticism
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  is actually um completely shifting the
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  focus of you know wrong expectations
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  discourse takes the responsibility of
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  what the game is supposed to do and just
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  shifts it to the audience. So now you
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  are actually not talking about what the
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  game is doing and how the game produced
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  expectations and you are instead saying
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  hey you player you simply were supposed
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  to come in with a set of expectations
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  but you chose the wrong one
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  >> but you chose the wrong set of
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  expectations which is weird because I
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  will say like this does happen sometimes
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  right like we a lot of the time we I
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  think we've discussed this on this show
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  about like sequels and how the way we
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  talk about sequels is often um entirely
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  steeped in expectation set up by the the
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  uh uh preceding game, right? Um but I
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  think like what's happening here is
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  different because
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  >> it's exactly what you're saying. Like
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  it's it's taken to a heightened degree
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  in in this perspective from a lot of
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  these sort of YouTubers where they're
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  like, well, Crimson Desert's a pretty
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  bad extraction game and they're saying
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  that like reviewers are saying that and
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  like hey uh it's not true. Like that's
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  not what is happening here, you know?
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  >> Of course. And I think largely what you
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  see happening here is that, you know, I
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  think I think a lot of people who talk
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  about video game criticism and video
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  game reviews are across the board um
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  even amongst video game critics are are
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  not safe from this accusation, but um
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  maybe like unfamiliar with what
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  criticism is.
• 9:43
  >> Yeah.
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  >> And in in not just in like in like
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  movies and elsewhere, but just like what
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  the point is. So you find that a lot of
• 9:50
  these um superfan accounts or just like
• 9:54
  content creators um people that are
• 9:56
  focused on reactions and opinions more
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  than they are focused on criticism uh
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  have this immediate tension with reviews
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  because they start from this position of
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  I had fun. So, I now must square my
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  having fun with a review that I feel is
• 10:15
  being dismissive towards the fun that I
• 10:18
  am having. But I'm having fun because
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  I'm playing it like a sandbox and I'm
• 10:23
  having a great time. That is fine as
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  testimony. But testimony is not
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  criticism. A diary entry is not
• 10:30
  criticism. Um, you must identify what is
• 10:33
  the structure of the game producing this
• 10:34
  experience. Is that structure legible to
• 10:37
  the player? Is it coherent across the
• 10:38
  entirety of the game? Um,
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  >> cuz if you never have to like assess if
• 10:42
  you if you are just approaching it from
• 10:44
  the position of like, hey, let's have
• 10:45
  fun with this brand new game and you
• 10:47
  never are forced to sit down and reckon
• 10:49
  with the elements and how they all work
• 10:50
  together, then like I think you're just
• 10:52
  not going to end up having any kind of
• 10:53
  critical take. And now that's not to say
• 10:55
  that people like don't have like
• 10:56
  critiques of games when they play them
• 10:58
  just for fun, right? Cuz they're like,
• 10:59
  "Oh, this element didn't end up like
• 11:00
  working out too But it's like if you
• 11:02
  never sit down and like actually have to
• 11:03
  like put that, you know, like pen to
• 11:04
  paper, so to speak, then I just don't
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  think you're you're really going to be
• 11:08
  thinking about it all that hard, you
• 11:09
  know?
• 11:10
  >> Of course. Um, and there's kind of this
• 11:12
  refrain that you see a lot online from
• 11:14
  people that I think are like it comes
• 11:16
  from a good place, but it's like this
• 11:18
  the best way to engage with video game
• 11:20
  reviews is is to find a few specific
• 11:23
  writers or content creators or whatever
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  it is that you think align with your
• 11:27
  tastes and follow them.
• 11:30
  >> Hate this. have always hated this.
• 11:31
  >> Oh, really?
• 11:32
  >> Um, have always hated this. Um, I think
• 11:34
  that this is looking at reviews and
• 11:37
  criticism through a lens of the role of
• 11:40
  it is to tell me what to buy.
• 11:42
  >> Like recommendation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 11:43
  >> That's it.
• 11:45
  >> It's like Yes.
• 11:46
  >> Uh, and I guess like tell me what to buy
• 11:49
  like can you not really enjoy a review
• 11:53
  reading a review that you disagree with?
• 11:56
  >> No. It's also this interesting thing too
• 11:57
  because like okay let's say I am let's
• 11:59
  say Jake Steyberg is a critic who I
• 12:01
  disagree with all the time and I read
• 12:03
  your review of what you know Crimson
• 12:05
  Desert whatever new game comes out
• 12:08
  >> I'm probably going to be able to
• 12:09
  determine whether or not I want to buy
• 12:11
  it based on the things that you're
• 12:12
  saying you know what I mean like even
• 12:13
  even if I disagree with you even if I'm
• 12:15
  not like
• 12:16
  >> uh familiar with your even like if
• 12:17
  you're someone who I've never read
• 12:18
  before like I can pretty much like
• 12:20
  understand what the game is going to be
• 12:23
  and if that's going to be suitable to me
• 12:25
  cuz I'm familiar with genre, you know
• 12:28
  what I mean? Like I'm familiar like if
• 12:29
  if you hear this and I'm like hearing
• 12:30
  like I'm reading like Crimson Desert
• 12:32
  reviews and it's like oh this is pretty
• 12:33
  much just like a big Assassin's Creed
• 12:34
  game, just like another Assassin's Creed
• 12:36
  type game.
• 12:38
  I'm able to determine whether or not I'm
• 12:40
  going to like that or not. you know, I
• 12:43
  mean, of course, but it's it's this
• 12:45
  thing where again, this this kind of
• 12:46
  like centering of the the most important
• 12:50
  function for the review is to tell me
• 12:54
  whether or not I should purchase the
• 12:55
  game. I just think it's a fundamental
• 12:56
  misunderstanding of criticism. When I go
• 12:58
  over to roger ebear.com and I read some
• 13:01
  dumbass movie review, you know, when I'm
• 13:04
  reading that review, I'm reading that
• 13:05
  review after I've seen the [ __ ]
• 13:06
  movie. Yes. But like it's so it's like
• 13:08
  I'm trying to get an enhanced
• 13:10
  perspective or somebody else's
• 13:11
  perspective or or think about it in a
• 13:12
  different way because I I I don't know I
• 13:16
  have an interior life that is interested
• 13:18
  in more things beyond what I'm spending
• 13:20
  money on
• 13:21
  >> cuz it's also like I mean just a
• 13:23
  fundamental misunderstanding of like art
• 13:24
  critic is uh are game reviews meant to
• 13:27
  be product reviews or are they meant to
• 13:29
  be art criticism and like uh I I think
• 13:35
  I don't want to make like a
• 13:36
  generalization but I will and if there
• 13:38
  is data on this or whatever that does
• 13:40
  not align with me um you can tweet it at
• 13:43
  me or just keep it to yourself and just
• 13:44
  accept that I'm wrong here. Um probably
• 13:46
  do that second one. Um I think most
• 13:48
  people who play video games are not
• 13:49
  interested in video game criticism and
• 13:51
  are much more interested in just like
• 13:52
  product reviews. Is that does that feel
• 13:54
  fair to say?
• 13:56
  >> I mean that's obviously true. Even in
• 13:58
  the video that we have been citing
• 14:00
  during this conversation, there's a line
• 14:02
  in there that's uh don't listen to
• 14:04
  reviewers, just watch gameplay and
• 14:06
  decide for yourself.
• 14:07
  >> Yeah. which is, you know, centering that
• 14:10
  that ultimately what the conversation
• 14:11
  we're we're talking about here is one
• 14:14
  that is um focused on the capitalistic
• 14:18
  success of this product in a way that
• 14:21
  like
• 14:23
  is I I guess it's I guess when I review
• 14:25
  a video game, it is unimportant to me
• 14:28
  whether or not more people buy the game.
• 14:31
  >> Yeah. It's like not my problem. It's not
• 14:35
  my job. It's not my job. I don't work
• 14:36
  for this company. No, I'm not trying to
• 14:38
  get people to buy the game so that they
• 14:40
  play it and then go, "Jake was right.
• 14:42
  He's good. He's got the content."
• 14:44
  >> Because like who cares, right? Like
• 14:46
  because also like like
• 14:49
  it's it's this interesting thing where
• 14:51
  like um I don't think that we're
• 14:53
  breaking any ground here to say that
• 14:54
  like it's interesting that the things
• 14:56
  that YouTubers often call out like the
• 14:58
  crooked games journalist for are things
• 15:01
  that uh games journalists don't actually
• 15:03
  really do and is in fact uh 100% what
• 15:05
  YouTubers do.
• 15:07
  I mean like this idea of like uh uh
• 15:12
  people saying like I'm actually the
• 15:13
  proper opinion on this and I need to be
• 15:15
  the one who you listen to and then the
• 15:17
  the YouTubers always like but these guys
• 15:19
  are crooked. They're always taking money
• 15:20
  from these publishers and these video
• 15:22
  game developers and all that and it's
• 15:23
  like uh welcome to my sponsored stream
• 15:25
  for you Magic the Gathering or whatever
• 15:28
  the [ __ ] you know.
• 15:29
  >> Thank you Raycon.
• 15:32
  Exactly. Thank you Hoyoverse for
• 15:33
  sponsoring my Genjin Impact stream. Like
• 15:36
  >> Yeah. Right. Right. Right.
• 15:36
  >> Where it's like very obvious that uh the
• 15:39
  thing that a lot of the time uh these
• 15:41
  YouTubers are calling out is like a
• 15:43
  practice that is like frequently done by
• 15:45
  them. Uh and it's this like frustrating
• 15:47
  thing where like you look at the
• 15:49
  audience who watches them and uh you
• 15:53
  know so much of of I feel like games
• 15:55
  media is about like affirmation, right?
• 15:57
  like you want to read. So many people
• 15:59
  want to read a review of a game that
• 16:00
  they like so that they know that they
• 16:02
  are right to like it. I think a lot of
• 16:03
  that comes down to like media
• 16:05
  personalities as well where it's like
• 16:06
  well I want to watch a streamer uh who
• 16:08
  tells me that I'm good for liking I
• 16:10
  don't know our graders or marathon or
• 16:11
  whatever the [ __ ] Um because I want to
• 16:14
  feel like I made a good purchase even
• 16:16
  though whether or not I made a good
• 16:18
  purchase is like entirely decided by me.
• 16:20
  If I'm having a good time with Marathon
• 16:23
  but you say it sucks like well I'm
• 16:25
  having a good time with it so who cares
• 16:26
  you know? Well, and I think it's I think
• 16:28
  it's important too for us to kind of get
• 16:30
  to the heart of something that's going
• 16:31
  on here with the content creation class.
• 16:33
  Um, by by having your your business as
• 16:38
  it were, exist on social media websites,
• 16:41
  YouTube included,
• 16:43
  >> um, you are more invested in the social
• 16:47
  layer of video game discourse than a
• 16:49
  video game reviewer might be. So no
• 16:52
  matter what Crimson Desert got at its
• 16:55
  reviews, it behooved you to add in this
• 16:59
  layer of the correct take because that
• 17:02
  is a form of cultural capital for you in
• 17:05
  your social space in a way that it is
• 17:08
  not for the reviewer. Because if you can
• 17:10
  say this reviewer does not understand
• 17:12
  this game, you're positioning yourself
• 17:13
  as somebody who does and it's status
• 17:15
  building in a way that that suits the
• 17:18
  the medium and the market of what you
• 17:20
  are trying to do um more than it does
• 17:22
  the reviewer. And that's why these
• 17:23
  arguments escalate so quickly because
• 17:25
  they're not about the review. They're
• 17:27
  just about your authority and your
• 17:29
  position in this media landscape
• 17:31
  >> because I also think like uh uh
• 17:35
  so I'm going to speak about my
• 17:36
  experience working uh at like these
• 17:37
  video game websites. Um I have and again
• 17:40
  so this is me uh my experience which is
• 17:43
  not to say it is 100% representative of
• 17:46
  everyone else but like I have worked for
• 17:48
  websites that um pay me well per article
• 17:53
  that I write per feature that I write
• 17:54
  per review that I write and then I've
• 17:56
  also worked for websites that don't pay
• 17:58
  me well um but operate on a
• 18:00
  pay-per-click model. You know what I'm
• 18:02
  saying? So, like I I've worked at both
• 18:04
  the uh the places that really don't care
• 18:06
  about getting views or like they do but
• 18:08
  it's not on me and then I've worked at
• 18:10
  the places that do care about that and
• 18:11
  say, "Hey, you should do that." I have
• 18:13
  never in my person like in my career
• 18:15
  once been like, "I'm going to write a
• 18:17
  bunch of clickbait so I get a bunch of
• 18:18
  clicks on this article so that I have a
• 18:20
  bunch of people being really mad at me
• 18:21
  online so that I can make $18, you know,
• 18:25
  like it's like never happened like that
• 18:27
  for me. I've never been pushed to make
• 18:29
  that kind of stuff." So, you always hear
• 18:30
  like these YouTubers and whatever saying
• 18:32
  like they're just doing it for clicks.
• 18:33
  They're just like writing this bad
• 18:34
  review for clicks. And it's like never
• 18:36
  once have I been incentivized to do
• 18:38
  that. And frankly, anytime that I'm
• 18:40
  playing a game for review or like
• 18:42
  working on something and like I'm going
• 18:43
  to write like a negative take about it,
• 18:45
  there's this like sinking feeling in my
• 18:47
  stomach cuz I'm like, I'm going to have
• 18:48
  to write about how I feel about this.
• 18:50
  Um, and everyone's going to be mad at me
• 18:52
  for 48 hours, you know? I mean that that
• 18:55
  discourse is is fundamentally broken
• 18:57
  from the onset though because it's like
• 18:59
  then when when you see a positive review
• 19:00
  the line instead becomes well they need
• 19:02
  their access
• 19:04
  >> right
• 19:04
  >> they have to keep their access they have
• 19:06
  a relationship it's access oh access
• 19:08
  journalism there it is
• 19:09
  >> it's impossible it's impossible
• 19:10
  >> so so yeah so when you're when you're
• 19:12
  doing something against the kind of
• 19:14
  authority of the self-proclaimed gamer
• 19:17
  it is to get clicks and then when you
• 19:19
  are doing something um in line in the
• 19:22
  other way it's it's because you are a
• 19:24
  sheep and you are paid off or you are a
• 19:26
  shill or whatever it is.
• 19:28
  >> Yeah.
• 19:28
  >> But also
• 19:29
  >> go ahead.
• 19:30
  >> The Open Critic review score for Crimson
• 19:32
  Desert is a 79.
• 19:34
  >> It's like pretty good.
• 19:35
  >> Yeah. But like but like
• 19:36
  >> but it's not Jake. It's not an 80.
• 19:39
  >> The way that people talk about the way
• 19:40
  that the the Crimson Desert Pilled
• 19:43
  audience online talks about the critical
• 19:45
  response to this game would make you
• 19:47
  think it was far lower.
• 19:48
  >> Oh, that that's always the case, right?
• 19:50
  I mean, it's always the case of of like,
• 19:53
  >> um, hey, this is the lowest reviewed AAA
• 19:56
  game of the year,
• 19:57
  >> 77, and you're like, oh,
• 20:00
  >> clearly unenjoyable on all accounts. Um,
• 20:03
  which is also interesting, too, because
• 20:04
  it seems like the larger cultural
• 20:06
  response to uh, Crimson Desert has been
• 20:08
  like, hey, kind of mixed. Hey, uh, some
• 20:11
  of this game is jank as [ __ ] And as
• 20:14
  someone who played Crimson Desert before
• 20:15
  it came out, uh,
• 20:16
  >> oh, yeah, right. Uh, I can I be honest
• 20:20
  with you? I am glad I was not in the
• 20:21
  position that I had to review it. I was
• 20:22
  playing it for guides for IGN. I'm still
• 20:24
  playing it doing video guides for IGN.
• 20:26
  And um it it was an incredibly
• 20:29
  incredibly frustrating uh pre-release
• 20:32
  period because there were these major
• 20:34
  patches that would come every few days
• 20:36
  that would completely change like
• 20:38
  systems in the game and completely
• 20:40
  change like quest rewards or like um one
• 20:43
  of the things that we like did a lot of
• 20:45
  work on early on is like how to manage
• 20:46
  your inventory because you had like a
• 20:49
  super hyper limited inventory uh space
• 20:52
  like on your person and then um I don't
• 20:54
  know 2 days before the game dropped they
• 20:56
  were like actually it's like you have 50
• 20:57
  inventory slots. It's like okay cool. So
• 21:00
  >> all that was worthless you know. Uh so I
• 21:02
  can't imagine trying to like come up
• 21:05
  with uh like writing any kind of like
• 21:07
  critical take on this game because it
• 21:09
  was like it was like an ice cube with
• 21:11
  it's like melting in your hand which
• 21:12
  like it's constantly changing and like
• 21:14
  the second that your it would be like
• 21:15
  trying to draw one right like the second
• 21:16
  that you look back at it it's like
• 21:18
  shifted and changed in in a different
• 21:19
  way. Um, so like incredibly frustrating,
• 21:23
  but it's like obviously that is not the
• 21:25
  narrative. Even though people have
• 21:27
  talked about that, who've reviewed the
• 21:28
  games and even written about that in
• 21:29
  their reviews, that is not the narrative
• 21:31
  that any of these people who are taking
• 21:32
  this like anti- reviewer stance are
• 21:34
  interested in discussing because it's
• 21:36
  all just like, well, they think that the
• 21:38
  uh the movement mechanics are clunky, so
• 21:41
  [ __ ] this guy. And then they sit down
• 21:42
  and play it and then are posting on
• 21:43
  Reddit, hey, the actually uh the
• 21:44
  movement mechanics are pretty clunky in
• 21:46
  this thing.
• 21:48
  >> Buffoonery. Well, it's funny though
• 21:50
  because like I would even say that my my
• 21:52
  recommendation to that person who's like
• 21:54
  I I really like that comparison, the ice
• 21:56
  cube melting in your hand. Yeah. Um like
• 21:58
  if I was tasked with reviewing the game,
• 22:00
  I simply would have to review that
• 22:02
  experience. I would have to say that is
• 22:04
  that is the game that I played and one
• 22:05
  day I woke up and everything was
• 22:07
  different.
• 22:07
  >> Yes.
• 22:08
  >> And and then I would have this review
• 22:10
  that while extremely true to me and my
• 22:13
  experience is not as uh consumable. It
• 22:16
  is not as functional. It is not as uh
• 22:18
  it's not for the the the buyer of the
• 22:21
  video.
• 22:21
  >> Well, that's the thing. It's it would
• 22:23
  probably be a pretty good review, but
• 22:25
  it's not it can't serve as a as a
• 22:27
  product review at that point because
• 22:29
  you're like reviewing something that is
• 22:31
  different than what is being purchased.
• 22:33
  That said,
• 22:35
  I it like to me a lot of the things that
• 22:38
  they changed did not change my overall
• 22:40
  experience and my feelings about the
• 22:42
  game. It changed a lot of stuff surface
• 22:44
  level, some deeper mechanics and systems
• 22:46
  and things like that. But even writing
• 22:48
  about that, I think could still be a
• 22:50
  viable true review of this game because
• 22:53
  so much of it still holds true even
• 22:55
  after all these changes and fixes. you
• 22:57
  know,
• 22:58
  >> of course. And I think that um the the
• 23:01
  the you know, I've seen comments even on
• 23:03
  our show before of people who, you know,
• 23:07
  they they think they've maybe painted me
• 23:09
  or us into a corner and they will say
• 23:11
  things like the video game reviewer does
• 23:14
  not need to exist anymore because
• 23:16
  everyone is a reviewer. Everyone can go
• 23:18
  online and say what they want to say
• 23:20
  about a game. And I completely
• 23:22
  understand where that person is coming
• 23:24
  from because they truly think that the
• 23:27
  the role of the video game reviewer is
• 23:30
  to go online and say Crimson Desert
• 23:34
  good,
• 23:34
  >> right?
• 23:35
  >> Send a tweet.
• 23:36
  >> The end.
• 23:37
  >> And and I think if you have no interest
• 23:39
  in reading video game reviews, then that
• 23:42
  is completely fine. But to wage war on
• 23:46
  the people writing them is just like
• 23:48
  insane. And it and to me it's abundantly
• 23:50
  clear that and we know this this is old
• 23:53
  news but there is just like a class of
• 23:55
  video game player who wants nothing more
• 23:58
  than to wage war against the imagined
• 24:01
  persona of the video game journalists
• 24:03
  that they have built up in their heads.
• 24:06
  It's so funny because it's like I think
• 24:08
  that like waging war comes from the idea
• 24:11
  that like uh like an insecurity and
• 24:14
  we've talked about this I think in our
• 24:15
  like our discussion about like books and
• 24:16
  stuff like that with with in regards to
• 24:18
  video game this games like this idea
• 24:20
  that um video games are like lowass art
• 24:24
  lowass lowbrow entertainment and if you
• 24:27
  like games you're stupid and I think
• 24:30
  there's this like perceive like this
• 24:32
  perception uh of game reviewers and
• 24:34
  games critics that are like the game
• 24:37
  that you like. If you like, you know,
• 24:40
  Crimson Desert, if you like
• 24:42
  >> uh any of these like very like popular
• 24:45
  uh maybe like said lovingly like normie
• 24:48
  games, if you like Grand Theft Auto,
• 24:51
  you're actually stupid. And it's like I
• 24:54
  don't think really anyone is saying
• 24:56
  that. Like I think like I really don't
• 24:58
  think anyone is saying that. I think no
• 25:01
  one is saying that actually. Maybe I'm
• 25:03
  wrong. I don't know. But like it is this
• 25:05
  perceived like well we got to fight
• 25:07
  these guys cuz they're like wrong and
• 25:09
  telling me that I'm dumb. And the reason
• 25:10
  I think that that opinion persists now
• 25:14
  despite how silly it is, despite the
• 25:15
  fact that uh everyone and their mother
• 25:18
  literally is playing video games of some
• 25:20
  kind is because you have YouTubers out
• 25:22
  here saying, "Uh, yeah, these guys are
• 25:24
  the guys don't know what they're talking
• 25:25
  about, but you should listen to me cuz
• 25:26
  I'm like a real one. I'm like a real
• 25:27
  gamer. The realest gamer who's ever
• 25:28
  lived, actually."
• 25:30
  >> It's it's Well, and it's exactly that.
• 25:31
  It's the it's the insecurity because I
• 25:33
  think that for a certain kind of player
• 25:35
  um games have and for the YouTuber who
• 25:38
  has turned it into their livelihood, I
• 25:40
  think games have now just taken a place
• 25:42
  beyond a hobby or a thing that they like
• 25:45
  and it is now a so a very real material
• 25:49
  social space that um
• 25:52
  >> that like rewards them for existing in
• 25:54
  it. And most importantly, it is a space
• 25:57
  where their social power comes from them
• 26:01
  knowing things. So that knowledge so
• 26:04
  again like cultural capital. So you see
• 26:07
  a negative review from somebody who is
• 26:09
  um maybe professionally
• 26:12
  praised or rewarded or has the job or
• 26:15
  whatever. There's I think this this
• 26:16
  fundamental insecurity that comes out
• 26:18
  that threatens your position in your
• 26:21
  social space. And um what is it it's
• 26:25
  that defensiveness of if they say this
• 26:27
  game is bad then what does it say about
• 26:29
  me and my position and all that I have
• 26:31
  worked for. So the response becomes um
• 26:34
  immediately defensive. It's I I'm not
• 26:37
  mad. I'm just pointing out that this
• 26:38
  reviewer is completely wrong and
• 26:40
  obviously what is being protected there
• 26:42
  is not the game. It's the self.
• 26:44
  >> Yeah. And you know what's so interesting
• 26:45
  about that too is um there are some
• 26:47
  games that everyone hates that I love.
• 26:49
  We were we were talking about this in
• 26:50
  our bonus episode uh this week uh
• 26:53
  patreon.com/critical error for those who
• 26:55
  are interested joining as a $5 member of
• 26:57
  the nation. Uh you were talking about
• 26:59
  this in our bonus episode uh about uh
• 27:02
  let me see if I get it right. Pokemon
• 27:07
  Gale is it XD Gale of Darkness? Pokemon
• 27:09
  Colosseum XD it's in the Colosse Gale of
• 27:13
  Darkness.
• 27:14
  >> Um Pokemon XD which is my favorite
• 27:16
  emoticon by the way. um uh Gale of
• 27:19
  Darkness and how like that is a game
• 27:21
  that uh a lot of people really don't
• 27:23
  like and and it's like it was like
• 27:24
  critically received very poorly and has
• 27:27
  not had this sort of like resurgence and
• 27:29
  re-examination uh in the modern day
• 27:32
  in a way that makes everyone go like
• 27:34
  actually you're really smart for liking
• 27:35
  this hidden gem. Most people are still
• 27:36
  like this game kind of sucks. that kind
• 27:39
  of sucks real bad. And you're out here
• 27:40
  being like, it's actually quite good and
• 27:42
  and like, isn't that an interesting
• 27:45
  perspective to have to be to love a game
• 27:47
  that everyone else seems to hate? And
• 27:49
  you're like, how how? So, it's
• 27:51
  delightful. But I will say gamers do
• 27:54
  engage with this but in the opposite
• 27:56
  direction because I think uh there's
• 27:57
  this Stanley Fish idea of interpretive
• 27:59
  communities and the fantasy of the
• 28:01
  correct reading because so much
• 28:04
  aggression online is p you know Kirby
• 28:06
  Airide is powered by the belief that
• 28:08
  there is a correct way to understand a
• 28:11
  game and the community surrounding a
• 28:14
  game always already knows that and that
• 28:17
  is a huge huge part that's that's the
• 28:20
  the the idea of the interpretive
• 28:22
  community. It's people people who share
• 28:24
  assumptions about how meaning works. And
• 28:26
  what that always looks like is um
• 28:29
  >> like value systems. It's like okay
• 28:32
  people put too much stock in the
• 28:33
  narrative of this game when they should
• 28:35
  have put stock in this. Uh how many
• 28:37
  times in games do you see somebody be
• 28:39
  like that the the reviewer or whoever
• 28:42
  they didn't understand that this is
• 28:43
  actually really deep. You are missing
• 28:46
  the point. It's like that's you see that
• 28:48
  all the time. So um it's it's not a
• 28:51
  different reading. It's this failure of
• 28:53
  reading and you end up you know kind of
• 28:55
  creating that history in your community.
• 28:57
  Can we talk about this point that you
• 28:59
  made uh about this idea of like the
• 29:01
  narrative and whatever? Uh because one
• 29:03
  of the one of the points that was
• 29:05
  brought up in that video and it's it's
• 29:07
  the reason we're talking about this
• 29:08
  video even though it's kind of maybe a
• 29:09
  bad example because it's been delicited
• 29:11
  or whatever at this point. Um is that I
• 29:13
  I feel like it hit on like all of the
• 29:15
  YouTuber talking points about games
• 29:17
  journalism and and like reviews and
• 29:19
  stuff. And so it was just like if it
• 29:20
  were still up, it'd be like watch this
• 29:21
  because it's really kind of fascinating
• 29:23
  because it is such an encapsulation of
• 29:24
  like um YouTuber culture in in the way
• 29:27
  that it is uh feels like it is uh
• 29:29
  standing up to more traditional games
• 29:31
  publications and stuff like that. Um but
• 29:33
  one of the things he brings up is this
• 29:34
  idea that like these reviewers were
• 29:36
  upset with Crimson Desert because it has
• 29:38
  a bad narrative. And he's like, well,
• 29:39
  it's not trying to have a good
• 29:40
  narrative. In fact, um it's not trying
• 29:42
  to really have that at all. It's more
• 29:43
  trying to be similar to um I think
• 29:45
  what's the other it's a good MMO. I'm
• 29:47
  going to I'm going to say Valheim, but
• 29:49
  maybe that's not it.
• 29:50
  >> No, no, no. He was I think he mentioned
• 29:52
  the MMO that this is a prequel to. I
• 29:54
  think uh Black Desert Online.
• 29:55
  >> Black Desert Online. Okay. Okay. I don't
• 29:57
  know.
• 29:58
  >> Um
• 29:59
  >> but so so like because if you play this
• 30:01
  game like with that knowledge, I would
• 30:04
  be like, "Yeah, this is feels like an
• 30:05
  MMO." Like the fact that like these this
• 30:07
  main quest doesn't really go anywhere at
• 30:09
  least from my 25 hours I played of it or
• 30:12
  whatever. I have not really seen much
• 30:13
  life in that. Um it's very like largely
• 30:16
  disjointed. the characters are uh what I
• 30:18
  would generously call nothing. Um but it
• 30:23
  he brings up this question about like
• 30:26
  it's not trying to do that. So why are
• 30:28
  they even talking about it? And I think
• 30:29
  this is such a fascinating position
• 30:31
  because it's like
• 30:32
  >> uh takes for me one second to sort of
• 30:35
  like rebuttal and it's like because it's
• 30:37
  in there,
• 30:38
  >> right? Because the narrative there is a
• 30:40
  narrative in there and if they didn't
• 30:42
  want me to talk about it then they
• 30:43
  shouldn't have put a narrative in there
• 30:44
  at all, right?
• 30:47
  Oh, yeah. I mean, all art teaches you
• 30:50
  how to consume it.
• 30:51
  >> Yeah.
• 30:51
  >> And you can't pretend that there's like
• 30:53
  not,
• 30:55
  you know, this this if the opening hours
• 30:58
  of the game remind you heavily of an
• 31:00
  RPG. You cannot look at all these people
• 31:03
  and be like, why did you think it was an
• 31:05
  RPG, you big dummy? It's like that's
• 31:08
  like going to a Marvel movie and then
• 31:10
  watching everybody sit through the
• 31:11
  credits and then there's no postredit
• 31:12
  scene and you look at them and you go,
• 31:13
  "WELL, WHY DID YOU THINK THERE WOULD BE
• 31:15
  ONE?"
• 31:15
  >> RIGHT.
• 31:16
  >> WHY' YOU THINK THAT?
• 31:17
  >> Big teach things. Yes.
• 31:20
  >> Stew like come on, dude. Like just be
• 31:22
  live in reality with the rest of us
• 31:24
  instead of defending the game at all
• 31:25
  cost because you you got fun out of it.
• 31:28
  >> So, is there like a
• 31:33
  this idea uh it feels like it comes back
• 31:36
  a lot? not just in the YouTuber space,
• 31:37
  but even when when we read game reviews
• 31:39
  and talk about them privately or on the
• 31:41
  show or whatever, um this idea of like,
• 31:42
  okay, well, the game's not trying to do
• 31:44
  that. The game's not trying to do that.
• 31:45
  At what point can you say that? Is is it
• 31:47
  possible to even say, okay, the game's
• 31:48
  not trying to do this, so why are we
• 31:50
  talking about it?
• 31:51
  >> Oh, yeah. So, I think um I think the the
• 31:55
  the thing is is that you you have to
• 31:57
  simply avoid the the objectivity ghost.
• 32:00
  And if you feel the objectivity ghost
• 32:02
  coming for you, you need to run. Um
• 32:04
  because the the game is not trying to is
• 32:07
  trying to do we we feain that this is a
• 32:10
  I understand the game better than you.
• 32:12
  So I know what it's trying to do and you
• 32:13
  don't instead of an argumentation and
• 32:16
  all the this is this is literally
• 32:18
  everything. You just need to take your
• 32:19
  one sentence idea and turn it into five
• 32:21
  sentences. And once you do that you go
• 32:23
  the the people think it's an RPG but
• 32:26
  actually because of this and this and
• 32:28
  this and this. It's actually not an RPG.
• 32:31
  you have to talk about the the the like
• 32:34
  what is the core loop of the game? How
• 32:36
  does it evolve? What does the game teach
• 32:38
  the player to expect and how quickly? Um
• 32:42
  instead of doing this, you all you
• 32:43
  oftenimes hear this refrain of like just
• 32:46
  watch game play. Um so you need to
• 32:49
  connect systems pacing and player
• 32:51
  behavior into an actual argument and
• 32:53
  that's what [ __ ] criticism is.
• 32:54
  >> Yes. What
• 32:56
  >> what I find so interesting about that
• 32:58
  argument too because it's so common,
• 32:59
  right? Just watch the gameplay. just
• 33:00
  watch gameplay. Just watch gameplay.
• 33:01
  That's a that's a fine thing to do. But
• 33:04
  I also think that like people are
• 33:06
  interest even though people are not
• 33:07
  interested in like
• 33:08
  >> games criticism,
• 33:11
  not product reviews. As we talked about,
• 33:13
  you know, earlier this episode, I do
• 33:15
  think people are interested in reviews
• 33:16
  in general. And you know, even though
• 33:18
  they are thinking about them being
• 33:19
  product reviews, I do think that they
• 33:21
  are interested in them. Otherwise, I
• 33:22
  people wouldn't make their like review
• 33:24
  videos or review discussions or
• 33:26
  whatever. What I so I find this like uh
• 33:29
  uh
• 33:31
  abdication of of like critical
• 33:33
  responsibility from people like this so
• 33:35
  interesting because it's like he's
• 33:36
  sitting here like all of these reviews
• 33:38
  are bad. I'm going to kind of give you a
• 33:39
  review but also like don't [ __ ]
• 33:41
  listen to me. Go watch go watch
• 33:43
  gameplay. Like
• 33:45
  >> I'm hearing from you.
• 33:46
  >> So well and let me tell you exactly
• 33:47
  what's happening there. The the just
• 33:49
  watch gameplay is just a rhetorical
• 33:51
  trick to say the reviewer is objectively
• 33:55
  wrong and the footage the footage will
• 33:57
  reveal the objective truth.
• 34:00
  >> As if as if meaning is in we I talk
• 34:03
  about this all the time. As if meaning
• 34:05
  is not produced in having an experience
• 34:07
  with the game. As if the game itself has
• 34:10
  a correct reading that we should all
• 34:11
  land on the meta the metacriticification
• 34:14
  of our brains. Yes. the the all reviews
• 34:17
  should say in in in a perfect world.
• 34:19
  Dude, this is such a hard one for people
• 34:20
  to understand. I guarantee you there is
• 34:22
  at least one person that has somehow
• 34:24
  made it 35 minutes into this podcast and
• 34:26
  they and they are going to go, "Wait,
• 34:29
  Jake, isn't that true?" People
• 34:31
  fundamentally believe that the ideal
• 34:35
  review environment is one where every
• 34:38
  single person reviewing a game lands on
• 34:40
  the exact same opinion about it.
• 34:42
  >> Right. Which is
• 34:43
  >> people people believe that.
• 34:44
  >> Not true. Yeah. And that's that's again
• 34:46
  the ghost of objectification is is
• 34:47
  chasing you and you want to embrace it.
• 34:49
  Yeah. You know what's funny about this
• 34:51
  too uh is is like we've sort of seen
• 34:53
  this um not that this is what I want to
• 34:56
  talk about this episode really but like
• 34:58
  um this idea that uh because even in
• 35:00
  critical spaces people feel this way I
• 35:02
  think um this idea that like no like all
• 35:05
  opinions on games should be listened to
• 35:08
  and and discussed and and are worthy of
• 35:10
  dissection whatever but then like this
• 35:12
  second that one person does not uh feel
• 35:15
  the same way about a game everyone's
• 35:16
  like well not like that you know like
• 35:18
  there was a whole thing about Pakopia
• 35:20
  this past week that was um largely
• 35:22
  foolish just because it was like hey
• 35:24
  here's a single dissenting opinion about
• 35:26
  this and you have people who uh like to
• 35:28
  I think posture is being better than the
• 35:30
  sort of like uh what I would call uh
• 35:33
  YouTube based discourse um sort of
• 35:36
  engaging with in very similar uh uh
• 35:38
  tactics and very similar conversations
• 35:40
  to what is happening with with when
• 35:42
  someone just says like you can't trust
• 35:43
  any of these game reviewers because they
• 35:45
  had one opinion you didn't agree with.
• 35:47
  Oh, yeah. I mean, the the situation with
• 35:49
  that Popia piece was hilarious for many
• 35:52
  reasons. I don't even, you know, I don't
• 35:54
  I don't even really know what we can
• 35:55
  what we can sus from that besides the
• 35:57
  fact that Yeah. Nothing
• 35:59
  >> depressing is what it was. The whole
• 36:00
  thing was just like
• 36:02
  >> watching a bad sports game. I'm like,
• 36:03
  "No, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS. STOP."
• 36:06
  >> Turns out people that are online posting
• 36:08
  about video games are absolutely [ __ ]
• 36:11
  terminal with self-consciousness.
• 36:14
  just just absolutely worried that
• 36:16
  everything is going to be the the Jenga
• 36:20
  block lifted from their from their ankle
• 36:22
  that is going to cause them to crumble
• 36:24
  onto the floor. I like
• 36:26
  >> what's interesting about that though is
• 36:27
  I feel like that sort of uh
• 36:31
  self-consciousness to me also is like
• 36:33
  rooted with this like YouTube persona.
• 36:35
  Uh because there is this level of at
• 36:38
  least it seems like I have to keep
• 36:40
  attacking games journalists for this
• 36:42
  reason, this reason, this reason. But
• 36:43
  one of the other reasons I have to do it
• 36:44
  is because if everyone goes to these
• 36:47
  games journalists, I feel I'm going to
• 36:48
  be out of a job, which just isn't true
• 36:50
  because I think that like these sorts of
• 36:52
  people uh these sorts of content
• 36:53
  creators are just fundamentally giving a
• 36:54
  different like experience than than what
• 36:57
  people who are like writing about games
• 36:59
  uh are doing, right? Like if you're a
• 37:00
  streamer, your audience, yeah, probably
• 37:03
  reads game reviews, but if if game
• 37:05
  reviews were all like incredible and c I
• 37:09
  mean they don't, right? They're just
• 37:10
  looking for you to talk about game
• 37:12
  reviews. But like if game reviews were
• 37:13
  all like if games journalism was like
• 37:15
  this huge bastion of of culture, you
• 37:18
  would still have an audience, you know?
• 37:20
  >> Oh yeah. I mean, listen, the journalist
• 37:22
  thing is so uncomplicated. It's just
• 37:24
  that uh video game journalists are just
• 37:26
  convenient targets.
• 37:27
  >> And you know, they uh a video game
• 37:30
  journalist has uh visibility and they're
• 37:33
  attached to these institutions that
• 37:35
  people already distrust. So they become
• 37:37
  really easy targets. Um, it's so easy to
• 37:39
  project anything you want onto them.
• 37:40
  They're out of touch. They are bad at
• 37:42
  video games. They don't play them right.
• 37:43
  They're pushing an agenda. Um, none of
• 37:46
  this requires actually engaging with
• 37:48
  anything. Uh, the critic just becomes a
• 37:51
  standin for broad frustration. And we do
• 37:56
  unfortunately have a lot of data to
• 37:58
  suggest that a large and incredibly
• 38:01
  vocal and active group of people who
• 38:03
  play video games online
• 38:06
  um love the idea of a target to express
• 38:12
  aggression towards aggression and
• 38:14
  frustration towards um and to
• 38:17
  >> for that target to also be aligned with
• 38:20
  media um access authority. That is that
• 38:24
  is perfect. It's just everything the
• 38:26
  reviewer represents is the perfect
• 38:29
  online scapegoat for you to get mad at
• 38:32
  and build a following around being mad
• 38:34
  at because there is just like a ton of
• 38:36
  people online who have been forced
• 38:38
  online for one reason or another who are
• 38:41
  looking for outlets to express
• 38:43
  frustration and and people to turn into
• 38:45
  enemies frankly.
• 38:46
  >> Yeah. No, 100%. Um, going back just a
• 38:49
  little bit, I I was thinking about, um,
• 38:51
  you know, we were talking about the idea
• 38:52
  of like, oh, just go watch gameplay and
• 38:53
  whatever. Um, and how that's kind of
• 38:55
  like, you know, I guess it's fine
• 38:57
  advice, but also like
• 38:59
  >> I think that just misses the idea of why
• 39:01
  you would go to review, like why would
• 39:02
  you even be looking at reviews anyway
• 39:03
  because you can always just do that. Um,
• 39:05
  I will say, and I think I've mentioned
• 39:07
  it on this podcast before, but it's
• 39:08
  worth repeating, I really like um the
• 39:11
  series Before You Buy uh uh on Game
• 39:14
  Ranks because I think it is the uh to me
• 39:18
  the like best version of the go watch
• 39:21
  gameplay kind of review because it is
• 39:24
  like pretty much like you know these
• 39:26
  like long uncut sequences of gameplay
• 39:28
  with um VO over it from there's two
• 39:31
  guys. There's Jake Baldino and then um
• 39:33
  I'm forgetting the other Falcon I think
• 39:35
  is what his he goes by. I don't know
• 39:36
  what his name is. Um these these two
• 39:38
  guys just sort of like show you hey
• 39:40
  here's what the game is and here are
• 39:41
  some just like uh general thoughts. It's
• 39:43
  it's a type of review but I think it is
• 39:45
  the closest thing that you can get to
• 39:47
  what I would call like a really really
• 39:49
  solid like product review because it's
• 39:52
  not going for a a critical take but it
• 39:54
  is just trying to help inform people
• 39:55
  about like here's what this game is and
• 39:56
  here's my general thoughts on it. um
• 39:59
  without turning into this idea of like
• 40:01
  going for like objectivity discourse or
• 40:03
  whatever. Does that make sense?
• 40:05
  >> Oh, no. Yeah, of course. It's I think
• 40:07
  they're telling you exactly what they're
• 40:08
  doing and doing it.
• 40:09
  >> Yes. Ex. And and that's what I really
• 40:11
  appreciate about this sort of like
• 40:12
  YouTube show because it's like to me it
• 40:14
  doesn't have this like secondary layer
• 40:16
  of like we're right and like everyone
• 40:19
  else is bad. You got to stick with us
• 40:21
  because I think they're just doing
• 40:22
  exactly the thing that people want out
• 40:24
  of watching that show and it is just
• 40:26
  like very very upfront about it. Oh
• 40:28
  yeah. I mean the difference there in is
• 40:30
  you can see the difference in the form,
• 40:31
  the style of content. It's not it's not
• 40:34
  um it's not built around the kind of
• 40:37
  idolification of a personality. So they
• 40:39
  don't have to play um identity politics
• 40:42
  which is
• 40:43
  >> I hate to tell I hate to say this to
• 40:45
  this crowd but
• 40:47
  >> that is what they are engaging in when
• 40:48
  they do the games journalist bad me
• 40:51
  good. They are doing identity politics.
• 40:53
  I'm so sorry
• 40:54
  >> because it's just a different kind of
• 40:55
  identity politics. They would tell you
• 40:57
  they hate. But I but I'm so sorry.
• 40:59
  You've been doing it the whole this
• 41:00
  whole time. They look in the mirror and
• 41:02
  they go, "It's me. It was me all along."
• 41:05
  And they Scooby-Doo mask comes off. It
• 41:07
  was like, "Am I woke? Is it me?"
• 41:10
  >> Oh my god. I am the woke that was hiding
• 41:13
  under the bed.
• 41:14
  >> Oh man.
• 41:16
  >> Absolutely.
• 41:17
  >> Yeah. I I I think this sort of thing is
• 41:20
  fascinating because you know like we
• 41:21
  talked about wanting to do like an
• 41:23
  episode about like YouTube for a while
• 41:25
  but like so rarely does it all come so
• 41:27
  in such a concise package and then it's
• 41:28
  just so frustrating that like oh it got
• 41:30
  disappeared because what I will say is
• 41:32
  at the very least like hey uh glad that
• 41:35
  you saw that the reaction sorry not you
• 41:37
  uh this streamer guy like glad that he
• 41:39
  saw that the reaction to this video was
• 41:41
  like profoundly negative for the most
• 41:42
  part whereas like he didn't make great
• 41:44
  points and um his uh example examples of
• 41:48
  why game reviews don't matter and are
• 41:50
  bad I think were largely uh like
• 41:53
  entirely misguided and and bail built on
• 41:55
  all of the problems that we've been
• 41:57
  talking about this entire episode. So, I
• 41:58
  don't know, maybe it's good that he took
• 41:59
  it down and I think he said that he's
• 42:01
  going to be uploading something else to
• 42:02
  discuss it. But, um yeah.
• 42:05
  >> No, and and I think like
• 42:07
  >> we're all just talking. We're all just
• 42:08
  this is this is this is how the space
• 42:09
  works. And I think um like
• 42:13
  opening yourself up for critique is what
• 42:15
  every single person is doing when they
• 42:17
  when they like post stuff online or
• 42:18
  whatever. Yes. And and I guess like I'm
• 42:20
  I'm simply trying to engage not with the
• 42:24
  I'm trying to engage with the things
• 42:25
  being said and what they mean. You know,
• 42:27
  I like there was there was something
• 42:28
  that that kind of popped up in in the
• 42:30
  the the games media online hell circles
• 42:34
  over the past week and it was it was
• 42:36
  kind of this this idea that um I think
• 42:40
  something that that we demonstrated in
• 42:42
  this conversation today was that being
• 42:45
  able to simply have the language for and
• 42:48
  parse rhetorically and positionally what
• 42:51
  is going on with the YouTubers and how
• 42:53
  they stand to benefit from this course
• 42:56
  of action. in this course of action
• 42:57
  where the disagreement is why there is a
• 42:59
  difference between what the YouTuber is
• 43:01
  producing and what the critic is in you
• 43:03
  know attempting to produce. Um there is
• 43:06
  a language that is steeped in kind of
• 43:11
  like academic or like a literary
• 43:13
  background or or to be completely honest
• 43:15
  just say a a background in the long
• 43:16
  tradition of criticism that I think is
• 43:18
  helpful in understanding what is going
• 43:20
  on and how these things are different
• 43:22
  identifying the key terms and saying
• 43:24
  you're doing this and I'm doing this and
• 43:27
  um I've seen some like push back
• 43:28
  recently from people saying like oh the
• 43:31
  implementation of
• 43:34
  academic verbiage or making something
• 43:36
  making games criticism or like talking
• 43:38
  about it in this way is actually bad.
• 43:41
  And I think that that's also just this
• 43:42
  this kind of fundamental insecurity.
• 43:44
  There is there like
• 43:47
  everything is as helpful as you are able
• 43:50
  to make it in the moment.
• 43:52
  >> Yeah.
• 43:52
  >> And just like any replacement for
• 43:54
  shortorthhand is good. I am not saying
• 43:56
  that like breaking it down in this
• 43:58
  specific language is the only thing that
• 44:00
  you can do and it is the only answer and
• 44:02
  it is the only lens you can bring to
• 44:04
  video game criticism. But uh I think we
• 44:07
  need to just be maybe unafraid of
• 44:11
  engaging with perspectives that are that
• 44:13
  are unlike our own. That goes to the
• 44:15
  video game critic and it goes to the
• 44:16
  YouTuber. So I'm so sorry.
• 44:18
  >> This is going up on YouTube. That won't
• 44:19
  fly. No. No.
• 44:20
  >> We're all we're all chasing the
• 44:22
  objectivity ghost. I know. We we hope
• 44:25
  one day that that ghost may possess us
• 44:27
  and we may be captains of objectivity.
• 44:29
  >> Um, but here's the thing, Jake. I'm
• 44:31
  right and you're wrong. So, you ever
• 44:33
  consider that? You
• 44:33
  >> ever You know who's always right?
• 44:36
  >> Please tell me.
• 44:37
  >> The supporters at patreon.comcritical
• 44:40
  error.
• 44:40
  >> Oh my gosh.
• 44:42
  >> I uh brought this up and I introduced
• 44:44
  it. I'm now talking about we're doing
• 44:45
  the Patreon part of the show, but I
• 44:48
  don't even have that window open. So,
• 44:50
  I'm simply hoping that Okay, great.
• 44:52
  >> Guess who does. Okay, fantastic.
• 44:54
  >> Uh, I would like to I would like to give
• 44:55
  a quick shout out and a quick thank you
• 44:56
  to uh, you know, we've we've seen growth
• 44:58
  over we've been doing this for like more
• 45:00
  than six months at this point. Uh, we've
• 45:01
  seen wonderful growth on on our Patreon
• 45:04
  community and so I just want to shout
• 45:05
  out some some recent uh, members. Uh,
• 45:07
  Dalton Mersman, uh, welcome to the
• 45:09
  nation. Uh, Jean Levescu, welcome to the
• 45:12
  nation. Violet, welcome to the nation.
• 45:14
  Thanks for being here. Really happy that
• 45:15
  you're you've joined us. I would like to
• 45:16
  give a very special shout out though to
• 45:19
  the members of the critical error nation
• 45:20
  who are up there doing the most in terms
• 45:23
  of uh supporting us financially. These
• 45:26
  are members of the Jake and Peter tier
• 45:28
  of the nation. Again,
• 45:28
  patreon.com/critical error. There's
• 45:30
  links in the description. There's links
• 45:32
  in the comments now too. I'm doing that
• 45:33
  too cuz I'm trying to I'm trying to tell
• 45:35
  you we're doing good stuff over there.
• 45:36
  It's really fun. A lot of lot of great
• 45:38
  additional podcast stuff. Um we did a
• 45:40
  community stream of Animal Crossing when
• 45:41
  that update came out. There's the uh I
• 45:45
  believe Chip Town Piccopia Island as
• 45:47
  well that is uh uh prospering uh in in
• 45:50
  the Discord which you get access to if
• 45:52
  you are a part of the nation. Um but I
• 45:53
  would like to shout out the members of
• 45:54
  the J computer tier. That is Andrew
• 45:56
  Bulkar, that's Evan Snee, and that is
• 45:58
  Robert Quesada. Thank you so so much for
• 46:02
  being here. We truly truly appreciate
• 46:04
  it.
• 46:05
  >> That Picopia Island, I've been told that
• 46:08
  uh on my next stream I'm going to I'm
• 46:09
  going to open it up and I'm going to
• 46:10
  play it. My some people in the Discord
• 46:12
  have made a like secret passageway that
• 46:15
  I have to find.
• 46:16
  >> Oh, that's so fun.
• 46:17
  >> And and it leads to something and I
• 46:19
  don't know what it leads to, but I'm
• 46:20
  excited to check that out.
• 46:21
  >> I've been I've been wanting to check out
• 46:23
  the Popia. It's like a dream island. Is
• 46:25
  that how you what it is? Or whatever.
• 46:27
  >> Cloud Island.
• 46:28
  >> Cloud Island. That's what it is. Yeah, I
• 46:29
  want to check it out. I just have not
• 46:31
  had the time to like sit down and like
• 46:32
  play a bunch of Poptopia because I've
• 46:33
  played some of it and I' I've been
• 46:34
  having a good time, but like
• 46:35
  >> I want to I want to see I want to see
• 46:36
  what's going on over there. Looks so
• 46:38
  fun. Speaking of Pokemon, I wrote a
• 46:40
  little bit about Pokemon for this week.
• 46:41
  >> Oh, good. Good.
• 46:42
  >> We we Oh, wait. I'm so sorry. Our sound.
• 46:44
  >> Yes. There we we also in addition to
• 46:46
  thanking the J computer tier. There's
• 46:48
  the critical error royalty. Um these are
• 46:51
  the $10 and up members on our Patreon
• 46:54
  and we would like to thank them by
• 46:56
  giving them a unique sound which you
• 46:58
  prepared.
• 46:58
  >> This is objectively a unique sound.
• 47:00
  >> Oh wow.
• 47:01
  >> The the ghost of objectivity will be
• 47:03
  present for this.
• 47:04
  >> It's here.
• 47:05
  >> Okay. Play the sound. Objectively
• 47:10
  speaking, these are the members of
• 47:13
  critical error royalty.
• 47:17
  Andrew Bar,
• 47:20
  Cole Boo, Danny Disaster,
• 47:23
  Jacob Brick,
• 47:25
  Mayo,
• 47:29
  Jared C and Pinky,
• 47:34
  Evan Sne got a true love. Hail Chow,
• 47:39
  Robert Kada,
• 47:41
  Mitch D,
• 47:45
  Sam Woods, James Perry,
• 47:49
  Vicil
• 47:53
  Trait. Jake, before we get into the um
• 47:57
  before we get into the the written piece
• 47:59
  that you have for us, as we do every
• 48:01
  single week, where we trade off doing
• 48:02
  written pieces, pre-written pieces for
• 48:03
  this podcast, I'd like to respond to
• 48:05
  someone who said something, I think, on
• 48:06
  the Discord or maybe in on in the
• 48:08
  comments. I do go back and I listen to
• 48:10
  the to the Patreon sounds. Thank you
• 48:12
  very much. Every single week I do. I do
• 48:14
  because I love I love hearing them and I
• 48:15
  love the the nation. So, uh Jake, hit us
• 48:18
  with that uh that pre-written piece
• 48:19
  you've got.
• 48:20
  >> Here we go. Jumping right into it.
• 48:24
  One of my favorite quotes.
• 48:27
  What a frightening thing is the human. A
• 48:29
  mass of gauges and dials and registers.
• 48:32
  And we can read only a few and those
• 48:35
  perhaps not accurately.
• 48:39
  >> Steinbeck opens the body. He does not
• 48:42
  console us for what we find there. There
• 48:45
  is no soft language of essence, no soul
• 48:48
  waiting to gather the pieces back into
• 48:50
  something memorable and whole. only a
• 48:53
  panel lit up with information, needles
• 48:56
  twitching, mechanisms in constant
• 48:58
  adjustment, and the terrible admission
• 49:00
  that even as we stand before it before
• 49:03
  ourselves, we remain functionally
• 49:06
  illiterate, reading a handful of
• 49:08
  signals, misreading others, inventing
• 49:11
  coherence where there is only motion.
• 49:13
  And so the fear is not that we are
• 49:15
  reducible, but that we are irreducible.
• 49:18
  In practice, we cannot keep up with the
• 49:20
  very systems that constitute us. We are
• 49:24
  always a step behind the fact of our own
• 49:26
  operation. Oh, what a frightening thing
• 49:30
  is the human.
• 49:32
  There's a children's game that stages
• 49:35
  this exact anxiety
• 49:38
  as play. Flattening the body into a
• 49:41
  diagram so bright and insistent that it
• 49:43
  feels impossible to misunderstand. The
• 49:45
  body is a map, an instruction manual, a
• 49:48
  promise that everything important has
• 49:50
  been circled and labeled and laid bare
• 49:52
  for your careful hand. And still, even
• 49:54
  here, even with the rules so clearly
• 49:56
  defined, the boundaries glowing with
• 49:58
  artificial clarity, you drift too close
• 50:00
  to the edge, and the whole thing
• 50:02
  revolts, buzz in accusation, the patient
• 50:06
  crying out as if to remind you that your
• 50:08
  understanding was always provisional,
• 50:10
  always contingent on a steadiness that
• 50:12
  you cannot promise. And in that instant,
• 50:15
  the game reveals itself not as mastery,
• 50:18
  but as rehearsal for failure, for the
• 50:21
  recognition that the map is not the
• 50:23
  body, proximity is not knowledge, and
• 50:26
  that even under ideal conditions, you
• 50:28
  cannot do it. Oh, what a frightening
• 50:31
  thing is the human.
• 50:35
  Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green.
• 50:38
  begin with a gentle fiction, a small
• 50:40
  town, a clear path, a professor who
• 50:43
  stops you at the threshold, at the edge
• 50:46
  of uncertainty, and offers a structure
• 50:49
  that feels at first like kindness, like
• 50:52
  a way to translate the unknowable into
• 50:54
  something manageable. Choose one of
• 50:56
  these creatures. Give it a name. Step
• 50:58
  forward, go into the world that will
• 51:00
  unfold in sequence that will meet you
• 51:02
  where you are. And ask only that you
• 51:04
  continue. And for a time, this will
• 51:07
  hold. The region will present itself as
• 51:09
  a series of comprehensible steps and
• 51:11
  each route a simple lesson. Each gym a
• 51:14
  confirmation that you understood it all
• 51:16
  correctly and you are progressing as
• 51:19
  intended. But the game is already
• 51:21
  exceeding you. Accumulating decisions
• 51:24
  that you do not even experience as
• 51:26
  decisions. Your outcomes are recorded
• 51:28
  yet you cannot interpret them. There is
• 51:30
  a hidden arithmetic unfolding beneath
• 51:33
  every single battle that leaves behind a
• 51:38
  mathematical residue that alters the
• 51:41
  shape of everything that comes next. And
• 51:43
  so you find yourself standing before a
• 51:46
  graler that should by every visible
• 51:49
  measure overwhelm you and instead it
• 51:52
  [ __ ] collapses. A weakness that you
• 51:56
  cannot account for.
• 51:58
  A moment that passes you by before it
• 52:02
  fully even registers, before you can
• 52:04
  even ask the question in the language
• 52:06
  the game would require. So you simply
• 52:08
  move on, carrying with you only the
• 52:11
  sensation that something deeper is at
• 52:14
  work. Something about your Pokemon,
• 52:15
  something about the stats, something
• 52:18
  about the dials and the registers is
• 52:21
  working in your favor and has authored
• 52:25
  an experience that you cannot see. Oh,
• 52:27
  what a frightening thing.
• 52:31
  That map.
• 52:33
  At first, it seems so complete, begins
• 52:36
  to loosen under scrutiny.
• 52:39
  Each clean line now carries the weight
• 52:41
  of everything it cannot show. Every step
• 52:43
  forward is entangled with a network of
• 52:45
  unseen adjustments. Values rising and
• 52:49
  falling out of reach, shaping outcomes
• 52:51
  in ways that feel intuitive but resist
• 52:52
  articulation. And you continue as
• 52:54
  players do, trusting the feedback and
• 52:56
  the rhythm in the game all being legible
• 52:58
  because it responds to you in a way that
• 53:00
  feels coherent even as that coherence is
• 53:02
  built on top of systems that you cannot
• 53:04
  fully access or name. What a frightening
• 53:07
  thing. And yet this is not even close to
• 53:12
  a failure of the game. It is not a trick
• 53:14
  at your expense. It is the condition of
• 53:18
  play itself. You are always both inside
• 53:21
  a system and a complete stranger to it.
• 53:25
  You act with confidence on the surface
• 53:27
  while something else, something denser
• 53:30
  and impossibly intricate, records and
• 53:32
  recalibrates beneath you. So your
• 53:34
  journey through Kanto is never only the
• 53:36
  sequence of badges you collect, the team
• 53:38
  you assemble, but also the sum of every
• 53:40
  single invisible negotiation that shapes
• 53:43
  your creatures through battles you
• 53:44
  barely remember. The small divergences
• 53:47
  accumulate into something singular and
• 53:49
  it belongs to you and only you and
• 53:51
  cannot be perfectly reconstructed by
• 53:54
  anyone else. Oh, what a thing.
• 53:58
  There is somewhere in this accumulation
• 54:02
  a version of your team that only exists
• 54:04
  because of the precise path you took
• 54:06
  without knowing you were taking it. this
• 54:09
  configuration of strengths and
• 54:10
  weaknesses that reflects not just your
• 54:12
  choices but unchosen habits, maybe even
• 54:16
  your hesitations, maybe even your
• 54:18
  biases, your inclinations, all expressed
• 54:21
  in the negative space of a game. And now
• 54:24
  another player, they're starting in the
• 54:26
  same town. They are choosing the same
• 54:28
  starter. They are going to arrive at
• 54:30
  something that looks identical to your
• 54:32
  game, but is in fact entirely different,
• 54:35
  shaped by a thousand imperceptible
• 54:37
  variations. Each one registered and
• 54:38
  carried forward. Each one contributing
• 54:40
  to a system that neither of you can ever
• 54:44
  fully read.
• 54:46
  To look at another player's team then is
• 54:48
  to confront a surface that refuses to
• 54:51
  disclose the entirety of its history.
• 54:54
  Oh, what a frightening thing. To
• 54:56
  recognize that beneath the familiar
• 54:59
  forms there is an entire record of play
• 55:01
  that you will never be able to access.
• 55:04
  It will only ever appear as slight
• 55:06
  deviations, as outcomes that seem to
• 55:09
  arrive out of nowhere, a graler that
• 55:12
  goes [ __ ] down. And so the game ends,
• 55:15
  or rather, you step away from it,
• 55:18
  carrying with you not just the memory of
• 55:20
  what you did, but the trace of all that
• 55:22
  you cannot see, all that worked beneath
• 55:24
  your awareness to produce the experience
• 55:26
  that you now hold, as if it were whole,
• 55:27
  as if it were complete. And you
• 55:29
  understand maybe only for a moment that
• 55:30
  there are things in human experience
• 55:33
  that you will never fully account for.
• 55:34
  There are aspects of your own play that
• 55:36
  remain opaque even to you, let alone to
• 55:38
  anyone else who might ever try to
• 55:40
  understand you.
• 55:43
  This opacity is not an absence. This is
• 55:47
  a surplus. This is human. This is a
• 55:49
  density of meaning that so deeply, so
• 55:52
  profoundly, so far exceeds your capacity
• 55:55
  to parse it. So, you look at your team.
• 55:58
  You look at the creatures you raised and
• 55:59
  carried with you. And you wonder, what
• 56:01
  exactly do they say about you? What
• 56:03
  patterns of decisions and attentions and
• 56:05
  care have you inscribed into them
• 56:07
  without your knowledge? What record of
• 56:09
  your play do they contain that you will
• 56:10
  never be able to fully decipher? And
• 56:12
  what someone else looking at the same
• 56:14
  arrangement might see that you cannot,
• 56:17
  that you might misread, might invent, or
• 56:20
  might miss entirely.
• 56:23
  Oh, what a frightening thing is a human.
• 56:27
  And oh, what a frightening thing is
• 56:30
  Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green.
• 56:33
  >> Thank you.
• 56:34
  >> Wow, this was great. This is really,
• 56:36
  really great. I I think what's like
• 56:40
  man, it all just it comes together right
• 56:42
  not right at the end, but like it comes
• 56:44
  together at the end when you're just
• 56:45
  talking about like you're going to have
• 56:47
  go on the like the same journey as
• 56:48
  everyone else and like you're going to
• 56:50
  end up at identical towns, right? your
• 56:52
  lavender town is my lavender town. It's
• 56:53
  the same. But like getting there, even
• 56:55
  though even though the journey is also
• 56:57
  the same, it's actually so different
• 56:59
  because of these like whether it's, you
• 57:01
  know, your small preferences on who
• 57:02
  you're grabbing and whatever, who you
• 57:04
  encountered just based on like the
• 57:05
  encounter rate, maybe the version you
• 57:06
  picked up, whatever. Like gosh, that's
• 57:08
  such a like I think that's such a a
• 57:11
  great explanation for what makes Pokemon
• 57:13
  feel so personal, you know, as as like
• 57:17
  an RPG because, you know, so many games
• 57:19
  like Final Fantasy, I I think you could
• 57:21
  like compare it to systems wise, right?
• 57:24
  You're walking around random encounters,
• 57:25
  you're going through the story, going
• 57:26
  through these different towns. Um, and
• 57:28
  yeah, your party is going to be a little
• 57:29
  bit different, but like
• 57:32
  the amount of actual choice that comes
• 57:34
  in with Pokemon, I think, is so unique
• 57:36
  and it makes it and it makes it feel so
• 57:38
  unique and so much like your personal
• 57:40
  journey, you know?
• 57:41
  >> Well, and my and really my favorite
• 57:42
  thing about this is just that like you
• 57:44
  think that you are making every single
• 57:45
  decision, but like
• 57:47
  >> man, dude, the the the the EVs, the fact
• 57:50
  that every Pokemon you beat gives this
• 57:53
  tiny invisible value to one stat. So my
• 57:57
  Bulbasaur at this level and your
• 57:58
  Bulbasaur at the exact same level are
• 58:00
  fundamentally different. Yes. And it
• 58:01
  will it will at some point cause you to
• 58:04
  fight something and go,
• 58:06
  >> I I that that graler just went down. But
• 58:09
  why? And it was it was because of some
• 58:12
  hidden calculus of individuality. And
• 58:14
  it's so crazy that Pokemon by all of its
• 58:16
  virtues of
• 58:18
  >> to bring it back to that original quote,
• 58:19
  everything that is there just for the
• 58:21
  sake of us understanding it. We can pull
• 58:23
  up its stats. We can pull up its moves.
• 58:25
  We can look at all of this stuff and and
• 58:27
  yet and yet how many times does
• 58:29
  something in Pokemon happen that you
• 58:30
  don't entirely understand why you know
• 58:33
  it's all of it's there moves tell you
• 58:35
  how powerful they are and yet you don't
• 58:36
  really know how much damage they're
• 58:38
  going to do.
• 58:38
  >> I love that cuz what is it like there's
• 58:40
  a range for how much damage will do?
• 58:42
  It's like obviously like there are
• 58:44
  things that in increase the damage
• 58:45
  you're going to do whether that is type
• 58:47
  you know advantage whether that is what
• 58:48
  is it called stab.
• 58:50
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 58:50
  >> See look at me knowing a Pokemon thing.
• 58:52
  >> That's good. Um, but then like also like
• 58:54
  I love that on top of that there's like
• 58:56
  a 75% to 125% range I think or something
• 59:00
  like that where it's just like it could
• 59:02
  just randomly do a lot more like like
• 59:04
  just for nothing or it could do way
• 59:06
  less. Um, and it's exactly what you're
• 59:08
  saying. It creates this like such a
• 59:09
  specific journey and makes for like
• 59:12
  great
• 59:14
  uh storytelling when you are talking
• 59:15
  about your experience because you're
• 59:16
  like I was down in my last I mean even
• 59:18
  you were texting me about this when uh
• 59:20
  are you still playing Fire Red Leaf
• 59:21
  Green? Oh yeah.
• 59:22
  >> Yeah. I I've uh put it down for a little
• 59:25
  while. I'm going to go back to it.
• 59:26
  Whatever. But like uh I think it was at
• 59:28
  the who was it at Erica's gym? At the at
• 59:29
  the leaf gym. You were like no the
• 59:31
  poison gym. You were like I got down to
• 59:33
  my last guy and it was crazy. It was
• 59:34
  like either either
• 59:35
  >> I've got that screenshot of Mr. Mine
• 59:37
  with one HP. Oh man.
• 59:38
  >> Yes. And it's like either Mr. or
• 59:41
  >> And he doesn't think he he was paralyzed
• 59:43
  too. So that last move he could have
• 59:44
  just been like I'm not doing it.
• 59:46
  >> Yes.
• 59:46
  >> But
• 59:47
  >> no. Yeah. It's really cool. And I think
• 59:49
  just like I I remember having this
• 59:50
  experience as a child of, you know,
• 59:53
  you're like really deep in the game and
• 59:54
  maybe you're on Victory Road and you
• 59:56
  find this really really strong Pokemon
• 59:58
  in the wild and you go, "Oh my god, this
• 1:00:01
  guy's a higher level than like everybody
• 1:00:02
  I have on my team. I'm going to put him
• 1:00:04
  I'm going to put him on my team and you
• 1:00:05
  put him on your team." And then he
• 1:00:06
  sucks.
• 1:00:08
  >> And it's and it's like
• 1:00:11
  >> damn, what a what a salient text. What a
• 1:00:15
  what a the world that that create that
• 1:00:17
  that interior world that that creates
• 1:00:19
  for me inside this thing that you think
• 1:00:21
  is laid out so perfectly. I I was really
• 1:00:24
  taken with the comparison I make between
• 1:00:26
  the the game operation and the map of a
• 1:00:29
  Pokemon game. I'm like those are those
• 1:00:31
  are the same thing. Those are literally
• 1:00:32
  the same thing.
• 1:00:33
  >> And yeah, there's just something about
• 1:00:35
  that. Yeah. It's just so fascinating
• 1:00:36
  because it does exactly this thing where
• 1:00:38
  it's like you were supposed to care
• 1:00:39
  about these Pokemon and like you don't
• 1:00:41
  even have a reason to because they're
• 1:00:43
  small and you you only ever see them
• 1:00:45
  when they're out in battle really or in
• 1:00:46
  your bag, but when they're in their bag,
• 1:00:47
  they're just tiny and bouncing around,
• 1:00:49
  right? Like uh but you do have this
• 1:00:51
  relationship and I think we talked about
• 1:00:53
  this maybe in one of our bonus episodes
• 1:00:54
  patreon.com/critical air. Um where it's
• 1:00:56
  like I didn't want to like this Mankey,
• 1:00:59
  but then this Mankey turned out to be
• 1:01:00
  like like got me through a bunch of
• 1:01:02
  scrapes and now like me and this Mankey
• 1:01:03
  are like boys, right? Like I would never
• 1:01:05
  my prime would you think I would put him
• 1:01:07
  in the box? Excuse me.
• 1:01:09
  >> And it like all comes down from like the
• 1:01:11
  fact that like
• 1:01:12
  >> these like imperceptible things that
• 1:01:15
  happened like made this narrative and
• 1:01:17
  made me go like I actually like this guy
• 1:01:19
  a lot and I'm going to choose him over
• 1:01:21
  something that might even make a little
• 1:01:23
  bit more sense, you know?
• 1:01:25
  >> Yeah.
• 1:01:26
  >> Wow,
• 1:01:26
  >> man.
• 1:01:26
  >> Really really great piece there. I
• 1:01:28
  really really really liked that. I've
• 1:01:30
  been really trying to center center some
• 1:01:33
  of my my writing about Fire and Leaf
• 1:01:34
  Green because it's it's it's hard. I
• 1:01:36
  find it's a it's a hard game to write
• 1:01:37
  about. And I think that there's just
• 1:01:38
  something to
• 1:01:40
  um it being such a such a a packed text
• 1:01:45
  and what this means. And I think there
• 1:01:47
  was a part of me that sat down and was
• 1:01:49
  like, "Oh, I need to
• 1:01:51
  >> I need to explain to the reader that
• 1:01:54
  there is all of this stuff in the game
• 1:01:55
  that if you notice it and if you see it,
• 1:01:58
  it's like so impactful." And then I
• 1:02:00
  realized that that wasn't it. I was
• 1:02:01
  like, it's the fact that it's there and
• 1:02:03
  it's acting on you and you don't even
• 1:02:05
  need to know it.
• 1:02:06
  >> You don't even Yeah. and you think
• 1:02:07
  you're perceiving everything. And that's
• 1:02:09
  part of the trick. Yes. Is that is that
• 1:02:11
  you think you've you've got this lay of
• 1:02:14
  things that it's but it's just entirely
• 1:02:16
  uh imagined. Yeah. Th
• 1:02:17
  >> this there's this idea that I really
• 1:02:19
  like here where it's just like games
• 1:02:20
  that trick you
• 1:02:22
  >> and and like they think that you like
• 1:02:23
  and part of the reason why the trick
• 1:02:25
  works with Pokemon is you believe that
• 1:02:27
  you are seeing everything,
• 1:02:28
  >> but you actually are not.
• 1:02:30
  >> And like that's great. That's great
• 1:02:31
  because because it makes you go like,
• 1:02:33
  "Oh, there is something deeper than
• 1:02:34
  what's on the surface," but there's
• 1:02:35
  actually a third even deeper layer, you
• 1:02:38
  know? Um gosh, this is great. I I think
• 1:02:41
  about uh something you said uh at some
• 1:02:43
  point about this idea that like no, like
• 1:02:44
  Pokemon is kind of like Fire Red Leaf
• 1:02:46
  Green are kind of like
• 1:02:48
  >> like important texts in video game like
• 1:02:51
  Shakespeare. They're the classics almost
• 1:02:53
  uh in a way that is um able to be
• 1:02:55
  dissected still today and you can
• 1:02:57
  understand their greatness and
• 1:02:58
  understand like
• 1:03:00
  >> um how they also influenced other video
• 1:03:02
  games and and sort of got us to how
• 1:03:04
  where we are today and I I think that's
• 1:03:05
  great. Yeah, there's a the ghost of ob
• 1:03:07
  of objectivity discourse I think could
• 1:03:10
  have its way with these games and there
• 1:03:12
  is an incredibly boring reading of these
• 1:03:15
  games that I think is like well to tell
• 1:03:17
  you how good these games are I have to
• 1:03:18
  compare them to every other Pokemon game
• 1:03:20
  and I have to tell you about the level
• 1:03:22
  curve and the the variety of Pokemon and
• 1:03:24
  the content and the features and I think
• 1:03:26
  that that is a um
• 1:03:29
  >> don't let that ghost get you let that
• 1:03:30
  ghost let that ghost get you haunted by
• 1:03:33
  that ghost yeah no I and I think I
• 1:03:35
  I see this ghost haunting a many uh in a
• 1:03:39
  that are that are I think pursuing the
• 1:03:41
  authority that we talked extensively
• 1:03:43
  about uh in this episode. But just uh
• 1:03:45
  just I want to give a final shout out to
• 1:03:47
  uh truly truly one of my uh favorite
• 1:03:49
  quotations of all time from uh
• 1:03:52
  Steinbeck's the win the winter of our
• 1:03:53
  discontent.
• 1:03:54
  >> Yeah. Can you read it again? I like that
• 1:03:56
  one.
• 1:03:56
  >> What a frightening thing is the human. a
• 1:03:58
  mass of gauges and dials and registers
• 1:04:01
  and we can read only a few and those
• 1:04:03
  perhaps not accurately and just this
• 1:04:06
  idea of everything about us is meant so
• 1:04:09
  that we can understand each other and
• 1:04:11
  the most fundamental human experience is
• 1:04:13
  one of misunderstanding.
• 1:04:14
  >> Yeah.
• 1:04:15
  >> Is and like that's crazy. It's like
• 1:04:16
  everything there is like is like
• 1:04:18
  understand me, understand me, understand
• 1:04:19
  me and we are as a as a culture and as a
• 1:04:22
  society uh illiterate in understanding
• 1:04:24
  each other.
• 1:04:25
  >> It's impossible. Yeah.
• 1:04:26
  >> Yeah. Exactly. And I and I think that
• 1:04:27
  that's like I've I've man I don't know I
• 1:04:30
  I think for dear listener as much as you
• 1:04:33
  can possibly believe me the amount that
• 1:04:35
  this quotation rings through my body on
• 1:04:38
  a regular basis just whatever that
• 1:04:40
  amount is double it. It's it's I I don't
• 1:04:43
  know. There's just something there to me
• 1:04:44
  that I think is
• 1:04:46
  >> quite good. Yeah.
• 1:04:47
  >> No, it's really good. It's really good.
• 1:04:49
  >> Hey, thanks for being here. If you want
• 1:04:50
  to subscribe on YouTube, you could do
• 1:04:51
  that. You could like this video. You
• 1:04:53
  could let us know what you think in the
• 1:04:54
  comments down below. Well, I feel like
• 1:04:55
  we don't say that very often. Um, but if
• 1:04:57
  you're getting to this point, um, you
• 1:05:00
  probably know that you can do that. You
• 1:05:01
  probably know that.
• 1:05:01
  >> God, wouldn't that be nice? How about
• 1:05:05
  just a nice and polite comment? You
• 1:05:06
  know, comments, there's too much
• 1:05:08
  incentive in the comments to be um like
• 1:05:12
  like raise your pitchfork in the air. I
• 1:05:14
  want I want a a comment,
• 1:05:16
  >> dude. Raise your glass in the air. Come
• 1:05:17
  on now.
• 1:05:18
  >> I want the comments to function more
• 1:05:20
  like like you're leaving a tip at the
• 1:05:22
  end of the meal,
• 1:05:23
  >> you know?
• 1:05:23
  >> Love that. Love that. You know what it
• 1:05:25
  is? I want I want you to write like you
• 1:05:26
  are writing in our wedding book. Had a
• 1:05:29
  great time.
• 1:05:30
  >> Had a great
• 1:05:30
  >> You know what I mean? Had a great time.
• 1:05:31
  So happy for you.
• 1:05:32
  >> Yeah. Right. That's that's exactly what
• 1:05:34
  it See, that's we messed up. We messed
• 1:05:36
  up this online culture thing. Yeah.
• 1:05:38
  >> Thanks for listening everybody. We'll
• 1:05:39
  see you next time.