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The Player 1 Podcast Topic

Rodhull

Member
Yeah kinda sad to see them gut their excellent features section and focus on Kuchera's clickbait section and articles about TV/movies. Annoying to see taking the worst parts of Kotaku is what brings them the most success.
This can't have been their intention when they started the site.
 

frequency

Member
I wish people would stop using "clickbait" to mean "something I don't agree with."

Gaming media would be really boring without some opinion pieces, even if we don't agree with all of them.

Talk about it, disagree with it, even make fun of it if you want. But I'm glad sites (not just Polygon) still have room for op-ed pieces amidst the press release regurgitation and advertisements.
 

SuperPac

Member
I wish people would stop using "clickbait" to mean "something I don't agree with."

Gaming media would be really boring without some opinion pieces, even if we don't agree with all of them.

Talk about it, disagree with it, even make fun of it if you want. But I'm glad sites (not just Polygon) still have room for op-ed pieces amidst the press release regurgitation and advertisements.

Opinion pieces whose purpose seems to be to "stir the fanboy pot" are as clickbait-y as "This dog and cat were placed in a room together and you'll never guess what happens next!" What makes it infuriating is not that they exist - it's that the author's intention is to stir the pot, not to create any discourse or change their own outlook.

It's things like -

- Using flawed data instead of common sense to come to a ridiculous conclusion (Mario Kart 8 will be the worst-selling in franchise history) supporting the popular "Nintendoomed" theory.

- Inability or unwillingness to acknowledge contrary opinion. Anyone who disagrees is a "fanboy." Their opinion is law.

- Propensity to pick easy targets like Alien Isolation, Battlefield Hardline, Nintendo to make their points.

- Publish a burst of multiple articles at once on controversial topics or split a single issue into 3-4 separate stories.

- Continuing to find angles on Destiny, a game people seemingly love to hate, literally just for the clicks.

I don't blame them for doing it - the web is a hard business, and to get eyeballs you have to shake the tree. But I find a hard time getting value out of that type of coverage, personally.
 

frequency

Member
Some articles definitely are "clickbait-y". I just mean that it is too often then I see "clickbait" misused as a way to dismiss an opinion piece people disagree with.

The one about the kissing/stealth kill tutorial, I'm not sure is really clickbait. It's pretty stupid but seems like an honest enough opinion from the author and doesn't come off as just trying to stir the fanboy pot (did Shadows of Mordor even have fanboys at the time of publication?)

I think generally there is value in saying, "This bothered me, and here is why..."
I didn't find any particular personal value from that specific piece but I'm still glad it exists. I would rather have that article than some junk about how Pizza Hut is joining forces with Company X to promote Game Y, or that Game Z has some $200 CE available for pre-order at GameStop, or "Look at this weird YouTube video we found!".

It wasn't just some short article pushed out with no content, no context, or no explanations for some incendiary remark.

Just like in print publications and newspapers, not all op-eds will be amazing quality (very few will be) but honestly I still prefer that to pages of junk ads masquerading as journalism, repeated and linked to each other by all the major sites, or some stupid "Japan is so wacky! Look at this cake!" piece.
 

frostyxc

Member
I don't blame them for doing it - the web is a hard business, and to get eyeballs you have to shake the tree. But I find a hard time getting value out of that type of coverage, personally.

Well, I have a hard time getting value out of your shoes. Uh... so there! Put that in your California Games-themed foot bag and vape it.

Just like in print publications and newspapers, not all op-eds will be amazing quality (very few will be) but honestly I still prefer that to pages of junk ads masquerading as journalism, repeated and linked to each other by all the major sites, or some stupid "Japan is so wacky! Look at this cake!" piece.

Your opinion is wrong, fanboy. Those cakes are great! Here are 10 reasons why you're missing the point...

[Click to continue reading.]

The main issue, which Pac-Man touched upon, is that there is no goal of elevating the conversation. There's nothing wrong with being an opinion-thug (no one's going to get hurt by it... excluding a few headaches by morphine addicts on the come-down), but it doesn't really do anything. No writing is improved upon, the cakes are still shaped like boobs, and more fracturing of the time continuum continues unabated. "This is how it is! Pick your side and if you're not on mine, you're an idiot!" does nothing for anyone, except the writer's ego. They have learned in this medium that if you pick a side and deride any opposing viewpoints, your peers will jump to your aid in the most unprofessional way possible. It then seeps onto the forums (usually in the negative), which causes those curious folks to scurry on over to read (or not) the piece and leave a critique (well thought out and worded, or not), which causes more peer back-slapping and reader bashing.

It's one of those, uh... one of those vicious turtles? Unicycles? It's one of those vicious things, by golly!

Now if we can only fix the headlines of a certain writer that makes it sound like he's covering D-Day/Zardoz and not some indie developer's bowel movements, everything will be right in the world... but that's just a growing illusion.
 
Ep 217: WELL TONIGHT THANK GOD IT'S THEM INSTEAD OF YOU!!!!!

I legitimately look forward to the holidays now just to hear the new song.

...lol, "feed". Oh, Chris!
 

Rodhull

Member
I'd never seen that article before. How did Penny Arcade honestly think that was the guy that would make their site the one to improve games journalism? Maybe I'm being harsh, I didn't see much of his stuff pre Penny Arcade.
 

meppi

Member
Wow

'We're going to keep writing about Destiny, not because it's a good game or interesting in any way, but because you dumb fucks keep giving us clicks'

Wait! That's actually there?

I refuse to click on that shit site, but even for me it's hard to believe that's real.
 
Episode 414: Locked at 900p

This week! Vib Ribbon finally arrives on PSN in the US, Ubisoft is resolute in locking down some Ps, Player Creation face recognizers don’t work so good, Driveclub has the drive/not so much the “club” part. Also: Hyrule Warriors, Pix the Cat, Bayonetta 2 (demo), and more.

Audio: http://traffic.libsyn.com/playerone/10_13_14-Episode414.mp3
Blog: http://www.playeronepodcast.com/414
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/player-one-podcast-video-games/id202883543?mt=2
YouTube: http://youtu.be/I6g9Y84XXHk

Donate to Greg’s Extra Life drive - by clicking here.
 

Jakoozie89

Neo Member
I'm european, and I've been wondering about CJs pronounciation of the ending "ing" or ings". For example, when he talked about Adult Swims new game he said that it had "RPG trappeens", not trappings. I've noticed it in other words that end in "ing" and ings", even if I can't think of any examples right now. Is this a dialect thing? :) Maybe CJ himself or one of your many US listeners can answer my question.
 

CO_Andy

Member
Only an hour episode? Going back to pre-Ford episode length :(

Funny hearing CJ say he doesn't like any Platinum games, especially when his favorite Resident Evil was directed by Kamiya.
 
No Mike, such a short episode and no episode next week :(

Looks like Rich is paying off CJ in order to drvie traffic to doddscientifics and the doddcast #gamerghazi #podcastethics
 

SuperPac

Member
No Mike, such a short episode and no episode next week :(

Looks like Rich is paying off CJ in order to drvie traffic to doddscientifics and the doddcast #gamerghazi #podcastethics

As stewy said, we do have an episode next week - and it's a pretty good one IMO. Well, at least those people who enjoy when we talk about old-school EGM (and maybe games journalism in general) will like it - if you don't, then, uh, yeah.

I don't see this week as a short episode - I think of it as a rebalance after we did a couple of two-hour shows. :p Balance!
 

entremet

Member
Man, Greg was brutal in his assessment of Driveclub. I trust his opinions with racers since he's such a fan of the genre.

Sad to hear as I loved Evolutions PS3 output. The game sounds like a project management mess.
 
Man, Greg was brutal in his assessment of Driveclub. I trust his opinions with racers since he's such a fan of the genre.

Sad to hear as I loved Evolutions PS3 output. The game sounds like a project management mess.

He pretty much nailed it. My buddy says the game feels like an HD remaster of a PS2 racing game.
 

stewy

Member
I'm going to hop back on tonight as I hear the servers are stabilizing. There is a lot to like about the game, and I'm hoping the online component breathes life into it.
 

SuperPac

Member
I'm european, and I've been wondering about CJs pronounciation of the ending "ing" or ings". For example, when he talked about Adult Swims new game he said that it had "RPG trappeens", not trappings. I've noticed it in other words that end in "ing" and ings", even if I can't think of any examples right now. Is this a dialect thing? :) Maybe CJ himself or one of your many US listeners can answer my question.

I've never noticed this myself but it's certainly possible. Is it true? Ahhhh! Now I'm going to be self-conscious about this when talking about the various trappings of a genre. o_O
 

stewy

Member
By the way, I've managed to secure a few cool prizes as part of my Extra Life raffle. By donating certain amounts your name will go into a draw for some great stuff, including digital copies of Console Wars and a physical copy of the upcoming Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Collected Works.

Head over to my participant page for more details!
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Face it CJ, all that time in Georgia's made you country.
 
Rented Driveclub and played for a while, but now it seems cars are locked behind my "club" level and not my own level, so I've sent an invite to join the P1P Baldness club, but until that happens (which probably won't be in the next few hours before I return the game) this just seemed like a mess. As I wrote in the OT, the AI cars act like they are driving on Disneyland's Autotopia course, because I keep getting knocked out, spun out, and run over by their tank-like presence and their unending pushing of my car without any repercussions; why am I docked points and time when someone rear ends my car?

Greg's comments seem on point, which is a shame. I just want a racer for the PS4 without all this online nonsense.
 
Rented Driveclub and played for a while, but now it seems cars are locked behind my "club" level and not my own level, so I've sent an invite to join the P1P Baldness club, but until that happens (which probably won't be in the next few hours before I return the game) this just seemed like a mess. As I wrote in the OT, the AI cars act like they are driving on Disneyland's Autotopia course, because I keep getting knocked out, spun out, and run over by their tank-like presence and their unending pushing of my car without any repercussions; why am I docked points and time when someone rear ends my car?

Greg's comments seem on point, which is a shame. I just want a racer for the PS4 without all this online nonsense.
Have you looked at Project Cars? Pretty sure it will work just fine offline, and it looks great.
 
More of a sim racer, tons of tracks (including my favorites, point to point), Project Morpheus support when that comes out, made by Slightly Mad Studios.

http://www.projectcarsgame.com/

Ah, I don't know if that's for me then. I like more laid-back racers; last two I got into were Grid and.... Real Racing 3 for the iPad. lol. I sort of like how the cars handle in Driveclub, and I like the tracks from what I've played so far (they look pretty, or most of them... the textures on the snow level were BAD. I don't really know/care about real world tracks).

I usually like to own just one racer per generation since I am very casual about my play, and I had hoped Driveclub would be it, but I really dislike a lot of this online stuff that locks content until your online club levels up (which is now hindering some of my offline progress), and the AI is just frustrating. I really do feel like I'm playing bumper cars, except I'm the only one getting kicked off the ride for slamming into someone.

How anyone thought it would be fair or fun for the computer to rear end me, cause me to spin, and then penalize me by slowing my car for the crash, is beyond me.
 

stewy

Member
More of a sim racer, tons of tracks (including my favorites, point to point), Project Morpheus support when that comes out, made by Slightly Mad Studios.

http://www.projectcarsgame.com/

They've got some fantastic tracks on there so far. Love to see Zolder, Hockenheim and Watkins Glen in particular. I would really love if Hockenheim included the bigger version of the track from a couple decades ago, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen.
 

Jarnet87

Member
Rented Driveclub and played for a while, but now it seems cars are locked behind my "club" level and not my own level, so I've sent an invite to join the P1P Baldness club, but until that happens (which probably won't be in the next few hours before I return the game) this just seemed like a mess. As I wrote in the OT, the AI cars act like they are driving on Disneyland's Autotopia course, because I keep getting knocked out, spun out, and run over by their tank-like presence and their unending pushing of my car without any repercussions; why am I docked points and time when someone rear ends my car?

Greg's comments seem on point, which is a shame. I just want a racer for the PS4 without all this online nonsense.

Dunno if you listened to the bombcast from 10/7 but Jeff mentioned a lot of the same problems including the archaic racing AI the game has.
 
Greg, I thought you were pretty harsh on Driveclub. I agree servers being down is unacceptable but some of your complaints struck me as pretty incidental (tracks not feeling 'alive', not being car porn-y enough.)

I will agree it is a somewhat no frills experience (you pick a car, then a track, and just go) but I don't mind that. It feels kind of refreshing when so many other racing games have become collectathons or more about tuning your car and upgrading it and adding spoilers than actual driving.
 

stewy

Member
Greg, I thought you were pretty harsh on Driveclub. I agree servers being down is unacceptable but some of your complaints struck me as pretty incidental (tracks not feeling 'alive', not being car porn-y enough.)

I will agree it is a somewhat no frills experience (you pick a car, then a track, and just go) but I don't mind that. It feels kind of refreshing when so many other racing games have become collectathons or more about tuning your car and upgrading it and adding spoilers than actual driving.

I would argue that the game I'm most comparing Driveclub to - Forza Horizon 2 - has very little to do with collecting and upgrading cars. At least, that's not the way I'm playing it at all.

If a barebones interface with very little flair is what you're looking for, then Driveclub's got it. I find it very disappointing.
 

eznark

Banned
If a barebones interface with very little flair is what you're looking for, then Driveclub's got it. I find it very disappointing.

Ha, actually that's pretty much exactly what I want. The Golf Club of driving games. I'm kind of loving it.
 

mik

mik is unbeatable
Ha, actually that's pretty much exactly what I want. The Golf Club of driving games. I'm kind of loving it.

That's exactly what I was thinking (though I've yet to play Drive Club). I could not have predicted it, but the absolute austerity of The Golf Club is really appealing to me. Especially when I still have to wait 2-3 seconds for Madden to show me a superfluous animation for the 2,000th time before I can push a button.
 

stewy

Member
That's exactly what I was thinking (though I've yet to play Drive Club). I could not have predicted it, but the absolute austerity of The Golf Club is really appealing to me. Especially when I still have to wait 2-3 seconds for Madden to show me a superfluous animation for the 2,000th time before I can push a button.

Then you'll love not having to deal with half of the features in Driveclub since, you know, they don't work. :)
 
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