Comments on: Podcast #35: Blagojevich’s Big Mistake

By: The Dane

The Dane — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:50:29 +0000

I actually made pretty decent friends with a couple people in my first run through WoW back when it was first released. People I would actually hang out with in real life - if they were local. The Danes last blog post..20081119.ChurchLies

By: Alan Noble

Alan Noble — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:16:09 +0000

Rich,

I think you downplayed the community aspect of playing on Xbox Live. Certainly it does not replace physical, immediate community, but it is possible to create meaningful relationships with people who you play games with online, particularly because the 360 allows cross game chatting. It is so easy to chat with people outside of games that it encourages you to talk to people about things other than games.

For example, my wife and I have made fairly good friends with people we play Halo 3 with. We know about their families, jobs, and even some of their life goals. Now, I don’t want to oversell the features, but I do think that MS has done a lot to encourage people to form communities.

On another note, I’m visiting my family in CA right now and I got to play the Left 4 Dead demo with my mother, split screen.

By: The Dane

The Dane — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:43:35 +0000

Wow, I didn't even know J. Edgar was a politician! See, the Top 5 lists are totally worth doing. The Danes last blog post..20081119.ChurchLies

By: Ben Bartlett

Ben Bartlett — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:40:31 +0000

Yes! I told Rich this same thing. Bring back top 5 lists! Say no to oppressive webmasters! My suggestion: Top 5 corrupt Politicians who are fun to study. 1. Robert Moses 2. Richard Daley (Sr.) 3. J. Edgar Hoover 4. Richard Daley (Jr.) 5. Huey Long Ben Bartletts last blog post..A Song and a Blessing

By: The Dane

The Dane — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:05:48 +0000

@Rich - It may be that I'm not understanding what you mean by truth and beauty, but I'm not sure how you can say whether GTA IV speaks truth and demonstrates beauty or not. Since you haven't played it. I haven't either. But GTA:SA offers a level of verisimilitude that I was happily say speaks certain truth, both about the society it portrays and the society in which such a game is imagined. If truth is something you wish to promote on the podcast, you should probably speak from knowledge rather than ignorance. Or if speaking from ignorance, use qualifiers like "seems" (e.g., "I haven't really played GTA, but it kind of seems like it wouldn't promote truth"). Anyway, the point is: I miss the Top 5 lists. What are your Top 5 video games that put you in a thoughtful frame of mind? The Danes last blog post..20081119.ChurchLies