Call and Response: WOFF Dispatch August 2019
Added 2019-08-16 20:22:22 +0000 UTCHello! The purpose of this post is to call for your questions and prompts for WOFF! Dispatch. Please leave your response as a comment on this post by the end of the day on Sunday, August 18.
We're looking for two kinds of things:
1. Suggestions for our long-form discussion prompt.
2. Q&A about the shows, behind the scenes details, and miscellaneous (including off-the-wall and off-topic questions). Ask us about games or other media, life in general... You name it.
One caveat we've given in the past: If the question is too personal or gross, we may dance around it and not give a direct answer.
We look forward to making this new kind of WOFF! episode together with you.
Notice: We know we have a backlog of questions! That's why we're going to be releasing the second of our catch-up extra dispatch episodes to patrons later this month.
Comments
You just attended the nuclear launch code 101 session of moon training and have an hour to spare before your flight back. What moon store tchotchkes do you bring back for the kiddos?
Casey Woolfolk
2019-08-19 22:37:05 +0000 UTCPossible topic: Expectations. What you expect from a game vs. what the game turns out to be. How do our expectations from a game influence our experience with it? (ex. we expect the second in the series to be like the first) Where do we get our expectations from? (trailers, the genre, the developer, previous experiences) What are common mistakes developers make which result in wrong expectations? (ex. trailer not representing gameplay) Can developers use our expectations to their advantage by subverting them? Is there such a thing as an unfair expectation to a game? Examples of games that exceeded expectations Examples of games that disappointed
Toke Bruun Jensen
2019-08-18 21:21:22 +0000 UTCHere's something I've been thinking a lot about: What would your curriculum look like if you were to start introducing your theoretical children to gaming. My son just turned 5 and loves to watch me play pretty much everything. He also likes to try and play. Deciding what games I show him, and in what order, has been something i've put way too much thought into. Start where I did in the NES era? Well that's fun (he loves Bubble Bobble) but most NES era games are really unforgiving and hard. But it also feels wrong to just dump him into Hollow Knight without him every playing Metroid. you know? What games would you show to your theoretical spawn? And in what order?
Andrew lobel
2019-08-18 18:27:55 +0000 UTCWhat are your opinions on WarHammer 40k's tabletop play, video games, universe, and fan base?
Andy Ward
2019-08-18 02:32:38 +0000 UTCWhat’s your favourite game that you could describe as ‘a love letter to X’? Not necessarily your favourite ‘X’ though.
Amory
2019-08-17 22:30:41 +0000 UTCDuckfeed TV has restructured a great deal since January. What change or practice has been the most difficult to maintain?
Ian Derk
2019-08-17 19:02:38 +0000 UTCWhat percentage of the time that Kole asks, "Do you want me to cut that last part out?" Does Gary actually say yes?
Autumn M
2019-08-17 02:21:54 +0000 UTCThis is a holdover from last month’s response (because I missed the deadline, but you responded and told me to ask it again this month): How come you guys never made the jump to YouTube? For the record, I think the network is awesome as-is and I prefer the audio-only format, but it seems like a lot of content creators these days are going the video route. More $$$ on YouTube? Maybe this is an inside baseball question, but I’ve always been curious. Keep up the great work!
Mark Mahler
2019-08-17 01:12:27 +0000 UTCDifficulty's been such a hot topic in game discourse lately that it would be neat to hear you discuss different kinds of difficulty in games (execution pressure, obfuscation, time pressure, strategic decision making, etc), how you personally relate to them, and ways you've seen them done well and poorly in various games you've covered before or played recently enough to recall.
Terra Parker
2019-08-16 23:04:14 +0000 UTCI've recently been trying to get into horror media because I love the cool ideas behind a lot of this stuff (can't wait for Nyarlathotep Week!), but I can't get over the hump of hating jump scares or I guess being terrified generally? I watched Hereditary on Gary's recommendation and it's definitely a good film. Without spoiling anything, I could handle the film right up until about 20 minutes before the end, at which point I paused it and kind of skipped my way forwards to the end (I then went back and watched it properly). The themes and story, the general quality of the film are awesome, but I hate that I essentially had to ruin the ending for myself. Was this ever a problem for you guys? Can I push past this somehow? (For reference I can play resident evil games fine, Dead Space was a bit much and I watched J.C.'s The Thing and thought it was pretty good and not especially scary. )
Rowan
2019-08-16 23:03:16 +0000 UTC(Greg here) I'm sure you guys are aware of the trend these days of companies releasing games that are not fully baked and then patching them later on. I've seen a lot of debate online about how best to deal with this, but the main argument comes down to: should I support this company for what they did by buying the game after it's been patched and playable, therebye perhaps encouraging said company to continue to do this crappy thing; or boycot the game and never buy it even if it gets to a playable state and is regarded as a great game, thereby sending a message with my wallet but missing out on playing a good game? The biggest example I can think of this is No Man's Sky since a huge update just came out for it. I can see both sides of the issue and in the past I got around this by buying the game used, but that's harder and harder to do in a all-digital era. I'm curious to hear what you guys think about this issue.
Greg Polander
2019-08-16 22:20:50 +0000 UTCI’m going to go with “maybe.”
Aaron A. Aaronson
2019-08-16 21:44:54 +0000 UTCWhat musical genres do you think are underrepresented in games?
Cal Wilks
2019-08-16 21:41:15 +0000 UTCDid I just watch Pet Sematary (2019)?
Luddekudde
2019-08-16 21:31:54 +0000 UTCPossible Long Form Topic: Games that are broken or glitchy. You both like to discuss games in spite of any technical flaws because they may not be reproduced 100% of the time and it's not subtracting from the spirit of the game. You do touch on glitches or bugs that you run into from time to time though but I think it might be worth taking a look at just bad it needs to get before it's just impossible to not consider. Possible topics of discussion on this front include the goofy faces of Mass Effect Andromeda and every 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game. Also worth discussing times when glitches objectively improve a game ala Skyrim. Thanks! Shoutout to MIMP for being my favorite possibly underrated show on the network.
Matthew Woodyard
2019-08-16 21:20:19 +0000 UTCI don't recall exactly when, but I remember hearing a brief mention of Wizardry during one of the Final Fantasy V episodes (likely regarding the games... less than graceful dungeons). Speaking of first-person dungeon crawlers, have either of you tried the Etrian Odyssey series of games? I assume the mid-game grinding aspect would be a massive turn-off, but the depth provided by the numerous status ailments, damage types, and Binds (targeting body parts to prevent actions using that part) would appeal in at least a philosophical level to you two. Love the show, thanks for all the great content!
Ryan
2019-08-16 21:07:55 +0000 UTCPotential Long Form Topic. Recently the level tackled the long standing myth of violence in video games. While that conversation was rather complete (and super thoughtful) it got me wondering what scientifically based empirical articles exist related to mental health in Video games? Are there any other good scientific data or academic works out there which illuminate some aspect of gaming culture? Where should we dedicate more pointed research when it comes to human behavior and modern gaming?
Dave Tese
2019-08-16 20:58:14 +0000 UTCIn the not too distant future The Matrix uploader doo-dad is real. If you could use this machine to be perfectly knowledgeable and infinitely proficient in one area or activity what would it be? Would you use this for personal growth, or the betterment of society? Would there be a way to accomplish both?
Dave Tese
2019-08-16 20:56:07 +0000 UTCWhat do you think of the recent explosion of "mainstream" podcasts, meaning corporate and/or celebrity backed? Will they overshadow the more independent podcasts, or does the rising tide lift all ships? -Zack
My Marvelous Year
2019-08-16 20:48:21 +0000 UTCPOSSIBLE LONG FORM TOPIC: Humor in games! Particularly jokes that could only work in games, rather than games that have funny dialogue in between gameplay. I recently finished Katana Zero, and, small spoilers so skip the next paragraph if you want I suppose, there's a moment in the final mission that is one of the funnier jokes I've seen that only a game could do. Throughout the game you face endless gun guys but you can only attack with your sword, or by picking up and throwing objects like bottles or lamps. In the final mission you come across a gun. It is floating and highlighted, and when you run into it, you pick it up automatically and a special chime plays. Ah ha! This is a game changer! You press the button to use it... only to throw it exactly like you have so many glass bottles. You often talk about dramatic or emotional moments that could only occur in this specific medium. But what are some comedic ones that you've seen that succeeded or failed or were just kind of meh? Even when it comes to jokes that are in the writing, are there ones you can think of that were still definitely enhanced by being in a game as opposed to a TV show or whatever?
Andrew T
2019-08-16 20:46:33 +0000 UTCQuestion about the network (I suppose): Despite being available to a wide audience, podcasting tends to be a fairly personal and intimate thing- it can be easy to feel like you know these people you've been listening to for years. (I know Gary and Kole have had many discussions on Abject Suffering that they probably would not have with a complete stranger, yet they are on the internet for anyone to listen to.) Have you or any of the other Duckfeed hosts had issues with listeners getting too familiar, not respecting boundaries, or otherwise just not realizing that, at the end of the day, they are complete strangers to you? (No specifics necessary, of course. I am curious though.)
Inter-Party Conflict
2019-08-16 20:45:07 +0000 UTCYou get the power to remove one trope or mechanic from all videogames for eternity...what do you do?
Julia
2019-08-16 20:44:14 +0000 UTCPossible discussion topic: What are your expectations for creators at different scales of resources/influence? As an example, you probably know about some of the drama around the Ooblets team announcing the game would be exclusive to epic for a limited time. Some people are saying that the negative response is expected given the way they made the announcement (essentially not being as tactful as they should be). But it's also only a two person team of game developers. Neither of them is a marketing/public relations person. Is it reasonable to have the expectation that someone fill that role in a small team? I'm curious what you have to say as a small network that is pretty vocal about your morality/politics and have to manage a community.
William
2019-08-16 20:31:43 +0000 UTC
