Can I Go “Pew Pew Pew” at a Funeral? with Jasper Cartwright and Amanda McLoughlin
The first episode is here! No expansions! No microtransactions! Just games advice. Though we are working on character skins of D&D podcaster Jasper Cartwright and Multitude CEO Amanda McLoughlin; those will be free DLC.
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- Host, Producer, & Question Keeper: Eric Silver
- Editor & Mixer: Mischa Stanton
- Music by: Jeff Brice
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About Us
Games & Feelings is an advice podcast about being human and loving all types of games: video games, tabletop games, party games, laser tag, escape rooms, game streams, and anything else that we play for fun. Join Question Keeper Eric Silver and a revolving cast of guests as they answer your questions at the intersection of fun and humanity, since, you know, you gotta play games with other people. Whether you need a game recommendation, need to sort out a dispute at the table, or decide whether an activity is good for a date, we’re your instruction manual. New episodes drop every other Friday.
Transcript
Eric: Hello players in the game of life! This is Games and Feelings an advice show about playing games, being human, and dealing with the fact that those games involve other humans. I am your host and question keeper Eric Silver and my main when I'm playing the suite of Mario Kart, Party and general sports games is Donkey Kong, because similarly, I'm not wearing pants and I'm wearing a tie.
Amanda: Hey, I'm Amanda McLoughlin. And my main is Yoshi, cuz I love a little lizard guy.
Jasper: Yo, I am Jasper William Cartwright, and my main is also Yoshi. Mostly just because I actually do a pretty badass impression of Yoshi. That's why, I quite enjoy. I've got a decent Yoshi so like, that's, that's the main reason.
Eric: All right, everyone. Hey, shut up. Shut up! [All laugh] Jasper needs to do his impression. Everyone shut up.
Jasper: Okay, you ready for this? [Yoshi Voice] Yoshi!
Eric: Oooh, that's good. I just watched Jasper eat an entire watermelon.
Amanda: I was going to say that!
Jasper: Yeah, that's impressive. I ate two actually, that was actually two.
Amanda: Really helped that you swallowed an ostrich egg hole when you did, that’s really impressive.
Jasper: Yeah, my belly is the shape of an ostrich egg. Now, to be honest, I don't know where Yoshi puts it. But in a real human, it's just uncomfortable.
Eric: As Jasper's giving advice today he will be pooping out eggs. But here's what we're all going to be doing. This show comes from the fact that a lot of person to person conflict pops up when we play games, conversations about games being too hard is actually about, you know, how people see themselves as gamers and whether or not it's worth it to put in accessibility tools. Which you know, probably should,
Amanda: It is.
Jasper: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Interpersonal scraps at the table are really just about the fact that no one knows how to talk to each other. And isn’t sports just a LARP with a crowd? And Jerry Jones is there. Isn't that it?
Jasper: [Laughs] I don't know who Jerry Jones is. But I'm willing to take a stab at a commentator. Maybe?
Eric: He's a very wrinkly and very evil football man in Texas.
Jasper: Okay, cool. Cool. Cool. Yeah, wrinkly old football man. I have, I have simulations for that. I know.
Eric: I know. If you imagine what the final boss of capitalism is, you, you're envisioning it, see how these things come together? It’s just like that.
Jasper: Yeah, yeah, there we go. There we go, a little symmetry now, I love it.
Eric: So we have an advice show that we're going to put together here. I will be here for the majority of episodes. And we're going to be having a revolving cast of guests come through and give their advice on the various things that they're good at knowing and talking and playing about. So we have Amanda and Jasper who’re going to start it off.Amanda: Horray!
Jasper: Woo! Little does Eric know that he won't be able to remove me from these, I will pop up at every zoom. It's like, ‘Hey, it's me again. I'm back. Sorry, you can't get rid of me. I'm like, uh, I'm like, I'm like Yoshi’s shell.’ You know, you're Yoshi and I'm your shell. I'm just going to be stuck on your back. And there's nothing you can do about
Eric: Your acting like that's a bad thing. [Amanda and Jasper laugh] I'm going to ride this Yoshi, jump off you and say goodbye as you go off into a pit. And then I’m gonna turn back around. And Jasper has respawned.
Jasper: Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah, the cloud picked me up and put me back on the track. So we’re good.
Eric: Wonderful. So we're gonna start with our first segment, which is introducing why our guests are here in the first place. So Amanda, what do you feel especially qualified, to give advice about?
Amanda: I am a very completionist gamer. I love a sort of progression hook. I love completing a collection, completing a challenge. So most of my time is spent in farming sims, and in Pokemon where I love catching em all. And so that is, you know, after work, I am most likely to be playing Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or any of the Pokemon games,
Eric: And I'm only saying this because like I live with you and we're together in life, love, and podcasting. The best people you've ever met on the internet, in terms of any video game community, happens to be the people on Reddit who you've asked to give you the pokemon you need to catch them all.
Amanda: Yeah, no, it's, it's really cute, you know, over sort of recent years, but also because I'm a 30 year old woman who plays Pokemon Go, and Sword and Shield and all these other games. I don't have people in my life that I can meet up with IRL to do trades, like, you know, they thought I would be doing with my connection cable and my Gameboy SP, which was my first handheld console. So instead, I have made use of the Sword and Shield trading subreddit where there's like a very extensive sort of community guideline and it's very safe, very wholesome. [Jasper and Eric laugh] And there's ways that you trade with people, you kind of change your display name to be like an agreed upon code around what Pokemon you need and which ones you're willing to give. And then you just in like a random weekday night, within kind of 10 minutes I've completed my Pokedex because there was one Pokemon that my fiance -
Jasper: [Whispers] Nice.
Amanda: - had as his main and said he would trade with me, but neglected to evolve it all the way -
Eric: Nooo.
Amanda: - because the final battle with Hobbes was too hard. And so I had to go outside the home for my, my, my kicking flame buddy guy. But you know what it opened up a whole new world to me honey so I forgive you.
Eric: I blame the switch drift - if the controller, if my trainer wasn't running to the right and the entire time I would have had a much easier time and I'm glad that the fact that Nintendo products are sometimes faulty and they don't really want to do anything about it has brought us closer and you found a place for that to be better for you. [Jasper laughs]
Amanda: You know life finds a way Eric, community fills the gaps. [Eric laughs] The buggier and weirder a system, you know, the more strangers on the internet, find ways to connect to for example, complete really difficult raids in Pokemon Go, like I meet with strangers virtually on the internet all the time to do remote raids. It's so much fun.
Eric: Hell yes.
Jasper: Love it.
Eric: Alright, Jasper, what do you feel especially qualified to give advice about in terms of any types of games.
Jasper: I would say generally anything that involves like an emotional connection, so whether that's like role playing, or whether it be just generally like enjoying a game and getting like the most out of like the story, and I'm like all of the opposites of Amanda like I am - I'm so far away from a completionist I couldn't care less about like missing one of the rooms. I've just about like enjoying the characters enjoying the story, the narrative, that is the fodder for me, so hopefully I can help to, yeah, just improve the, your ability to like, relax, sit back and enjoy the game and like maybe, like have less stress about collecting all of the gems that are in the thing over there. And that's fine. No one cares, other people do it. You can watch on YouTube. [Eric laughs] That's that's the way I approach games. So hopefully, that and roleplay I think will be the things that I can lend a hand on. So, yeah.
Amanda: Which of us has a more fun time through life? I'll leave it to you listeners to decide. [All laugh]
Jasper: Yeah, it's definitely Amanda, complete your life, complete -
Amanda: No, I think I think you can't 100% your life but you can any percent your life, and I think you're I think you're perhaps better equipped. But you know what, in this world, all kinds of players, all kinds of games, and I'm excited to bring our respective wisdoms to bear
Jasper: Hell yes. Yeah, this is good. We're gonna be a good team.
Eric: Just like American Idol, you need to text to the Games and Feelings chat text 50551 If you agree with Amanda, and 50552 if you agree with Jasper. [All laugh]
Amanda: But Eric, what number do I text to vote for Clay Aiken?
Eric: That is 50553. Ruben Studdard. 50554. Yeah, that's right. I know both of them. That's why I'm hosting this thing. I know, both of the people who were competing. Oh my gosh. I think yeah, I agree with Jasper. I think it's really funny when you go into a tabletop RPG game with someone who is very, very video game focused, and they care about the loot. I have never played a game where like, you need to keep track of loot, like enemies dropping stuff in a tabletop RPG, like imagine, like you kill like a monster. And then it's like, well, I would love to harvest their eyes, ears, skin and teeth. I'm like, Oh, if you, I guess - Are you going to do this every single time you fight something? Are you -
Jasper: [Sarcastically] Because you need to get good at nature checks or survival or something, because you've got to carve this thing up. And that's a whole thing. And, waaah. Yeah, I agree.
Eric: Do you think that this person is going to drop the weapon they're going to use on you? Probably not, you know, I make that for fun. And I don’t want you to have it.
Jasper: Yes, absolutely. I completely agreed. But I think I've got some, I think hopefully I've got some tips for like, to help you get out of that mindset when playing a game like this. Because I definitely think that yeah, for TTRPGs. It's super difficult, I think, to have to bring in that kind of mentality. Because you will just go wild. Like, I'm so bad at tracking inventories in games, where like, it's all handled for me, you know, like, I'm playing No Man's Sky at the moment. And like, I even in that I'm like, okay, so sodium becomes the thing and I put sodium thing, and then I take something out, but then I need to go to which planet is where do I get that? Already my mind is hurting,yYou know what I mean? Skyrim was too much.
Eric: Yeah.
Jasper: You know, I mean, how do I attach my sword? How have I attached my sword to my feet? This doesn't work, what's going on here? So for me having to do that with pen and paper, or even on D&D Beyond or whatever. It's like, wow, this is too much. This is too too much. So I'm very items light.
Eric: I have definitely crossed into that with board games. Like you know, you're too invested in a board game is if you have an app that is going to do the adding for you. I ran into that with Sentinels of the Multiverse, which is like a big superhero thing where you have superheroes and the villain and the environment. But of course, you need to like keep track of all of that by hand. And then there's an app, there was a video game version of the board game, and it's like ‘I have crossed too far’ like I will - I am too invested. I would also use to play like three heroes. I wouldn't, it’s supposed to be the each, each player gets one hero. But like sometimes you could just play by yourself. And I would play three heroes. And I would keep track of everyone's math and I'm like, I've gone too far. I need to make some friends who have to teach them this board game instead of just running it by myself. Incredible. Alright, do we, do we want to get into our first question?
Amanda: Yes.
Jasper: Please.
Eric: Well, I've served this up on a little platter here. This is one's perfect for Jasper, I am going to give the name that people have given me permission for but because this is an advice show, I have come up with little fun, like phrases that are attached to them. Because that is my right as the person who's put this together, that I get to make a little joke about the question that you are all asking here. So we're going to start with a question from Hannah, how do I not get embarrassed while playing a character? I think this is for playing a character in tabletop RPGs. And this is coming from “Roleplaying? I’m Saying, Pretty Hard.”
Jasper: Very good. Okay, my, my big tip, I think for role playing, I think the main thing I always think is that you've got to take it in stages, you've got to like, realize that like you can't jump in and be like Laura Bailey or something, right? Like, you're not gonna like, dive in and immediately be like some all action role playing person. And remember all of this stuff that your, all the abilities you can use, because you got to find your own style, your own flavor, right? You've got to find out where's the happy medium for you. And like how much you'd like to narrate versus how much you'd like to be in character, for instance, like, that's a really big kind of trade. And it will usually be like a, you know, for some people, it may just be straight 50/50, some people it leans more one way than the other way, it's a it's a very personal thing, you know, it's a very, very personal thing to not feel like overwhelmed or embarrassed. And so I think my initial advice for you would be like, start off with more of a narration based character, because I still think that's a very valid form of role playing. And then see if you can move to, you know, more kind of like in-character stuff. So like, describe what your character does. And just see a kind of, if you can sort of challenge yourself to be like, Oh, just see if you can think from their perspective, if you're, if you're even slightly thinking from your character's perspective instead of your own, then you're role playing, like you're doing a great job. And then I think that you'll find that naturally, when you realize that you're in a safe environment, you're with great people, I think naturally you'll start to feel a little bit more comfortable as you go. And then maybe occasionally a line will slip out, you know what I mean? You're like, Oh, I just said a line in-character. What? What?. Okay, maybe I'll do that again. And hopefully, it will start to progress like that. Now, all of this with the big caveat. And the probably the biggest piece of advice is, if you're a table where you don't feel comfortable, yeah, maybe that's worth exploring a little bit, you know what I mean? Like, just, if someone's making you feel embarrassed, in particular, whether it be the DM or another player or something, then I think that's definitely something that needs to be like acknowledged first for you. But if you're at a table, where you're like, with some friends, and everyone's very comfortable, and they're all role playing, and you feel okay with how they roleplay, etc, then I think start to tease out some of that kind of more narrative based, like description of stuff, and then see if you can get yourself sort of more and more in character. And I think eventually, yeah, you'll, you'll get yourself to a good place, I think.
Amanda: Yeah. That is so concrete and helpful. And I wish I had that advice when I was starting out a few years ago.
Eric: Alright, so we're gonna take a second and Jasper, please get in your time machine.
Jasper: Yeah. I’m going to hop right in here, Amanda, I'll be there in two years ago, or whatever it was. [All laugh]
Amanda: But nothing embarrassment comes from the fear of kind of being the person doing the most or not, not being in on the job or not being able to keep up and so I think for, for players, if you're able to, you know, observe a session before you started, or if you're able, even at the table to ask yourself, like, oh, yeah, that person is describing what they're doing. That person is saying a line in-character that person is, you know, using a voice or saying something that I know they wouldn't do as a person but that their character is doing even just noticing that might make you feel a little more relaxed and safe to be able to say my character is pissed, like my character, you know, grabs it off the table and like, put a little bit of flavor into not just, Oh, I'm gonna you know, have a drink. But like I, you know, I snatch the the mug off the table, and kind of noticing what others are doing, I think might help you to contextualize and feel a little bit safer doing those steps that Jasper is recommending.
Jasper: Yes. Yeah, that's great.
Eric: I definitely want to key in I think that we touched on this a little bit about feeling embarrassed. And about that sort of feeling when you're doing a tabletop RPG or you're role playing and you're, you're getting in the mindset of the character. Like the whole point of what we're doing here is for people to have fun, so no one is recording you. And if someone is recording you, tackle them immediately. [Jasper laughs] Like you're just doing it to have fun. You don't have to roleplay and I think that I want to touch on that thing that Jasper said if there's something happening on the table that makes you feel embarrassed, you should definitely address that, you should touch on that if, If someone making fun of you when you're doing it, if you feel like the people around you are not people you feel like you can be safe around, just admit that maybe you don't, maybe they don't know that they're doing that being like, I feel really silly when I try to do a character voice. And I don't know if you can say ‘you're doing that, or this is the way that you're acting as making me feel this way, or you're not doing anything. But this is a self consciousness that I have. And I really want us to all be like really kind of out it, I think you should do that.’ There's usually a responsibility that's being put on the DM or GM to do this, like they're like the teacher, or like, the manager of what's happening here. And if you're willing to do that, with everyone else, I think that people will take it better if it comes from you and being like, I'm having this feeling of guilt or embarrassment. And I, can you like help me with this?
Amanda: Yeah.
Jasper: Yeah, I think it's about trust, as well, like trust is a really, really big part of it. Because it's, it can feel very personal. I think TTRPG is particularly because they usually are like your character is influenced in some way by you. And so even if you're doing like a seven foot Goliath or something like you know, which is, might be very removed from who you are, like, they'll still be some personality traits and things which are similar to you. So trust definitely comes into it. And so, I would say like, just to have a conversation with your DM about introducing some safety tools. Because even that will add a layer of trust, right, if you know, if you trust that you can, you know, hey, this is an X for me, or this is like a, something I don't want to necessarily do, whatever you're comfortable with, or whatever, it kind of adds that layer of trust. And I think when you have trust, that's when I think you'll start to feel less and less embarrassed. If you think about hanging around with like your best friend, like your best friend who can be like your fullest grossest self in front of like, that's the kind of, where you want to get to with TTRPGs, where you can just be like, I can let everything hang out and it, like, all of my bad bits and good bits and what it, and it just doesn't matter. Like that's what real trust gets you and you're trying to find like a, kind of capture a fraction of that, I think when you're playing and that's what removes, I think, embarrassment. And the other thing I would say as well. It happens to everyone.
Amanda: It does.
Jasper: Like when I first got to play with the NAD pod crew, I was like, ‘Oh, I've got to do a voice. Okay,’ I was building up to playing my first NPC with a voice. I put one in right at the top because I was like, I can just get it out the way and then I won't feel too embarrassed. Because of these - I played with these like professionals, like do you know what I mean? So it's like it's so normal. Like, please do not feel like it's like a, ‘Oh, everyone else is fine. And I'm not,’ it's like I guarantee you everyone else like the first session of any game. Everyone's a little bit embarrassed. Everyone's a little bit like, ‘how far are we all going? It's a bit of a dance, right? It's like, how far are we pushing this?’ And then someone will come with like a thick Scottish accent. Okay, well, fine. You know, we're all good.
Eric: I do want to touch on something really quickly. It’s like, you know, all three of us here do this professionally In that we play this. And like there's always going to be someone who's like your idol. And you want to do this, we still get embarrassed of doing these things. Like Jasper's playing with the Not Another D&D Podcast people who like extremely do this for a living. It's really hard. And everyone is really feeling that. And the other thing is like D&D media, tabletop RPG media has gotten to a thing where like, you forget people were actors first.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And like they were established actors. [Laughs] For a very long time, especially as all three of us have come to this as like the first, this first foray into being public performers. So that's a thing.
Jasper: I trained for three years and then have been out working for last like six, you know what I mean, like to get me to here so like, there is a reason why I feel comfortable doing pretty much anything in front of anyone. But that is the reason like it is not because I have some sort of innate skill, or I'm - no, it's literally not, it's because I've trained and worked to get here. So don't beat yourself up or compare yourself to anyone, especially to us.
Amanda: Yeah, and I'm sure a lot of your classes began with exercises, right? With like -
Jasper: Hell yeah.
Amanda: - Getting to you know, warming up, you know, doing the thing where you like, send the energy across the circle, or like pass an invisible objects, like there are reasons and tools that people use in these spaces to get comfortable being vulnerable and silly and like, you know, pretending with others in the same place. And when you're starting a campaign like, I think that's so valuable, Eric, to make a point about to say it is it is weird and uncomfortable sometimes. You can walk into a room and you know, at this point in my life, I might be like, Hey, guys, what's the vibe? Do we do voices, do we narrate, are we in prison? Like, like, what's the vibe like what are we all going for? And I'm sure throughout the show, we will often talk about how communication, a session zero, setting expectations, like these are all really useful. But you're allowed just to say like, I am nervous about the idea of role playing, guys, my goal over the next few sessions is to like you get comfortable being a character and I'm going to work on that and like you know, I just want to put that out there because naming the thing that you're worried about and not having it be your your little secret acorn of shame that you hide in the frozen ground in the winter time to come back to in spring, can at least for me take a lot of that pressure off
Jasper: We’re all squirrels now, I love it.
Eric: Jasper, in British acting is when you're like sending the energy or are you just like, here's the, here's the energy innit? [Jasper laughs] Is that what you say?
Jasper: Yeah we go ‘innit’ at the end of everything. Yeah,
Amanda: I must say I am watching Canadian Big Brother and maybe reality competition shows are part of this. Yeah, they do say ‘eh’ lot more often than I thought was real.
Jasper: Wow. Yeah, fair. I'm trying to think if it's anything. I've recently moved up to the north of England. And we add ‘that’ they I've just started doing it. Now we add that onto the end of everything. So if we were up north playing that same game, it’d be like, ‘here's the energy that’ the - weird, you know, visits you like anything. Oh, that's good that you've already said. That's good. You've already said the whole sentence. You don't need to add that on the end. It's strange. It's a strange read.
Amanda: It's like pointing it's like that's great bread that and I’m like, thank you, it is. Yes. Perfect.
Jasper: Perfect use. Well done. Amanda. You're officially a northerner now.
Amanda: Thank you. I'm Irish, which means I'm half Northern.
Jasper: Yeah, sure. Fine. All it all had to happen. Sure. Half northern from Ireland, sure.
Eric: We're going to, we're going to just ignore all the complicated nature of that particular question. And I'm gonna follow up by saying it, when you go to acting school in Brooklyn, you say, [Brooklyn accent] ‘here's the energy. What do you think you're better than me? You don't want this energy that I’m giving to you?’
Jasper: [Brooklyn accent] Eh you don't want my energy, what do you mean, what are you doing?
Eric: [Brooklyn accent]This is the best energy that you can get, this is the best energy in Brooklyn.
Amanda: [Brooklyn accent]Call your mother, go fuck yourself.
Eric: That is - From the Mark Wahlberg School of - that’s the Boston school of acting, it's totally different. And I think it Yeah, I'm sure that Hannah definitely. [Laughs] She was looking for. But this is I'm sure that all the things that Hannah you're touching on are things we're definitely going to talk about in episodes and questions to come. But there's a good very good place to start. Alright, well, let's take a pivot here. And let's talk about some video games. Have you heard of them? They're more than just Pac Man.
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: That was the first question is, what - ? [Laughs]
Jasper: There's Tetris as well. So there was two games.
Eric: We have a great question here from Isabella Solace, and one that I can definitely relate to: how to deal with horror games if you feel paralyzed by the build up for jump scares. And this question comes from “Jumping out of my seat and jumping into a game I enjoy more.”
Jasper: I should've lead with this as my advice because me and horror games we have a very complicated relationship. [Laughs[
Eric: Please go off because I cannot - I can't do it.
Jasper: That's exactly it. I - so I love scary stuff. Right? Like, I love it. But I, it really affects me. You know what I mean? Like, I started watching the Invisible Man on Netflix, the Blumhouse one.
Eric: Yeah.
Jasper: And I remember getting like halfway. Well, I don't even have like a cord the way in and I went, huh? It's really funny. I've decided to watch this on my own. But the one thing I find more terrifying than anything is not being able to see what's attacking me. [Amanda and Eric laugh] I am terrified right now. I am immediately paranoid of everything in this room. Like I was staring at everything being like, he could be there. And I wouldn't know. That's, hmmm, interesting. Anyway, all this to say, films are like, they ride the line for me of like how much I can handle. And there's usually like, I have coping mechanisms. Where like, Oh, hold on, purposely watch it on like my iPad, because it somehow seems less threatening than watching it on my TV or like my big TV with like, surround sound and stuff.
Amanda: Yeah.
Jasper: So that's something that I do. But video games is like a whole nother kettle of fish because I am involved. And so like, I remember even when like Slenderman came out, I was like, oh, boy, okay, there was something about being able to actually affect the thing knowing ‘Oh, if I turn right,’ - and so I think this is what the question is getting at here is like, if I turn right, there will be jumpscare you know what I mean? I had the Resident Evil VR game.
Eric: Oh, my God.
Jasper: The Resident Evil VR game. And I've also played the Alien: Isolation VR game.
Eric: Why!? Why would you willingly put that on your eyeballs?
Jasper: Do you know why? Because honestly, the thrill of like being genuinely feeling like I'm being chased on the corridor by an alien was one of the most exhilarating feelings afterwards. The big key for me is like, it's the jumpscare happens. I scream, and I'm like, [Imitating hyperventilating] Whoa, cool. I'm still alive! Yes. Like, that's the thrill for me. And so I think, so to actually answer the question to sort of just talk about my own experience with horror games is that the big thing for me is, don't play VR games, because I have no advice for that, VR games is absolutely terrifying. There's nothing you can do to escape it, the alien is behind you. And if you turn around, it's there. If you look closer, like if you turn any which direction the game is still in front of you, and there's no escaping it. It's horrible. Don't do it. But what I would say is, volume is huge, right? Like any scary thing, if it doesn't have sound, it stops becoming scary quite quickly. And so like genuinely, if you feel like it's getting to a particularly bad point, I have before teed up calming music and just started playing it over the top of the game and it becomes way less scary, like way and it means you can still proceed with the story and the narrative and the characters and stuff. But it's just like, have some whale songs queued up on Spotify. Just hit play. When you know that something's about to jump out of the box you have to open. And it makes a big difference for me. I feel like I'm like, oh, okay, whooo, Okay, fine, it's fine. And also the other big thing. I like to min/max the hell out of my characters. Like if it's that kind of game, if you can do that, where you can get very strong like, early in the game, because there's nothing better than feeling like you're like Superman. You can easily defeat anything that runs at you. Then you'd like, Oh, cool. I feel I'm instantly less scared of this thing that's running at me because I know I can destroy it. So like -
Eric: Just punching through a zombie face.
Jasper: Yeah, exactly. Like, oh, this is actually, this is great. This isn't scary. Like I'm the boss. [Eric laughs]
Eric: I'm the boss. It's fine.
Jasper: It's fine. I'm the boss. Oh, gosh, she's seven foot tall. [Eric and Jasper imitate whale noises] Yeah, I'm-not-doing-well-noise. Yeah, if you want, you can pay me and I will - When you're playing a game, I'll be on the phone. Just singing whale song to you to try and calm you down.
Amanda: Jasper is on Cameo.
Jasper: It's a limited service. But I am willing to do it for anyone who needs that.
Eric: The Creator economy is wild. [Laughs]
Jasper: You can truly set up a Patreon for anything these days.
Eric: It's an OnlyFans but just for whale sounds for you to use whenever you need it.
Jasper: Just Yeah, well, well, just an ASMR. For whale sounds.
Amanda: I am a huge fan of spoilers if this is a thing that you are worried about, like look at playthroughs, read reviews, there are definitely places you can go to like get a summary or ask somebody on Reddit or ask a friend who's played the game in the past like, Hey, these are my specific things that I specifically am a little bit worried about, like, Would you be my screener? Or like, Would you tell me this is the thing I have to worry about. And particularly like, I am not very dexterous, there are some games that I just can't play because I'm not like skilled at it or want to become skilled at combat specifically. And so instead I'll watch a playthrough of it. And I get to enjoy the narrative, but I don't have to do it myself. So I think if this is something that you really want to do for yourself, here are strategies on the table. But if you just want to enjoy the story, you know, you don't have to feel ashamed about you know, consuming it via a playthrough or speed run or review or other ways.
Jasper: Yeah, heck yeah. Can I throw out one more as well, real quick? Just playing with a friend. It just, like make jokes out of it with a friend, do you know what I mean?Point out all the dumb glitches and stuff. Again, it just really becomes a lot less scary when you're like, Oh, can you see the little thing glitching through the wall, that sort of stuff you won't notice when you're on your own because you'll be so tunneled over, like tunnel vision and focused on the terrifying thing that's at the end of the hallway. And not like the glitch that's happening. That's clearly actually quite hilarious. Yeah, that also helps.
Eric: It's wonderful to know that the alien is like halfway through a desk running after you. I honestly, I am looking for that thing that you're saying, Amanda, because they definitely have it for movies. Like, where all the jumpscares ar, and they're really good about putting those things on websites that talk about everyone's like triggers and stuff like that. But they're not as good about that for video games, just because there's so much more than there is to touch.
Jasper: They can come at different times. Right? Like it's very flexible depending on how you play.
Amanda: Exactly, it’s not one timeline.
Eric: So I am looking for something like this. If someone knows that, please let us know. I wish I had more of those things because I also super super hate horror, I cannot deal with jumpscares. I love weird. I love real strange shit, but I cannot deal with a jumpscare. I'm like, why would I do this to myself, ever. And it actually kept me from playing one of my favorite games, Control, for a very long time, I looked around a lot trying to see if there were jumpscares. I Googled, I watched a bunch of like the beginnings of playthroughs to see if people had talked about this. I had asked a bunch of people and only until someone had like told me definitively that like, I also get scared and I loved this and then I finally played it and then like realized that I was never going to be in a position where I'm gonna get jump scared, when I got to a point where, Oh there are no jumpscares in this game, then only then was able to like really enjoy it not be worried that it was going to happen. So like I wish there were more resources like this out there because it kept me from this. I would also say don't play horror games. Just - you don’t have to play Resident Evil!
Jasper: You don’t have to, it’s true.
Eric: You'll get the memes from about route of big lady from Resident Evil on the internet even.
Amanda: Even I know about big lady.
Jasper: Exactly, know about big lady and then as soon as you've seen it as meme form she's got to be a lot larger I don't know if she is that scary. I'll be honest I think she's, she's so big, wow.
Eric: [Laughs] Jasper has a different relationship with big lady than the majority of the internet.
Amanda: Twitter is saying step on me mommy, is that not is that not that?
Jasper: That is like honestly, like no why? That would hurt my neck? Her boot would probably go through my neck. I’m a soft squishy human? She's seven foot, eight foot vampire or whatever. 12 foot. I think she's huge. You know.
Amanda: Big lady.
Jasper: She probably has boots on.
Eric: And she has a glove that turns into Wolverine? I don't want that.
Jasper: Yeah, this is so bad. So, so bad. There's so much nope, here. Just to round up though, like genuinely the, the, the Alien Isolation VR game. Eric, I can't express to you. I honestly don't know, I think you might actually have like some sort of cardiac arrest because I was, it was on Oculus, right. And it was in a, in a room set up so I could actually walk.
Eric: Oh, my god.
Jasper: Yeah, and like, and the worst part was, is that it gives you the - boop, boop, boop - light on the radar thing. And I genuinely remember getting to a point my hands were shaking, and I was sweating like you would not believe. And then I had to walk into a room. And one of the guys was like, just so you know, I'm turning your mic on. So you need to stay quiet. And then everyone just went dead quiet. And basically what happened is they have a mic in the headset. Because this for a context very well who's like wondering where this game is? I don't actually know if it's available. I used to live in the town where they made Alien Isolation the video game. It was in a really small town in Horsham. I have no idea why there, but it was. And they basically Sega told them originally that they were going to have like full funding for a VR game. And then they kind of pulled it. And so I don't actually know what had to happen to the VR game. But we got to play it because we worked in the game store nearby. And anyway. So that's a whole backstory as to that.
Eric: The game itself. It's worth saying, because this also existed before VR, the game is you need to go around the ship from the movie Alien and not get killed by the alien. Like, that’s the entire game!
Amanda: Fun for some, not for me.
Jasper: But then, so the mic is on picking you up. And I think it gave you some sort of feedback. We're kind of like on a like a normal mic where you can hear yourself a little bit. And I remember becoming so like, the room was so quiet, I could hear my breathing. And I was hid in a locker looking through like strips of like the, of the thing. And I could hear like - [Imitates deep breathing] I was like, I was literally like try to cover my own mouth as I could - boop, boop. And honestly, I genuinely don't think I've ever been so singularly scared for my life as I was in that moment. But what was amazing is I genuinely never thought I could take it off. Like I just didn't like to register to me that I could just lift this thing off my head. And I'd be out, because it was so all encompassing, it was wild.
Amanda: I mean, it's designed to be immersive, right? And to your point, environment matters a lot. So if you want to play these games in a brightly lit room with your back against a wall snuggled up in blankets with your dog on your lap, you know, like if, if that's what makes you feel good, I watched Invisible Man on silent because - at 1.5 speed because I was so scared, but I needed to review it for a podcast. So you know, pay attention to your own environment. You can also use the same tools that the games used to scare you to unscare yourself.
Jasper: Absolutely. Thank you for turning that point into something beautiful for the listeners, Amanda, I really appreciate that.
Eric: And also the same tricks you might know from knowing horror movies, you might be able to apply sounds I mean, obviously, you know, like the sound of the fucking violin.
Jasper: Yeah.
Eric: They put that in games too. And also, if you're really lucky, you turn your camera around and you can see like the monster that's hiding around the corner, you're like, Ah, you're gonna fucking jump out. I'm gonna see you.
Jasper: Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
Eric: Well, thank you so much, Isabella, that was a great question. We're gonna do another question and this one that we're gonna step out of our chairs. We're gonna go IRL in terms of games. We're going to talk about escape rooms. All right, I know that it might be a while since we've done an escape room. Jasper, you love escape rooms.
Jasper: I am - me and Jade's got on the leaderboard. The two of us got on a leaderboard. We were second fastest at Escape from Manchester, it’s a samurai themed room. We raised it and the guy came out was like, Are you, have you done this before? We were like no, we're just good. I know, like you beat two professional teams. We're like Oh snap. Okay, maybe we just got lucky.
Eric: I love the idea of this guy was like oh, this person came back because he wanted to get on the scoreboard.
Jasper: The leaderboard, right, he genuinely thought because we got out in like 25 minutes or something ridiculous. And he was just like, oh, well sorry. Like you paid for an hour but you're out so you can walk around in there for a bit I guess. [Laughs]
Eric: Look at how, Look at how cool this sword is if you'd like
Jasper: [Laughs] Literally Yeah, so I'm ready for this.
Eric: Incredible Amanda, how do you feel about Escape Rooms?
Amanda: Never been to an escape room, have almost no desire to do one. So I would love to spectate as you and Jasper and Jade do one, that sounds really fun -
Jasper: I’m coming to NYC, Eric, let's do this.
Eric: I would love that.
Amanda: In the building the Multitude studio is in.
Jasper: And you haven't done it?
Eric: Well, there was a global pandemic, remember?
Jasper: Ooooh, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Jasper: That's still happening. I've heard. But there's also world war three. So I don't know, maybe -
Eric: It’s all different. I wish, no, I really want to go to that escape room place. But again, I didn't, we didn't realize it until like, March 3 2020. And then we just never got around, but hopefully soon.
Amanda: I will just say that the idea of my friends relying on me to like solve a puzzle, that means we can or cannot like win a game. It sounds like my actual worst nightmare. So it doesn't sound super fun to me. But like I'm here for it, I get that it's fun for others. So maybe we'll have a balanced perspective here on how to advise this question asker.
Eric: For sure. Alright, so we don't have a name here. So I get to lead with the fun phrase that I've put together, “Escape this awkward situation” wants to know, I'm going on a third date to an escape room.
Jasper: Whoooa.
Eric: I've never done one, but my date is very into them and wants to show me their favorite place. What should I look out for? And how do I make this a good date?
Amanda: I think you have to ask, what's the vibe? [All laugh] Do we need to win?
Jasper: Because you don't take this seriously enough, date over already? Like, if they're into this? Like, you're like, eeh, look, there's a thing, like they might be into this. You know what I mean?
Amanda: Yeah, I think I think like many problems that I'm sure you'll encounter on the show, there's a communication challenge. But it means that it's a thing that communication can solve. So you can say, hey, I'm a little nervous, but I'm down for the ride. Like, tell me what to do. You know, I can, I will be your sous chef, you are the chef in this kitchen. I am here to help. Or you can go in and say like, Hey, down to try it, not really sure. You know, like, I'm here for the experience. I think like lots of dates, it's about you know, showing up like having being ready to have fun, but also being ready to say when you're not having fun.
Jasper: I love that. That's good. I mean, I think you're absolutely right, I think there was a very, very likely potential that your date is gonna take this very seriously. So my first tip is absolutely establish how seriously they are going to take this escape room. Because I'm genuinely worried about you getting in. Like, I'm just saying, if this was me. One of the first things I do when I get an escape room is I walk into the middle, and I lie down on the floor to see if there's anything on the underside of stuff that I need to see. [Amanda and Eric laugh] Like if this was our third date, and I rocked up in the escape room and just laid down on the floor, and just went, like weird, crazy eyes across the room, you might be like what is happening?
Amanda: But! So isn't that sort of the best possible thing you can do on like a third, fourth, fifth date? It'd be like, let me see in your element like that could be really awesome.
Jasper: Let me see if you got a weird little ticks. Strange things I need to know about. Like, if you go Sherlock Holmes occasionally, for no apparent reason, you get to know that. You know.
Eric: Absolutely. I think I need to share a story with the two of you.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Eric: I went to a bachelor party in Montreal a few years ago, I went for one of my friends from high school. I grew up in the suburbs of New York City. So a lot of the people I still knew I knew from high school, and they were still around, they still lived in New York City, but a lot of them like lived in Manhattan and had like, office jobs. And I don't mean that derogatorily I mean, the fact that like the three of us all work at creative jobs, you know, and like, that's part of the thing where they like, you know, move numbers around and filed reports and things and -
Jasper: Real jobs, yeah.
Eric: So like, I always felt like I was kind of like the Brooklyn-y person, that like I did creative stuff that I lived in Brooklyn that people thought that was weird, whatever. So we had went on this bachelor party. While I was there, it was like trying to keep up and we were having fun, but I still, I still felt like the thing that I was doing was a little weird. And then we went to an escape room. And the escape room was like T-Rex Jurassic park themed. And I went in there, and I felt like all of my energy, like being the, feeling a little bit like the odd person out was fucking focused into this. Like my twin brother was there too. And like people I'd known since I was like, 10. But I'm just like, yeah, that's - How do you not know those fucking Morse code? If something is barking or making a noise? It's always Morse code. How do you know that? And I went around, and we'd split up and I went around and solved each person’s thing as we were going through with it. And it was just like, I got so intense about it.
Jasper: Yup.
Eric: But I think I was just like, in a position where this all came out. So I think if someone is doing this as their dates, they're doing it because they know how to keep their - if, I would not go to -
Amanda: Would you do that?
Eric: Oh, not as a date. I would not do this. But I feel like if this person is going on an escape room with you, if this is someone you're going to continue to date then they know that they're gonna keep their cool even if they're doing weird shit. Like you said, Jasper, that's not like, it's, people get really intense about escape rooms. But it seems like that's not what we're saying here.
Jasper: I think the question you need to ask this person before you go on the date is, are you prepared to lose?
Amanda: Yes.
Jasper: Are you prepared to get stuck in the escape room? And if they look you dead in the eye and say, No, [Amanda laughs] I don't recommend going on this date, like I think you should find something else to do. Because if they are not prepared if they are like if their whole like evening will be ruined, because you did not escape the room, you know, because you need two people, you know what I mean? And it's not the easiest thing in the world, when it’s the first time you need two people. So I'd say if they're gonna, if that if that's the kind of vibe you get, if you get like, Eric Silver levels of like, I am not prepared for us to lose. And I will show you why and how I can do this, it might get a little intense. But I think, to answer the question about what you should be looking out for and stuff is just generally thinking outside the box is always useful, very useful thing. If you used it once, you don't need to use it again. So just drop it and move on. That's a big one. Or at least ask the person before you go in the room, just say, hey, is there any, like repeat keys kind of thing? Right? Like, if I pick up a key and I use it for a box, Will it ever need to use that key again? Because most of time, they'll give you that information and just be like no, so that's a good one. Because then you can move on. And you know that if you've done a thing with a thing you can move on. Because that's like, first mistake of escape rooms as people focus on like, one thing after they've used it. So that oh, there must be something else to this. We must have. We didn't figure everything out. So yeah, you probably did. And then the other one is this, like a bit like Eric said, any patterns at all, there is something to do, like they have something to do with it. Like if there is any repetition of a pattern, dots, cups, anything like, like that are all like in a row or something? Absolutely, you need to do stuff. And then the third tip is not everything will be automated in the room. So like some things will be queued based on the guy outside watching you. And so therefore, if it doesn't look like a mechanical switch or a lock or something, that doesn't mean that it's not to do with something, if that makes sense.
Amanda: Oh, I never would have thought that.
Jasper: I mean, yeah, so like, I've done stuff before, where it's like, oh, you have to like we have to put a chair in a certain place. But we didn't think about it. So we were like, how could that possibly, like trigger anything? You know what I mean?
Eric: Right.
Jasper: But it's purely because the dude outside is like, Oh, they put the chair in the place that it needed to go. And so now I'll, I'll trigger the next thing to happen. So that's like something that you can get a bit confused, right? Because I mean, if you've been in America, you know, like, a lot of stuff is like, magnets and switches and stuff like that happens very automatically. So you can kind of get into a bit of tunnel vision. So broaden out and just be like, and when in doubt, just move stuff around. Honestly, the amount of puzzles I've solved by just being like, boop bopp bopp, up, hey, I figured that out. So it's all good. [All laugh]
Eric: I think the main thing for me, I have - Jasper, those are great tips. The thing that I think you're putting all together here, this is something that you need to remember for escape rooms, for tabletop RPGs, for video games, they're made by people, someone had to make this and they had to come out of a human brain. So we're all the things you know about humans, and how puzzles are put together and how like - think about all the puzzles in any sort of thing that we've all done in video games and tabletop RPGs, in Escape Rooms, that are like, Oh, you use water to put out fire, right? Like that being a solution for things or like a mirror is the solution. Like those are the shared human experiences. Always remember that a person put this together. And that if it doesn't make sense, it needs to make sense to people. For you to solve the puzzle.
Amanda: I went to an overpriced Spy Museum in Washington DC when I was a child, I retained some things. Yeah.
Jasper: Exactly, exactly. And I think as well just to jump on that is like a guarantee there'll be a situation in which you know, something your date doesn't, and it will probably be the most satisfying moment of your relationship thus far. [Amanda laughs] So enjoy and savor that moment when you correct them or do something that they didn't see. Because they're like, Oh, I know, escape rooms. I know what this is. And you'll think of something outside the box. And it'll be incredibly rewarding.
Amanda: Very good.
Jasper: The other thing, because I'll be annoyed at myself later, if I don't say this, is just check out the theme. There'll be a theme for this thing. So there's usually like I did an Alice in Wonderland one. And we figured out like halfway through. We're like, Oh, this is kind of like going through like the books. So kind of like gave you an idea of like what thing we had to go to next. So even stuff like that. It's kind of useful.
Eric: No, that's really, that's what I'm saying about a human put this together. Like they wouldn't do the book out of order. Right? That's not how human brains work, right? It's not like oh, well the caterpillar is first like no, that would never happen. You need to go down the hole first. And that's how that thing puts together.
Jasper: Precisely.
Eric: Which is why I always feel fine of looking up solutions when I'm playing video games like Control, God of War, etc, like, either I'm not getting the thing you put in your video game to cue me on this or you did a bad job of showing dumb people like me how to put this puzzle together, so that I'm just like, human error you know? Like it's not always gonna work for all brains. So that's why I always feel okay to look up stuff in, in RPGs. Especially.
Jasper: Absolutely. But enjoy the escape room because they're dope and I absolutely love them.
Amanda: We'll have to add it to the, to the itinerary.
Jasper: Yes.
Eric: That'd be great. And Jasper and I will go on a date to the escape room. We’ll both be very intense about it.
Amanda: I’ll take notes, like - Like I don't, I know, I know my limits. Like I know it's fun for me. I know what’s not but I, you know, I love a themed party. I love set decoration. I'd love to just go and look.
Jasper: I think that's why me and my fiance enjoy them. It's just like it feels like a themed party. Like it's such a fun just like an evening out to just go and do something like go and be in the wild west for like an hour. You know what I mean? And that's fun. It's also very fun for us that we take it so incredibly seriously that like, I genuinely think people must think that we aren't actually together or something because we don't talk - [Eric and Amanda laugh] unless we have to, we are like in focus mode. Like we, you would not think there's any love between us, because we have like the coldest most functional relationship as soon as that door is locked. We are like, we're getting out of it. Okay, cool. Let's go.
Amanda: Yeah but i’m sure afterwards at dinner whenever you go home and you're like, Oh, hell yeah, dude -
Jasper: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: I think there are people the reason why people think that is because you two show up in different cars and shake hands before you walk in.
Jasper: [Laughs] We have briefcases, we come in. We place our oversized coats. We hang them up. We smoke a cigarette before we go in like sleuth style. And then we go, another day on the job, every time.
Eric: Is this the plot of the Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie movie Mr. And Mrs. Smith? I feel like that's what it is.
Jasper: Yes, it's actually based on mine and Jade's life. You're welcome. We gave you Brangelina, everyone.
Eric: Thank you, Jasper and Jade really appreciate that you're, you've done something for pop culture across the English speaking world very much appreciate that. Alright, we're gonna go to our final segment here on Games and Feelings, where we're not going to help the questions for regular people. We're gonna look in deep into the internet and see if there's a question that we can help people about games. So I have scoured the internet for a question for us to answer. And we're just going to have to try and help real hard, okay?
Jasper: Yes.
Eric: This is from Quora. This is a question that I got from the, from the gaming vertical of Quora. You know, that, the internet equivalent of looking into a well and hoping someone can help me whatever, that's the bottom of that well
Jasper: And someone answering from the bottom of the well and being like, Whoa.
Eric: [Eerie voice] I need your fingernails before I can tell you about which key you're going to need.
Jasper: And I can guarantee you by the time you said fingernail I was already sprinting away. [All laugh]
Amanda: Like, take off the headset, aah!
Eric: This is a question that’s - [Laughs] All right. Is it rude to play video games and say pew pew pew at someone's funeral?
Amanda: Is there more?
Eric: No, that is the whole question. [Jasper laughs] Is it rude to play video games and say pew pew pew at someone's funeral. I have some answers that other people have given. This is from Michel, who said ‘depends on whom we're burying. If it was my funeral, I think it was goddamn hilarious. I mean, I'd be dead so I wouldn't know but you know what I mean.’
Amanda: Michel taking a stance on the afterlife here on Quora.
Jasper: Yeah. So is this - just so I get this right in my head? Is this like someone who's affected like on their Switch? At the funeral going pew pew pew, in the back row kind of thing?
Eric: Yeah, I assumed that like they have a rigged up switch that please has Starfox 64 on it.
Jasper: Yeah.
Eric: And they're playing and they're going pew pew pew while they're there.
Jasper: Cool. Cool. Cool.
Amanda: Okay, I was thinking like, is this a scenario where they're like, you know, in the in the wake or like, you know, during the services, it's like on a blow up screen and someone is doing it like in lieu of a reading.
Jasper: Oh, in which case Hell yeah,
Eric: I would love that.
Jasper: I wish, everyone should be pewing.
Amanda: Yeah, I actually agree. Like is it you know, sort of against the mood to have some audience participation? I'm saying pew as we kill enemies, I think it totally depends on who you're burying. I think if, if the person requested that or would find it funny or you know, they're, they're of the sort of like ‘my funeral is a celebration of my life’ type situation like that sounds awesome.
Jasper: I can't imagine a scenario in which I would, would invite people to play a video game at my funeral and then not be okay with them saying pew. That seems like a weird place to draw the line.
Eric: Like I feel real I, yeah, I have a hard line on vocalization while you're playing a video game at my funeral.
Jasper: Yeah, you must sob and cry the whole time as you play this video as you play Mario Party at my funeral. You must sob uncontrollably the whole time.
Amanda: Yeah, I mean, if no one is, if no one's calling each other bad names and mauling each other's mothers when playing Mario Kart? Is it really Mario Kart? So like therefore, I think it's just that you just mean you're having a good time and like a funeral is an event I want people to have a good time.
Jasper: You know, this has given me a great idea though. I generally think well I would have to do is like you'd hook up Mario Kart right? And then I would be like the one request I would have is that no one plays as Yoshi because that's my character. Like we have to retire Yoshi right? [Eric laughs] Yeah, but then what I would do is I would get like some badass like nephew or something of mine to secretly play as Yoshi. And then, then have him be like confused. Walk over to my casket open it up and pull out a controller that's like on.
Amanda: That's really good. That's really good Jasper.
Jasper: After Yoshi has won the race, is of course really good.
Eric: That’s beautiful
Jasper: That, now that pew pew pew’s, know what I'm saying? That's fun.
Eric: That's incredible. There's another response here from Matthew which is wild that you put your full name, I'm gonna choose not to say your full name. That's fine if you want to dox yourself on Quora. I can't stop you. ‘Just depends on the funeral.’ There's no punctuation here. I'm so sorry. ‘Just depends on the funeral if it's someone you get, you generally feel down for last thing you'd want to do is play games. If it's some jackass You never liked to begin with. Pew pew away.’
Jasper: Whoooaa.
Eric: So it feels like if you're trying to be disrespectful by playing your Gameboy and laying quietly going pew pew to yourself during the funeral for like an uncle you hated.
Amanda: Oh, see, I think it's the opposite.
Jasper: Yeah.
Amanda: If it's a buddy and you know, you played it together and that will be meaningful for you then do it just don't do it in a way that disrupts others right? Because like it's it's a space of communal sort of like dealing -
Jasper: I do, I do question how undistracting pew-pew-pew will ever be like, no matter how quiet you are, if you're like - [Softly] Pew, pew pew.
Amanda: I mean, if it were, I probably do it like in my car, you know, in the parking lot or like outside while sort of taking a breath like others might not understand the significance to me. Or like, you know, if you go up to like, you know, have a, have a private moment. And then you just kind of pull out your Gameboy out of your pocket and just like do a, do a quick thing. But yeah, I think this is a thing that you do if it is meaningful for you and the deceased. It's not a thing that I suggest doing. Certainly, as a kid I was dragged to lots of wakes, I didn't know who the hell died. And I was just kind of waiting around and like, occasionally eating like stale crackers if there were any. That's not a situation where I think you want to, you want to pull out the Gameboy.
Jasper: Yeah, I think I'd be generally pretty judgmental of like someone who just rocked up at like a family member of mine that was just that they go pew pew in the background. I'd be like, Excuse me, sir, you need to leave. [Amanda and Eric laugh] Like you need to you just need to leave right now.
Eric: I appreciate that the person who asked this really wanted to Jokerfy someone's funeral by pulling up people were like, yeah, no honor my memory by going pew pew pew and doing an any percent speed run of Starfox 64 on a big, big screen at my funeral, please.
Jasper: You have to speed run my favorite game and no one is allowed to leave the funeral until the speed run is complete. So that's all I want. No readings. Just a speed run of Fallout: New Vegas. Okay, that's all they want.
Amanda: Pretty incredible.
Eric: That’s so funny. Oh, wonderful. Well, we're hitting the postgame here of this episode of Games and Feelings. Thank you so much for both of you being here. Is there anything either of you would like to plug? Where can we find you when I'm not making you do advice about games?
Jasper: Yeah, hey, I'm Jasper William Cartwright. You can find me on Twitter at JW underscore Cartwright. And I also do another podcast, I do a podcast called 3 Black Halfling, which -
Eric: [Sarcastically] That show, that show sounds bad? Can you give some context to it?
Jasper: It's, yeah, it's pretty bad. We jus,t we just do advice on TTRPGs, Dungeons and Dragons, and we talk a lot about our perspective as three black people, hence the name, three blank halfling, in kind of fantasy spaces. And just like, you know what that’s like and we talked to other people of color amps, and some white folks, we have the amazing Eric Silver on, on an upcoming episode.
Eric: Stop, those were the bad episodes I was referring to.
Jasper: [Laughs] Yeah, it's real bad. We're really questioning whether we should release it. We’ve got a five minute supercut, which is - [Amanda and Eric laugh] which is full of the unproblematic stuff that Eric said -
Eric: Noooo!
Jasper: But the other five minutes is, yikes, it's bad. No, fully joking. We've got some really amazing people on there. And yeah, it's fun if you want to find that. It's just type three black halflings into the search bar of wherever you're listening to this. I’m also on Twitter at 3 - that's the number three - black halflings. So check us out.
Amanda: Yayy, fabulous show. I love it so much. Every time someone on the Join the Party Discord is like Oh, I'm getting into 3 Black Halflings, it’s like, it's every other week or so I'm just like, yes, yes.
Jasper: Yessss. Welcome.
Amanda: I am at Shessomickey on social, primarily instagram and twitter. I co-host two podcasts. I cohost Join the Party with Eric, where I played first a rogue and then a monk and we're doing all kinds of fun things right now over there. And the show Spirits which is a queer feminist dive into mythology and folklore where we have a new drink and talk about a new story from somewhere around the world every week.
Jasper: Amazing.
Eric: And I am here as your puzzle master, I'm gonna come up with -
Jasper: Question Keeper? I think you said Question Keeper before -
Amanda: I liked Question Keeper.
Eric: Puzzle master, question keeper, I'll keep, I'll keep adding into it. It's like -
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, it's like you're in the button guy outside the escape room.
Eric: Waiting for you guys to to put the chair or the right place so that I'll hit the button.
Jasper: Sure, I’ve been trying this whole episode, and we aren’t getting it right.
Amanda: You gotta lay down, got to look at the, look at the bottom -
Eric: Jasper there's a key under your chair right now you didn't look at it.
Jasper: That would be honestly the most wild thing I ever experienced in my life if you manage to put a key on my chair right now I'm actually generally paranoid and I know for a fact I'm gonna check as soon as we hang up. [All laugh] I need you to know that you've done this to me and I'm not okay with it.
Eric: That's fine with it.
Amanda: Play your whale songs, get your place. Find the key -
Jasper: I - man, you have no idea how much I'm gonna mess with you when I come to New York.
Eric: That's fine. You can follow me on Twitter at El underscore Silvero, that's where I tweet about games and stuff. El_Silver, my name if I was a lucha libre wrestler, and you can check out the show at GamesNFeelings. It was too long to actually put ‘and’ so we had to just do the ‘N’. The best place to submit questions is to go to our website, gamesandfeelings.com/questions and you can support the show at patreon.com/gamesandfeelings. Find those links in the episode description. Thank you so much to our advice givers. And remember, the instruction manual doesn't have anything to say about feelings.
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