Should I Expose Myself to the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known? With Jasper Cartwright
It’s coming homeeeee! And by “it” I mean “Jasper” and by “coming home,” I mean “talking about soccer.” Jasper lays out the case for relegation in all sports, Eric brings a deeply frustrating update to the Sports Story Saga, and we advise you on how mortifying but also important it is to tell people about your creative ideas.
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Credits
- Host, Producer, & Question Keeper: Eric Silver
- Permanent Guest: Jasper Cartwright
- Editor & Mixer: Mischa Stanton
- Music by: Jeff Brice
- Art by: Jessica Boyd
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Games and 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 gamers!
JASPER: Hi!
ERIC: Welcome to Games and Feelings. Hi, gamers! My show about playing games, being human, and dealing with the fact that those games will involve other humans. I am your host and question keeper Eric Silver. And if I was a gym leader in the Pokémon series, I would be an Ice Type Gym Leader. And my mini-game would be an intense Downhill Sledding Mini Game. It could be either something that was like, like the Bouncing Arena in Mario Odyssey. So it's a little more skill-based about like hitting the speeds.
JASPER: Yup.
ERIC: Or can be something that's like SSX Tricky, and you have like a Pokémon riding on like your board and you do tricks and throw stuff.
JASPER: I feel like some– some Pokémon would have such an outrageous advantage in that scenario, that if it would be– it wouldn't work.
ERIC: I think it's like standardized depending on like, what their–
JASPER: Sure.
ERIC: What their type is?
JASPER: Right.
ERIC: And also I think power level definitely– definitely matters.
JASPER: The Ice– the Ice Gym Puzzle was so much fun, by the way. Like the– like, I can't remember which game it’s in. There's one where it's like you basically have to like slide your way until you hit like a rock.
ERIC: Oh, yes.
JASPER: You have to vault, like how to avoid hitting the— the ones that like—the where the ice, it cracks. And oh, man, I had a great time.
ERIC: That's a classic. I like the in— I like the inverse or the like the trick of like, you think it's gonna be that and there's no way to be the puzzle–
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ERIC: –and you fall through and then it's like, oh, no, instead we're doing it down—like a Downhill slide in Mario 64, something like that.
JASPER: Yeah, that sounds good.
ERIC: I love those. Those are my favorite.
JASPER: That sounds great to me.
ERIC: Hey, Jasper Cartwright, permanent guest.
JASPER: Hey!
ERIC: If you were a Pokémon Gym Leader, what would your type be? And what would be like your theme?
JASPER: I think my type would be “Electricity”—
ERIC: Of course.
JASPER: –and my theme would be music. I think—
ERIC: That's good.
JASPER: —like electric guitar. like it'd be your Electric-type Pokémon, fueling you as you jam on an electric guitar. And—
ERIC: I like that.
JASPER: –you got to hit the notes, kind of Guitar Hero style whilst you're getting juiced. Whilst your amps getting juiced by Pikachu, you know what I mean?
ERIC: I love the idea that like you want—putting a rhythm game in the middle of a Pokémon game is great, especially for handheld.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: I feel like that makes more sense.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Than even just like holding a controller or doing it on a Gameboy. But I love the idea of plugging in like a Guitar Hero controller, just for this gym.
JASPER: It just comes up saying Guitar Hero controller optional. And you can just plug it in and just fully play Guitar Hero in five minutes.
ERIC: Well, if it's on Switch if you—whatever game this is that you're on Switch, then that's when you plug in like your Wiimote.
JASPER: Wiimote, Wiimote.
ERIC: All of your dongles. Yeah, and then you plug it in, that's even better. You motion controls just for this.
JASPER: A genuine— there is something that— like there has to be a version of a game that you could create, where you could use all of those old defunct controllers that we went through a period of like 10 years buying. You know I'm thinking like the–
ERIC: Sure.
JASPER: –Wii Balance Board. Like the Guitar Hero. I had DJ Hero, I still have that somewhere.
ERIC: Oh yeah.
JASPER: Like, give me a game that at some point, they're just gonna be like, yo, if you have a DJ Hero Turntable, get it out. And I'd be like, I would be unnecessarily I– like so hyped for that.
ERIC: I'm surprised that you wouldn't—yeah, I'm totally surprised that no one's kind of like capitalized on that. And it can just be a rhythm game plus whatever.
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: That is like, yeah, there's all these Guitar Hero controllers around. You can use it if you want. I think it's wonderful.
JASPER: Make—make me—make me a June video game, where just halfway through to save the house of a Tradies. I just have to wack out my Guitar Hero or my DJ Hero Turntables.
ERIC: Hey, this—hey, this is butthole69, doing my speed run of Elden Ring. The best way to do it actually to beat the boss. To be more goth is actually you've used the Whammy Bar. The Whammy Bar really gives you some flexibility that I've never used before.
JASPER: Oh man. You know people have done that though. Because I've seen versions—
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: —like I've seen things online where they like, take old controllers without like, basically button mash the stuff, and then they'll comple—yeah, I can imagine. And it makes me so depressed as well, thinking about how hard I might find the game, and the fact that you can do it not only with a controller, which is designed to fit in my hand and for me to use but with something completely impractical is like a Dance Mat.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Like, outrageous. I feel—I'm like how is this possible?
ERIC: The DDR Dance Mats, probably are the wrong controllers of one of my favorite videos. I saw someone who beat Elden Ring by modifying like a children's—it was like a Fisher Price toy of a game controller. So it vaguely kind of looks like a Xbox controller. But it had like silly faces and it made sounds every time you hit different buttons.
JASPER: So cool.
ERIC: And he rigged it up so he—he had a—he installed a USB port into it and beat Elden Ring using that controller.
JASPER: Ridiculous and amazing. What a skill and, oh, to have that much time in my life.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Let's be honest. Do you know what I mean? Like, I just don't—I just don't have that kind of free time in my life. I did actually meet someone though, who relatively recently, who came second in the DDR Dance Mat-like competition, like world competitions in Norway.
ERIC: Woah!
JASPER: And I was like, I don't know if I believe you. That seems implausible. I would— I was at their house. And he was like, come check out my shed, and he had the dance mat in there. And he showed up, and I was like, holy! what the—what? It was incredible. Feet of lightning.
ERIC: I know—I know that this might just be a localism for us. But I liked it you said shed, is like you go to a wood or tool shed, it is just like concrete floor DDR mat, t's like the really thin ones. And it's just like, I'm stepping in here. There's nothing in here next to like a bandsaw.
JASPER: Yeah, it's— I guess it's definitely not a shed, but I don't know what I'd call it.
ERIC: No, it's fair! It’s fine.
JASPER: It was a really big shed that had been converted.
ERIC: Listen, I mean, they're doing it for content too, just like, we're doing this for content. Like, what's the point of modifying a controller—
JASPER: Exactly.
ERIC: –and then beating Elden Ring with it, if you're not streaming it and showing it to everyone that you're doing it? Like, I get it, we're all doing that.
JASPER: I truly don't know.
ERIC: And we're answering advice questions, instead of learning how to, I don't know, beat Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, while using a DJ– a DJ Hero controller. We're all doing content in different ways.
JASPER: Just all developing content in different ways. I love—I just love the idea of committing something to that so strongly, without having any idea whether anyone would find it interesting–
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: –in any way shape, or form. Because I've—that was my worry. Is that for like, is anyone else going to enjoy this as much as I do? But maybe that's what it is. Maybe it's just about having passion and joy for something.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: –like if you have enough, people will empathize and be like, I also have a passion and joy for this because you do.
ERIC: I feel like this is Google like you put something in Google results and it's spelled wrong. It's like, did you mean, ‘podcasting’?
JASPER: Oh, horrible, true
ERIC: Well, Jasper, you can just imagine that we are recording this on a DJ— into like a DJ Hero microphone. We're doing this Guitar Hero. We're making jokes to the beat.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Imagine there's a beat going the entire time.
JASPER: Absolutely.
ERIC: And we're doing a big combo right into our first segment games that are giving us feelings. As always, we talk about a game of—and any of the various games that we cover here in Games and Feelings, that's giving us feelings and assigning an adjective to that feelings like we're making a live journal post. Jasper, I know that you're having European football feelings.
JASPER: Yeaaah!
ERIC: And I would love it if you can tell us about this.
JASPER: I am having European football feelings. And it's—it's a— oh, okay. My word was gonna be “triumphant”.
ERIC: Okay.
JASPER: My words today, however, is going to be “strange”. It make me feel “strange”. Because yeah, I support Arsenal Football Club over in the UK. And we have the youngest team in the league. We kind of fluctuate between one and unlock another team.
ERIC: Wha—what is the age for youngest? Because usually like the NBA, there's usually like some 30-year-olds that's balancing it out. But like what—what does that mean for—
JASPER: Oh yeah.
ERIC: —for football?
JASPER: Yeah. So I think the average age of our team is like 24.
ERIC: Oh, really low still.
JASPER: Something like that.
ERIC: Okay. That's not pretty low.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's like pretty—pretty. Like that's like with a couple one-year-olds in there.
ERIC: Yeah. For all you sixth-grade maths fans out there, what's the median age of the football team?
JASPER: Yeah. But we've got like, some really young, like young players like 20, uh, 20, 21. You know. These kids just absolutely balling out their skin right now. And we are just— we're having just the—the most amazing season. And no one imagined us being here. We're like, several years like ahead of schedule if you could ever really schedule in a comp—very competitive sport like this. And it's been so long since we've been good. It's kind of a weird adjustment to be like, oh, we're actually good. Instead of like, we're just on a hot streak. Like I think we're actually at a point now where we can say we're good and it is amazing. And it's just, I— I tell you, I don't know why, or how, but in terms of feelings, there is nothing quite like seeing your sports team— that like doing just incredible things. Like we have played some football this year, that has made me like jump out of my seat, and just like scream, “Yes”. Like, really unnecessarily loudly at my television, and it's just amazing.
ERIC: I love the idea. It's like everyone's running out of their houses. And it's like, “It's the beautiful game! It's what they said it was!”
JASPER: It's the beautiful game!
ERIC: It's beautiful!
JASPER: That's effectively what's happening in my house, obviously. Like, it really is like, much like that. But no, it's just— it's so, so good at the moment. But the reason I've said strange is because we— there are—we are in a scandalous territory. There is a club called Manchester City, and they have just been charged with hundred counts of financial sort of doping, and it's throwing everything off kilter. Everyone is a bit like, what's gonna happen? It's a very, very big story. Yeah, like we kind of all knew as well, like, we all knew that that was happening. But like, they just weren't getting punished for it, we've kind of just got to a point where we're like, okay, it's fine. They're not going to be punished for that. We'll just move on, and, you know, deal with it. Which is kind of adding to this sense of triumphant-ness that I had, because I was like, we're beating that team that's been financially doping for the last like 10 years. You know, what I mean? I'm breaking all these rules.
ERIC: What is financial doping mean? I've actually never heard that term before.
JASPER: So–
ERIC: But like I know of plenty of financial impropriety, or I guess it's different from— for football.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: You can kind of just like spend an infinite amount I guess, depending on who owns it?
JASPER: Well this is the thing. No, you technically do.
ERIC: Oh, okay.
JASPER: Like everyone thinks that like American sports, oh you have all the regulations. We do have regulations, it is very regulated. It's just that it's not in the same way because we because it's such like a—
ERIC: Because it's all the different and it's all the leagues touching each other in different countries and all that stuff.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. That's the problem is, that because we have like international leagues that affect domestic leagues. We have domestic league–
ERIC: Right.
JASPER: –which affects like continental leagues. So get— it gets very messy. But effectively, there is a thing called “financial fair play”, which basically says you can spend as much money as you generate as a club. So it's not a spending cap as it were, it's sort of like a limit to the amount that you can spend now. Because obviously most clubs are owned by like, millionaires and billionaires.
ERIC: Right. You can't just keep funneling your own money into it. Okay.
JASPER: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, and but we—this put Manchester City is owned by the state of Abu Dhabi.
ERIC: Oh, of course. Right. Right. Right.
JASPER: Right? So like, they basically have infinite money. And it looks like effectively what's happened is that they've been doing and obviously, this is just like one example of the hundred that they've been charged with. But they've been doing stuff like, hey, did you know that nondescript Abu Dhabi company gave us 400 million pounds for one of our players, do a 32-second video, or whatever, and that goes into there, like how much we earned pot.
ERIC: Sure.
JASPER: And then they go ahead and go well, we had an extra however many million pounds coming this year. So we can spend even more money on players, and on wages, and on staff. Because Abu Dhabi isn't really concerned about making money, they're concerned about this brand looking good, and it making Abu Dhabi look good. So like and it's I mean, like you know, they're absolutely not the only ones doing this, but this is by far the biggest sort of scandal that's ever happened. And, yeah, they've been sort of financially doping for like a long time. Probably I think it's like, these dates back to like, 2016 maybe?
ERIC: Oh, my God.
JASPER: No. So 2—sorry, 2008 to 2016 is like just the period they've covered in this investigation. So who knows what they find after looked at last year's books, you know what I mean? It's a– it's a big story over here, they might get relegated.
ERIC: Really?!
JASPER: Like—yeah, yeah. They might get like relegated down to like, like, League Two or something. They're looking at like all kinds of like serious punishments. This is like a very big deal right now. So yeah.
ERIC: I want to touch on relegation really quickly, and people might know this.
JASPER: Oh, yeah. Because this doesn't happen in America, which is absolutely wild to me.
ERIC: Relegation is wonderful.
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: I think it's so smart—
JASPER: Completely
ERIC: And actually makes people take sports seriously. So the— I think the only Americans who know this or people who watch Ted Lasso.
JASPER: Yes.
ERIC: So it's like, so relegation is that because let me see if I can explain it to you.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah. You go.
ERIC: Okay. So relegation is that since there's like a bunch of different leagues, I mean if you know, maybe if you watch baseball, or basketball or football, not really. But there's like a Major League like the big leagues–
JASPER: Yup.
ERIC: –which is up at the top, and then you have Minor Leagues below it. In baseball, it's like the Major Leagues and then Triple-A, Double-A. And Single-A when it's a little messier between. NBA has a like the NBA and then the G League is kind of—
JASPER: Right.
ERIC: —like the one that's affiliated with the NBA. But it's very sacked in European football. There's like the– the most famous clubs and then like Series Two was what you said and then they keep going and going, going. And relegation isn't this incredible thing, that is if you lose if you're the worst team in the league—
JASPER: Worst three teams.
ERIC: Oh worst three. Okay.
JASPER: The worst three teams go down. Yeah.
ERIC: They– you go down a league setting.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Which is incredible, and actually is like real– it's like shaming. It truly is shaming.
JASPER: But it's—it's a real genuine like knock-on effect of this. Because like the money is less when you go down a league. The like– the like the amount of like global interaction your club will have, like, there's so many implications for going down the league that like, it really has like a big knock-on effect to go down. And like it quite often happens that like a club, if they're not run properly. Like if they just kind of go broke and mess up. Clubs can like bounce down two leagues. Like, it's happened quite often where like, there'll be in the Premier League, they'll drop down into the Championship, and because all of their players leave, because they were Premier League players, that like we're not gonna stick around and play in the Championship, they then rebuild a squad, they're not very good, they don't play well together, and they get dropped down again, and it's like, it's—yeah.
ERIC: Oh my God.
JASPER: It could be wild. It can be wild, I think it adds. It—it's definitely something that I find harder to get on board with American sports purely. So I feel like that sense of like, threat isn't that like.
ERIC: Right.
JASPER: You know what I mean? That like, because you get some of the best games of football, when you have like, a couple of the teams down the bottom, just scrapping for their lives. Do you know what I mean? Like— and they really are, because they know that like, you know people's livelihoods are like on the line here. Which also sounds really macabre and shouldn't probably be the case for like sport. But it's like, you know, you work at sports team. It's kind of like, you know, it's a risk, and they'll probably get a job at another Premier League team, so it’s fine. But you know what I mean?
ERIC: Right.
JASPER: It adds a sense of like, well, you have to win, and it's amazing.
ERIC: We could have a whole other conversation about like, the differences between the free agency but in— in the European sports–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –and American sports, very messed up.
JASPER: There were so many differences, and it is yeah, absolutely wild.
ERIC: But I think it's—it's interesting in terms of as a penalty. I've actually never heard it as a penalty before.
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: I think that would have been really helpful. Just I— basketball is my sport. But like these penalties that are levied against owners, are against GMs for like misappropriation, or even worse, bad actions that harm others like–
JASPER: Yep. Uh-hmm.
ERIC: –sexual abuse and sexual assault. Like you slap, they get fired, or quote-unquote, “canceled” like what happened with Robert Sarver, the owner of the Suns, which happened recently. And what happened with Donald Sterling, the owner of the Clippers a bunch of years ago. Like they're bad people, but they all they do is they have to sell their team, and then they get a kajillion dollars and they’re gone.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: So it's not necessarily a penalty, but it's like, I wish that the organization would be penalized and relegated because I feel like that's such an, if you fuck around, you don't even get to participate in the highest levels anymore.
JASPER: Yeah you'll find out yeah.
ERIC: You'll find out.
JASPER: Who like for instance—for instance, with this, let's say Man C got relegated and then they wanted to sell their team, you're probably looking at making half honestly, in terms of like the mo—like, it would have a huge monetary impact on you. Like basically breaking the rules of the game, which is intended. The rules—and also it's very—it's really important to state that the rules are there primarily in for the Premier League, to benefit the lower leagues. Like that's the main reason that we're kind of like, because they basically bought this in because a lot of the lower league teams, it would happen where owners would come in, shovel some money and try and win, didn't work and then they just leave the club in like a mess, and they end up like ruining, you know, local towns and stuff like that because they kind of build.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: They try to build a bit of like infrastructure there, and then they just kind of do of—they half-heartedly do it and so, a lot of it was about protecting like you know these historic clubs and protecting the towns and protecting people like that. So it's not rea— like none of this is to protect like billionaires from spending too much of their own money. I just want to clarify that.
ERIC: Right.
JASPER: That's not why the rules are there. Because, sure, spend as much money in the UK as you want like, that's fine. Whatever like juice our economy by paying our players and you know, building nice stadiums for us, that's fine. But it's not. It's more to make sure that like everyone benefits and all of this like money that's in the Premier League actually benefits like the you know, lower down teams, that they get like a fair cut of prize money and all that kind of stuff. So.
ERIC: Right. So that we didn't say is that, if you do well enough, I assume if you win a bunch of the lower leagues you get to go up?
JASPER: Oh, yes, absolutely. And so you get these amazing stories. Like 10 years ago, Brighton weren’t in the National League.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: You know Brighton would like, like barely, you know on the radar. And now you have Brighton because they're a really well-run club. And they've got like amazing ownership and a great stadium, and great infrastructure and everything. Then out of the Premier League, like fighting for European places. European places is like an added incentive at the top of the league, if you finish in a certain place, you get entered into a European-wide League basically. And with that, it comes like all the biggest money, and biggest incentives, and like biggest sponsorship deals. It's almost I would say it's— I would liken it to like, imagine if the Super Bowl was like a whole league, a separate league for like the best teams. It's kind of like that.
ERIC: Yes, like in the middle of the season.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: All the best teams from all over a continent got to play in a tournament and you got to win, and it was important to them. Yeah.
JASPER: Yeah, and it's als— and it's a be— like it's the best one like it's the best tournament. Maybe some people lost it—it would argue the international ones, but it kind of— people are very much on the fence about—some people are very on the fence by international tournaments. I love it. I like international tournaments. But England break my heart too much. So I try not to get invested because it's too painful to watch them lose.
ERIC: It's okay Jasper. On this podcast, It's always coming home for you regardless.
JASPER: Hey! Thank you! Thank you—speaking of I'm so excited for the World Cup in Canada, US, and Mexico. And I will—I will be in your country for like a month.
ERIC: Hell yeah.
JASPER: Because I'm going–
ERIC: That sounds great.
JASPER: to as many games as possible. I am so stoked for that.
ERIC: You're gonna be getting the full experience of Concacaf like truly and be— I think that this is going to happen, people who live in Asia and Europe, don't remember, don't know how big North America is.
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: They'll be like, oh, yeah, we're gonna go pop over to Phoenix after New York City, and like, no, you're not.
JASPER: No, you're not.
ERIC: That's a really long flight.
JASPER: No, I'm thinking like, I'm gonna get to three games. Like that's like in a month, I'm gonna get like three games.
ERIC: Oh sure. Yeah, I'll—I'll tell you the good ones. Like the ones that hopefully less people in the United States will be going to, and then you'll be able to figure it out.
JASPER: Well, I think my aim is I'm basically just go— is like, drop a pin in the map, like and be like, right, where's the shortest distance to like, as many different stadiums as I can possibly get to, and I'll stay there. So who knows where I’m staying.
ERIC: Hell yeah. I'm sure there'll be one in like Toronto, though. That one will probably be tight as hell.
JASPER: Yeah. I think throughout— I think the—the final might even be in New York.
ERIC: Oh my god, that's gonna be such a shit show. I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna get out of the way.
JASPER: Yeah, don't be around for that. don't be around for that.
ERIC: Like I want to go, but like Jesus Christ, that's gonna be the scariest thing ever.
JASPER: So beautiful.
ERIC: Incredible. Listen, we could—we might have to just like devote an entire episode be like, this is the sports episode, were we talk about sports.
JASPER: I think we should definitely know it out on a sports episode for sure.
ERIC: For sure. If you write in questions about sports, general sports—
JASPER: Please. I'm ready.
ERIC: —we will do a sports-only episode of Jasper and I. Wonderful. Okay. Yes, we could talk about this forever. I want do two quick games that are giving us feelings.
JASPER: Okay.
ERIC: Because I want to answer a bunch of questions. Just you and I have a bunch of questions prepared. I want to give a follow-up to something that I've said on Games And Feelings before. I want to talk about Sports Story, and then I feel annoyed by Sports Story.
JASPER: Oh, no. The Sports Story journey continues.
ERIC: It continues. Okay. So if you remember before, if you were listening to previous episodes.
JASPER: I was listening.
ERIC: That I got stuck in Sports Story, which was a Golf RPG that came out right before Christmas.
JASPER: Love this so much.
ERIC: It's so funny. It was a sequel to the game, Golf Story it’s by this Australian Studio. And I was really excited about it, but a ton of bugs, because they got an hour before Christmas. And I've been stuck in the same place for a month. To give some context because it's important for what comes up next is that basically, I'm in this area called the like The Wastelands. And I need to like harvest old TVs to get the copper out of them.
JASPER: Oh yeah, I remember this now.
ERIC: Okay. And the problem was that I would pick up the TVs and I would hit the throw button, which is X, and throw it into a dumpster which I'm supposed to, but it wouldn't register for a bunch of them. And I'm like, that's weird that that's happening. So I submitted, everyone has been submitting bug reports lately because this game is incredibly buggy, and they've been working on it nonstop. And then I sent them an email too. I was like, hey, this is what's happening, I'm annoyed. Please fix it when you can get a chance. And I knew that these two other patches came out and didn't address this thing. And I was extra annoyed and I'm like, this sucks, it's been a month. I'm going to film my comp— my TV—
JASPER: Yup.
ERIC: –while I'm doing this thing. So I did it bla bla bla. Then they tweeted and said, “Hey, if you're having trouble with the—with the TV harvesting, you know you can just press A and drop the TV into the dumpster.” And I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? For the UI, the thing that's up when you're holding the dumpster, the only text on screen—
JASPER: It prompts you. Yeah.
ERIC: It only prompt is X to throw. It is—there's not on there. It's not that at all. Of course, I do it immediately. I pick up a TV, I go over to the dumpster, I hit A. And then—then someone off screen says, “Okay, only four more to go.” And I'm like, “FUCK! SHIT! FUCK!” And I—I was stuck. So I soft-locked myself because I didn't know to press A.
JASPER: Oh, I'm angry for you.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: But at the same time, I know that I'm the kind of person who in my frustration, would have smashed every single button.
ERIC: Oh.
JASPER: And then probably would have found out by accident.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: But then the worst part is that I wouldn't have been someone proactive enough to say online, hey, try this instead. I would have just, haha, I figured it out.
ERIC: They did say in the follow-up to my email. I followed up and said, hey, actually figured it out. I found that tweet, I should have pressed A. But the thing is, you need to do it directly next to the dumpster.
JASPER: Sure. Sure.
ERIC: So I think I also had just been hitting– if I was just hitting buttons.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: If didn't do it in the right place, because the engagement of actions or—is not great, of like standing next to things. And it's like talking to people and another one button prompts come up. So they said they're going to put the button prompts in it. But again, it's part of that—it's just part of that thing.
JASPER: Wild, wild, wild wild. I can truly felt how angry you were as well. Like I can imagine just being like, I just have to drop it? Ahhhh!
ERIC: And I'm just like, fuck it, this sucks. I think a lot of people got stuck–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –because there actually weren't a lot of guides online, or like the guide stopped like halfway through the game.
JASPER: Sure.
ERIC: And I only saw it on like one website. I know that Games Media is also kind of like, gutted themselves. So like there are a lot less people making guides now. But yeah, I couldn't find it. So I just used websites to finish the game as quickly as possible. Because there was like a whole other like, Tennis Hogwarts section that I had to do, which was kind of bo— was really boring. So I don't know. I was just annoyed by it. I— and it just was not satisfying. And I'm—I'm annoyed.
JASPER: Well, I'm really now looking forward to playing this game and just dropping that TV in the dumpster having a great time, and enjoying the whole game.
ERIC: I wonder if having the— yeah, it was probably like the process that I think kept me going. Yeah, so that's what happened with Sports Story. I'm—I'm definitely annoyed both to myself and at—and at the game people.
JASPER: No, no, no, this is completely understandable. I want you—that you know that your feelings are 100% relative because I would.
ERIC: Thank you. Thank you for validating me.
JASPER: I would have felt the same. I would have been furious.
ERIC: Oh my God. And then really quickly because this is what we do on ga—on games that are giving us feelings. You don't have to do a game that's new. So I am going to talk about something that was important to Games Media two weeks ago. And in two weeks when you listen to this, or even less important. But I do want to shout out Hi-Fi Rush, which is a game that kind of got shadow dropped by folks at like a studio inside of Microsoft, inside of Bethesda. I think it's called Tango Gameworks. Hi-Fi Rush, it's like a action rhythm game and it's all based around music. And Jasper, you know from what I've said on Three Black Halflings that I hate bards because you're doing a creative thing already by playing Dungeon & Dragons.
JASPER: Sure.
ERIC: You don't need to do another creative thing inside of it. So I– this game is about like, you know you're fighting a corporation but you have an like electricity and magnet powers. And you have an iPod stuck in your chest like Tony Stark. And that's what they're giving you rhythm stuff. And I thought it was really, and I was worried I was gonna be annoyed by it. But I actually thought that it was a very interesting example of transmedia expression. Using a different medium to express your love for a second media.
JASPER: Sure.
ERIC: It reminded me a lot of Scott Pilgrim.
JASPER: Oh, yeah, yeah.
ERIC: Where, especially in the movie, where a movie expressed what it feels like to love video games and music.
JASPER: Yup. Yup.
ERIC: And this was it in a different way of using a video game to express why you love music and–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –comics in a different way. And I thought that it was really interesting, the game mechanics expressing this, and I hadn't seen this take anywhere. So I'm happy to put it on games that are giving us feelings here.
JASPER: Yeah, that's— that sounds pretty great. And I definitely— I definitely understand your like sensation of like the hat, within a hat almost like sensation being like–
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: This feels weird because surely I'd be better off just doing the actual thing like, you know, playing music or like, you know, playing guitar or something, rather than playing Guitar Hero or whatever.
ERIC: Right.
JASPER: Even though I didn't— I did actually love Guitar Hero. But yeah, I can definitely understand the images. And I actually would be interested to check this out. I also might have to recommend it to a friend of the pod, Jeremy Cobb, because I feel like he loves—
ERIC: Jeremy would really like it. Yeah.
JASPER: Oh he would love this game.
ERIC: Yeah. And like I don't even have great rhythm. So people who are musicians or not white also might. I know like, I don't even have great rhythm and I actually did a—had a really fun time.
JASPER: Sweet.
ERIC: I'm like trying to. I'm not like 100 percenting it, but I am doing postgame stuff which I was not anticipating.
JASPER: Okay.
ERIC: It's 30 bucks on PC. It's also on Game Pass and Xbox. So if you have that, you should just go check it out.
JASPER: Go check it out.
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ERIC: Hey, it's Eric, and I picked up some snacks for the Games and Feelings midroll. I made brownies! Well, Amanda made brownies, and there's drugs in them. No, wait, there's not drugs in them. That for those what I was saying. No, there's no drugs on them. And also I made them, not Amanda. If you like to be a part of the Patreon at patreon.com/gamesandfeelings. It continues to be a weird time in media. The world podcasting, having jobs and doing this show while doing the other shows that are part of the Multitude Collective. I'm producing four shows now. It's incredible that I get to do this full time and I really appreciate it, and the way that you can continue to show your support that you like what I'm doing, and you like that we brought Jasper on. We're doing this weekly, it's for you to join the Patreon. Shout out to all of you that are patrons already, especially the producer-level patrons Polly Burrage, Kelsey, Duffy, and Meghan Moon, who has folders on their computers for one-page RPGs that they've saved just in case someone wants to play a lightweight and silly tabletop RPG. It's— it's fun and easy and nice. If you want to be like them, join up patreon.com/gamesandfeelings. You should check out the other shows that are part of the Multitude Collective not just ones that I produce. Well, I think you'd really like Pale Blue Pod. Pale Blue Pod is an astronomy podcast for people were overwhelmed by the Universe, but want to be its friend. Astrophysicist and incredible smart person, Dr. Moiya Mctier, and incredibly funny comedian Corinne Caputo demystify space, one topic at a time, with open eyes, open arms, and open mouths from laughing so much and jaw-dropping at the Universe. By the end of every episode, the cosmos would feel a little less ah, too scary, and a lot more. Oh, so cool. I just want to say Pale Blue Pod is absolute incredible. Got written up in the New Yorker, that's how much people love this thing. And it's not just for people who are afraid of the Universe. I think there are people who are like, like me, I'm not very much a space person. I like cities. I like urban planning. I like how humans kind of interact. So I'm like, oh, guys going into space, the —the cosmics of the universe. It's too big, too. too large, and I just don't care. But I think that learning to understand that this is a fun thing. And why NASA and you know, the countries on the ground do the things they do. And why scientists named things where they name them, is also something you learned from Pale Blue Pod. And I think y'all should check it out. Even if you're not a space person. New episodes of Pale Blue Pod come out every single Monday, wherever you get your podcasts. We are sponsored this week by Hero Forge. Hero Forge offers fully customizable tabletop miniatures with dozens of fantasy species and thousands of parts to choose from. Their easy-to-use design tool lets you build your perfect mini online, using a fully 3d in-depth character creator right in your web browser. Now you might be thinking, I don't know I've been burned before when people say that there's a lot of choices here. Let me just read out all the species that you can make on Hero Forge. I have it right in front of me. You can be “A Human”, “You can be an Elf”, “you can be a half-elf”, “You can be a dwarf”. “You can be Elemental”, “A Bugbear,” “A Gnome,” “A Troll,” “A Half-Orc,” “A Halfling,” “A Half-Demon,” “A half-dragon”, “An Anthro Canine,” and “Anthro Feline,” “Rat Folk”, “Minotaur”, “Turtle Person,” “Cracow Folk,” “Lizard Person,” “Raven Folk”, “Fawn,” “Forest Guard,” “Elephant Folk,” “Fairytale Goblin,” “Feral Goblin”, “Zombie Skeleton,” “Goblinoid,” “Hobgoblin,” “Robot,” “Rabid Four Calf Giant”, “Aquatic Humanoid,” “Merfolk,” “Centaur Orc,” “Kobold,” “Naga Serpent Folk”, “Frog Folk,” “Giggle Dog.” I don't even know what that is. “Infernal,” “Celestial” “Fox Bear”, “Alien Insect”, and then you could be all the actual animals of a—of “ A Bear” or “A Boar,” or “An Elk,” or “ A Griffin” or “Horse” or “ A Mastiff,” or “ A Pony” or “Ram” or “Raptor Warg.” “ A Badger,” “A Dog,” “A Cat,”
“ A Duck”, “A Fox”, “ A Frog,” “A Hawk” and “Owl,” “ A Penguin,” “A Rabbit,” “A Raven,” “A Robot Buddy”, “ A Robot Helper”, “A Squirrel,” and “A Toad”. Those are all the different meanings you can make. I'm not kidding, there's so much selection. And that's just the first thing. That's just species. Visit heroforge.com to start designing your custom mini today. And check back often new content is added every week. We are also sponsored today by Brilliant. If you really want to impress your friends by explaining the logic of dice rolls probability and statistics, like a cool person, you got to go to brilliant.org. Brilliant is the best way to learn math, science, and computer science interactively. They have thousands of lessons with new ones added every single month. Brilliant's visual interactive approach is engaging and makes STEM concepts actually stick. And you actually choose what you're interested in, instead of just kind of like warbling around in the STEM field. I know there are a lot of artistic people like me, who think that like STEM isn't for them because it's like, oh, I only care about feelings. But if you self-guide yourself, and Brilliant helps you with this, you can choose something you want. Like probability fundamentals, where you learn about statistics, apply those statistics and coin flips, in dice rolls, in betting. All that is incredibly important to your actual life. To get started for free, visit brilliant.org/gamesandfeelings, or click the link in the episode description. The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium sub. And now back to the games.
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ERIC: Jasper, I have plenty of advice questions here that I would love to get through to you.
JASPER: Let's go.
ERIC: We don't have to like rapid fire through them. But I have plenty of questions that I want to get together–
JASPER: Okay.
ERIC: –and I think we can help people out there in the—in the cyberspace.
JASPER: In the cyberspace. The people, they are all looking at me right now, in the cyberspace. It's very, very upsetting.
ERIC: Hello!
JASPER: Hi!
ERIC: This is from Aiden pronouns, they/them, but I—you could also call them why is this question so broken?
JASPER: Okay.
ERIC: “Hi, Eric and Jasper. I'm building a character in D&D, and I'm looking for advice. The problem is I'm feeling that mechanically, there's some things I don't love about her build. She's a Fighter Rogue, and I feel like the Multiattack kind of fighter, leaves the second attack, almost feeling useless after a sneak attack on the first. While all the other abilities make sense for the character, she's a Western Sharpshooter. I'm not sure on how to deal with the incongruities of this ability. I'm having trouble finding and story justification for a weaker second attack. Should I just not use the second attack? Try to tie it in story justification. How do you deal with the mechanic that doesn't always fit the fiction? Cheers, Aiden.” I—so Aiden's question is what do you do with mechanics that don't fit fiction?
JASPER: Sure.
ERIC: However, I want to address a que—a free question–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –to this that hey, multiclassing is fucking broken–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –in Dungeons & Dragons.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Try getting yourself a Gloom Stalker Ranger Rogue, then we can talk about broken. Then we can talk about—
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: Then we can talk about a pointless se— let alone second attack, aseless rounds after the first round.
ERIC: As he just like fucking dome people in their head with the—
JASPER: Yeah, exactly. You literally just brain people and then you move on, and hope. And if they're still alive, you then just flick them with sticks after that, basically.
ERIC: Yeah. I think it actually says in the either in the DMs Manual or in the Player's Guide, that is like, hey, talk to your DM–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: before multiclassing because it might. These have not been tested, they have never tested ever. Multiclassing works and it's totally absolutely broken.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: So especially with Rogue.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Like when I think about the Rogue and have the classes put together, it's supposed to be like, here's a little guy who has very low HP, but what they can do, is do a ton of damage if you put yourself in the right position.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: And by adding Fighter to that you kind of neutralize it. I know all the people, [fake cough] Travis McElroy, who add— who just add Sneak Attack–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –to a fighter to give them stabbing someone for a ton of thing just to give them the ability. But I appreciate that this person is trying to— I appreciate the question asker is trying to like make it flavorful and important to the–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –actual character that they're playing.
JASPER: So I've got two suggestions, quickfire suggestions, which is the—as a DM, generally I like to roll, so it's got two attacks, I'll get them to like roll them together. Because if you miss on the first one, you hit on the second one, you could still do sneak attack on that second one. You don't have to sneak attacks on like the first hit that you— like— or the first attack that you make.
ERIC: Sure.
JASPER: So it's like if you miss. and then hit that one we'll get sneak attack is just once per round. So one way you could do it is roll both your attacks together. If you hit twice, you hit twice. If you hit once, you hit once. And then basically, you can eventually just roll narratively, roll all that damage in together, you know what I mean? And whether that's you—
ERIC: I love that.
JASPER: Slash and twice with two daggers. Whether it's just one big hit where you know, you can kind of narratively flavor that however you want. Like, that would be a question for the DM to be like, like, I thought I would find this more narratively satisfying, would that be okay? I think that's a perfectly valid thing to do. I think the other way around it if you wanted to, if you didn't want to kind of like have to roll both at the same time or whatever. Just very simply be like, this is your character, like spotting a weak point which they would not be able to then exploit against straight away. This is kind of like imagine if you're a boxer, you uppercut someone, you can't then uppercut them again, because their heads just flowing backward. You're gonna punch him in the body or something. It's not gonna do as much damage. So—
ERIC: I'm imagining I'm a boxer.
JASPER: Yup.
ERIC: My name is Eric Smokey Jones.
JASPER: Smokey Jones! And you go over the uppercut, but then the head's not in the same place, in the same position for a good uppercut. So, Smokey Jones has got to go down below. Bam! Into the ribs. It's not gonna do as much damage. So–
ERIC: And that's what everyone knows about me. I punch people in the testicle. That's my move.
JASPER: Right in the testicles.
ERIC: That's why they call me Smokey Jones because I get out of there like smoke because everyone's mad at me.
JASPER: Oh I was thinking that you smoke the Jones.
ERIC: I smoke the Jones, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's it.
JASPER: That's it. that's it. There you go. Those are my two potential solutions for you. I hope that these work.
ERIC: No, I really like the narrative one. I think this is something that I learned from Brennan Lee Mulligan, is that like, there's something about doing all the mechanics and then replaying everything that happened in narrative form. It’s something that that is really hard to do, especially if you're doing a tabletop game, the one with minis.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Like you want to be like, oh, you're going to recap the whole thing. So it was like they did this really well I remember in Fantasy High during the fight in like, so at a house party?
JASPER: Oh, yeah.
ERIC: Where Fabian was like on the motorcycle.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ERIC: So it's like you do this, and then you do this and then Fabian is driving on the thing and then all these other things happens is worth—remember, you’re narratavizing what the mechanics say.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: That's inherently what we're doing in a game about fighting and combat violence.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: So it's important to do because you want to action—action, movie it up, describe it like–
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, oh—
ERIC: The mechanics don't really matter.
JASPER: Yeah, absolutely. And I would always say that I quite often will go off piece in terms of like, if my like player–
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: –says they do two short sword attacks, I'm absolutely going to, you know say that they do some like, Butterfly Kick to the chin, and then slashed down with the two swords, and then join me in like, what like, you know what I mean, like, I'm always adding and embellishing on just like. Otherwise, it's just like, especially if you've got like set things your characters always going to do. It's just gonna be your Barbarian taking swings of the big axe, or your you know, Druid hitting him with a quarter staff or do you know what I mean? it's just like–
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: –it's gonna be very like set moves, and it just super boring. So like, you can absolutely punctuate all of the mechanics, roll it all in together. Now I'm just like aiming to get the like the mechanics down as short as possible, as clean as possible. So then we can just roll on through with the narrative, and it doesn't have to, you know—
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: —be exactly what was like done mechanically, because, you know that would be kind of boring.
ERIC: Absolutely. Yeah. The other thing I think you should do, especially if you're doing a sharpshooter or a someone who uses guns, vanilla Dungeons & Dragons really hates Ranged Melee people, huh? So you should go into your box of third-party folks, and look for a class that would be better. May I recommend the Gunslinger Class from Valdas Spire of Secrets?
JASPER: Heck yeah.
ERIC: Which we're currently running on Join the Party, and it's fucking tight as hell.
JASPER: Yes!
ERIC: You know, it's not just about shooting far away. There are things you do as a Gunslinger, and like, how you move your body and how you interact with combat, that's more than just like I shoot from far away, and I do this. Also, sneak attack makes a lot less sense for ranged. Like that's also a thing about the Rogue, is getting into a dangerous situation where you could be hurt, and then getting out of it.
JASPER: I would also point out that I think kind of but like, if you— if you're doing sneak attack, and you've got time to line up a shot, even if you then have a second attack, you will then do it. You don't have time to line that shot up. So I can absolutely understand that you can—
ERIC: Oh sure.
JASPER: —clean hit and then be like, ah okay, I'm just gonna take a part shot afterward, do you know what I mean, instead of you know.
ERIC: Oh I get that narratively.
JASPER: Oh, I see.
ERIC: I'm thinking about like, what the clas—to balance the class?
JASPER: Oh, I see. Oh, yeah, you definitely shouldn't be getting shot.
ERIC: Exactly. Exactly. So I would really look into to third-party stuff, the—the Gunslinger is something we're doing on Join the Party. And your DMs, who Aiden wanted to shout out Al and Paul, seems like people who would allow you to do that.
JASPER: Heck yeah.
ERIC: So just talk to them about maybe doing a different class instead of smashing two classes together. Honestly, because with how much it breaks the game, it might be more worthwhile to find third-party stuff, because that are balanced, that will give you the thing that you're looking for.
JASPER: May I also potentially suggest the Gunsmith Subclass, which was home-brewed by Three Black Halflings and played by me?
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: Outlaws & Obelisks
ERIC: That's good.
JASPER: Is a very fun little– I use the Sharpshooter feat with that particular class and it was baller. And it was all about creating your own little weapons, and it was cool.
ERIC: Is that idea, is that adding to which class?
JASPER: An Artificer, is an Artificer Subclass.
ERIC: Oh to adding to Artificer, yes. And maybe you hopefully simplified the Artificer Class JASPER: Oh yeah.
ERIC: That would be nice.
JASPER: Yeah. We—we had to, we were like this is a lot.
ERIC: So using a subclass also will smooth out a lot of that shit.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Like you don't even have to use a full—a full third parties class if you don't want to, to smoothing it out.
JASPER: Absolutely.
ERIC: Which I think is important.
JASPER: Great shout.
ERIC: Absolutely. Yeah bu— use the stuff that we use in our actual play game. Use that. Use that instead. Alright, Jasper, I have another question here from—this is more—hey, we're creative guys! We like telling people about the things that we do.
JASPER: We do.
ERIC: Which I think would say that. And we have so—we have a question here from Shorty Short Rest. He/him pronouns, but I renamed them the Mortifying Ordeal of Rolling Bones.
JASPER: I can't wait for this. Okay.
ERIC: Yeah. It right—It's the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known. I changed it to Rolling Bones, get it?
JASPER: Yeah. Yep, yep, yep.
ERIC: Have you heard of that?
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We good. We good.
ERIC: You know—you know how you explain a pun and people like it more?
JASPER: Yeah, yeah! That—that's famously how they work. That’s famously how they work.
ERIC: That's basically how it works. Okay. “I have a game and it's giving me feelings, help!” You're all the best. I love you all so much. “I've worked on an idea for a tabletop role-playing game for about two years, slowly fleshing out it more and more with details. Upon talking to a friend at work with similar interests, like anime, and Dungeons & Dragons, and telling them some details about this campaign, they are pretty serious about wanting to play it out and found more players that I haven't even met! I've never hosted a game for anyone except family. So while I'm excited that someone wants to jump right into my creation, I'm extremely nervous. Help.”
JASPER: Whoa, boy. I can understand why this is giving you feelings, for sure. It's pretty nerve-wracking DMing for your friends, let alone people that you haven't met before.
ERIC: Yes, I agree with that. Or exposing any sort of creative work to others.
JASPER: Yeah, it's pretty tough. My—my biggest tip here is gonna be very, very simple, which is just go easy on yourself.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Because you have poured a lot of time and effort into this thing. And there will 100% come a point probably within like the first hour, where you go, oh, this isn't quite how I imagined it going. Because it won't be going, you know what I mean? They will be making some decisions or some choices, and they'll be going all kinds of weird and wonderful places. So I think I would just say go easy on yourself. Like, don't try and box yourself into like a very specific narrative, just trying to keep it loose, and allow yourself to discover stuff about the game, and about the world as the players populate it. Because I think generally, that's where you tend to get like the juiciest nugs you know what I mean? When your players give you some of the—some of their, you know, creative juices, and you're like, oh, man, that is good, I'm gonna make a note of that. So like, just go easy on yourself and keep it loose. That's what I'm gonna say. Keep it—keep yourself loosey-goosey feel for like, you know what you're talking about. But like, give yourself enough room to, if people give you great suggestions, you can run with those suggestions, and you can allow them to improve your world. Because here's the thing, they're not going to have a clue that wasn't a part of the world the whole time. So all you have to do is just keep a semi-poker face, and you'll be fine. Like you'll be fine.
ERIC: I think there's a reason why you are making this as a campaign setting and not as a fantasy novel. Is that inherently other people need to walk into your setting and play around in it to make it real, right? So if you don't want anything to change, you should write it out.
JASPER: Yes.
ERIC: However, you kind of need to let people in.
JASPER: Yes, yes.
ERIC: To make this thing come alive. Unfortunately, for the medium, you've chosen to participate.
JASPER: That's a great—it's a great example. That's a good point.
ERIC: So I think yeah, I– 100% agree with Jasper, be kind to yourself, be honest with the things that you've been kind of tinkering on. And you—you might need to change stuff once players come in. We have talked about this and a lot of people have talked about what to do, when dealing with people you don't really know that well. Especially new people. Make sure you have like a really firm session zero about what you're expecting and what they're expecting. If this is someone from work, who's just like, oh, yeah, I also play the same games you are, you might not vibe. So just like be—
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: protect yourself, but also be open and be kind.
JASPER: For sure. And also, sorry, tiniest last point. Like if it doesn't work out, and if they don't vibe with it, that's not a reflection of your game or your— your campaign.
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: Like that just might be the circumstances, the way that everyone came into that session that day. All the baggage that they had, whether they like, stuff that you like, all that stuff, like there's so many reasons why it might not be 100% perfect, or how you picture it. So like just yet, don't worry if people don't like come away being like, “This is the best campaign I've ever played in!” You know? Because that might not happen.
ERIC: Yeah, yeah.
JASPER: Hopefully it will. I'm rooting for you, but it might not.
ERIC: Man the number of times where I'm like, oh, you're—right after I say this, you're gonna say I'm the greatest blank of all time, and it just does not happen.
JASPER: And it just doesn't happen.
ERIC: I do this to myself so much, and it just doesn't happen.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: I also want to say, if you do feel like nothing wants to change, you can still turn this into a novel. Do you know how many fucking people make settings and turn it into fantasy novels? It is more people who write fantasy novels than you think.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: So like regardless of how this goes with introducing it to someone else, I think that you can still use this for a different artistic creation if that's something that you want to do. You turn this into a video game setting.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: You can turn this into a novel setting, you can turn this into anything else.
JASPER: Like a sourcebook for TTRPG as well.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Like, you know, just like a set of adventures and an items, and places. and locations. and NPCs. You can use all that making to sourcebook.
ERIC: Yeah. The final thing I want to say here, but it's only final, unless Jasper has more things to say, and then it won’t be the final thing.
JASPER: Which is possible, which is possible. Like, be honest. Like not like— you didn't— you didn't bring me on to the show, because I'm quiet and I don't talk often.
ERIC: Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's why I wanted a new guest. Hey, this is Jasper, he's really prim and proper, and that's why I'm excited to have him on Games and Feelings.
JASPER: That's fun. I'm excited because he won't speak much.
ERIC: I want you to sit here and listen to me while… You confused me and stuff and I— do you remember what I was saying.
JASPER: I'm so sorry.
ERIC: The thing that I think is important is that you don't shy away from this opportunity. If you like this person who you work with, and you think that their friends are not assholes, then do not let this opportunity to share something you've been working on slip away.
JASPER: Yes.
ERIC: They’re especially now on the internet, where it's—where everything feels like a bucket of crabs, where everyone is trying to step on top of each other, to get attention. If someone is interested in something that you're doing, I think that being able to share something that you made is really important and will make you feel feelings, which is important.
JASPER: And props to this friend as well.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Like, I just got a lovely thing to be like, oh, you've got a thing that you love, and like you want to try it on people? I will get you, people, I will get you, friends.
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: And I will assemble a crew for you. But if you don't have any people. Like that's lovely, props to that friend.
ERIC: I know. This is the hardest part, is getting people to participate in the thing.
JASPER: Yeah! That's like if I can—if you want me just—my work, could just sort that out for me, that'd be great.
ERIC: Yeah, that's my Jasper's here. Because I'm just like Jasper show up and listen to me.
JASPER: Yeah! Exactly.
ERIC: Be nice and sit there. So no, I think this is an awesome opportunity. And I know you're nervous, but take this opportunity. The joke, the mortifying ordeal of being known as the whole participating in the human experience, right? If you want people to know you, and to know who you are, as you express yourself with art, and with games, and with what you're making, the hard part is you need to allow someone to look at you fully.
JASPER: Yeah
ERIC: And that's what you're doing here. So don't step away from this opportunity. I hope it goes well.
JASPER: Step into it.
ERIC: And it seems like your work friends seem nice. And as long as you double-check them and your friends in a social setting, I think that this will be really great for you, even if it's not like perfect. And as Jasper said, everyone doesn't stand up, clap and say you're the best dungeon master of all time.
JASPER: But oh, man, this thing is, I didn't think people realize how much power they had. Honestly, so if I DM for a group of four people, and at the end of the session, they did that, I would know for a fact that they're lying. But boy, would it feel good!
ERIC: Like what if— what if they did do that? What if that's what happens?
JASPER: That's what I'm saying! Like, if I'm telling you now, if I ever DM for you, like if you're listening to this, and I have a DM for you. If you stand up at the end of that session, clap and say you're the best dungeon master of all time. I don't— I will not care that you're lying. I will be thrilled.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Because that would just be a wonderful thing to happen to me. And I would probably talk about it for years and years afterward on many a podcasts, and it would be great. So feel free.
ERIC: Oh yeah. If every single player after they did this said, “Wow, I'm gonna go on Twitter right now and say you're the best DM I've ever had.”
JASPER: Oh!
ERIC: And then they did it.
JASPER: Oh!
ERIC: Man, my life would be so great.
JASPER: Oh, man. That'd be so great.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: That'd be so—I lit—of course compliments. Just kidding. That's fine.
ERIC: Yeah. And I—obviously I don't have this problem because I'm the best GM in podcasting and everyone talks about all the time, so—
JASPER: That is a well-known fact.
ERIC: —I don't have a problem.
JASPER: That is a well-known fact.
ERIC: People keep saying it. Yeah.
JASPER: I don't know why who are saying, it's like repeating like, oh, the sky is blue. It's just like, okay, sure. Why—why do we need to keep bringing this up? You know what I mean? We all know, it's like—
ERIC: It's the Catechism just say, you say get over as to ground me, ground myself. Yeah So yeah, I'm the best GM in podcasting, I hear it all the time.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah. Naturally.
ERIC: But it's a wonderful feeling every single time.
JASPER: Best GM of podcasting I—I haven't heard it yet, so. It'd be lovely to hear it one time.
ERIC: That's why I had you o— that's why I brought you on the show, and we really balance each other out.
JASPER: We really balance each other out. Really balance each other out.
ERIC: Yeah. Yeah.
JASPER: We ended up as a real mediocre kind of middle-of-the-road DM in podcasting.
ERIC: Jasper, it's a really funny joke, but like think about all the dumb shit that's been recorded and put on a podcast, like there's no way you're the worst GM.
JASPER: No! Yeah. True, maybe, maybe. But I also just think like, I can't even think back to half of the dumb shit that I've put on a podcast, you know what I mean?
ERIC: Oh true.
JASPER: So I'm like, it might be true honestly. Like, even if I've done some great stuff, I've probably done some really bad stuff too. Like it's gotten to a point–
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: –where my podcasting career has become unwieldy. And there's no IMDb for podcasts. I know. I went through my CV the other day and was like, whoa, I did that? I don't remember. I don’t remember that.
ERIC: I know. It's like, oh, what is this website Podchaser? I guess that you know me better than I know myself. Okay. That's fine.
JASPER: But I had this exactly the same thing where it's like, I think it's—I think it's on Podchaser where it's like, Jasper William Cartwright’s top five podcasts. You're like, what the hell? Okay, I guess I did that one. And it's— wow! It's number three in Venezuela. It must be a good episode.
ERIC: They love what I did in 2017, I guess. That was wonderful, there's nothing in there. Alright, Jasper, I have one more question here for you. This is kind of an as an addition to the episode we did with Mischa—
JASPER: Love it.
ERIC: –in the last advice episode. About just like generally, how do you get into po—how do you how to get into podcasts? No one should get into podcasts.
JASPER: Don't get into podcasts.
ERIC: All podcasts are bad. Including this one.
JASPER: Terrible.
ERIC: How do—this is an addition to the how do you get into video games conversation. But I think that this is kind of a basic question that I really want to hit. It's popped up in our questions box a few times. So this is from reade—Real Gamer Girl, she/ they. “My gaming career is limited to games, such as Animal Crossing, anything at LEGO Games, and Kingdom Hearts because they're my level of skill. How do I deal with dudebros, who think they're better than me? Because I can't play first-person shooters or horror games. Or what are some good responses to people who judge the games you might play?” If I can just quickly suggest, it's the block button–
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: –on your social media of choice.
JASPER: Too breezy. Blockity, block, block, block. Just you rids, like no need.
ERIC: Yeah. There's all—there are programs where you can block everyone that they follow. Like, you could just, it’s a cascade, it just kind of erupts out. And you can just block all those people. Yeah, I mean listen, this is pretty basic, and I feel like two dude-bros ourselves, we could give some uh— just get into straightforward advice.
JASPER: How to avoid—how to avoid me and Eric on the internet.
ERIC: Yeah. When I'm busting into your Reddit thread and say get good—
JASPER: Get good.
ERIC: —And you're terrible. Yeah.
JASPER: Um, I think that's a great simple solution. Definitely block. Just realize that here in the year of 2023, you do not need to waste your time on anyone–
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: –who—there was enough people, there was enough attention, you know around, there's enough things going on, that like if someone is not your vibe, you can just not engage. Standing down is absolutely valid. In fact, this is a good example, I was actually having conversation because we just released a rather spicy episode of Three Black Halflings. And we were having a bit of a conversation of like, how do we respond to certain things? And basically, I said, like look, guys, I'll be honest, I don't think we should. We said what we said in the podcast. And if people want us to like talk about a particular thing, we can reply in an email or do it via not social media, because social media is a dumpster fire that's not designed for nuanced conversation.
ERIC: Can I tell you the only good thing about a podcast, Jasper? And I think this also might be why other people have podcasts. Because like, who the fuck cares about what someone says on social media? Like, especially now on twi— and I only use Twitter because it's the most of a dump— of dumpster fire.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: And also is particularly in the news right now. It's like, no—no one has standing anymore, especially with like the invalidation of the blue checkmark.
JASPER: Yup.
ERIC: And, you know like, how numbers don't actually mean anything with the number of followers, and how you can just buy bots.
JASPER: Yup.
ERIC: It's more about playing the game of Twitter than anything else. Like, who fucking cares what someone says on social media because it just lives there. I think that's why people have podcasts because like, why I'm saying this on this actual feed, this actual platform, and that's what matters. So I 100% agree with you. You don't have to respond to anything that anyone says anywhere.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Because it doesn't have actually anything to do with your real life. Of course, this is not to say that like harassment and annoying shit doesn’t happen.
JASPER: Absolutely. Yeah.
ERIC: That like you're not allowed— that like things that happen on the internet don't affect you in real life. That's totally true. But like, you know, when you step away from the computer, those people disappear and you should do whatever you need to do to make your life on the internet safe.
JASPER: Yes.
ERIC: So it doesn't affect your real life, as you play whatever fucking game you want.
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, just like you don't have to. Like you just like, don't feel like you have to. But outside of this, the main thing that I would say is that playing video games is very similar to learning. Everyone is going to have their own approach and some approaches just straight up don't work for other people, and that is fine. Like it is—that is just the way our brains work. They're all different and you shouldn't feel any level of like, shame, or like you're not a real gamer because you're great at Animal Crossing. Let me tell you–
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: –I suck at Animal Crossing.
ERIC: Oh same, me too.
JASPER: Like, I'm not— I'm not good. I don't have the patience for it.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: I don't like— I'm like, I'm there. I'm like, okay, I've got a turnip. But like, I need to—so should I sell the turnip? Do I have—do I have to replant it? I don't have a clue what I'm doing. And I'm like, this is so cute and it's aesthetically nice, but I kinda want to fall asleep. You know, to this.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: And it's not my— it's not for me. So you're already better than me at a game. You're better than a gamer bro at a game. So—
ERIC: Can I just also just like highlight the two other things they said, which is the LEGO Games and Kingdom Hearts? Those games are difficult!
JASPER: Oh, okay. Well, okay. Yeah, sorry. Wait, I only latched on to Animal Crossing. I am sorry. Kingdom Hearts is a game. I love Kingdom Hearts.
ERIC: Kingdom Hearts is very difficult.
JASPER: It's so hard!
ERIC: I died multiple times in like the Toy Story area.
JASPER: Oh!
ERIC: In Kingdom Hearts 3. And the bosses are really difficult.
JASPER: Did the Colossus in Hercules?
ERIC: Yes.
JASPER: Yo, they don't mess about! They are so hard. Like I—like the amount of times I did that level is obscene. Like absolutely obscene. I had to go away and grind to get Goofy's defense high enough so that he could just be a meat shield for like an hour of combat.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: That game is intense. Do not let anyone shame you for Kingdom Heart. In fact, let me tell you right now, if you get shamed for Kingdom Hearts, you send them to me because I'mma dress them down.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: Because that's not acceptable.
ERIC: It means that they don't know about Kingdom Hearts. They’re idiots.
JASPER: They just don't know that is— yeah, they're just ignorant.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: They're just ignorant, and that you need to educate them.
ERIC: Yes. And although the LEGO Games are for children, theoretically. Like they—they put in so many collectibles in there. It is so hard to 100%, any of the various LEGO Games especially like the more recent ones that have gotten like more popular. Like the, not the Star Wars ones. But there's—there's more recent ones like there's Marvel ones are really, really difficult to 100%.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: So those are all games that you chose, and I understand the way the other thing that they said was that they get judged by not playing first-person shooter or horror games, like–
JASPER: Yo, I don't play either of those. I– nah, that is boring.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: They’re boring games. I'm sorry. Well, I do like horror games, but like at first-person shooters, I really struggle with. This gonna have a good narrative otherwise. I'm not playing it.
ERIC: I 100% agree with you. I think first-person shooter games are kind of like, especially now with Fortnite and with PUBG, and like the battle royale games. It is once again and with Overwatch and all that stuff. Like, it's like a skill game.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: You know, it's like a hobby that you need to like refine your skills to it's very specific, and horror games, again, are also a very specific genre.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Like, do I want to spend my time getting jumped scared? No, I do not. That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the Resident Evil Series. And I think that it's neato, and I'm glad that they're putting all the time and effort to it. But like, the more now—more than ever, I think there aren't like dude games and girl games, like each just whatever.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: Something you touched on about like the coziness of Animal Crossing like that's a real genre now like the farming sim–
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: –is a real fucking genre. So you are playing games that are robust, and have tons of different games inside of it. Even if one it might be like the—I don't know, on some, like incel fucking jerk, circle jerk Reddit thread, they say that it isn't. Like this is not true.
JASPER: But this is that—I think you've actually hit on something that's, like really big. So I worked in animation for the last like three years, right? And quite often, we would come up against this thing where people would kind of push back or have resistance to simple animation styles because the overall thing would be deemed less complex. And I think we have the same thing with video games. It's like, well, we look at games like, you know, God of War Ragnarök, or whatever.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: I mean, like, that must be like the pinnacle of games, because it looks so good. Now, I happen to love the God of War Games. I think they're amazing. And I love them for different reasons. But what I'm saying is that–
ERIC: Sure.
JASPER: Like, I guarantee you that in terms of like collectibles, game design, like the levels in the how social interaction works, the you know how to complete it, all that stuff, it's no less complex. It just took a lot more people to animate a lot more snow. Like, that's the big difference between that and like, you know, Animal Crossing and God of War. Like, just because it has a perceived kind of simplicity to it in terms of its animation style, or its like delivery of, you know, serotonin to your brain.
ERIC: Yeah.
JASPER: You know, does not mean that it is any less valid, or complex or developed a game you know. Some of my favorite games, you know, I'm– I'm currently just kind of spending so much time watching videos of people playing ARK?
ERIC: Oh, man.
JASPER: Because I love the idea that this game has just become this surreal kind of ecosystem. You know that people have just like added layers, upon layers, upon layers in this game, and I'm like this is wild to me. But like that simple, like, essentially, it's a very simple game. It is a resource management game. Like that is– like all of this. So, absolutely, there should be zero judgment. And I think that– that point that like, just because something is perceived as being simpler, doesn't mean that it is in any way less engaging, any less complex, any less difficult. You know, let's watch these gamer bros trying to run a successful farm like, like a day, you try.
ERIC: Go, do that.
JASPER: I couldn't.
ERIC: Yeah, we could go off about like the video game criticism and like, I really want to do some like, really specific media criticism, especially how like all of the prestige games recently are about dads. And why do you think that is? The guys who started working in video games 15 years ago, then went from being 20-somethings to being like in their late 30s and 40s. And learned that being a dad is important, and now all the stories about being a dad, like—
JASPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ERIC: To me, it's just like that's because the people who are allowed to tell stories in movies and television, and also in video games are men who are aging into their Gen X-dom. Their full Gen X-dom and have children making stories now.
JASPER: Preach!
ERIC: So—
JASPER: Preach. Yeah.
ERIC: —I mean, that's true. I mean, you said Ragnarok I'm like, oh, that's fucking right.
JASPER: Yeah.
ERIC: I mean, Last of Us.
JASPER: Yeah, Last of Us.
ERIC: Evolve, the new ga—game—the new um—
JASPER: I saw the funniest thing online. Someone posted, and I think it was—I kind of gutted, I think it was a fake article, but it really made me laugh so much, which is the headline of this article was “Scientists Say That By 2050, All Mainstream TV Shows Will Involve Pedro Pascal Trying To Get a Magical Child Somewhere” and I just— absolutely done. And it was a picture of the Mandalorian and The Last of Us, and I was just like, absolutely phenomenal.
ERIC: That's funny. Listen, give Pedro Pascal all the work. That man is incredible. I love him.
JASPER: Just give everything. I just love him. He makes my life—the only worry that I have is that my fiance does enjoy him saying the word daddy a little too much. But other than that, I jus—I love Pedra Pascal too. It's like so much.
ERIC: No, that's fair. That's how I feel about every woman lawyer on television. I'm like, oh, Amanda's leaving me for her. It’s happening. It's a— It's a good fight. It happens.
JASPER: Oh, it’s a woman in a power suit. Damn it!
ERIC: There it is. I'm done.
JASPER: I can never—I can never equate.
ERIC: My wife is gone, there she is.
JASPER: There she is.
ERIC: No, incredible, so, look, she's just not even here. She— all her bags are packed because Christine Baranski was on screen. Oh, man. Alright, one Jasper, this has been wonderful. I'm so happy that you're here and we got to answer all these questions. Jasper, where can people find you on the internet, my man?
JASPER: Please find me on the internet @JW_Cartwright. There's so many cool things happening this year. And I'll be shouting about all of them via my socials.
ERIC: Hell yeah.
JASPER: As in when I am having a good week, and feeling like I can do that. Because sometimes I hate social media and I run away from it like a scared little rabbit.
ERIC: That's fair.
JASPER: But other times, I’m like, yeah, I'm doing a cool thing! So please follow me there and hope—hopefully I'm having a good week.
ERIC: That's fair, man. I totally—I totally feel that way. I have not posted my wedding photos, because every time I want to do it, I'm just like, I don't want to go on Instagram. I'm so tired.
JASPER: Yeah. Yeah.
ERIC: I just wanna— I just can't right now.
JASPER: Fully. Fully, fully.
ERIC: It's tough.
JASPER: I get and I'm like, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm so on it right now. I'm a post today and tomorrow, and the next day, and then like two days from now, sat and I just stared at my phone like, ugh! I can't do it.
ERIC: The only way I'm gonna get more of an audience is if I keep posting stuff, and then I'm just like, I don't want to post anything. I don't want people to know me. That sucks.
JASPER: Yeah, I don't want anyone to know me. Someone message me on Instagram and I'm like, ba ha! Run away!
ERIC: You can follow me on Twitter @El_Silvero. El_S I L V E R O. My name if I was a Lucha Libre wrestler. And of course follow Join The Party because we are now in Campaign 3, which is our pirate campaign.
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: Set in the wa— in a world of plant and bug people. We have finally announced the characters, we're going to be starting like actual story episodes very soon to when this particular episode comes out. It's been really, really fucking fun. And I'm really excited for y'all to hear it. If you want to support Games and Feelings, you should join our Patreon at patreon.com/gamesandfeelings, where if we get 100 patrons I will go to the UK and bother Jasper and film it.
JASPER: Yeah!
ERIC: That's already a goal. I've been plugging that for weeks, Jasper.
JASPER: Yeaaah!
ERIC: I don't know if I told you.
JASPER: No, you didn't. I'm so ready. I'm so ready. Please, please, please, please, please sign up for Patreon. I need this. I need this in my life. You need this video in your life. We will eat— uh I don’t know. Maybe some curry chicken or something and then—
ERIC: That'd be great. Whatever you want.
JASPER: Just be excitable little boys. We can watch oh— we should watch some sports together, that's all I want to do. I just want to sit down—I just want to sit down with Eric and watch them sports. It would be so much fun.
ERIC: Well put a VPN on and you can get all the American stuff. So we watch the NBA and stuff.
JASPER: If—hey look, if we put a VPN on, I could maybe watch my— the oh—my own sports from my own country, because they don't allow you to—
ERIC: Yeah, good point. Good point.
JASPER: —watch all the football games in the ra— I can't watch the Arsenal game at the weekend because it's all at the wrong time. Sorry, I get angry about this, but it's ludicrous.
ERIC: No, that's really it's cra—It's confusing and annoying. And also please submit questions at gamesandfeelings.com. You can just find that in there.
JASPER: Sports questions. Submit sports questions.
ERIC: And also the sports question, so we could do the sports episode that would be incredible. Well, Jasper, as always, thank you so much for being here. You're the best. Thanks for being so prim and proper and quiet.
JASPER: Thank you for having me. That was maybe prim and proper and quiet.
ERIC: Oh, that was good. And remember there is nothing in the instruction manual about feelings. Byee!
[theme]
ERIC: Games and Feelings produced by Erik Silver and edited and mixed by Mischa Stanton. The theme music is returned to French toast Castle by Jeff Bryce, and the art was created by Jessica Boyd. Find transcripts for this episode, and all episodes at our website, gamesandfeelings.com. Until next time, press X to enjoy the podcast.
Transcriptionist: KA
Editor: KM