The Gaming Persona

Gaming Backlogs & Broken Chains

• Daniel Kaufmann Ph.D. | Dr. Gameology • Season 5 • Episode 12

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MarcusB814 and Dr. Gameology explore the psychological connections we form with video games and how our gaming habits reflect our personalities.

• Gaming setups and workflow with discussion of Lenovo's Yoga Book laptop for mixing gaming and productivity
• Trophy hunting in games like Journey, Heavy Rain, and Bioshock, and what these achievements mean to different players
• Marcus's Elden Ring experience in Crumbling Farum Azula and the crossroads of completing the game versus exploring every area
• The psychology of gaming backlogs and why we buy games we never play
• Which video game characters would make the best coworkers and what their job titles would be
• How gaming experiences become so meaningful they inspire permanent tattoo ideas
• PlayStation versus Xbox controller layouts and the confusion when switching between platforms

Challenge accepted: Dr. Gameology will play Star Wars: The Old Republic for two hours this week.


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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Gaming Persona Podcast. I'm MarcusB814. I'm joined by my esteemed best friend, dr Gameology, and we're here to talk about video games and sidebars. Why? Because that's what I do I'm here for the sidebar, he's here to drop psychology on you, and this is our show right now, right now Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 2:

Marcus, have you heard of the Yoga Book laptop by Lenovo?

Speaker 1:

Not yet, but I'm looking at it right now.

Speaker 2:

I have to get one. I don't know when I'm going to get one, but I feel like it would change my work from home life dramatically. Like Q O L, off the charts. That's quality of life for people. Like off the charts, improvement of my life in every way.

Speaker 1:

Hold on, I'm looking at it. So it's just a tablet, but you can turn it vertical. Wait, it's a book.

Speaker 2:

It's two tablets that you can fold any way.

Speaker 2:

That two tablets connect on a hinge so it can be two vertical screens sitting upright with the wireless keyboard just on the table, but the wireless keyboard magnetically latches onto the bottom screen. If you want to do traditional laptop like one screen flips up, you have the keyboard there and then the top half of the bottom tablet that the keyboard is latched onto gives you an app display so you can see things like the weather or the stocks or Google News or your favorite video game websites, top stories of the day, just right there on your keyboard.

Speaker 1:

Wow, it's so, so it's two grand uh, yes, yeah, I mean that's.

Speaker 2:

That's where it starts, just in terms of what the technology is and what, what the storage that you're aiming for entry-level graphics like I wonder, can you get it with like? Hold on. This would be definitely just a work laptop. I don't think that there's too many games on Steam I'd be installing on it.

Speaker 1:

There's got to be a way to get.

Speaker 2:

So you're trying to figure out. How do we get a better graphics card into this thing?

Speaker 1:

That's right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, figure out, how do we get a better graphics card into this thing? That's right. Yeah, I just look at like it's. You know the biggest difficulty for me getting out of this office when I have all day to work and it's just so nice to spend a little bit of time in my bedroom or in the living room. But sometimes you still gotta keep the work stuff moving forward. And my current laptop is a gaming laptop. I've had it for seven years. I bought it the day that I returned to Florida and it just. It just overheats. It's got too much power inside it. It's like the death star, but it doesn't have the thing that moderates the heat, and so it just goes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, heat, and so it just goes. Yeah, so this is just this, is this is a, this is a work slash like, yeah, it's a work machine yeah, it's a work machine yeah, it summarizes documents. It's got cloud-based ai uh, basic image generation. Yeah, this is a mid-grade processor, great for most tasks. Yeah, it's a work, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I could play Journey on it, though I guarantee that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but like how many times are you going to play Journey on a laptop?

Speaker 2:

I've played Journey like a hundred times, marcus. I have it as an iPhone app. No, I get. No, I get it.

Speaker 1:

I'm just changing it is. It's a life change. I get it. I get it.

Speaker 2:

I've never played it you know what, though, marcus? You haven't played it, but one of the coolest things that I ever got to do in my life was with Nick, your cousin, right, that's the connection yeah yeah, so formerly working class nerds. For everyone who doesn't know, we're on the gaming persona. Marcus's old show was called working class nerds. He did it with nick for like a hundred years, okay eight years and did like 500 episodes.

Speaker 1:

No 252, I think.

Speaker 2:

That's a lot of episodes Like you're lapping the gaming persona here, but you know you also have four extra years before the gaming persona exists. Anyway, that's not what we're talking about. Nick, such a stand-up guy. Such a stand-up guy. There was a trophy that I needed in Journey that required me to play the game walking side by side with another traveler. And you can't co-op that game. You just gotta find a random person and walk with them. And he kept logging into the game until we ended up in the same spot and then we played the whole 45 minutes of the game together.

Speaker 1:

I remember that.

Speaker 2:

We got to the top of the mountain and he got me that trophy and then that left me with only one trophy left and I platinum did the next morning, Cause I I just was like this game means so much to me, I have got to earn the platinum trophy.

Speaker 1:

But isn't every game that way that you play? You have to platinum trophy it.

Speaker 2:

Marcus, I'm going to share something I'm ashamed to say out loud with the microphones on, but I'm going to say it because it's the truth.

Speaker 1:

It's just us talking.

Speaker 2:

I only have 25 platinum trophies.

Speaker 1:

Okay, but what are the 25 game platinum trophy?

Speaker 2:

Devil May Cry 4, elden Ring, star Wars wars. The force unleashed one and two. Um, there's a doctor who game in there. That I thought was pretty cool but honestly it was kind of like a iphone game that just ended up on ps3. But I still love doctor who. Um, you know, there's there's. There's some other one, heavy rain is in there such a good one of them one of the best ever.

Speaker 1:

I so do.

Speaker 2:

You know what penny arcade is I do know what penny arcade is so you know how they do their strip comics.

Speaker 1:

I do so. Uh, I have a strip I next for next show. I'll have it, I'll put it up. It's one of my favorite comic strips because you can order um comic strips from them and they come in like a nice, like thick stock paper and it's printed across and it's the agent or the cop and it says now that we've caught the origami killer, we have a new serial killer. It's the balloon animal killer and it's like a balloon animal and it's of a pony. Are you pulling up that comic strip?

Speaker 2:

I'm trying to pull up a couple things here, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I can find a Balloon animal killer.

Speaker 2:

Penny arcade so what. I'm actually doing is I'm trying to convince the algorithms to still love me, because I fell behind on social media.

Speaker 1:

Oh, here it is today. There you go this. Oh yeah, so I'm sending on social media today. Oh, here it is. There you go this. Oh yeah, so I'm sending you this right now. See, can I do? Is there a chat in our? Oh, there is a chat here. Where's the chat? Where do I type in the chat? How do I type?

Speaker 2:

With your keyboard, Marcus. I can't see where the chat. How do I type With your keyboard, Marcus? I?

Speaker 1:

can't see where the chat window is.

Speaker 2:

W-A-S-D strafe with Q&E, you know, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

Now paste. I just sent it to you I sent you the link.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, check that out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, check that out so Heavy Rain was such a good game. I did not be or really play detroit become human yeah, that one was very good.

Speaker 2:

It definitely had technological advances over heavy rain, but I prefer the story of heavy rain drinking tonight, doc I have no beverage right now. Wow, that's just terrible. Yeah, where is all the rum gone? In jack sparrow's belly you got the reference, that's cool, um, anyway.

Speaker 1:

So what I was saying is those games are such a good like key into people's minds. Yeah, because each like each movement is controlled, right? I remember in Heavy Rain there was a moment in your hotel and I'm just going to use it and you're with a female and it's like kiss, grab her boob, slap her booty, and it's like what the fuck am I getting into right now? Right, and it was wild that they went that far with it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you also just made me remember three more of my platinum trophies.

Speaker 1:

Oh, let's hear them.

Speaker 2:

They come from a similar timeline. Bioshock and bioshock infinite are both games that I've platinumed, and then after that, the very next one was the last of us, and also resident evil. Four, five and six are all in there too okay, respectable oh also resident evil two and three the remakes.

Speaker 1:

I think I've only platinum or or got all of the achievements Xbox unlocked in one game.

Speaker 2:

I think that we should bring people with us, just in case we have some people in my line of work that aren't in the gamer side. It's important to know what we're even talking about. What's a platinum trophy, marcus?

Speaker 1:

It's when you complete every achievement that's in a video game.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, including the ones that have no purpose. It's just the game company thinks it would be fun if you tried to do it. So it's like you have to get your skills up and find the right situations to do things that are impressive. It's like a scavenger hunt of activities inside the game, so you have all kinds of different things like beat the game on the highest difficulty. That's a very normal one. You usually get a gold trophy for that. But then there's also get a 100-hit combo without getting hit, and that could be a bronze or a silver, depending on how hard it is to actually do that, and when you have completed everything in the list, that's when they give you the platinum trophy sure, well, so the only game that I've ever gotten the achievement for 100% is it's called Naruto the Last Airbender, or something like that.

Speaker 2:

Avatar the Last Airbender. Yes, that's it Naruto and Avatar are not the same thing, Marcus.

Speaker 1:

That's because when the Xbox 360 came out, everybody was obsessed with getting all your gamer points out, like everybody was obsessed with getting all your gamer points, yeah. And so this game had five achievements and it was all combos, so you could literally 100 the game in five minutes because it just had to do with combos. Literally it took me 20 minutes to get that that kind of thing still exists.

Speaker 2:

Do you know that I was able to unlock stellarar Blade from the PlayStation Store last year, but I didn't have to pay for it because my gamer points were enough over the years to just get it for free because it was in the list of redemptions. One month I was like I was going to buy this when it went on sale in the future because it's a hack and slash with pretty girls, that's totally my thing. And, um, yeah, I didn't have to buy it because I just get all these achievements sure I I can, I can respect and understand that you're.

Speaker 2:

You're a pro gamer well, yeah, but I also make youtube videos about all these characters, archetypes, that the internet apparently likes yeah I guess if you add psychology to it, then it's serious stuff, marcus my eye is rolling so hard right now listen, listen.

Speaker 2:

You gotta understand what motivates you, marcus oh, I know what motivates you and you know what motivates me yeah, so like it's really important that Cloud defeats Sephiroth, but it's also really important that he goes on a date in the Golden Saucer with Tifa Lockhart. And if you don't get the date with Tifa Lockhart, what's the point of defeating Sephiroth? Marcus?

Speaker 1:

I don't know. You win the game. You save the bad guys.

Speaker 2:

Marcus, you've got to play Final Fantasy VII Remake so that you can hang with me here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, Marcus, what you are playing, though, is Elden Ring. Can you tell us how that's going?

Speaker 1:

So I don't understand. Well, alright, so I'm back completely in love with it. I'm still in crumbling Pharma Azula.

Speaker 2:

Pharma, pharma, pharma Like the pharmaceutical company.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yes.

Speaker 2:

This is where the tarnished get their drugs.

Speaker 1:

Yes, it clearly is. There's a never ending supply of nose candy, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2:

Keep going. I just love that you said pharma, because you know that means something very different. All right, keep going. Just love that you said pharma, because you know that means something very different all right, keep going anyways.

Speaker 1:

I have decided that and granted, like there's the tree sentinels in the game and these bell bearing hunters, and I have decided they are the hardest bosses in the game for me. I get my butt whooped by them all the time. So I'm finally at the end of pharma azula.

Speaker 2:

It's sponsored by pfizer and oh man, that's so good yeah.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, I'm finally at the end and I can see the main boss door. I know I'm at the end because I'm finally at the end and I can see on the map it's a big ring. So I'm like this is the boss battle, but it's being protected by this dragonic tree Sentinel and I know he's not that hard. But they give me such a hard time Every time I fight them, no matter where they are in the world, that I think I've died 12 times and I'm gonna beat them and but what's gonna be funny is I'm gonna beat them and then I'm gonna go into the boss fight and I'm gonna die a lot in the boss fight, but it's gonna be easier for me to fight the boss than the dragonic tree sentinel. It's a way it always goes in those like bell bearing hunters that have like the Jedi swords. It just doesn't go. Few with me.

Speaker 2:

They should not be as difficult as they are, but they are a bitch you know what, sometimes the way that you play and the way that you move and the way your instincts are with that controller in your hand, it just is a bad matchup.

Speaker 1:

Xbox controller.

Speaker 2:

I'm not talking about which controller you choose to use. I'm talking about the brain that's using it.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, I agree. So I'm an erratic Elden Ring player.

Speaker 2:

I'm not calm. I'm not calm, right?

Speaker 1:

no, I'm not come with the force, the force is with me it's not me, like I'm the guy that's always going for the extra hit, right? Yeah, I'm not a patient gamer and, like Elden, I'm amazed at how well. It's taken me a long time. I think it's taken me 105 hours. I think I've played at a total of like 140, but in this run is 109, and I'm not even at the end of the game, right? So the point is is I've taken a very long time to get to where I am, but it took me a long time to even understand the mechanics of the game. But I still don't even get it all. Like I've never used one of the rune arcs. I've never used a like the thing that the remembrance thing.

Speaker 1:

I've never cashed in remembrance things, in those like watch walking, like mausoleum things. There's so many things that I've skipped and done which I'm gonna regret not finishing. You know what I mean, and, yes, I can do it in new game plus. But my point is I know that where I'm at and I'm at a crossroads in the game, so I'm going to beat this dragonic tree Sentinel asshole and I have a choice to make I either have to a go back to Lindell and do all the things that I have not done, which is like there's some like subterranean stupid grounds or something like that, shunning grounds.

Speaker 1:

That's stupid grounds and like I haven't done that, I have not killed mog the lord of blood, but I've been to him. You know, I pulled him once because I wanted the dragon, the dragon, ancient dragon, somber smithing stone, so I could max out my moon veil, all of those things right. My point is I have not, like I'm not at the point of no return, so I I have a decision to make, it's I'm gonna beat this draconic tree sentinel. And then I have to stop and ask myself, do I want to stop and go back to lindell and finish? The thing that I know is there, because I know you fight Moog there before you fight him as the Lord of Blood.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I have to ask myself, do I want to go back and do that or just say, fuck it and let's finish the game? And that's where I'm very different from you. You know where I'm very different from you. You know, and I feel like I'm missing so many hidden, hidden things in the game.

Speaker 1:

There's so many hidden things in elden ring right and and and I know there's, like there's still caves that I haven't been in. You know that I haven't even found because I really haven't explored like I haven't. I've killed one dragon in the game. You know that I haven't even found Cause I really haven't explored Like I haven't. I've killed one dragon in the game. You know, do I go kill the dragons before I cause? I don't want to get to the point of no return and regret it because I don't know if I'm going to do new game Plus. I don't know. You know what I mean. What are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I have a foot rest on my chair.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I thought you were grabbing a controller and you were going to play some elden ring while we're talking.

Speaker 2:

But we totally could do that.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't, because all I would do is swear that's all you do when the mics are alive.

Speaker 2:

No, that's not true.

Speaker 1:

I'm actually if if you are restrained if on this podcast I would say I'm rated like pg-13 yeah where on working class nerds, I was straight x like I didn't give a fuck?

Speaker 2:

oh well, there's our one f-bomb from you for the whole show sir, but you dropped them three times today yeah, but that was clinically valid wow, anyway, moving on, I'm just gonna move on a little bit.

Speaker 1:

So there's, there's things in elden ring like I see on the map, but I have no idea what it is like if you pull up the map real quick, they'll bring that.

Speaker 2:

Yep, and I'm getting it.

Speaker 1:

You just keep talking yeah, so in the mountaintops of the giants there's a red circle. I have no idea what that red circle is. Never eat shred, okay. So it's all all way east, south of the pond or the lake, right, and I've kind of explored the lake, but not really. I know that there's a dungeon there. I don't know, it's not called. Maybe it's called the Shaded no, not the Shaded Castle. I don't know what it's called, but I have not done that. You know what I mean. So there's a bunch of things that I know I haven't done.

Speaker 2:

You actually don't need to worry about that red mark, marcus. Why? Because you've already completed Volcano Manor. There's two ways to get to Volcano Manor. One way is you assassinate the person who stole the locket and you become friends with the girl until she teleports you there. The other way is to go win a certain number of PvP matches against the three red marks on the map, which means if you go that route, you're not getting to Volcano Manor until you're ready for endgame, because that last one is in the mountaintops of the Giants. I'm pretty sure that's what that red mark is. Oh, mark is Marcus, mark is Marcus.

Speaker 1:

Well, I don't know, but like that's the thing. So I guess what I'm saying is I have a decision to make and I don't know what to do. Part of me is like okay, I'm at the precipice of the end game. Yep, stop and go enjoy the things. That is Elden Ring, because I don't think I'm going to start the game over. You say that, no, I'm gonna.

Speaker 1:

so what I'm gonna my plan was is beat the game, go back into the world, clean up whatever and then go into the dlc that's a good plan before, because what I don't want to do is go into the dlc in new game plus and it'd be extra harder than it needs to be because I'm already going to get my butt whooped in the DLC.

Speaker 2:

My problem with the DLC right now is actually that my character is on their sixth journey.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, dude, you should be doing it like they said. You should not go in that in New Game Plus. I really don't want to play a level one character but see, okay, so that's my point and that's that's where I'm at. But no matter what happens with elden ring, when I beat elden ring I beat the elden beast, I get the the ending with my wife and I do whatever with her and I don't know what happens. No.

Speaker 2:

Oh, ronnie, ronnie, okay.

Speaker 1:

I hope that's the ending I got because I finished her quest line so I'm praying I get her ending, but I'm not sure, did you get the giant moon blade?

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, that's good.

Speaker 1:

So like I saw her true form, that's good.

Speaker 2:

So like I saw her true form.

Speaker 1:

So I'm hoping I have her ending. That's what I was going for, but anyway, moving on.

Speaker 2:

If you defeat the final bosses you have to. You have to make sure that you reassemble the Elden Ring correctly, because you will have a choice sitting in front of you and behind you. Just make sure you look at which rune you pick up. Marcus, because there is an ending where I wanted Ronnie's ending, but I picked to do the default repair on the Elden Ring and so I got the default ending first. I had to beat the game a second time to get Ronnie's ending.

Speaker 1:

Even though I did her whole quest both times, somebody said you can create a separate save file I don't know how to do that so you can actually just keep repeating all the endings that you've unlocked on the pc version.

Speaker 2:

There is a way to do that with using, uh, save scumming basically, which is where you just go back to a save that shouldn't be accessible, or, you know, like in video games, you just reload your save so you can replay something right, um, or you can manipulate your ending, because if something doesn't go your way, you just stop playing, load your save, go back five minutes, try again, and so, uh, if you're, if you're a noble gamer, they want you to believe that whatever happens is my playthrough and I'm going to accept and that's so.

Speaker 1:

That's my point. That's probably the way I'm going to do it, because I am way too impatient, and I'm just going to want to do it because I'm going to be excited. But I I've I've rambled on long enough about it.

Speaker 2:

My point is I'm I'm interested in this because it's such a cool game and you're such a cool person and I I just want to see all that coolness collide and it fucks with my head.

Speaker 1:

And if there's a game that has fucked with my head and yes, that's three times that rated R Marcus is out. Ooh, this game messes with me so much psychologically, like when I fight a boss, literally, I should check my watch to see what my heart is beating. I can feel it beating in my chest right. This game messes with me so much and the point is right. The point I'm trying to make is that I love it so much and I don't want it to end, but I know that when I beat the game I am going to take a break from it. I don't want it to end, but I know that when I beat the game I am going to take a break from it. I don't foresee myself going into New Game Plus or right into the DLC. There's another game I really want to play. So I want to play that game, but I have to beat Elden Ring first.

Speaker 2:

What is that?

Speaker 1:

game Final Fantasy 16.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I just started that Elden Ring first. What is that game?

Speaker 1:

Final Fantasy 16. Oh, I just started that on my stream yesterday. I know I was anti-Final.

Speaker 2:

Fantasy 16 for you. What do you mean?

Speaker 1:

You've already played it Like you've already it's New Game Plus and I'm playing.

Speaker 2:

Final Fantasy mode. I don't care I love the highest difficulty.

Speaker 1:

That is fine, but I look at it like I want your natural reactions, like when you're playing a game that you've already played, you already know that Cloud is going on a date with Tifa and she's going to kissy kiss If I earned it.

Speaker 1:

Well, right, but what you're going to because you're going to platinum trophy it. But my point, I guess so I'm gonna back up the point I'm trying to make is that I wanted to see you play your next story game like fresh, like you're playing. I'm gonna use mass effect as an example. You're playing mass effect for the first time. Everything that shepherd says from you picking, is it going to be femshep or manshep? Right starting there and moving forward. All of it is all new to you. So all of the, the bad shit that happens is fresh and everybody sees your reaction. That's the streaming I love. You know. You know what I mean like, like or or first playthrough. Like. I love when people put in their streams first playthrough Elden Ring or first playthrough Dark Souls, first playthrough Final Fantasy 16, because people who played the game that love the game. They tune in to see your reaction and see where you're at in the game.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay. So here's the thing, marcus. I love everything you just said. There is a but coming though. Oh, of course there is. And for me, with the things that I do with video games and stories and in my professional life, it really does benefit me to go through things multiple times, because you notice things differently the more times you go through it. Like, how many times have you watched Return of the Jedi in your life, marcus?

Speaker 1:

Oh, a billion times.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I watched Star Wars 5,000 times. You know like from 30 Rock yeah. Yeah, thousand times, you know, like from 30 rock, yeah, uh, yeah, so, um, I really do benefit from repeating through stories because it helps the story to become mythological to me. And final fantasy 16 I played one time through two summers ago. I do not remember the details of what happens, I only remember the broad strokes.

Speaker 1:

But you still remember the big parts is the point I'm trying to make. I'm using Mass Effect as a placeholder. Mass Effect is dialogue and choices and it's like you're playing SWotor in sci-fi, sci-fi world. Right, you're making dialogue, choices, you're making those choices and it's going to really affect your game later. And there's actual points in the game where, because it connects through three games, that if one of your characters dies, it doesn't continue in the next game. That character's done.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a lot of times you life is right, A lot of people restart the game that restart their save point so that they can try to save that character because you're going to lose that whole arc in the next game. But my point is, I respect you a lot for what you're saying. How playing it again? But there is nothing better than a content creator playing something for the first time, in that reaction of something natural happening. It's the big points that are shocking. I'll use myself with Elden Ring when I was running through the lake in Limgrave. I was streaming it and I'm like do, do, do, do, do and there's like this little like area where there's some enemies and I'm killing some enemies and I jump up on my, my noble steed and I'm giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, dude Right, and all of a sudden a fucking dragon comes out of nowhere.

Speaker 1:

Dude I yeah that reaction took a like. My chat was going bananas because I was just like you know what I mean, because I never saw it same thing with you with a game that you've never seen. Now I understand the mythological part, but that there's nothing like a fresh first playthrough, first reaction of when you meet the first jerk face in the game and you're like, wow, that guy's a real asshole. But in a game you've played once, two summers ago, you're going to remember oh, I remember this guy. He's an asshole.

Speaker 2:

There's a part two to something I'm trying to figure out for myself, and I'm just going to be completely open here. I am not good at following stories when I'm streaming.

Speaker 1:

And okay, and I agree and I agree.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like if a cut scene happens, my natural tendency is to dive into the chat or just talk about something, and when the scene is over and I get to control my character, now I'm back into the game. I don't stay attentive to the story when I have the chance to be social.

Speaker 1:

So I challenge you and I agree is you're just going to have to flip-flop that and you're going to have to force yourself and you can even put it in your stream chat. It says during cut scenes I'm not talking, it's my first playthrough. And then, as soon as the cut scene's over and you get access to your character when you're running around going pew, pew, pew, pew, that and you get access to your character when you're running around going pew, pew, pew, pew. That's when you're talking to people go, oh my God, johnny, thanks, I didn't realize Talia had such a nice booty. No backseating, yeah, whatever, but I guess for me that's just my view. I really love watching first playthroughs.

Speaker 2:

All right. So here's what we'll do. We're going to send an email to EA. We're going to say I really need to play mass effect, but you got to pay me to do it. And then they'll just, they'll sponsor me, and then I'll play mass effect.

Speaker 1:

Can I sponsor you by buying you the mass effect legendary edition.

Speaker 2:

I already have it on two. I can play it two ways.

Speaker 1:

I have it on two. I can play it two ways. I have it um gaming persona. I don't have it on steam gaming persona, fans, listeners, friends of the show, friends of mine, friends of doc, students of doc, co-workers of doc. I don't know if I've ever brought out my two favorite words to doc right now, but he's gonna get them. Them Suck less, doc.

Speaker 2:

It's part of my backlog. It's part of my list of things that I'm going to do one day.

Speaker 1:

Dude, one of these days we're going to talk about our backlogs. We're going to pull it up.

Speaker 2:

It's devastating.

Speaker 1:

Well, mine is too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So a backlog for everybody that doesn't know, are the games that you have bought because they were on sale and you own them and you could totally play them right now. But you haven't played them, you haven't completed them, you haven't even booted them up and gone to the main menu and said new game. You just own them for no reason, because someday we believe that we will have the magical time to play the game.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to find it. I forget what it's called. It's a shooter I bought and it haunts me to this day. Shit. It begins with R.

Speaker 2:

What is the game on your backlog that you want to play the most, but you probably never will?

Speaker 1:

I'm looking at it right now, but I'm trying to find this. Oh, I bought this game. It's called Red Faction Guerrilla Steam Edition.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I wanted to play this game. So bad, let me click on it. When did I buy it? Does it show when I bought it? No, it's only 7.51 gigs, so it's an Xbox 360 game. What I'm looking at, my games of? What game? And oh, I can answer that without a doubt. Let me just double check before I confirm what that game is. Sorry, it's. Uh, yeah, I think I figured that out real quick. Oh, oh, and I'm going back to Quantic Dreams. It's called Indigo, prophecy Indigo. Okay. So All right, you ready here it is the one game that I want to play, that I will never, ever play. Is Tomb Raider? Which one? The new ones? It can either be Rise of the Tomb Raider or play. Is Tomb Raider? Which one? The new ones? It can either be Rise of the Tomb Raider or the first Tomb Raider.

Speaker 2:

I kid you not, Marcus. I don't know if you can tell.

Speaker 1:

No, your screen is weird.

Speaker 2:

Well, you can kind of tell what those bottom six games are? I can't at all, I'm literally looking at six Tomb Raider games in my library right now trying to figure out what my backlog is, I'm going to say Red Dead Redemption 2. I know it is, it's just right there, I could play it today and I just I'm not going to Nothing against it. I know I love it, I know I'd appreciate it. I know I love it, I know I'd appreciate it, I know it would matter to me.

Speaker 1:

I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Near Automata is also another one where I know I need. I've actually played the opening sequence of that game two different times and it just I never go back to it. And I need to. It's Square Enix, I would love it. It has a crossover with my favorite MMO right now, final Fantasy XIV. There's three alliance raids where you go into the world of Nier Automata, and that isn't even enough to convince me to play it. I need to play it. I need to get a statue of 2b, put her back there behind me, do an archetype video on youtube and play near automata for the first time, and then I will be doing what you say will bring me to the next level, marcus well, I didn't say it will bring you to the next level.

Speaker 1:

I'm telling you what I enjoy watching. Hmm, I love watching for first playthroughs, like when I fight that boss in a crumbling pharma Azula sponsored by Pfizer. I might stream that just because I know there's going to be a lot of people that are going to want to see that. Yeah, and maybe it's not like the day I stream it, but it'll be in the video after.

Speaker 1:

Cause people like watching that. Anyways, I have to ask you something super important. Okay, cause it's been on my mind for I don't know a couple of days now. If you could have one video game character be your coworker, who would it be and what would their job title be?

Speaker 2:

Oh man, this is why I asked the questions, marcus. I tweeted that out a couple days ago and it was very interesting to look at what people came up with on the different apps. Oh my gosh, do you have an answer for this question? I'll answer first, but I'm just asking you. No, I'm asking you I know I'm gonna, I'm asking you, okay, um, so it. I just think it would be really cool to have dante from devil may cry be a co-worker but what would their job title be?

Speaker 2:

um, I don't know, office jester, I don't know, like he, I, I, I don't think I want him to be my supervisor or manager. I think he'd be very hard to manage as well. So, um, I, I think I mean job titles like I, I work at university and I, I, I work with counseling professionals. So like I don't. I don't know if dante would be good at that, but he'd probably be like IT or something, something where you can just put your feet up, eat pizza and just say have you tried turning it on and off again? Jerk.

Speaker 1:

He'd be your IT guy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, dante, from Devil May Cry my IT guy.

Speaker 1:

Is it plugged in? What's Dante do At night or during the day? During the day, he's our IT guy.

Speaker 2:

Why not?

Speaker 1:

Right? No, I agree with you. I 100% agree with you, 100 agree with you what about?

Speaker 2:

what about for you, marcus?

Speaker 1:

so I have two. One of them is kind of funny because it would be um ronnie from elden ring okay. And her job title would be HR.

Speaker 2:

Oh man, that's tough.

Speaker 1:

Can you?

Speaker 2:

imagine the giant witch hat. You can't see her face when you enter the room and you just have to go in and talk about how the manager is making the wrong kind of comments. Right, yeah, wow.

Speaker 1:

Yep, and then the other, my other one, it would be Guile from Street Fighter, ooh okay, and he would be the security guard.

Speaker 2:

Okay. I just had another one that I think would be super fun and it's kind of because you said Guile, I think, Captain Falcon, oh, my god being the trainer for new higher orientation.

Speaker 1:

Show me your moves.

Speaker 2:

There's also so, going back to like the statues in my youtube videos and who I'm attracted to in video games, there's also some other ones that are probably caused for hr issues. We're not talking about those on the show, right so everybody.

Speaker 1:

The reason why I did that is because, doc, this week he came out with some spectacular questions on social media and I appreciated it and I did not. I think I answered one, I can't remember, but I actually thought about it all week and I was like I'm going to talk about this on the show because he's asking questions that don't normally get asked. He's asking questions that don't normally get asked and if you know whether you answered it online or not, but when you hear us talk about it, think about that answer and laugh to yourself, because I thought guile, right away, because he's just this army guy, air force guy and he's like got the long hair and his head's always bobbing.

Speaker 1:

But like if he was your security guard at a grocery store or a mall paul blart, mall cop or whatever that is he'd fuck you up no, yeah, you're not gonna, you're gonna think twice about stealing from with guiles around guys like eight feet tall, yeah, or what. What's that other uh fighter that has uh the long like the extendo legs?

Speaker 2:

Dhalsim.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Can you imagine if he was a security guard? Like get the fuck out of here.

Speaker 2:

You're not going to steal anything from that mall, right Exactly.

Speaker 1:

Oh man. Yeah, I don't remember which question I answered, but I know I answered one.

Speaker 2:

But you know what? I'm going to bring a little bit more of that serious psychological angle to this too, because the questions are fun, but they also highlight the relationships we build with these fictional characters, and I think that that's really powerful stuff, because if you spend your time with fictional characters or real people for years and years of your life, you do start to understand what their strengths are and what kind of fun situations it would be great to have them in Like friendships. You know, like I picked Dante because I want to hang out with dante. I just think that would be fun at work, even if he does end up shooting my computer with his guns because it's not working and then saying it's my fault.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, let me ask you a question, though do you think, if you met dante in real life and he wasn't out killing and murdering people, I bet he's pretty chill.

Speaker 2:

He murders demons. I don't think he kills any people.

Speaker 1:

No but. I bet he's pretty chill.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely yeah, he's so laid back In my book. I gave him the jester archetype because he's always cracking jokes, kind of like how Spider-man does it in marvel comics. You know like, yeah, he handles his business in combat, but he's wise, cracking and making fun of the whole situation all the time. And dante has that. You know, there's a, yeah, there's a. There's a hat that he gets in. Devil may cry five that becomes a weapon.

Speaker 2:

It's from, it's based on uh, dr faustus, right so it's yeah so, but when he gets the hat, it's the same hat that michael jackson wears, I think in the billy jean music video. He does the whole michael jackson dance like in the middle of a boss fight. The boss fight stops so that he can just be Michael Jackson for 90 seconds or something like that. It's amazing. It's an amazing video game moment. It makes you realize that you're trying to save the world and the fate of all existence from the most powerful demons that can be summoned. But let's do an entire tribute to Michael Jackson right now, and I think that things like that are fun and they bring levity and they remind you to enjoy yourself, even when things feel like you're on the struggle bus, and that kind of is what video games are all about at a certain level yeah man so I I don't know where to go from there.

Speaker 1:

Hey, well, I think that I have a challenge for you. Well, I think that I have a challenge for you. All right, let's do it. No-transcript okay.

Speaker 2:

Well, I want to bring up one thing that does tie back to where we were 20 minutes ago did you just avoid my goddamn question no, I'm gonna answer it, but I need to. I need to share something that happened earlier today.

Speaker 1:

I know I want a yes or a no, like challenge accepted, or am I gonna be a wuss like what the fuck? You can't? No, no, stop. Challenge accepted or I'm a wuss.

Speaker 2:

Those are the two answers I want to say yes, marcus. The reality is, I don't know if I will have two hours to play. How many days a week do you stream? Well, I missed my stream today. So two or three.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and how many hours do you usually stream on a stream?

Speaker 2:

Asking me to play a backlog game on my stream is very different than asking me to play a backlog game for two hours.

Speaker 1:

It's the same shit. That's when you're playing video games.

Speaker 2:

I really like being able to focus on new stories and get my thoughts oriented around them.

Speaker 1:

Hmm, new stories. Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Ooh, that's a new story and you can get your thoughts around it. Next Ooh, that's a new story and you can get your thoughts around it.

Speaker 2:

Next.

Speaker 1:

See, I don't know if I'm in the mood for Mass Effect right now. It doesn't have to be Mass Effect. Actually, can I backtrack? I challenge you to play Star Wars, the Old Republic, for two hours this week. I have a 30-day subcode you can use Boom Next.

Speaker 2:

I could do that.

Speaker 1:

Oh shit, I said no. I want to hear you say challenge accepted.

Speaker 2:

You're freaking me. I can't keep my face straight.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's the point of a podcast. This is what two friends do to each other.

Speaker 2:

Your ass got called out, so hard right now. I'm too weak, don't let him kill me. Anakin, you are the chosen one, okay, yeah. So I will say, challenge accepted, that I will enter this week with the intention to play Star Wars the Republic for two hours.

Speaker 1:

Perfect One stream Star Wars the Republic.

Speaker 2:

I didn't say stream, that's a different thing.

Speaker 1:

I think your fans would love that.

Speaker 2:

I know they would. It's really hard. I actually have a fear inside that it will be a lot of nostalgia, but it will be a lot of emotions. I don't want while the camera is on me.

Speaker 1:

I think so, as much as I agree, but I think you create a new character Brand new I have like 21 characters. Why do I need to create another one? So?

Speaker 2:

you're starting fresh Okay.

Speaker 1:

And you just create a new character and you pick something that you don't do Go to Korriban Right and enjoy that Sith code. Yeah, Sith code, you know as well as I do. There is nothing during that opening planet of the first two hours of that game. That's disappointing.

Speaker 2:

Marcus, I don't know. Do you have any tattoos? Yeah, okay, I have been thinking for a while about what tattoo would I want if I had one. I'm really excited right now yeah, I know, that's why I interrupted you. I try to be polite, but I was like not with me if I don't if let this moment go, I'm never going to talk about it on the show.

Speaker 2:

So there is a circle on all of Joseph Campbell's books. It's a Zen circle. It's used in things that are meditative, so if you go to a place with like yoga or meditation, they might have this circle in their logo. All of Joseph Campbell's books have it on the binding or on the front cover and the gamer's journey has it.

Speaker 1:

I got it at the hero's journey yep, yep, here the yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that circle is the hero's journey, right?

Speaker 1:

okay, like if you see it I see it.

Speaker 2:

I was thinking today about different fictional characters that have tattoos that I think are really cool. And in Full Metal Alchemist there is a character named Scar. Okay, he has a scar on his face and he has tattoos on his left and his right arm. His right arm destroys things and his left arm can heal things, and the tattoos are how he does that. I don't want to do full arm tattoos on both arms, but I was thinking about things that are like light and dark, that I am a fan of, and so Star Wars came up. I don't want to put the code of the Sith or Jedi on my arm. That's a lot of words, that's not really what I want. But I was thinking what if I had a chain? I'm just like contemplating this. It's like a complete, it's like a work in progress. But what if I had like a chain that like wrapped around a few times across my forearm but it's broken in the middle by the zen circle? Because finishing that book is my victory and through victory I gain strength.

Speaker 1:

My chains are broken look at the chat right now look at the chat looking. Now. Look at the chat looking. I'm looking. Hang on, let me catch up to where we're at, so where I'm gonna go with what you're saying.

Speaker 2:

So I've always wanted this tattoo oh yeah, it's the republic in the sith empire right there, just a cut circle right.

Speaker 1:

But I want I want the jedi or the republic on the bottom and I wanted to have the sith on the top on my arm and have the red border of the, the imperial logo, bleeding down over the top of the jedi logo or vice versa. Probably, probably, actually I said that backwards. I want the Jedi logo bleeding on top of the Sith because I'm natural Jedi bleed.

Speaker 1:

No, no, no, Because I'm naturally like my the way I jump at things. It sounds like I'm a Sith, but really, at heart, I'm a Jedi, like I really, you're just a very lovable puppy dog that we need to pet. Right, exactly, the guys at work call me the golden retriever of facilities, right like you, are a golden retriever, marcus right, so that's. I hope my friends never hear this conversation, but anyway, so I always wanted that tattoo but so, so hear me out.

Speaker 1:

A new challenge has arisen, oh no, so I am coming out in January. I'm going to be out there for 10 days for my daughter's birthday. Let's go get a tattoo together.

Speaker 2:

I can't say yes to that right now, marcus. Okay, because it's fun to think about. I don't know if I'm at the point where I actually want to do it, so this is called contemplation. Yeah Right, like I really am, I'm not even on the fence yet. It's just like if I was going to do it, what would it be? And I want to have a good answer to that question that I can be excited about, and I do think the idea that I just shared is interesting. I I don't know if I want to look at my arm every day of my life and it's there, you know well, so I only have two and they both mean something dearly to me.

Speaker 1:

But the tattoo I the the sith republic, uh, the republic, sith empire, that's not what I would get on my body. Yeah, that would not be the tattoo. But if you want like what I'm saying is, if you wanted to do it I would contact the artist who was going to do it prior to and him and I would go back and forth, or her and I would go back and forth, and I would. I mean I would get what I want because, believe it or not, it's going to go on top of my heart.

Speaker 2:

And uh so lovely.

Speaker 1:

Well, it, yeah, um, it's for my grandma, but it's. It's something that I want, but, needless to say, I would do that with you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it's, that sounds really, really fun. Um, you know, you know the the thing about that permanence, right, like I remember a point in time in my life where star wars the old republic was the game that I was gonna play forever, and then it wasn't. And so if something like that can break for me, then why would I want a tattoo? You know, and I was talking with another friend about this earlier, um, and, and like she was talking to me about all the coverups that she has done, because as time goes on, it's like I don't want this anymore, but we can turn it into that or we can completely, like, do something over it, and that sounds like a lot of work to me too. So I don't know, I just have been thinking about it. I mean, clearly, I've been going through a lot of changes and trying to get through life and enjoy life, and so there's some things that, like in my twenties, it's like no, I don't need to do that.

Speaker 1:

That's not me, and now I'm almost 40 and it's like, no, I could do that. That would be interesting. What would it be? You know you want it, and so I got it yeah, and I've had a sense.

Speaker 1:

And the second one connects me and my sister. And it's silly but like my sister now lives in kansas city and I get to see her, maybe, maybe twice a year, right, like we talk on the phone but we don't get to see each other a lot and I, whenever I like, I have that feeling of missing her, or whatever. I just I can look at that and go, you know what, yeah, it's permanent, but I'm fucking damn proud that I have that feeling of missing her or whatever. I just I can look at that and go, you know what? Yeah, it's permanent, but I'm fucking damn proud that I have that, because she has the same exact thing, just a different part of her body, right?

Speaker 2:

And it's fun yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like I've never put like a name on me. You know what I mean. It has to be a symbol but anyway we could put a name in orabesh.

Speaker 2:

Well, nick did that for my grandma yes, he has something written in arbush on top of his heart oh, our bash is a star wars language.

Speaker 1:

Everybody um I love the fact that you explain to everybody you have. You're so thorough that you have to explain to everybody. You don't leave anything to chance that they can do the google you can't google when you're driving in a car?

Speaker 2:

sure you can, yeah, but your your uh car insurance app is going to tell you that your rates are going up yeah but I I just want to emphasize, too, that the ideas we're talking about for these tattoos.

Speaker 2:

They're from video games or properties that have video games attached to them, because these are the stories that ended up mattering to us moral storytelling in the way that some of the oldest stage plays used to, and get us to understand the battle between good and evil and the balance between right and wrong. And that's, in my opinion, where video games really give us something these days, and that kind of thing, whether it was Heavy Rain and trying to help a dad find his child who got abducted by a serial killer Tragic story, but like it got me. I was in grad school the first time I played it and it got me. I got every ending in that game because I I had to see all the different ways it can play out, the happy ones in the devastating ones. Uh, video games do that right, the same way Netflix documentaries do. But you know what? We played it and it was our choices that got us there. We're not just watching it, um, did you?

Speaker 1:

know I bought. I bought a PS three just for that game.

Speaker 2:

That is a solid choice, Marcus. Like Heavy Rain, is seriously one of the most compelling video game stories I have ever come across.

Speaker 1:

But I remember getting it and I hadn't used a PlayStation controller since the PlayStation 1. Like a couple times a PS2.

Speaker 2:

X and Square was probably used a playstation controller since the playstation one likea couple times, a ps2 x and square was probably such a big problem, dude, when I was telling you to press circle.

Speaker 1:

I'm looking at, I'm like what the fuck is circle?

Speaker 2:

circle. Where's b? Yeah, where's b?

Speaker 2:

yes, and then you throw in a nintendo controller and it's all messed up like get out of here so, marcus, I'm okay with xbox because I play elden ring on pc and I know that y is triangle, right like it's it's. It's not a problem. The thing that kills me is the switch. What the heck nintendo? Why is everything backwards? You know what it's backwards compared to the super nintendo? Like I don't understand what's wrong with nintendo. You know what it's backwards compared to the super nintendo. Like I don't understand what's wrong with nintendo. You know what?

Speaker 1:

nintendo did the middle finger to everybody out there no, okay, like I did I.

Speaker 2:

we had a really good response from the the tweet about the gaming persona this morning too. Um, just putting front center. We're talking about the switch price. People are so fascinated they can't get enough of that conversation. We are running into like overtime here. I don't really care, I'm having so much fun talking about this.

Speaker 1:

This is our longest together. Now, I didn't realize that, I didn't realize that we're on a time limit.

Speaker 2:

No, we're not. I just wanted to call out that this is officially our longest episode together.

Speaker 1:

Now, it's because you haven't, because my chains are broken. Buddy, if you give me the opportunity, I can start talking, and and you took like a 15 minute challenge that you had to think about.

Speaker 2:

That's true too. Also, when we're talking about things I'm really passionate about, the conversation never ends.

Speaker 1:

I know we've talked today. We talked for like an hour on the phone.

Speaker 2:

Marcus, we've been talking about star Wars, the old Republic, since 2017. And that conversation has never really ended, it's just paused, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, do you know, what's really exciting is that you're going to be playing star Wars a Republic for two hours this week.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, continue the journey Everyone.

People on this episode

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Daniel Kaufmann

Host
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MarcusB814

Co-host