Giant Bomb Presents: Paul Barnett's Golden Rule

yay!

Nice!

Oh man, a hot dose of Paul Barnett is exactly what I need right now.

Drop a Barnett on it!

I was just listening to the E3 2009 Bombcast with Paul on it a while back. Paul was the best part of that episode, always glad to hear more from him.

Paul Barnett is a pretty funny dude.

He sounds like an Irish Dave Snider!

Paul Barnett is still great, I see.

Great stuff, love me some Paul Barnett!

@xbob42 said:

Except for the bit where he isn't Irish.

Navel gazing in the best way. Compelling stuff.

Paul Barnett never fails to entertain with his stories.

Paul has a beautiful Jamaican accent.

This was perfect. Will share it with my friends studying game development! Will be fun talking about our golden age!

Keep up the good work GB.

Finally someone else uses the Dumptruck.

It's sound more like Russian Spanish to me.

Yeah some content.

"Why EA is the last place on earth you should ever want to work."

I completely disagree with the "Golden Age" idea by the way. By that I mean I know it exists for many people but I think it's generally a bad thing to have. And I don't have one at all. To me that all just seems like nostalgia distorting the facts. Break free from nostalgia!

I would very much like to see more discussions about this subject.

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Paul Barnett talked about the "Golden Age" thing way back when he first popped up in GB stuff around GDC '09. Very interesting idea. Excited to hear this. I firmly believe anything that Paul says is gold, I am delighted when he pops up occasionally in videos, podcasts etc.

Still nice to know that my favorite game site is headed by a dude that's all about the Genesis.

This was a nice surprise, Barnett's always a cool dude. Always.

Watch and weep, there IS a NEW ROAD RASH:

So you have no games from your childhood that you hold dear even when other people say they're garbage? And you preclude the possibility that you (perhaps even on a subconscious level) assess games based on your earliest experiences with the medium?

And what are these 'facts' that you speak of? Like graphical fidelity? Or the level of simulated realism? In what ways, according to you, do these facts factor into your experience with games and your appreciation of them?

I feel the same way as Jeff when I hear people talk about Halo, and the "combat puzzle" - dood, not like that.

I remember Paul Barnett talking about the golden age of gaming from one of GB's GDC podcast several years ago. I think it was probably 2009. Interesting guy!

yo barnett sure can talk.

It's probably urine.

I don't remember Paul being this candid the last time I saw him doin' things with the GB dudes. I'd listen to this man talk if he came to my university.

One of the best pitches I've ever seen was a video of Paul Barnett standing in a corner, just fuckin' stokedabout Warhammer Online. In it, he makes the argument that the races in Warhammer Fantasy Battle (the main ones, anyways) are all based on British regional and societal stereotypes.

Edit: Found it. (although the embed isn't working on my end, so if it's broken on your end too, here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvAznIRVLA)

Paul Barnett is a national treasure!!

The Golden Rule has always and will always be "Don't sleep with family", that "Do onto others..." is just bs.

Always great to hear Paul on the site, next time you guys SHOULD just chat for 3 hours.

How old are you?

I think they hit the nail on the head, personally.

Oh fuck

Paradroid you say? :)

@rvone:

I feel nearly no nostalgia for anything whatsoever. I played good games when I was a child and I've played bad games as an adult and vice versa. Almost all of my favourite games were not played during my "golden age" of gaming.

Again, I know this IS the case for many (if not most) people. I just don't think it's a very good thing.

As for the "facts", I meant if those games are actually good or not. Like Paul Barnett gave as an example with the person thinking Farmville is some kind of fantastic game. Just because that happened to be the first or one of the first games that person played.

@cthomer5000:

A little younger than Jeff.

And I know Paul's theory works for many people, probably even most people. That's not exactly what I was getting at. I was questioning the merits of it.

That's what I find so interesting about nostalgia in general.

I'll listen to anything with Paul Barnett in it. Really interesting guy

Every part of the text that describes this conversation brings tears to my eyes.

I bet the actual conversation will brim with cautious optimism.

Does Paul hail from Burnley?

no road rash? no road rash? no road rash..... Why god, why???? That's so depressing, I could apply for a job in EA, but the idea I can't say casually in a cafeteria and go "Hey man, Road Rash is really hot." This is a dystopian future where you can't mention road rash.

The Brits are a nostalgic past-oriented culture, I don't identify with Barnett's Golden Era perspective even though everything a human is is the sum of past experiences.

well he's not dave snider either

I dig Paul a lot. Just like how the recent Charlie Brooker video game retrospective took an odd Brit-centered detour to cover the Spectrum and C64 rivalry of the early 80s, there's certain parts of video game history (like the later ST/Amiga schism) I only hear about infrequently and it's cool to hear someone bring it up in a room full of Americans who were raised on Nintendo and Sega alone during the E3 'casts.

Even so, I don't agree with his Golden Age philosophy, at least as far it pertains to video games alone - having nostalgia for things you did as a kid will always be potent because our reception to stimuli was that much stronger. Colors were more vivid, sounds were sharper and time would often feel like it was standing still, especially during the summer. As for older folks getting addicted to Candy Crush and similar F2P shit, being addicting is largely what those games were designed to be. Maybe not being around games as often, not having nurtured the necessary willpower to reject that endless cycle of response and reward that trapped so many when WoW was a thing (or more than a thing than it is now, at least), allowed those mobile games to dig their psychological claws into them all the deeper. People are buying Angry Birds Star Wars for $50 - this is how bad it's gotten.

YAY! I've mentioned before how Paul is the smartest and most original man to listen to in video games.

Always enjoy a podcast with him.

that was a reallly cool interveiw

Always love listening to Paul.

fantastic conversation, guys. Loved it. More Paul Barnett please!

Love you Paul. xx