The Giant Beastcast: Episode 46

If you guys want to know more about the war brewing in EVE right now, check out this link, it has everything you'll need to know.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/4cdmmc/wtf_is_going_on_the_answer/

@austin_walker you'll definitely want to check this out

Yeah a male elf can fuck a dragon but he cannot fuck another male elf. That's against God! Jesus eat a bullet. I get where some of this comes from, I felt the one gay guy in ME3 was a little forced but two sentences is not pushing an agenda. Put your hateful energy elsewhere.

Always down for some EVE talk. Thanks @marginalmagus!

I'm not sure I'm ready for more murder.

Pretty much for the exact reasons you stated. Since those are common criticisms of that game in general. Obviously there are more to be leveled at it, but that's a good general gist.

As one of the token libertarians around here, all i can do is tell you what the some say on the other side. Once Brendan Eich was targeted to the point of forced resignation, it was a signal that the game rules had been changed. The escalation of personal targeting is sad, but both sides would point to victims of unfair treatment and say they didnt start it.

I think its a shame things have gone this far. I think its a shame we cant unite around the love of gaming. I often disagree with duders politically, but my enjoyment of Giant Bomb content, and the crew personally far outweighs differing opinions on other topics. It has also allowed me a window into other points of view and a better understanding of valuable subjects, big and small. I used to react to things without even a thought about the people on the other side, but now i try to understand their perspective. Giant Bomb has been instrumental in turning mere political opponents into people i respect and want to understand. I wish everyone had a Giant Bomb, then maybe things would be different.

@yummylee: I felt Inquisition tackled those subjects in a really heavy-handed way. The way they changed things around in the lore to fit their views really pulled me out of that game.

I feel like I'm missing out by having never played Baldur's Gate.

I really liked Dragon Age: Origins and Inquisition.

What sucks about the whole Baldur's Gate thing (and gaming culture discourse in general) is that there's a level of reactionary hostility that makes it impossible to have a nuanced opinion.

I haven't played the expansion, but I know that if I was critical of the character on twitter, there's a decent chance some piece of shit would take a sceenshot and say "See, even this tranny is on our side, so who's the bigot now?" and get 200 retweets. It's infuriating.

That said, there's a REASON why this one character is getting all the negative attention. If people were just mad about the expansion being poorly written, the backlash wouldn't look like this. In fact, I've had some people very "politely" explain to me that they're not bigots, but this is escapist fantasy where they don't to be reminded that people like me exist.

Edit:

@austin_walker: "15 year old Austin was transphobic"

Don't worry about it. I was preeetty transphobic well into my early twenties. And then I realized I was trans. Womp womp.

re: 980ti Jeff

Twenty bucks says it's the power supply.

Do you have a list of what you're using in your rig?

You did a much better job of expressing what I was getting at than I did. Thank you!

Man, I know you guys hear this a lot, but you all have put together a really excellent show. I love the level of discourse you've established and I'm always surprised at how genuinely funny each of you is. The Beastcast always brightens my day. Thank you for putting so much effort into it. @vinny@alex@austin_walker (sorry I don't know Jeff's username)

What, Krem? What was changed in the lore for his sake? I thought he was implemented really naturally into the game personally. Heavy-handed is certainly not how I'd describe him or his role in the game. And I should also add for the record that I think Inquisition as a whole sucks and that it's modern BioWare's worst game... But I thought Krem was alright at least and credit where credit's due and all that.

All it really does is make everybody aware of it whenever it happened as unlike before when it was just a few people who wrote it\read it.

It's weird that I enjoyed the discussion on the beastcast way more than on the bombcast.

I do not get the zealouness that seems to dominate both "sides" of the "SJW" debate. It seems to have boiled down to "our side - the inclusive saints with the moral high ground" vs. "our side - the proud and stout defenders of free speech and personal freedom against a conspiracy with an agenda" and as an European, it is tiring to watch and seems very ideological.

@d_w: I always thought it would be funny it that book was the medieval equivalent of some kid's high school notebook doodles.

Man this is one of the best episode of the Beastcast. I'm really happy that they're willing to go into the sorts of discussions now. It's great and important.

@freedom4556: Absolutely! On a recent Match 3, Patrick read an e-mail of someone who would write fanficton in a made up cipher when they were a teen and I instantly thought of voynich manuscript being something like that.

@mint_ice_cream: Ahh, OK. My memory failed me there. Thanks for clearing that up, I feel better now :)

You're not wrong, it's just weird I don't know why I enjoyed more. The discussion just seemed more, I dunno, open?

@robopengy: No problem

Emailer Jeff's problems with the 980ti really reminded me of my 970 woes. I picked up a gtx970 last January with the intent of finally building a rig I could be proud of, but the headaches started piling up from the moment of installation. Like Jeff I eventually reached the point of despair and it wasn't until a couple months later and the combination of flashing my BIOS, installing a new CPU, and nvidia updating their drivers that I actually got to use the card without consistent video and audio issues. Best of luck to him!

Max Payne 3 is dope Alex. A GBE Playdate of one of that game's missions would be awesome.

I go to the Bombcast and Beastcast for different things these days. Both are excellent in their own ways, but they manage to scratch different itches. What I love is that the addition of @austin_walker has brought a great academic nuance to the discussions about gaming in the podcast. And I think this has allowed @vinny to show that he's not just that big adorable goof ball we all know and love. He's incredibly insightful, humane and intelligent as well as being a big ol puppy. And then by extension Alex and Jeff also contribute to the debates which makes it just an awesome listen. Thanks guys, please keep on trucking.

Man, I really wish I could have a Vinny, Bakalar, Gerstmann podcast. Pretty sure I'd laugh for a week straight if that existed.

Twitter is always clogged with people arguing about social issues, reddit too.

I hope talking about that stuff doesn't become the new norm for the beastcast. It's tiresome.

@andrack: I remember that one. "Yuuki Yuuna no Yuusha", or "Yuuki Yuuna is a hero". I watched it a couple of months ago. Great music. If I recall correctly, some people ended up feeling quite betrayed when it turned out that [Mild spoiler] the disabled girl hadn't been disabled from birth, but had been disabled because of plot-related reasons..

@grimluck343: I think the big difference is that the beastcast actually went in depth on the issue, while the bombcast just alluded to it in evasive terms, pausing only to condemn the internet.

Hello from the wild world of anime! I believe the show you might be thinking of is Yuki Yuna is a Hero And yes, it is available to stream on Crunchyroll. Stay weird, Japan!

Here are some direct quotes, with plenty of context:

Austin: I know that the comments are going to be a mess because many people feel passionately about this in a bunch of different ways but I fundamentally think that this was an important thing to talk about and to not pretend like this didn't happen.

Vinny: Oh sure, and I think people should go out there and support the artists they think they should support but I also think there are ways to do it. I have to think there are ways to do it without being hateful about it. Like the people who disagree or agree, there's conversation there if you want to have it, but you don't have to be the ones who are sending death threats, and if you are, stop listening.

Alex: I don't want anyone listening to this show that would in anyway condone what led us to this place. The issue we take the most umbrage with is this sort of organized targeting and harassment that has led us to this place.

I think saying 'people who would make death threats are not welcome here' is a very clear rejection of a specific extreme behaviour that is indefensible. By being a part of this awesome community I would not want to be associated with -even via proximity- anyone who thinks death threats or harassment campaigns are acceptable.

Alex and Vinny later admit to being jerks themselves when they were younger and that it took seeing people around them hurt by their actions to spark a change. Alex and Vinny very forcefully condemning this kind of thing is exactly the kind of catalyst someone might need to undergo the same transition.

I really love what the Beastcast has become, a perfect blend of opinions, humour and information.

Great work guys.

@sethmode

I'm a bad ambassador I guess? ash and amane and poison aren't there to create a diverse roster, they're there for fan art for weebs to jerk it to. inclusive progressive 'ally' or fetishist, its all the same to me. inclusion has never helped me personally cause where I live it's dangerous to be 'someone like me,' which makes it more difficult to accept that in a fantasy world with heavy patriarchal and fascist undertones (its baldurs gate ffs) that person is allowed to exist. it's still hell lol. also if you look to fantasy video games for good writing you're kinda doin it wrong. (my opinion only // not one of the good ones // bad ambassador)

e: i guess what i mean is, it shouldn't feel absurd that we exist in fiction despite my personal feelings of absurdity and that we should thrive where the imagination is not repressed, but it does cause of circumstance and personal failures. anyway i love this podcast please never leave

I don't comment often, but I listen to every podcast. Just wanted to say I'm thrilled that you're discussing tough issues in the gaming industry, and happy that you're so supportive of diversity and outspoken against those who are sending death threats in their spare time. Having these conversations civilly is how progress is made.

Great episode as always. Really enjoyed the corrections in particular.

V Sauce did a really good episode on supertasks that is worth checking out if you're interested in the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffUnNaQTfZE

I don't think you're a bad ambassador at all. I see where you're coming from totally. I admit I didn't phrase my initial post as well as I could have, mostly out of building frustrating on my part. It just bugs me when I see criticism that seems to focus so much on the existent of the character as a negative, as opposed to just simply saying "Hey, the writing sucks." Instead, a lot of what I read is "This writing sucks and is political and is force feeding me a trans character that is too obviously trans" and it just shouts to me as if they might as well be saying "trans people are icky".

Glad they discussed the Nintendo thing. My stance is Nintendo had every right to let her go, but this got me thinking about the ramifications of the whole situation.

Is the Space Pope reptilian? I guess not... :(

It seems similar to illegally-gathered evidence in court. It doesn't matter if it makes an airtight case of guilt, you throw it out because otherwise you encourage people to keep doing it. I doubt whatever trouble her "job-on-the-side" could've caused is anywhere close to the can of worms Nintendo opened when they revealed that external groups with an agenda can get whomever they want fired.

(As for the whole "she deserved to get fired" argument, I've chatted with some HR folks about it. They believe if everyone's histories were dug up, companies could find a reason to fire nearly anyone in their workforce, so arguing that only people with spotless records deserve to be employed is rather... extreme.)

@gryffinp to be fair the internet deserves to be condemned. It's a dark place.

To the person with the GPU problems. What's the wattage of your power supply? The problem might be from the power supply not having enough wattage to support your graphics card.

Word of advice: When considering these social justice issues never trust your gut. Your gut instinct is based on deeply (perhaps subconsciously) held beliefs. Your gut is not open to new perspectives and new ideas, and what we need now are open minds.

*cringe* Yeah, that's a tough one, Jeff W. (Speaking to the graphics card issue mentioned in the emails.) I'd go with their advice of getting expert help. It's much faster and saves quite a bit of time. Double, if it's a person you're friends with. (Please buy your friend dinner or something if they do help you.)

What I'll add to this is, I know how you feel. My motherboard failed on me in my first attempt at building a computer. I got it RMA'd and it failed again. I got so frustrated I ended up going with another brand entirely instead of RMAing it a second time. On the upside, the thing has been basically fine ever since.

Despite all that, I've found it to be completely worth it. I spend a huge amount of time on my PC vs my consoles just because the convenience and power of the PC makes it worth it. Hang in there!

Regarding Baldur's Gate, I think there's a middle ground where they meant well and did their best. Maybe it's not up to the standard of some pop-up internet committee, but unless it's actively malicious, at worst it's not great writing.

But the internet is completely disingenuous about these issues, on almost every front. The internet doesn't understand middle grounds. It apparently only understands fawning hyperbolic ecstasy and absolute frothing vitriolic insanity.

I like the developers' response. They accepted legitimate criticisms, rejected the internet bullshit, and committed to improving the work. And taking out the joke because frankly, that's the only part those people really give a shit about.

As a sidenote, when I see "SJW" somewhere, I read it as "sjew", and I think of them as Eric Cartman.

Has anyone ever seen Shattered Glass, pretty much the one really good movie starring Hayden Christiansen? That's the whole vibe I got from the epilogue to the Coleco Chameleon story.

I mean... her description of those characters is pretty on point for BG1. Safana is just the really flirty thief who you can't even recruit unless there are men in the party and Jaheira exists pretty much to complain that you aren't neutral or complain that you haven't gone to Nashkel.

Man all the EVE talk on this podcast makes me want to redownload EVE and start playing it again.

I think Brad's passion got the best of him in that segment and it turned away from a discussion to Five Minutes of Sadness.

@enragedstump I don't blame Brad or the west coast guys either, it's an easy thing to get passionate over. Especially when it's a former coworker. But I think that's why I enjoyed @austin_walker talk about it on the beastcast. I'm pretty sure he and I are on completely opposite ends of the political spectrum, but his measured and rational response/discussion to these sort of topics make me really respect his views on things.

Additionally to @reticulate's point, I've had exp with red dots being related to GPU overheating (albiet in the 8800GT-era), but in this case it seems like it might be either the bad HDMI cable theory or something related to the PSU. Are all of the GPU power plugs connected? What's the PSU that you have?

Great episode! I really enjoyed you guys having that long tough conversation about being an asshole online. I was a real jerk when I was younger, but I can't overemphasize how important developing empathy was for me. Also I am totally on Austin's side with spoilers, I generally like them, because it lets me focus on how they do things vs what they're doing, it's more interesting for me