Newcomer to the culture of GB.

Hey guys,

Avid listener here, struggling with feeling out the taunts from bullying between the GB crew.

Been watching loads of premium content, cleared the backlog of podcasts and I have yet to get a feel for when they are messing about and actually picking on each other. There is no doubt a hierarchy...

Is Jason really that sick of Dan?

Is Brad the heir to the throne or just granted more leeway?

Is Alex the whippingboy / underdog?

Is Drew given enough props or taken for granted?

Does Dan try too hard or is he just trying to find his footing? Anxiety must play in as well.

Just a few thoughts from a newcomer, hoping for some insight from the older core.

Have a merry GOTY's and a happy New year folks!

They are always messing with each other. They put on a show. Jason doesn't hate Dan, they're friends.

People sometimes take regular human being interactions way too strangely in the internet.

I was leaning towards that, knowing that we do the same at work, only we are a 10 year old acquainted workforce, but had to ask :) - the dynamics of the crew is amazing.

I think Dan and Jason love each other more than they hate each other. They have an old married couple dynamic.

Brad seems to be doing more production work over the last year, and he's the most senior of the GB West staff besides Jeff.

Alex just likes horrible games.

Drew gets plenty of props, and if he isn't the GB community will fulfill that.

Dan's smarter than the character he puts on for the camera. He doesn't take anything too seriously.

Welcome to Giant Bomb! I envy you, since you have hundreds of hours of new content to consume.

Cheers, I look forward to gladly grow old consuming the content.

This comes up more often than you think, actually, and was especially prominent when Ryan was around. Ryan would often "pick-on" other members of the crew, particularly Brad, and for a while, people who didn't know them when they were at GameSpot thought that Ryan hated Brad.

The reality is that the two have worked together for years and have developed a particular rapport in which Brad was the whipping horse for teasing. And really, Ryan would never say anything cruel or mean intentionally, and when he did hurt someone's feelings he apologized immediately. The crew are made up of good friends, the site wouldn't work if that wasn't the case.

Many of the questions you pose are similar to the Ryan/Brad debacle I laid out above, but I'll take them one by one.

1. Nope. Similar to Ryan/Brad, Dan and Jason have known each other for years, and are actually quite good friends. Dan is a ridiculous person, so Jason teases him for laughs. Nothing mean spirited about it.

2. I'm not sure what you mean by this one. I will say that of the current crew, Jeff is the only person who has been around longer than Brad, and that's really only because he founded the damn site (along with Ryan, of course). Maybe that's what's giving then "heir to the throne" vibe?

3. Alex's put-upon attitude is intentional. He likes to be the guy who always finishes last, and it plays off of Vinny's ceaseless optimism wonderfully. I'm sure if you asked him, he would probably say he plays an underdog for the camera.

4. Everyone loves Drew, don't worry about that. However he's the youngest guy on the site, and up until very recently, hasn't been a core member of the crew. In fact, years ago I could never remember his name, and I would refer to him as "the blond guy who shows up every once in a while." So he's still relatively new to being on camera, and maybe a little self-conscious. The other guys might be reacting to that, and that what you're interpreting as under-appreciation. Though for what it's worth, I have never felt what you're describing.

5. The "character" of Dan Ryckert has remained remarkably consistent after his transition from Game Informer. Basically, Dan's always been a little crazy, and will do anything for a laugh. I don't think Dan's insanity has anything to do with anxiety. Based on what he's described and my own long history with anxiety disorder, I would guess that he tends to shut down when he's feeling anxious. Look up his first appearance on a GB PAX panel for an example of this.

Hope I've answered all of your questions satisfactorily! Because this site is so contingent on personalities, it takes new comers a while to settle in and figure out exactly how each member of the crew play off of each other. So don't worry about it so much, and enjoy the impending GotY goodness!

Yeah, Dan & Jason are vitriolic best buds. IIRC, Jason knows Dan's father personally from the times Dan invited him to his family's holiday gatherings.

As for Dan's character, it's definitely deliberate. He's talked about how much he loves playing the heel, and one of his personal heroes is Norm McDonald, whose style of humor is very similar to Andy Kaufman. When I learned Andy Kaufman was fascinated by wrestling kayfabe & actually volunteered his time to play a heel, a lot of Dan's behavior clicked into place.

Thank you all for the lovely contributions. It's safe to say, that I feel like I've come home, entering a glorious community. Your warm welcome is appreciated. This thread may continue at will, though my thoughts have been addressed suitably.

Time to hit that backlog and await the goty. Can't wait for the "what'd you say we leave the list as is" remark.

Yeah, buttle's answer is a pretty great summation. Welcome to the site - it's a great place around here! Game of the Year is going to be a joy. I'm just wrapping up re-listening to all the old GotY podcasts (I'm on Day 4 of 2014 so should finish just as this year's awards kick off).

Brad has to finally fulfill his destiny and move to IGN before claiming the throne.

When your friends for decades you undoubtedly talk shit about each other jokingly. The only real tension I see is Dan talking shot to Jason during fighting games, but it's still in the vein of annoying little brother purposely getting on your nerves but all love at the end of the day. Ryan was the best at talking shit in a friendly way imo.