To GfW Radio: It's not you, it's me
Monday, November 26th, 2007 - 6:14am
Dear GfW Radio,
I'm embarrassed to admit how much you meant to me. I've been listening to you from the beginning, and you quickly became my favorite. Firing up the iPod and hearing "Hello and welcome!" was a great way to start my lunchtime walk, and always brought a grin of anticipation to my face.
You were my first...never before had I heard casual adult conversation about my beloved hobby where every other word wasn't some immature ejaculation. It was people like me talking about something I care about. And you introduced me to games like Company of Heroes and Heroes of Might & Magic, for which I'll be forever grateful.
But we've grown apart. You met this other guy, a guy who likes to tell stories about people crapping their pants and whose favorite pastime is griefing other people in games and then talking endlessly about it. I hoped your infatuation with this guy was a phase, but when you all laughed as he gleefully described driving people from a server by hitting the taunt key over and over, I had to wonder.
And now that you've made his crank calls a regular feature of the show, you've descended to a place where I just can't follow. I remember when I thought crank calls where funny...I think I was seven.
I don't blame you. Your new friend is admittedly a smart and witty guy, and I suspect you get many more listeners with the "morning zoo" style than with boring old conversation about games. But unfortunately I just can't be one of those listeners anymore.
We'll always have CoH and HOMM. Good luck in your future endeavours, and please don't call.
If it's dead, it's probably me.
If it's my blog, it's probably here.
Why would a gaming show involve crank calls? Unless they crank called people in the industry, on gaming related subjects. That could be funny.
HatchetJob.com - a netcast about more than videogames.
I'm about 5 shows back at the moment, but apparently something big happens over the next 5 shows. Jeff must let Sean (or is it Shawn?) really go crazy. Either that or Ryan finally goes crazy.
Last week he (Shawn Elliott) pranked Cash Call, this week it was an EB games. Yeah, I'm not really into that stuff either. You could argue that he's parodying the gaming community when he acts like Douchebag Mcf*cknuts in multiplayer games or on a forum. I can see where that can be tiresome. Still, a lot of it is funny, and when they do talk about games (which admittedly gets derailed a lot by said antics), its still pretty insightful and interesting.
Maybe the Conference Call should have a "Heroes of GWJ" where Certis makes fun of posts in a funny voice. Also add "Morning Zoo" sound effects. Its what the kids want.
Steam Community ID: LastExile[gwj]
I agree that the humor is often immature and sometimes over the line, but I still appreciate it for the times that it is funny (Cash call - MEH. EB Games - Funny.) and the fact that it's different. If I wanted a run-of-the-mill game review rundown, I'd listen the PC Gamer podcast, which quite frankly puts me to sleep. Podcasts like that are a dime a dozen.
The GWJ podcast is fantastic because of it's mature perspective and humor, and it scratches that itch for me - I don't need GFW to do the same thing. If they want to do some immature schtick that sometimes falls flat, so be it. At least I'm getting something different that occasionally works really well.
Morrolan wrote:
XBLA / Steam: Dysplastic
Moving to Everything Else. As for GFW, it's still one of my favorites. On the last show I actually zipped past the crank call. Stuff like that feels forced, like Krusty the Clown looking for a new bit. When Shawn can get past grasping for funny bits and just talk about games and the occasional story I think he brings something unique to the table. He knows his stuff and he's obviously passionate about his work.
After listening to the EGM podcast and 1Up Yours podcast with Sean Baby, I realized what having one guy known to be "funny" can do to the rest of the people on the show. It was painful listening to everyone dropping some pretty poor one-liners and trying to act out of character.
Don't mind me, since I do a podcast I tend to over-analyze what I listen to
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
I am impressed with the level of detail he knows on the games he talks about. As for the funny bits i think it went over so good when he started doing them that they've asked him to keep on. Definitely getting a bit worn out though. Still one of my favorite podcasts.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
I was very, very, very confused until I figured out that GfW Radio is not GWJ Radio.
I don't listen to the GfW podcast regularly, mostly because I don't have the kind of time that the PC, as a gaming platform, demands anymore, so all I can say is that I want Jeff Green to be a regular on the 1Up podcast. (Or the GWJ podcast, obviously.)
XBox Live: Alex C
I kinda like all the shenanigans Shawn brings to the podcast. It's not PC Gaming related at all, but most of the podcast doesn't seem to be about PC gaming either
I have a mac and I listen to GFW Radio because they make me smile and laugh, not because I'm interested in PC gaming.
Xbox Live: Trachalio
Pipe Threader Manual wrote:
As for the griefing stuff, it seems to me that the ability and the inclination to ferret out and exploit game-breaking design flaws is just a side-effect of the mentality necessary to be an expert player in any game. They may be no fun to play against, but it is nice to hear an expert player's perspective, especially on games like TF2 that were built to have a lot of additional depth on the expert level.
I'm like a flashing lightning and a rolling thunder, I'm like a stepping razor
Shawn has tried some new 'funny stuff' recently that has been lackluster. Sure the calls were funny, but they were cheap laughs. He needs to get back to his bread and butter, stories about the dysfunctional people he knows and or grew up with.
He is the funny guy on the show and a huge dick to others in game from the sounds of it, but when he gets riled up about some game issue he's really passionate and articulate.
All in all he really helps their podcast.
shihonage wrote:
PSN: BoogleGWJTo me it seems that most of the times he's griefing, he's doing it to other griefers. It's his personal way of sticking it back to the internet kiddies. When he's just being a dick for no good reason I don't enjoy it. I do love his stories, though.
Steam Id
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I think people are giving him a huge pass on the griefing. I've heard no indication that he "griefs griefers" -- he apparently griefs anyone he's playing with, and his excuse for something like the "taunt until they leave the server" was that the game let him do it, which is the classic excuse of the lame griefer. He's also not looking for game exploits when he adopts the persona of a retarded/abused kid in-game and then laughs at people for taking him seriously.
Nonetheless, it's clear he has an enthusiastic audience so I won't hold my breath waiting for anything to change...
The upside is that the GWJ podcast has taken its place as my favorite, and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to start paying lesbians to have sex on-air.
Well, okay, maybe that would be okay.
If it's dead, it's probably me.
If it's my blog, it's probably here.
No, but it comes from the same mindset. People who push game systems to their limits and find those emergent strategies that make gaming so interesting (which Shawn seems to be good at, from reading his reviews) are the same type of people who will push the social system of a multiplayer game to it's breaking point just to see what they can and can't get away with.
Plus, it is pretty funny what he's gotten people to believe.
I'm like a flashing lightning and a rolling thunder, I'm like a stepping razor
Damn right!
Now, if they'd do it for free...
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
I think I know the topic of the next fund raising event.
"C'mon, guys, give generously! Those lesbians aren't going to pay for themselves!"
Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
I think the griefing is funny to hear about. It's just not funny to experience. A lot of humor is funny when it isn't happening to you. Shawn does have a tendency to get way off topic, but I don't mind at all. I do wish some of the other guys had a stronger voice and would add more to the conversation, but it's definitely one of my favorite podcasts overall.
xbl y3llow5 | steam yellow#5 | PSN ForrestTheWicked
Shawn does seem to dominate alot some times.
Other times it seems like the "lets not let Shawn totally derail the podcast" show.
I loved the Crysis special.
shihonage wrote:
PSN: BoogleGWJWhat's with those Shawn guys and their need to dominate anyway? Can't trust those guys is what I say.
"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."
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Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
If that didn't have a curse in it I'd have a new sig.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
He's good at holding the floor himself and telling a story. But then no one else ever speaks and after many episodes you start to grow tired of listening to him. I'd say reel him in a bit, but not sure how well that will work. He doesn't seem to play off others that well. Not very spontaneous. MOre of a 'hey that reminds me of a story' kind of guy. Cue the music.
He over-analyzes games too. It's interesting, but after awhile you realize it's just a game and I'm not sure he remembers that.
Still it's a good podcast. I just wish iTunes had a 30 second skip button (like my Tivo) for all my podcast listening.
This is my problem...I'm sitting there thinking about all the times I've been griefed, and how I can't play on a public server because of exactly what I'm hearing, and so I don't find it funny. I take it personally. Also, having developed some hobby games, he's the guy forcing me to spend half my development time finding every damn loophole in the code because anything left open will be used to torment the other players.
Then I assume that if I were ever in a theater sitting near him (which is possible, as we live in the same city), he'd be the guy talking throughout the film, and I really start to work up a lather.
Fortunately I've missed out on the other Sean.
Anyway, this wouldn't matter to me one iota if it hadn't ruined my favorite podcast for me.
GFW is dead; long live GWJ!
If it's dead, it's probably me.
If it's my blog, it's probably here.
I, too, was confused about this topic until I realized that GWJ != GFW.
I do tend to agree with some of the comments made about the show. I do like GFW Radio and I like Shawn Elliot in that he brings a unique energy and natural humour to the show, especially since some of the other regular contributors like Ryan Scott have to be poked with a stick to actually speak. However, he does tend to ramble on an awful lot and because no one reigns him in, they have the problem of a couple of weeks ago where Jeff Green had to blast through a review of The Witcher because Elliot went on so long about his CashCall prank and people hating his Crysis score that they got pressed for time. I actually like it when they sometimes go off-topic and into non-game related areas but sometimes I think they need to focus on how much time they allocate to each section. Still a good show, especially when compared to EGM Live.
"We're taught from a young age how to dodge rock hard objects moving at incredible rates of speed while simultaneously beating folks half to death with sticks. We do this for fun." -kung fu grip
http://blog.digital-lifeline.ca
If you played as few PC games as Ryan Scott, you'd have little to say too.
I like how Jeff Green makes a running joke of it, but it does get slightly annoying to have a guy on there with almost nothing to say on PC games.
WII FRIEND CODE: 6936 4764 8384 6058
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
Xbox Live: Legion SB / PSN: Legion_SB / Steam: legion028 / Twitter: legion
Yeah, I can do with the prank calls from the last couple of episodes, but I usually find the 'Heroes of the Web' (or whatever it is called) segment where Shawn reads some thread from a gaming forum 'in character' hilarious......
I think that Shawn Elliot (we're talking about him right, not some other Shawn) is that kid from high school that was a lot smarter than everyone else. Where as some go down the dark self-loathing corridor, he went down the bully corridor. That's alright, he came back and was a teacher for a while but ran out of patience, so now he's in journalism.
Problem is, he's still a lot smarter than everyone. He goes off on what he sees as a rant for 20 minutes talking about, in fastidious detail, every element of a game that makes it amazing or crap. Then, he turns it to his co-hosts on GFW and gets crickets. They can't keep up with him at their own job. So, he turns to what has always gotten results in his life; being a bully or telling stories about being a bully. It's sad really. If only he could use his powers for only good. I still listen, but I tune out some of his griefing tales and the prank calls.
I want to get him back on 1up Yours. They can hold there own with him, or he feels a little out of his league. Either way, he is well-tempered on that show by the other hosts.
wordsmythe wrote:
Crouton wrote:
Sorry... Double post.
wordsmythe wrote:
Crouton wrote:
Is every annoying JERK on a podcast named Shawn?
Or is the moment gone?
WII FRIEND CODE: 6936 4764 8384 6058
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
Xbox Live: Legion SB / PSN: Legion_SB / Steam: legion028 / Twitter: legion