Since CAPE was this weekend and we’ve got stuff going on tonight, looks like The Program is getting bumped to Monday night. We can discuss the ROFLCon post I made last and clear the air a little. I wasn’t trying to get after Jay Maynard or Tay Zonday. I was trying to say that I worry about the built-in defiance/irony mechanisms of internet culture. Or something. We’ll straighten it all out.
You can listen to past shows on Starslip’s front page now! Check it out on the left sidebar!
Also, CAPE was amazing! Zeus Comics rules 4evaz. Thanks for coming out, everyone! I think it’s one of the best cons in the nation, and it’s free. Huge props to Richard and Chris. There was also a surprise party for Scott and PvP’s 10th anniversary. He was actually speechless, and it was incredible. Pics coming.
Also also, I’m going to be in Seattle next weekend for Emerald City Comicon, along with the WHOLE HALFPIXEL CREW at once. Dave, Scott, Brad and me — and our book! Get us all to sign yours!
Hey, CAPE was amazing (especially since it was my first convention), it was so much fun to meet You and Scott! It was really fun, and can’t wait to see you there next year!
On and unrelated note, my dad thought you looked like Tony Stark.
[…] Daily Sci-Fi Webcomic: Starslip Crisis by Kris Straub wrote an interesting post today on The Program: Monday Night at 9 PM CSTHere’s a quick excerpt The Program: Monday Night at 9 PM CST May 4th, 2008 - E-mail Kris Since CAPE was this weekend and we’ve got stuff going on tonight, looks like The Program is getting bumped to Monday night. We can discuss the ROFLCon post I made last and clear the air a little. I wasn’t trying to get after Jay Maynard or Tay Zonday. I was trying to say that I worry about the built-in defiance/irony mechanisms of internet culture. Or something. We’ll straighten it all out. You can listen to past shows on […]
I’ll be going to Emerald City Comicon, I hope to stop by your guys’ booth first thing! See you there!
Much like the first commenter, CAPE was my first convention. It was so enjoyable it made me realize I’ve been missing out by not going to one before. Meeting you was definitely a highlight of my day, Kris. Thanks for the nice chat and graciously giving a book to my broke self. I knew moving a few states over to go to college would have some benefits!
And now that I think about it, you do look like Tony Stark.
CAPE was indeed fantastic. In fact, I think this year’s was the best CAPE ever. It was good seeing you there, Kris. Thanks for the Mr. Jinx sketch & book.
Now I don’t know the specifics on how talkshoe works but why don’t you just save your own recording of ‘The Program’ and upload it yourselves? Like you did with some of your Power Hour episodes (and I guess your Daily Affirmations too), much better sound quality and no annoying buffers and mute problems.
Though the people listening live will still have some issues, but atleast there will be a good source to hear later on.
The only reason that worked with the Power Hour was there were two computers: one to connect to chat, and one to “participate” in the chat and record it. I don’t have two computers. If you can find a way to do it right with a single computer, I’ll use it.
Okay, thanks for clearing that up Kris.
Alright, I say this with a lot of respect for both Kris and Erica, I think you’re both smart and funny people, but I had to stop listening to this episode of the program because of the kind of ridiculous talk I heard coming out of Erica’s mouth.
As (I kid you not) a grown man who was raised poor (but not poorly) by a single mother, and who also greatly enjoys playing GTA, I find your remarks condescending and offensive.
The kind of ignorance displayed (”This game shouldn’t be on the shelves!” “I haven’t played it.”) is just more of the same ban rock and roll, ban comic books, ban vcrs, ban visible ankles crap that has been re-hashed since the victorian period. When I heard an attempt to link a decline in public service since the 1950s with videogames, I was a little shocked. Maybe its a decline in faith in public institutions that has caused an equal decline in public service, wouldn’t that make more sense then a tenuous link to an entertainment device that wasn’t even widely available for more than half of your sample period? And what metric are you calling this on anyhow, because it doesn’t seem like there’s a shortage of little league coaches or soccer refs where I’m at.
Finally, your concerns about this child getting ahold of a game he’s not rated to play (and yeah, blame the game and not the cashier, also, using the same logic, lets take every movie that’s stronger than PG off the shelves to be only ordered from the internet.) Poor people don’t kill hookers, people unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality kill hookers. There’s a reason most serial killers are upper-middle class.
The worst part of this little trip into madness is that the game itself goes out of its way to try to add weight and make you feel terrible for doing terrible things. If there’s anything that makes this game art (yeah, that’s right, i said it) it’s that your actions actually feel like they carry some moral weight instead of the cartoony violence of GTA3.
But I guess you wouldn’t know that since you haven’t played it.
Much love, but consider your comments.
No attempt was made to connect a decline in community service with video games. You, as a defender of video games, should understand the difference between correlation and causality. The kind of culture required to generate a game like GTA4 (or shows like CSI or violent movies) has, for whatever reason, supplanted the culture that used to engender positive relationships between Boy Scouts and the poor.
The problem with the criticism of GTA is that what’s needed is criticism coming from a non-FOX-News-like source. I get really skeptical when I hear an adult saying “you know, I hear that GTA has a level where you can rape infants for death dollars redeemable at strip clubs.” That person will never play the game, will never be convinced that it has a plot or a story or characters, and doesn’t realize that, although being able to run over a hooker is in the game, it isn’t on the back of the box in a yellow NEW! bullet that celebrates this content. It is there because, in terms of narrative, the immersion is destroyed if, somehow, your vehicle was rebuffed by pedestrians. You have the option, but there is no “point system” for killing people, and I noticed there isn’t even a monetary benefit anymore. Used to be that you’d kill a pedestrian and he’d drop some money, but that’s been curtailed in GTA4.
But the question here is broader, and that’s the point Erica was making. When did we start being entertained by this? When did we start craving it? Just because I am (and I am) doesn’t mean I can’t or shouldn’t ask. Erica is a freaking artist. She is not a Republican soccer mom, and her question is valid. We can defend video games without resorting to knee-jerk “HOW DARE YOU LUDDITE” when someone opposes us, but thanks for getting all upset anyway. Go back and listen to it again.
Just because you are incapable of random violence doesn’t mean everyone is. I’m going to play devil’s advocate with something I didn’t get a chance to say on the show. When GTA 3 came out, I bought it on my lunch break from work and played it for an hour before I had to drive back. I stopped at a stoplight, my mind full of excitement for getting back to the game, and I thought “hell, this red light. I can just depress the gas pedal and squeeze around these guys and go carefully through.” Of course I didn’t — but it made me start to understand that in the hands of a weaker individual, it might have caused a problem.
I’m not saying that GTA breeds miscreants — I’m saying there is a problem with society when we are increasingly unable to see the line between fantasy and reality. Same goes for porn, movies, books, art, you name it.
This is too pithy for Starslip, so we can take it to the forum.