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Writer's pictureCraig Norris

Popeye, Jedi Outcast and New Games Journalism

Episode 89 - With host Craig Norris.
First Broadcast on Edge Radio, 8th November 2024.

This episode examines the significant properties that will become part of the public domain in 2025, with a spotlight on "SHIVER ME TIMBERS," Popeye's upcoming horror movie adaptation. Additionally, we analyze Ian “Always Black” Shanahan’s critique of "Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast" (2002) in his 2004 piece "Bow, N*" and its role in shaping New Games Journalism, with discussions on representation, identity, ethics, responsibility, and the essence of critical evaluation.



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TRANSCRIPT

This is an AI-generated transcript of the audio and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please contact us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode.


CRAIG NORRIS

All right, welcome to Edge Radio 99.3 FM. This indeed is media mothership here on your your wavelengths. And as always, I'm your host doctor Craig. And we're streaming on edgeradio.org dot AU as well as YouTube and Twitch. Please check us out there and if you want to leave a chat, you can. Do that on YouTube or. Twitch or SMS US directly in the studio on 0488811707. We're broadcasting out of ******, Luna, Hobart TAS and I'm your host. Doctor. Craig. All right. So on today's show, I want to set it up by playing, you know, a little bit that was in the intro of today's theme song to see if you can guess the news topic for today's discussion. Here it is here again. Let's play out. Nasty. Memorable. Tunes of Popeye the sailor man. Fondly remembered 1930s twenties, late 20s, early 20s, mid 20s. Well. It turns out that the. Popeye licence is about to. And to the public domain, interestingly. And with that, of course, is the excitement of what might come about with Popeye entering the public domain. Fascinatingly, it seems that there will be a horror movie set up around it. Indeed, much in the vein of the. Horror movie we had for Winnie the Pooh Winnie the Pooh, blood and honey. There will be a horror film of. Popeye, as its licence now enters the public domain, as we know, after a lengthy period of time, these properties eventually make their way into the public domain, which means that one can use them without having to pay royalties or negotiate with the estates. To incorporate them in some way. Into the text, they're. Reading what's intriguing here, of course, is the trend which has emerged around, you know, fondly remembered fan favourites like when the poo and. You know the original version of Mickey Mouse being turned into horror films 2002. We had the Winnie the Pooh blood and honey film. The following year we had the version of Mickey the mouse Mickey. House via Steamboat Willie, which entered public domain last year in the horror film Mouse trap. It had to change some aspects to ensure that it was not in breach of copyright. Disney's copyright of Mickey Mouse. So that had to change. The name from Mickey's Mouse trap to just the mouse trap, but the character is. Basically, based on that original 1920 ISH version of Steamboat Willie, and now of course we have this, so I'll play you a yeah, it's a very tongue in cheek type trailer that's been made for the film creatively referred to. Or titled Shiver Me Timbers, which is one of Popeye's slogans that and amadam Shiva Timbers is is certainly memorable. Catch phrase up there with his. Spinach she ate. OK, so let's, we'll, we'll, we'll queue it up. Hold on.

Speaker

And again.

Speaker 1

There's films that inspire films that will move you to tears. This is not one of those films. This films got runs. This film's gone guts.

Speaker

Sorry. You're smoking that ****.

Speaker 1

They're smoking that **** this room's got.

Speaker

Spears don't touch it. They're evil.

Speaker 1

This film's got set. Feelings got drunk. And rock'n'roll. That was close.

Speaker

I'm telling you, when you're gone, you're gone.

Speaker 1

Shiver me Timbers coming soon.

CRAIG NORRIS

So that's the trailer for the 2025 film shooter Mid Timbers based of course on the property Popeye, the Sailor Man turned into a horror film. Now because it's entering. Public domain in 2025, some of the comments under the YouTube are hilarious. The one by hold on. The we bring them back. There's a hilarious one here by user Jonathan Kelly 5117 saying this is the kind of garbage that makes the horror genre as a whole lose credibility. I'm usually not critical of a trailer, but I'm sick of the. Entered the public domain horror trend. Uncreative. Cash grab IMO, just like the rest enough already in full. Apps. That's from Jonathan Kelly, 5117, clearly unhappy, another one posting there will be dozens of low budget B roll movies adapting public domain IP. What a hot mess, lol. That's from F Castro WM5Y V then we have unforgettable Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. Of course, the kind of, yeah, intriguing Altman film on Popeye the sailor man in the what was it? Late 70s, early 80s. They came out. Sarah Robin. There's a lot of WTF, comments, WTF, next movie someone's pitching here in the comments is Mary Poppins. Nasty nanny. We'll see that that happens when Mary Poppins into public domain. So a lot of kind of negative reaction under the clip on YouTube. If we have a look. But the plot. So the film synopsis. As defined by a a reviewer called Joe Blow. Lists it as olive oil, so characters name from the original series, olive oil, her brother, Castor and friends go on a camping trip to see the meteor shower with Halley's comets, but the night turns into horror as a meteor transforms Popeye. Into an unstoppable killing machine. With thrilling 80s slasher references and comedic twists, the film combines elements of horror and comedy in a fresh take on both genres. Shiver meeting bars plays tribute to classic slasher films while delivering hilarious moments, shocking scares, and nostalgic nods that will delight both horror. And Popeye fans alike. So intriguing. They're going via 80s horror, so I guess they're they're covering their bases with a lot of generations. Your baby boomer, Popeye fans and your ease genex. There are any? Slasher film fans, so it's it's an intriguing vent diagram. The Cracked article points out that analysing this, saying you. The the horror fans and the Popeye fans, whether or not there will be a middle space, they both meet to watch this film in, it is a cautionary tale that in coming years, so next year we've got Popeye the year after that in 2026 we've got Mickey's dog, Pluto. And in 28 we got goofy going to public domain. Donald Duck goes into public domain in 20-30 Porky Pig 2031 and Duffy Duck 2033. So I'm guessing those properties are are, are, are potentially all up for grabs. To be turned into a horror film, **** Tracys coming up into public domain 2027, so it'll be fascinating to see how those. You know, childhood memories get reappropriated into bizarre, bizarre looking horror. It should be quite intriguing. All right. Oh, OK. Moving on now, let's have a look at. Well, while we're on that topic, actually there there's a couple of articles. Because what is it? January 1st, the start of the year, first day of the Year. The in the US, the copyright term extension, term ends and new material comes back into the public domain and that happens on the 1st of January every year. If you're up for that. UM, copyright duration expiring. So there are a number of works in 2025 entering public domain, so we'll list them now and again. The importance of this these are these are US titles. The importance of this of course is that it explains why we're getting. These bizarre horror films with Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse or versions of those characters from their initial conception. Because once they it's public domain creators are no longer needing to get permissions from the family estate of the creator, or if they're already tied up in a corporate deal basically not being able to use it at all without paying a small fortune. So you're free from that once it enters the public domain. Are able to incorporate and use it as you wish, but it has to only be that version so so for example the Steam Belt Willy's version of Mickey Mouse came last year, but this is the black and white version. With a number of kind of recognisable brand motifs missing, so the eyes are much different. They're much small black dots. Don't think there's suspenders on this version and it's black and white. You can't do a colour version, you can't do the version of Mickey Mouse we know today. You're stuck with the version. That was in that initial steam boot Willie Film, so coming up we have another Mickey Mouse film entering the public domain. This is the sound version of the carnival kid with Kay. Where Mickey speaks his first words. So I guess those first words in that voice are now in the public domain to sample in a in a in a music piece. Maybe we've got a number of books entering the public domain, so these should now become super cheap. Farewell to arms by Ernest Hemingway. OK. UM. Got a couple of films coming into public domain. The Broadway melody, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture, will be intriguing to watch. Broadway melody. Welcome danger. Harold Lloyd's first sound film on with the show. The first sound film in colour. Black male, Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film, is entering public to me next year. Black male, the novel or the English version of the novel, all quiet on the Western Front. The book, set in World War One from the German point of view towards the end that's entering public domain and William Faulkner's novel The Sound and Fury, are also entering public domain. These are only versions that were published. In 1929, so these are all texts, movies, songs that that that released in 1929 that are now expiring in 2025. So if there's a version of the Sound Fury or foil to arms or Mickey Mouse cartoon released after that date that's still in copyright. So intriguing, though there may be some interesting little versions of all quiet in the Western France coming up now that it's no longer having to be paid for. To use. So. So 1st of January we will unleash the creative horror film versions of these texts. All right, so. That's the interesting news that's out there in. The media, the upcoming public domain interest, and the fact that now we have. The Popeye film Shiva Timbers, the horror version of Popeye coming out in 2025. To celebrate this excitement. Very bizarre. I want to change pace slightly and do a little discussion of video games now. One of the things that always. Interested me about video games is the journalism surrounding it. The analysis rating of video game. What's interesting about video game discussion was a type of journalism that developed and grew in popularity in the early 2000s that was referred to as new games journalism. And it's a style of video game journalism that emphasises the. Writers, personal experiences, and emotional response to a game over just explaining its you know, its graphics quality, its gameplay dimension. I mean those aspects will be in it, but there's a kind of introspectiveness to it. Some of my favourite new games journalism pieces. It was a great one. That discusses a flight simulator and it Microsoft Flight simulators and the games journalist set himself the challenge in the review to actually attempt to play the game. Team under the conditions of the pilot, that would be doing it and he chose one of the early, you know, 1920s transatlantic flights, 1930s transatlantic flights, right was first attempts. You know, the the kind of Lindbergh. Attempts or successful attempts to to you know to to go through the transatlantic from America to to to France. Under those conditions, so he sat there in his seat, he packed much food around him and. Had to play the game, the flight simulator under the conditions of if you were flying this 1930s plane. You know however many hours, 12/12/24 hours. And that was his review. Unpacking that experience in the simulator game. So again, these ones were. It's also kind of an emotional journey that it's taken on. So there's a subjectivity within it. There's there's a type of narrative style in these video game reviews, which I really enjoy reading. There's a storytelling technique which engages the reader, like that challenge where he sets up with the. You know, act one of the review of the Microsoft Flight Simulator was the insanity of trying to do a transatlantic flight in the 1930s flight conditions. At home in your, in your room, not leaving your seats or or only being able to leave the seat as it would be able to be done in that cockpit of that plane in the 1930s. So can you endure it? And and is that the ultimate form of simulation, right, that that you're also inhabiting? An idea of that, that experience, you know, and there's there's some some, you know, quite amusing player perspective which can come into play. What I want to do to to kind of unpack this is is listen to an audio version of one of my favourite video game. Reviews in the new game journalism style, this was a famous piece or or has gone on to become a famous piece and new games journalism by Ian Shanahan. And I'm a little hesitant in some ways because the title contains an offensive word. It's the title of the. Review is bow, N.W.A. And it's his review of the Star Wars game, Jedi Outcast. What's interesting about the Star Wars game, Jedi Outcast, is that it's a it's a Nemo game, so it's a it's a massive multiplayer type game. And it's one in which, you know, he's talking about his experiences reviewing the game like so he's he's he's need to play this game review for PC Gamer UK back in 2004 when this came out. And he's talking about it in terms of. This video game, Jedi Outcast, where basically you're you're playing as as a Jedi character with the the lightsaber. And his experience of playing it in this multiplayer way, we'll have actually before, before I go into the the audio version of it. Here's the trailer for Star Wars Jedi Knight 2 Jedi outcast. For the Nintendo Switch, and again it will give you a set a sense.

Speaker

I'm no Jedi, I'm just the guy with the lightsaber and a few questions.

CRAIG NORRIS

Yeah. To give you a sense of what this game is about, you know, a lot of light Sabre battles, those sound effects of. You know. As it says in the trailer, you get to wield some force powers. You're battling other. Jedis with their lightsabers. And that's the kind of style. So it's all third person view and you're controlling your, your, Your Jedi character as it's fighting other.

Speaker

That.

CRAIG NORRIS

Wielders of lightsabers, so it's third person kind of combat game where you're doing flips and you're you're using your lightsaber to hack and slash, so enchant hands reviewing this and he's recounting his this particularly provocative experience. He had in the game Jedi Outcast. Now it's important to to frame this the audio book version of this includes the N word, so again, it's important to contextualise why that title is there. You know the the context of this racial slur is that his his gamer tag is always black. And the significance of that is picked up by someone who's fading with and then he unpacks the kind of racial slur which is said to him in terms of the the meetings, the, you know. The game character he's playing, as well as how he physically feels. So if you are sensitive to terms like this, it's please do kind of tune out for the first 2-3 minutes and then tune back in. But I think it's worth for the analysis that he's providing of this game and his first hand experiences. Of receiving racial vilification to discuss and see it as a kind of critical dimension. Of course, on this show, we always encourage respectful language and on the chat I'm assuming everyone will remain respectful and use inclusive language to discuss sensitive topics such as. Of this. So what? We'll have a listen to. Now, is Ian always black? Shanahan's review of Jedi outcast. We'll listen to the first few minutes. Then we'll discuss a little bit about why it's such an interesting way to do video game discussion. The start of this will set up again an explanation of its significance and why it matters. And then it goes into an audio version of the 2004. Video game review for Jedi Outcast that appeared in PC Gamer UK.

Speaker 4

Alex Hyde white. What you are about to read or hear is in a way what defined it all. Bow is a key text in the cannon of what is now known as new games journalism. It was also one of the earliest pieces to grapple with how digital identity is expressed in multiplayer games. It is widely seen as one of the most influential pieces of game criticism ever. Bow, he typed. I kind of hunched uncomfortably over the keyboard at that point. Not that I should have taken offence, really. For one thing, my screen name has nothing to do with my ethnicity. For another, it's only a game, and the fascist doing the typing is probably hundreds of miles away and far beyond anything you could call an actual influence on my life. But still, it's not very nice is. What to do? I circled around him wearily. Jedi Knight 2 Jedi outcast. Does one thing very, very well, and that's lightsabers. In fact, it's probably more accurate to say George Lucas ET al. Did lightsabers very well in the Star Wars films, and Outcast does a good job of recalling the memory of those flashing contests. The emulation is near perfect. From the initial hiss, as light slowly rises from the handle to the sweeping motion, blurred visuals and the threatening pitch shifting hum. Throughout the game, you can choose which perspective to view the action from. The game defaults to first person for projectile weapons, but drawing your lightsaber switches to third person ask Cam and this is by far the best configuration. Leave it alone. Third person allows you to fully appreciate the acrobatics of the Sabre fighting enemy. Questions. You can swing away in one of three styles fast, medium and heavy, all of which allow you wrestle, mouse movement and direction key presses to produce jaw dropping. Combinations of slashes, chops, and stabs at risk. You forgetting any question of your actual opponent as you stare in disbelief and whisper. Did I just do that?

CRAIG NORRIS

So I'll post it there. It's really interesting. Again, this new games journalism technique of obviously going through some of the hoops that the game channel list has to do in terms of discussing the mechanics of the game. In this case, he's talking specifically about the effectiveness. Of the lightsaber and how this game is appealing because it gets that lightsaber duo. Feeling really well. And so the typical games review would kind of mention that talk about how the mechanics work, how the controller is able to replicate it and leave it at that. What's fascinating here with this new games journalism piece by Shanahan is that it starts with the racial slur that he's taunted. With at this, as he's about to enter combat, so we have this moment of a kind of. You know, inciting incidents, if you wanted to turn this into a story, right? What is it about this doing this game that. Shanahan looked back on and thought that changed everything at that point. And it was the racial taunt he received that that was the inciting incident, after which the game meant something different to him and his actions and. The kind of you know. You know the kind of act two and three structure which are coming up in the audio book that all here are very much a. Kind of. You know, you know, to to tease it a bit to kind of hear his journey here, his quest as he attempts to place within an actual real experience of dealing with a toxic gamer that he's battling against within still coded Star Wars language of you know does good champion over evil. In cases like this, so there's, there's a really nice narrative style use storytelling technique to engage readers here beyond just listening to a review. So let's return now to to Shane's review of Jedi Outcast.

Speaker 4

Oh, he types.

Speaker

Hmm.

Speaker 4

Problem. Opponent as you stare in disbelief and whisper. Did I just do that? Bow he types. Problem. For all the excellent swordplay animation, Raven seems to have omitted any of the more mundane actions you could imagine your avatar performing. There is no bow button. What my socially belligerent friend is being so insistent about is something else, and that's a form of physical expression that grew out of the enthusiasm of some of the more ardent Star Wars fans who play JK 2 only. Some people take their fiction very seriously, and wannabe Jedi Knights are among the most serious. The faithful, in order to be more true to the Jedi Code of Honour, Crouch before each other and duck their heads down as a mark of respect before entering into battle. Some people think that's silly. I thought it was silly the first time I saw it, then I saw everybody was doing it and then I felt silly not doing it. It's strange how much weight the actions of your peers can bring to bear on you, even when your social medium is only a bunch of really fast math on the German server.

CRAIG NORRIS

It's a wonderful point there that Shanahan's making in terms of the subjective personal experience of doing an MMO game and the formal and informal rules which emerge. So that kind of emergent game play that he's referring to there where there's no bowel function in the game mechanics. That the game design is set up right? It lacks as Shanahan's pointing out. These social pleasantries. You know you're not given complex ways of greeting, of formally recognising the other of, in this case, bowing. Yet there is a way in which you know you can kind of hamfistedly. Reverse engineer or retroactively emergent gameplay style, real or appropriate, what the moves you have are and do a form of bowling and of course, what's really fun there is that you have this wonderful kind of story. Telling experience there that people who play this game, some of them are, are kind of role playing as Jedi Knights and Jedi Knights are good guys and part of the I guess the representation and the performance of being a Jedi in this game. For some began to be this bowing technique before you're about to do your drool, you do a bow while the game doesn't require you to do it, the game designers didn't intend you to bow people playing the. I mean. Got into it as a way to reference the storytelling. They're doing the immersiveness they're engaging with or wanting to engage with in the Jedi Outcast game from 2004 that they're they're they're bowling. So as Shanahan's talking about it first, he thought, you know, it seems a bit. Talking to do you don't? Need to do it, but everyone else is doing it so it seemed weird not to do it in fact, so here he is again to return to the story that it's here at the start. So the guys giving him a racial taunt. And then he said. To Shanahan's character to bow again. So the crisis, the dilemma he's at here. With his antagonist is what to do next, right? This this toxic gamer is. Requiring the bowel mechanic after offending him. So let's listen to how Shanahan and packs that experience in his review.

Speaker 4

I'm currently in heavy style. This affords me the most damaging attacks at the expense of much slower swings when you're not attacking. It also provides the best defence, parrying is handled. Dramatic. The best defence is wise. While I'm facing off with this ******, we've been engaged in our duel for two or three minutes and neither one of us has come close enough to hit each other yet. This is a period of sizing up. Sometimes rash headlong attacks can be exploited by a player of a reasonable skill level, and you'll find yourself ghosting and waiting for another turn before you know it hit you. If you've never played a particular opponent before, it pays to feel him out a bit. First, though, there are the formalities. Our Crouch and duck my head in a bow. Vulnerable. Stupid. Yeah. But you know what? I entered into it willingly. And why is a very interesting question. I'm a big boy now and I don't wanna be a Jedi and I when I grow up the Star Wars films are great, but they're also just that films, a form of entertainment to be enjoyed during breaks. From my very real and financially challenging life. Mortgaged to cats, a broken gutter and a car that needs some attention. She is. So I didn't bow because I wanted to role play as a Jedi. It was an act of defiance. Duelling is not new. Any multiplayer game can leave you with one opponent on either side, and I've played that scenario in many games. The difference with lightsaber duelling outcast style is that it's so very personal. These aren't detached sniping matches across the width of a map or rocket spamming blast vests to see who can respawn. Released JK 2 Duel is winner stays on and you can be floating around for anything up to half an hour on a busy server waiting for a game. This makes your game life actually worth something, and it makes it worth fighting for. Into this potent mix you can toss in the fact that while you're a ghosting spectator, you have time to chat and actually get to know the people you're playing. Even on that usually most impersonal of beasts, the public server. During actual fights, plague can swing from bouts of thrust, slash and parry to more distant and wary sizing up in search of an opening that will allow you to land a sucker hit before your opponent can counter. There's time to talk and taunt. But perhaps most personal of all is the close proximity you have to come to damage your opponent. I am an avoidant player at the best of times, but JK2 lightsaber duels don't allow you to hit and fade from range. You have to be right in there trying to give the other guy a laser enema. If you're going to avoid watching the show for another six games. So. I bowed. Not because I was naive enough to think he'd give any significance to the gesture, not because he was commanding me too, from his pillar of arrogance. I vowed, despite his taunts, for all his goading, I did the right thing to show him I wasn't going to come and meet him down on his level. Lamo. *** ** * *****. Jesus, Omar Shields and 40 health for loss from one big heavy stance overhead chop before he spins away back to the other side of the map LOL. Niger. He goes into a blender. Every.

CRAIG NORRIS

We'll pause it there. So again, it's delightfully combining this personal narrative. So here, here's Shanahan's review. Moving more into a type of deeply personal, emotional and and in a way, psychological reaction is having during specific moments in the game, in that moment. That initial. Routine ritual of bowing that he is then unpacking. You know, why did he bow? He's asking knowing that he's playing against a toxic gamer who's not going to abide by these informal rules. And indeed, doesn't. You know he gets a sucker punch as a result of doing the right thing, as Shanahan refers to a dance. You know, not going down to the baser level of his opponent and doing it because it's the right thing to do. And so this, this wonderful, though provocative language that's there, right, the, the, the use of the the racial slurs, the provocative language which are evoking these. Strong reactions from Shanahan and within that I. Guess these thoughts of of. Of where the power lies in the. Game. Who controls? What you're doing in the game in this way, it's interesting to hear Shanahan. Kind of defence of still abiding by the good guy rules and. Feeling empowered through that, even though. In this Act, one as we know, almost as a hero's doing, you're you're you're being beaten down, as we've just heard there, he's been beaten down now because of the bowl that has left himself exposed in the game. The The Jedi Outcast game. And he's received. A lightsaber slash which has removed his Shields has dealt enormous damage and he's almost out of the game now before he's even started, because this toxic gamer is not playing by the proper informal rules, but is is, is, is. Being provocative. So there's these interesting moments where the reviews going a little beyond the game itself, commenting on broader, you know, cultural and social issues, you know, how do you do the right thing when you're confronted by someone who's getting away? A we're doing the wrong thing. At your detriment. So let's return now to Shanahan's review of the 2004 game Jedi Outcast.

Speaker 4

If he starts over head chop before he spins away back to the other side of the map LOL Niger, he goes into a blender. Every style has a selection of special moves that can be activated by combination key presses. These are set pieces taken from notable moments of the films. Unfortunately, because JK 2 is based on the Quake 3 engine, the macro scripting of that seminal of all first person shooters is easily migrated across. This means that all skill or effort can be eliminated from the execution of these moves by a few simple scripts that can be readily downloaded and bound to a key. A blender. As the heavy starts back, sweep, move or several rather chained together, causing the model to spin unrealistically like. Top. It's fatal if you get too near it, but very difficult to use in an actual fight since you're unable to do anything until the animation is finished. It's a shame that exploits like this would eventually lead to the ultimate downfall of the multiplayer game. He's showboating. He's demonstrating how 1337 he is. Are you really black? He type. Why? I replied. Because it matters, he says. Ignore that edge closer by a circuitous route. I don't want to get caught out by 1 of. His lane key binds. I switched down to medium stance, my favourite and the best balance between speed and damage. I know I hurt you by the things I say, he says. I hit T to talk in the chat icon appears above my head. But I hesitate. I want to say something, but with the little underscore blinking away, my fingers stop over the keys. Say what? No, you don't. No, you aren't. How can you, when your insults are meaningless? **** you, *******. And slash *******. In chat mode, you're powerless like most other games.

CRAIG NORRIS

So again, this moment of provocative language, provocative language being used. By the troller, by the toxic gamer trying to deliberately troll and pull out a strong reaction and provoke actions. Then again come to these themes of power and control, right that that, you know, the toxic gamer was. In chat. You know. Further provoking Shanahan by saying, you know, I know the things I'm saying are hurting you. Shanahan's character, then, or Shanahan in the game as his duelling brings up the chat to say something. But as a moment of hesitation, as he's going through well, you know, do I want to feed the troll? It's not going to matter. But within that moment, of course, the mechanism here, what's really interesting about Chang's review is going back and forth between the personal narrative dealing with this provocative language, the broader cultural and social issues that are there with the game mechanics, right, that once you're in chat, your characters defenceless. And indeed, is struck again by our toxic gamer. In a dastardly way. You know, if we're thinking of villainous actions. So far, this gamer has has completely failed to abide by informal rules, right as to what a proper. Jewel is meant to be. So again, let's have a look at this personal narrative and you know, kind of challenging this traditional game journalism style and instead looking at a kind of deeper implication of. The gaming experience as Shanahan's unpacking develops further.

Speaker 4

It's a meaningless **** you ******* and slash *******. In chat mode, you're powerless like most other games you're typing. Fingers can't do much about an assault by a consciousness type killer. In all my years of Twitch gaming, my fingers have never moved so fast across the keyboard, escaping the trap of chat mode to rally my defences against his lightning fast slashes almost too late, I put distance between us almost too late, but not quite. Five health points remain, and I know I haven't even hit him.

Speaker

Yes.

Speaker 4

That. Five health means you're nearly dead. A brush from the tip of a Sabre held idly will remove five health points from you and take you out of the game. ****. It's really, really unfair. I mean, all right, I've asked for it, haven't I? I was aware from the outset what kind of player I was facing, and still I insisted on performing the ritual courtesies and still I fell for the oldest trick in the book. Cut to ribbons while I answered a pointless taunt of only myself to blame. For the most part, JK2 multiplayer isn't like that. Mostly JK. Two players are like players everywhere. They just want to have a blast and enjoy the competition. They'll show each other a degree of respect that is absent from most other multiplayer games, and they express that respect in a variety of ways, from the odd little emergent bow. To ad hoc lessons from complete strangers to clans, adopting the Padawan master relationship outlined in the films, most of the players are good guys. Yes. This is why it was unfair. The game allows bad behaviour and this is a good thing. It means that by avoiding bad behaviour you can demonstrate how good you are. Virtuous, a lack of virtue is unfairness in the unofficial rules of the game, but the only answer you have is to fight back. You too can be unfair, but. Some people don't like to play that way. They make a choice. This.

CRAIG NORRIS

Again, a wonderful emergent narrative emergent gaming. Experience that Shanahan is referring to here, this moment where the gamers themselves decide. What the weights and importance is of various mechanics they're using, you know, the game designers may have had the desire to make a good battle game and given it some trappings of what it means to be a Jedi, but to actually then flesh that out in a satisfyingly immersive way requires the gamer to be the last. You know producer in that assembly line of the video game. Right, you have to make the conscious choice to then. Understand some informal rules and how to then inhabit the good guy in Jedi Outcast, because there is ways of breaking the game. There is ways of cheating the game and it's your choice to not do that which defines you. Then. In an immersive way, as then Emergently game playing a Jedi right, the good guy character knowing you're doing the things that should be done the way it should be done because it's morally and ethically right. It shows respect, courtesy engagement. It's not deceptive. It's not aggressively provocative, as the opponent here is doing, and all that, is that emergent gameplay thing, right? The fact that a video game. Finally, only is experienced when you're gaining it when you're actually playing it as. Opposed to reading a. Book or watching a movie? I mean, there's certainly an imaginative engagement, creative engagement in those in those actions. But broadly speaking, you could define those more passively than the video game where the video game simply won't proceed any further. If you stop playing it, it will just stop. Right, you have to engage and choose something with your controller to get the game to move forward. So here we have this moment, and let's listen. As this final act comes about, Shanahan's character has done everything right. He's reflected on the kind of, you know, what it means beyond the game to be playing this game, right? What the reactions he's felt towards this toxic. Have meant. And let's see how it all ends up.

Speaker 4

Makes his choice. This one is a bad guy and he isn't messing about anymore. I guess he's run out of tricks, or perhaps he's done a few quick mental calculations and realised that I'm probably on the ropes because he starts spamming from the heavy starts finishing move informally termed death from above. This begins with a long flat leap and ends with an overhead chop yet called under it, and it's fatal no matter how many shield or health points you have left, which is a mistake on his part. It's total overkill, even though he doesn't know. I only have five health points left. I happen to know that the very end of death from above leaves you very vulnerable indeed. He has underestimated me. And who can blame him? I've oddly been the epitome of laser swordsmanship thus far. I'll fix that impression just now. A quick swap down to fast style and a Crouch forward attack puts me into a lunge, catching him with an upper cut is by no means fatal, but I rock his world there for a moment. He thought he was dominating and now he's lost a whole lot of health and he wasn't ready for that. He actually reels. There's always scope for projecting a little extra personification onto a computer generated character, but I swear to God he has shock on his face. Entirely too rash for my current health level are going to a little whirlwind of fast style slashes and probably Ding him a little more in the process as he beats a hasty retreat. No chatting now no more insults, collision detection in Jack 2 is a little flaky. That sometimes hits do far more damage than you might have thought I can hope. He comes at me and we have at it. The lightsabers hiss and fizz when they come into contact with each other. I roll and dodge and parry for all I'm worth. Far of health, only nearly dead. A little something personal about myself. I don't sweat. Never have not, under normal said at the computer circumstances. Anyway. Obviously physical exertion makes me sweat. Running, jumping, swimming, etcetera. But not just sitting in a chair. We spin around each other, bouncing off the furniture of the map. Our concentration is absolutely intense and never before have I tried so hard to be the mouse. I feel a trickle of sweat run down from under my right armpit. You see what this has become? Is not just a trivial game to be played in an idle moment, but a genuine battle of good versus. It has nothing to do with Star Wars or Jedi Knights or any other fluff that surrounds the games. Mechanics are played by the rules, and he didn't. That makes me the good guy and him the baddy. But this is real in the sense that there's no telling who's going to win out here. There's no scripts or plot to determine the eventual triumph of the good guy. That's me for. Of health, there's no natural order of a fictional universe or any question of an apocryphal. Ultimate Balance is just me and him, light and dark, in a genuine contest between the two. And there it is. I don't even know what. Some chance slash poke in all of the rolling and jumping around in his lifeless avatar with all his racist stabs and underhand duplicity goes tumbling to the floor, vanquished by the guy who, even in the face of all of that played by the rules. Only one health point remains, but I win. I'm a ******* hero. A real 1. A beep and a server message. ****** has disconnected or can only dream of the howls of anguish so far away. My next opponent spawns and bows. A chat icon appears. Awesome. He types.

CRAIG NORRIS

So that's in always black. Shanahan's review of Jedi Outcast from 2004 that originally appeared in. PC Gamer UK and it's a wonderful ending there because it does highlight the fact you're not watching a movie or listening to a. Book or reading a. Book when you're playing a video game. You know, he's saying, you know, I'm the good guy here. I did everything right. Uh, but this could this is real in terms of it's not necessarily going to conform to the third act structure of a Hollywood film. The guy can lose, right. And the the the toxic gamer can win and often. Possibly does. However, the the sense of kind of storytelling technique, the narrative style pulls off so well at the end with those stakes, and also that kind of introspection of what? It. Means to play a video game that's different than reading a book or watching a movie. That that, you know, it could go any way and you've had to make choices leading up to that point as to what type of gamer you are in this space, but you a good guy or a bad guy in terms of. Are you abusing the rules? Cheating, or are you actually playing the game in a way that makes you feel? Good and. Recognising the level playing field. So it's a wonderful little piece. I think that really does talk across a whole level of. Aspects of what it means to play games, and it's one of these genres. Again, it's it's one of these examples within new game journalism which is so interesting to revisit today and it still holds up, I think as well as it did back in 2004. That experience of multiplayer gaming is still with us now more than ever. And yeah, I do feel like a a work like this is still incredibly timely and relevant and still reflective of today's gaming experience, maybe even more. So thanks for listening this week to media mothership. This has been doctor Craig for another week. Show notes are going to be available on the episode description via YouTube and Twitch or your podcast provider of choice. When I eventually hit run to uploading it next week, we're going to be looking at Godzilla. It's his anniversary. And we're going to deep dive. With a scholar here at the University of Tasmania that's been having many, many interesting thoughts about Godzilla, and I'll also bring in some of my research findings from my previous published work on Godzilla, mainly media tourism. Godzilla work I had done in Japan, looking at people. Going to Japan because there were huge Godzilla fans and their experience of that pilgrimage. So you can listen to previous episodes of media mothership on YouTube, Twitch, and adageradio.org dot AU or again your podcast provider of choice. Find out more about media membership on Facebook and Instagram and keep listening of course, to Edge Radio coming up next some great tunes and then at 6:00 we've got. Adrian. And show you can't sit down.


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