Do people want an f13 Gameclub? (Formerly Named Poorly)

[schild]

So, this is something I personally want to do (not to mention it's been brought up a number of times with people asking), but I want to see if people will participate. I'm thinking mostly PC games moving from 1999 forwards, and they need to be compatible with XP & Vista. Each Game would get a subforum under a main forum for this little thing where people could keep their playthroughs and whatnot. Anyway, poll attached for what we'll do. Also, to gauge interest, post.

Edit: Poll will run for a week or so. Also, the first game (not really, but a forum will exist, will be for Stone Soup, because it's fucking awesome).

Edit 2: Fallout 3 is not an option for now.

Edit 3: Also, what should we call it?

Edit 4: Oh, and 2 weeks or 4 weeks for each game?

[Trippy]

I don't get it. Is this like a book club except for games where we vote on which game we'll play, play it for a bit, then give a "review" of it?

[schild]

I don't get it. Is this like a book club except for games where we vote on which game we'll play, play it for a bit, then give a "review" of it?

No, we just talk about it. Let's Play at SA is a little more anal retentive and ridiculous than I expect from us (nor do I want it like that) - but yea, it's basically a game club. There's no review involved. We don't pick brand new games nor is there some cohesive summary at the end. It's just a kind of organized tandem gaming.

[Stormwaltz]

This seems like a good excuse to lay off LotRO for a bit.

[Tebonas]

No clue what Lets Play is, since SA isn't my crowd. But this sounds like fun.

[schild]

Let's Play is an extreme version of vicarious gaming. Someone (or more than one) person plays and records practically everything that happens in a game. It's fairly ridiculous. But it sounds better than book club.

[Wasted]

Yeah this sounds like fun.  A good chance to motivate myself to go back to some good games I might have missed.

I don't think we would need longer than 2 weeks per game, even if people are still playing after two weeks the desire for everyone to still talk about it would diminish somewhat.  Could be dependent on the game though, A FPS is a lot quicker to play through than a RPG generally.

[Sheepherder]

Sort of like the Dwarf Fortress thread? 

[Reg]

Does there really need to be a separate forum for each game? The Graveyard is just about ready to go to two pages of index as it is.

[ashrik]

For everyone who's not familiar, just head over and take a peek.

In their version, thread starters post something like Catch the Fever! Let's Play Patapon! or Worms gotta swim, Spice gotta flow. Let's Play Dune! and post videos of themselves playing. The particular one I saw, of some Sonic title had commentary as well. I think it's a pretty cool idea.

[schild]

Does there really need to be a separate forum for each game? The Graveyard is just about ready to go to two pages of index as it is.

I wouldn't dump the forums if we kept it going and had actual participation, alternatively, we could just have one archive forum and cleanse the main forum each time and people could label threads "Hinterland - Schild" or whatever so it stayed organize. Wouldn't take much culling and setup each time unless we had a few dozen people doing it.

Also, blame MMORPGs for that particular grave overflow.

[schild]

In their version, thread starters post something like Catch the Fever! Let's Play Patapon! or Worms gotta swim, Spice gotta flow. Let's Play Dune! and post videos of themselves playing. The particular one I saw, of some Sonic title had commentary as well. I think it's a pretty cool idea.

Videos and whatnot are too much of a pain in the ass to take that particular angle though, unless people really like FRAPs. Hell, I might frap some stuff, but the ease of screenshots is why I want to keep this to PC (or ROMs) for the most part.

[rk47]

I think you got a good theme going but your poll choices are....odd.
But I'd pick Hinterlands since I don't know what is it about.

[schild]

I think you got a good theme going but your poll choices are....odd.
But I'd pick Hinterlands since I don't know what is it about.

I have no problem adding things to the poll.

[rk47]

Well, for starters, I love audience participation in LPs. It makes it very interesting to see how stuff goes and how you dealt with choices. Hence RPG is always preferable to shooters because: Hey guys do i use rocket launcher or shotguns? is less interesting than So how do i handle this guy? Do I shoot him or bluff him?

Those memorable LPs are always filled with choices that creates consequences, whether it's hilarious or lead to a complete failure. I think that Blade Runner game LP I saw on SA was really good. Or you can always do a turn based game and set a time period where you let people make decisions based on how far you are in the game. Hey if it leads to fail, we can always reload before decision time and discuss what went wrong. Shooters are...passive entertainment. Either you do a vid and people follow it with your commentaries or it plays like a bad documentary that make people hit the CTRL-F4 key after 1 minutes in.

YMMV.

edit: going over poll options:
Half-Life 2 (w/ Episodes 1 & 2): passive entertainment.
Bioshock: somewhat passive but lots of disturbing moments in game that people may never seen before, worth a shot with good commentary.
Deus Ex: lots of ppl praised it for good hybrid of RPG & Shooter elements. I'd say give it a shot, I never played this one before.
C&C Red Alert 3: No.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Well. It does have interesting locales but the missions are lackluster. Probably just passive vid entertainment.
Mass Effect: Good choice. Captain Jerkwad in Space.
Sacred 2: Nah.
Hinterland: I don't know wtf this is.

[schild]

Let's play requires someone be incredibly, incredibly persistant and anal retentive about creating the entire thing. Like I said, this is more like a book club type thing where everyone plays the same thing and does more of a screenshots/diary thing.

So, uh, where are your suggestions?

[rk47]

i looked at your options and liked some of them. Just that the inclusion of red alert 3 and half life 2 a little odd. Sacred 2?
It's just off a glance comment really, nothing to get serious about.

Suggestions:
Vampires the Bloodlines RPG Shooter
Jagged alliance 2 Squad strategy game
Civilization 4: Fall From Heaven Mod turn based empire building game

Something recent:
Left 4 Dead Hardest difficulty run of you guys. Weekly vid release. With voice chat lulz.

[schild]

i looked at your options and liked some of them. Just that the inclusion of red alert 3 and half life 2 a little odd. Sacred 2?
It's just off a glance comment really, nothing to get serious about.

Not getting serious, just clearing it up for people who wander in here later.

Also, an all crowbar run of Half-Life 2 is worth investigating, maybe. Perhaps all handgun though as the crowbar can't do some things.

[Hindenburg]

Only thing I haven't finished in that list is Hinterlands. Ho-hum.

Clive Barker's Undying.*
System Shock 2.
Thief 1 & 2.


Did an all gravity gun run of HL2 episodes. It was shit. All crowbar would be even more boring.

[schild]

Fucking hell., Remove poll button needs to go away. Fixing. Sigh. Goddamnit.

[schild]

Does Thief 1 work in Vista 64?

[rask]

I'd do this. It sounds like it'd be a blast. I downloaded Stone Soup last night but haven't fired it up yet.

[ashrik]

Vampires the Bloodlines RPG Shooter

I've always wanted to see this, awesome suggestion rk47.

[fuser]

Freespace 2 + FSO (just to make the graphics bearable).

Vampires the Bloodlines RPG Shooter

I've always wanted to see this, awesome suggestion rk47.

Dang it I'm voting for this too, but I keep missing the steam sales of it!

[Big Gulp]

Freespace 2 + FSO (just to make the graphics bearable).

Vampires the Bloodlines RPG Shooter

I've always wanted to see this, awesome suggestion rk47.

Dang it I'm voting for this too, but I keep missing the steam sales of it!

It can be problematic getting it running on 64 bit OSes.  I know I haven't been able to play the Steam version since I switched OSes, but then I also haven't tried too hard.  Anyone else want to do the legwork on getting this running since I'm a lazy bastard?

[SnakeCharmer]

I would definately do it, but unfortunately, I don't have the time.

As far as Gaming Graveyard, you could probably ixnay most of it. HGL, Planetside, SWG, and Titan Quest are all pretty much completely dead.  Hell, rather than have individual child boards, just have a dedicated thread for each game.

[Salamok]

Well you have a what you are playing sticky, how about calling the new board "what we are playing".

I would definately do it, but unfortunately, I don't have the time.

As far as Gaming Graveyard, you could probably ixnay most of it. HGL, Planetside, SWG, and Titan Quest are all pretty much completely dead.  Hell, rather than have individual child boards, just have a dedicated thread for each game.

That may get confusing as i wouldn't doubt that there will be the occasional post like this which would be messed up if it appeared on page 6 of some thread. 

A wiki for each game would be kind of cool.  Start a new game every 2 weeks and freeze the wiki after 4 weeks...

[schild]

The wiki think would be up to NiX! :)

[Moaner]

I think it sounds like fun.  Reading the lets play Patapon over at SA is what got me excited about the game.  Personally, I think it would be a nightmare to do for longer games but something short like Hinterland would work quite well.

[schild]

I still need a name for this thing, though I'm partial to The Radicalthon.

[Sheepherder]

I'm thinking Warcraft III / TFT over Battle.net would be the way to go.  Save the replay and have people do their thing.

[schild]

I'm thinking I shouldn't have mentioned Let's Play and just called it Gameplay Diaries and Discussions so videos could stop being mentioned. The Let's Play people at SA are damned fanatical, moreso than I and reach levels of OCD that just simply shouldn't exist. I'm grateful for it but not trying to emulate it. So, no, I don't think people should "do their thing" with replays of WCIII. 

[SnakeCharmer]

I still need a name for this thing, though I'm partial to The Radicalthon.

F13 Gameday

[ashrik]

Herein lies Ashrik, the Minotaur Berserker
Beloved of Trog
Slain by a Centaur Archer
...on lvl 5 of the dungeon.

Bastards!



So, how does it work?

[Sheepherder]

I'm grateful for it but not trying to emulate it. So, no, I don't think people should "do their thing" with replays of WCIII. 

Warcraft III records the game as a sort of a scripted map with the player running in spectator mode.  Makes for handy analysis when you simultaneously have access to all points of the map.  Also, because the camera tilt + rotate remains the same as in-game you can do pretty nice screenshots of the other guy destroying your base in full cinematic mode.  If you got really batshit you could probably do machinima in it with a fair amount of ease without even touching the editor.

Which is why it makes a nice diary tool even if you're not uploading video.