are we recording yeah man already already this morning there has been a feast yeah games of tender games toothsome you got to hear this though what so I was talking about that esrb thing so they're putting this you know contains in -game purchases on anything whether it's here's a dlc pack or here's a loot box or here's some extra like whatever it is and so this is they're So you're indicating that at the head end, like as a fundamental part of the designation?
Yeah. Okay. I'm sure you're all asking, why aren't we doing something more specific to loot boxes?
She said, we've done a lot of research over the past several weeks and months, particularly among parents.
What we've learned is that a large majority of parents don't know what a loot box is.
Oh, definitely. Yeah, this is it exactly.
Even those who claim they do don't really understand what a loot box is.
so it's very important for us to not harp on loot boxes per se to make sure that we're capturing loot boxes but also other in -game transactions well yes exactly so and i gotta say i think that they have assessed that correctly absolutely correct as a parent who you know in my circle is like one of the rare you would think that that part was over right where it's like oh yeah we're We're all sort of in this and, you know, we all grew up in the 80s and so, you know, it wasn't weird to see a game console.
Like, we grew up with Nintendo.
Right. No. Nope. That's actually not true at all, as you found when you spoke at your son's school.
Because. Those parents, like, again, playing video games.
Was not cool. Was a weird thing to do.
It was weird. It was not a cool thing.
No, exactly. No one liked you.
you a lot of people didn't no for whatever reason i mean the reality right is that that is just not fun for all people either like there's a lot of reasons why people don't play video games no we did it because we were alone all the time yeah exactly but i mean i had a fantasy right like you know we're gonna get up to this point we're gonna sort of like be you know adults in society voting on things yeah right and then we would all sort of understand some of those basic steps but But it really is—there really is a cultural component, and that culture is not universal.
Yeah. So this is actually a really interesting statement because, you know, it's like when we were talking about Smurf Berries.
Right. Or whatever, when kids—like, before they instituted those controls on the Apple—on the iDevices.
Yeah. Right? The truth is that this loot box has become, you know, like horse armor.
Yeah. It's a shibboleth, right?
It's just something we use to determine if a person is good or not.
Like how do they feel about loot boxes?
But in truth, any one of those items, particularly purchases of in -game currency.
I mean, I suspect that parents would find that much more complex. Tokenizing real money.
And that's going to cover something like Fortnite.
And I personally think that the Battle Pass is the best, I don't know, expression of that.
Of that style of play.
That style of play, yeah.
Where here's a free game, but we need to monetize it.
You don't really have loot boxes.
You have this sort of...
It's a schedule of content that you can unlock or purchase.
Or selectively purchase.
But it's all paid for.
And there's pretty sophisticated stuff, like the way the International works, where the prize pool is sort of crowdfunded in some ways, and they reward everyone who pays in to a certain extent, right?
But I'm trying to figure out how you would ever explain a battle pass to someone like the parents that I was meeting at that PTA event.
Their questions were so fundamental.
They're way before.
Yeah. They're way, way before any of this stuff.
What's a server? Oh yeah, because they want to know what a Minecraft server is.
It's like, oh, I want to go jump on the server.
If my son asks me that, I know what he means.
Yeah. Well, my son is running the server, right?
Yeah, they don't know that stuff.
And so I think that that is probably the correct way to do it.
Say, hey, there are purchases of various kinds.
There are extra purchases.
This game costs this amount, but you should know that there are other costs inside of it.
Yeah, but here's the crazy thing.
I'm trying to think of a game now that doesn't have one.
Oh, I can't? Right?
Of some kind. Of some kind.
trying to think of the games i'm playing right now interesting right yeah i mean every game is going to have this sticker on it yeah yeah that's that's i feel like that is the interesting way to do it but her comment at the end of that article is i know that there's a lot of discussion about whether loot boxes are gambling the esrb doesn't think they are we think it's a fun way to acquire new items right sure well it's also it's also a way to fund the industry but yeah the main i think the main thing there so the esrb's purpose well they're stepping and saying hey this isn't gambling yeah this isn't
gambling but it isn't gambling it's just something that is so important and so controversial that we need to specifically label it on every box yeah it's it's something we don't know what but it's definitely something we're going to identify for parents 100 of the time so but the esrb's purpose is to fend off state and federal regulation yeah and I don't mean that like in a pejorative way I'm saying that like their purpose is to maintain the ability of these companies to make games without government oversight exactly basically you know they see themselves and I think that it's not incorrect they
see themselves as something like the board that governs motion motion pictures or yeah well i think that at some extent they probably see themselves as trying to protect the industry from its worst tendencies like they have to yeah because whenever whenever one of these things happens like hot coffee or whatever like they are right out in front of it yeah trying to manage it but there's a they haven't made a distinction they've said all of these games contain in -game purchases but i do believe that there is a distinction there between a game that allows you to purchase dlc for it like zelda well
yeah yeah and a game that has yes story boxes exactly because in one of these cases you're purchasing something like another episode think about it like yeah so you know in like you watch a season of dr who you watch the whole season of dr who but generally speaking the christmas special is not a part of that right like a lot of times that'll be in the christmas specials which is a separate category yeah right if you're not just watching it on tv yeah right in this case you want to say that that there is a difference between purchasing an extra episode of something or purchasing booster packs.
I'm saying it's unfortunate that that gets lost. I think that they're absolutely doing the right thing.
I don't think you can make that distinction to these people.
But it's unfortunate because I do think that loot boxes...
Well, they represent a specific type.
...represent something worse than...
Because really, Zelda is going to have this sticker and Overwatch is going to have the same sticker.
Right. and those are completely different well no i mean here's at the at the fundamental level at the most fundamental level you can't purchase that breath of the wild dlc more than once yes i mean let's not say anything else but that let's just say that it's possible to purchase it over and over again infinitely yeah any like that's a specific class of product yes it's like that distinction is completely lost yeah inside that that overarching thing right you know and but but again like so that's where they've decided that line is i think i think we've established at least in our framework that there's
problems with it but it makes sense yeah is that enough to stave off politicians i don't know i wonder they really seem to have a bug up their ass about gambling and i think that i think they're right listen children gambling is like that gets your attention i think they're are right to worry about it i really do oh definitely yeah yeah yeah i mean as the person who would be made to pay for these things my kids are constantly asking me for these bucks to gamble yeah right right yeah so you guys you must there's other reasons you like the battle pass too because you buy it and then it's over yeah
it's nine dollars you want it will you go fucking yeah get chicken and now for the next three months or whatever they have all of their shit that they're earning yeah and they know that if they don't earn it i'm we're not buying it at the end of the season like yeah that's how it should be you grind it out like your dad does you work yeah i mean is there is there something in the esrb it could be i mean it's just it's it's kind of i mean we we have definitely boiled down really complex concepts before i just i feel like that's not over no i don't think so like i have no idea what the next fascinating
twist will will be in that case yeah yeah i mean so there's that fable fortune is amazing i think so too i think that man did you see ryan's eyes yeah when he walked in he was telling you something and he stopped mid -sentence he was fine yeah until he saw it and the card came out and he's like i i think that you i think that you miss fable fortune at your peril i i think that that's actually i think they've got really neat ideas in there yep and it's just this is the first set yeah it's the first set yeah they haven't fucked it up yet no you know no no it's like you got to recognize that because there's
a lot of there's listen that space is glutted the longer those games go the more you know tacked on and the more shit that gets piled on top of them well yeah it's like i think that they're at their best at the beginning right well they're just well you've inherently it's inherently serving two masters like that's like yeah that's like a case study in two masters serving right right because you have to this this beast has to be amended in a way that is exciting and powerful in a new way yeah but doesn't destroy itself does very it's like baron von frankenstein yeah or dr von i just love to say
baron von yeah i'm sorry i don't know what i don't know what you want me to do you we had a good time doing our uh family overwatch stream last night oh yeah yeah it was fun oh yeah i i retweeted that out was it fun it was yeah it was a good time we won a couple lost a bunch but well it was really fun it was very very fun to play sea of thieves with gabe oh yeah he loved it i mean that's like his dream is to be on twitch oh yeah no but i'm saying like he is such a fucking like he is such a fucking pro like he we had to fuck with him about reading his phone yeah we had to we had to put him in the brig
yeah fun to show that right but it was honestly super funny but what he was trying to do is get access to the chat so he could answer people's questions yeah he wants to be a streamer yeah it's crazy fucking god bless you yeah go get it man go get it no it's fun to play with two people on the a stream like noah oh yeah he's just is he well he's he's wild we don't know that as we've said many times like we don't know that person yeah i don't know him just full of confidence yeah amazing and he's got his uh houston outlaws skin on like oh he's wearing it yeah he's repping his brand nice the outlaws
have a good color scheme they do i strongly suspect that that color scheme would appeal to young people yeah he picked it for colors i mean it's like the razor color scheme right the old one before chroma right uh but yeah we're gonna do some more of those you got to man you got to uh who so were you were you running it through your ps4 so you could see the chat yeah so i was talking to people the precious channel oh indeed yeah well see you've leveraged the terminology i say it now yeah hello i'm jare for k horkims yeah hello precious channel yeah yeah yeah so which ways which of these do we
want to get into i think it's all good i think eventually we will have one for the golden gun concept yeah i mean if there's something we can can do about fable yes let's try that game has just got a grip it's just it's too smart yeah i don't feel like i mean i can see some of the comparisons i can see yeah but what they mean in this like what they mean in the rest of the system is different yeah like that merchant is legitimately weird yeah like the merchant plays the game in reverse yeah like they they play curve is completely different yeah yeah and it's crazy it's so crazy that we fought that ai
opponent for what must have been 12 rounds yeah basically at a standstill because we didn't know what he was about couldn't figure it out yeah no man i suspect i suspect high level merchant play is very strange yeah you know what i think that it's the difference between um war machine and hordes.
Yeah. It has to do with when you're applying the resources as you're playing.
The merchants I played last night where you're getting to the end of a game, you've been playing for 20 minutes or so, and now they're just dropping gold.
Haymakers. You can see just gold, gold, gold.
But what's interesting, and I realized this last night because I was playing so long, that decision to only let you concede on your turn is big because if you can concede on at any time, like in Hearthstone when your guy just blows up, right?
Yeah, yeah, like Hearthstone or LAWL or whatever.
Yeah, it's a table flip.
It's like, fuck, this is bullshit, I'm done, right?
Yeah. But if you have to wait until your turn, the other person gets to do their turn, now I've conceded.
It's really like, I'm stepping away from the table, I've lost. It is a completely different feeling.
It's a gentleman. Yes.
It's the laws of the battlefield.
Yeah. Well, here, dude, if we We do a Fable Fortune strip fast. You can go get drunk?
Well, that's going to happen no matter what.
That's what my Tuesday looks like.
I'm saying if we get a Fable Fortune strip done, we can actually play some Fable Fortune before I get drunk.
Oh, and then Amy is going to be here.
She might be here this afternoon.
I saw that, yeah. Maybe she can come back for the art strip.
Sure. Maybe she can draw a little.
Sure. She can draw the strip.
Yeah. I'll eat teriyaki.
Huge time savings. savings yeah i mean the main thing for me it's like with any of these card games it's just sort of like the the barrier to entry is just like is this it's just about time is it worth my time to us yeah at a certain level it's just like okay well is this a worthwhile investment and so for me the answer is always yes because i only play games to find to have a new experience yes that's all i want and so i always want to play free to play things and i always want to try new games it's always worth it for me it's not like necessarily work it worth it for everybody but the longer
you play it like think about what it must have undergone to even get out oh my gosh when that company dissolved think about what it must have taken yeah to keep going and making this well they had that awesome like dnd game where like one person was the dungeon master and everybody else was they were doing all kinds of cool shit yeah and this card game survived yeah Yeah, exactly.
And it survived all that turmoil.
Yeah. And I think part of the reason, and it isn't necessarily the case 100 % of the time, part of the reason is that it's very, very, very good.
Yeah. That doesn't always matter.
When people are making financial decisions, that doesn't always matter.
Yeah. I mean, there's definitely this...
I think that somebody could get tired of card games.
Oh, yeah, you get numb to it.
You get numb to it.
And I still check them out, I really don't expect much No There's just enough Interesting new ideas in it The whole morality thing And the feeling Their concept of quests Is really interesting Tipping one gold to make anybody a defender Yeah exactly You can basically add a keyword to a card For one mana And depending on What's happening there in terms of eulogy you can force really novel plays, or you can change how a round looks to the opponent very easily.
Yeah, really interesting combos in all their different classes, different play styles.
I don't know. I love it.
Yeah, I want to play it again.
What's the joke? Yeah, exactly.
The other thing about it is that it's actually just sort of funny.
It's funny looking.
It has a very slapstick -y...
Yeah, I mean, it's got the fable sense of humor, right?
Goofy art, right? But yeah, I mean, not knowing, it's like, okay, so what is it about this one?
Yeah. Did you ever see Thor, Ragnarok?
Yeah. God, that was a good movie.
We finally just saw it this weekend.
I think it's pretty entertaining.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
I like, those movies seem to just take, they just seem to do whatever they want.
Yeah. But that, like, it's a 1970s van art.
Mm -hmm. It's a lot of airbrushing.
All Jack Kirby, like, awesome.
Oh, yeah. But I loved that, like, gentle rock person.
Yes. yes he was the best he man he's so funny yeah you guys watch voltron yeah it's karan it's the same guy yeah i thought it sounded like him oh it's him dude that motherfucker gets around yeah it's like if you want a nice person huh he has like cranked out this job for himself oh wow where he is the nice new zealand man and he's making bank yeah there's a did you ever see uh what we do in the shadows no it's fucking you can't miss it okay it's one of those movies again where it's It's just like, you sit down and you sort of feel like you know what you're in for, and then that's not what it is at all.
It's a documentary.
It's a fake documentary about vampires.
Oh, okay. About real vampires.
Okay. I mean, I was like, oh, okay, well, that's a good hook.
But it's executed flawlessly.
And you'd like it, because I think that's the same director as Thor Ragnarok.
Oh, okay. But that dude, Coran and this guy, he's like the alpha, quote unquote, of a pack of werewolves.
With that same voice?
That polite... He says that they're werewolves, not swearwolves.
Dude, you can't miss it.
Okay, what we do in the shadows.
What we do in the fucking shadows.
Yeah, I'll watch it.
It's out of fucking control.
Thor came out and then the murder on the Orient Express came out, so we finally got a chance to watch that.
Is that finally out?
It is, yeah. Because I have been waiting for that to be real.
Yeah, it's out now.
I didn't have a chance to check it.
I mean, you could do something visually in the three panels just to sort of echo what happened here, right, where it's like in the first panel, Tycho's like on the couch behind Gabe and he's like looking over, he's like, are those cars or whatever?
And the second panel, he's standing next to him, like looking down.
And then the third panel, he's in a chair next to him, like at the screen.
Well, no, no, you can do a situation where it's like Like, from the couch, and then behind.
And then, like, arms over the shoulders, like, moving the mouse.
Fable of Fortune? I don't know if I have time for another card game.
Yeah, I don't know if I have time for another card game.
Did you just choose morality?
Now he's standing behind him, right?
Like, yeah, I decided to go evil.
It modifies a bunch of the cards in my deck.
You don't say? No, no, but is it funnier if there's just, like, no dialogue?
oh in the first panel there could be some dialogue i don't know if i have time for another card game and the second panel he's just looking or just like hmm and the third panel he's playing over him it's just like you're just you're doing it wrong you're doing everything wrong yeah i'm sorry you're doing it i'm sorry you were doing everything wrong yeah i mean i can i like the text we can look at it without text in the last two yeah yeah here it might work you just chose morality in a card game.
In a card game. Sure, it affects the cards I have with the morality keyword. Shut up.
Shut up and let me do it.
Shut up, you're doing it wrong.
Shut up, shut up. You're doing everything wrong.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's see how it works.
Let's see how it looks on each one and we'll choose the best one.
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