Escapist Podcast: 071: Jumping the Cougar-Shark

The Escapist Staff

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071: Jumping the Cougar-Shark

This week, we discuss travel tips for the holidays, Star Trek (obviously), and how you can burn out on games while being in either game journalism and development.

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Itdoesthatsometimes

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I have not finished listening to the podcast, but I will jump in defense of Showtime real quick.

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States (a weekly documentary series that airs on Monday nights) is worth watching.

Now to listen to the rest of the Podcast.

Edit: Just finished the podcast. I apologize for my Fanboy reaction. I still feel the same way, but realize now. My post is more of a plug for the documentary rather than anything substantive or even very relevant to the Podcast.

I offer a plug as retribution for my offense.

I love listing to the Escapist Podcast.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

books, Books, BOOKS
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The only show on Showtime that I've ever watched was Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and that's the only reason I even bothered with Showtime.

But that show is no longer there, so, yeah.

I will say that the people where I live don't know what to do when it rains, like it did last night, and it's frightening when they try to drive during it. D:
 

Revolutionary

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I think the thing with Dexter is that you can pretty much always predict the end-season 'twist' or sometimes even just not even a 'twist', but it's all the plot leading up to it that I find interesting. Come to think of it some of the actual plot twists occurred mid-season. (Except for this one...
giant plot twist at the end of Season four or five I can't remember which).
 

gardian06

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there is a difference between QA testing, and game testing QA is usually in house, and many companies try doing during the project lifecycle while game testing is "this is a release candidate" break it. for some companies they are viewed as one in the same, but others treat QA as surmonds on the mount while game testers are just there.
In the QA testing thing being "experience" for jobs in the industry. if you have QA experience, and a degree/portfolio of work you are more likely to get a position then someone who doesn't have the QA experience mainly because that testing experience means that you know how these things are likely to be broken, and you are more likely to be able to fix your own, and a chain of logic of:

you know how these things get broken so you either will know how to make them so they are no longer broken, or you can fix them, and therefore at least that section will need less time in QA (still will need to be tested, but more or less a checkbox approach)

I am not saying that the testing experience will be viewed better then a degree/portfolio, or even as a stand-in for it; just that if is a plus if you have those other things and testing experience. It's along the same line as developers liking a artist to be able to integrate the assets they have made, and a programmer being able to introduce even simple art assets into the engine so that they can test a feature.
 

Imp_Emissary

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I'm not that good of an arttist, :( sadly.


Hope everybody has a great holliday if I can't wish you one on the day!
 

Dastardly

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The Escapist Staff said:
071: Jumping the Cougar-Shark

This week, we discuss travel tips for the holidays, Star Trek (obviously), and how you can burn out on games while being in either game journalism and development.

Watch Video
I lost Farscape when, in rapid succession, it threw up all three of my Red Flags of Sci-Fi: time travel, body switching, and alternate universes. Used carefully (and individually) these can add a lot... but usually they're just sidebar wish-fulfillment episodes that nearly always find excuses to explore the Forbidden Relationship and/or turn the straight-laced female character inexplicably slutty. When all three are used in the same season, we've completely wormholed the shark.
 

Doubler

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Susan Arendt's argument in the hypothetical hiring question is problematic because people can have problems with a wide range of personal characteristics, including but not limited to gender, race, sexual preference, religion, political affiliation, the kind of car they drive, their sense of humour, you name it. As such disqualifying people on such characteristics is arbitrary at best, and can be outright malicious at worst.
Ultimately the only thing that really puts the workplace dynamic at risk in these cases is someone with such convictions not being professional enough to put them aside in the workplace. It's a problem with them, not with the people that they are offended by.
 

Tisiphone1

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Dec 27, 2011
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Just wanted to say that you definitely can hold down a security clearance type job as a civilian with a mental health diagnosis while undergoing treatment, or after successful treatment, including drug therapy. Your doctors have to sign off on you, but if you're stable and have been a good patient, you'll get your clearance and the job.

Interesting tidbit: Some studies indicate that people who suffer from dysthymia/depression are actually less likely to be a security risk than average people.

Sadly, the military persists in its culture of stigma and will still drop your clearance for getting help, but maybe someday they'll catch up to the civilian side.
 

Henriot

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Melbourne (Australia) gets some major floods and fires occasionally. However, if it were to snow heavily, i think a big chunk of the population would freak out and everything would grind to a halt.

The Dexter first season plot twist was hampered by the fact it was taking it almost straight from the first book which is quite small. I think the book is only 100 pages or something (with a big font size too). So the twist ("Come on baby!") comes out of the blue in the last couple of pages, whereas a 12 episode TV series would need slowly add to it, fill it out rather than do the big reveal in the last couple of minutes in the last episode.



Dastardly said:
I lost Farscape when, in rapid succession, it threw up all three of my Red Flags of Sci-Fi: time travel, body switching, and alternate universes. Used carefully (and individually) these can add a lot... but usually they're just sidebar wish-fulfillment episodes that nearly always find excuses to explore the Forbidden Relationship and/or turn the straight-laced female character inexplicably slutty. When all three are used in the same season, we've completely wormholed the shark.
But... but... that was such a great season!
I'm a massive Farscape fan, I recognise it's not for everyone but I loved those one off "classic sci-fi trope of the week" episodes. The first couple of episodes are painful to watch because everyone is so serious with their acting; once things start getting sillier, they started having more fun with their roles. Was also fun to spot the bi-weekly Australian talent.
Wasn't aware of Virginia Hey leaving because of the poisonous make up though...
 

Raban

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The Dexter books are bad, really really bad, and not just plotwise. When you watch interviews with the directors and producers of the TV show you can see their embarrassment, every time someone mentions the books, and they are quick to point out, that the author has nothing to do with the show.
One of the worst things I've ever read and up there with Ed Greenwoods Elminster series and Terry Goodkinds Sword of Thruth
 

Baldr

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As a game developer, I think the worst is when you hit that wall, where you just can't get that one more thing without jumping off the roof: Co-workers say they help, but drag their feet until a few days latter and you gotten over that wall.

If you want a job that lets you play video games and get paid: NC snowplow driver.
 

Xman490

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May 29, 2010
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Sometimes you are VERY quiet while saying something important, and other times you are VERY loud while cussing.
It's VERY distressing to try and listen to this without earphones/headphones and with other people a room or two away.
 

Formica Archonis

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Doubler said:
Susan Arendt's argument in the hypothetical hiring question is problematic because people can have problems with a wide range of personal characteristics, including but not limited to gender, race, sexual preference, religion, political affiliation, the kind of car they drive, their sense of humour, you name it. As such disqualifying people on such characteristics is arbitrary at best, and can be outright malicious at worst.
My problem with the question is its delivery. Susan ultimately boils it down to 'Would you hire X or X+complication?' Obvious answer once you frame it like that. Problem is that in reality - and how I interpreted the question initially - both will come with complications, one just has a skeleton that's NOT in the closet. The answer is more valid for a heavily abstracted version of the question than the question (as I understood it).

As for other people? Ehh, I can't imagine a person would sexually harass an ex-Playboy model and be all angels and cupcakes to every other woman on the face of the earth. Maybe less obvious about it, but not different. A mature and normal person doesn't magically transform into a socially retarded five-year-old because Miss July is within 40 feet.
 

NoTroll

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Susan's arguments and browbeating about the nude posing question is pretty offensive. Bowing to the will of people who impose their morals on other is loathsome.
 

Paradoxrifts

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So does anyone have a link to the playboy bunny's portfolio?

"...."

I meant her portfolio of artwork.

"...."

The artwork she made herself.

"...."

Never mind.
 

Airon

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Listening to it now, though what I'm listening to sounds a lot better.

I enjoy the podcast on a regular basis, but the sound could use a stronger mixing touch.

To demonstrate, I've uploaded the type of sound I usually listen to for this podcast.

The original version makes me listen much too hard and on too high a volume level. The jumps in loudness are enormous. Now they're not.

https://soundcloud.com/airon-extv/escapist-podcast-071-smoother

It's matched to play most of the quiet parts at about the same loudness as the original does, but it has none of the extreme loudness jumps.

Let me know if this is somehow legally horrible, and I'll take it down. It's a sound demo. Download the original FLAC file I uploaded if you like. And yes, I do this for a living.
 

Susan Arendt

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Doubler said:
Susan Arendt's argument in the hypothetical hiring question is problematic because people can have problems with a wide range of personal characteristics, including but not limited to gender, race, sexual preference, religion, political affiliation, the kind of car they drive, their sense of humour, you name it. As such disqualifying people on such characteristics is arbitrary at best, and can be outright malicious at worst.
Ultimately the only thing that really puts the workplace dynamic at risk in these cases is someone with such convictions not being professional enough to put them aside in the workplace. It's a problem with them, not with the people that they are offended by.
Never said it was a problem with the "offender," as it were. But whereas you can't choose your gender, race, sexual preference, you can choose whether or not you appear nude in a magazine. And you're absolutely right that there's always a risk of personality clash in an office place, and you can only work around it so much, but my point is if you have so many candidates to choose from, and they're all capable of doing the job, and there's an issue in place that you *know* might cause problems, why would you not simply go with a candidate that comes with less baggage? Again, let's be clear - this isn't about should you hire this particular person, it's should you hire this particular person when you can hire someone else who will do it just as well?

As for your comment about disqualifying people based on such characteristics being arbitrary...you're right. But when you have one open position and literally hundreds of qualified applicants, you will look for any reason to thin the herd.

I was also making the point that it's utterly naive to think that certain life choices will have no impact on your hireability - or, perhaps more accurately, advertising those choices. This case is somewhat unique in that posing in a magazine is a public thing to do, unlike many of the other personal preferences we're talking about. Whether or not that's fair is irrelevant - the fact is that it is true. Should anyone give a damn about your sexual preference, or if you have mental health issues, or were a juvenile criminal, are a staunch Republican, or any number of any things that have no bearing on your ability to do your job? Of course not, that's your personal life and none of their business. But people are people, biased and predjudiced. As an employer, it makes sense to try and minimize friction inasmuch as possible and practical.

NoTroll said:
Susan's arguments and browbeating about the nude posing question is pretty offensive. Bowing to the will of people who impose their morals on other is loathsome.
Who's imposing morals on anyone? I personally couldn't care less what someone does in their off time until/unless I have to consider how that might impact their ability to function at their job. (And that's only in the case that they're my direct problem.) You seem to have misunderstood the question being raised. But that may simply be because I didn't do an effective job of explaining it.

Some people find open displays of sexuality morally offensive. That is a fact. Should they? Completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Formica Archonis said:
Doubler said:
As for other people? Ehh, I can't imagine a person would sexually harass an ex-Playboy model and be all angels and cupcakes to every other woman on the face of the earth. Maybe less obvious about it, but not different. A mature and normal person doesn't magically transform into a socially retarded five-year-old because Miss July is within 40 feet.
Sexually harrass? Perhaps, perhaps not. If you've followed any of the #1reasonwhy comments, you might reconsider just brushing that aside as being so unlikely. I don't think that would happen in the vast majority of places, no. Even if nothing like that happens, coworkers being extra awkward or even downright hostile? That I can see, yes.

Also, let's consider situations like Jade Raymond, who was simply pretty while talking about a game. The public reaction was at times, utterly disgusting. (Go ahead and search for the comic about gamers ejaculating all over her. It's delightful.) So even if the problem doesn't come from coworkers, it can come from the audience.