Yahtzee Wrote a Book

[lokiduck]

I'm not preordering, because I wanted to take a look at the book y reading a page to debate whether to buy it or not and then put off Queen of the Damned for the fourth time this year.

But the sample from the book was good enough So I will definitely check it out.

 

[molesgallus]

Wait a second... Can Yahtzze write?

He's a journalist (and no, I don't just mean ZP) so I should hope so! ;o)

Reminds me alot of Terry Pratchett, I reckon it'll be worth a read.

Good bit of Douglas Adams in there as well. Especially with the personification of the sun. Clearly, heavily influenced by Pratchett as well.

 

[molesgallus]

Damn, man, this is good stuff! Although I think the end of your excerpt might've given away the big twist. Still, I'll definitely pick the book up when it's out. A Pratchett-style fantasy comedy set in an MMO...yeah, I'm sold.

EDIT: Also, holy crap. What's with the massive negativity and astronomically high literary standards? I didn't know half the Escapist's reader base was composed of bitter, unpublished English majors.

Yahtzee may not be Sir Terry, but he's got a unique idea and the chapter's entertaining. Chill.

Haha. You clearly don't know the Escapist's reader base very well. I did find it jarring to read, though. Great writing disappears from the page, as it becomes the imagined world in your head. Here, the writing was all too obvious.

Comedy is about forcing your brain to make two conclusions. An immediate, 'stupid' conclusion. And a secondary, 'intelligent' conclusion. The dissonance, forces self-recognition, and forces you to find it humorous. A joke has to flow smoothly, be timed properly. Otherwise your brain might make the conclusions in the wrong order, at the wrong times relative to each other, or not at all.

Don't get me wrong, writing a successful comedy novel is an impossibly difficult task. A spot normally reserved for Gods. However, Yahtzee is most definitely a God, so I'm excited to see how his novel writing career develops. Experience means a lot in the writing game.


Disclaimer: The second paragraph is pure speculation, based on entirely anecdotal evidence. Feel free to wholly disagree with my conclusions. Just don't inform me. I do have a list. And I intend to fully utilize it when I take power.

 

[molesgallus]

Holy crap. That was laughably bad.

Screw you, its a satire of mmo's which goes about it by making the story that one of the npc's, Jim, has become self aware as have many others. Anyone who has played an mmo will understad the humor involved. if its not your cup of tea then get the hell out of the tea party.

I liked it, and I already ordered it a month back. Hope it comes soon.

Oh, no. See I'm not saying that I don't understand it. I'm saying that it's bad. As in poorly written. Glad that I could clear this up.

Well I think your wrong, glad I cleared that up. Really - what were you expecting from Yahtzee? Stephen King? Its a cheap book that is good in its own context.

I'd like to see you do better.

Stephen King isn't very good, either. Granted, he's miles ahead of this, but he's not exactly one of the greats.

You'd like to see me do better? No, you wouldn't. You don't want to see me do better. You just want to act like a petulant child and stick your tongue out at me.

Look, I'm sorry. The language is stilted. It reads like someone who thinks they are clever trying to be clever except that it isn't clever. The dialogue is terrible. It's conversation written by someone who apparently has no idea what people sound like when they talk. Everything about it screams amateur.

Also, it strikes me as strange that some of you are so vehemently defending a man who has made a career out of being insulting against insults. "But, but you're being a big jerk"! Yeah. Okay. Maybe I am. But isn't that why you love this guy so much in the first place? Because he's a big jerk? He's a super troll, and while that's occasionally amusing, it's certainly not a basis to ignore his own failings. He's a bad writer. This is really bad.

He's a jerk in an Ironic, satirical way. If he just mindlessly fired into games, nobody would like him. He clearly doesn't, as anyone who has seen his videos will surely agree.

I would agree about his writing skills, though. It definitely screams amateur. However, he does have some time to improve. I wouldn't dismiss him as a writer, yet. Terry Pratchett has come a long way from his first novels.

If you want to be admired for being a jerk, you're going to have to be a lot more ironic, and self aware about it. That's Yahtzee's strong point. He's not really a jerk. He's just created a character, a persona that is a satirical take on a 'jerk'. Most of what he says is true though. It has to be, otherwise no one would relate to it. He's certainly not a 'troll'; not by any definition I've came across.

 

[Redratson]

Lol I'm goin to try and get this book, this stuff is great. XD

 

[dancinginfernal]

Humorous and enjoyable. I'll check Borders for it, but I'm way to lazy to order online.

 

[TheUnkn0wngamer]

I've been on fullyramlomatic.com and Yahtzee has two other novels only on there and they're actually pretty good so I'm hoping this is good as well. It's actually being published so yeah I think it will be good, if I can find a copy at a local bookstore.

 

[EMT-]

I'm not reading this, since I already pre-ordered the book and don't want to spoil it...

Although just an observation from looking at the book cover, didn't Looking For Group have a warlock with a rabbit for a companion?

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh WTH Yahtzee... you don't just 'accidentally' end up having a comedy-making-fun-of-mmo's staring a warlock and involving a rabbit somehow. Jesus.

fun read at the least, but the above is discerning... I feel like blind Ferret is going to sue somebody

 

[DayDark]

I'm not reading this, since I already pre-ordered the book and don't want to spoil it...

Although just an observation from looking at the book cover, didn't Looking For Group have a warlock with a rabbit for a companion?

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh WTH Yahtzee... you don't just 'accidentally' end up having a comedy-making-fun-of-mmo's staring a warlock and involving a rabbit somehow. Jesus.

fun read at the least, but the above is discerning... I feel like blind Ferret is going to sue somebody

Yeah, the similarities are a little disturbing, I take comfort in that the whole rabbit thing seems to be his offensive spell rather than a companion.

 

[Biffy Cakeo]

Definetly buying, I found it very funny indeed.

 

[EMT-]

Yeah, the similarities are a little disturbing, I take comfort in that the whole rabbit thing seems to be his offensive spell rather than a companion.

but the cover of it looks almost as if he's taking the piss out of LFG too.. and I look forward to both the comic and ZP equally on my Thursdays, as I'm guessing some others also do.

 

[DayDark]

Yeah, the similarities are a little disturbing, I take comfort in that the whole rabbit thing seems to be his offensive spell rather than a companion.

but the cover of it looks almost as if he's taking the piss out of LFG too.. and I look forward to both the comic and ZP equally on my Thursdays, as I'm guessing some others also do.

Could be, it's certainly possible.

 

[Gaiacarra]

I found that read like Discworld without any of the life or wit. I liked Fog Juice alot better, surprisingly.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Must get this. It looks very interesting and I'm a huge ZP fan (who feels the obsesive need to give Yahtzee all my money. jk.)

 

[Sevenfest]

I regularly watch ZP.. it's a highlight of wednesday coming back from work to see which game's been lambasted and after a patch of sub-par reviews it's good to see him back to form, Just Cause 2 being a worthy example.

That said, this so far seems a side-project that's going to need to simmer. The writing style reminded me of fan-fiction.. regardless, I enjoyed the excerpt which is all that matters really, so if I can find this in a store I might grab a copy, especially at that price. I'd be curious to see how Yahtzee's talent develops, if it does at all.

Also, not getting the LFG 'rip-off' claims. If anything it seemed more of a 'doff of the cap', a reference rather than any long running aspect of the story. I can see there being plenty of tributes in the book.

Though just from saying that I had an image of George Lucas on Robot Chicken..

GL: "And I ..thought they smelled bad on the outside?"
Fan: "YAAAY, JUST LIEK THEY SAID IN TEH MOVIE"

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Rather shockingly amateur. Certainly doesn't benefit from his trademark rapid delivery, which effectively mitigates the occasional weak joke. Definite nod to Pratchett with markedly lesser charm. I think he can do better, and maybe he does.

For the record, it is possible to write well using excessive, flowery language, but you've got to be almost flawless. The moment you drop a subpar image or descriptor is the same moment you lose the reader. You've revealed yourself as puppeteer, and the show is over.

 

[masqueblanc]

Well, I was excited before the extract, and now I am torn between excitedly leaping up and down and cursing the fact that I have no money. I shall have to go off and rob someone's granny, then I'll be right back to preorder it ^^

 

[OANST]

Holy crap. That was laughably bad.

Screw you, its a satire of mmo's which goes about it by making the story that one of the npc's, Jim, has become self aware as have many others. Anyone who has played an mmo will understad the humor involved. if its not your cup of tea then get the hell out of the tea party.

I liked it, and I already ordered it a month back. Hope it comes soon.

Oh, no. See I'm not saying that I don't understand it. I'm saying that it's bad. As in poorly written. Glad that I could clear this up.

Well I think your wrong, glad I cleared that up. Really - what were you expecting from Yahtzee? Stephen King? Its a cheap book that is good in its own context.

I'd like to see you do better.

Stephen King isn't very good, either. Granted, he's miles ahead of this, but he's not exactly one of the greats.

You'd like to see me do better? No, you wouldn't. You don't want to see me do better. You just want to act like a petulant child and stick your tongue out at me.

Look, I'm sorry. The language is stilted. It reads like someone who thinks they are clever trying to be clever except that it isn't clever. The dialogue is terrible. It's conversation written by someone who apparently has no idea what people sound like when they talk. Everything about it screams amateur.

Also, it strikes me as strange that some of you are so vehemently defending a man who has made a career out of being insulting against insults. "But, but you're being a big jerk"! Yeah. Okay. Maybe I am. But isn't that why you love this guy so much in the first place? Because he's a big jerk? He's a super troll, and while that's occasionally amusing, it's certainly not a basis to ignore his own failings. He's a bad writer. This is really bad.

He's a jerk in an Ironic, satirical way. If he just mindlessly fired into games, nobody would like him. He clearly doesn't, as anyone who has seen his videos will surely agree.

I would agree about his writing skills, though. It definitely screams amateur. However, he does have some time to improve. I wouldn't dismiss him as a writer, yet. Terry Pratchett has come a long way from his first novels.

If you want to be admired for being a jerk, you're going to have to be a lot more ironic, and self aware about it. That's Yahtzee's strong point. He's not really a jerk. He's just created a character, a persona that is a satirical take on a 'jerk'. Most of what he says is true though. It has to be, otherwise no one would relate to it. He's certainly not a 'troll'; not by any definition I've came across.

He's admitted to overlooking good things in games and exaggerating their flaws because that's what his viewers like about him. So basically, he insults the work of other people to get a laugh. That's pretty much the definition of a troll. I'm not saying that he isn't funny, or that he isn't good at it. Let's not try to say that he's objective, though.

Anyway, that's all beside the point. I really think it was bad. I wasn't trying to win brownie points or get laughs. I just think that it's poorly written.

 

[adderseal]

Great writing disappears from the page, as it becomes the imagined world in your head.

The more I read this sentence the more I realize how utterly brilliant it is in its simplicity. So, so true.