Zero Punctuation: Webcomics

[PurpleRain]

Is it just me or has Yahtzee been a little less of a video game critic and more like a professional troll lately?

I'm starting to agree. I didn't really like this review so much (oh strike me down). I like a lot of his earlier ones like Bioshock, Halo3 and Fable. His newer ones are starting to loose there flare somewhat and seem to be a drawn out rant on his likes and dislikes. I knew he hated CAD. His said it so many times already, but did he need a ZP to tell everyone?

 

[Worsle]

How does Yahtzee troll his own column? I mean really it kind of goes against how trolling is meant to work. Seriously is trolling now just posting some thing you don't like or some thing? As it feels like the term is just being thrown about with out much thought these days.

Personally I must saw a lot of these comments are hilarious (now this is more like trolling). I was going to make a post explaining how Buckly can not structure a joke, but on looking though his archive I gave up before I found enough of a joke to be worth deconstructing. Now maybe I am lacking a sense of humour but I found most of these "jokes" where at best one panel deals made out of at best slightly amusing concepts (seriously a joke about a sony executive not wearing pants? It was so bad I can't get it out of my head...).

That and despite how much we are talking about CAD out side of the one painfully obvious example of the miscarriage the rest applies to a depressing amount of other comics. Really the self insert, straight man and girl might sound like CAD but only because CAD is the same as a legion of other less famous comics. Yatzee's line in the credits does have a lot of validity.

 

[AlisonPrime]

I dont see how my comic is like his. I do admit i made myself the main character, but I am the same way I act in it. There are 3 girls in the comic and 1 guy, I play the main heroine, who i can prove looks exactly like me, just view the deviant page4 i have for many a photo of me. I just write my comic for the hell of it, if it went offline (which it did til someone e-mailed me they missed it and wanted to draw for me) i would really not care, i just do it cause im bored, i dont want money for it, and i just write reviews for games and shit just because i want to be different. Any cock with a microphone or a type-writer can write about how much he hates a game, or whats completely wrong with it. Any dick with a camera can spout on and on about crap about whats wrong with a game or be a dick and review games when they were just getting into the hang of things and cry on and on how much they suck. it takes an original mind to actually...review games nowadays, tell what you LIKE and DISLIKE about them, and give them a grade, recommend them, or tell you to stay away, now it might not be the most entertaining thing ever, but fuck you, i dont want to be like yahtzee or AVGN, or other cocks who swear constantly, i swear now cause im angry, pmsing, and yes i am a girl, so what? anyway, i enjoyed the video, it made me laugh, but i laugh cause i see it all the time in other comics, just not mine

To re-iterate

1. I AM the main character
2. 3 girls, 1 boy
3. I act the way i do in real life
4. Lists of 3 are dumb

 

[Worsle]

Really scoring for games is a fucking stupid concept it always has been, Yahtzee is not the only person to think it. That and when games are rarely ever giving a score under 5/50% witch should be the average score and we are given meaningless differences like 9.4 vs 9.5 they have been rendered pointless by most reviewers nowadays anyway. You should understand the review by reading what it says not by looking at a score, even from Yahtzee's negative talks I can see if I would like a game (like gta4 going to get it at some point) you just have to use your own brain.

That and if you look like your main character you live in one hell of a scary place. I am also completely sceptical of your "I do it just for fun" routine given how often you mentioned it there. Reads hell of a more like, look at me I made a comic, really look I made a comic! Look at me!

 

[maxusy3k]

I'm going to pitch in here to say;

I've never read CAD. I was only vaguely aware of it's existence and that was fine with me, I wasn't driven to read it and doubt I ever will. I read Penny Arcade occassionally, had a phase where I read it frequently but now, not so much, as with most webcomics, game related or no.

I thought this week's ZP was hilarious, even though I was apparently watching it wholly out of context. I didn't know he was digging at somebody in particular, nor did I care. It was funny because it was mostly spot on the money with what a lot of comics are doing wrong. The miscarriage bit I understand now was a direct attack but, again, watching it 'out of context' as I was doing, it was still funny. Not the miscarriage aspect itself, mind. There's nothing funny about that.

As with his reviews, I'm sure I'd find some parts funnier if I understood the subject matter more - rewatching the Assassin's Creed review after playing through it made it even more entertaining than the first time - but it's not a prerequisite, and watching this week's video as it was presented - a rant vs. poor webcomics (naturally, from Yahtzee's perspective) - delivered the entertainment value I switched it on for.

Delving this deeply into the CAD context and drawing it out FOR TWENTY FOUR KITTEN STOMPING PAGES is something you guys and you guys alone have done. Was Yahtzee bashing CAD? Yes, he was, from what I gather. But he was bashing all poor webcomics, maybe even the successful ones too. That's what the video was about, and that's what it did.

Don't like it? Mark it down, don't watch it again. Pretty simple if you ask me.

 

[DrmChsr0]

You know, we must make Yahtzee hunt down all the cool games of yore to play.

Stuff like Grim Fandango (he'll swear like a battleship full of sailors just to find the game LEGALLY.), the first few XCOM games, the Monkey Island series, Sam and Max(for crying out loud, he hasn't even touched the newer episodes!), Fallout 1 and 2, throw in a few roguelikes, that Penny Arcade game...

Or we could make him play Superman 64.

I dunno about you guys, but I'm usually here to see Yahtzee rip into a game like the EGM of old, or rant so hard about a truly good game that he realizes that he needs to stab his eyes out with rusty sporks because he can't insult the game.

Not that ripping into popular games is bad of course, but I want to see the Portal-type reaction to a game.

 

[Giygas]

I'm going to pitch in here to say;

I've never read CAD. I was only vaguely aware of it's existence and that was fine with me, I wasn't driven to read it and doubt I ever will. I read Penny Arcade occassionally, had a phase where I read it frequently but now, not so much, as with most webcomics, game related or no.

I thought this week's ZP was hilarious, even though I was apparently watching it wholly out of context. I didn't know he was digging at somebody in particular, nor did I care. It was funny because it was mostly spot on the money with what a lot of comics are doing wrong. The miscarriage bit I understand now was a direct attack but, again, watching it 'out of context' as I was doing, it was still funny. Not the miscarriage aspect itself, mind. There's nothing funny about that.

As with his reviews, I'm sure I'd find some parts funnier if I understood the subject matter more - rewatching the Assassin's Creed review after playing through it made it even more entertaining than the first time - but it's not a prerequisite, and watching this week's video as it was presented - a rant vs. poor webcomics (naturally, from Yahtzee's perspective) - delivered the entertainment value I switched it on for.

Delving this deeply into the CAD context and drawing it out FOR TWENTY FOUR KITTEN STOMPING PAGES is something you guys and you guys alone have done. Was Yahtzee bashing CAD? Yes, he was, from what I gather. But he was bashing all poor webcomics, maybe even the successful ones too. That's what the video was about, and that's what it did.

Don't like it? Mark it down, don't watch it again. Pretty simple if you ask me.

I must be the only one who thought he was making an example of CAD being the worst type of comic plaguing videogame web-comics (it was the first major rip-off of PA IIRC)

Though I wouldn't call it so much an attack, as him stating "nearly all video game comics follow in a CAD in a way" or just copy Penny Arcade (the worst example being Shredded Moose which he directly made fun of in the video)

http://www.shreddedmoose.com/comic/comic_arc.php?comicID=81

Oh god, it hurts me to just copy that link D:

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Defending CAD and saying the Catherine Tate show is humerous....my faith in humanity has reached a new low.

 

[SlayerGhede]

Yahtzee speaks from experience with this one. He himself has not only made a shitty CTRL+C, CTRL+V webcomic starring an amnesiac version of himself, AND a sprite comic. I should know, I read both of them from start to finish. Had some laughs, mostly had monotonous clicking as I obsessively pored through the archives before ZP even existed. I can't even remember how I found his site. I think it was through a jayisgames link to his games...

His saving grace is that neither were gaming comics, and he stopped updating them and has made no attempt to start a webcomic since. He instead started a gaming video series that utilizes minimalist drawings that are repeatedly re-used on a solid yellow background... He makes up for it through massive amounts of humorous narration... google images of box-art and props are often used... he is causing a shitstorm by attacking all shitty gaming comics...

Shit, I like Yahtzee and I'm having trouble rationalizing this one. The only thing he mentioned that isn't in Zero Punctuation are the characters, and even then there is the self-insertion behatted bobble-head that serves as his avatar. Oh, and he is actually funny, but that is subjective.

This line of reasoning is unpleasant.

Then again, this isn't fictional. These are reviews. I feel better now.

 

[beautifullychaotic]

I read webcomics.
I'm also one of those female creatures.
I've read Ctrl+Alt+Del previously. And I stopped after that awful storyline.

And there isn't one thing I can fault Zero Punctuation for. It may be ironic, it may be hypocritical, but nonetheless, it's all true.

Anyone speaking to an audience, whether blogger, web comic writer or reviewer shouldn't just simply talk about a subject; they need to TALK TO THEIR AUDIENCE. And this whole story didn't speak or resonate with the audience at all. Nobody gets emotionally attached to webcomic characters. So the whole thing played cold.

If I wanted to read about how miscarriage can impact lives of people, I'd join the O Network. That whole story arc wasn't about entertaining nor was is for the audience (you know, those of us whose traffic pays his salary).

 

[Worsle]

Well no, the reason people don't get emotionally attached to webcomic characters is because by and large they are not people. Before I get carted of to the loony bin I should explain, a good writer makes his characters real and then they will react almost on their own to what ever stimulus there is. Not so much making them do some thing but thinking how they will react, Buckly and most other webcomic authors lack this ability. If you don't have this ability (added to the fact the characters have been living in a consequence free world till then) at best you will come up with a story that is nearly impossible to empathise with and at worst seem like a disrespectful jack ass in the process.

Now it is not impossible for a webcomic writer to have that sort of talent, its just people with that sort of ability are normally making use of it writing other things. Now if Buckly and other of these writers actively tried to improve things might be better, but when people get praised for any old shit that is never going to happen. Destructive criticism is very useful at times, sadly too many people just clam up rather than except their ego needed some bruising. I would much rather have some one tell me my story was shit and derogatory than have people heap praise on it because they where worried about upsetting me.

 

[Somethingironic]

My problem with Cad is summed up by this:

http://www.vgcats.com/aprilfoooolsimages/BU.jpg

There are too many words and poor punchlines/jokes. And I don't think it can be said that it's just because he updates too often to develop better artistic skills, writing skills and whatnot, just look at cyanide and happiness, those guys are f'in hilarious.

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1333/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1332/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1330/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1329/

All of these were written this week.

 

[Sylocat]

There are too many words and poor punchlines/jokes. And I don't think it can be said that it's just because he updates too often to develop better artistic skills, writing skills and whatnot, just look at cyanide and happiness, those guys are f'in hilarious.

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1333/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1332/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1330/
http://www.explosm.net/comics/1329/

All of these were written this week.

I stand by my claim that a five-year-old could write and draw Cyanide and Happiness, and even the strip's most devoted fans wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

[Spacehouse]

how does you spell shi-le-li?

 

[Sylocat]

By the way, what does B^U stand for?

 

[Worsle]

Tilt your head to the left and B^U is the same look all of his characters have. You know the slack jawed stoner look they have no matter what is happening.

 

[Sylocat]

Ah, thank you.

 

[Lord_Seth]

I brought up Eva because it was the only thing I've seen in which someone brought their personal issues into their art form, in a creepy manner anyhow (outside of porn which is a subject that should remain untouched here as it has no place). I really only used it as an example no one (should) likes Shinji because protagonists need issues, but not ones that cripple the character. What TB brought up is significant enough trauma to cripple most people for months on end, and in comics no one wants to wait for the time to pass by, since in comics time is generally a lot slower moving while an arc is going and you would have to run several arcs to get over an issue like your girlfriend/wife having a miscarriage(look at how long it took Iron Man to get over his drinking problem, hell Ant-Man still isn't over his issue with beating his wife and those both happened in the 90's), that's why no one touches that subject even if it happens in real life.

I'm a bit confused as to why a character with "crippling issues" is a reason that no one should like them as a character, but whatever, let's let that issue drop. What I was trying to point out is that without the Creator Breakdown [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreatorBreakdown] in Evangelion, it probably wouldn't have become as popular, memorable, or influential as it was. It was definitely one of the better pulled-off cases of creator breakdown; if you want to see what's considered a poor example, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's a reason season six of that series is often nicknamed "season sux"; while it had possibly the best episode in the series ("Once More, With Feeling"), soon after that episode it fell into a spiral of pretty much trying to make the characters as unhappy and miserable as possible. But even Buffy slightly spread out the transition into angst rather than throwing it all in at once.

But in the end, I question if this arc in Ctrl+Alt+Del is even an example of Creator Breakdown or the creator using it to try to "cope" with something. From what I can tell it's mostly a case of trying to awkwardly insert DRAMA? into the strip. So I'm not even certain if the discussion about creator breakdown even applies.

For the most part I've been avoiding criticism of the rest of Ctrl+Alt+Del, because I (kind of) liked it; sure, a lot of the jokes fell flat, but some were funny and I found it at least entertaining. But the miscarriage was so sudden and badly-handled that I can't possibly see any way someone could defend it. "Roomies!" is often criticized for falling into depression, but even that was a gradual shift. I can't really think of anything that tried to cram in DRAMA? as suddenly and awkwardly as Ctrl+Alt+Del did.

 

[linkages555]

love the ideo of fans fighting ...yathzee must be amusing himself about this....on the cad issue it was weird story arc but it was funny beacuse i saw the bashing first and the the comic....other thing im confused i think Vg Cats is hilarious dont you think ???