It was worth a watch, but I gotta ask: is this going to become its own series, or is this going to be replacing the Game Overthinker for a while.
Not saying you should stop with the AntiThinker. It's pretty obvious in my mind, especially from the disclaimer, that it's pretty much all harmless fun. I was worried that the AT would be a spoof of... well, us, half the commenters, but if anything, the disclaimer was.
Very good, Bob. I laughed my ass off. I know a lot of people are probably butthurt that you're doing these bits with this one-note parody character, but I think it's an excellent change of pace.
As for the people who are all pissed off about this saying it's you being an ass towards them, they need to chill and do some self-reflection.
I even see people bitching that this is bad because you're doing a sort of story-based thing in your videos. Plenty of internet reviewer video guys do that and people love it there.
Eh, you can't please everyone, but I am most definitely enjoying this.
You hate the stereotypical jock-douche guy who calls everything "gay" and loves football and Scarface, we get it. We've been getting it for a while now. No need for swinging the ham around.
Especially since, no offence, you don't really come out well on film in person, especially when acting. You also don't make a convincing jock-douchebag.
You're an intelligent guy with lots of interesting and thought-provoking stuff to tell - stick to doing that is my suggestion.
Or, you know, do whatever the hell you want, it's your blog. :P
I stand by my prediction that when Bob finally gets back, they'll be ABOUT to do an epic showdown, but then they'll pull a Scott Pilgrim/Nega Scott twist, and wind up finding common ground and getting along.
Think about it: Bob likes BioShock, and so does the "Hardcore" set. Bob also agrees with the Hardcores that the new Sonic games suck (I think the only person on the planet who doesn't agree with that is me). Everyone agrees that RE4 was the best RE game, and the list goes on.
@ Nick. An ending like that would imply a level of balance bob does not possess. He just made 2 videos with the express purpose of calling people who don't like the same games as him (well actually people who like games he DOESN'T) racists and misogynists.
And its a stupid premise anyway since hardcore gamers WERE THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT ALL THOSE OLD GAMES. I own a 360 for the same reason I own a snes through gamecube. This nefarious evil hardcore character he's been pushing for years doesn't actually exist in any kind of large number.
Madden/GTA and COD devotees have more in common with casual gamers, being satisfied with just the one game.
Hardcores like to have a wide variety, and are enthused about the medium, rather than one specific brand or kind of game. For all his bluster, bob more closely resembles his own strawman in his dogmatic hatred of anyone who dares to like something different.
No great surprises here then. The Antithinker thinks Nintendo is ghey, guns are awesome, real men play sports games, et cetera et cetera, blah-di-blah. I guess there were some funny lines (I laughed a bit at "if I wanted to play tennis I'd just play tennis, 'cept I wouldn't 'cause tennis is fucking gay"), but overall this is exactly the sort of rubbish many of us had feared. Oh well, maybe the next video will be good... :\
Hey bob, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this (I should probably comment on the correct blog post), but I just watched your piece on First-person shooters and I disagree with, well, nearly everything you said. However, the point I most disagreed with is "the first person perspective can only really be used effectively for shooting games. This is FALSE. I have four examples to back me up.
1. Portal. This one is pretty obvious, which is why it's first in the list. it is NOT a first person-shooter, the only reason you have a "gun" is to explain why portals are spewing from your face. I'd classify it as a "First-person puzzle game" instead.
2. Minecraft. This is another very popular first-person game in which combat is most definitely not the focus of the game. While there is a bow and arrow and a sword in the game, that's the most amount of "shooting" you'll get. Not to mention you can play it without monsters, rendering these items useless. I'd classify it as a "first-person building game".
3. Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This is a new indie horror game set in the first perspective, and it is AMAZING. It's a modern-day horror game.. that's actually scary! Anyway, it is set in the first-person camera, but there is almost NO combat in the game. You do not recieve any weapons. EVER. So there is literally no shooting. You have to hide, use traps and run to escape enemies.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M627-obxNzg
4. The Witness (unreleased) This is a game under development from the maker of Braid, and it's set in the first-person camera, but it is definitely NOT a shooter. I'd watch the youtube video to find out more about it!
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN4q2dtxkHk
Btw, EA is working on Mirror's Edge 2, so I doubt they'd classify it as a "failure". ;) Well.. that sums up this incredibly long comment you probably won't read!
This is terrible. I always respected you for not doing this crap. Unlike other game-video people, your videos were always to-the-point and devoid of any bullshit. Please just go back to making your normal videos.
No, he doesn't. The term hardcore gamer is the accepted term for the non casual gaming enthusiast as opposed to the casual gamer.
Language is only useful as long as we all understand what it means. You can debate as to the utility of the terminology all you want, but that's how its used.
And its all moot since the entire purpose of the antithinker character is to paint anyone who likes games bob does not in a bad light. By doing that, bob is literally doing the same thing he accuses others of doing....in the same video no less.
(Sigh) So this IS gonna be a thing then? So be it... I'm not happy about this in the least bit, BUT, I will stick around cause your a smart dude and you always make me think about things in a different light. As others have said, I have always loved your vids because you keep the "Shtick" out of it... now your doing the same thing as every single person on TGWTG. I just hoped id never see the day. Oh.... And by the way... Lay off the UFC. I have been to several UFC events and have yet to see a single person that even looks or sounds similar to what you are trying to do... so yea... If you are referring to the game then say so, if not, lay off, cause UFC fans may like to drink and may be a bit loud, they certainly do not come close to anything you are attempting to portray.
No, it isn't.And even bob knows it. All AT is really doing is expressing a taste in games contrary to what bob has. And, like bob, making baseless and ignorant accusations at any hwo don't share his view. So bob has him say a bunch of racist crap so we'll know we aren't supposed to like him.
So because AT doesn't like nintendo, it logically follows that he is also a racist, a homophobe (kindof ironic since bob himself has used the gay epithet at least once) and therefore you should not agree with anything eh says or you are a racist and a homophobe.
The term hardcore gamer is the accepted term for the non casual gaming enthusiast as opposed to the casual gamer.
Language is only useful as long as we all understand what it means. You can debate as to the utility of the terminology all you want, but that's how its used.
But that's the point... that's NOT how the term is used anymore. It's been twisted around into this über-macho fratboy badge.
I actually have legitimately no clue where you got this character from. I suppose I must be blessed by the gods or something but I literally have never run into the kind of people you based the Antithinker off of.
Did I think last week was a joke? I kind of hoped it would be... No, actually, I knew it was a joke. A really bad one. And it's gone on longer than it has.
I don't see the point of this. Why invent a character like this, who's not only annoying, but obnoixious and unlikable. Even if that IS the point of the character, that's not an excuse for his existence. I can see right through this "evil doppleganger" facade and tell that this is just another was of hating the sort of gamer who, lets face it, isn't really as bad as you make it out to be and actually not as common as I was lead to believe...
And even though he's supposed to be wrong, some things do have a point... Like Pac-man was weird, even if it was fun an addicting. And a lot of stuff was weird back then. I mean, I liked it, but I'm kind of weird myself.
Also, who the Hell is HE complaining about, overweight people and out-of-shape nerds? The Antithinker is just as fat as MovieBob (no offense to the man himself). Maybe hypocrisy is also part of the point, but I already hate everything about the character so yeah.
And yeah, I don't think a ninja would stand much chance against a gun, personally. Hence why pirates are better. :P
So if the Antithinker likes Scarface, does that mean the real Bob doesn't? Why not, it's pretty damn good!
Wait... THERE'S MORE! WHY, BOB, WHY?! WHY MUST YOU MAKE US SUFFER LIKE THIS! This is not funny, or entertaining! This is just torture! In fact... I'm not going to watch the next episode. Yeah. Until you stop messing around with this shit, I'm not putting up with this anymore!
-_- I really don't know whose right anymore. That's the thing about Bob. He's complex enough that I can't really see through him even after being around as many psychologists as I have.
Dave, however, is bringing up some points that at least jogged my mind and made me relook the issue, again, with a new perspective. Especially in his reply to falbert.
The AT seems like a symbol of everything Bob hates. Whether or not he thinks a majority of the people are like that, or whether it's just bashing someone the aforementioned majority hates themselves, is still a question.
Hmm... another theory. GAT plans to review those "classic" games that we keep telling him are so awesome...
...could it be that he's never played them... and the "point" these videos are making is that he's going to wind up loving them once he actually plays them? Is this whole thing going to be GAT's transformation into a nerd?
Apparently bob isn't aware that making fun of people is only funny when it is done out of love. And what he has done so far is target a large portion of his viewership with the worst person video. He then degraded that viewership by insisting that FPS represent multitude of offensive forms of bigotry. And now he has made a character that embodies this apparently bigoted view of FPS players. That may not have been his intention but from the outside looking in that is exactly how it comes off. You can't really go from saying the content of FPS is "catering exactly to the type of person who had the demeanor, inclination, social skills and sociological state to be hanging around xbox live being @#$@#$@# to people all @#$@#$@ day." To the antithinker and not expect most of us to draw some @#$@#$@ conclusions.
Moving forward doesn’t look any better. Most of the obvious options for ending this aren’t very satisfactory. Some examles 1. Have the game overthinker banish the game antithinker. Which doesn’t work for me because the antithinker appears to represents FPS players. 2. Have the antithinker realize the ear of his ways. Which doesn’t work for me because he has too many issues to resolve and having him leave while promising to work on those problems doesn't work due to the represents FPS players thing would make the whole exercise out as mandate for the viewership to work on a problem that most of them don't have. 3. Anything that involves the antithinker being a recurring character. Doesn't work because the character's main selling point is that he is bigoted and the more we see of him the more he will continues to tie himself to things that don't need to be tied to bigotry.
The worst part is bob should have been smart enough to do better than this. Even if he pulls off a decent ending the execution and development has been horrible. If bob had done the worst person video or the antthinker saga farther apart then at least it would have been harder to draw conclusions that blatantly insult his viewership. But it would have been much better if he had just toned down or better yet completely removed the bigoted and evil qualities of the antithinker and made a character people wanted to watch. But no the overthinker's fans are doomed to watch bob act like an ass for several episodes. I don't mind bob having these videos up. I far prefer the person who accepts their bad work and doesn't hide it. But I don't plan on watching the overthinker any more. As smart as bob is it seems clear now that his partialities are more important to him than his viewership.
Basically, the Antithinker is an apparition. He is a phantom, even in-universe. All he is is an embodiment of Bob's negation.
This makes him an interesting exercise, because it allows us to consider the target of Bob's past comments as a charicature, rather than hidden behind a "them and us" mentality.
We're not supposed to be looking at this as "haha, all you people who enjoy X genre are like this". We're supposed to be looking at this as "I stand opposed to the extent to which gaming is becoming this".
Except it doesn't quite work, because the "history" angle requires that we consider the anti-thinker as someone who was around prior to the "madden turn" and to whom video games developers seem to be increasingly marketing at. He's not just a manifestation of Bob's present concerns, but something that predates them.
My suspicion is that the root of Bob's annoyance is someone in particular, and the frustration that his hobbies are increasingly being adapted for people that share certain traits with that individual.
Bob... Be careful where you go with this. Make it personal and a lot of your valuable criticisms get undermined.
I legitimately don't get this. I have no idea what the point of this was supposed to be.
I thought he was just going to be a simple "FPS's rule, Nintendo sucks" character, and for the most part he was, but he was ramped so far up as a massive caricature, there's no way that you could actually think that there is any quantifiable amount of real people that act like this, no matter how badly you got beat up in High School.
But it's not funny either. It's just fake bigotry pretending to be funny. It's not even funny in a shock value way, it's just "Oh, he said something racist about Japan. Okay?" Credit where credit is due though, the Scarface joke had me cracking up. But that was one funny joke in what, 10 minutes of video.
So it's by and large not humorous. It doesn't function as a critique of the "hardcores" because nobody actually acts like that, and it doesn't seem to have any kind of point it's trying to get at besides the unfunny "video games used to suck, now they're awesome" shtick. And I know you're not an idiot Bob, you had to be able to tell that was the case before you uploaded this.
So what's the point of this video? I genuinely have no idea why this was written the way it was and then uploaded as it was.
At this point I'm wondering if you intended us to get something new out of The Antithinker, because I think it's a little much to ask everyone to bear through two episodes if you still actually have somewhere to go with this.
And right after such a great plug from Extra Credits, too. You can do better than this, Bob.
Why else would the AT be so bigoted? Because bob just really wants to be racist sometimes? It serves no purpose aside from making you hate the character and everything he is associated with.
He could have easily been the fratboy douche stereotype without making him racist, just talk about how awesome redbull is and how ever beer he's ever had is on a shelf over his bed. The racism exists only to artificially bias people against the character. Bob does this alot.
I mean, how long has he been calling the new spiderman movie Spider-light? There's nothing to connect spiderman and twilight, but he knows nerds hate twilight. So if he compares the two, people will hate the new movie by association.
All I'm doing is stating what he is doing. And I don't need to resort to equivocation or cheap personal attacks to do so.
I liked this. Not the best execution, but i got some good laughs out of it. The people complaining about bringing back the Overthinker need to chill out, Bob's just having some fun with a new character. That and some people are taking this WAY too seriously.
Yeah, as much as I disliked this particular piece of shtick and found it disappointing and painful to watch, Bob has no obligation to please any one of us.
@Dave 'That's not how BOB uses it, but I think we've established why. But the vast majority of gamers use it that way.'
We're into some complicated generalisations here, some of which may be appropriate, others not. "Hardcore" is used in a fairly political and social manner within the gaming community. It can simply be used to isolate casual players from those who invest time and effort into becoming good at the game, or it can be used as a kind of ranking internally within this latter group, but it all boils down to the same thing: Perceived Merit.
This is how it is used. The multiple senses of "hardcore" are contextually-sensitive instances of one and the same notion. You are hardcore if you have earned it, you're not if you haven't, whatever "it" is. Casual gamers aren't hardcore, but this is because they don't invest the time into becoming good, and the elite are more so because of what they accomplish through such investment.
I think the question we need to ask is whether this stunts or encourages the development of the video game as a form of cultural expression. "Hardcore" gaming might not be made up of Underthinkers, but there is certainly a case to be made that its members' tendencies to obsessively dominate the games it plays has a negative impact on the way video games develop as media. Counterstrike and CS Source, and the Call of Duty games, are the obvious examples of this (why make a new game when what people want is the same game with better graphics/different environments?), as is the market dominance of World of Warcraft (why play another game when you have a level 75 shaman?).
That said, such is capitalism, ceasing exploration when exploitation is a sustainable strategy. And I think Bob needs to realise that the Underthinkers out there are a market too, however little he might like them personally.
It's painfully apparent that you didn't give my post any thought. You act as though you aren't consciously aware of your own flawed debating. In fact, you have consistently jumped to conclusions and continued to be overly-literal in your latest post.
You're not doing enough OverThinking. ;]
I'm not your enemy and I'm not trying to make a fool out of you. Just take my advice.
I really enjoyed that, I love satire and the sad thing is I know people who are like that and will mash all asian culture together and claim that halo/GTA are the best games ever made and nothing without guns is fun. I was playing Shadow of the Colossus in front of my douchebag cousin once and he watched me fight one of about 2 minutes and said "This is gay, why can't you just shoot the thing?"
All I can say... is meh. Just a whole lot of bluster and vitriol. Not even much in the way of clever satire. I look forward to this getting over with and the actual Overthinker returning.
Though I will say this. The best satire is built on love, respect, and/or understanding of whatever you're satirizing. You have none of this, and so it just comes across as a bland ball of hate, not funny (much), only really appealing to those who share the same extreme and overblown sentiments you do.
I agree with what has been said, this just came off as a little hateful. I am not even saying that I disagree with this stereotype, I just don’t see any comedic or informative value in making fun of these assholes for 10 minutes. I am kind of sad this is the first time I have posted on your blog, because I don’t think I have ever disliked a game over thinker video until this one.
For the sake of easy reference and avoiding redundancy, some of my responses will be numbered.
"An ending like that would imply a level of balance bob does not possess."
Let's start with this statement. How do you know Bob doesn't have the capacity to surprise you? If this has really become a debate, then I'd like a better argument than this:
"He just made 2 videos with the express purpose of calling people who don't like the same games as him (well actually people who like games he DOESN'T) racists and misogynists."
1. Here we have a perfect example of you being too literal. The AntiThinker is noted as a caricature; this means he is an exaggeration and therefore not an accurate representation by default. Whether or not Bob reserves a much deeper purpose for these videos beyond comedic effect cannot be determined unless you are Bob himself.
"And its a stupid premise anyway since hardcore gamers WERE THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT ALL THOSE OLD GAMES."
2. This has already been addressed, but... yeah. We understand what you're saying; you don't understand what we're saying. Although these people are not truly "hardcore", they identify themselves as such for arbitrary reasons. Yes, they don't get it, but they call themselves by this name anyway. Thus, we "real" hardcore gamers only refer to them as hardcore gamers in a sarcastic manner. Unfortunately for, well, you... sarcasm cannot be easily portrayed over the internet.
This came across as petty and veeery vindictive, a combination which destroys any credibility in a parody. Yes, the 'Antithinker' is a douche and there are, unfortunately, quite a few people like him, but in comedy when you start making things so blatantly personal all humour evaporates.
There was one part around 03:10 in which you started talking about nerds, and your voice started to shake, as if you were upset. Your delivery gave away your own resentment, perhaps due to you having been on the receiving end of such abuse. You're entitled to your opinion, which I agree with to an extent in this case and I'm usually a fan, but this was more uncomfortable to watch than it was funny.
Bob, I undestand what you are trying to do but dude, this is painfully stoopid. Not funny cause I know people like that and URRGGHHHH!!! Send me a map I´ll get the overthinker myself.
Wow. I usually watch the Game Overthinker because it's interesting. This is far from it. Dude, Bob, we know you didn't like the jocks and douches in high school. Please, get over it. Not only has your constant fixation turned to preaching at times, you've completely ruined your show.
Well I’ve been waiting for him to do so for quiet some time to now avail. This is not the first time he’s pulled this crap and I’m not the first or only person to call him on it. He doesn’t respond to criticism or people pointing out the gaping flaws in his arguments. Trying ot get people to hate things by association is all but his MO now. He made an entire video about how Halo is somehow racist. He responds to criticisms of Metroid other M by calling the critics racist. He continually tries to connect the new spiderman movie to the twilight franchise....somehow, and now his hardcore gamer stereotype is surprise, surprise! a bigoted racist. Exactly how many times does he have to do the same damn thing before we can expect it? As an example, if Mel Gibson made a film where he played a heavily stereotyped jewish person as a villain, would anyone be justified in believing that it wasn’t meant as a slight against the group? Hell no.
1-Ahh yes, the rush Limbaugh defence. Whenever someone does something wrong, it is always satire. Convenient. As mentioned before, bob has a history with trying to tie things he hates to things other people hate to make them hate it. There’s no reason for bob to say all that racist crap in the GAT persona unless he either believes it, which I doubt, or because he’s trying to imply that other do. There’s no conceivable reason for the rampant bigotry in the video ASIDE from as a way to badmouth people who like games he doesn’t. The anti Japanese comments are particularily stupid because hardcore games have been playing Japanese games for years. The only reason we don’t do it so much anymore is because of the vast gulf in quality between western game developers and those in japan. And if there is any demographic that could be generalized as unwilling to try foreign products, Japanese gamers would fit this FAR better than any other demo in the gaming population.
2-You can keep saying this, but it doesn’t make it true. Like it or not, our lexicon is fairly limited in this regard and gaming is generally divided into casual and hardcore (sometimes referred to as core) gamers. Hell, Reggie himself uses the term. The term refers to the level of enthusiasm, not what games are played. I’d bet money 90% or more of the people here would qualify as hardcore gamers. And the enthusiasm isn’t what bob hates, its enthusiasm for things he doesn’t like. Which puts him in the league of the strawman he himself is criticizing....because hardcore games by and large don’t give a shit what someone else plays.
and no i will not provide an email address. you wanna say something, you can say it in front of everyone.
... and that is the story of how Moviebob discovered he has no talent for character acting and went back to doing strait social commentary. His fans were never subjected to such a travesty again and they all lived happily ever after.
Zero: "Let's start with this statement. How do you know Bob doesn't have the capacity to surprise you?"
When he posted the previous video, everyone with half a brain guessed exactly what this character was about and how he would be used. At that time, a lot of people said "I'm sure Bob has a clever surprise planned, just wait and see", like you're doing now. Lo and behold, here we are at the "proper" Antithinker video and it's exactly what the pessimists predicted; ten full minutes of the same "jock voice" routine where he desperately tries to make his critics sound as stupid as possible so his own stuff looks better by comparison.
Yeah, he might do something better next month, but the "hardcores" issue is one on which Bob has consistently been unable to show any maturity or subtlety, and I see no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt at this point. Like the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you..
Please stop with the game anti-thinker. I love the game overthinker and have seen every episode up to this point. I enjoy learning and finding out things I never knew about video games. I don't want comedy, I want to learn. I think you may alienate much of your audience.
@maeson: Yah because anyone that disagrees with you and thinks that antithinker is offensive to the hardcore gamers that aren't complete douche is butthurt. I'm 50/50 with this... okay, 99/1... 99 against the anti thinker, but this is fanboyism at it's best. and before you go like "OH it's a PARODY!", that doesn't excuse it from being not funny... at all...
wait, was that "backwards comic book" a Chinese translated manga? Those have a tendency to replace the sound effects with kanji symbols.
About the video itself, I think everyone might be being a bit too harsh. It may not have been informative, and just features Bob ranting about stuff he'd already well-established about himself (albeit doing it from an opposite perspective), but I nonetheless found it amusing (I especially enjoyed the falsified history of Japan). Maybe the guy's just venting a bit, or trying to experiment with film narratives. I say let him have his fun, things should get back on track from this little interval eventually. For now, just try to enjoy the ride.
I have to admit, I chuckled at some parts of this. Some parts of it were just blindly flung hatred, but some parts had some genuine humor to them. Overall, I found this video amusing.
The problem, however, is that this video was only amusing, and not that good at being amusing. If I were to rate this on a scale of 1-10 of things I found amusing, it'd be generous to give it a 2.
I don't watch Overthinker for amusement, I watch it because it makes me think about issues in video games I would not have thought about otherwise. I watch it because it is intelligent, and stays on topic.
If I wanted amusing antics in the guise of a video game related video, there are dozens of other people who already do that, and do it better. Overthinker was unique, now it has brought itself down to what many other people have done, and it can't even do it that well.
Is this just your way of saying you hate FPS fan? Because I'm an FPS fan, I'll be honest I really don't care for the Wii or a lot of retro-games. So does this make me a sexist, unintelligent douche, cause that seems to be the argument of this video. I saw this coming with the "Worst Person" video. I've always respected you Bob but I've also always known you were a bit of a Nintendo fan boy who didn't have to high of an opinion of many of the games I like, but I was fine with that because it didn't affect your material very much. But after Worst Person it seem to me like Game Otherthinker is just becoming a podium for you to hate on these fictitious "douches" you're convinced have taken over gaming. Gaming has increased in popularity, so much so that most everyone in this generation has had some experience with them, the obvious side effect is that some unpleasant people would end up getting into gaming, and yes these unpleasant people tend to be attracted to the more violent, realistic shooters that we've seen a recent influx of. But this is not some invasion we need to fight against; it's a phase that will pass. You know there was a time in gaming where every other game was a platformer, your beloved genre Bod. The market got overloaded with them and so they started making other kinds of games. Same will happen with shooters, I mean we'll always have FPSs because it's a good medium for making games, but their recent popularity is not the apocalypse of gaming. My point is I'm tired of your tirades against this douche population, a population whose size and maliciousness you have greatly exaggerated (in Worst Person you speculated that many of them were parollees and ex-cons, which is immature and stupid of you). Yeah there are douche bags who play FPSs (and other shooter games), but there are also people like me who legitimately find that genre of gaming fun, you're attacking the entire genre and therefore attacking all of it's fans, and simple apologies like "I know this doesn't apply to anyone" doesn't make up for it. That's like saying that "I know not all black people are like this" then going on a five hour long lecture about how historically blacks are violent criminals. I just want to say this is my last time watching Overthinker, I'm tired of this, I think Bob has been given to many soapboxes and now feels entitled to say or do whatever he wants which makes him no better than the anonymous jerks on online gaming. Fair well.
Is this just your way of saying you hate FPS fan? Because I'm an FPS fan, I'll be honest I really don't care for the Wii or a lot of retro-games. So does this make me a sexist, unintelligent douche, cause that seems to be the argument of this video. I saw this coming with the "Worst Person" video. I've always respected you Bob but I've also always known you were a bit of a Nintendo fan boy who didn't have to high of an opinion of many of the games I like, but I was fine with that because it didn't affect your material very much. But after Worst Person it seem to me like Game Otherthinker is just becoming a podium for you to hate on these fictitious "douches" you're convinced have taken over gaming. Gaming has increased in popularity, so much so that most everyone in this generation has had some experience with them, the obvious side effect is that some unpleasant people would end up getting into gaming, and yes these unpleasant people tend to be attracted to the more violent, realistic shooters that we've seen a recent influx of. But this is not some invasion we need to fight against; it's a phase that will pass. You know there was a time in gaming where every other game was a platformer, your beloved genre Bod. The market got overloaded with them and so they started making other kinds of games. Same will happen with shooters, I mean we'll always have FPSs because it's a good medium for making games, but their recent popularity is not the apocalypse of gaming. Continued in Part 2
Part 2 My point is I'm tired of your tirades against this douche population, a population whose size and maliciousness you have greatly exaggerated (in Worst Person you speculated that many of them were parollees and ex-cons, which is immature and stupid of you). Yeah there are douche bags who play FPSs (and other shooter games), but there are also people like me who legitimately find that genre of gaming fun, you're attacking the entire genre and therefore attacking all of it's fans, and simple apologies like "I know this doesn't apply to anyone" doesn't make up for it. That's like saying that "I know not all black people are like this" then going on a five hour long lecture about how historically blacks are violent criminals. I just want to say this is my last time watching Overthinker, I'm tired of this, I think Bob has been given to many soapboxes and now feels entitled to say or do whatever he wants which makes him no better than the anonymous jerks on online gaming. Fair well.
This was about as painful as I thought it would be. The jokes were all terrible, including the Scarface joke. Yes, I know, it was kind of chucklish, but it was held out too long and given the fact that you seem to be implying that anything this guy likes must be terrible, suggests that what most think of as a landmark film in the career of theater great Al Pacino is just another terrible piece of douche-bag jock shit.
Now, that being said, let's all back away for a second. Racism? Come on guys. I'm tired of that word getting thrown around so easily. Racism implies some sort of irrational, malevolent intent. There is a difference between being racist, and just being a dumbass. GAT is clearly in the latter category. I don't think he ever even references the Japanese people outside of "ninjas and samo-guys", and doesn't even think of Japan as a place full of people, but rather this big, dark, Empire-esque entity that the American Rebellion totally stomped all over. Think about it for a moment: The Empire from Star Wars wasn't just Storm Troopers and Sith Lords, was it? Yet when I say the Empire, what springs to your mind? To you, there aren't any normal people in the Empire, just "The bad guys!" Does that make us racist? No. Considering it's a fictional world, I wouldn't even say it makes us all dumbasses. But to the GAT, the world outside of the U.S.A is clearly some strange drug-induced fever dream which he has no clear knowledge of. So let's stop throwing around childish claims of racism, it demeans us all.
I really, truly want to continue to watch and enjoy your videos, but they've taken a somewhat uncomfortable turn over the past six-or-so months. I don't know if it's an increased workload of doing 2 (now three) video blogs, one of which has given you an increased presence in theater-going et cetera, or what, but it used to be that your videos were pretty uniformly excellent aside from an occasional slight misstep. It's getting worse, though. It started with "The Expendables" and has had a steady decline ever since. Is it that you've become increasingly frustrated with the gaming/film culture now that you're looked to as someone who provides insight into it, and outright paid to do so? I can understand that, even empathize with it. Maybe it's time to take a bit of time off, because this trend is growing rather disquieting, I'd hate to see it devolve into a Lenny Bruce level flame out.
All I can say is this: He better not think that the majority of the FPS players are homophobic douches, especially without taking into consideration that, yes, just like girls, homosexuals play those games too, and there's alot of them. I should know.
I do think the retro gaming era sucks. I see alot of greed and marketing in that era, even moreso than, with the exception of Kotick's actions, today. I think the AVGN said it best when he got to pick up a more modern version of the crappy godzilla games he had to play back in the day. I can't repeat it because it's more anger than words, but still.
Yeah, that era had its gems, but guess what: the gems that will come from our current era will probably be much better. It probably won't be Call of Duty: White Castle, either.
I have a bad feeling that when Bulletstorm comes out, well, let's just say it's gonna get an entire episode directed towards it, and not because Bob has alot of nice things to say about it.
I'd love to be proven wrong. I'd love for the majority of these comments to be proven wrong, but, I'm going to be honest: I'm not feeling optimistic at all about it.
I'm sick since tuesday and bound to the bed. I got to the game overthinker through extra credits and went through all episodes and loved it...besides the last two. I didn't share your point everytime and I hate that you leave pc games totally out of your games universe at all (healthy independent scene, no used market whatsoever, etc. etc.), but the show was great. It was about games and some points of view that don't occur to most people in the first place. The last two episodes on the other hand were...a narrative? I stopped the last episode at 3:29 because it's boring and mindless to watch. MAYBE I check later if the show gets to his former self again, maybe you just lost me because I showed at an unlucky moment and won't remember checking back after some unsuccessfull trys.
...This is it? This is what you've been stalling all this time for? I had HOPED, there was ACTUALLY going to be a point to this little skit. Instead, you manged to waste ten minutes making a poorly-done stereotype of the people you've been whining about from the start.
YEAH, they're annoying as hell and they never shut up. SURE, we know almost ALL their games truly have no real gaming value other than to pop someone in the head a million times for a stupid trophy.
We get it.
We got it the first ten times you said it.
Give it a rest already.
I've stuck by you from the start, never could manage to find any point you made that I could dissagree on, and I'll bet there's a thousand more like me in that respect... but this... this was just sad.
In essence, this was NOT worth the wait, this was NOT worth the ten minutes, and if this is something you plan on continuing, I think I'll find something else to watch from now on. At least Extra Credits always manages to stick to being informative and helpful...
I like to think Bob is just finally getting back at all the people that were mean to him in high school. Unfortunately they're probably not watching his videos, so it's the rest of us who are on the receiving end of it.
Bob has set up the perfect no-win situation with the Anti Thinker here, similar to the "Does your mother know you're gay?" jokes from elementary school. If you agree with the Anti Thinker, it paints you as an asshole. If you disagree with the Anti Thinker, it's akin to blasting Jonathon Swift for suggesting we eat babies, i.e. of course it's satire.
All of this generally creates a disappointment for me as this no-win scenario does truly facilitate a place where the correct answer is to say nothing at all, thus succeeding in what the Anti Thinker wants most of all: no thinking.
Yet again, I'm stuck in the no-win position. I support the notion that all creators online bringing videos to us for free have every right to do whatever they please with their free entertainment. However, the approach is lazy, the message is too obvious for anyone involved, and it just feels like an extended bit taken too far. I'm not particularly pleased that I can guess the next episode nearly word-for-word. I come here to be inspired toward debate, not hang my head in shame at something artistically similar to drawing George W. Bush as an ape.
Then again, that's what the Anti Thinker seeks to accomplish anyway, so I really don't know what to think. At least we have The Big Picture to look forward to every week.
I think the overall tone of the feedback from your experiment should be obvious. Your fans don't care much for this new turn you have taken with the show.
Granted, I know that it is your show and you've wanted to take it in a new direction for quite some time. I think we all get that, but the fact is that this new AntiThinker character is not going over well and you are going to lose a lot of your audience if you continue to pursue this. While I don't think it is your responsibility to follow every whim that your fans expect, I would think you would cater at least somewhat to what is clearly a huge outcry against the creative direction of the show.
On a personal level, I am sad that you have chosen to swing in this new direction as I have always found your work to be intelligent, insightful, and well presented. The AntiThinker is a good one-off character, but in my mind has worn out his welcome and I will not be watching any further videos that feature him.
Really? Just when I started enjoying your videos. Well, the GOT videos, anyway. Watching this was like reading the last issues of Y: The Last Man. Heartbreaking, but not because it's deep or tragic; rather, because suddenly something you loved has turned to shit in your hands.
Alright, not thing personal, but does adding F words in your videos make them more popular? Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy your videos a lot but mostly just the content, the issue and topics that you bring out. I just feel so bad watching you creating this a-hole that pretend to be an African-American, and you seen to enjoy bringing this new character up a lot. I just don't get it, and I think it doesn't help at all.
My take on AT [please, for the love of whatevergodyoufollowifany don't make 2 Anti-thinkers and then make them team up just so you can call them an AT-AT] is this:
Anti-thinker represents casual camers. No, not the happy, nuclear family where everyone is a middle-class, suburban white kid with 1 friend from each minority who is also middle-class, not them at all. I'm talking about a very real sub-gamer-type of Casual.
These guys are you're typical aged 12-23+ frat-boy material, sexist, racist, offensive, testosterone obsessed [but totally not gay!] idiots that dominate a large part of the casual gamer crowd. These are the guys you hear swearing and calling people a bitch over XBL, the kind of guy that stays up drinking cheap beer and playing the most recent COD or Halo game on an entertainment system that's built out of being incredibly expensive, than incredibly good. They call themselves hardcore gamers, but they're the best representation of casuals [minus the offensive materials] there is. They don't care about the game, the developers, the company, the console, the characters, backstory, symbolism, or hard work that went into the game. No. All they care about is how good the graphics are, and how many people they can shoot. They also play sports games. That's it. These are the people that can't the difference between mario and link, let alone the difference between 8-bit and 16-bit, who couldn't tell you how important Sony in changing gaming, or how important Nintendo was in revolutionizing much of the industry back in the past and even in modern times.
I'd say the Antithinker is a very clear and very accurate [though slightly exaggerated] portrayal of an actual type of gamer.
This, combined with the fact it's nice to see TGO testing the waters in other things, and starting to widen the scope a little bit, it's ultimately a good video, a good character, and a good idea. I didn't laugh at all the jokes, but some people did. So, there's at least someone getting enjoyment out of it.
That was a long-ass comment. I should start my own damn blog.
83 comments:
That was physically painful.
Oof, my spleen..
Hm... interesting.
It was worth a watch, but I gotta ask: is this going to become its own series, or is this going to be replacing the Game Overthinker for a while.
Not saying you should stop with the AntiThinker. It's pretty obvious in my mind, especially from the disclaimer, that it's pretty much all harmless fun. I was worried that the AT would be a spoof of... well, us, half the commenters, but if anything, the disclaimer was.
Also. Woot. AKs.
Yeeeeah
interesting experiment but could you go back to making your regular videos please
*sad face* you made my soul bleed. It's painful to see you do the anti-thinker :(
Very good, Bob. I laughed my ass off. I know a lot of people are probably butthurt that you're doing these bits with this one-note parody character, but I think it's an excellent change of pace.
As for the people who are all pissed off about this saying it's you being an ass towards them, they need to chill and do some self-reflection.
I even see people bitching that this is bad because you're doing a sort of story-based thing in your videos. Plenty of internet reviewer video guys do that and people love it there.
Eh, you can't please everyone, but I am most definitely enjoying this.
You are WAY into the gaming scene to make that character believable...
You hate the stereotypical jock-douche guy who calls everything "gay" and loves football and Scarface, we get it. We've been getting it for a while now. No need for swinging the ham around.
Especially since, no offence, you don't really come out well on film in person, especially when acting. You also don't make a convincing jock-douchebag.
You're an intelligent guy with lots of interesting and thought-provoking stuff to tell - stick to doing that is my suggestion.
Or, you know, do whatever the hell you want, it's your blog. :P
sometimes gamers need a good slap in the face to remember that we still need to better ourselves
Honestly, Linkara did this better with the 90's Kid.
That being said, I did find the "history of Japan" very amusing. And I kinda liked "Scarface vs. Scarface director's cut."
At least you didn't felch about The Expendables again.
I stand by my prediction that when Bob finally gets back, they'll be ABOUT to do an epic showdown, but then they'll pull a Scott Pilgrim/Nega Scott twist, and wind up finding common ground and getting along.
Think about it: Bob likes BioShock, and so does the "Hardcore" set. Bob also agrees with the Hardcores that the new Sonic games suck (I think the only person on the planet who doesn't agree with that is me). Everyone agrees that RE4 was the best RE game, and the list goes on.
It would certainly be a great payoff.
@ Nick. An ending like that would imply a level of balance bob does not possess. He just made 2 videos with the express purpose of calling people who don't like the same games as him (well actually people who like games he DOESN'T) racists and misogynists.
And its a stupid premise anyway since hardcore gamers WERE THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT ALL THOSE OLD GAMES. I own a 360 for the same reason I own a snes through gamecube. This nefarious evil hardcore character he's been pushing for years doesn't actually exist in any kind of large number.
Madden/GTA and COD devotees have more in common with casual gamers, being satisfied with just the one game.
Hardcores like to have a wide variety, and are enthused about the medium, rather than one specific brand or kind of game.
For all his bluster, bob more closely resembles his own strawman in his dogmatic hatred of anyone who dares to like something different.
*Sigh*
No great surprises here then. The Antithinker thinks Nintendo is ghey, guns are awesome, real men play sports games, et cetera et cetera, blah-di-blah. I guess there were some funny lines (I laughed a bit at "if I wanted to play tennis I'd just play tennis, 'cept I wouldn't 'cause tennis is fucking gay"), but overall this is exactly the sort of rubbish many of us had feared. Oh well, maybe the next video will be good... :\
Hey bob, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this (I should probably comment on the correct blog post), but I just watched your piece on First-person shooters and I disagree with, well, nearly everything you said. However, the point I most disagreed with is "the first person perspective can only really be used effectively for shooting games. This is FALSE. I have four examples to back me up.
1. Portal. This one is pretty obvious, which is why it's first in the list. it is NOT a first person-shooter, the only reason you have a "gun" is to explain why portals are spewing from your face. I'd classify it as a "First-person puzzle game" instead.
2. Minecraft. This is another very popular first-person game in which combat is most definitely not the focus of the game. While there is a bow and arrow and a sword in the game, that's the most amount of "shooting" you'll get. Not to mention you can play it without monsters, rendering these items useless. I'd classify it as a "first-person building game".
3. Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This is a new indie horror game set in the first perspective, and it is AMAZING. It's a modern-day horror game.. that's actually scary! Anyway, it is set in the first-person camera, but there is almost NO combat in the game. You do not recieve any weapons. EVER. So there is literally no shooting. You have to hide, use traps and run to escape enemies.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M627-obxNzg
4. The Witness (unreleased)
This is a game under development from the maker of Braid, and it's set in the first-person camera, but it is definitely NOT a shooter. I'd watch the youtube video to find out more about it!
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN4q2dtxkHk
Btw, EA is working on Mirror's Edge 2, so I doubt they'd classify it as a "failure". ;) Well.. that sums up this incredibly long comment you probably won't read!
Hah, this was hilarious! Actually is a nice change of pace from the usual format.
Although this feels like it should have been posted in April. :P
Still, I like your old stuff too, and I look forward to a return to that.
This is terrible. I always respected you for not doing this crap. Unlike other game-video people, your videos were always to-the-point and devoid of any bullshit. Please just go back to making your normal videos.
@the won.
No, he doesn't. The term hardcore gamer is the accepted term for the non casual gaming enthusiast as opposed to the casual gamer.
Language is only useful as long as we all understand what it means. You can debate as to the utility of the terminology all you want, but that's how its used.
And its all moot since the entire purpose of the antithinker character is to paint anyone who likes games bob does not in a bad light. By doing that, bob is literally doing the same thing he accuses others of doing....in the same video no less.
Dude, Halo was awesome.
Bring back the Overthinker.
I think the disclaimer was the best part of this video, but I got a few chuckles here and there during.
Guessing there'll be at least 2 more episodes like this. Oh well, it's your show.
(Sigh) So this IS gonna be a thing then?
So be it... I'm not happy about this in the least bit, BUT, I will stick around cause your a smart dude and you always make me think about things in a different light.
As others have said, I have always loved your vids because you keep the "Shtick" out of it... now your doing the same thing as every single person on TGWTG.
I just hoped id never see the day.
Oh.... And by the way... Lay off the UFC.
I have been to several UFC events and have yet to see a single person that even looks or sounds similar to what you are trying to do... so yea...
If you are referring to the game then say so, if not, lay off, cause UFC fans may like to drink and may be a bit loud, they certainly do not come close to anything you are attempting to portray.
I know Antithinker is a parody character, but I didn't find his views to be that disagreeable.
wait is it bad if I agree with a lot of the things this guys is saying?
Vice City was awesome though. That athmosphere. Makes you feel like you're on Miami Vice.
@fatbert.
No, it isn't.And even bob knows it. All AT is really doing is expressing a taste in games contrary to what bob has. And, like bob, making baseless and ignorant accusations at any hwo don't share his view. So bob has him say a bunch of racist crap so we'll know we aren't supposed to like him.
So because AT doesn't like nintendo, it logically follows that he is also a racist, a homophobe (kindof ironic since bob himself has used the gay epithet at least once) and therefore you should not agree with anything eh says or you are a racist and a homophobe.
Dat Boston accent. It just gives you away.
It was pretty funny, but your other episodes are far more entertaining. Wrap it up, and call it season 1.
The term hardcore gamer is the accepted term for the non casual gaming enthusiast as opposed to the casual gamer.
Language is only useful as long as we all understand what it means. You can debate as to the utility of the terminology all you want, but that's how its used.
But that's the point... that's NOT how the term is used anymore. It's been twisted around into this über-macho fratboy badge.
@Nick
That's not how BOB uses it, but I think we've established why. But the vast majority of gamers use it that way.
Hell, even the "über-macho fratboy" types don't use it....because they aren't the ones on message boards.
I actually have legitimately no clue where you got this character from. I suppose I must be blessed by the gods or something but I literally have never run into the kind of people you based the Antithinker off of.
*le sigh*
After you get plugged by the best video game related show on the net we get this.
poor.... very poor
Making fun of the "hardcores" like this only belittles everything i thought you stood for.
Please don't fight ignorance with stupidity
@Dave:
Hello, Dave.
Stop speaking for Bob, stop being so literal and stop portraying your opinions as facts.
Reflect on your previous posts.
That is all.
Did I think last week was a joke? I kind of hoped it would be... No, actually, I knew it was a joke. A really bad one. And it's gone on longer than it has.
I don't see the point of this. Why invent a character like this, who's not only annoying, but obnoixious and unlikable. Even if that IS the point of the character, that's not an excuse for his existence. I can see right through this "evil doppleganger" facade and tell that this is just another was of hating the sort of gamer who, lets face it, isn't really as bad as you make it out to be and actually not as common as I was lead to believe...
And even though he's supposed to be wrong, some things do have a point... Like Pac-man was weird, even if it was fun an addicting. And a lot of stuff was weird back then. I mean, I liked it, but I'm kind of weird myself.
Also, who the Hell is HE complaining about, overweight people and out-of-shape nerds? The Antithinker is just as fat as MovieBob (no offense to the man himself). Maybe hypocrisy is also part of the point, but I already hate everything about the character so yeah.
And yeah, I don't think a ninja would stand much chance against a gun, personally. Hence why pirates are better. :P
So if the Antithinker likes Scarface, does that mean the real Bob doesn't? Why not, it's pretty damn good!
Wait... THERE'S MORE! WHY, BOB, WHY?! WHY MUST YOU MAKE US SUFFER LIKE THIS! This is not funny, or entertaining! This is just torture! In fact... I'm not going to watch the next episode. Yeah. Until you stop messing around with this shit, I'm not putting up with this anymore!
-_-
I really don't know whose right anymore. That's the thing about Bob. He's complex enough that I can't really see through him even after being around as many psychologists as I have.
Dave, however, is bringing up some points that at least jogged my mind and made me relook the issue, again, with a new perspective. Especially in his reply to falbert.
The AT seems like a symbol of everything Bob hates. Whether or not he thinks a majority of the people are like that, or whether it's just bashing someone the aforementioned majority hates themselves, is still a question.
Hmm... another theory. GAT plans to review those "classic" games that we keep telling him are so awesome...
...could it be that he's never played them... and the "point" these videos are making is that he's going to wind up loving them once he actually plays them? Is this whole thing going to be GAT's transformation into a nerd?
Apparently bob isn't aware that making fun of people is only funny when it is done out of love. And what he has done so far is target a large portion of his viewership with the worst person video. He then degraded that viewership by insisting that FPS represent multitude of offensive forms of bigotry. And now he has made a character that embodies this apparently bigoted view of FPS players. That may not have been his intention but from the outside looking in that is exactly how it comes off. You can't really go from saying the content of FPS is "catering exactly to the type of person who had the demeanor, inclination, social skills and sociological state to be hanging around xbox live being @#$@#$@# to people all @#$@#$@ day." To the antithinker and not expect most of us to draw some @#$@#$@ conclusions.
Moving forward doesn’t look any better. Most of the obvious options for ending this aren’t very satisfactory.
Some examles
1. Have the game overthinker banish the game antithinker. Which doesn’t work for me because the antithinker appears to represents FPS players.
2. Have the antithinker realize the ear of his ways. Which doesn’t work for me because he has too many issues to resolve and having him leave while promising to work on those problems doesn't work due to the represents FPS players thing would make the whole exercise out as mandate for the viewership to work on a problem that most of them don't have.
3. Anything that involves the antithinker being a recurring character. Doesn't work because the character's main selling point is that he is bigoted and the more we see of him the more he will continues to tie himself to things that don't need to be tied to bigotry.
The worst part is bob should have been smart enough to do better than this. Even if he pulls off a decent ending the execution and development has been horrible. If bob had done the worst person video or the antthinker saga farther apart then at least it would have been harder to draw conclusions that blatantly insult his viewership. But it would have been much better if he had just toned down or better yet completely removed the bigoted and evil qualities of the antithinker and made a character people wanted to watch. But no the overthinker's fans are doomed to watch bob act like an ass for several episodes. I don't mind bob having these videos up. I far prefer the person who accepts their bad work and doesn't hide it. But I don't plan on watching the overthinker any more. As smart as bob is it seems clear now that his partialities are more important to him than his viewership.
Okay, this's a tough one.
Basically, the Antithinker is an apparition. He is a phantom, even in-universe. All he is is an embodiment of Bob's negation.
This makes him an interesting exercise, because it allows us to consider the target of Bob's past comments as a charicature, rather than hidden behind a "them and us" mentality.
We're not supposed to be looking at this as "haha, all you people who enjoy X genre are like this". We're supposed to be looking at this as "I stand opposed to the extent to which gaming is becoming this".
Except it doesn't quite work, because the "history" angle requires that we consider the anti-thinker as someone who was around prior to the "madden turn" and to whom video games developers seem to be increasingly marketing at. He's not just a manifestation of Bob's present concerns, but something that predates them.
My suspicion is that the root of Bob's annoyance is someone in particular, and the frustration that his hobbies are increasingly being adapted for people that share certain traits with that individual.
Bob... Be careful where you go with this. Make it personal and a lot of your valuable criticisms get undermined.
I legitimately don't get this. I have no idea what the point of this was supposed to be.
I thought he was just going to be a simple "FPS's rule, Nintendo sucks" character, and for the most part he was, but he was ramped so far up as a massive caricature, there's no way that you could actually think that there is any quantifiable amount of real people that act like this, no matter how badly you got beat up in High School.
But it's not funny either. It's just fake bigotry pretending to be funny. It's not even funny in a shock value way, it's just "Oh, he said something racist about Japan. Okay?" Credit where credit is due though, the Scarface joke had me cracking up. But that was one funny joke in what, 10 minutes of video.
So it's by and large not humorous. It doesn't function as a critique of the "hardcores" because nobody actually acts like that, and it doesn't seem to have any kind of point it's trying to get at besides the unfunny "video games used to suck, now they're awesome" shtick. And I know you're not an idiot Bob, you had to be able to tell that was the case before you uploaded this.
So what's the point of this video? I genuinely have no idea why this was written the way it was and then uploaded as it was.
At this point I'm wondering if you intended us to get something new out of The Antithinker, because I think it's a little much to ask everyone to bear through two episodes if you still actually have somewhere to go with this.
And right after such a great plug from Extra Credits, too. You can do better than this, Bob.
@zero one
Don't have to. His work speaks for itself.
Why else would the AT be so bigoted? Because bob just really wants to be racist sometimes? It serves no purpose aside from making you hate the character and everything he is associated with.
He could have easily been the fratboy douche stereotype without making him racist, just talk about how awesome redbull is and how ever beer he's ever had is on a shelf over his bed. The racism exists only to artificially bias people against the character. Bob does this alot.
I mean, how long has he been calling the new spiderman movie Spider-light? There's nothing to connect spiderman and twilight, but he knows nerds hate twilight. So if he compares the two, people will hate the new movie by association.
All I'm doing is stating what he is doing. And I don't need to resort to equivocation or cheap personal attacks to do so.
You did a near perfect representation of my room mates from college.
they were a bunch of douchebags who acted like that.
I liked this. Not the best execution, but i got some good laughs out of it. The people complaining about bringing back the Overthinker need to chill out, Bob's just having some fun with a new character. That and some people are taking this WAY too seriously.
Yeah, as much as I disliked this particular piece of shtick and found it disappointing and painful to watch, Bob has no obligation to please any one of us.
@Dave
'That's not how BOB uses it, but I think we've established why. But the vast majority of gamers use it that way.'
We're into some complicated generalisations here, some of which may be appropriate, others not. "Hardcore" is used in a fairly political and social manner within the gaming community. It can simply be used to isolate casual players from those who invest time and effort into becoming good at the game, or it can be used as a kind of ranking internally within this latter group, but it all boils down to the same thing: Perceived Merit.
This is how it is used. The multiple senses of "hardcore" are contextually-sensitive instances of one and the same notion. You are hardcore if you have earned it, you're not if you haven't, whatever "it" is. Casual gamers aren't hardcore, but this is because they don't invest the time into becoming good, and the elite are more so because of what they accomplish through such investment.
I think the question we need to ask is whether this stunts or encourages the development of the video game as a form of cultural expression. "Hardcore" gaming might not be made up of Underthinkers, but there is certainly a case to be made that its members' tendencies to obsessively dominate the games it plays has a negative impact on the way video games develop as media. Counterstrike and CS Source, and the Call of Duty games, are the obvious examples of this (why make a new game when what people want is the same game with better graphics/different environments?), as is the market dominance of World of Warcraft (why play another game when you have a level 75 shaman?).
That said, such is capitalism, ceasing exploration when exploitation is a sustainable strategy. And I think Bob needs to realise that the Underthinkers out there are a market too, however little he might like them personally.
@Dave:
It's painfully apparent that you didn't give my post any thought. You act as though you aren't consciously aware of your own flawed debating. In fact, you have consistently jumped to conclusions and continued to be overly-literal in your latest post.
You're not doing enough OverThinking. ;]
I'm not your enemy and I'm not trying to make a fool out of you. Just take my advice.
@ zero one
Your statement would have more weight if you actually backed it up instead of putting out a wordier version of "lol your dum!!"
I've laid out my criticism and explained them....care to do the same?
Because until you can be arsed to post more than a simple assertion, you've got nothing I'm interested in.
Please, be my guest. Make a fool out of me.
You've watched it, you cant unwatch it...if only.
please make sure to label any more episodes with this character in it as clearly as this one - I want to know what blogs you do to avoid :)
I really enjoyed that, I love satire and the sad thing is I know people who are like that and will mash all asian culture together and claim that halo/GTA are the best games ever made and nothing without guns is fun.
I was playing Shadow of the Colossus in front of my douchebag cousin once and he watched me fight one of about 2 minutes and said "This is gay, why can't you just shoot the thing?"
All I can say... is meh. Just a whole lot of bluster and vitriol. Not even much in the way of clever satire. I look forward to this getting over with and the actual Overthinker returning.
Though I will say this. The best satire is built on love, respect, and/or understanding of whatever you're satirizing. You have none of this, and so it just comes across as a bland ball of hate, not funny (much), only really appealing to those who share the same extreme and overblown sentiments you do.
I agree with what has been said, this just came off as a little hateful. I am not even saying that I disagree with this stereotype, I just don’t see any comedic or informative value in making fun of these assholes for 10 minutes. I am kind of sad this is the first time I have posted on your blog, because I don’t think I have ever disliked a game over thinker video until this one.
@Dave:
(Part 1/4)
For the sake of easy reference and avoiding redundancy, some of my responses will be numbered.
"An ending like that would imply a level of balance bob does not possess."
Let's start with this statement. How do you know Bob doesn't have the capacity to surprise you? If this has really become a debate, then I'd like a better argument than this:
"He just made 2 videos with the express purpose of calling people who don't like the same games as him (well actually people who like games he DOESN'T) racists and misogynists."
1. Here we have a perfect example of you being too literal. The AntiThinker is noted as a caricature; this means he is an exaggeration and therefore not an accurate representation by default. Whether or not Bob reserves a much deeper purpose for these videos beyond comedic effect cannot be determined unless you are Bob himself.
"And its a stupid premise anyway since hardcore gamers WERE THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT ALL THOSE OLD GAMES."
2. This has already been addressed, but... yeah. We understand what you're saying; you don't understand what we're saying. Although these people are not truly "hardcore", they identify themselves as such for arbitrary reasons. Yes, they don't get it, but they call themselves by this name anyway. Thus, we "real" hardcore gamers only refer to them as hardcore gamers in a sarcastic manner. Unfortunately for, well, you... sarcasm cannot be easily portrayed over the internet.
Apparently, I cannot post the rest of my comments without replacing some in the process.
Give me an e-mail address to send this to, Dave.
This came across as petty and veeery vindictive, a combination which destroys any credibility in a parody. Yes, the 'Antithinker' is a douche and there are, unfortunately, quite a few people like him, but in comedy when you start making things so blatantly personal all humour evaporates.
There was one part around 03:10 in which you started talking about nerds, and your voice started to shake, as if you were upset. Your delivery gave away your own resentment, perhaps due to you having been on the receiving end of such abuse. You're entitled to your opinion, which I agree with to an extent in this case and I'm usually a fan, but this was more uncomfortable to watch than it was funny.
Hilarious. It's as if the dipshits from Jersey Shore decided to do a commentary on games.
Bob,
I undestand what you are trying to do but dude, this is painfully stoopid.
Not funny cause I know people like that and URRGGHHHH!!!
Send me a map I´ll get the overthinker myself.
First episode of the Game Overthinker that I didn't (And don't intend to) watch.
I'll check back next month and see if there's a genuine episode out.
Wow. I usually watch the Game Overthinker because it's interesting. This is far from it. Dude, Bob, we know you didn't like the jocks and douches in high school. Please, get over it. Not only has your constant fixation turned to preaching at times, you've completely ruined your show.
I respect your unmitigated hatred for ignorant, homophobic, close-minded people.
Your critique is scathing, relentless and bound to make waves.
However, you've won me as a fan for life.
Keep it up! Keep it incendiary!
It's amazing that you can incite controversy with your commentary on video games.
@ zero
Well I’ve been waiting for him to do so for quiet some time to now avail. This is not the first time he’s pulled this crap and I’m not the first or only person to call him on it. He doesn’t respond to criticism or people pointing out the gaping flaws in his arguments. Trying ot get people to hate things by association is all but his MO now. He made an entire video about how Halo is somehow racist. He responds to criticisms of Metroid other M by calling the critics racist. He continually tries to connect the new spiderman movie to the twilight franchise....somehow, and now his hardcore gamer stereotype is surprise, surprise! a bigoted racist. Exactly how many times does he have to do the same damn thing before we can expect it?
As an example, if Mel Gibson made a film where he played a heavily stereotyped jewish person as a villain, would anyone be justified in believing that it wasn’t meant as a slight against the group? Hell no.
1-Ahh yes, the rush Limbaugh defence. Whenever someone does something wrong, it is always satire. Convenient. As mentioned before, bob has a history with trying to tie things he hates to things other people hate to make them hate it. There’s no reason for bob to say all that racist crap in the GAT persona unless he either believes it, which I doubt, or because he’s trying to imply that other do. There’s no conceivable reason for the rampant bigotry in the video ASIDE from as a way to badmouth people who like games he doesn’t. The anti Japanese comments are particularily stupid because hardcore games have been playing Japanese games for years. The only reason we don’t do it so much anymore is because of the vast gulf in quality between western game developers and those in japan. And if there is any demographic that could be generalized as unwilling to try foreign products, Japanese gamers would fit this FAR better than any other demo in the gaming population.
2-You can keep saying this, but it doesn’t make it true. Like it or not, our lexicon is fairly limited in this regard and gaming is generally divided into casual and hardcore (sometimes referred to as core) gamers. Hell, Reggie himself uses the term. The term refers to the level of enthusiasm, not what games are played. I’d bet money 90% or more of the people here would qualify as hardcore gamers. And the enthusiasm isn’t what bob hates, its enthusiasm for things he doesn’t like. Which puts him in the league of the strawman he himself is criticizing....because hardcore games by and large don’t give a shit what someone else plays.
and no i will not provide an email address. you wanna say something, you can say it in front of everyone.
@iNs1d3tRiP:
I agree this is horribe. You don't seem to understand satire though. The point of satire is not to mimic someone.
Ha! I'm not a fan of all the profanity (I do understand the inclusion) - but there were some pretty funny moments. Scarface - ha!
... and that is the story of how Moviebob discovered he has no talent for character acting and went back to doing strait social commentary. His fans were never subjected to such a travesty again and they all lived happily ever after.
Zero:
"Let's start with this statement. How do you know Bob doesn't have the capacity to surprise you?"
When he posted the previous video, everyone with half a brain guessed exactly what this character was about and how he would be used. At that time, a lot of people said "I'm sure Bob has a clever surprise planned, just wait and see", like you're doing now. Lo and behold, here we are at the "proper" Antithinker video and it's exactly what the pessimists predicted; ten full minutes of the same "jock voice" routine where he desperately tries to make his critics sound as stupid as possible so his own stuff looks better by comparison.
Yeah, he might do something better next month, but the "hardcores" issue is one on which Bob has consistently been unable to show any maturity or subtlety, and I see no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt at this point. Like the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you..
Please stop with the game anti-thinker. I love the game overthinker and have seen every episode up to this point. I enjoy learning and finding out things I never knew about video games. I don't want comedy, I want to learn. I think you may alienate much of your audience.
@maeson: Yah because anyone that disagrees with you and thinks that antithinker is offensive to the hardcore gamers that aren't complete douche is butthurt. I'm 50/50 with this... okay, 99/1... 99 against the anti thinker, but this is fanboyism at it's best. and before you go like "OH it's a PARODY!", that doesn't excuse it from being not funny... at all...
wait, was that "backwards comic book" a Chinese translated manga? Those have a tendency to replace the sound effects with kanji symbols.
About the video itself, I think everyone might be being a bit too harsh. It may not have been informative, and just features Bob ranting about stuff he'd already well-established about himself (albeit doing it from an opposite perspective), but I nonetheless found it amusing (I especially enjoyed the falsified history of Japan). Maybe the guy's just venting a bit, or trying to experiment with film narratives. I say let him have his fun, things should get back on track from this little interval eventually. For now, just try to enjoy the ride.
I have to admit, I chuckled at some parts of this. Some parts of it were just blindly flung hatred, but some parts had some genuine humor to them. Overall, I found this video amusing.
The problem, however, is that this video was only amusing, and not that good at being amusing. If I were to rate this on a scale of 1-10 of things I found amusing, it'd be generous to give it a 2.
I don't watch Overthinker for amusement, I watch it because it makes me think about issues in video games I would not have thought about otherwise. I watch it because it is intelligent, and stays on topic.
If I wanted amusing antics in the guise of a video game related video, there are dozens of other people who already do that, and do it better. Overthinker was unique, now it has brought itself down to what many other people have done, and it can't even do it that well.
Is this just your way of saying you hate FPS fan? Because I'm an FPS fan, I'll be honest I really don't care for the Wii or a lot of retro-games. So does this make me a sexist, unintelligent douche, cause that seems to be the argument of this video.
I saw this coming with the "Worst Person" video. I've always respected you Bob but I've also always known you were a bit of a Nintendo fan boy who didn't have to high of an opinion of many of the games I like, but I was fine with that because it didn't affect your material very much. But after Worst Person it seem to me like Game Otherthinker is just becoming a podium for you to hate on these fictitious "douches" you're convinced have taken over gaming.
Gaming has increased in popularity, so much so that most everyone in this generation has had some experience with them, the obvious side effect is that some unpleasant people would end up getting into gaming, and yes these unpleasant people tend to be attracted to the more violent, realistic shooters that we've seen a recent influx of. But this is not some invasion we need to fight against; it's a phase that will pass.
You know there was a time in gaming where every other game was a platformer, your beloved genre Bod. The market got overloaded with them and so they started making other kinds of games. Same will happen with shooters, I mean we'll always have FPSs because it's a good medium for making games, but their recent popularity is not the apocalypse of gaming.
My point is I'm tired of your tirades against this douche population, a population whose size and maliciousness you have greatly exaggerated (in Worst Person you speculated that many of them were parollees and ex-cons, which is immature and stupid of you). Yeah there are douche bags who play FPSs (and other shooter games), but there are also people like me who legitimately find that genre of gaming fun, you're attacking the entire genre and therefore attacking all of it's fans, and simple apologies like "I know this doesn't apply to anyone" doesn't make up for it. That's like saying that "I know not all black people are like this" then going on a five hour long lecture about how historically blacks are violent criminals. I just want to say this is my last time watching Overthinker, I'm tired of this, I think Bob has been given to many soapboxes and now feels entitled to say or do whatever he wants which makes him no better than the anonymous jerks on online gaming. Fair well.
Is this just your way of saying you hate FPS fan? Because I'm an FPS fan, I'll be honest I really don't care for the Wii or a lot of retro-games. So does this make me a sexist, unintelligent douche, cause that seems to be the argument of this video.
I saw this coming with the "Worst Person" video. I've always respected you Bob but I've also always known you were a bit of a Nintendo fan boy who didn't have to high of an opinion of many of the games I like, but I was fine with that because it didn't affect your material very much. But after Worst Person it seem to me like Game Otherthinker is just becoming a podium for you to hate on these fictitious "douches" you're convinced have taken over gaming.
Gaming has increased in popularity, so much so that most everyone in this generation has had some experience with them, the obvious side effect is that some unpleasant people would end up getting into gaming, and yes these unpleasant people tend to be attracted to the more violent, realistic shooters that we've seen a recent influx of. But this is not some invasion we need to fight against; it's a phase that will pass.
You know there was a time in gaming where every other game was a platformer, your beloved genre Bod. The market got overloaded with them and so they started making other kinds of games. Same will happen with shooters, I mean we'll always have FPSs because it's a good medium for making games, but their recent popularity is not the apocalypse of gaming.
Continued in Part 2
Part 2
My point is I'm tired of your tirades against this douche population, a population whose size and maliciousness you have greatly exaggerated (in Worst Person you speculated that many of them were parollees and ex-cons, which is immature and stupid of you). Yeah there are douche bags who play FPSs (and other shooter games), but there are also people like me who legitimately find that genre of gaming fun, you're attacking the entire genre and therefore attacking all of it's fans, and simple apologies like "I know this doesn't apply to anyone" doesn't make up for it. That's like saying that "I know not all black people are like this" then going on a five hour long lecture about how historically blacks are violent criminals. I just want to say this is my last time watching Overthinker, I'm tired of this, I think Bob has been given to many soapboxes and now feels entitled to say or do whatever he wants which makes him no better than the anonymous jerks on online gaming. Fair well.
This was about as painful as I thought it would be. The jokes were all terrible, including the Scarface joke. Yes, I know, it was kind of chucklish, but it was held out too long and given the fact that you seem to be implying that anything this guy likes must be terrible, suggests that what most think of as a landmark film in the career of theater great Al Pacino is just another terrible piece of douche-bag jock shit.
Now, that being said, let's all back away for a second. Racism? Come on guys. I'm tired of that word getting thrown around so easily. Racism implies some sort of irrational, malevolent intent. There is a difference between being racist, and just being a dumbass. GAT is clearly in the latter category. I don't think he ever even references the Japanese people outside of "ninjas and samo-guys", and doesn't even think of Japan as a place full of people, but rather this big, dark, Empire-esque entity that the American Rebellion totally stomped all over. Think about it for a moment: The Empire from Star Wars wasn't just Storm Troopers and Sith Lords, was it? Yet when I say the Empire, what springs to your mind? To you, there aren't any normal people in the Empire, just "The bad guys!" Does that make us racist? No. Considering it's a fictional world, I wouldn't even say it makes us all dumbasses. But to the GAT, the world outside of the U.S.A is clearly some strange drug-induced fever dream which he has no clear knowledge of. So let's stop throwing around childish claims of racism, it demeans us all.
I really, truly want to continue to watch and enjoy your videos, but they've taken a somewhat uncomfortable turn over the past six-or-so months. I don't know if it's an increased workload of doing 2 (now three) video blogs, one of which has given you an increased presence in theater-going et cetera, or what, but it used to be that your videos were pretty uniformly excellent aside from an occasional slight misstep. It's getting worse, though. It started with "The Expendables" and has had a steady decline ever since. Is it that you've become increasingly frustrated with the gaming/film culture now that you're looked to as someone who provides insight into it, and outright paid to do so? I can understand that, even empathize with it. Maybe it's time to take a bit of time off, because this trend is growing rather disquieting, I'd hate to see it devolve into a Lenny Bruce level flame out.
All I can say is this: He better not think that the majority of the FPS players are homophobic douches, especially without taking into consideration that, yes, just like girls, homosexuals play those games too, and there's alot of them. I should know.
I do think the retro gaming era sucks. I see alot of greed and marketing in that era, even moreso than, with the exception of Kotick's actions, today. I think the AVGN said it best when he got to pick up a more modern version of the crappy godzilla games he had to play back in the day. I can't repeat it because it's more anger than words, but still.
Yeah, that era had its gems, but guess what: the gems that will come from our current era will probably be much better. It probably won't be Call of Duty: White Castle, either.
I have a bad feeling that when Bulletstorm comes out, well, let's just say it's gonna get an entire episode directed towards it, and not because Bob has alot of nice things to say about it.
I'd love to be proven wrong. I'd love for the majority of these comments to be proven wrong, but, I'm going to be honest: I'm not feeling optimistic at all about it.
I'm sick since tuesday and bound to the bed. I got to the game overthinker through extra credits and went through all episodes and loved it...besides the last two. I didn't share your point everytime and I hate that you leave pc games totally out of your games universe at all (healthy independent scene, no used market whatsoever, etc. etc.), but the show was great. It was about games and some points of view that don't occur to most people in the first place.
The last two episodes on the other hand were...a narrative? I stopped the last episode at 3:29 because it's boring and mindless to watch.
MAYBE I check later if the show gets to his former self again, maybe you just lost me because I showed at an unlucky moment and won't remember checking back after some unsuccessfull trys.
...This is it? This is what you've been stalling all this time for? I had HOPED, there was ACTUALLY going to be a point to this little skit. Instead, you manged to waste ten minutes making a poorly-done stereotype of the people you've been whining about from the start.
YEAH, they're annoying as hell and they never shut up. SURE, we know almost ALL their games truly have no real gaming value other than to pop someone in the head a million times for a stupid trophy.
We get it.
We got it the first ten times you said it.
Give it a rest already.
I've stuck by you from the start, never could manage to find any point you made that I could dissagree on, and I'll bet there's a thousand more like me in that respect... but this... this was just sad.
In essence, this was NOT worth the wait, this was NOT worth the ten minutes, and if this is something you plan on continuing, I think I'll find something else to watch from now on. At least Extra Credits always manages to stick to being informative and helpful...
I like to think Bob is just finally getting back at all the people that were mean to him in high school. Unfortunately they're probably not watching his videos, so it's the rest of us who are on the receiving end of it.
Hmm, this is indeed fascinating.
Bob has set up the perfect no-win situation with the Anti Thinker here, similar to the "Does your mother know you're gay?" jokes from elementary school. If you agree with the Anti Thinker, it paints you as an asshole. If you disagree with the Anti Thinker, it's akin to blasting Jonathon Swift for suggesting we eat babies, i.e. of course it's satire.
All of this generally creates a disappointment for me as this no-win scenario does truly facilitate a place where the correct answer is to say nothing at all, thus succeeding in what the Anti Thinker wants most of all: no thinking.
Yet again, I'm stuck in the no-win position. I support the notion that all creators online bringing videos to us for free have every right to do whatever they please with their free entertainment. However, the approach is lazy, the message is too obvious for anyone involved, and it just feels like an extended bit taken too far. I'm not particularly pleased that I can guess the next episode nearly word-for-word. I come here to be inspired toward debate, not hang my head in shame at something artistically similar to drawing George W. Bush as an ape.
Then again, that's what the Anti Thinker seeks to accomplish anyway, so I really don't know what to think. At least we have The Big Picture to look forward to every week.
Bob,
I think the overall tone of the feedback from your experiment should be obvious. Your fans don't care much for this new turn you have taken with the show.
Granted, I know that it is your show and you've wanted to take it in a new direction for quite some time. I think we all get that, but the fact is that this new AntiThinker character is not going over well and you are going to lose a lot of your audience if you continue to pursue this. While I don't think it is your responsibility to follow every whim that your fans expect, I would think you would cater at least somewhat to what is clearly a huge outcry against the creative direction of the show.
On a personal level, I am sad that you have chosen to swing in this new direction as I have always found your work to be intelligent, insightful, and well presented. The AntiThinker is a good one-off character, but in my mind has worn out his welcome and I will not be watching any further videos that feature him.
That's just my opinion.
Really? Just when I started enjoying your videos. Well, the GOT videos, anyway. Watching this was like reading the last issues of Y: The Last Man. Heartbreaking, but not because it's deep or tragic; rather, because suddenly something you loved has turned to shit in your hands.
I prefer the Antithinker!
Alright, not thing personal, but does adding F words in your videos make them more popular? Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy your videos a lot but mostly just the content, the issue and topics that you bring out. I just feel so bad watching you creating this a-hole that pretend to be an African-American, and you seen to enjoy bringing this new character up a lot. I just don't get it, and I think it doesn't help at all.
My take on AT [please, for the love of whatevergodyoufollowifany don't make 2 Anti-thinkers and then make them team up just so you can call them an AT-AT] is this:
Anti-thinker represents casual camers. No, not the happy, nuclear family where everyone is a middle-class, suburban white kid with 1 friend from each minority who is also middle-class, not them at all. I'm talking about a very real sub-gamer-type of Casual.
These guys are you're typical aged 12-23+ frat-boy material, sexist, racist, offensive, testosterone obsessed [but totally not gay!] idiots that dominate a large part of the casual gamer crowd. These are the guys you hear swearing and calling people a bitch over XBL, the kind of guy that stays up drinking cheap beer and playing the most recent COD or Halo game on an entertainment system that's built out of being incredibly expensive, than incredibly good. They call themselves hardcore gamers, but they're the best representation of casuals [minus the offensive materials] there is. They don't care about the game, the developers, the company, the console, the characters, backstory, symbolism, or hard work that went into the game. No. All they care about is how good the graphics are, and how many people they can shoot. They also play sports games. That's it. These are the people that can't the difference between mario and link, let alone the difference between 8-bit and 16-bit, who couldn't tell you how important Sony in changing gaming, or how important Nintendo was in revolutionizing much of the industry back in the past and even in modern times.
I'd say the Antithinker is a very clear and very accurate [though slightly exaggerated] portrayal of an actual type of gamer.
This, combined with the fact it's nice to see TGO testing the waters in other things, and starting to widen the scope a little bit, it's ultimately a good video, a good character, and a good idea. I didn't laugh at all the jokes, but some people did. So, there's at least someone getting enjoyment out of it.
That was a long-ass comment. I should start my own damn blog.
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