The Gaming Persona
Welcome to The Gaming Persona, a unique podcast that traverses the exciting crossroads of gaming and mental health. With your host, Dr. Gameology, peel back the layers of the gaming world to discover its profound impact on our cognitive and emotional health. You'll understand how video games, far from being mere entertainment, can act as powerful tools for personal growth, stress relief, and mental resilience. Join fellow gamers and enthusiasts in thought-provoking discussions, unraveling the intricacies of game design, the psychology of gaming, and the surprising ways in which these elements influence our well-being.
Immerse yourself in The Gaming Persona, the one-of-a-kind podcast that seamlessly blends the worlds of video gaming and mental health. Guided by our resident (but not evil) expert, Dr. Gameology, we endeavor to unlock the untapped potential of gaming as a catalyst for enhancing our mental resilience, stimulating personal growth, and promoting stress relief.
For The Gaming Persona is fascinated by the intricacies of game design, exploring the careful balance of challenges, rewards, narratives, and immersion that makes video games captivating experiences. Through engaging discussions, we illuminate the psychological aspects of gaming – the motivations, the emotional connections, and the gratification that players derive from their virtual adventures.
But our exploration doesn't stop there. We also examine the transformative potential of video games on our mental landscapes. Drawing from a wide swath of research, anecdotal evidence, and personal experiences, we highlight how gaming helps shape cognitive abilities, emotional resilience, and social skills.
The Gaming Persona is more than just a podcast. It's a platform for gamers and non-gamers alike to gain a new perspective on gaming - not as a mere hobby or a form of escapism, but as a powerful medium of self-improvement and well-being.
Each episode of our show is meticulously crafted to provide a balanced blend of immersive storytelling, engaging discussions, and knowledge-packed content. We delve into the heart of game design, unraveling the intricate weave of elements that make video games a compelling form of entertainment and a profound tool for personal development.
But we're not just about games. We're about you, the gamer. The Gaming Persona aims to cast a fresh light on the psychological facets of gaming that resonate with players. We decode the motivations, the emotional bonds, and the sense of fulfillment that gamers derive from their digital exploits.
And it doesn't end there. As you tune in week after week, you'll discover the transformative power of gaming on cognitive flexibility, emotional resilience, and social connections. You'll hear from researchers, mental health professionals, game developers, and fellow gamers who share their insights, experiences, and personal anecdotes.
Imagine a podcast that can simultaneously entertain, educate, inspire, and challenge your perspectives. That's The Gaming Persona for you. By making us a part of your weekly routine, you're embarking on a journey of personal growth and self-discovery, all while indulging in your love for video games.
So, if you're ready to challenge the status quo and explore the intersection of gaming and mental health, join Dr. Gameology and a vibrant community of like-minded individuals on this enlightening journey.
So, why wait? Subscribe to The Gaming Persona today. Challenge your perspectives, enrich your mind, and game your way to mental resilience. With each episode, you won't just be playing; you'll be growing, learning, and evolving. Welcome to the community.
Subscribe to The Gaming Persona now, and game your way to a healthier mind.
#gaming #mentalhealth #wellbeing #gameology #gamingpersona #podcast #continuethejourney
The Gaming Persona
The Fallout Series: From Pixels to TV Screens
How do video game adaptations shape our identities and serve as modern-day myths? Join Dr. Gameology and Jenny LeBron on the Gaming Persona Podcast as we unravel the impact of gaming on who we become. This episode kicks off with updates from our recent gaming escapades. Jenny dives deep into her thrilling adventures with "Legends of Runeterra" and her newfound obsession with the "A Court of Thorns and Roses" book series. Meanwhile, I’m bubbling over with excitement about completing "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth" and the satisfaction of hitting my in-game milestones. We also touch on the much-anticipated Fallout TV show and the juggling act of balancing our gaming lives with everyday responsibilities.
Shifting gears, we explore the burgeoning trend of video game adaptations gracing our screens, turning beloved games into shared cultural stories. From The Last of Us to the Mario movie, and Halo, we discuss how these adaptations become the modern-day mythology that connects diverse audiences. Jenny shares her personal experience with the Fallout TV show and delves into the show's metaphor of leaving the vault as a powerful symbol for life's pivotal transitions. This segment offers a deeper reflection on the bravery required to chase our goals and the inevitable challenges we encounter along the way.
In our final segment, we tackle the captivating topic of moral decision-making in video games. Comparing the ambiguous choices in Fallout's morality system to the clear-cut paths in Star Wars: The Old Republic, we engage in a lively debate about which character from the Fallout TV show mirrors our own moral play styles. Lucy, Maximus, or the ghoul—which one resonates with you? We also highlight how these TV adaptations bring together gamers and non-gamers alike, creating a shared space for bonding over structured storytelling and rich lore. Tune in as we celebrate our gamer identities and look forward to the future of gaming and TV crossovers, hinting at the endless possibilities they hold.
If you would like to support the show and help us unlock additional possibilities for future episodes and projects, this can now be done through Patreon!
Subscribe on YouTube for more content on the Psychology of Gaming or to catch a Live Stream!
For more info, check out DrGameology.com!
More Links Here!
Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!
Welcome to the Gaming Persona Podcast. This is the show that explores who we become when we play games. I'm your host, Dr Gameology from YouTube and online classrooms across the country, and I'm joined by one of my best friends from my gaming journey, Jenny LeBron. Jenny, how are you doing this week?
Speaker 2:I'm doing fantastic and I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1:I am glad to hear that I've been looking forward to this conversation all week, plus some time, and we got here here. So, before we get started, where can our listeners find us?
Speaker 2:you can find my photography page on instagram at jlebron photography or jlebron photographycom if you're curious about what nerdy person's photos look like and I am at dr gamology, on twitch, youtube threads, facebook, instagram, all the social apps.
Speaker 1:course, you can find me on this show every week. The Gaming Persona can be found on Apple Podcasts, spotify, google YouTube and anywhere else podcasts can be found. If you're enjoying our content and we really mean this, is very important for people to be able to find our show make sure to leave us a five-star review. Type up what you're enjoying about the show. Make sure to leave us a five-star review. Type up what you're enjoying about the show and if we find it, we will be sure to read it on the show, or at least a few of them. If we get too popular, we'll get to the point where we can't read all of them. Jenny, what are we talking about from the world of video games today?
Speaker 1:We are going to be talking about fallout tv show yes, I'm very excited to talk with you about this and I just had a constructive critique for our show notes. Maybe we should change that sense to what are we talking about from the world of video games yesterday? Because, true, by the time we record, this is the theme of 2024.
Speaker 1:Our lives have gotten so chaotic and maybe this is the ordinary world where we share everyday life through our games but, we are repeatedly coming up with great topic ideas and then just not being able to get a recording night until it feels like the world has moved on.
Speaker 2:That's so true. Yeah, I guess the hype has died down a bit for the show, but it's still a really great show.
Speaker 1:Oh, it absolutely is, and we're going to talk more about that later in the episode. Jamie, what have you been up to in your gaming side of life?
Speaker 2:I have actually been gaming on my phone. I've talked about this game before. I played it on PC. It's Legends of Runeterra. It's a roguelike card game and I figured out that I can download it to my phone about, I'd say, a month ago.
Speaker 1:And I didn't have any space on my phone for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I had to go and delete a bunch of things that I just don't use anyway. And, yeah, since then I've been playing on my phone a lot and it's so much fun. I just got my first S tier run a couple weeks ago and that was cool. I have a bunch of my players leveled up and, yeah, I'm just grinding out, having fun figuring out new challengers and, yeah, it's been fun.
Speaker 2:The other thing that has consumed my life and is not gaming related would be really cool if they made a game having to do with this. But so I've been sucked into the ACOTAR books and, for people who don't know, it's the Court of Thorn and Roses is the first book of the series. There's five books right now and she's currently the author is Sarah J Maas is currently working on the next one, but it has completely consumed my life. I have burned through the first three books. I just finished the third book today and it's absolute. It's such a fun, fun world to learn about and the books are just so good. There's twists and turns, there's love stories. It's really great. I love it. Have you heard of this series?
Speaker 1:What is the series named?
Speaker 2:Court of Thorns and Roses. That's the name of the first book and I believe the series is named that, or at least that's how people refer to it.
Speaker 1:I don't know very much about it at all. That's definitely true. But I also have this feeling that it's caught my eye walking through Barnes Noble or something, and that I've at least glanced at it and taken notice that this is a book series that seems to be prominent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been really great. It takes place in a world where there's like a fairy land and a human land and they're at odds and there's the big bads and the good guys and the in-betweens. It's really good, really good. It's also muddy, which is fun.
Speaker 1:That is fun, that makes everything fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there I was on a plane. I went to new york last week and there's just one particular scene where I'm like listening to it and I'm looking around, I'm just like I don't know.
Speaker 1:This feels weird if only anyone on this plane knew what I'm listening to. Yeah that reminds me of that conference last year when I got to the geralt and yennefer scene in caramor n, and just you finished this quest, so let's go have fun upstairs, and I'm just like. Are there any miners sitting next to me or behind me? Because I'm embarrassed? Oh, at least, though, it sounds like it was only in your headphones, yeah yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. So you're much less of a public offense than I was yeah.
Speaker 1:So one of the things I've been dying to talk with you about, jenny, is that I actually, since the last time we recorded, have finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on my first playthrough and, yes, and I accomplished a few extra goals that I had for that playthrough that I'm really happy about, goals that I had for that playthrough that I'm really happy about I was able to build up the relationship points between Cloud and Tifa so that Tifa is the party member that goes on the date in chapter 12 of the game with Cloud and that's something that takes me back all the way to my first ever time playing final fantasy 7 on your ps1 is the person that you talk to the most and interact with.
Speaker 1:That might not be exactly how they measure it, but that's the person that ends up going on the date with you either eric or tifa. You can get some of the other party members to show up and do the date with you Either Aerith or Tifa. You can get some of the other party members To show up and do. The date scene was really elaborate In this remake, though. They added this whole 3D Opera Stage show that you wear the headset and it puts you in the role Of the characters. And then you have this reaction time game while the battles are happening on stage and man, just so many parts of it, from that part of the game on to the end, made me cry so many times.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so cool Not that you're crying.
Speaker 1:No, I love that. I was crying too, like I'm not so macho that I can't talk about that on this show.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying your tears don't bring me joy, just clarify.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh, I got too literal there but the situation that this game is playing with and teasing the game player of, are we going to change it? You've been living your whole life with this moment, and that moment is the death of eric. Final fantasy 7 original and because remake was so much about the characters trying to make different choices. But the Fae characters that are named Whispers in this game would always fly in and drag you to be exactly in the spot that you've always been, and so if the Fae Whispers are going to keep showing up and drag us to the place we've always been, that means Aerith has to die right. But the way they did the end of the game was, in my opinion, beautiful.
Speaker 1:I don't really want to go into more detail unless we're going to do a spoiler cast kind of episode where everything's on the table and nothing's off limits. I'm sure I will want to do that eventually, because Final Fantasy VII is a major game in the through lines that tie the stages of the gamer's journey together in my book. So I would imagine if you have no interest in Final Fantasy VII and you tried to read my book, you would hate me. Everybody love Final Fantasy VII. And then, please, everybody love the Gamer's Journey, right, I've made a lot of progress on the book.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really coming together. Yesterday I went live on Twitch for about an hour just to record some of my thoughts with my audience, but also just record my thoughts in a way that I can transcribe it easily.
Speaker 1:So, I have that video and those thoughts were things that I might want to talk about in my forward for the book. So just tiny little two or three page thing that happens before the intro chapter. So I didn't have time to fit working on that into my workday today. But that'll definitely be a tomorrow task and then just gotta do a couple more updates and then I'm gonna send it on again, hopefully for the last time but you know, oh, that's so exciting yeah, but I know I've said that before.
Speaker 2:There's always another time I was gonna say I feel like it's been so long that you've had like technically finished writing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been two years since I started writing it. It's been 18 months since I finished the first draft. There's so many other steps that you just don't realize exist in book writing, especially when the author and the editor and everyone involved is doing it part time because we're all engrossed in these other goals in life. I'm sure it's a lot easier to get a book out every six months if everybody working on it that's their full time gig, Right?
Speaker 2:So I'm just very excited.
Speaker 1:It will be totally worth it. Twitch book writing. We got an episode of the podcast out recently. Our downloads are starting to go more in the up direction because people are starting to notice episodes are happening again, so that's always fun.
Speaker 2:Sweet.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So let's go ahead and start our Call to Adventure, where we get into our topic for the week and, very simply put, the Fallout TV show is a great example of what video games can offer to television. So we thought it would be a great. Yeah, we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to revisit that topic, because one of the last times we did this topic, jenny, we talked about the Netflix Resident Evil show, which crashed and burned not even magnificently I'm the only person in the world that enjoyed that show. So now we have an opportunity to revisit that topic with a game and a TV show that people seem to like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's happening more and more lately. I, of course aside from resident evil, which I wouldn't even know about because I'm not watching that show, but but yeah, I feel like every time something comes out not every time, but lately when these shows are coming out like last of us and now fallout, the audience is not just gamers, it's like regular people, and the stories are incredible and the characters are amazing and the product being put out is enticing to everyone. So I think that's really exciting because it just draws people more into this world of video games and lends credibility to how amazing it is to be a gamer.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. I'm just thinking about other examples. You mentioned the Last of Us. We had a Mario movie. Yeah, I love that movie that movie is gonna lead into a sequel. They're probably gonna have a cinematic universe eventually.
Speaker 2:You know nintendo easter eggs in that movie made my heart so happy. Just the sounds in that movie. Every once in a while something would make a sound. I'm like oh my gosh, I remember the sound.
Speaker 1:Just the da-da-da-da-da-da you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Even though my voice doesn't even sound like the proper instruments.
Speaker 1:People might have gotten a little spike of dopamine from our podcast, just because that series of notes is ingrained in our societies as a society and, by the way, that is a big reason why I come around with the idea so often that video games are modern mythology. Mythology is a way for people to share stories, characters and situations that are about inspiring hope, developing resilience and getting through tough situations and looking up to amazing characters and individuals, and those qualities are the qualities we want to have in ourselves. I think Mario and Peach in that movie are great examples of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Maybe not so much in Fallout, because Fallout plays a lot more with moral gray areas.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. But so we have the Last of Us, we have Mario. Halo has a TV show. Now I haven't watched it, I don't know very much about it, but that's really cool and Really, when a video game has a TV show that has advertising and has the machine of these big studios behind them, it brings more eyes and more awareness to the game property. And so then you have gamers being like I'd love to watch that, which is us saying I just love the story and the characters. I don't have to have a controller and a challenge that I'm trying to complete to enjoy that story. But it also flips the other way. It's people that don't ever have a controller saying, oh, that world looks interesting, I'd like to know more about it. And then maybe it gets them to consider playing the game after they finish it and enjoy it so much. Yeah, so it's really just good for games, but it's also good for people to realize that some of the best stories that people pour their heart and soul into telling are actually video games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely it's. I feel like lately movies and maybe not so much serious TV series I've gotten into quite a few of them, but definitely movies. I have not been to the movie theater. I can't remember the last time I went, it was probably with you to see something.
Speaker 1:Oh I. Star Wars, episode nine. Nine. It's not been that long, but sky.
Speaker 2:There's just. Original content is hard to come by these days and I think these video game adaptations are like really scratching that itch it's. It's not technically original content because it's based on something else, but it's the monomyth, jenny yeah, but but for people who are not in the gaming world, it is, it's an introduction to. It's their original introduction to the content.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely. How much of the fallout show have you watched up to this point, jenny? One episode okay, so there's eight total, I think yeah, yeah, I've been.
Speaker 2:I was hooked right away and I was ready to watch the next one, but it was late and I shared with you earlier this week that I can't seem to turn on the TV without falling asleep lately. You know everyone.
Speaker 1:I don't know what age you think me and Jenny are. We are much older than we were when we first met. Yes, and the fact that we're recording this episode at almost 10 pm. Our time is miraculous Because I don't do anything this productive as it's late anymore.
Speaker 2:I know Seriously.
Speaker 1:Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, I was just going to say it's been a challenge to find another time where I'm not ready to go to sleep and also my boyfriend is available to watch it, because we're watching it together. I'm very interested. I can't wait to watch the rest, but I need to find a day where we can binge a couple episodes.
Speaker 1:Tomorrow sounds good, right, yeah, all right. So the the big part of fallout that always just makes me go wow, the big part of Fallout that always just makes me go wow, that was powerful is actually part of the hero's journey, and it's the part of the journey, the stage called Crossing the Threshold, okay, and so we're always talking about our ordinary world, and then there's the supernatural world, or, when I'm talking, the gamer's journey. That's the psychological world where the video game taps into our imagination and helps us learn things about ourselves. And that world can only happen because of how video games connect with us.
Speaker 1:In Fallout, the characters that are in the vault, so, like Lucyy's character, she is a vault dweller at the beginning of the show and she eventually has to leave the vault because shenanigans and in the tv show they captured. That moment that really made me love this series of video games is that moment where you go through all the chaos in the vault. It's tense, there's a threat to your life. You open the vault door, you see the light, the sunlight from the outside world, for the first time in your whole life and you decide to exit the vault and enter the real world, the outer world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and see the ocean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I just think that's such a powerful metaphor for us to focus on, because there's always a moment in time when we decide to go and become something in our lives where we're stuck in that ordinary world.
Speaker 1:We're not that thing yet, we're not on the path to being that thing, but we wish we were so much. And the courage it takes to exit the vault door is crippling for a lot of people. And that accomplishment is immediately followed by all kinds of challenges, because now you're in a place where you really have to go for it. You have to remember what the real goal is, and fallout has so many things you can do in that world. The main quest is not the juicy part of that video game, it's just there but the ability to interact with that world and really create consequences for that world is one of my favorite things about the Fallout video game series. Yeah, crossing the threshold, threshold, making choices what is it about these games? Or the the tv show so far?
Speaker 2:that's really grabbing you, jenny I didn't go as deep as relating it to the hero's journey, but so the I would say it's just. There's a lot. It's bringing up lots of questions for me and I want to know more. I want to understand more about this world. So I've never played Fallout and I've actually never seen it played, except for the fact that it was post-apocalyptic. And I can recognize the little Fallout guy anywhere, but I don't know anything about him or his significance or the thumbs up. I don't know any of that. It's just, at least for the first episode, that's what I'm drawing my insight from. I want to know more. I want to know what is out there. I want to know where did they go? I don't want to do too many spoilers, but I want to know what the heck is going on with. This brotherhood and maximus has me really confused yeah um, yeah, I'm just I so curious.
Speaker 2:It has completely piqued my curiosity, I'm. I want to understand it more, so I'm. That's what I've loved so far about it.
Speaker 1:That's really neat that you're gravitating towards all these questions, especially the ones with the Brotherhood and Maximus, because when you start the show or the game or whatever in the perspective of someone in the vault, you exit the vault, You're in the world now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you're on the road of trials, right.
Speaker 2:Oh, where we face our challenges and discover our strengths. I was going to say we should go on the road of trials.
Speaker 1:The larger world that's not sheltered I was going to say we should go a little road trip the larger world that's not sheltered. All these different sects and cults and armies and militia and gangs and all these things are just fighting to survive in this world. That is not safe at all. And in the early episodes lucy is extremely naive and is trying to bring the civility of the vault into this world. What do you mean they're trying? They're gonna chew her up and spit her out because because her innocence and her mission is so out of place in a world like Fallout and, by the way, it's like in the future. But everything also looks like the 1950s, but with much better technology.
Speaker 1:If the 1950s really amped up the kinds of things that they were capable of from a technology perspective, but it's still very outdated looking, so I think that's such a cool aesthetic right.
Speaker 2:I agree it's fun. It's a fun world. I mean there are not fun parts about it, but it puts it like it's trying to be nostalgic but it's not because it's futuristic. Yeah, yeah, I love the aesthetics of the 50s. That's always intriguing. I love period pieces. I love watching shows that are set back in time, and the 50s and 60s are definitely one of those periods that draws me to it aesthetically. It's a beautiful. I don't know. There's something about it, like the first couple minutes of the show where they're clearly set. It's clearly set back then and they have the party and even just the house, the mid-century modern aesthetic, the architecture. I'm drawn to that.
Speaker 1:Let's see that's yeah the timeline for the show. Is'm drawn to that. Let's see that's yeah. The timeline for the show is very confusing to me and we're gonna have to talk about that more in the future. Where you have finished the season, jenny?
Speaker 1:okay but, um, I just want to share that. I went on threads when we were getting ready to do this episode and I put out a couple different polls just to see how people are responding to the TV show, and there are two things that I would like to talk about from these questions. The first one is have you gone back to playing a Fallout game in the last couple weeks because of the TV show? And 60% of the people who voted said yes, absolutely so. All the podcasts I'm listening to have at least one person that acknowledges that they're back into Fallout 76. Fallout 4 had its PS5 graphics update, so they're trying to refresh the game so that it looks nice enough for the current consoles. That's awesome. A lot of people don't like that because when you update a game, you break all the mods, and that was a heavily modded game for a lot of people if you're just playing the base game the way it comes when you download it.
Speaker 1:In theory, it looks nicer right now than it used to. And, by the way, I would be very interested in playing both Fallout 76 and Fallout 4. I've never finished Fallout 4. I mean, 76 is an MMO style shooter game, so you don't really finish those. I would say you just build your lifestyle around them Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The second question, and this is my favorite thing we have talked thousands of conversations about moral decision-making in video games, jenny, including Star Wars, the old Republic, which has the light side, dark side system that I love so much. In Fallout, there definitely is a morality system, and a lot of the quests have these pivotal moments where what you choose in the dialogue or what switch you're going to flip, decides whether you are a force for good, for very bad or for neutral in this world. And it's ambiguous a lot of times too. It's not like Jedi and Sith, where you make the Jedi choice, the screen lights up blue and you know you did good for the galaxy. It's more, you chose who you wanted to back here. They're going to have a happier life and a chance to survive. People clearly are gonna die because of this decision. Hope you can live with that choice.
Speaker 1:And then you keep playing the game and when I watch the tv show and I picked up on this, probably the second or third episode it's like I could tell that's the game moment where the character is going to choose and you don't get to choose because we're the audience. We don't have a controller, jenny, yeah, so that was just so fun for me to start watching this show. Like, what if this was a game? How would it work if it was a game? And that's where the second question leads in. Do you have the show notes? Do you want to read the second question?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So after watching all or some of the Fallout TV show, which character matches your play style or moral, decision making the closest. So the options are Lucy, maximus the ghoul or none of them. So before you read the answer.
Speaker 1:Jenny, what would you say?
Speaker 2:I was just going to say I don't know that I can answer this yet because I definitely don't know anything about the ghoul. He was in the show for two seconds. He's pretty evil, I guess.
Speaker 1:So sure are you?
Speaker 2:I wasn't. I said I guess that's why why I'm like I guess he's evil? I don't know, because those guys didn't seem like they were good guys. Obviously lucy is like the moral good and I have no idea what to think of maximus. He like he has completely confused me as a character. I don't know anything about him. I don't know if he did what they accused him of. It seems like he did, but I don't know. He seems a whiny guy. I'm not a fan of him, so you would not be friends with maximus no, he's, he bothers me for now.
Speaker 2:This is just the first episode, so typically, typically I play the evil character. So the ghoul seems like it'd be closest to what I would play, maybe. But I definitely was drawn to Lucy's character more because she might be moral good, but she's a badass Like she will murder you if you mess with her. So I like that.
Speaker 1:Don't mess with her, so I like that the ghoul has so much character development that you find out as the season goes on, and I'm really excited to talk with you more about him.
Speaker 2:The ghoul. I have a feeling. I don't know if this is a spoiler, if this is obvious to everyone.
Speaker 1:Go for it. This is our show. We're not even live right now. Just go for it, isn't?
Speaker 2:the gh. We're not even live right now. Just go for it. Isn't the gold, the cowboy from the beginning?
Speaker 1:maybe, but are they like hundreds of years in the?
Speaker 2:future?
Speaker 1:yeah, but he doesn't seem like he's a normal being yeah, so there's a lot more of that kind of stuff going on in this show where that past that you saw with the bombs and the fallout happening, you're actually not done with flashbacks. That's one of my favorite things is the timey-wimey-ness. 54% of the people who have probably the majority of those people have actually finished the season, too. Did side with the Lucy vote on. I play the game the most like Lucy.
Speaker 1:I had a very difficult car conversation with my wife about this, though, because she said the same thing. She said Lucy and I decided to be playful and just poke at that a little bit, and there's a quest where she makes a really dumb good girl decision in one of the upcoming episodes. It's one of those decisions where, in the video game, it's like make the super morally good choice and fight a hundred crazy zombies, or make the morally gray choice that's kind of good and only fight three really powerful zombies and then make the bad choice and blow them all up without having to fight anybody that kind of thing. I didn't spoil it, because that's not exactly the scenario I think so she wouldn't have been my first choice.
Speaker 2:It probably would have been cool, but I think the fact that she might be like good and pure and make the good of your choice, the fact that she can she's trained her entire life to be an assassin, yeah makes it easier to pick her yeah, absolutely she is.
Speaker 1:She's the player character yeah for sure, jenny, as you progress through the tv show, I want you to promise me that, whatever episode it is where you decide the ghoul is your guy. I want you to text me, okay, like episode three, the ghoul is my guy, or whatever right I. I just want to. I want to be able to follow up with you and if we can include it in a future episode, that's great. Yeah, if it's just you and me, that's great too. I just feel, very without any surprise in me, that the goal is your guy I look forward to that moment for sure.
Speaker 1:The reason we do the gaming persona podcast is because we want people to enjoy the psychology of video games. I would just like to talk about how shows like Fallout help in doing that. I don't have anything written this is completely off script but it's one of those things where I think we imply a lot. Jenny, on this show and people that have chosen to listen. This is probably I don't know how many people. This would be the first episode you ever get to meet us, but that's true, hi, it's really nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:Fallout is not our normal kind of game, but it has a lot of the things in it that our normal games also have. So here we are, but I just whenever a video game that is already super popular Bethesda is a very lone studio and they get to put their logo on the little TV at the front of the episode. So now people that don't know what Bethesda is are like what is a Bethesda? And then the gamer on the couch with them. The day we should watch the vosh, I was like it's bethesda, mom. And then now you have a conversation like what do they do? They do the elder scrolls, they do starfield, they do fallout and that that set of sentences right. There is so many potential conversations. So what do you think on that whole video games becoming tv shows, like connecting people, like? What are your thoughts on that, jenny?
Speaker 2:I think I said it early in the episode. I love that we are reaching different audiences with video game lore and people are appreciating it and people are like they're binge watching a TV show based on a video game that's been around for many years. That is a lot of people's favorite video game. It's just such a cool thing to witness and to have my friends who I know would never play this video game talk to me about the show and we can commiserate about it and talk about the characters. We don't normally get to talk about this kind of stuff my non-gamer friends and I and it's cool, it's fun.
Speaker 1:It definitely builds that connection yeah, so bringing in people that are not normally a part of video games, but also the tv show gives scripted moments so that you can get the very best out of the story, and when you play a video game, you don't get to the story until you earn it. Yeah, and that's not just a skill check, that's also a time investment, and when you have a TV show you can make a judgment about. I have 45 minutes of free time right now. I can watch this show and I know that there will be an initiation, a challenge and a resolution, and then that will lead to the next episode In video games. If I have 45 minutes, I'm not guaranteed that anything meaningful is going to happen. Right as I just discovered with my 85 hours to finish Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, there were so many 45 minutes where nothing meaningful happened, including my three days straight of just doing a jump rope game as a frog.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I have no idea what you're talking about and I'm just doing a jump rope game as a frog.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I have no idea what you're talking about and I'm glad, oh, you'll know someday. I really just hope that, out of people that listen to the show or people that want gaming to be a healthy part of their fun in life, that it helps create conversations and make gaming seem fun and cool and innovative and part of what mythology in a modern world would look like. Yeah, it doesn't have to have dragons and wizards in order to be. It doesn't have to be fantasy to be a mythology, it can. It can be industrial, it can be steampunk, it can be cyberpunk, it could have any kind of pumpkin and it turns out. In fact, if wrestling is modern mythology, it can have cm punk. Oh, I don't know what that means. I don't. That's the name of a wrestler, jenny okay yeah, I'm proud that I said
Speaker 1:that, yeah, take that all right. So I just man, it's such a good time to be a gamer right now, and I remember when this whole journey was like not even started by me. I remember one particular time that I called a game player a gamer in a supervision session that I was writing and someone asked why I was being insulting to them it's a bad word and I was just so confused in that and now it's I would be a lot more confident and be like that's wrong, that word.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's not a derogatory term.
Speaker 1:We can be geeks, we can be gamers. It's just we got to take the words that describe our identity and embrace them. Agreed, let's go on the return and get back to our daily lives. Take our next step forward, final part of our conversation today Getting back into our vault when everything is safe and cozy. Don't get too comfortable. There might be some weird science experiments in this one. So, jenny, what are you taking with you In the aftermath Of this conversation, or the fallout of this conversation? Fantastic, I'm just. You planted the little seed of this conversation.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, I'm just I. You planted the little seed in my head that the goal is my guy and I cannot wait to figure out when the goal is my guy. That's all I can think about right now. I can't wait.
Speaker 1:Two right now Homework Okay.
Speaker 2:We recorded really late, so I don't think that's happening. I'm going to go pass out, but yeah, somewhere. Okay, we recorded really late, so I don't think that's happening.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go pass out, but yeah, somewhere, jenny not here so if these conversations sound fun to you and you're looking for some great people to play online games with, check out aie at aie-guildorg. And I have one last quest for everyone to collect for the day Make your Vault-Tec payments on time and continue your journey.
Speaker 2:See you next time.
