May 15, 2025 • 29 mins
Video games have been around for decades, so many of us have nostalgic memories of the family Atari or Nintendo. On the latest episode, the Distracted Librarians discuss their own experiences with video games - from childhood 8-bit games to modern online multiplayer games (and everything in between) - as well as some of the unique storytelling capabilities that video games have.
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Many thanks to BCTV for their support in recording, editing, and releasing this podcast; and to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring closed captioning on every episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
- [Nicole] Hey there.
Welcome to the "DistractedLibrarians" podcast.
We are your friendlyneighborhood bookworms
with a penchant forall things pop culture.
- [Drew] Picture thisas our digital campfire,
where we dive into our latest obsessions,
analyze our favorite distractions,
and rediscover the joy of reading.
- [Killian] Whether you're amedia enthusiast, a book lover,
(00:21):
or just need a break from the daily grind,
you've come to the right spot.
- [Amanda] So, kick back, relax,
and get delightfully distracted with us.
- [Nicole] Hey everybody.
Today we are going totalk about video games.
My name is Nicole.
- [Drew] I'm Drew.
- [Killian] I'm Killian.
- [Amanda] I'm Amanda.
- [Nicole] All right, solet's just dig right into it.
(00:43):
- [Killian] I'm so excited.
- [Nicole] I know, I know, I know.
I'm like, I know I mentionedthis the other day,
but it is so weird to me thatwe have not talked about,
I mean, we have talked about video games,
so we have not had a dedicatedepisode to video games yet.
- [Drew] Mhm.- [Killian] Yep.
- [Nicole] So. Wow.
- Okay, anyway,
we need to fix our priorities, people.
- [Drew] We got this.
- [Nicole] All right.
(01:03):
So what was the firstvideo game you ever loved?
Let's go around the table.
- [Drew] I was a "Pokemon" kid.
- [Nicole] "Pokemon," okay.
- [Drew] I was very much a "Pokemon" kid.
I brought my green Game Boycolor to the second grade.
- [Nicole] Mm.
- [Drew] With my "Pokemon Blue."
My little brother had "Pokemon Red."
It was a massive rivalry.
It started all of our problems.
- [Nicole] Oh my goodness.
(01:25):
- [Killian] The first thatI ever like truly loved
like that was probably also "Pokemon,"
specifically "Pokemon Blue."
And my younger brotheralso had "Pokemon Red."
- [Drew] I need you to stop right now.
- [Killian] So that's wild.
A little horrifying.
But I think the first one I remember
is the, on the original Game Boy,
the "Super Mario Brothers,Six Golden Coins"
(01:45):
was the first one that like,
I've got this like, yes,I remember playing this.
I remember really liking this.
I had my big gray brick
of a Game Boy in the carwith me all the time.
- [Nicole] Nice.
- [Amanda] So I have two items.
One was called "Hunt the Wumpus" on Atari.
So very 8-bit, very like old.
(02:07):
I don't even know.
I think it was sort of like, you know,
like a "Zelda" type gamewhere you're sort of like,
have this unfolding journey.
You're supposed to like find.
- [Nicole] It's adventure, yeah.
- [Amanda] You're like huntingthis mythical creature.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] And yeah, it was,
(02:29):
I don't have many details.
I just remember always wanting to play it
and then rarely it was actually working
because it was one of those things
where like, oh my gosh.
- It's always equipment fail.
- [Nicole] So the thing about the Atari.
And I distinctly remember this too,
as a kid growing up in the eighties,
is that like we couldn't keep it,
the Atari could not behooked up at all times
(02:50):
'cause it would mess up our television.
Like we couldn't watchanything else on it.
So it would be like myfather taking 15, 20 minutes
to get this thing set up,
climbing around behind the television,
stepping on cactuses,
shouting, et cetera, et cetera.
And then we could play Atari.
I remember being really small,
but like those, that's my memory
(03:12):
of like early video gaming
is the trouble and the hardness
of like getting it all set up.
- [Amanda] There'salways an equipment fail.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Drew] Although I do feellike stepping on a cactus
was a family specific hardship.
- [Nicole] It was avery specific hardship.
Yes.
I don't know how thrilled
he was about settingit up again after that.
- [Killian] No, I feel like we had
that problem in my house too.
(03:32):
- [Nicole] Oh, really?
Okay good, okay good.
- [Amanda] I also had this game
that it is so niche.
It was on "Super Mario," orexcuse me, not "Super Mario."
It was on Nintendo Entertainment, NES.
And it was called "Bible Adventures."
(03:53):
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] And my momspecifically got this game,
and you would have,
it was like your oldschool "Mario Brothers,"
like quality in terms of game.
And you had like Noah inthe Ark gathering animals.
(04:16):
- [Nicole] Oh my gosh,I've never heard of this.
That's crazy.
- [Amanda] And then you hadlike a David and Goliath.
- [Nicole] Uh-huh.
- [Amanda] I reallyenjoyed gathering animals
for the Ark as Noah, as a child.
- [Drew] Okay, so you.
We're digging into this.
- [Amanda] Drew's face islike so confused right now.
(04:37):
- [Drew] So, so you wereeach individual person,
you weren't like an Odysseus type deal,
going through and experiencing?
- [Killian] And doing all the things.
- [Drew] But you like changedcharacters to fit the story?
- [Amanda] I mean, they,it was very finite stories.
- [Drew] Sure.
- [Amanda] Like, it waslike Noah in the Ark.
Your only option was to be Noah.
(04:57):
- [Nicole] So level onewith Noah and the Ark.
- [Amanda] And you gather these animals.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] To then put them in the ark.
- [Drew] And the mice was level one,
the elephants were level eight and?
- [Amanda] Uh, I don't remember that much,
but like you could stack the animals
like on your shoulders.
Like he was like holding abunch of animals at once.
You had to like, go find where they're at.
Of course you want a pair of each.
(05:20):
That's the story.- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Amanda] And.- [Nicole] Oh boy.
- [Amanda] Yeah, it was, I don'tknow how my mom found this.
- [Nicole] It kind ofsounds like "Farmville,"
but like, just really weirdly.
- [Killian] I just lovethat this is the Amanda lore
that we've unlocked today.
- [Amanda] There's a lot.
(05:40):
(Drew laughs)
What's funny is I looked up the game since
and like they didn't sell itin normal video game stores.
Like, I think my mom hadto like go send away.
- [Nicole] Oh wow.- [Amanda] For this.
- [Nicole] She was like,if you're gonna play
a game at all, this is the game.
- [Amanda] This is thegame I want you to play.
- [Nicole] Yeah, 'cause I remember like
when I was growing up middleclass during the time,
(06:02):
like I had the Nintendo system,
but getting the games was expensive.
Like at the time, likewe would go to Toys R Us
or whatever it was,
and they'd all be there behindtheir little plastic walls.
And I would look at eachone and I'd be like,
but can I get this one?
And they were like $70, which at the time,
was kind of a lot.
At least that's what I remember.
(06:23):
I have no idea what it actually costs,
but like, so I would get a game
like once every blue moon for my birthday.
Or Christmas or something like that.
So yeah, like really went out for it.
- [Amanda] For quite awhile, we had three games.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] This is actuallygonna unlock a lot.
"Super Mario Brothers,"
"Bible Adventures," and a hockey game.
(06:45):
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] Because we all played hockey.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] And pick one of three.
Those are your options.
- [Nicole] Yep, yep, yep.
My favorite video, first video game
that I ever loved was "Super Mario 3."
I did like the other ones,
(07:06):
but "Super Mario 3" made me really happy.
I felt like I was legitimatelygood at that game.
And there was like, you know,
little tricks and thingsthat you could do to speed up
and get a time warp andall those kind of things.
So yeah, cool.
All right, so let's see.
Games with standout narratives.
(07:26):
Do we have any gameswith standout narratives?
- [Drew] Yeah.
- [Nicole] I'm thinking like,
oh, what is the name of the TV show
that just came back
that has a standout narrative?
Oh my gosh.
- [Amanda] "The Last of Us?"
- [Nicole] "Last of Us," there we go.
Thank you.
You know, like things
that have like really,really strong stories.
Killian, you love the,you love story games.
(07:47):
- [Killian] I love story games.
I also just video gamesas a storytelling medium
is a huge thing for me
because I don't think peoplethink about it enough.
And so we often like to pitvideo games against other media.
And I think it's important to realize
that like there are differentways to consume stories
(08:09):
and video games are a valid way.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Killian] One of my, Drew'sgonna laugh at this one
because Drew did see
the aftermath of this one.- [Drew] Aftermath.
- [Killian] I, after Igot my PlayStation 4,
I started playing "Spiritfarer,"
which this is on a bunchof different platforms.
I also own it on PC now.
(08:31):
Everything about that game is so beautiful
except for the platforming of it,
because I hate platforming.
But, and that's still well done.
I'm just bad at it.
But it is this narrative story
about this girl who is ferryingsouls to like the afterlife.
(08:52):
So she rows this ferry around,
she's got her little cat companion,
and you basically are building this ferry.
And each time you get a new soul on board,
you get a room for them,
and you start unlocking bits and pieces
of each character's storyline,
and eventually, you canwrap up their storyline
and take them to move on.
(09:13):
And I sobbed uncontrollably
every time I got to the end of a story
because I got so attached
to each of these littlemini game characters.
I have not finished the game.- [Nicole] Oh wow.
- [Killian] Because I realizedkind of where it was going
and I knew there were alsoupdates coming out for it.
So I wanted, I was like, I'mgonna wait till the update
(09:34):
so I can play the whole thing.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Killian] Because Idon't think I can handle
playing the ending of this game twice.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] I still havenot finished this game,
but it has fully updated
and the, it is thecombination of the art style,
the music, and the story itself,
that make that game justsuch a standout to me.
(09:55):
And like I said, Drewgot to see the aftermath
of me sobbing uncontrollably on our couch
over this game so.
- [Nicole] So ferryingsouls to the afterlife.
That feels, sounds verylike Greek mythology to me.
Is that like, based off of something?
- [Killian] It's, I don't think
it's like completely based off of that.
A lot of the artwork
(10:16):
feels very like Japanese almost.
It's not like,
it's like certain styles of anime imagery.
It's so, it's not a directinterpretation of that.
But yeah, I definitely, I mean,I was a Greek mythology kid.
I saw the parallels too.
So, you know, I can see
(10:38):
where you would think it might be but.
- [Nicole] Cool.- [Killian] Yeah.
- [Nicole] I feel like the video games
that I played when I was a kid
did not have very muchin terms of storytelling.
It was kind of like, oh, the princess
was taken by the bad guy
and you're gonna kill all these things
in order to get to her.
And that's the story.
(10:58):
But like as you're playing,
there's no true real narrative in a way.
- [Killian] So things like "Super Marios"
and "Super Mario" being aplatformer that has a loose plot.
- [Nicole] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I feel like that's something
that kind of evolved over time
as the games became a littlebit more sophisticated.
So like the difference
(11:18):
between me playing "SuperMario 3" in the eighties
and not really playingthat many video games
like in my twenties or into my thirties,
and now playing "Breath of theWild" is kind of mind blowing
because like, whoa.
The difference between the two things
are just completely leapsand bounds different.
(11:38):
- [Killian] I will saythose earlier "Zelda" games
did still have a story though.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Killian] So "Zelda's"been around for a minute.
- [Nicole] Oh gosh, I have.- [Killian] I've never
finished one of them.
- [Nicole] I have my original
gold cartridge of "Zelda" for NES.
- [Killian] Nice.- [Drew] That's amazing,
actually.- [Nicole] It is, really.
I wanted to put it infor my kids to play it,
but I also remember it being like so hard
when I was a kid, but I'lljust let 'em try and see.
(12:01):
- [Drew] Yeah.
- [Nicole] Yeah, so.
- [Drew] One narrativelythat always stuck with me,
this is gonna be spoiler heaven.
So I'm sorry for people.
But also it was 15, 20 years ago.
- [Nicole] Yeah, so get over it.
- [Drew] Exactly.
"Bioshock."
So a common thing invideo games in general
is sort of this formatof, within the story,
(12:24):
you're given a task,
you carry out said task thatmoves the story forward.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Drew] And you're playing this game,
doing all of these things.
And then it gets to a point
where this big dramatic twist
is that your characterwas under some level
of like hypnotic mindcontrol the whole time.
(12:46):
- [Nicole] Oh boy.
- [Drew] And that you were doingthe bidding of the villain.
- [Nicole] Oh my goodness.
- [Drew] And there is alsoa sub narrative structure
in there of a villainbeing these characters
called the Little Sisters.- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Drew] And you'd befighting them constantly.
They had a protector character,
I don't remember its name right now.
(13:08):
And there was a,
there were two ways of dealing with them.
You could either kill them
or there was a, like a serum
or something that you could get them to
and like kill off their protector
and then give them this serum
to sort of heal them along the way.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Drew] And when you finish the game,
(13:28):
you get different endings
based on how many of them you kept alive.
- [Nicole] Oh, okay.
- [Drew] So it was thefirst game that really like
made me think of my ownimplicit role in video games.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Drew] In a really interesting way.
- [Nicole] Sure.- [Drew] That like,
I don't play many videogames in my regular life,
but that's one that'salways really stuck with me.
(13:49):
- [Killian] That's really interesting too
because one of the big storytelling things
with games is being part of that story.
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Killian] And so there'sbeing that part of the story
that's already prescribed andyou're just going through it,
but then you get the games,
where what you do as a part of the story
affects how things change.
- [Amanda] Like "Oregon Trail."
- [Nicole] Stresses me out.- [Drew] Yeah.
(14:10):
- [Nicole] I mean ultimatelylike Oregon Trail,
it was like the first time that I ever.
- [Killian] I loved that game.
- [Nicole] You know, kind of was in a kind
of a more fully immersivesort of storytelling.
That's kind of a great way of doing.
I mean, everybody dies,
nobody survived.
(group laughs)
Or maybe I just had really bad luck.
I am not a pioneer.
It's not happening.
(14:31):
- [Amanda] I never had verygood luck with that game.
And I was always like, what is dysentery?
I don't even know what that is.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- Okay, well, what about our favorite,
well we already talked a littlebit about childhood stuff,
but like favorite consoles,
favorite games from our childhood?
(14:53):
- [Drew] We were definitelya Nintendo family growing up.
- [Nicole] Nintendo family, okay.
- [Drew] So I had, you know, the Game Boy,
the Super Nintendo and the Game Cube.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Drew] And all of myfavorites existed in that sphere
until I got to college.
- [Nicole] Sure, okay.
- [Killian] So we werea, I still don't know
(15:14):
how we ended up with thethings we ended up with.
We had a very random assortment of things.
I had the original gray brick Game Boy,
a Game Boy Color, a Game Boy Advance.
Those were all like childhood handhelds.
But we also had the Sega Nomad,
which most people don't know about.
It played Genesis games,but it was a handheld.
- [Nicole] Oh, okay.
- [Killian] That was nota thing for very long.
(15:37):
We also had the Sega Dreamcast
that was out for like two years
before it stopped being made.
And Sega said, yeah, we'renot gonna do consoles anymore
because we can't.
So like, it was, the earlystuff that I had was so mixed.
It was Nintendo heavy, butthen these random Sega things.
(15:58):
And then we went like PlayStation.
Wii, and my brother ended up with an Xbox.
I have multiple things.
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Killian] But thenthere were computer games.
You know, the "PajamaSam" that my brother had,
the Barbie computer games that I had.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Drew] Was it "Math Blasters?"
- [Killian] Yeah, "Math Blaster"
(16:19):
in computer lab at school was a thing.
But probably the most formative thing
from my childhood was the "Sims."
- [Nicole] Oh okay.
- [Killian] 'Cause theoriginal "Sims" game
came out when I was infifth or sixth grade.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] And I haveplayed every iteration
(16:39):
of the "Sims" since so.
- [Nicole] Awesome.
- [Drew] Aggressively so.
- [Killian] I did not play"The Sims 3" aggressively.
I played that for like a minute,
but "The Sims 2" I was very into,
and "The Sims 4" is a problem.
It has become a problem.
- [Amanda] 'Cause you love it so much
or because you don't like it very much?
(17:00):
- [Killian] Yes.
- [Amanda] Okay.- [Killian] It's a love-hate.
It's complicated.
- [Nicole] Oh my gosh.
- [Amanda] I was, definitelyplayed Nintendo the most.
And it's funny because it'sjust so locked in like my brain
as being this thing whereyou sit on the ground
(17:20):
with the controller that is, you know,
hardware attached.- [Drew] Mhm.
- [Amanda] And you're staring up
like with your headtilted at the TV screen.
And so I never really lovedanything on a computer.
- [Nicole] Okay.- [Amanda] It's like
I had to have that like sittingon the ground experience
to have it be fun.
(17:42):
- [Nicole] Okay.- [Drew] I love that actually.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- I had, so we onlyhad the Nintendo system
and an Atari that my fatherdid not wanna set up.
And I would go to a friend's house
because her younger brotherwas video game crazy.
And they had like thiswhole like video game set up
(18:03):
in the basement and they had fancy chairs,
like gaming chairs that wereon the, still on the ground.
But they would rock.- [Amanda] Like a bean bag?
- [Nicole] No, they would rock
and they had a back to them,
so you could sit on the chair
and you could still playyour game from the ground.
But it was like really comfortable.
They always had tons of snacks,
which we did not have in my house.
And he had all of the gaming systems
(18:25):
and I would basically play
with her little brother all the time.
She was probably like, what'sgoing on with my friend?
But we would play "TeenageMutant Ninja Turtles"
and like lots and lots and lots,
new games would come out
and he would get them immediately
and he'd be like, you have to come
and check out "MegaMan" and whatever else.
And so yeah, I would do it there.
- [Killian] See, the big one that I wanted
that I never got was the N64,
(18:46):
specifically for "PokemonSnap" and "Pokemon Stadium."
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] Which I now own as an adult.
- [Nicole] Well there you go.
It's never too late to get the game
that you always wanted.- [Amanda] Yeah.
- [Killian] When they cameout with "Pokemon Snap"
for the Switch, that was very exciting
because I was like, ohmy gosh, I have that.
I can get that.- [Nicole] Yeah.
(19:06):
- [Killian] Then I like criedas I was playing it over,
like the seeing someof my favorite Pokemon
from the original game and that,
and I was like, this is alot of emotion over this game
that I did not expect.
But here we are.
- [Nicole] So multiplayer games,
like Nintendo could onlyhandle two people at any time.
(19:28):
So like any games thatyou guys really love
that you can play withlike a big group of people.
I, like "Mario Kart," man.
That was the first time I sat down
with three other people andactually played a game together.
And it was so much fun
just being able to kindof do that as a group
instead of, you twohave to sit this one out
(19:49):
or whatever, you know, that kind of thing.
- [Drew] Yeah, for mymost recent Christmas,
one of my cousin's kids, wecall 'em nieces and nephews,
but technically cousin's kids
brought over her Switch
with the newest version of "Mario Kart."
- [Nicole] Nice.
(20:09):
- [Drew] And my dad broughtup an old TV from the basement
and set it up in the main room
so that it could be, you know, on the TV.
And then he like got it all set up
and then brought me over,like grabbed me by the arm
and brought me over and sat me down
with my 7-year-old cousin,nieceling, whatever.
- [Nicole] Nieceling.
(20:30):
- [Drew] And was like,no, he's the one who,
he's the expert in "Mario Kart."
He's the one we could never beat.
And I'm sitting there like, I don't under,
I don't think you understandhow easy it was to beat you.
That doesn't make me an authority.
But sure, let's play.
- [Nicole] But kids are really good.
Like my kids can pick something up,
and be great at it,and it's kind of eerie.
(20:53):
I'm like, I've been playingthis game for three years
and you're just gonnawalk, waltz up in here
and like kill me?
What on earth is going on here?
But it's like innately, I don't know.
I mean, I'm sure I was like that too
when I was a little kid
where I can just sit and do great,
all of a sudden.- [Amanda] See,
I've never been good at video games.
- [Nicole] Oh really?- [Amanda] Yeah.
- [Nicole] Well, maybe play games
(21:14):
that you don't have to be good at
and you just enjoy.
Those are fun too.
- [Killian] I know with someof our video game programming,
we throw the older consoles at kids
and what we run into is kidswho haven't played on an NES
or on a Genesis oranything like that before,
(21:35):
the layout of the controllersis really different.
from a modern PlayStationcontroller, Xbox controller.
- [Nicole] Yeah.- [Killian] Switch joycons.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Killian] So they definitely
have a bit of a learning curve there
and they have to adjust
and it's always interestingto watch that process.
- [Nicole] Sure, well 'cause I feel
like they can adapt prettywell over a little bit of time.
(21:57):
- [Killian] They figureit out pretty quickly.
- [Nicole] Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- [Killian] But it's, how do I start it?
'Cause you don't use the start button
on a modern console controller
to do much of anything anymore.
- [Drew] I guess that is true.
- [Killian] But so manyof those older games,
it's press start to startanything or to select anything.
- [Nicole] Sure, yeah.
- [Killian] And so it's like they get
to that first screen andthey don't know what to do.
It's like okay press, yeah,
(22:19):
see how is says press start?
There's a start button.
Oh!
Yeah.
- [Nicole] All right, so whatare we playing right now?
If we're playing anything?
What are we playing?
Gosh, everyone looks at each other.
- [Amanda] I'm looking at Killian
'cause I haven't played avideo game in many years.
- [Nicole] Okay.
(22:39):
- [Killian] What am I playing now?
"The Sims 4,"
again, it's complicated.
I don't, so we talkedabout storytelling games,
and a lot of people will use "The Sims"
as a means of storytelling
and like through playingwith the character,
making characters and playing in the world
(23:00):
and things like that.
I am not that person.
I tell my stories simply through building.
So anything that I build in "The Sims" is,
there's like a plot line behind it.
I was, did a challenge in afriend's Discord server once,
where she was having everyonewho was participating
build like three by threeor five by five rooms.
(23:21):
And every single one of those rooms
there was a storyline to it,
and they were painstakingly put together.
So when I have focus
and want to be that intent on something,
I build in "The Sims."
The other big one that Iplay is "Dead By Daylight,"
which I have talked about on here before.
Because it is constantly changing.
(23:42):
They add new characters
which then changes the game.
They will alter some ofthe elements of the game
to adjust the balance of the game.
And I think the fact that itdoes always change like that
is what makes it soit's still interesting,
even though I've beenplaying it for five years.
And that is an interesting one
(24:04):
because I play that in a,
as a solo player,
but I play the survivor side of it,
where you're playing on a team of four.
But a lot of people will play it
on a team of four in aDiscord call with each other.
So they're talking, they'recommunicating with each other,
they can strategize.
And I am playing with randompeople from the internet
(24:24):
who I have no contact with.- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Killian] So that'salways really interesting
because you get different styles of play
from different peoplethat you get paired with.
Which I think is partof why I'm always like,
I feel like I'm bad at this game
because I have to constantlyadjust how I'm playing
to mesh with how anyone else is playing.
(24:44):
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Killian] But those are the ones,
those are the main ones I play.
I do, I play most "Pokemon" games
that come out at least for a little bit.
I did just find a really cutegame that is like a cozy game,
which is not usually my speed.
Cozy games usually stress me out
'cause they're like,
here have a list of tasks to accomplish.
(25:05):
And I go, that's too real.
(group laughs)
- [Nicole] This is not cozy at all.
- [Killian] It is not cozy to have
to manage that much task management.
That's just life.
But it is this little eight-bit,
you get a bookstoreand you just sell books
(25:26):
and there's no do this today or like,
you just go and it's verycute and very soothing.
So that's been my recentdiscovery of things that are calm
and not jump scares every five minutes.
- [Nicole] Cool.
- [Drew] I know for me,
I haven't played videogames in a hot minute,
(25:47):
but I like to watch video games a lot.
So I'm pretty consistently,
if I'm at home and need likebackground noise on Twitch
or on YouTube watching streamers.
I like older games thatare being speed run.
I like, I followed the"Monster Hunter" series
and they just had a new gamethat came out two months ago.
(26:08):
I got into that from an ex way back when,
and have not played a gameof it since we broke up,
but have followed thefranchise as it comes out
with new ones and justthe level of, you know,
open world that that's turned into.
And just, you know, everytime I tune into a streamer,
they're doing somethingcompletely different.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
(26:28):
I am playing "Breath ofthe Wild Legend of Zelda,"
but I don't play games asoften as I would like to.
My kids like watching me play.
So that helps
because then I don't feel bad
about being the one thatI'm like taking away
from our personal time orlet's stare at a screen, kids.
(26:51):
But like they'll watch me play,and it'll coax me to play.
The other thing
is I like playing "MarioParty" with my husband.
I don't know, it's just kind of fun
to just challenge each other
and do that from time to time.
So that's pretty muchwhat we've been doing.
- [Drew] Nice.- [Nicole] Yeah.
I've been looking into thenew, the new Nintendo Switch
(27:12):
and I'm like, I wonder ifthat's something that we need
or if it's something we don't need.
I don't know.
We'll see.
We'll have to figure that out.
- [Killian] The model of selling games
on that one stresses me out
'cause that's not gonna havecartridges in the same way
that most things thatlike the Switch does now.
(27:32):
You can't play it off the cartridge.
It's just the download.
- [Nicole] It's always online, yeah.
- [Killian] And that'sdisappointing to me.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
Okay.
All right, well, so Ithink we can all agree
that video games are important ways
of telling stories, right?
- [Killian] Absolutely.
- [Nicole] And also greatways to, I don't know,
(27:52):
just kind of blow off somesteam for a little while,
and we hope that youenjoy your video games.
If you have any suggestions for us,
you can email us and let us know.
We'll talk to you later.
Thank you for joining us
for this episode of"Distracted Librarians."
- [Drew] Many thanks to BCTVfor their support in recording,
editing, and releasing this podcast.
(28:14):
And to the Friends of the Library
for sponsoring closedcaptioning on every episode.
- [Killian] If you have anyquestions or suggestions,
feel free to reach out tous at distracted@btpl.org.
- [Amanda] Until then,keep those pages turning
and those screens lighting up.
We'll catch you in the next episode.
- [Emily] The views and opinions expressed
(28:35):
in the "Distracted Librarians" podcast
do not necessarily reflectthose of Bloomfield Township,
Bloomfield Township Public Library,
Bloomfield Community Television,
the Birmingham Area Cable Board,
or its producers or production staff.
- [Nicole] Hey there.
Welcome to the "DistractedLibrarians" podcast.
We are your friendlyneighborhood bookworms
with a penchant forall things pop culture.
- [Drew] Picture thisas our digital campfire,
where we dive into our latest obsessions,
analyze our favorite distractions,
and rediscover the joy of reading.
- [Killian] Whether you're amedia enthusiast, a book lover,
(00:21):
or just need a break from the daily grind,
you've come to the right spot.
- [Amanda] So, kick back, relax,
and get delightfully distracted with us.
- [Nicole] Hey everybody.
Today we are going totalk about video games.
My name is Nicole.
- [Drew] I'm Drew.
- [Killian] I'm Killian.
- [Amanda] I'm Amanda.
- [Nicole] All right, solet's just dig right into it.
(00:43):
- [Killian] I'm so excited.
- [Nicole] I know, I know, I know.
I'm like, I know I mentionedthis the other day,
but it is so weird to me thatwe have not talked about,
I mean, we have talked about video games,
so we have not had a dedicatedepisode to video games yet.
- [Drew] Mhm.- [Killian] Yep.
- [Nicole] So. Wow.
- Okay, anyway,
we need to fix our priorities, people.
- [Drew] We got this.
- [Nicole] All right.
(01:03):
So what was the firstvideo game you ever loved?
Let's go around the table.
- [Drew] I was a "Pokemon" kid.
- [Nicole] "Pokemon," okay.
- [Drew] I was very much a "Pokemon" kid.
I brought my green Game Boycolor to the second grade.
- [Nicole] Mm.
- [Drew] With my "Pokemon Blue."
My little brother had "Pokemon Red."
It was a massive rivalry.
It started all of our problems.
- [Nicole] Oh my goodness.
(01:25):
- [Killian] The first thatI ever like truly loved
like that was probably also "Pokemon,"
specifically "Pokemon Blue."
And my younger brotheralso had "Pokemon Red."
- [Drew] I need you to stop right now.
- [Killian] So that's wild.
A little horrifying.
But I think the first one I remember
is the, on the original Game Boy,
the "Super Mario Brothers,Six Golden Coins"
(01:45):
was the first one that like,
I've got this like, yes,I remember playing this.
I remember really liking this.
I had my big gray brick
of a Game Boy in the carwith me all the time.
- [Nicole] Nice.
- [Amanda] So I have two items.
One was called "Hunt the Wumpus" on Atari.
So very 8-bit, very like old.
(02:07):
I don't even know.
I think it was sort of like, you know,
like a "Zelda" type gamewhere you're sort of like,
have this unfolding journey.
You're supposed to like find.
- [Nicole] It's adventure, yeah.
- [Amanda] You're like huntingthis mythical creature.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] And yeah, it was,
(02:29):
I don't have many details.
I just remember always wanting to play it
and then rarely it was actually working
because it was one of those things
where like, oh my gosh.
- It's always equipment fail.
- [Nicole] So the thing about the Atari.
And I distinctly remember this too,
as a kid growing up in the eighties,
is that like we couldn't keep it,
the Atari could not behooked up at all times
(02:50):
'cause it would mess up our television.
Like we couldn't watchanything else on it.
So it would be like myfather taking 15, 20 minutes
to get this thing set up,
climbing around behind the television,
stepping on cactuses,
shouting, et cetera, et cetera.
And then we could play Atari.
I remember being really small,
but like those, that's my memory
(03:12):
of like early video gaming
is the trouble and the hardness
of like getting it all set up.
- [Amanda] There'salways an equipment fail.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Drew] Although I do feellike stepping on a cactus
was a family specific hardship.
- [Nicole] It was avery specific hardship.
Yes.
I don't know how thrilled
he was about settingit up again after that.
- [Killian] No, I feel like we had
that problem in my house too.
(03:32):
- [Nicole] Oh, really?
Okay good, okay good.
- [Amanda] I also had this game
that it is so niche.
It was on "Super Mario," orexcuse me, not "Super Mario."
It was on Nintendo Entertainment, NES.
And it was called "Bible Adventures."
(03:53):
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] And my momspecifically got this game,
and you would have,
it was like your oldschool "Mario Brothers,"
like quality in terms of game.
And you had like Noah inthe Ark gathering animals.
(04:16):
- [Nicole] Oh my gosh,I've never heard of this.
That's crazy.
- [Amanda] And then you hadlike a David and Goliath.
- [Nicole] Uh-huh.
- [Amanda] I reallyenjoyed gathering animals
for the Ark as Noah, as a child.
- [Drew] Okay, so you.
We're digging into this.
- [Amanda] Drew's face islike so confused right now.
(04:37):
- [Drew] So, so you wereeach individual person,
you weren't like an Odysseus type deal,
going through and experiencing?
- [Killian] And doing all the things.
- [Drew] But you like changedcharacters to fit the story?
- [Amanda] I mean, they,it was very finite stories.
- [Drew] Sure.
- [Amanda] Like, it waslike Noah in the Ark.
Your only option was to be Noah.
(04:57):
- [Nicole] So level onewith Noah and the Ark.
- [Amanda] And you gather these animals.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] To then put them in the ark.
- [Drew] And the mice was level one,
the elephants were level eight and?
- [Amanda] Uh, I don't remember that much,
but like you could stack the animals
like on your shoulders.
Like he was like holding abunch of animals at once.
You had to like, go find where they're at.
Of course you want a pair of each.
(05:20):
That's the story.- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Amanda] And.- [Nicole] Oh boy.
- [Amanda] Yeah, it was, I don'tknow how my mom found this.
- [Nicole] It kind ofsounds like "Farmville,"
but like, just really weirdly.
- [Killian] I just lovethat this is the Amanda lore
that we've unlocked today.
- [Amanda] There's a lot.
(05:40):
(Drew laughs)
What's funny is I looked up the game since
and like they didn't sell itin normal video game stores.
Like, I think my mom hadto like go send away.
- [Nicole] Oh wow.- [Amanda] For this.
- [Nicole] She was like,if you're gonna play
a game at all, this is the game.
- [Amanda] This is thegame I want you to play.
- [Nicole] Yeah, 'cause I remember like
when I was growing up middleclass during the time,
(06:02):
like I had the Nintendo system,
but getting the games was expensive.
Like at the time, likewe would go to Toys R Us
or whatever it was,
and they'd all be there behindtheir little plastic walls.
And I would look at eachone and I'd be like,
but can I get this one?
And they were like $70, which at the time,
was kind of a lot.
At least that's what I remember.
(06:23):
I have no idea what it actually costs,
but like, so I would get a game
like once every blue moon for my birthday.
Or Christmas or something like that.
So yeah, like really went out for it.
- [Amanda] For quite awhile, we had three games.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] This is actuallygonna unlock a lot.
"Super Mario Brothers,"
"Bible Adventures," and a hockey game.
(06:45):
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] Because we all played hockey.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Amanda] And pick one of three.
Those are your options.
- [Nicole] Yep, yep, yep.
My favorite video, first video game
that I ever loved was "Super Mario 3."
I did like the other ones,
(07:06):
but "Super Mario 3" made me really happy.
I felt like I was legitimatelygood at that game.
And there was like, you know,
little tricks and thingsthat you could do to speed up
and get a time warp andall those kind of things.
So yeah, cool.
All right, so let's see.
Games with standout narratives.
(07:26):
Do we have any gameswith standout narratives?
- [Drew] Yeah.
- [Nicole] I'm thinking like,
oh, what is the name of the TV show
that just came back
that has a standout narrative?
Oh my gosh.
- [Amanda] "The Last of Us?"
- [Nicole] "Last of Us," there we go.
Thank you.
You know, like things
that have like really,really strong stories.
Killian, you love the,you love story games.
(07:47):
- [Killian] I love story games.
I also just video gamesas a storytelling medium
is a huge thing for me
because I don't think peoplethink about it enough.
And so we often like to pitvideo games against other media.
And I think it's important to realize
that like there are differentways to consume stories
(08:09):
and video games are a valid way.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Killian] One of my, Drew'sgonna laugh at this one
because Drew did see
the aftermath of this one.- [Drew] Aftermath.
- [Killian] I, after Igot my PlayStation 4,
I started playing "Spiritfarer,"
which this is on a bunchof different platforms.
I also own it on PC now.
(08:31):
Everything about that game is so beautiful
except for the platforming of it,
because I hate platforming.
But, and that's still well done.
I'm just bad at it.
But it is this narrative story
about this girl who is ferryingsouls to like the afterlife.
(08:52):
So she rows this ferry around,
she's got her little cat companion,
and you basically are building this ferry.
And each time you get a new soul on board,
you get a room for them,
and you start unlocking bits and pieces
of each character's storyline,
and eventually, you canwrap up their storyline
and take them to move on.
(09:13):
And I sobbed uncontrollably
every time I got to the end of a story
because I got so attached
to each of these littlemini game characters.
I have not finished the game.- [Nicole] Oh wow.
- [Killian] Because I realizedkind of where it was going
and I knew there were alsoupdates coming out for it.
So I wanted, I was like, I'mgonna wait till the update
(09:34):
so I can play the whole thing.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Killian] Because Idon't think I can handle
playing the ending of this game twice.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] I still havenot finished this game,
but it has fully updated
and the, it is thecombination of the art style,
the music, and the story itself,
that make that game justsuch a standout to me.
(09:55):
And like I said, Drewgot to see the aftermath
of me sobbing uncontrollably on our couch
over this game so.
- [Nicole] So ferryingsouls to the afterlife.
That feels, sounds verylike Greek mythology to me.
Is that like, based off of something?
- [Killian] It's, I don't think
it's like completely based off of that.
A lot of the artwork
(10:16):
feels very like Japanese almost.
It's not like,
it's like certain styles of anime imagery.
It's so, it's not a directinterpretation of that.
But yeah, I definitely, I mean,I was a Greek mythology kid.
I saw the parallels too.
So, you know, I can see
(10:38):
where you would think it might be but.
- [Nicole] Cool.- [Killian] Yeah.
- [Nicole] I feel like the video games
that I played when I was a kid
did not have very muchin terms of storytelling.
It was kind of like, oh, the princess
was taken by the bad guy
and you're gonna kill all these things
in order to get to her.
And that's the story.
(10:58):
But like as you're playing,
there's no true real narrative in a way.
- [Killian] So things like "Super Marios"
and "Super Mario" being aplatformer that has a loose plot.
- [Nicole] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I feel like that's something
that kind of evolved over time
as the games became a littlebit more sophisticated.
So like the difference
(11:18):
between me playing "SuperMario 3" in the eighties
and not really playingthat many video games
like in my twenties or into my thirties,
and now playing "Breath of theWild" is kind of mind blowing
because like, whoa.
The difference between the two things
are just completely leapsand bounds different.
(11:38):
- [Killian] I will saythose earlier "Zelda" games
did still have a story though.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Killian] So "Zelda's"been around for a minute.
- [Nicole] Oh gosh, I have.- [Killian] I've never
finished one of them.
- [Nicole] I have my original
gold cartridge of "Zelda" for NES.
- [Killian] Nice.- [Drew] That's amazing,
actually.- [Nicole] It is, really.
I wanted to put it infor my kids to play it,
but I also remember it being like so hard
when I was a kid, but I'lljust let 'em try and see.
(12:01):
- [Drew] Yeah.
- [Nicole] Yeah, so.
- [Drew] One narrativelythat always stuck with me,
this is gonna be spoiler heaven.
So I'm sorry for people.
But also it was 15, 20 years ago.
- [Nicole] Yeah, so get over it.
- [Drew] Exactly.
"Bioshock."
So a common thing invideo games in general
is sort of this formatof, within the story,
(12:24):
you're given a task,
you carry out said task thatmoves the story forward.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Drew] And you're playing this game,
doing all of these things.
And then it gets to a point
where this big dramatic twist
is that your characterwas under some level
of like hypnotic mindcontrol the whole time.
(12:46):
- [Nicole] Oh boy.
- [Drew] And that you were doingthe bidding of the villain.
- [Nicole] Oh my goodness.
- [Drew] And there is alsoa sub narrative structure
in there of a villainbeing these characters
called the Little Sisters.- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Drew] And you'd befighting them constantly.
They had a protector character,
I don't remember its name right now.
(13:08):
And there was a,
there were two ways of dealing with them.
You could either kill them
or there was a, like a serum
or something that you could get them to
and like kill off their protector
and then give them this serum
to sort of heal them along the way.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Drew] And when you finish the game,
(13:28):
you get different endings
based on how many of them you kept alive.
- [Nicole] Oh, okay.
- [Drew] So it was thefirst game that really like
made me think of my ownimplicit role in video games.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Drew] In a really interesting way.
- [Nicole] Sure.- [Drew] That like,
I don't play many videogames in my regular life,
but that's one that'salways really stuck with me.
(13:49):
- [Killian] That's really interesting too
because one of the big storytelling things
with games is being part of that story.
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Killian] And so there'sbeing that part of the story
that's already prescribed andyou're just going through it,
but then you get the games,
where what you do as a part of the story
affects how things change.
- [Amanda] Like "Oregon Trail."
- [Nicole] Stresses me out.- [Drew] Yeah.
(14:10):
- [Nicole] I mean ultimatelylike Oregon Trail,
it was like the first time that I ever.
- [Killian] I loved that game.
- [Nicole] You know, kind of was in a kind
of a more fully immersivesort of storytelling.
That's kind of a great way of doing.
I mean, everybody dies,
nobody survived.
(group laughs)
Or maybe I just had really bad luck.
I am not a pioneer.
It's not happening.
(14:31):
- [Amanda] I never had verygood luck with that game.
And I was always like, what is dysentery?
I don't even know what that is.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- Okay, well, what about our favorite,
well we already talked a littlebit about childhood stuff,
but like favorite consoles,
favorite games from our childhood?
(14:53):
- [Drew] We were definitelya Nintendo family growing up.
- [Nicole] Nintendo family, okay.
- [Drew] So I had, you know, the Game Boy,
the Super Nintendo and the Game Cube.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Drew] And all of myfavorites existed in that sphere
until I got to college.
- [Nicole] Sure, okay.
- [Killian] So we werea, I still don't know
(15:14):
how we ended up with thethings we ended up with.
We had a very random assortment of things.
I had the original gray brick Game Boy,
a Game Boy Color, a Game Boy Advance.
Those were all like childhood handhelds.
But we also had the Sega Nomad,
which most people don't know about.
It played Genesis games,but it was a handheld.
- [Nicole] Oh, okay.
- [Killian] That was nota thing for very long.
(15:37):
We also had the Sega Dreamcast
that was out for like two years
before it stopped being made.
And Sega said, yeah, we'renot gonna do consoles anymore
because we can't.
So like, it was, the earlystuff that I had was so mixed.
It was Nintendo heavy, butthen these random Sega things.
(15:58):
And then we went like PlayStation.
Wii, and my brother ended up with an Xbox.
I have multiple things.
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Killian] But thenthere were computer games.
You know, the "PajamaSam" that my brother had,
the Barbie computer games that I had.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Drew] Was it "Math Blasters?"
- [Killian] Yeah, "Math Blaster"
(16:19):
in computer lab at school was a thing.
But probably the most formative thing
from my childhood was the "Sims."
- [Nicole] Oh okay.
- [Killian] 'Cause theoriginal "Sims" game
came out when I was infifth or sixth grade.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] And I haveplayed every iteration
(16:39):
of the "Sims" since so.
- [Nicole] Awesome.
- [Drew] Aggressively so.
- [Killian] I did not play"The Sims 3" aggressively.
I played that for like a minute,
but "The Sims 2" I was very into,
and "The Sims 4" is a problem.
It has become a problem.
- [Amanda] 'Cause you love it so much
or because you don't like it very much?
(17:00):
- [Killian] Yes.
- [Amanda] Okay.- [Killian] It's a love-hate.
It's complicated.
- [Nicole] Oh my gosh.
- [Amanda] I was, definitelyplayed Nintendo the most.
And it's funny because it'sjust so locked in like my brain
as being this thing whereyou sit on the ground
(17:20):
with the controller that is, you know,
hardware attached.- [Drew] Mhm.
- [Amanda] And you're staring up
like with your headtilted at the TV screen.
And so I never really lovedanything on a computer.
- [Nicole] Okay.- [Amanda] It's like
I had to have that like sittingon the ground experience
to have it be fun.
(17:42):
- [Nicole] Okay.- [Drew] I love that actually.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- I had, so we onlyhad the Nintendo system
and an Atari that my fatherdid not wanna set up.
And I would go to a friend's house
because her younger brotherwas video game crazy.
And they had like thiswhole like video game set up
(18:03):
in the basement and they had fancy chairs,
like gaming chairs that wereon the, still on the ground.
But they would rock.- [Amanda] Like a bean bag?
- [Nicole] No, they would rock
and they had a back to them,
so you could sit on the chair
and you could still playyour game from the ground.
But it was like really comfortable.
They always had tons of snacks,
which we did not have in my house.
And he had all of the gaming systems
(18:25):
and I would basically play
with her little brother all the time.
She was probably like, what'sgoing on with my friend?
But we would play "TeenageMutant Ninja Turtles"
and like lots and lots and lots,
new games would come out
and he would get them immediately
and he'd be like, you have to come
and check out "MegaMan" and whatever else.
And so yeah, I would do it there.
- [Killian] See, the big one that I wanted
that I never got was the N64,
(18:46):
specifically for "PokemonSnap" and "Pokemon Stadium."
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Killian] Which I now own as an adult.
- [Nicole] Well there you go.
It's never too late to get the game
that you always wanted.- [Amanda] Yeah.
- [Killian] When they cameout with "Pokemon Snap"
for the Switch, that was very exciting
because I was like, ohmy gosh, I have that.
I can get that.- [Nicole] Yeah.
(19:06):
- [Killian] Then I like criedas I was playing it over,
like the seeing someof my favorite Pokemon
from the original game and that,
and I was like, this is alot of emotion over this game
that I did not expect.
But here we are.
- [Nicole] So multiplayer games,
like Nintendo could onlyhandle two people at any time.
(19:28):
So like any games thatyou guys really love
that you can play withlike a big group of people.
I, like "Mario Kart," man.
That was the first time I sat down
with three other people andactually played a game together.
And it was so much fun
just being able to kindof do that as a group
instead of, you twohave to sit this one out
(19:49):
or whatever, you know, that kind of thing.
- [Drew] Yeah, for mymost recent Christmas,
one of my cousin's kids, wecall 'em nieces and nephews,
but technically cousin's kids
brought over her Switch
with the newest version of "Mario Kart."
- [Nicole] Nice.
(20:09):
- [Drew] And my dad broughtup an old TV from the basement
and set it up in the main room
so that it could be, you know, on the TV.
And then he like got it all set up
and then brought me over,like grabbed me by the arm
and brought me over and sat me down
with my 7-year-old cousin,nieceling, whatever.
- [Nicole] Nieceling.
(20:30):
- [Drew] And was like,no, he's the one who,
he's the expert in "Mario Kart."
He's the one we could never beat.
And I'm sitting there like, I don't under,
I don't think you understandhow easy it was to beat you.
That doesn't make me an authority.
But sure, let's play.
- [Nicole] But kids are really good.
Like my kids can pick something up,
and be great at it,and it's kind of eerie.
(20:53):
I'm like, I've been playingthis game for three years
and you're just gonnawalk, waltz up in here
and like kill me?
What on earth is going on here?
But it's like innately, I don't know.
I mean, I'm sure I was like that too
when I was a little kid
where I can just sit and do great,
all of a sudden.- [Amanda] See,
I've never been good at video games.
- [Nicole] Oh really?- [Amanda] Yeah.
- [Nicole] Well, maybe play games
(21:14):
that you don't have to be good at
and you just enjoy.
Those are fun too.
- [Killian] I know with someof our video game programming,
we throw the older consoles at kids
and what we run into is kidswho haven't played on an NES
or on a Genesis oranything like that before,
(21:35):
the layout of the controllersis really different.
from a modern PlayStationcontroller, Xbox controller.
- [Nicole] Yeah.- [Killian] Switch joycons.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
- [Killian] So they definitely
have a bit of a learning curve there
and they have to adjust
and it's always interestingto watch that process.
- [Nicole] Sure, well 'cause I feel
like they can adapt prettywell over a little bit of time.
(21:57):
- [Killian] They figureit out pretty quickly.
- [Nicole] Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- [Killian] But it's, how do I start it?
'Cause you don't use the start button
on a modern console controller
to do much of anything anymore.
- [Drew] I guess that is true.
- [Killian] But so manyof those older games,
it's press start to startanything or to select anything.
- [Nicole] Sure, yeah.
- [Killian] And so it's like they get
to that first screen andthey don't know what to do.
It's like okay press, yeah,
(22:19):
see how is says press start?
There's a start button.
Oh!
Yeah.
- [Nicole] All right, so whatare we playing right now?
If we're playing anything?
What are we playing?
Gosh, everyone looks at each other.
- [Amanda] I'm looking at Killian
'cause I haven't played avideo game in many years.
- [Nicole] Okay.
(22:39):
- [Killian] What am I playing now?
"The Sims 4,"
again, it's complicated.
I don't, so we talkedabout storytelling games,
and a lot of people will use "The Sims"
as a means of storytelling
and like through playingwith the character,
making characters and playing in the world
(23:00):
and things like that.
I am not that person.
I tell my stories simply through building.
So anything that I build in "The Sims" is,
there's like a plot line behind it.
I was, did a challenge in afriend's Discord server once,
where she was having everyonewho was participating
build like three by threeor five by five rooms.
(23:21):
And every single one of those rooms
there was a storyline to it,
and they were painstakingly put together.
So when I have focus
and want to be that intent on something,
I build in "The Sims."
The other big one that Iplay is "Dead By Daylight,"
which I have talked about on here before.
Because it is constantly changing.
(23:42):
They add new characters
which then changes the game.
They will alter some ofthe elements of the game
to adjust the balance of the game.
And I think the fact that itdoes always change like that
is what makes it soit's still interesting,
even though I've beenplaying it for five years.
And that is an interesting one
(24:04):
because I play that in a,
as a solo player,
but I play the survivor side of it,
where you're playing on a team of four.
But a lot of people will play it
on a team of four in aDiscord call with each other.
So they're talking, they'recommunicating with each other,
they can strategize.
And I am playing with randompeople from the internet
(24:24):
who I have no contact with.- [Nicole] Mhm.
- [Killian] So that'salways really interesting
because you get different styles of play
from different peoplethat you get paired with.
Which I think is partof why I'm always like,
I feel like I'm bad at this game
because I have to constantlyadjust how I'm playing
to mesh with how anyone else is playing.
(24:44):
- [Nicole] Sure.
- [Killian] But those are the ones,
those are the main ones I play.
I do, I play most "Pokemon" games
that come out at least for a little bit.
I did just find a really cutegame that is like a cozy game,
which is not usually my speed.
Cozy games usually stress me out
'cause they're like,
here have a list of tasks to accomplish.
(25:05):
And I go, that's too real.
(group laughs)
- [Nicole] This is not cozy at all.
- [Killian] It is not cozy to have
to manage that much task management.
That's just life.
But it is this little eight-bit,
you get a bookstoreand you just sell books
(25:26):
and there's no do this today or like,
you just go and it's verycute and very soothing.
So that's been my recentdiscovery of things that are calm
and not jump scares every five minutes.
- [Nicole] Cool.
- [Drew] I know for me,
I haven't played videogames in a hot minute,
(25:47):
but I like to watch video games a lot.
So I'm pretty consistently,
if I'm at home and need likebackground noise on Twitch
or on YouTube watching streamers.
I like older games thatare being speed run.
I like, I followed the"Monster Hunter" series
and they just had a new gamethat came out two months ago.
(26:08):
I got into that from an ex way back when,
and have not played a gameof it since we broke up,
but have followed thefranchise as it comes out
with new ones and justthe level of, you know,
open world that that's turned into.
And just, you know, everytime I tune into a streamer,
they're doing somethingcompletely different.
- [Nicole] Yeah.
(26:28):
I am playing "Breath ofthe Wild Legend of Zelda,"
but I don't play games asoften as I would like to.
My kids like watching me play.
So that helps
because then I don't feel bad
about being the one thatI'm like taking away
from our personal time orlet's stare at a screen, kids.
(26:51):
But like they'll watch me play,and it'll coax me to play.
The other thing
is I like playing "MarioParty" with my husband.
I don't know, it's just kind of fun
to just challenge each other
and do that from time to time.
So that's pretty muchwhat we've been doing.
- [Drew] Nice.- [Nicole] Yeah.
I've been looking into thenew, the new Nintendo Switch
(27:12):
and I'm like, I wonder ifthat's something that we need
or if it's something we don't need.
I don't know.
We'll see.
We'll have to figure that out.
- [Killian] The model of selling games
on that one stresses me out
'cause that's not gonna havecartridges in the same way
that most things thatlike the Switch does now.
(27:32):
You can't play it off the cartridge.
It's just the download.
- [Nicole] It's always online, yeah.
- [Killian] And that'sdisappointing to me.
- [Nicole] Mhm.
Okay.
All right, well, so Ithink we can all agree
that video games are important ways
of telling stories, right?
- [Killian] Absolutely.
- [Nicole] And also greatways to, I don't know,
(27:52):
just kind of blow off somesteam for a little while,
and we hope that youenjoy your video games.
If you have any suggestions for us,
you can email us and let us know.
We'll talk to you later.
Thank you for joining us
for this episode of"Distracted Librarians."
- [Drew] Many thanks to BCTVfor their support in recording,
editing, and releasing this podcast.
(28:14):
And to the Friends of the Library
for sponsoring closedcaptioning on every episode.
- [Killian] If you have anyquestions or suggestions,
feel free to reach out tous at distracted@btpl.org.
- [Amanda] Until then,keep those pages turning
and those screens lighting up.
We'll catch you in the next episode.
- [Emily] The views and opinions expressed
(28:35):
in the "Distracted Librarians" podcast
do not necessarily reflectthose of Bloomfield Township,
Bloomfield Township Public Library,
Bloomfield Community Television,
the Birmingham Area Cable Board,
or its producers or production staff.
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