Full Disclosure

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Nov 2, 2010

Filed under: Notices 177 comments

So, Spoiler Warning didn’t start as promised. Here is what is going on:

I pitched the show to The Escapist. The other hosts consented, but this move was fully instigated by me. And I’m not going to dress this up: I did it because I was hoping we could turn the show into income. I’m still looking at my options re: employment, and still considering what I can do. Ideally, I’d like to continue doing all of the cool stuff I’m doing now: This website, the Escapist content, Spoiler Warning, my game development. If I have to take a job where I commute for forty-five minutes each way and sit in an office for nine hours, I won’t be able to do these things. I could very quickly take a job that would pay my bills at the expense of killing all the cool stuff we’ve got going here, and I would very much like to avoid that fate.

So I’ve got several small plans for trying to turn these hobbies into income, and this is one of them.

This pitch is a long shot. I get along really well with the staff at the Escapist, but Spoiler Warning would be a really odd fit with the other programming they have on the site. The style, content, and length are all very different from the other video content. Would the show fit into their current ad and video delivery system? Would the Escapist community even dig it? I don’t know. Maybe The Escapist will take us up on the offer. I certainly won’t take offense if they don’t. But I felt this was worth a shot.

We’ve sent them some content and it’s being reviewed now. I felt like it would be a pretty jerk move to pitch the show to them, then turn around and make the show live here without even giving them a chance to think it over, which is why I’m pushing the show back instead of launching it now.

So, it’s my fault. Sorry for the delay. Let’s give this pot a bit of time to simmer. I’ll furnish us with some other content to fill our Tuesdays and Thursdays until this plays out.

 


From The Archives:
 

177 thoughts on “Full Disclosure

  1. steggieav says:

    No worries. However, can you tell us what game you’re doing next?

    1. Shamus says:

      We don’t have one picked out for after Mass Effect 2. Obviously we HAVE to do New Vegas at some point. I guess the question is, “Should we do another game between Mass Effect 2 and New Vegas, and if so, what?”

      1. bit says:

        *cue my typical cry of Psychonauts which will never happen*

        1. Primogenitor says:

          *waits for the shout of Dwarf Fortress*

          1. Blanko2 says:

            VLP of dorf fort?
            uh…

        2. Kdansky says:

          There isn’t much to gripe about with Psychonauts. I got it less than a year ago on a Steam sale, and boy was I surprised. It’s one of the best games since the golden age.

          1. MichaelG says:

            It was a lot of fun until there was some platformer thing that I just could not do with mouse and keyboard, so I gave up on it. Too bad.

            1. krellen says:

              Yeah, I stopped at the Meat Circus, and just watched a Let’s Play to get the ending.

              1. vukodlak says:

                Meat circus is where I had to give up too :(. Is there much more after that?

                1. krellen says:

                  Nope. Meat Circus is the final level.

            2. Robyrt says:

              I couldn’t do that section with an Xbox controller. :-P

            3. Nihil says:

              I’m stuck at the actress’ subconscious, for some bug the scenery there drags my Crysis-on-max-capable computer to its knees and it’s impossible to play through that at 0.5 fps.

        3. TSED says:

          *Cue my typical cry of Jade Empire which will never happen*

          1. valhala89 says:

            i second this opinion! i mean from far flung future’s it would be nice to have some oriental color added in.. maybe even VTMB which was pretty incredible

      2. Aldowyn says:

        *shrug* something that might be interesting is just picking a few series and doing the games in that series. You already have ME with ME2 coming, Fallout 3 with NV at some point, so why not Bioshock 2 to go with Bioshock 1 sometime?

      3. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Do another one in between,like you had two games between mass effect 1 and 2.

        Also,good luck with having spoiler warning on the escapist.Hope it will be there soon.

        1. GTRichey says:

          ME2 will make the second since FO3… so if you’re going by that measure… I would say do one more after ME2 and before FO:NV though so it will be about 6 to 9 months since release at least.

      4. ProudCynic says:

        I still want to see you do one of the original System Shock games. It would be nice to see Shamus forced to defend something for once. I’ve never played either KoToR or Deus Ex, so I’d be interested in watching you guys run through either of those if you can resolve the issues associated either of them. And BioShock 2 is also an option, but I don’t know if any of you have played it…

        Anyways, best of luck to the four of you. Hope Escapist picks you up.

      5. Zukhramm says:

        No, you shouldn’t. I’d love to see you do New Vegas, the Fallout 3 was probably my favourite of the Spoiler Warnings (ok, I didn’t watch all of Bioshock as I started to fee l interested in the game and didn’t want it too spoiled) and New Vegas would probably be better as I’ve actually spent some time with the game rather than the few hours I played Fallout 3.

      6. RejjeN says:

        You killin’ me Shamus! I NEED MY FIX AAAAH

        *rocks back and forth muttering Cuftbert quotes*

        On a more serious note though… Hope things turn out well for you and the rest of the crew :)

        1. Jarenth says:

          …stop shooting me…

          …stop shooting me…

          …stop shooting me…

          1. Fat Tony says:

            @Jarenth

            Drink!,Drink!,Drink!

      7. Joel D says:

        If you’re after stuff to gripe about, the Fable series could be plenty of fun. We already know how it raises your ire :p

        1. TheAngryMongoose says:

          Yeah, you could play the PC version of the first fable game, or try fable 3, though that hasn’t really been out long enough.
          It’s a game you love to complain about but still love anyway, so it’d be pretty good. Only problem is it might not be buggy enough.

      8. Sekundaari says:

        I’ll just add Morrowind to this stack. Or Oblivion, if it suits the series better graphically (and you need more plot-gripes).

      9. kikito says:

        Starcraft II.
        I know you don’t like it because you feel it’s incomplete – but some of the other two guys could think differently.

      10. Luke Maciak says:

        Noooo! I need my Spoiler Warning fix! I was so excited for Mass Effect 2!

        Seriously though, I hope they will give it a shot. I’d love to see you guys get some money for all the effort and time that goes into doing this show. Good luck!

        Oh, and I’ll pipe in with my suggestions for the game between ME2 and FNV:

        – Dragon Age Origins
        – Jade Empire
        – Alpha Protocol

        1. Aldowyn says:

          If it hadn’t have been for the last one, I would have said “Why didn’t you just say Bioware?”

          Actually pretty much anything from Obsidian would work, but that’s too easy. NV gets a bye because it inherits Fallout 3’s problems.

          1. Will says:

            RPGs tend to make the best LPs, i’m not entirely sure why, probably because of the story element.

            Bioware and Obsidian make all the good RPGs. Sooo…

            1. Aldowyn says:

              To your first point: You can continually pick apart a story. You can only pick apart an aspect of gameplay so many times before it gets REALLY old.

              To the second point: Some people may debate that “good” point as far as Obsidian is concerned. (If they are debating that Bioware’s are good… Honestly, I don’t really care.) Let’s see:

              KotoR 2, generally considered vastly inferior to the first, with some gameplay issues (so, so broken… one shotting the hardest enemy in the game. I figured that out though, they don’t scale past lvl 20.)

              Neverwinter Nights 2, ditto. (invincible plot door, anyone?)

              Alpha Protocol: good ideas, but bad execution overall.

              Fallout: New Vegas: Horrendously buggy. Other than that, good.

              Interestingly, all but one are sequels, and that one will be long forgotten by the time this time of the year rolls around again. It’s also worth mentioning that Bioware and Bethesda made the previous game in all of the rest, so they had high standards.

              Personally, I don’t mind so much. KotoR 2, while not as good as the first, I enjoyed. NWN 2, the plot door was annoying, but not pet-peeve worthy as it is for Shamus. Alpha Protocol has some VERY interesting concepts, and … I haven’t tried NV yet.

              I’m just saying it’s a little far to say Bioware and Obsidian (or even if you add Bethesda) are the only ones that make good Western RPGs.

              … Wow, I’m in the mood to write tonight. Must have something to do with reading the transcript of the Supreme Court case…

              1. Nihil says:

                I'm just saying it's a little far to say Bioware and Obsidian (or even if you add Bethesda) are the only ones that make good Western RPGs.

                What are the others? I can only think of CD Projekt.

        2. Desgardes says:

          Dragon Age has the same problems it did last time it came up. My game was 75 hours, without completing quite a few quests, but lots of dicking around, and at least 60 hours of that was killing things. It’s just too long and, past commenting on the blatant ambushes, set pieces, and maybe some of the different enemies, I don’t think it lends itself well to constant commenting on the fights. Any story you uncover will be dissected long before the horde of enemies is dead.

          1. Depends entirely on the editing, focus on story and game mechanics with some combat fluff added here and there.

            1. Desgardes says:

              But then you end up losing a lot of little things that make the world as immersive as it is, plus a lot of the geography is lost in the dungeons when you skip through the fights on the way to whatever.

      11. Maldeus says:

        How about you do one of the earlier Fallout games? I confess I haven’t thought this one all the way through, so maybe it wouldn’t work with your format, but food for thought, I guess.

      12. Viktor says:

        Dead Rising (1/2) would be fun. KotOR, KotOR 2, and Jade Empire are all good as well, but you’d need to get past the technical hurdle. TES3 would be awesome, but the lack of voice-acting would make 3 difficult to video LP and 4’s main plot is just sad.

        Or you could tear apart an FPS.

      13. Neil D says:

        The original Zork Trilogy. Drink every time Josh gets eaten by a Grue.

      14. Ingvar M says:

        Minecraft The Spoiler Warning? Maybe with sound-processing to make all your voices belong to usblocky, as well?

      15. Gandaug says:

        Yes, New Vegas as soon as possible.

        1. X2-Eliah says:

          If possible, the unpatched 1.0 version.

      16. SolkaTruesilver says:

        Overlord!!!

        OVERLORD!!!

        If you already played the game, you can roughly remember the solution to some of the puzzles, so MUCH less frustration over time, and still entertaining for the viewers.

      17. Deadpool says:

        I kinda like the symmetry of doing New Vegas and Bioshock 2 before moving on to any other games but… There’s plenty of fish in the sea. Fable 3 for an example is short enough and god awful enough to make a really interesting Spoiler Warning… Hell, you could do the whole damned series.

        Of course, there’s Dragon Age, Alpha Protocol, and pretty much anything made by Bethesda, Obsidian or Bioware would fit…

        I must repeat my plea to make Sheppard Mk II female. Ruthberta would be awesome…

        Either way, good luck with the Escapist thing. The time frame IS a bit odd for them, but this series IS pretty great, so who knows…

  2. scowdich says:

    The face I am making is disappointed, but optimistic. Good luck, Shamus, and we hope to have our Spoiler Warning back soon, for better or worse.

  3. Jericho says:

    I’d rather an update to the Hex project anyways ;)

    Though Spoiler Warning is always fun.

    1. Shamus says:

      You shall get one tomorrow!

      1. Stupidguy12 says:

        Wait, seriously? Cool.

      2. anaphysik says:

        Excellent. I’m also eager to hear more about this.

      3. SolkaTruesilver says:

        Be known that in the event things don’t work out at the Escapist, many propositions made to you in the past month are still on the table.

  4. Aldowyn says:

    ah, the truth comes out!

    I don’t mind, I’d probably notice it earlier on the escapist anyway… and gives me more time to finish ME beforehand! I almost certainly will now, actually.. plenty of time this weekend.

    I hope it makes it Shamus, and good luck!

  5. WILL says:

    I suggest Amnesia after ME2, a horror game would be a nice change of pace. FEAR 1 would be pretty good as well. Call of Cthulhu might work since Rutskarn already has plenty to say about it.

    It also works much better if it’s a blind run, since these games aren’t all that long and when someone knows the game already it ruins the atmosphere.

    As for the show being a source of income, I don’t think anyone will blame you for ”selling out”. Maybe you’d just need to be a bit more professional (I realize this sounds silly) during the LP, but I’m sure this could work on the escapist.

    I’m wondering though, how much income does a series on the Escapist make? I can’t imagine a single video a week being enough, even Yahtzee has a day job where he runs a bar.

    1. Aldowyn says:

      “running a bar” and “day job” don’t seem to mix very well to me :D

      1. GTRichey says:

        depends on what you mean by running… there’s plenty that happens through the week (stock/bookkeeping/event planning/etc)… so day job and ‘running a bar’ aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

    2. GiantRaven says:

      Yahtzee was doing Zero Punctuation for a good few years before he (and others) opened a bar. No idea if he still had a job though…

      Still, the best of luck to Shamus! I really hope this comes through.

      1. Hmm! the “Spoiler Warning – The Cafe & Bar for Gamers” I’d probably become a regular, provided it had a fat broadband hookup obviously ;)

    3. Veloxyll says:

      Amnesia’s no good, the game has naked peen all over the place later on and is thus NSFW. Plus is only 6 hours long.

    4. Will says:

      Double-plus LP’s of horror games completely destroy the atmosphere, and in a game like Amnesia where atmosphere is everything the result is pretty meh.

      1. Raygereio says:

        Subtitles LP’s generally work pretty well, as long as you don’t over do it and don’t place subtitles all over the place.

    5. BenD says:

      I am absolutely sure that ‘Spoiler Warning on the Escapist’ is only one block in a multi-block construct that only looks like ‘enough income from gaming-related op-ed type content to make a living’ when you stand back a bit and squint. Sort of like houses in Minecraft.

    6. Dovius says:

      Didnt Yahtzee do ZP for about 3 years before he opened the Mana Bar?
      I can imagine a popular series like ZP earns the guy a decent amount of money, plus he also released a book, remember :D

  6. Desgardes says:

    I hope they take the pitch, just so we don’t lose this, but it is way out of their usual comfort zone. They’d probably put it on once a week. Honestly, though, Escapist does have some of the worst community, mostly because the mods have slightly knight templar views of what constitute violations. So… whatever discourse you’ve come to expect from the videos would still probably need to happen here.

  7. Irridium says:

    Eh, you do what you gotta do.

    Although if it does go through I will miss all the comments on the video lines…

    Plus it would probably have to be more “professional” meaning all the silly banter will probably be cut or limited. Which makes me sad as it really makes the series great.

    Ah well, hope things work out for you Shamus, with whatever you decide to do.

    1. Nentuaby says:

      Somehow, I can’t see The Escapist frowning on silly banter. This is the bunch that hosts Zero Punctuation, after all.

      1. krellen says:

        Also, “I Hit It With My Axe” has a bunch of silly banter too. And heavy editing, however.

        1. Irridium says:

          True enough, on both counts.

          Perhaps I’m worrying about nothing.

          Or… PERHAPS NOT!

          *dramatic music*

        2. Coffee says:

          “I Hit It With My Axe” is just witty banter and an excuse to look at Mandy Morbid…

  8. Lupis42 says:

    Good luck, I hope it works out.

  9. McNutcase says:

    I’m fine with waiting for the Escapist to decide, and I’m kind of hoping they go for it. You’re not beholden to me, after all.

    1. Desgardes says:

      But he loves us all like grown, drunk children, thrice removed.

    2. Fenix says:

      I concur.

  10. Kavonde says:

    Hey, awesome! I hope they pick you guys up. Be sort of a shame to lose the built-in comment system, I guess, but c’est la vie.

    And, it’d give more exposure to the Fallout 3 Spoiler Warning, which could only be a good thing. More people must realize the awfulness of that game.

    1. Newbie says:

      The first comment that displays my only frowny face… Comment system was awesome, guys who commented on them you will be sorely missed by me…

  11. eri says:

    Nothing at all wrong with what you’re doing. You guys pour a tremendous amount of effort into Spoiler Warning. This isn’t a case of you guys spending hours and hours coming up with the perfect intro song or whatever – it all goes into the content itself, which I love. If I could get paid any reasonable amount of money for the things I do, then I’d take it in a heartbeat so long as it didn’t compromise the integrity of my work. I hope to see everyone involved do well and flourish, and trying to monetise that is a logical step to take. Thanks for being straightforward and honest about it.

    1. Jarenth says:

      Really, I could post a comment of my own, but it’d just be more of this.

      Comment seconded.

      1. Lalaland says:

        I’ll second this too good luck with The Escapist and here’s hoping they recognise a good thing quickly, I need my fix

  12. Alexander says:

    Best of luck with it. I always hope internet types can monetize their projects.

  13. Rodyle says:

    Just promise us this, Shamus. Don’t let the à¥wesome videos you guys make become Publisher’s Club only.

    Other than that, I think you should indeed do this if you have the chance to do so. Making a living out of something you love doing is the best thing that can happen to a person.

    1. Klay F. says:

      While agree with you in principle, this series would be pretty much the only thing on the Escapist that would benefit from the Publisher Club’s HD streaming. Seriously how useless is watching Zero Punctuation in HD?

      1. Aldowyn says:

        The Viddler quality isn’t really the best in the world… HD would be nice.

        Unskippable would be another that benefited, though.

  14. Blanko2 says:

    well hopefully theyll accept. they did do that LP of legaya with the unskipable guys, maybe itll jibe.
    i mean you do LPs, they have done a VLP already… who knows?
    hopefully this one will be better than the bioshock one, which was nice at the start and then i felt kind of trailed off. but thats just me, not a huge fan of the bioshock gameplay

    1. Veloxyll says:

      I think that describes Bioshock the game pretty well too :P

      1. Blanko2 says:

        whats funny is i stopped watching at about the same spot where i stop playing which is shortly after you get the camera.
        i detested using the camera.

  15. RichVR says:

    Best of luck, Shamus. In this and all you do.

    Edit: And I’d subscribe to premium content if that’s what it would take. Your stuff is worth it.

  16. Greg says:

    Good luck, I hope something comes up, if not this then something else :)

  17. Meredith says:

    You guys totally deserve to get paid for all the hard work that goes into Spoiler Warning. I love to see people turn their hobbies and creativity into a job. Best of luck with this.

  18. Blaidd Drwg says:

    Well, Shame-us on you for trying to earn some money with what you do best ;)

    I really hope it pays off for you. Good luck!

  19. Arumin says:

    I know this is kinda random and perhaps a bit off topic, but if you are still looking for work. Valve is looking for some skilled people for their team.
    http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs/

    It would be awesome if you could put your creative mind at work at such a place…

    1. KremlinLaptop says:

      SHAMUS YOU NEED TO GO FINISH EPISODE 3 FOR US.

    2. Bit says:

      But that combination would be too awesome, and would suck the entire world into a black hole made of pure epic and win.

      How would we get Episode 3 then?

      1. PurePareidolia says:

        We would occupy the same physical space as Episode 3 though – it’d be even better! With Science!

    3. Viktor says:

      Shamus needs to go there. I will sell children into slavery to get him writing for Valve.

      1. Newbie says:

        Your children? Or just random children you find?

        1. Joe says:

          Depends. How many children do we need? Why not both?

  20. Mark says:

    Income-wise, you’ve got enough of a following now that if you make a game that captures the zeitgeist the right way, it would sell. Statistically speaking, to make the most of it, you’d probably want to release it with a “pay-what-you-want” model. Ideally for a limited time. Which you extend for as long as the average donation per copy exceeds what you’d expect to be able to sell it for.

    Having your fingers in more pies over at The Escapist, or any other sites who’d care to run your stuff (seriously, man: diversify! Guest articles for Rock Paper Shotgun or Gamespite Quarterly or something. Got to spread your brand around) means more people will be talking about it. Give it a title that doesn’t look stupid as a Twitter hashtag.

  21. KremlinLaptop says:

    To be honest I was rather surprised that the show wasn’t picked up by the Escapist after the first season. To be honest, I see nothing wrong with trying to sell the content you have and make a profit on it so I hope they go for the pitch.

    My only concerns are more re: community. First of all if it goes to the subscriptions only part of the Escapist then you’ll lose a buncha people from here who would still want to watch the show — probably myself included, I’m not too fond of the idea of giving my cash to the Escapist (although I’d happily pay say ten or fifteen dollars a month for two episodes a week to you directly, bloody bargain).

    Now stop sounding so damn apologetic about trying to sell the show, Shamus. It’s a creative effort and frankly those deserve reward if they’re good enough and I think Spoiler Warning is far more than just good enough.

    1. Klay F. says:

      Another problem is the Escapist’s Community itself, whom all seem to be raging lunatics. Seriously, just look at the comment threads for Stolen Pixels and Experienced Points, its so easy to tell which comments come from readers of Twenty Sided and which come from Escapist regulars, its ridiculous.

      1. KremlinLaptop says:

        Indeed.

        I tried to find a nice way of putting it, but I simply end up comparing the place to a cesspool and a bit barrel of chlorine at the same time. Both environments a person doesn’t really want to be stuck in (And it really is both, sometimes thread run amuck and others there’s over-zealous moderation, pure insanity.)

        1. Newbie says:

          The only thing I can say that redeems it is: it isn’t 4Chan.

  22. Raknor says:

    I’m not sure if you’ve said this before, and if I’m regurgitating old info I’m sorry. But can’t you monetize this blog? Add some minor ads on the side of the page, get some revenue that way?

  23. andy_k says:

    Good luck! Hope the pitch goes well…

  24. RCN says:

    Good luck mate. You’re making entertainment AND educating. It’s like Captain Planet… without the lameness and misinformation… so it’s not like Captain Planet at all. Sorry for the comparison.

    Seriously, you deserve the income. But don’t you already do a lot of stuff in the Escapist? I mean, I think you’re the guy with the largest number of shows and articles there… maybe after Graham Stark.

  25. Ken says:

    I’d vote for fable 3. Your dissection of Fable 2’s “plot” was fantastic.

    Good luck with the pitch!

  26. BenD says:

    Seconding what others have said about the subscription-only part of the Escapist. I mean, I’d subscribe to watch Spoiler Warning when it’s covering games I know anything about and don’t mind spoilers on (I am not up-to-date on games, so that’s not a whole lot of them – but the Fallout 3 series was just amazing fun) – but I can’t imagine the Escapist has any other content in its subscriber package that I need to see. What’s in there anyway? If it’s a giant Yahtzee-and-Shamus-a-thon maybe I should go part with my credit card info right now. Otherwise, nah.

    Where community is concerned – well, Shamus has done fine keeping his ‘community conversation’ going here while the Escapist hosts general herp-derr and rabid fanboying, with each site containing its own ‘group’ discussing the same content (the comic and the column). So I don’t see that being a big problem unless the Escapist has a big problem with it.

    I suspect (as it sounds like Shamus does, too) that the biggest barrier to a marriage of Spoiler Warning and Escapist is technological. How would the Escapist monetize a 45-minute video? An ad every 15 minutes would make it like TV, but it wouldn’t endear them to the viewers. Could they even host it successfully? If they think they can make it work, I hope they do pick it up – because everyone involved works hard on the thing, and it’s a valuable piece.

    1. Klay F. says:

      The ads you talk about would be one reason to subscribe to the Publisher’s Club: no ads.

      1. BenD says:

        Wise words!

    2. Amnestic says:

      I think the only real content difference between the PubClub People (PCP) and those who didn’t shell out the moneys is that PCP got instant access to all of Unskippable’s 3-or-so hour Let’s Play of Legaia 2, while everyone else has to wait for the weekly chunks of it to get released.

      They could, feasibly, do a similar thing with Spoiler Warning, though because SW runs longer (8 hours on Bioshock was it? Don’t even want to think about how long FO3 was) it might require a bit of tweaking on times.

      I’d like to see it all work out. Good luck with it all, Shamus ;>

    3. I’d be happy with ads if it means I can watch for free.

  27. Warden says:

    From the tone it’s as if you’ve committed some grave crime.
    But this is all very reasonable.

  28. Integer Man says:

    Awesome. Love the honesty. Keep it up.

    As a dev who likes to work on personal / charitable projects on the side, I can vouch that it is hard to do that with a day job. Even if
    you do have time, you can be pretty fried by the time you’re home.

    My only fears for you:

    – I like *your* perspective and formatting. I don’t want to have to filter through a bunch of extra content from The Escapist for that.

    – Unlikely, but don’t want you to be censored from expressing your candor by a third party.

    1. As far as I’ve seen The Escapist is very much beholden to the core idea of freedom of speech. Zero Punctuation hasn’t changed nor been censored in any way for example.

      so I’m not worried about that.
      Besides if shows integrity became an issue Shamus would probably pull the plug ASAP so…

      1. Aldowyn says:

        ZP is a special case. It was a Youtube phenomenon before it came to the Escapist, and it owes a good deal of its popularity to ZP. Therefore: Don’t mess with the Golden Hen.

      2. Shamus says:

        They have a very light editorial hand over there. Their philosophy seems to be: Hire people that are doing good work and then let them do it. I’ve done 230+ comics and about 90 weekly columns, and in all that time I’ve never had any sort of editorial conflict. (Aside from their obsession that evrything be spelt right and have grammatical correct.)

        1. Legal Tender says:

          I seen what you done there ;)

          OT: I wish to join in on the requests for Amnesia: Dark Descent. It would be a blast to see how Cuftbert behaves in that context :p If it happens…could you give us a bit of advance, erhm, warning so those of us who haven’t finished can do so?

        2. Irridium says:

          Pfft, why does everything must have good grammer? Jsut a waste of teim.

        3. Adalore says:

          I see what you did there.

          derp.

          1. Milos says:

            No,no don’t stop there:

            *clears throat*

            I c wut u did thar!

            OP: I think I read somewhere on the Escapist that all of their videos are formatted to around… 10 minutes, or something like that, max. So I’m not sure how SW would fit there. I would hate to see it split into little chunks and then served weekly or even daily, it just wouldn’t feel right.

  29. Maldeus says:

    Spoiler Warning seems right up the Escapist’s alley in terms of everything except length. Other than that, it’s just a gigantic, extended video review.

    Also, if you could find a way to make a living purely off of giving us awesome content for free, I’d…Well…Be happy for all of us, I guess.

    1. Another Scott says:

      If length IS a problem, then fix the problem: shorten the length.
      Yes it wouldn’t quite be the same, but it also wouldn’t detract anything from the quality really.

      It may even make it easier to produce content.

      1. Well Shamus did mention tightening up the editing.
        Heck, not all gameplay even needs to be filmed.

        i.e. start a huge mob grindfest and stop recording, near the end start recording again (which could very well be done in next day’s session) savegame mechanics permitting obviously. But you usually get a chance to save in between skirmishes in pro-longed combat sequences.

        1. Desgardes says:

          That could actually make Dragon Age feasible, as soon as people got used to the herky-jerky jumps.

  30. Aulayan says:

    Oh man, I sorta hope you get it. I was actually holding out hope you guys could one day end up at Blistered Thumbs because I have a feeling a Spoiler Warning sorta thing would fit in well there. Maybe. (But given you worked for Escapist I’m not sure if that’d be allowed)

  31. As some have mentioned above, following series where possible is actually very interesting.
    Series usually always have a minimum following, so you are guaranteed viewers.
    Series makes it easier to cross-references various aspects and chat about the franchise or previous or next game and compare it, during times when what is happening in the video is boring.

    So Mass Effect series seems to be established and Fallout as well.
    I guess Bioshock as well.

    So which other one?
    I suspect that Dragon Age would be cool but even with the change in story telling Dragon Age 2 will be just as huge as Dragon Age 1, so that would make for some long ass Spoiler Warning seasons. but it might be worth it.

    There’s also Fable, but only Fable I is for the PC, and Fable III for the PC won’t be out for quite some months, Fable II will probably never be available for the PC.

    There aren’t that many RPG rooted series out there,
    and personally I feel that Spoiler Warning should focus on RPGs as that is in my oppinion the best game genre out there, it’s also one of the most expensive/time consuming genres to “make” so they do deserve the attention.

    So with Mass Effect 2 up next,
    and then maybe Bioshock 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2 (not necessarily in that order),
    all that is like a year or so worth of material to cover, and high profile titles, I’m sure The Escapist would agree, plus the seasons already done that could be run during a season pause there surely won’t be a lack of content for The Escapist.

    1. Aldowyn says:

      Dragon Age is pretty much without a doubt too long. It is SEVERAL times the length of Mass Effect – you could easily spend a year on it with bi-weekly half hour episodes and still only do half of it. That 100 hour tag it gets isn’t just for show!

      … I forget exactly how long it is… can I check? No..

      BTW… why can Mass Effect play without a disk? That’s pretty unusual!

      1. Friend of Dragons says:

        My first Dragon Age playthrough ran me about 83 hours, I think.

        1. Newbie says:

          I win… I’m up to about 120 + and not even finished the first few bits. Done Dwarfs, Done Redcliff, done saving the Earl (also redcliffe but not the same so shaddap) and almost finished the circle. I have been doing nothing but running round hoping to stumble on cool side quests… I haven’t…

      2. acronix says:

        We should run the calculations of how many of those hours are pure combat, though!

  32. Aldowyn says:

    I’m feeling the stress myself and I don’t even have a job yet. (Note: I’m a high schooler). Crazy schoolwork (lots of AP (college level) courses), maintaining blog (which has fallen into semi-disuse. 3-5 posts a month is not what I meant to do, but at least they’re high quality), keeping up with news, trying to get a job, researching colleges…

    Life is nuts, isn’t it?

    P.S. I’m MORE than open on tips for getting into the freelance journalism industry, because I have no clue how to go about it. It’d be an INCREDIBLE way to use two of those above things to solve a third, though!

    1. Freeze_L says:

      WOW i think i have found my twin! The only difference between what you posted and me, is that i have been using a notebook instead of a blog, and am working on a novel. Your post sounded like something i could have wrote, that deserves response. :)

      OT: Shamus i hope this deal goes through, and if they want you to edit it you should set up an uncut version as well, i would enjoy that. To me the off topic banter is what makes the show, my favorite episode had nothing to do with the game (Fallout 3) besides 1 or 2 comments on Bethesda traps.

      1. Aldowyn says:

        well that’s interesting… :D

  33. Dourhands says:

    shamus, you, your family, and your bills come first my friend. im sure we can wait on twentysided if the updates come weekly. if you need to back burner this for a while im ok with that, and frankly everyone else who reads this should be too.

    best of luck shamus i really hope you get to have fun and get paid for it. its a rare treat.

  34. The Escapeist did host Unskippable’s Let Play, which was basically the same thing as Spoiler Warning.

    I think the main thing will be that they tend to go for 10 minute chunks…

    1. Desgardes says:

      OH MY GOD!! Best idea ever. Unskippable v. Twenty Sided Let’s Play-off. 2 vitriol spewing collectives enter, <=1 leave.

      1. Maldeus says:

        How is the winner determined?

        1. Desgardes says:

          If it happens, we’re all winners.

      2. X2-Eliah says:

        It’s not, in fact, bad, just terribly short – 10 minutes / week, while we are used to a total of 1hr/week.

    2. BenD says:

      I found Unskippable’s effort to be hard to watch. :(

  35. Spatticus says:

    The only thing that makes me nervous about Twenty Sided going to the Escapist is having to pay for it and/or the show being altered from the show I know and mash F5 for every Tuesday and Thursday. When it comes to video LPs, I know I prefer marathon sessions(or at least several videos recorded in a session) and that bunch-of-gamers-on-a-couch-feel. There are exceptions, but I like the more natural flow of things, and I think that playing long stretches at a time really lets conversation and jokes take off from just being commentary.

    But I really like the format that you have now, I don’t mind the long videos and chaotic banter, although as someone who has tried to write for an audience I know the feeling of “Oh gods this isn’t good enough it isn’t good enough they’re going to hate it I hate it no one can like this stuff.” But I think we do like that stuff. And we want more of that stuff.

    1. Don’t worry, it would be the same format.
      But due to the length maybe a ad break or two (for games or other Escapist stuff etc?)
      So Spoiler Warning could well become the first “full” length TV episode series on The Escapist.

      I can easily see Mass Effect 3 ads at a few break points during Spoiler Warning’s ME2 playthrough for example, I’m pretty sure BioWare’s PR dep would like that too.

      As long as the Spoiler Warning crew gets to keep full creative control, I don’t mind the odd ad break.

      1. Raygereio says:

        “I can easily see Mass Effect 3 ads at a few break points during Spoiler Warning's ME2 playthrough for example”
        Well, that would be the end me watching this LP series.

        1. Even if it means that some money will trinkle down into Shamus’ pockets so he can continue doing this?

          1. Raygereio says:

            There are ways of doing that without annoying people.
            Besides; it would have the adverse affect anyway: there's reason why less and less people are watching TV “live” so to speak, but instead wait for the DVD of some show or record it somehow.

            1. Shamus says:

              You can sign up for Publisher’s Club at the Escapist for some fee and never see any ads. Now, if you’re saying that you won’t pay for content and you won’t watch content that has ads, then fine. It’s your time, after all.

              But you should not presume to wave your hand and claim that “there are other ways” of making money. If you’ve got some ideas (that haven’t already tried and failed) then video content producers all over the world would love to hear about it. Most of them don’t like seeing commercials in their work any more than you do.

              1. Raygereio says:

                But you should not presume to wave your hand and claim that “there are other ways” of making money.

                I did not say that. What I said was: “There are ways of doing that without annoying people.“. If you want to add quick loading, short adds before the video like the Escapist often does. That's fine. If you want to put ads around the videoplayer (again like the Escapist often does). Also fine. If you want to place adds on your website and ask us to occasionally click on them to generate some revenue for you. I'm fine with that as well. Heck, I'll leave my computer on at night with a little automated mouse-click program running for you.

                I'll turn elsewhere for my free entertainment when the annoyance of the ads start outweighing the entertainment I'm getting. A good example would be blip.tv. Their advertisement is plain terrible. The sound levels are too high and the ads themselves are in a crazy HD format that no existing Internet connection can stream properly (and you can't pause it to preload it), resulting in a 30 seconds ad that lasts over 5 minutes.
                See where I'm getting at?

                Also, if you really think putting in commercial breaks in the middle of a spoiler warning ep is a good idea, then here's a warning for you. I've actually seen people try that before over on the Something Awful forums. The result was that practically no one watched it. If they instead simple tried one of the non-annoying ways mentioned 2 paragraphs ago, then sure; they would have made less many per view, but much more overall.

                1. krellen says:

                  The Daily Show and Colbert Report run with commercial breaks even when you watch it “free” online. It’s not annoying – it’s how television works. Keeping that model in mind, Spoiler Warning could easily take a “and now we’ll take a commercial break” setup, making sure there are clear and natural “break points” for ad insertion.

                  Sticking an ad in the middle of something that wasn’t cut with that idea in mind can be annoying, but sticking ads where a natural break happens flows quite nicely (and there are often long pauses and breaks in commentary in the Spoiler Warning episodes.)

                2. Raygereio says:

                  “It's not annoying ““ it's how television works.”
                  That unyielding attitude of “well, that’s just the way it is, deal with it and we’re not going to bother with coming up with a better way of doing things” is also why television is becoming a failing business. There’s a reason why recording devices like the VCR of the TiVo are so damned popular. Heck, of the biggest driving forces behind the development of the remote was the desire to mute commercials. But that’s neither here nor there.

                  Anyway, different people will have different tolerance levels. That and, if you’re for instance an American who will have on rough average about 3-5 times ammount of commercials during a show then I – a Dutchman – will have, then you will probably be fine with it.

                  1. Shamus says:

                    In the case of web video, it’s not just a refusal to change: This is the system that has proven itself on the internet.

                    Now, you could argue that there might be some other system that would work better (although you haven’t suggested any) but it won’t do any good if advertisers don’t believe in it. After messing around with banners, pop-overs, and all the other forms of web advertising, commercials are what pay the bills. Content creators (me) are at the mercy of the video host (like The Escapist) who are at the mercy of advertisers (whoever has money and wants to sell their stuff to viewers) who are going to go after whatever system gets them the most eyeballs for the least cash.

                3. Raygereio says:

                  “Now, you could argue that there might be some other system that would work better (although you haven't suggested any)”
                  I could argue that. Sadly I'm not arguing that at all, even though you appear to think I am. Either you're seriously misreading my posts, or you’re looking for an argument.
                  If it’s the first then English isn’t my first language so I the possibility exists that I'm not clear enough, if it's the latter then I really don't care for that. Look, if you want to place commercial breaks in your content. Go ahead, it's your content. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to make some money out your hobby. It would be awesome for you if you could.

                  I'll just leave you with the message that you should take care to avoid it from becoming annoying. Granted that is a somewhat vague term. But there's a lot of free stuff out there that doesn't have annoyances of any form attached to it, and you are competing with that. Sure, you're a funny guy. But random dude X is also funny and his video isn't interrupted by ads. Why would I then watch your video to entertain myself during lunch and not dude X’s?

                4. Samkathran says:

                  Sure, you're a funny guy. But random dude X is also funny and his video isn't interrupted by ads. Why would I then watch your video to entertain myself during lunch and not dude X's?

                  I think you should watch something because you genuinely enjoy it, and not because it fits your criteria of what’s “least annoying”. Your advice is sound though, ads have to walk a fine line between grabbing the viewer’s attention and not being overly annoying.

                  You’re also right that the internet has a lot of free entertainment out there, and it’s entirely up to you what you want to watch. However, just because alternatives exist doesn’t mean you’re entitled to get everything for free and exactly how you want it.

                  If your answer to anything even mildly irritating is to say “why should I watch you when somebody else is less annoying”, then nobody is going to take you very seriously as a viewer. They’re going to listen to their core viewers who’ve stayed with them in the long run, instead of the guy who comes and goes as he pleases.

                  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say anything about who is or is not a “core twenty-sided user” (I have no room to speak on that), but that’s the sort of issue you’d run into with this mentality. I simply suggest you try to find something you really like and settle into it, instead of using the internet as leverage.

                5. Raygereio says:

                  If your answer to anything even mildly irritating is to say “why should I watch you when somebody else is less annoying”

                  Thanks for the strawman; that is not what I said. Reread my posts.

                6. Samkathran says:

                  How was I making a strawman? I even quoted you when you said that at the beginning of my post. Here’s another quote of you saying the same thing for good measure:

                  I'll turn elsewhere for my free entertainment when the annoyance of the ads start outweighing the entertainment I'm getting.

                  And your very first comment was that you’d leave in the event of a few break points in the video, much like Hulu:

                  Well, that would be the end me watching this LP series.

                  The fact that there is other entertainment available to you that is free or “less annoying” is the entire basis of your argument, and I explained why it is a poor basis. I also suggested what I think is a better attitude towards approaching your entertainment. I even conceded that even though your motives for leaving aren’t very good, your advice to keep advertisements minimally invasive was sound.

                  If you would prefer to not listen to my advice, then that is your choice and I certainly can’t do anything about that. However, please do not say I simply made a strawman and do not know what you are talking about.

                7. krellen says:

                  Television inserts 2-3 minutes of commercials into each commercial break space. When viewing the same program on line, there is only a single commercial (or possibly 2 15 second commercial) in each break, vastly decreasing the overall “ad space” of the program.

                  If you can’t be bothered to watch 3 or 4 commercials over the course of a half-hour show, I’m not sure why the people producing the show should be bothered to make it.

                  You are not entitled to free entertainment.

                8. Raygereio says:

                  @ Samkathran:
                  My answer to anything mildly irritating is not to walk away and at no point did I say that. I've reread my posts carefully and at no point did I even allude to that. You misrepresented someone argument and that is a strawman.
                  The possibility exists that you simply did not do it on purpose, but instead just didn't read my posts. In that case: commercial breaks might be a “mild irritant” for you, but that does not mean it's a mild irritant for everyone. As I said: different people will have different levels of tolerances towards things (and I have stated what my tolerances towards ads are).

                  If you don't agree with that, then we'll have to agree that we disagree (Gee that kind off sounds stupid when you type that out).

                  @ krellen:
                  Did I say I'm entitled to free entertainment? No, I did not. I'm not even going to bother restating my point as you could just read my posts better. If you disagree with my position, that's fine; but don't put words in my mouth.

    2. Zagzag says:

      I would love to see SW on the escapist but have the same wories about premium content/format changes. The show is only what it is because of the format. Any changes made to this will completely ruin the show, especially if it becomes some sort of escapist premium content. We definitely do like everything about it the way it is. Even the in video comments really add something to the show. As long as you have full control and it remains in its current format I will support the show, and might even pay to watch it on the escapist. I also seem to have some sort of obsession with repeating myself today!

  36. poiumty says:

    Part of the reason i visit this website is because it has better stuff than most of the bland flash cartoons on the Escapist. If you could bring your show there to make money out of it it’d be a win for both parties.

    Good luck, Shamus.

  37. Samkathran says:

    That sounds like a great idea, Shamus. I hope they bite! (in the give-Shamus-more-cash sense of the word)

    Although I have to admit, I did have a brief panic attack when I read the idea… “Oh god, if this goes on the Escapist, all the comments will be on the Escapist forum too!” *shudder*

    But then I remembered you’d probably make an entry here like you do for all your other great stuff, and my mental health would remain safe! Yay!

    Good luck!

  38. Sydney says:

    I’d rather see you sell out than tap out. Good luck getting it on The Escapist – I’ll enjoy it wherever it moves.

  39. Ham08 says:

    Why don’t you do something with Dungeons and Dragons? Since your site is called “Twentysided”, it might make sense to do something with D&D once in a while.

    Shamus, it was your Dungeons and Dragons Campaign write-up that drew me to your website in the first place. With that in mind, I would like to suggest an idea that I believe most of your followers, the Escapist crowd, and RPG nerds in general would enjoy.

    Suggestion:
    A weekly D&D session video recording. Each member and the DM must have their own microphone. You will need another person to handle the camera work (camera angles, zoom, etc,.). A good writer to create a solid campaign or use one of the official D&D modules and enhance with your own touch. A good DM that can create difficult and fun encounters. Etcetera.

    Here are two great examples of what I am talking about:
    Go to Youtube /user/DNDWizards and find the “Pax Celebrity Game” (Pax 2010).(This 4th Edition D&D session is hilarious. Wil Wheaton and friends had me laughing to tears. It’s a classic. Good camera work and audio set up.)

    Go to Youtube /user/BartCarroll and find the “D&D Robot Chicken” game. (4th Ed. D&D session with good camera work and audio set up. Members of the Robot Chicken Writers team explore an ancient Dwarven Tomb deep underground. Very Funny!)

    Great Entertainment!

    Neither of those session recordings are in a playlist and they were uploaded in backward order, so you’ll have to click on the uploads tab then scroll down to “part 1” of each session and go from there.

    Go to Youtube /user/bensrpgpile2 (He has a lot of awesome tips, tricks, creations, and how to videos that enhance a D&D game.)

    I would love to see more of this type of quality D&D content.

    Cheers!

    1. Aldowyn says:

      Oh yes that Celebrity D&D session was absolutely hilarious…

      but yeah, that would be cool!

    2. Valaqil says:

      Seconded. I really like this idea, or something similar.

  40. Markus says:

    Hope it works out with the Escapist and we get more Lets Play soon.

  41. Duoae says:

    Man… i’ve been really looking forward to Spoiler Warning for ages now. I hope you get a reply either way soon.

    It’s a shame you guys can’t do console games because ICO would be pretty cool to see you do. I mean, i’d love to hear josh bitch and moan about having to drag her everywhere :)

    Maybe you could do Beyond Good and Evil?

  42. Fede says:

    Good luck for everything!

  43. Clay says:

    So should I/We go pester Russ, Andy and Funk Till you get SW on Escapist? Or at the very least send a nice e-mail explaining in a polite manner that we would like your show to be there?

  44. Shrikezero says:

    I have never watched a Spoiler Warning, but I read all of the threads. I steer clear of the Escapist forums for all the reasons mentioned already. I’d be disappointed to lose out on the comments.

    However, If it means Shamus can keep writing all the other great stuff we get here, then I can live without the Spoiler Warning comment thread. I’ll distract myself by trying to figure out what the heck you guys are talking about in the Hex threads.

    For that matter, I think Shamus should do whatever he can to keep writing and keep TwentySided up and running. If that means moving some content to where it is profitable, so be it. If that means ads on TwentySided, so be it. If that means harvesting lightstone in Minecraft for profit so be it. Wait actually that would mean less writing… don’t do that last one Shamus.

    For the record, I think a Let’s Play Minecraft would be awesome.

    My rambling comment, let me show you it!

  45. X2-Eliah says:

    For what it is worth, if the Escapist will do their usual thing and cut Spoiler warning into 5-minute chunks (or even 7 and a half minute chunks), I’ll just ragequit.

    Or if they decide to bring in the ‘masterminds’ of Game Dogs etc. to SW script/progression with their ‘tips’ and so on..

    Anyway, what I mean is: I have no problem with SW moving locations, but I really, really hope it will not change during the prodcedure – especially since when I think of introducing any elements Escapist is known for in the video-sphere, I see an immediate degradation of SW.

  46. Zalzabar Jones says:

    As an Escapist, I would watch the hell out of your show. But I already do so…
    Can I start a petition or something to get The Escapist to pick you up?

  47. seodoth says:

    Rooting for ya shamus :D

  48. Vladius says:

    Hollar Hollar Get $$$

  49. WWWebb says:

    Wet blanket here,

    I’ll start by saying that I enjoy SOME spoiler warning, especially for games that I haven’t played myself and am not likely to play. Having watched Bioshock all the way through, I’m glad I didn’t try to play it.

    But putting it up as mass entertainment…well…I haz sum conserns

    1- Yeah you mentioned it already, but I’ll agree that it is probably too long. I don’t mind the 30 minute episodes as much of how many of them there are. Even a short game played through quickly will take a dozen episodes. Is fast forwarding through the boring parts an option?

    2- Two guys on the couch definitely works as a format…as long as I (the audience) am one of those guys. As a spectator, well, no offense, but y’all need to up your games. There are sprinklings of funny and/or insightful throughout the episodes, but I’m not sure how many people are willing to sit through a 30 minute episode for sprinklings. I did it on the game I hadn’t played (Bioshock) because I wanted to see the game, but on the others, I just skipped to the bits that seemed to have the most comments…a pretty good predictor BTW. Again, fast-forwarding might help.

    3- If you do keep a big cast, well, I don’t want to mess too much with the improv, but you each need to have a more defined role. Just like when watching sports there are play-by-play men, color commentators, and sideline reporters, I the viewer would like to know who is the “play-by-play commenter” (seriously, turn up the gamma so I can tell what’s happening), the “story commenter”, the “gameplay commenter”, the “art commenter”, “game design commenter”, “comedy commenter”, etc. Pick whatever roles you want, but pick some roles. It make you look more qualified (whatever that means in this industry), and should help each of you come up with high-quality canned comments to interject at appropriate points before you all sit down for the recording.

    4- I think someone mentioned that they liked the comments system. I would suggest that the moderators go back and inject some comments, pop-up video style, to fill the dead spaces.

    Reading back through my comments, I’d say, in summary, that you need to work on the pacing before it’s ready for prime time. Occasionally, a game can stand on its own, but for the rest of the time it needs well paced filler. For example see, a Wall Street Journal article about football that you might have heard about.

    …oh, and if they don’t like “Spoiler Warning”, I think “Full Disclosure” would be an excellent title.

  50. GhostBoy says:

    In terms of games to do after ME2: How about Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (I or II). Good stories, lots of references for that old franchise and the combat is nice and fastpaced. The script is a bit cringeworthy at times though. And it’s not 60+ hours long.

    Ditto Bayonetta, for much the same reasons. They do require a gamebridge or similar gear to capture video off a console though.

    Good luck with the pitch

  51. Psivamp says:

    I found this site through the Escapist and read both. I’m all for Shamus getting a paycheck for this. Is there anywhere we can voice our opinions to the staff over at the Escapist or would that be rude and inappropriate?

  52. Aelfric says:

    I am way late to this thread, but Shamus–more power to you. You deserve to see these efforts monetized, if you’ll forgive the neologism. I can’t say if The Escapist is the right place or the right way to do it, but best of luck to you in this and all of your ventures, and thanks for a ton of great content.

    1. RTBones says:

      I’ll add my name to the list of readers late to the party too. I wish you luck, Shamus. I’ve enjoyed SW since the beginning and would hate to see it go by the wayside just because the “real world” decided to rear its ugly head. If you can find a way to do this and make a living at the same time, more power to you.

      As to games between ME2 and FNV…given your recent experiences, I suspect its going to have to be something “relatively” recent to limit the technical challenges involved in putting it together. Me, I have no problem with you going straight to FNV after ME2. Don’t know what the others of the SW crew would say to that, though. If you are taking suggestions…
      Alpha Protocol
      Dragon Age Origins
      Far Cry 2
      Half Life 2
      Oblivion

      I’d like to see you guys do Deus Ex at some point, but I seem to recall one member of the team or other hadn’t played it…? Also, will you have video issues with it, given the game’s age?

      Another one game that is hysterical is Anachronox. It too is older, though.

      Finally…another avenue to pursue would be a taped D&D campaign. Though I suspect your issue here would be too _much_ content, given that most gaming sessions last many hours. You could do it if you only played once a week but posted an episode every day. Your mileage may vary.

      EDIT: Another one game…? A combo of “another one” and “another game”. I apparently was distacted mid-thought….

  53. Friend of Dragons says:

    I had been looking forward to spoiler warning, but I don’t mind it being delayed. What you deserve to get out of making this series far outweighs when I want to see it.
    And like the others here, I really hope that the Escapist doesn’t try and mangle it.

  54. scowdich says:

    I’d like to go ahead and propose a basic set of rules for the Mass Effect 2 drinking game, starting afresh since there was no real game for Mass Effect:
    -Drink every time Regina Shepard dies, or Josh takes a Renegade interrupt (a sip for an Intimidate conversation option).
    -Take a whole shot when Josh takes a Paragon interrupt.
    -Take a drink whenever Shamus complains about the beginning or end not making sense, or when Shamus oozes praise for Mordin Solus from every pore
    -Take a drink whenever Rutskarn makes a space-related pun, or comments on one of Joker’s.
    -Take a drink when Mumbles (or anyone, really) calls the Collectors SPACE BEEEEEEEEEEES

    1. Jarenth says:

      Proposed addenda:

      – Take a drink whenever someone uses the phrase ‘In the original Mass Effect’ or ‘In the first Mass Effect’.

      – Take a drink whenever background exposition or story elements are completely ignored because Shamus, Rutskarn and/or Mumbles are discussing something completely unrelated.

      – Take a drink whenever such an unrelated discussion goes on for five minutes or more, plus an extra drink for every five after that.

      – Take a drink whenever Josh plays his character completely opposed to his skill selections, and then complains about it.

      – Take a drink whenever Josh runs into a hilarious game-breaking bug; take an extra drink for every other cast member that has never run into or even heard of this bug before.

      – Take an additional drink whenever three or more drinks are triggered in a span of five minutes, just to honor the spirit of Reginald ‘Obvious Reasons’ Cuftbert the first.

      1. Nidokoenig says:

        Take a drink whenever someone speculates on the medical status of people actually playing the drinking game.

        Has anyone ever worked out how many units of alcohol an episode would saddle you with?

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<strike>Darth Vader is Luke's father!</strike>

You can make things italics like this:
Can you imagine having Darth Vader as your <i>father</i>?

You can make things bold like this:
I'm <b>very</b> glad Darth Vader isn't my father.

You can make links like this:
I'm reading about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader">Darth Vader</a> on Wikipedia!

You can quote someone like this:
Darth Vader said <blockquote>Luke, I am your father.</blockquote>

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