Awesome 'cast!
I bought the DVDs of seasons 1 and 2. I liked 1, but 2 was hysterical. But 2 might not have worked without 1 to lay the groundwork.
I wanna go to Cheesybeard’s now.
Welcome, kantia8! If you like geeky things there’s a ton of past podcasts and threads here in the forum where you can hang out and enjoy the fun. 
YES!! I really do want one of those t-shirts!
The sad part is that I’ve heard all the MMO stuff a million times before and it doesn’t really get any more interesting, at least if you’re not actually into them.
BSG was just an example, I’m not a big fan of it myself after the ending. I just felt that it was a missed opportunity, I mean you have some of the biggest celebrity geeks on the horn and you don’t ask any general sci-fi/fantasy questions? 
Loved the podcast. It’s always fun to hear these guys interviewed. I wish you could have talked to Clara, she’s just as funny.
As a side note, I learned to build computers because of Everquest. I have also renewed my WoW subscription after being away from it for 4 months. After playing with my old EQ guild again, I realized just how I’ve missed being able to talk them as I used to. Everybodies kids have gotten so big!
Finally, if you’d like to hear more from Felicia Day about the guild & more about WoW in particular, check out the Blizzcon The Instance podcast shows from 2008. 2008 was the first time they had gone to Blizzcon & it went over bigger than they ever expected.
I almost forgot a good webseries! You Suck at Photoshop was absolutely BRILLIANT!
I really like the aspect of team work. I’ve liked video games for a long time, but playing Twisted Metal: Black and Halo on cooperative was revelatory for me. I realized that playing with others towards a common goal wasn’t just fun - it was the best kind of fun I could have playing games in some ways (which is not to say I don’t love my single-player experiences, but it’s very different).
So when I first played FFXI, and realized what a group of people could do, it was like my horizons just exploded, revealing a vast infinity beyond. Running a linkshell and doing group events was just awesome. Moving on from that to play WoW was even better, as my wife and I played side-by-side. It’s something of a grind, and I’d complained more than once about the repetitiveness of the genre, but when you play with other people and it’s going well, it’s just sublime. It’s the highest form of multiplayer in my humble experience, and this comes from a guy who used to play scheduled Halo 2 matches a few times a week for nearly a year.
Loved Jeff Lewis on the cast. “BLLLLAAAAAAA-” is my favorite moment of the series. I can just see him turning on the game for the first time. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” comes on, and he has CHANGED.
Started to lag a bit at the end, but yeah, very good one.
See in some ways I’m the same, in others it’s completely different for me. I was not that into video games before MMO’s. I thought they were fun but they rarely held my interest long enough to “finish” the game. Then a friend of mine got me a copy of Everquest. I had fun playing & the more people I met, the more fun I had. We strarted a guild…and all the drama that came with it, did. We weren’t very good at running it, we weren’t very good at playing the politics it takes to be good at it, but it was a hell of a lot of fun to just play & shoot the bull.
Then, I broke into the raiding scene. It was a revelation for me. Cooperation on a massive scale. Competitiveness that rivals any sports I’ve ever been involved in. Smack talking, friendships, romances…it’s all there. Prior to me playing I simply would ahve watched television. I have always been a tv junkie. With these, yes at first I became obsessed, just like there is a learning curve to play the game itself, there’s a learning curve on finding the balance it takes to make it work without taking over your life. I believe I’ve reached that balance, some weeks are better than others, but I do it & I have a hell of a lot of fun doing it.
I have now found, after playing MMO’s for almost 10 years now (good god where did the time go?) I find I have trouble playing single player games. There’s no one to talk to while I go through it all, what’s the fun in that?
Are you interested in the newly announced FFXIV? A lot of my FFXI friends plan to make the switch ASAP.
Veronica talks about the hacking, and I was once a victim of that. WoW is so popular and so many people buy gold that there are many sites out there that will install keyloggers or somehow get your password. I had a credit card that suddenly had nearly $200 worth of calling cards on it and my main character, a level 65 undead Warlock (who had really become the heart of my WoW experience and my favorite part of the game), as well as my main alt, a level 63 human Paladin, were completely stripped of everything. My guildmates tried to help out some and before long I had better stuff anyways, but the intense feeling of violation is one I am not interested in feeling again. After that I was changing my passwords and running tighter securty checks weekly, and it took some of the fun out of the game.
Blizzard did provide me with a few decent pieces of gear and an apology about a week after the incident, but they really didn’t offer more, so I had to rebuild my entire gold situation and restock my personal bank.
I’d say mildly interested. FFXI has a battle system that is second to none; when everything goes great it’s like a master symphony to be a part of. But I spent a lot of time standing around, and the game seemed unfairly expensive to play, both in-game (crafting, magic, and adequate gear) and out (with extra money for extra characters). If it’s also as severely tilted towards group play as FFXI, I know I’ll never be able to fit the time in for it.
The developers have repeatedly said that FFXIV will be more casual and solo player friendly. They’re gonna have quests designed to be completed within 15 minutes in addition to longer ones. And the new class system (based on equipped weapons you can change anywhere) is supposedly gonna eliminate standing around waiting for parties.
My worry is whether the end game still suck since not much has been revealed about that yet. Fortunately, there will be little or any PVP (a pet peeve of mine in other MMOs).
Obviously. You’re a prize.
End game is easily the hardest to design & the easiest to completely screw up. On top of that you have a truly finicky fan base for end game play that is not shy about telling you how badly you screwed it up. Not revealing end game information is not surprising in the least.
Non-HNM play of FFXI’s end game is truly cruel and insidious. Normally, 837,550 total XP is need to reach the level cap of 75. Then, you can gain Merit points that will allow you to increase attributes (str, dex, etc.), HP, MP (mana), weapon skills (sword, axe, etc.), class/job only actions (weapon abilities and buffs/debuffs), etc. So, technically, you can keep grinding for another 200,000+ XP depending upon your determination/dedication. Ugh! Then, you have HNM play/raid which I never developed a taste for, and that’s a whole 'nother rant won’t get into except share this link that made mainstream news…
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/14/new-final-fantasy-xi-boss-could-take-24-hours-to-kill/
I never quite finished leveling in FFXI because I saw it for the dollar/time sink that it is. Yet, I still feel beaten by the game because I didn’t. d:
Am I bitter? Of course not!
/end rant
FFXI is another one that I quit playing shortly after the trial period not long after launch. I had left EQ’s time sink, I didn’t want one that was worse.
Suit #1: I love it! But we need to make some changes. Instead of gamers, why don’t we have them be in a band?
Suite #2: Yeah! She plays the violin, so that works. But, we need to change the mom around. Why don’t we make her a great mom and hold down a CEO job, make her more accessible and a positive role-model.
Suit #3: Vork could be the band’s manager, since he is so good with accounting and bald.
Etc…
You know, the band part of that might actually work.
I used to work for a dog show place that sometimes will hire out the stripper buses to move judges around. Really, those buses are for rent and most of the time just sit around during the daytime so a strip club can make some good money and make a good deal renting them out during the day for a few hours as transport, especially during conventions.
(I just listened to the show, just started the HORRIBLE episode-focused on the stripper bus so I don’t geek out too much) 
I am so far behind on the podcast! I just finished listening to #182. My husband heard some of the discussion and I was finally able to get him to break away from his own gaming long enough to watch the guild. LOL We both enjoy it and I really enjoyed the interviews from the podcast.
On top of being way behind on the podcasts, I especially skipped these 2 podcast about The Guild earlier because I didn’t want to be spoiled by anything, but finally, months later, got the chance to finish them up…
And I just want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I had no idea there were all these Guild interviews, and it was such a happy surprise to hear them. Just wow. Amazing. Thanks again!