Poll: So...Spunkgargleweewee. Does it need broader terming?

[LaughingAtlas]

I thought the term he first used for the genre was 'gunwank' or something? Regardless, as someone else said, Modern Military Shooter seems a lot more descriptive, like Sandbox Crime Game or Hack'n Slash.

 

[krazykidd]

Forced meme, stop using it.

Yahtzee should pull more decent-sounding names out of his ass if he wants them to be taken seriously.

Do you really think he planed for anyone to start using the term? Seriously? It's more than likely He made something up with a stupid name so that people don't start using it . Sure it backfired but it's not HIS fault .Kinda like spectacle fighter for games like bayonetta and DMC .

This term does not need further definition it was a joke in a video.

I saw it, I laughed at the time but I seriously hope this doesn't catch on... I mean do you really?

This is Ben Croshow. He's pretty much a cult leader in the gaming community. When he says jump, a good percentage of the gaming public says how hi and by the way that episode this week was the funniest EVER, Yahtzee. Whatever his opinion on a game is, that's THEIR opinion on a game. If he assigns a label to a game, any label, any game, you can rest assured you'll see it being tossed about by the faithful.

I like this . You guys say to not take Yahtzee seriously , but the when something happens it's his fault . Poor guy. Blame the fans , not the source. Especially of the source was not serious to begin with.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I will stick with the term that TotalBiscuit uses: Modern Military Shooters, or MMS.
The name already covers almost anything you need to know, I guess.

That term is the one that will most likely be used to describe CoD style games.

Simple, easy to understand and not a mouthfull.

Captcha: Rocket science (no Captcha it isn't)

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Since the term was essentially a joke, no I don't think it needs any further examination or as much thought as your giving it.

 

[irishmanwithagun]

This term does not need further definition it was a joke in a video.

I saw it, I laughed at the time but I seriously hope this doesn't catch on... I mean do you really?

This is Ben Croshow. He's pretty much a cult leader on the escapist. When he says jump, a good percentage of the site says how hi and by the way that episode this week was the funniest EVER, Yahtzee. Whatever his opinion on a game is, that's THEIR opinion on a game. If he assigns a label to a game, any label, any game, you can rest assured you'll see it being tossed about by the faithful.

FTFY.

He's not /that/ influential, you just wouldn't realize it if this was the only gaming site you frequented. His fans do get incredibly annoying with parroting him, though. I can't get over how they take his word on multiplayer (you know the whole "a game should stand on single player alone" thing) as gospel when he's an admitted socially awkward misanthropist who just doesn't like dealing with other people, let alone other gamers.

OT: I agree with the people who are saying the term needs to die. This is more Yahtzee worship here, where the opinion of one anti-social jerk is being taken as gospel. His show can be funny, but please don't take it seriously. For all of our sakes.

What you're neglecting is that Yahtzee's opinion on multiplayer is based on game design, the whole "socially awkward 'MISANTHROPE(!)'" angle is true but Yahtzee plays it up for humour, because it's more entertaining to inventively describe how much you hate people than it is repeating the same, rather dull, line of basic game design that everone's heard already. And before you say that I'm just another Yahtzee "fantard", I'd like to point out that my Playstation's internet has been down for about a year. Because I was never bothered enough by the loss to have it fixed (again!) whenever I buy a game it HAS to stand up on its own qualities as a single player game because all the extraneous content of the multiplayer is denied to me.

As for the whole Spunkgargleweewee "issue", it just describes SHIT, generic military shooters. Call of Duty 4 isn't Spunkgargleweewee because it's good.

 

[Yopaz]

Zero punctuation is intended to be entertainment and also express his opinion of the game. When he defines a game as a gibberish word he doesn't mean that should be an official naming standard. Now I am a great fan of his work, I love his games, his podcasts, let's plays, his Zero Punctuation, his extra punctuation and his books.

He is not god and everything he say doesn't hold merit. I share his view on a lot of things and I usually buy a game if he seems to like it a lot.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Forced meme, stop using it.

Yahtzee should pull more decent-sounding names out of his ass if he wants them to be taken seriously.

Yes, can we please avoid have this turn into another obnoxious meme like "the cake is a lie" or "over 9000" or some other damn thing.

EDIT: Hey my post count is in Binary.

 

[WanderingFool]

No, this is the stupidest term that has ever attempted to break out of a ZP episode into "regular" talking; it needs to be eliminated completely, not broadened. The "term that does not even deserve to get mentioned" is a term used by people who want to look down on modern FPS's but don't want to sound like they're an anti-fanboy. This term is the most ridiculous crap I've ever heard.

And there you have it. All that needs to be said. Funny the first time Yahtzee used it, but got old the moment that ZP episode forum even started.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This term does not need further definition it was a joke in a video.

I saw it, I laughed at the time but I seriously hope this doesn't catch on... I mean do you really?

This is Ben Croshow. He's pretty much a cult leader on the escapist. When he says jump, a good percentage of the site says how hi and by the way that episode this week was the funniest EVER, Yahtzee. Whatever his opinion on a game is, that's THEIR opinion on a game. If he assigns a label to a game, any label, any game, you can rest assured you'll see it being tossed about by the faithful.

FTFY.

He's not /that/ influential, you just wouldn't realize it if this was the only gaming site you frequented. His fans do get incredibly annoying with parroting him, though. I can't get over how they take his word on multiplayer (you know the whole "a game should stand on single player alone" thing) as gospel when he's an admitted socially awkward misanthropist who just doesn't like dealing with other people, let alone other gamers.

OT: I agree with the people who are saying the term needs to die. This is more Yahtzee worship here, where the opinion of one anti-social jerk is being taken as gospel. His show can be funny, but please don't take it seriously. For all of our sakes.

What you're neglecting is that Yahtzee's opinion on multiplayer is based on game design, the whole "socially awkward 'MISANTHROPE(!)'" angle is true but Yahtzee plays it up for humour, because it's more entertaining to inventively describe how much you hate people than it is repeating the same, rather dull, line of basic game design that everone's heard already. And before you say that I'm just another Yahtzee "fantard", I'd like to point out that my Playstation's internet has been down for about a year. Because I was never bothered enough by the loss to have it fixed (again!) whenever I buy a game it HAS to stand up on its own qualities as a single player game because all the extraneous content of the multiplayer is denied to me.

As for the whole Spunkgargleweewee "issue", it just describes SHIT, generic military shooters. Call of Duty 4 isn't Spunkgargleweewee because it's good.

Easy solution: don't buy multiplayer focused titles. Like, you know, pretty much every modern combat shooter ever made? It's not a fault of the game design that you personally can't take it online, and it's your fault for not doing the research if you buy something multiplayer focused when you can't play it. Just because it's got a single player mode doesn't mean it's the main focus of the game, any more than the original Deus Ex was a multiplayer focused title because it had deathmatch.

Edit: and by the way, "spunkgargleweewee" is a different problem from Yahtzee's anti-multiplayer bias. It's connected, since most of those games are multiplayer focused, but the man doesn't like Super Smash Brothers for God's sake, and it's entirely because it's a multiplayer game.

 

[krazykidd]

Do you really think he planed for anyone to start using the term? Seriously? It's more than likely He made something up with a stupid name so that people don't start using it . Sure it backfired but it's not HIS fault .Kinda like spectacle fighter for games like bayonetta and DMC .

I don't know whether he planned for it or not, but he's used it during at least 2 ZPs and one extra punctuation so far so it's kind of a stretch to say he never thought the swarms of people who religiously follow him wouldn't pick up on it and start making at least a few threads about it.

So yeah, it's definitely not "more than likely" he didn't want anyone to use it considering he wasn't exactly subtle with it.

I don't want to get into debate about what yahtzee was thinking ( i don't even think he himself knows sometimes), but he can't be at fault for what his overzealous fans do . He did use it twice in his videos about two games that are VERY similar to each other and that one EC that was talking about the same thing . It's basicslly a term he used to make fun of the CoD and it's clones . But now people want to turn SGWW ( spunkgargleweewee) into an actual genre by spreding the word .

Somewhat Off topic : Doesn't spunk Gargle weewee translate to :" sperm gargle pee"? Yeah i'm sure he was being serious

 

[Twilight_guy]

How about you stop worshiping at the alter of ZP, realize the term was a joke, and deal with the real issue of formalizing game development, including creating a professional vocabulary? It's still a loose mesh of ideas and not a formalized study or method.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

No, seeing as Yahtzee created the term in jest, following very personal criteria. "Spunkgargleweewee" isn't something you'll find on a shelf or on box art a few years from now and if it turns out to be the case, I'll be severely disappointed.

"SPGWW", to add some shorthand to this, is something I'd consider to be characterized by the publisher's decisions and the targeted market. The original Doom isn't SPGWW. GoldenEye 64 isn't SPGWW. Half-Life 2 isn't, either. My guess is you could define Spunkgargleweewee as being:

- something that espouses the two-weapon limit Halo instituted;
- something that uses throwaway mechanics in order to lengthen or superficially diversify its campaign;
- something that appeals to the average Alpha Male-slash-Modern Day Asskicker tropes and that also happens to...
- ...glorify the art of war as being nothing more or less than an awesome display of marksmanship and gunplay.

Everything Battlefield or Call of Duty fits that mold, and multiplayer isn't enough of a saving grace. I'd even say it adds to the problem, seeing as it propagates that ballsy gun-ho attitude that's come to be a staple of the average "douchebag".

In a broader sense, though, it's more common to find games that have Spunkgargleweewee-ish elements, but that throw in other things that elevate the final product to a degree. Far Cry 3 has a shifting weapon limitation and certainly drives the player to consider his massacre of Vass' men to be fucking sweet in how flexible it can be - but it has a plot and design considerations that don't really follow your standard "Weewee" approach.

Jason Brody, for instance, doesn't start the game as an assured and confident USMC member. He starts off as a douchebag - an entitled rich kid who's brutally awakened from his couple years spent partying hard around the globe, and who immediately abandons most of what made him an unlikeable asshole. He becomes more of a source of concern as the game unfolds, and seeing his sanity chip away makes it hard for me to simply not care.

A "weewee" protagonist, on the other hand, would simply barge in, gun the mothers down, trigger a sweet cutscene and emerge largely unchanged.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

No, seeing as Yahtzee created the term in jest, following very personal criteria. "Spunkgargleweewee" isn't something you'll find on a shelf or on box art a few years from now and if it turns out to be the case, I'll be severely disappointed.

"SPGWW", to add some shorthand to this, is something I'd consider to be characterized by the publisher's decisions and the targeted market. The original Doom isn't SPGWW. GoldenEye 64 isn't SPGWW. Half-Life 2 isn't, either. My guess is you could define Spunkgargleweewee as being:

- something that espouses the two-weapon limit Halo instituted;
- something that uses throwaway mechanics in order to lengthen or superficially diversify its campaign;
- something that appeals to the average Alpha Male-slash-Modern Day Asskicker tropes and that also happens to...
- ...glorify the art of war as being nothing more or less than an awesome display of marksmanship and gunplay.

Everything Battlefield or Call of Duty fits that mold, and multiplayer isn't enough of a saving grace. I'd even say it adds to the problem, seeing as it propagates that ballsy gun-ho attitude that's come to be a staple of the average "douchebag".

In a broader sense, though, it's more common to find games that have Spunkgargleweewee-ish elements, but that throw in other things that elevate the final product to a degree. Far Cry 3 has a shifting weapon limitation and certainly drives the player to consider his massacre of Vass' men to be fucking sweet in how flexible it can be - but it has a plot and design considerations that don't really follow your standard "Weewee" approach.

Jason Brody, for instance, doesn't start the game as an assured and confident USMC member. He starts off as a douchebag - an entitled rich kid who's brutally awakened from his couple years spent partying hard around the globe, and who immediately abandons most of what made him an unlikeable asshole. He becomes more of a source of concern as the game unfolds, and seeing his sanity chip away makes it hard for me to simply not care.

A "weewee" protagonist, on the other hand, would simply barge in, gun the mothers down, trigger a sweet cutscene and emerge largely unchanged.

Out of curiosity, have you ever played a Battlefield game? The first four entries in the series didn't have singleplayer at all, and from what I remember of the BF3 beta, even it doesn't really fit the CoD mold. I mean, I guess you could call Battlefield a spunkgargleweewee game. But only if you'd be willing to call the Star Wars: Battlefront series one too, since it's literally a Battlefield clone set in the Star Wars universe. And regardless, the multiplayer in Battlefield sure as hell does make up for the (lack of) singleplayer. That series has some of the best multiplayer ever made, and it's only cosmetically similar to CoD. The mechanics are completely different. Battlefield has less mechanically in common with CoD than Half Life 2 does, and that's not an exaggeration.

 

[Squilookle]

I think he needs to make a whole new term- it's pretty stupid. You say that word and it means absolutely nothing. It's not descriptive at all. There needs to be an at least -sort of- relevant name for it, that reflects some of the generic features that come up time and again.

I prefer gunwank myself.

Actually yeah, that'd do. That'd do nicely.

 

[Souplex]

If "Spunkgargleweewee" is a thing, then we also need a term for horribly dated shooters that refuse to take any ideas from the past 10 years for fear of alienating their elderly audience.
I propose we call them "TurdWaffles".
An example of each:
FPS: Halo.
SpunkGargleWeeWee: Call Of Duty.
TurdWaffles: Serious Sam

 

[Something Amyss]

So, Spunkgargleweewee - a term created by Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw to describe the average generic shooter that crowds the market these days.

Let me fix that for you:

So, Spunkgargleweewee - a term created by Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw that you should all remember championing the next time someone asks why gamers aren't taken seriously or video games are mocked as a serious medium.

Seriously, I--like everyone else on the Escapist--believe that everything that comes out of Ben Croshaw's mouth is gold, but perhaps someone might take this term the wrong way.

 

[Something Amyss]

If "Spunkgargleweewee" is a thing, then we also need a term for horribly dated shooters that refuse to take any ideas from the past 10 years for fear of alienating their elderly audience.
I propose we call them "TurdWaffles".
An example of each:
FPS: Halo.
SpunkGargleWeeWee: Call Of Duty.
TurdWaffles: Serious Sam

But Halo 4 doesn't have iron sights! Clearly it is a TurdWaffle!

...Or so I hear.