The Big Bang Theory did a great job this week of portraying 98 pecent of the nerds in the world playing halo 3 and the week before they owned mmo players. South Park did a masterful job of ripping the WoW nerds a new ass last year. It's the story tellers fault for inaccuracies.
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Games on TV fad
OK, I've been playing video games since I was barely old enough to remember them. I usually get a kick out of seeing a real game being used in a TV show. If, on occasion, a game becomes a focal point for a show, I like it (such as the South Park WoW episode). As it stands, it's starting to annoy the shit out of me. Last week, CSI:NY centered around Second Life, and they acted like they were playing by mashing keys on a partial keyboard. This week, Life had spreadsheets from drug transactions hidden inside a modified Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and had a montage of a teenaged girl playing the game to access them when the LAPD's resident geek failed to get far enough in the game. Right now, Numb3rs is on. The hook for this episode? An MMORPG. And as always, everyone except a geek on the team is aware of what an MMO even is. Literally no one except this gamer even understands the concept, and she's sitting here explaining the acronyms. Repeatedly. While multiple people who work with modern computers and study things such as human interaction have no clue.
Seriously. Was this, like, the writers deciding to fuck with everyone just before going on strike?
Great, now I'm hearing her explain griefers and campers. Not even very accurately, either. "Just like someone who stays up playing for days is a camper." They're giving me a headache.
Sergon
18 years ago
Vishanti
18 years ago
The difference there is that Big Bang Theory is a comedy written about geeky nerds, and gaming is a big part of the stereotype. It fits. These other shows? Not so much. It feels forced, especially since they're crowding so many into such a small time frame.
It's kind of like the ubiquitous "anti-drug special message" episode for pretty much every family or teen series from the 80s and 90s. You know it's going to happen sooner or later, but it wasn't as much of an annoyance back then because they spaced them out. If all four shows on ABC's TGIF sitcom block had done their anti-drug episode on the same night, I'm sure the intended effect would've been lessened as the annoyance factor weighed down the scales.
It's kind of like the ubiquitous "anti-drug special message" episode for pretty much every family or teen series from the 80s and 90s. You know it's going to happen sooner or later, but it wasn't as much of an annoyance back then because they spaced them out. If all four shows on ABC's TGIF sitcom block had done their anti-drug episode on the same night, I'm sure the intended effect would've been lessened as the annoyance factor weighed down the scales.
Sergon
18 years ago
Quoted For Truth again
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ROzbeans
18 years ago
Yeah it annoys me to tears when they fuck up MMO references on tv. Sometimes it's fun to watch - but mostly I just want to stab someone in the fucking eye.
Vex
18 years ago
you take offense to watching botched game references..
what about fucking computer references in general?
Here i'll show you an APPLE computer, or a DELL computer, but what you're really seeing is a fullscreen animated gif or poorly designed flash to simulate an obviously nonexistent operating system.
that shit is SO annoying.
like CSI.. i love CSI, but you can't just grab the eraser tool and VOILA paint a perfect picture of your victim who's remains consist of a skull.
what about fucking computer references in general?
Here i'll show you an APPLE computer, or a DELL computer, but what you're really seeing is a fullscreen animated gif or poorly designed flash to simulate an obviously nonexistent operating system.
that shit is SO annoying.
like CSI.. i love CSI, but you can't just grab the eraser tool and VOILA paint a perfect picture of your victim who's remains consist of a skull.
Vishanti
18 years ago
Heh.
"See that area in the webcam stream?"
"What, the dimly lit open drawer?"
"No, there." *points*
"The sock?"
"No, behind it."
"Oh, that piece of paper slightly obscured by the sock, shadowed by the dim light that's barely falling on the drawer?"
"Yeah."
"What about it?"
"Zoom in on it and enhance the image so we can see the suspect's face in sharp detail."
"You got it." *click* *click*
"See that area in the webcam stream?"
"What, the dimly lit open drawer?"
"No, there." *points*
"The sock?"
"No, behind it."
"Oh, that piece of paper slightly obscured by the sock, shadowed by the dim light that's barely falling on the drawer?"
"Yeah."
"What about it?"
"Zoom in on it and enhance the image so we can see the suspect's face in sharp detail."
"You got it." *click* *click*
ROzbeans
18 years ago
I still thought the computer enhancing program in Blade Runner that let him look in the reflection of a 2d mirror in a 2d picture was kinda cool.
Sergon
18 years ago
My next favorite is the way Techno Clubs are portrayed in shows/movies. I'm sorry its not a "rave" where ever techno/house are being played. The depictions of raves are all wrong too.
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