Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Geronimoo]

Something similar happened to me at Essen last year. We were playing a prototype of a very complex coop game and the German girl who was teaching us asked me in the middle of the game "Do you have wood?". I turned all red. The other guy at the table looked at me and we laughed. The girl and other girls we were playing with looked at us quizzically, but it was going to be too "hard" to explain. Little embarrassing.

[greatexpectations]

i dissected this clip with a few hardcore settlers playing friends a while back. cool that they mention the game but it is also frustrating to see them get things wrong.

- red has an absolutely awful strategy here. he started on 4 (brick) / 11 (wood) / ocean and 11 (wood) / 12 (sheep) / ocean.
- i'm 95% sure there is a number placed on the dessert tile
- white only has one settlement on the board
- the thief/robber is placed on a wood tile with no number tile on it
- it can also be seen that the yellow die is a 1 while the red is either a 3 or 4, cant tell. that totals to either 4 or 5. but sheldon picks up a wheat when his wheat number appears to be a 6. (but if he picks up the correct card then you don't get the shot of him reaching across the board as the camera pans out...)
- when he is building his settlement he places a card on the pile in front of him. the establishing shot at the beginning of the scene shows that the ore pile is in front of him, so either he is building a very curious settlement with ore or he puts a card in the wrong pile.

[DG]

Even the geekiest program on television can't satisfy proper geeks.

[theory]

I dunno if it really counts as geekiest -- I always felt like it was a show about geeks written by non-geeks.

In any event, Tabletop doesn't do much better with their Settlers game.  They got most or all of the rules right but their starting placements were just awful.

On the other hand, 90% of TV portrayals are inaccurate, so this is par for the course.  (Ask any doctor or lawyer if they can still watch most medical or legal shows.)  I'd rather they get boardgaming wrong than some other hobby wrong. 

[Captain_Frisk]

I dunno if it really counts as geekiest -- I always felt like it was a show about geeks written by non-geeks.

What show on TV would you consider geekier?  I'll constrain the challenge to broadcast TV, otherwise anything you pull off of G4 will win... or maybe Mythbusters.

[Teproc]

I dunno if it really counts as geekiest -- I always felt like it was a show about geeks written by non-geeks.

What show on TV would you consider geekier?  I'll constrain the challenge to broadcast TV, otherwise anything you pull off of G4 will win... or maybe Mythbusters.

Community.

Theory is right. TBBT is a show written by non-geeks, and the show is faulty imo in that it mostly laughs at the characters rather than with them.

[Captain_Frisk]

Community.

Where is that -1 button?  -1 to Greatexpectations as well. 

[greatexpectations]

Where is that -1 button?  -1 to Greatexpectations as well.

care to provide any reasoning?

[popsofctown]

I fortunately don't think of the word wood in an obscene way unless there's a reason to.

[Captain_Frisk]

Where is that -1 button?  -1 to Greatexpectations as well.

care to provide any reasoning?

I couldn't even bear to watch it on an airplane.  I also hate the office, arrested development, that stupid larry david show on hbo, and if we want to cross media, most of the songs by the pixies and citizen kane, so I may just have bad taste.

[angrybirds]

Where is that -1 button?  -1 to Greatexpectations as well.

care to provide any reasoning?

I couldn't even bear to watch it on an airplane.  I also hate the office, arrested development, that stupid larry david show on hbo, and if we want to cross media, most of the songs by the pixies and citizen kane, so I may just have bad taste.

Yes, you do

[Qvist]

I dunno if it really counts as geekiest -- I always felt like it was a show about geeks written by non-geeks.

In any event, Tabletop doesn't do much better with their Settlers game.  They got most or all of the rules right but their starting placements were just awful.

On the other hand, 90% of TV portrayals are inaccurate, so this is par for the course.  (Ask any doctor or lawyer if they can still watch most medical or legal shows.)  I'd rather they get boardgaming wrong than some other hobby wrong.

I really like TableTop and Wil Wheaton is a geek for sure.
But his guests and opponents sure aren't, they are mostly only occassional players.
Gaming with friends is about fun and not optmizing the strategy by any means.
I don't understand why this makes the show inacurrate? Maybe I did understand you wrong...

TBBT on the other hand is a show written by non-geeks, I agree. And I notice sometimes mistakes too.
The mistakes of the Setters of Catan game are really bad. But who cares?
It's still often funny and the "geek theme" is portrayed very well for non-geek viewers.
And they have geeks - like Wil Wheaton himself AFAIK - as consultant to help the writers.

If you want to watch a show from geeks for geeks, watch "The Guild".

[greatexpectations]

I couldn't even bear to watch it on an airplane.  I also hate the office, arrested development, that stupid larry david show on hbo, and if we want to cross media, most of the songs by the pixies and citizen kane, so I may just have bad taste.

ok? you seem to have an issue with a certain style of television show.  the question Teproc responded to asked for a show that could be considered geekier than BBT. i think community fits that, and apparently he does as well.  my and your opinions on the quality or humor of the show are largely irrelevant.

[WanderingWinder]

I couldn't even bear to watch it on an airplane.  I also hate the office, arrested development, that stupid larry david show on hbo, and if we want to cross media, most of the songs by the pixies and citizen kane, so I may just have bad taste.

ok? you seem to have an issue with a certain style of television show.  the question Teproc responded to asked for a show that could be considered geekier than BBT. i think community fits that, and apparently he does as well.  my and your opinions on the quality or humor of the show are largely irrelevant.

See, but I don't group these things together. I don't care for the office, more actively dislike the little of 'that stupid larry david show' that I've seen, but like Big Bang Theory (though, I don't watch it anymore; or any new show for that matter, except sports and news, but that's a different matter entirely) and REALLY like Arrested Development, though I gotta say, it really really helps to watch that one through from the beginning. It builds.

[WanderingWinder]

TBBT on the other hand is a show written by non-geeks, I agree. And I notice sometimes mistakes too.
The mistakes of the Setters of Catan game are really bad. But who cares?
It's still often funny and the "geek theme" is portrayed very well for non-geek viewers.
And they have geeks - like Wil Wheaton himself AFAIK - as consultant to help the writers.

Not sure about having 'geeks', but I do know they have science profs actually helping on the technical stuff anyway - the equations on the boards and whatnot, they apparently care about, at least according to one of them who came in town to talk about it a few years ago.

[Captain_Frisk]

I couldn't even bear to watch it on an airplane.  I also hate the office, arrested development, that stupid larry david show on hbo, and if we want to cross media, most of the songs by the pixies and citizen kane, so I may just have bad taste.

ok? you seem to have an issue with a certain style of television show.  the question Teproc responded to asked for a show that could be considered geekier than BBT. i think community fits that, and apparently he does as well.  my and your opinions on the quality or humor of the show are largely irrelevant.

I was just being a wise ass.  Sorry to ruffle feathers.

[greatexpectations]

See, but I don't group these things together. I don't care for the office, more actively dislike the little of 'that stupid larry david show' that I've seen, but like Big Bang Theory (though, I don't watch it anymore; or any new show for that matter, except sports and news, but that's a different matter entirely) and REALLY like Arrested Development, though I gotta say, it really really helps to watch that one through from the beginning. It builds.

well there are clear differences between all of those shows.  i meant it more in that they typically seem to appeal to the same types of audiences, none of which are the traditional mainstream. i would argue that most of these sorts of shows need to be watched from the beginning to be properly appreciated.  of course, this goes for just about any show, but i think that a mainstream hit (such as BBT) is designed specifically to function well in standalone episodes because of the target of having the show syndicated.

I was just being a wise ass.  Sorry to ruffle feathers.

no worries, my feathers are not currently ruffled. 

[Kirian]

Theory is right. TBBT is a show written by non-geeks, and the show is faulty imo in that it mostly laughs at the characters rather than with them.

What Teproc says here.  I actually find BBT not just faulty but somewhat offensive.  It uses geek stereotypes rather than, well, developing actual characters.  There are plenty of intelligent characters on television who are actual characters rather than just stereotypes.  Willow and Giles (from Buffy) come to mind immediately, House fits, the forensics experts on the various CSI variants.  I'm sure others can make recent suggestions, as I haven't watched TV regularly in years.

The scientists they have checking equations, etc., on BBT apparently aren't Catan players.

[jsh357]

Freaks and Geeks depicts 'geeks' pretty well, though it's obviously depicting geeks in the early 80s.  That's... probably the best example that springs to mind unless you want to extend the definition of 'geek,' in which case I could recommend several other shows.  The I.T. Crowd is a show I find highly amusing, but I can't say it's more accurate than TBBT; it just feels more like it's having fun with the concept than focusing on 'smart people are awful human beings.'

I loathe The Big Bang Theory; I find it one of the most insulting programs on television.  (Basically snowballed from "it's a show about geeks for non-geeks written by people who probably bullied geeks in middle school) [insert pages long rant about Sheldon's characterization that was getting too long-winded and venomous]

[jonts26]

I don't actively dislike TBBT, but I'm not a huge fan either. It has it's moments but it is way too standard sitcom trope heavy to really appeal to me. It's everybody loves raymond, just with some geek stereotypes instead of italian stereotypes. I do really enjoy community for how it sort of mocks those conventions, even while playing into them. I find it to be cleverly written most of the time. And it certainly takes chances with its episodes, even if they don't always work. I would say it's actually geekier than TBBT, but I'm not sure it's super geeky either. There are geekier programs that others have mentioned.

Also since were talking about good TV shows, Parks and Recs anyone?

[theory]

Parks & Recreation is one of those shows where you have to start watching from season 2 rather than season 1.

[Robz888]

Uh, geeky shows that are great, how about Fringe? My top show ever since Lost ended...

[greatexpectations]

Parks & Recreation is one of those shows where you have to start watching from season 2 rather than season 1.

probably true.  but then again i would say that people should stop watching the office after season 3 and scrubs after season 6.

[WrathOfGlod]

Peep Show is an amazing show (Mitchell and Webb)
Also Veep is really really funny

[Teproc]

Parks and Rec is awesome, although I prefer Community to it, and it's not particularly geeky. There are geekier programs than Community, such as The Guild or The It Crowd, afaik, but they're not on american network TV, which is why I gave that answer.

Also, Community is really weird and I understand people who hate it. I, for one, think it's the best comedy ever, although to be fair, I haven't seen Arrested Development yet, or Seinfeld for that matter.

Edit : Well, Fringe is actually probably the right answer, now that you mention it.