Okay, just finished it. Let me start off by just saying what every other non-Brit is thinking. Dat accent, *swoon*. Now that that's over with...
I really enjoyed the podcast overall. I appreciated about 80% of the meandering that was happening. It was interesting and along the lines of what I wanted to hear in the Hack Chat. I think that the DCs and asking what happened should've been cut out, and I appreciate that Hashtag made no effort to rehash when they happened. I also appreciated FBI's insight into various things, as well as Lostelle and Hastag's insight into the community at large, sort of putting the pulse on it. Again, you have to shorten those long pauses though, and edit out the really long umms and ahhs (I noticed FBI doing this a lot) if it can be done without the listener noticing. They're infuriating. The shorter ones that flow quickly and directly into the next words are fine. Lostelle, I thought, was kind of quiet and a bit overpowered by everyone else. Like, I feel like maybe Lost had some lag and didn't get to jump in everytime he wanted to, because the listener gets the impression that he interrupts FBI/Hashtag to say his piece (which may have been lag).
This is the first Hack Chat, so I know that there's going to be some growing and squirming to get into the right size and spot for the topics and such. What I would like to hear are more in-depth analyses about why you think the hacking community is smaller. Why the overall quality of hacks has gone down. What can be done for the community in the long run? I feel like you brushed the surface of the topics that I was interesting in hearing about and then it just kind of stopped. I'd like to hear opinions and analyses about the general game design things that we have to consider while hacking, which I think would be more helpful for newbies than the general tips section. Sort of the theory behind a quality story, a quality map, quality content. Pacing, flow, etc. I have a ton to say about these game design-y particular things and how they could be applied in a hack; and would love to hear more from others or see a discussion sparked.
I'm probably in the minority, but I don't want to spend ten to fifteen minutes hearing about the hacks that the hosts like, unless it's in reference to a particular quirk or mechanic or example of something that they did right as a reference for the current topic. We all know what the popular hacks are. There's less than half a page of actual content in each hack release subforum. If I was interested in a hack, I'd look at its thread and save myself the listening time. The bit about Eclipse's sidequests would've been better served within a broader topic about the "thickness" of a hack's content, for example. That sort of thing. For all the time spent gushing about Gaia, there was surprising little that was actually said. You all didn't get into the meat of why you thought Gaia was good, just the superficial things. The hacks that you wanted revived was an interesting topic, but I wish some links to the hack threads and archived screenshots were included in the description. I remembered all of the hacks that were mentioned, but there are people here that will not. I'd also like to hear some of the things that you would've done differently in your favorite hacks. Like, maybe the hosts of the next Hack Chat could have some homework: they need to play through or replay a popular hack that's available, and then talk about the things that they might've done differently.
I think that refocusing the discussion to opinions and analyses of what is working and what isn't in our community, the theory behind game design that is pertinent to hackers, and less "I like this hack" and more of "Here are three things that made me like this hack and why, here are the things I would've done differently," would lead to a much more interesting and more passionate discussion from the hosts. I'd love to get involved if you want some ideas about what format these suggestions (if you want to run with them!) could take, or if you want a guest that has thought a lot about these concepts.
Admittedly, I had my doubts about how this was going to pan out initially, but I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the result. I genuinely hope this keeps up and has the time to mature into its full potential, because there is a ton of potential here.
