1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Get in text with technology with text Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, senior writer for how Stuffed 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: works dot Com. I was trying to come up with 5 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: a topic that would be appropriate for April Fools since 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: this episode were published shortly before April Fools Day. Luckily 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: I didn't have to come up with it on my own. Today, 8 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: our topic comes to us courtesy of a little listener mail. 9 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: Dan writes in with all your base or belonged to us, 10 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: I would love to hear your take on the history 11 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: of this ancient meme. And indeed, the Babylonians in their 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: writings did talk of the one who would bring note 13 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: it's not that ancient, I mean, I guess in the 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: terms of technology, it's kind of old. I told Dan 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: that this particular story, while great, wouldn't quite merit a 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: full episode by itself. So we're gonna look at a 17 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: few different memes that tie in with technology in general 18 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: and video games in particular. I'll probably do more episodes 19 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: about big tech memes and where they came from in 20 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: the future, but today we'll just examine a few. So 21 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: where do some of the most famous video game memes 22 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: come from, and how did they spread around and what 23 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: do they mean? Well, first things first, let's define what 24 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: a meme is. And the nice thing is we don't 25 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: really have to because Richard Dawkins did it for us 26 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: in a book called The Selfish Gene Now. Dawkins proposed 27 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,119 Speaker 1: the idea of a meme meme being something we would 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: use to describe an idea that spreads quickly throughout a 29 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: population of people. That population, by the way, does not 30 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: have to be regional. You know, you don't have to 31 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: say the population of a town or the population of 32 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: a country. That population could be uh any group of 33 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: like minded individuals within a particular subculture. And the Internet 34 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: makes it possible for memes to spread globally rapidly. It's 35 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: important to point out that memes don't have to be 36 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: on the Internet at all. They that's one of the 37 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: ways that we encounter memes, but that's just one method 38 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: of distribution. A meme is an idea. The method Internet 39 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: is just a handy way of getting those ideas spread 40 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: throughout the globe. So while an image with a funny 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,399 Speaker 1: joke on it is a meme, not all memes are 42 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: images with a funny joke on them. It's just one 43 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: single type of meme. It's kind of one of those 44 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,239 Speaker 1: all Dalmatians are dogs, but not all dogs are Dalmatians 45 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: kind of thing. Some memes spread primarily through a specific culture. Culture, 46 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: so gamers are a good example. We're gonna talk a 47 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: lot about video games, and a lot of these memes 48 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: spread at least at first primarily through gamers, some of 49 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: which then ended up going into mainstream. So that's where 50 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: I'm going to start with this discussion, and I'm going 51 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: to answer Dan's question first. I'm not gonna make him wait. 52 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: The meme all your base are belonged to us as 53 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,239 Speaker 1: part of a group of memes that all originate from 54 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: the same source material, and that source is a video 55 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: game called Zero Wing, which came out in nineteen nine. 56 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: It's a side scrolling game in which the player controls 57 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: a spaceship called a Zig, blasting through various enemies. Now 58 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: those enemies are robotic aliens called cats C. A T. S. 59 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: And in the very beginning of the game, it's revealed 60 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: that this group of aliens had recently signed a peace 61 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: treaty with Earth, but are now betraying that treaty. And 62 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: if you understand Japanese and you play the original game, 63 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: all of this is very very clear. It's a little 64 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: less clear in other version. You see, the game started 65 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: out as an arcade game in Japan, and it was 66 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: really really popular, so it was one of the ones 67 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: that was chosen to be ported over to home video 68 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: game systems in Japan. It was also ported to the 69 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: Sega Mega Drive in Europe. Here in the United States 70 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: we called the Mega Drive the Sega Genesis. It's the 71 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: same machine, but two different names. So the European version 72 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: of the Zero Wing game featured some poorly translated dialogue 73 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: in which the original Japanese was transformed into mangled English. 74 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: And what follows is a reading of the transcript of 75 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: the first part of this game in the Mega Drive version. 76 00:04:46,839 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: What happened? What turn on you? How are your allonged us? 77 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: You are destruction? What do you say? You captain? You 78 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: know what you're doing? Move zick for great justice. It's 79 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: really moving, isn't it. It's a kind of gets you. Yeah, 80 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: it's it's like the Braveheart speech. Really is it's really 81 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: what it comes down to. So interesting fact, the United 82 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,559 Speaker 1: States never got that version of the game, at least 83 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: not officially. People might have ordered an import, but the 84 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: official version with the terrible translation came from the European market, 85 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 1: not the US market. And it's a bit surprising that 86 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: this meme even took off at all because the game's 87 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: release preceded the Worldwide Web. The earliest known examples of 88 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: the memes appearing online date to n Now, that is 89 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: pretty ancient for Internet memes, because most of them kind 90 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: of surface and then maybe they're popular for a few 91 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: months or a little over a year, and then they 92 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: kind of fade away. But you also have to remember 93 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: nearly a decade had passed since the game came out 94 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: before it even showed up on the Internet in the 95 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: first place, so it's pretty incredible now. Despite the long 96 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: amount of time between the game's release and its celebration online, 97 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: the meme did take off. Various forums, particularly on gaming sites, 98 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: saw the phrase popping up in discussions and profiles. Some 99 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: musicians and other creators began to incorporate phrases and references 100 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: in their works, popularizing it even more. By two thousand one, 101 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: Wired had covered the story, and soon it got the 102 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: attention of other mainstream outlets like The Guardian, the San 103 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 1: Francisco Chronicle, and USA Today. The phrases from this translation 104 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: live on to this day. You will often hear people 105 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: refer to or see references to all your base are 106 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: belonged to us. And this really shows you the power 107 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: of memes. The good ones catch on quickly and spread 108 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: rapidly through various groups and stick around. They don't just 109 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: get really popular and then disappear. Uh. It's it's an 110 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: interesting kind of pop culture in a way. Some of 111 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: them can break free of their origins have become mainstream 112 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: pop culture and not just stay in those little enclaves 113 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: that they began in. But some of those might be 114 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: stuck in smaller niches. For example, do a barrel roll? 115 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: That could be one of those Hey, Dylan, do you 116 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: recognize do a barrel roll? Dylan does recognize? Do a 117 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: barrel roll. This meme comes from a Nintendo sixty four 118 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: game called Star Fox sixty four, which in itself was 119 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: a popular sequel to an earlier Super Nintendo game simply 120 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: called Star Fox. Now. In both games, you pilot a 121 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: spaceship and you can dodge incoming enemy laser fire by 122 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: doing a barrel roll. But in Star Fox sixty four 123 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: the maneuver received special attention. And there's a point when 124 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: you're heading toward the stationary turrets that are firing on you, 125 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: and that's when a character I think he's a donkey 126 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: pops up. His name is Peppy Hair, and he shouts 127 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: do a barrel roll, just as Dylan did earlier. And 128 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: thus a meme was born. By the Worldwide Web was 129 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: becoming a household name. It would take a few more 130 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: years for it to develop its cheeky side, and on 131 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: January two thousand four, someone created a definition of do 132 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:37,520 Speaker 1: a barrel roll on the Urban Dictionary, that great repository 133 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: of information both entertaining and incredibly base. And in two 134 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: thousand and six, a group of four chan pranksters began 135 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: to call Tom Green during his talk show and they 136 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: would just shout do a barrel roll over the phone. Now, 137 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: to be fair, this was not a case of people 138 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:58,319 Speaker 1: being unsolicited mischief makers, because Tom Green's career was based 139 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: off of hosting Collin shows in which most of the 140 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: calls were some sort of prank. So it's not like 141 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: Tom Green was new to this kind of experience. It 142 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: was just a very specific implementation. The meme found its 143 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: way on numerous images and animated gifts on the Internet. 144 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: And yes, I pronounce it gifts. I know that the 145 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: creator of the format says Jeff's but he's wrong. Gift 146 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: is how it should be said. I'm planting my flag 147 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: on this one. Not my flag anyway. There are plenty 148 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: of examples of this meme online, usually involving animations of 149 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,079 Speaker 1: people or animals flipping over accompanied by the text do 150 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: a barrel roll and even if you Easter eggs, So 151 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 1: here's one. If you want an Easter egg, go to Google, 152 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: just Google dot com and do a search for do 153 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: a barrel roll. Go ahead, give it a shot. It's 154 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: pretty cute. All right. I got a several more memes 155 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: I want to talk about, but before I do, let's 156 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:10,080 Speaker 1: take a quick break to thank sponsor. All Right, we're back, 157 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: and the next meme I want to talk about is 158 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,839 Speaker 1: the zerg rush. Dylan, do you know this one? Dylan 159 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,079 Speaker 1: does not know this one. This refers to a tactic 160 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: in the game StarCraft. So StarCraft is a real time 161 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: strategy game with the science fiction theme, and you play 162 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: one of three different factions in the game. You control 163 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,959 Speaker 1: various units and methods of production, and you participate in 164 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: strategic battles in order to control essentially what is a board. 165 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: So you build various facilities which allow you to create units, 166 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: and you use those units to try and defeat the 167 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: other player. So one of those three species are the Zurg, 168 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: and that's of course in the original StarCraft game, and 169 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: they are insect like critters. Their main advantage is that 170 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: you can make an awful lot of them relatively quickly. 171 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: So the individual units, particularly the starting ones, aren't very strong, 172 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: but sheer numbers can make up for it. Because your 173 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: production time is so short, you can produce a lot 174 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: more units as Zerg than people playing the other factions 175 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: in the game. So one go to strategy is just 176 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: to ramp up unit production as quickly as possible and 177 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: just overwhelm your opponent with sheer numbers, just hordes of soldiers, 178 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: and that is the Zerg rush. It's a rush both 179 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 1: because you are overcome by huge numbers and that it 180 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: happens pretty quickly. It's such an effective tactic that it 181 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: became pretty common in StarCraft games for players to establish 182 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: some rules of decorum. That it was considered kind of 183 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: common courtesy to say when someone would be allowed to 184 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: launch a Zerg rush. Typically you'd say that Zerg players 185 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: would have to withhold attacking in that way for a 186 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: certain number of minutes, like you might say no Zurg 187 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: rush for a minutes, meaning eight minutes of the game 188 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: have to pass before you can do a Zurg rush, 189 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: and that gives the other players an opportunity to shore 190 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: up their defenses or otherwise work on a strategy to 191 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,959 Speaker 1: survive an incoming attack. Otherwise, it was largely seen as 192 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: unfair that you were taking advantage of a very simple 193 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: mechanism within the game, and you were defeating people not 194 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: through superior strategy, but just by the fact that the 195 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: game favors these underpowered but but numerous units. As for 196 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 1: the meme, the story goes that there was a multiplayer 197 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: match in which a Korean group was controlling the Zurg 198 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: forces and an English speaking group were the opponents, and 199 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: early in the match, a group of Zurg units began 200 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: to attack, at which point one of the English speaking 201 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: participants typed omg Zerg rush and the Korean player typed 202 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: kei ki ki k e k e k e, which 203 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,040 Speaker 1: is akin to l O l in English. You I 204 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: sometimes encounter kiki ki along with zurg rush references in 205 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: this meme, and those references tend to be on images 206 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 1: or enemy gifts or something being swarmed by something else. 207 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,079 Speaker 1: So I've seen one where there's a plane that looks 208 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: like it's being surrounded by a big flock of birds 209 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: and it was labeled zerg rush. Or you might see 210 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: one type of person completely surrounded by other people and 211 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: that might be zerg rush. Like I would imagine a 212 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,960 Speaker 1: picture a dragon con, for example, with a whole bunch 213 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: of people in costume and one person who's clearly not 214 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: in costume just stuck in the middle of it. That 215 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: would be something that you might see zerg rush attached to. 216 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 1: Oh and Google, by the way, has an Easter Egg 217 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: for this meme too, So you can just go to 218 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: Google search and type in zerg rush. That's a z 219 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: e r g rush. Let me know how you do 220 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: if you try that out. Now, not all video game 221 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: memes are about criticizing a game mechanic or making fun 222 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: of a specific game, or even celebrating a specific games 223 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,560 Speaker 1: similar just a celebration of good game design and writing, 224 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: And I think that's the case with the cake is 225 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: a lie. That meme comes from the game Portal, which 226 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,439 Speaker 1: published in two thou seven. Now. In Portal, the player 227 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,599 Speaker 1: takes on the role of a young woman who is 228 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: being held captive in a scientific research facility, and her 229 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: captor is a passive, aggressive, snarky artificial intelligence named GLaDOS, 230 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: and GLaDOS is constantly goading the character further down the 231 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: pathway to keep trying to get through increasingly difficult puzzles. 232 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: GLaDOS is constantly there, criticizing you and then giving you lackluster, 233 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: insincere praise whenever you successfully navigate one of these tough puzzles. Uh, 234 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: you get a lot of snark from GLaDOS, including one 235 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: of the greatest post credit songs of all time, written 236 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: by Jonathan Colton in the voice of GLaDOS. One explore 237 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: the game world, you can encounter stuff like messages scrawled 238 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: on walls, and the messages are from an old lab 239 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: worker named Doug Ratman, and one of the famous messages 240 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: is the phrase the cake is a lie written repeatedly. 241 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: The reason for this is Gladows constantly tells you that 242 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: if you are to complete all the tasks, you will 243 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 1: get cake, and that the cake will be amazing. Occasionally, 244 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: GLaDOS will even give you the recipe for a cake. 245 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: There's a lot of cake, at least references to it 246 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 1: in Portal. But Doug Ratman, the character that has left 247 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 1: his evidence behind, says that the cake is a lie. 248 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: And for a while people use the cake as is 249 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: a lie as just a general reference to portal. But 250 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: gradually this phrase took on a more general meaning, and 251 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: it came to mean the thing you are looking for 252 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: doesn't exist, or even you are trying to achieve something 253 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: that isn't possible. Urban Dictionary translates it rather eloquently. I 254 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: think into your promised reward is merely a fictitious motivator. 255 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: So you can use this idiom to describe a common 256 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: thread and a lot of stories. For example, in the 257 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: classic The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard promises rewards to 258 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: Dorothy and her friends if they can get rid of 259 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: the wicked Witch of the West. Only it turns out 260 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: the Wizard is a flim flam man with no real 261 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 1: powers of his own. Apart from being a fast talker. 262 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: The cake is a lie. He doesn't have the ability 263 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: to give the characters what they want. In fact, when 264 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: they returned victorious. He bestows gifts on them simply by 265 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: telling each character that they already possessed the thing that 266 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: they want, which is a good thing, since the Wizard 267 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: had no way to deliver upon his promises. Now, some 268 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: memes aren't about specific games at all, but rather gaming 269 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: cliches in general, and why the big ones is called 270 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: video game logic. Now, this refers to things that happen 271 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: in video games that defy common sense. For example, a 272 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: popular meme in this category has a picture of Master Chief, 273 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: who is the protagonist of the Halo franchise of games, 274 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: and the meme says, can flip an extremely heavy tank, 275 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 1: can't control gun recoil. So this refers to the fact 276 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 1: that if you come up to a tank that's on 277 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,119 Speaker 1: its side and you press the right button, master Chief 278 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,640 Speaker 1: will move the tank so that you can get into it. 279 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: And yet every time you fire your gun, it flies 280 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: up in the air, and you think, well, if you're 281 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 1: strong enough to move a tank over, can you control 282 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,720 Speaker 1: the movement of a handgun. It does seem to defy logic, 283 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:44,679 Speaker 1: and this is pretty common, and it's not. That's not 284 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: the only example. I mean, sometimes it's something like invisible 285 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: walls that you are free to roam anywhere until you 286 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: encounter an invisible wall, which in the video game world 287 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,199 Speaker 1: makes sense, but when you think of it outside of 288 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: that context, you start to question, why is this a 289 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: design in this game? Or maybe there is a game 290 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,480 Speaker 1: rule that says if you even step foot in the 291 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:11,920 Speaker 1: edge of water, your character will drown. That's another instance 292 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: of video game logic, like especially a character that seems 293 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 1: to be resilient to almost any kind of damage, like 294 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: you can be shot fourteen times in the chest and 295 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: keep going, but if you touch water, you you immediately drown. 296 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:28,640 Speaker 1: Your toe is apparently where you breathe, and you're a goner. Uh. 297 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: Lots of different variations of this exist online, and mainly 298 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: it's just to point out how video games can be 299 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:41,640 Speaker 1: inconsistent with their logic, that things that the game allows 300 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 1: in some cases mean that things that doesn't allow in 301 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: other cases don't really make sense. And uh, it really 302 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: kind of helps bring attention to shortcomings in games. Sometimes 303 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,120 Speaker 1: those shortcomings are necessary just to make the game work properly. 304 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: Another example of a short coming in a game is 305 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: repetitive dialogue, particularly in non player characters that you might 306 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:09,680 Speaker 1: encounter in something like a role playing game. Now, it's 307 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: not really feasible to create a game in which everyone 308 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: you encounter has a distinct personality and a non repetitive 309 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 1: dialogue option, particularly for games that have hundreds of characters 310 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: in them. So the more characters you have, the harder 311 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: it is to give each one an individual personality and 312 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: history and conversational options. So that means sometimes you hear 313 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 1: the same phrases repeated, and sometimes that gets a bit comedic, 314 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,399 Speaker 1: and that is the case with our next meme, I 315 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,200 Speaker 1: took an arrow in the knee. That one comes from Skyrim, 316 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: which is from Bethesda, and that game came out in 317 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: two thousand eleven. It's a big, sprawling fantasy game across 318 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: an enormous map, and that map has several towns and 319 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: villages and outposts in it, and most of those places 320 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 1: have guards living there, and there are male and female guards, 321 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: and they often have different voices. They've got several different 322 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: voice actors to record the same lines of dialogue, and 323 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: that's the problem. They all pull from the same pool 324 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 1: of scripted lines. So while the guards you see may 325 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 1: look different and sound different from each other, they all 326 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: have very similar stories to share like. It turns out 327 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: they all have the exact same background, which includes a 328 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: mysterious incident in which they were shot in the knee 329 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: by somebody. So the actual line of dialogue is I 330 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took 331 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: an arrow in the knee. Now it doesn't pop up 332 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: every time you meet a guard, but it does happen occasionally, 333 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: and that line is so distinct that's noticeable every single 334 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,400 Speaker 1: time you hear it. So there are tons of memes 335 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: based off this game experience that are video montages of 336 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: guards talking about getting shot in the knee, which gets 337 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: funnier the longer it goes because you realize that Skyram 338 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,719 Speaker 1: is almost entirely bought related by guards with a limp uh. 339 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: There are variations on images in which the first part 340 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: of the phrase gets replaced by something else. So, for example, 341 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: I saw one with a My Little Pony character on 342 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,920 Speaker 1: it that says I used to wonder what friendship could be, 343 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,720 Speaker 1: then I took an arrow in the knee. But my 344 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: favorite was one that I couldn't immediately identify. I didn't 345 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: know what video game it was from, but it showed 346 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,920 Speaker 1: like a a typical fantasy villain, something that you might 347 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: see in like Diablo or or something along those lines. 348 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: But it was a headless character. So it was this big, 349 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: monstrous suit of armor but with no head, and the 350 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 1: caption said I used to have a face. Then I 351 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: took an arrow to the knee, which makes perfect sense. Really, 352 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: I love that one. I once actually pitched a short 353 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: comedy commercial about a guard recruitment service that would supply 354 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 1: villages and towns with guards, and their method would be 355 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,679 Speaker 1: to seek out adventurers and then shoot them in the knee, 356 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: and then the only suitable job they would have at 357 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: that point is guard and voila instant security force for 358 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: your town. But I never did make that video. Maybe 359 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,919 Speaker 1: one day I will. I've got some other memes to 360 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,879 Speaker 1: talk about, including the creepiest one on this list, but 361 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,359 Speaker 1: before I get to that, let's take another quick break 362 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. Now some memes go beyond being silly, 363 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,399 Speaker 1: and now it's time to talk about slender Man. And 364 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: actually to talk about slender Man, we have to talk 365 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: about spooky spaghetti. No, I'm sorry, I mean I'm at 366 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 1: creepy pasta. And here's where the old man and Me surfaces. 367 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: Because I gotta be honest with you guys. I had 368 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:46,199 Speaker 1: to look all this stuff up because I'm old. I 369 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: know what slender Man is, but the creepy pasta stuff 370 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: that's after my time on the Internet. So I had 371 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,640 Speaker 1: to actually learn about this stuff, which was really interesting actually, 372 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: So for those who do not know, there's this nomenon 373 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: on the Internet called creepy pasta. Now that term actually 374 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,200 Speaker 1: is a twist on an older Internet slang word called 375 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: copy pasta, which first started popping up on the forum 376 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: four chan in the mid two thousand's. It's a word 377 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:19,159 Speaker 1: used to designate an example of viral copy and pasted text. 378 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: So this is when you will encounter like a paragraph 379 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:26,440 Speaker 1: of text that has clearly been copied from somewhere else 380 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 1: and pasted into this forum, and it just starts to 381 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: spread from that point forward. You see it all over 382 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: the Internet, particularly in forums and Facebook. You'll see a 383 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:37,919 Speaker 1: lot of copy pasta. On Facebook. I see it all 384 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: the time where people have uh copy and pasted a 385 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: a message they clearly didn't write it themselves, and it 386 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: has gone viral from that point. Now, creepy pasta is 387 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: a more specific type of this copy and paste viral information. 388 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: It's a term that describes stories that have a horror 389 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: element to them, frequently that is supernatural in nature, although 390 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 1: not necessarily, but a lot of them are kind of 391 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: paranormal creepy stuff. This, by the way, it's not a 392 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,400 Speaker 1: new thing. I mean, we've had folklore for as long 393 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: as people have been able to tell stories. Before the Internet, 394 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 1: we would use technology to share these kinds of information 395 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:22,120 Speaker 1: using faxes. It was actually called facx lore. People would 396 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,680 Speaker 1: share jokes and stories, cartoons, and other printed material by 397 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: faxing it to each other. So there's something innate about 398 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: humans that drives us to create and share these stories 399 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,119 Speaker 1: and ideas, whether it's through the Internet or a facts 400 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: or just sitting around a fire chatting away. Anyway, let's 401 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: get back to Slenderman now. Slenderman didn't just start off 402 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: as like creepy pasta per se. Originally, it was actually 403 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: part of a series of pranks pulled by members of 404 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: the Something Awful forums. Something Awful is a comedy website, 405 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: and in one of the forums, members had decided to 406 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 1: manufacture photos depicting seemingly supernatural phenomena using Photoshop and other 407 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,880 Speaker 1: editing software. So the idea was let's take pictures, let's 408 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: manipulate the photos so that we can give them a weird, 409 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: otherworldly element to them. And then here comes the prank part. 410 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: Let's share those photos on paranormal forums, like forums that 411 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: are about paranormal activity or are uh, you know, got 412 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,960 Speaker 1: an interest in paranormal subject matter, and pass them off 413 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 1: as real. So the challenge was create these these altered 414 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: photos and then share them on various paranormal sites and 415 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: try to convince people that these are in fact actual 416 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: examples of photographed paranormal activity. Now. One of the members 417 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: of that forum was Eric Knudsen, who contributed under the 418 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,119 Speaker 1: handle Victor Surge. That was the name he used. He 419 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: edited some photos of people uh and typically school children, 420 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: but not just school children, some teenagers as well, and 421 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: inserted the figure of an unusually tall man in what 422 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: appeared to be a suit. The man didn't seem to 423 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: have a face, and perhaps had some tendrils or something 424 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: coming off of them. It was hard to make out 425 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: because the details were pretty fuzzy but also very unsettling. 426 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 1: Victor posted these images on a forum for people interested 427 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: in the paranormal, along with a short account of what 428 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: the pictures supposedly showed, and according to Victor's story, it 429 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,680 Speaker 1: was people being evacuated from a library that had caught 430 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: fire and the unusual ghostly creature may have had something 431 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: to do with it, and many of the children were 432 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: never found again, and that was the the birth of 433 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: slender Man. Now, this particular character was probably inspired by 434 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: other depictions of ghouls and bogimen. There are a lot 435 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: of different historical variations on this idea of the faceless, 436 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:11,920 Speaker 1: unusually tall creature that looks vaguely like a man, very 437 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:16,640 Speaker 1: menacing in nature. There are also examples of this even 438 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: in computer games. Uh So, it's not like it was 439 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: a totally new idea, but this was a particularly interesting 440 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:29,880 Speaker 1: incorporation of this idea and a really compelling photoshop job. 441 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: It really struck a nerve others. Something awful members began 442 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,120 Speaker 1: to incorporate slender Man into their own stories, and they 443 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: began to add to the mythology sometimes referred to as 444 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: the slender Verse. Slenderman had entered the world of creepy pasta. 445 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: They popped up on lots of different sites including four Chane, 446 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: fan Gloria, Unfiction, TV tropes, Deviant Art, and many other 447 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: websites and forums, So it became one of those things 448 00:27:54,840 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: where people began to shape and evolve and tweet this 449 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,239 Speaker 1: idea and make it grow from there. That's kind of 450 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,160 Speaker 1: this this defining feature of folklore and memes in general. 451 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:14,359 Speaker 1: And also, uh, you could argue that that it's a 452 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: continuation of the same sort of ideas you would even 453 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: see back in the pulp horror novel days. HP Lovecraft, 454 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,919 Speaker 1: for example, created a bunch of fictional books, including the 455 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: Necronomicon in the Mythology of Stories, and he encouraged his 456 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:36,200 Speaker 1: author friends to incorporate elements of his Cathulu universe, including 457 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: mainly those fictional books, in their own work, and he 458 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: would do the same. So in this case, you had 459 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: a bunch of different authors incorporating each other's creations and 460 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: giving those creations more weight. They seem to be more 461 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: real because more people were writing about it. How could 462 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: it be one person's imagined thing when it's popping up 463 00:28:56,120 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: in other people's stories. Very similar with Slenderman, except we're 464 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: talking about the Internet in general, not a small group 465 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: of authors. And over time you began to see other 466 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,760 Speaker 1: incarnations and implementations of slender Man that included a video 467 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: game in which you play as a person being pursued 468 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: by the Slenderman while you uncover clues in a secluded 469 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: forest in your fenced end, so you can't easily escape, 470 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,239 Speaker 1: and you have to find notes, but each note you 471 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: find gives the Slenderman more of an idea where you are, 472 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: and he starts to close in on you. Several filmmakers 473 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,239 Speaker 1: have created online videos inspired by the character. There are 474 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:37,239 Speaker 1: series like Everyman, Hybrid Tribe twelve, and Marble Hornets that 475 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: all took inspiration from and added to the mythology of 476 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: slender Man in interesting ways. And there are really too 477 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: many incarnations and incorporations of Slenderman for me to go into. 478 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: Here you can find him or variations of him, and 479 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: things like Minecraft and short films. But obviously I can't 480 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: leave this topic without also mentioning the two thousand fourteen 481 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: stabbing incidents. And I say incidents because there was one 482 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: in Wisconsin and one in Ohio that year. Both of 483 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: them are terrible stories. So in Wisconsin, to twelve year 484 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: old girls were arrested on attempted murder charges after attacking 485 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:23,960 Speaker 1: and stabbing a mutual friend nineteen times Allegedly, the friend 486 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: has since recovered from her wounds, but the two girls 487 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: remain in the court system being tried for this crime, 488 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: and one of the two attackers, during a confession, said 489 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:39,479 Speaker 1: that slender Man was the motivation behind the attack. She 490 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: claimed that she believed that slender Man would harm her 491 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 1: family if she did not carry out this attack. There's 492 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: been some move on the family's lawyer in this case 493 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: to strike that confession due to h a claim that 494 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,560 Speaker 1: the miranda rights of the of the the accused were 495 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: not properly a ministered. So that's still something that's unfolding 496 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: in the court system as I record this. The second 497 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: incident happened in Ohio, and that was a little different. 498 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: A mother was attacked by her daughter and the daughter 499 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: stabbed her mother several times and it mostly resulted with 500 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: superficial cuts. But the mother said she believed her daughter 501 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: was obsessed with the slender Man story and that that 502 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: was the motivation behind the attack. Now, I'm not a psychologist. 503 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: I have no training or expertise in psychology. However, I've 504 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: seen similar cases involving other types of pop culture, and 505 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: that includes rock music, role playing games, video games. Laws 506 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: that kind of scene. I've seen people blame other things 507 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: for the behavior of folks. I don't necessarily believe that 508 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: it was the thing that inspired the person to go 509 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: out and do terrible things. I think in most cases 510 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: there's some indication that there were underlying factors that were 511 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 1: the real problem. Maybe the video game or pop culture 512 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: reference or whatever gave some direction, but the motivation factor 513 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: was already present. I don't think that a fictional creation 514 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,320 Speaker 1: has that much power over actual people. Now, I don't 515 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: want to end on such a grim note, so I'm 516 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,240 Speaker 1: going to talk about one last goofy tech meme, and 517 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: in this case, I'm going to talk about a brave, 518 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 1: some might say foolhardy character named Leroy Jenkins. This meme 519 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 1: concerns the granddaddy of m m O r pgs, that 520 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: would be the World of Warcraft. The story begins with 521 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 1: a video, which was potentially staged, of a group of 522 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: guild members from Pals for Life leading an excursion into 523 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: an area of the game called the Rookery. So, if 524 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 1: you're not familiar with World of Warcraft, there's a fantasy 525 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: based m m O rpg, meaning you're playing a role 526 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: with a bunch of other people all online a massive 527 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 1: multiplayer online role playing game, uh and you can do 528 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff on your own, but the game 529 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 1: encourages you to form friendships with other gamers and to 530 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: form groups with them, guilds with them, and do things 531 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: as a guild. And one of the things you might 532 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: do is go into particularly difficult areas that you would 533 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,880 Speaker 1: have very little chance of surviving on your own. One 534 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: of those in at this time during World of Warcraft's 535 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,160 Speaker 1: history was the Rookery. They had a lot of potential 536 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: monsters to fight, including dragon spawn, which are pretty nasty. 537 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 1: It takes a clever strategy to defeat the hordes of enemies, 538 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: particularly talking to people about their use of healing abilities, 539 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: you know, the support characters, while the damage characters go 540 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 1: in and try and clear out as many of the 541 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: bad guys as possible. And that's where the video gets 542 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,960 Speaker 1: its humor. So as this group is standing outside the 543 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: room discussing over microphones, so you can hear everybody talking 544 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: what the best tactics are and also acknowledging the likelihood 545 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: that they're all going to be massacred because their survival 546 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 1: percentage chances somewhere in the thirties as I recall, one 547 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 1: character steps forward and says, all right, let's do this. 548 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:24,880 Speaker 1: Ley Roar giant cans and he just charges inside immediately 549 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: as party follows him, and they are very quickly eviscerated 550 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:34,279 Speaker 1: by the dragon spawn, and they very quickly also admonished 551 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:38,120 Speaker 1: Leroy for his impetuous decision and LeRoy's response as well. 552 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:42,920 Speaker 1: At least I got chicken, and truer words were never spoken. Now. 553 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,880 Speaker 1: The guild uploaded the video of this incident to a 554 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: fan site called Warcraft Movies, and later they uploaded it 555 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,720 Speaker 1: twice to YouTube, and the second time it really found 556 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:57,400 Speaker 1: huge success. Gamers and non gamers alike found it very amusing. 557 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: Ben Schultz, who was the player trolling Lee Roy Jenkins, 558 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: found himself the center of attention. Blizzard, the company that 559 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: makes World of Warcraft, actually invited Schultz to come and 560 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,719 Speaker 1: be a keynote speaker at their gaming convention, blizz Con. 561 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:16,720 Speaker 1: Schultz has repeatedly been asked if the video was actually 562 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,560 Speaker 1: a real capture of honest to goodness gameplay or if 563 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:24,279 Speaker 1: it was just a staged video for comedic purposes, and 564 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:25,880 Speaker 1: he says he likes to leave that up to the 565 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: individual viewer. I'm pretty sure it's staged, but honestly, I 566 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: don't really care because it's just entertaining. It's pretty funny 567 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,480 Speaker 1: and perfectly captures the frustration that gamers can feel when 568 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: someone on their team behaves recklessly. I'm sure the gamers 569 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: among you have been in a situation where you're in 570 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 1: a team based game and you all have a pretty 571 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,879 Speaker 1: good plan for how things should turn out and one 572 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:53,360 Speaker 1: person just goes completely off the rails and ruins it 573 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 1: for everybody. It's a very frustrating experience. It's funny to watch, 574 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: but it's not that funny to be in at the time. Also, 575 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:02,759 Speaker 1: I really like this one because I have a friend 576 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,320 Speaker 1: named Ariel. She's been on the show a couple of times, 577 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: and her band Tenpenny Travelers wrote a song about Leroy 578 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:11,320 Speaker 1: Jenkins and it makes me laugh a lot. I wish 579 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: I could share that with you, but they don't have 580 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:18,200 Speaker 1: a recorded version, Otherwise I would include it with this episode. Uh. 581 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:23,960 Speaker 1: But the the meme of le Roy Jenkins spread like crazy, 582 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:27,760 Speaker 1: not just in the world of warcraft circles. It also 583 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: spread onto lots of gifts and stuff, and you wouldn't 584 00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: see Leroy Jenkins being applied to any situation where someone 585 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 1: seemed to charge headlong into a scenario without fully considering 586 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,160 Speaker 1: the consequences of their actions. It became kind of shorthand 587 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:46,240 Speaker 1: for that, and Schultz would end up seeing his character 588 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: incorporated into official Blizzard products, like a card in Hearthstone 589 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,400 Speaker 1: or in PC's within World of Warcraft, which is pretty 590 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:56,840 Speaker 1: phenomenal when you think about it. I mean, you gain 591 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: a level of immortality by creating this headstrong character rushes 592 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,120 Speaker 1: into danger without thinking of the consequences. I think that's 593 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,080 Speaker 1: pretty amusing. There are a lot of other memes I 594 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,840 Speaker 1: can mention. One of my favorites is Luigi's death Stare 595 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:17,280 Speaker 1: from Mario Kart eight. There's some of the funniest videos 596 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,840 Speaker 1: produced from the Luigi's Death Stare, but that one is 597 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,839 Speaker 1: so dependent upon the visual of Luigi sneering down at 598 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,680 Speaker 1: you as he passes by. That doesn't really work that 599 00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 1: well for an audio podcast. And the memes out there 600 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: keep on growing, some will endure, many will fade away, 601 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,720 Speaker 1: a few might come back after disappearing for a while 602 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 1: because ideas are like that. And that wraps up this 603 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,360 Speaker 1: episode of tech stuff. But before I go, I have 604 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: some exciting announcements to make first long time listeners know 605 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: that tech Stuff used to publish twice a week. Good 606 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:52,080 Speaker 1: news everyone, We're doing that thing again. Starting next week, 607 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: this tech Stuff will publish two episodes. I think we're 608 00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:01,080 Speaker 1: publishing on Wednesdays and Fridays. Dylan is shrug, so why 609 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,520 Speaker 1: don't quote me on it, But it's it's likely to 610 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,359 Speaker 1: be Wednesdays and Fridays. That's what it was before. So 611 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: keep an eye out because we should have two episodes 612 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,760 Speaker 1: go live next week, not just one. And that's not all. 613 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,879 Speaker 1: As an experiment, I will begin to live stream tech 614 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,280 Speaker 1: Stuff recordings. That means you can actually watch me record 615 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:24,440 Speaker 1: episodes live. It also means that if you tune in, 616 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,319 Speaker 1: you will hear episodes that will not publish for a 617 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: couple of weeks because I'm always recording in advance. The 618 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,680 Speaker 1: episodes A record won't publish for a couple of weeks 619 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: because I always want to have stuff in the buffer, 620 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: so that way I won't skip a week of publication 621 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 1: if I happen to go on vacation or if I 622 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,640 Speaker 1: get sick or something. So if you want to watch 623 00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,080 Speaker 1: me record episodes, including the bits where I mess up 624 00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:53,520 Speaker 1: and have to go back to fix something you can. Plus, 625 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,120 Speaker 1: there will be live chat incorporated in this experience. I 626 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,520 Speaker 1: will participate in the live chat, particularly before the show 627 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 1: begins and also during ad breaks. When I'm doing the show, 628 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,320 Speaker 1: I'm probably looking at my notes, so I probably won't 629 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,279 Speaker 1: be responding to chat very frequently unless I mess up 630 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,400 Speaker 1: and I want to take a little break. Now, if 631 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 1: you have questions or comments about the show I'm recording, 632 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,320 Speaker 1: you can leave them in the chat at that moment, 633 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,359 Speaker 1: and I can respond to them pretty quickly. I might 634 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: even go back and re record something. So for example, 635 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:25,759 Speaker 1: if I give an explanation but you don't really think 636 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:27,399 Speaker 1: it was very clear, I might need to go back 637 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:31,360 Speaker 1: and redo it, which means the people who watch me 638 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 1: live will be contributing directly to making the show a 639 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 1: better show, which is kind of awesome. Now, the whole 640 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,799 Speaker 1: thing is going live on Twitch, dot tv, Slash Tech 641 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:46,560 Speaker 1: Stuff hs W right now. The plan is for me 642 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,879 Speaker 1: to go live on Wednesdays at four pm Eastern and 643 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,239 Speaker 1: Friday's at three pm Eastern. Now, if you don't live 644 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:56,520 Speaker 1: in the Eastern time zone, do me a favor and 645 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,399 Speaker 1: just use Google to find out what three or four 646 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:01,879 Speaker 1: BM Eastern is in your neck of the woods. Don't 647 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 1: ask me, I'm not Google. I'll try to remember to 648 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,319 Speaker 1: tweet out when I'm going live though. That should help. 649 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,240 Speaker 1: And if you guys have any suggestions for future episodes, 650 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:13,480 Speaker 1: feel free to shoot me a message and let me know. 651 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,799 Speaker 1: My email address is tech stuff at how stuff works 652 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,239 Speaker 1: dot com, or you can drop me a line on 653 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,759 Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter. The handle of both of those is 654 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,799 Speaker 1: tech stuff h s W and I'll talk to you 655 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:33,560 Speaker 1: again really soon. For more on this and thousands of 656 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 1: other topics, is it how stuff works dot com.