Double Agent
Double Agent: The Next Generation - August 16, 2001 - Chris Jones

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Why is everybody headed for Japan these days? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Followup to whoever was commenting on Yoko Shimomura's work Monday: I recently acquired the LoM OST and got a crash review in the work she did for the series... ye gods. I don't know if it's the cool, cloudy, somber weather we've had as of late or what, but this thing is stunning, maybe painfully so. Between rich instrumentals, nifty techno and a fight song or two that seems ripped straight off of a Mega Man X game, I love this thing. Forget the FF X OST, I want to hear what Kingdom Hearts is going to sound like.

Onward.

Use your debating power for good, not evil
Well what do I want from the new DA? For starters I want a consummate debater who doesn't uses his power to always have the last word warp and twist arguments. Unfortunately I have not yet seen a letter columnist who actually does that, you and AK were a bit better than most though. I want a DA who talks about issues and not about erotic fanfic, playing D&D over IRC or random nonsense words that are "funny" (if I wanted that I can go to RPGamer's letters page). Most of all I want a DA who generally agrees with the way I see gaming (something which you did pretty well). Unfortunately that is not something you can really ask for because of the massive differences in all the points of view out there. Anyway I hope you use the 2-5 hours you have freed up each day to play some games. Hasta Luego!

P.S. Is it just me or is there a massive lack of FFX import reviews out there, I mean the game came out almost a month ago. There were GT3 import reviews pretty fast.

--
BeerGoggles_FromMARS
Daniel Kaszor

There's kind of a catch 22 with your request above - if anyone's interested in taking this position in the first place, they likely love to debate. And part of loving to debate is loving to win, which means it's awfully hard to let the other guy get the last word in, especially given the kind of setup power a DA has. Speaking for myself, I was always pretty satisfied if I could just get in a few letters that argued against my own viewpoint; that's about as impartial as you're likely to get when you've have a moderator who's not totally devoid of interest in the source material.

As for the FFX reviews, it's pretty simple: the game requires far more in the way of Japanese comprehension than previous games did. Voice acting is almost everywhere in the game, to an extent that people who might be able to stumble through a text-only Japanese import are sometimes left behind. The GIA has at least two staffers who have played the full version of the game that I know of, and both stopped after a few hours to wait for a more easily comprehensible US version, IIRC. (My apologize to the staffers concerned if I remember that wrong, send a correction this way if I am.)

Specialized interests a plus (maybe)
Hmm...

Well Chris, with you leaving and another DA agent coming in...I'm tempted to just say someone similar to yourself would be great.

But that would be clinging to the past, which yesterday's column was all about, so...

I think I'd like to see someone with a pretty broad knowledge of games. But taht goes without saying. I'd really like to see someone who knows a good deal of where some of our greatest games come from. A tremendous amoutn of games are based on animes we don't know about, and I'd like to hear about them.

Someone who will for the most part take a neutral stance, but also add there personal opinion after the general standpoint.

And I'd really like someone who's had some tabletop experience for 2 reasons. First, so I don't feel like the biggest nerd in the world, and second, so I have someone who will appreceite when I brag about maxing out an Elven Blade at level 20.

Peace,

Stryker, who really isn't sure what he wants in a DA agent, and would like ot be one himself

Again, specialized interests are sort of a double-edged sword. I've tended to litter DA with obscure (and not so obscure) references over the years, and while I've gotten plenty of emails saying "You know about X? That's so cool!" I must have also left plenty of people scratching their heads in confusion about what I was talking about, some of whom may have just thrown up their hands in disgust over a DA who couldn't stop quoting sf novels nobody had ever heard of before.

I'm also reminded of something I was thinking earlier when looking at your "greatest games" comment. Strictly in the sense of having started out early, I'm a pretty serious old school gamer, as are many of the rest of the staff. On the other hand, I've had to endure plenty of letters accusing me of having started with Final Fantasy 7, and whoever gets the job next doubtless will undergo much the same. That being the case, I'm half tempted to ask why we don't just give the job to someone who did start gaming recently and be done with it. There are a ton of people out there who started gaming with FF7, although by this point they've likely got as much gaming experience under their belt as all the people who started with FFI did when FF7 came out. Why not let somebody who truly represents the new school take over, and see what they have to say?

It's just a thought, and likely won't happen, but it's an interesting notion to toy with.

Wanted: someone who doesn't embarrass themselves telling a joke
Chris,

Sorry for the late response to the over looked topic, I planned getting around to it, but sleeping got in the way. In any case, I can't limit myself to one over looked game, but rather 3. Shining Force III for the Saturn, Radiant Silvergun for the Saturn(Treasure's best shooter ever, IMO) and Virtual On: OT for the DC. Sure, Radiant Silvergun is an import and doesn't necessarily qualify it, but still.

And for today's topic...I want a DA that's really witty, but not too terribly opinionated. I remeber a while back how DAs would make me laugh my ass off (I think it was Drew, but I can't remember). But not only would it make me laugh my ass off, it'd make me think. Not at all saying you're a bad DA (which isn't true at all, after all, I'm still reading it, which I can't say about another site...), but I just havn't gotten the same level of entertainment value as I have in the past, it's just mostly intellectual instead of intellectual and comical (which isn't a terrible thing, I'm just sayin).

Chris, who doesn't write columns.

Time flows, things change and change back again, and what was once may someday be again. Who knows, the next DA may be cut from the same sarcastic cloth as Drew Cosner (or even more sarcastic still, Allan Milligan) and if they do end up as such, more power to them. Meantime all I can do is give my personal philosophy on humor: it can strengthen, and even drive a letters column, but you always run the risk of driving away as many people as you bring in.

Think of it this way; someone who's considered really funny by one person may be considered really obnoxious by another, perhaps because there are some people who don't buy that particular brand of jocularity. Put that statement in the context of a letters column and you might get a situation where a hugely popular columnist brings in droves of readers with his personality... and drives away nearly as many. From my standpoint, a letters column at a gaming web site is supposed to be about games, so that's what I talk about; there are definitely people who stopped reading after I took over in disappointment that I wasn't the second coming of Jay Boor, but I also hope I've provided a place where people can come and read just about games, if that's what they're really interested in. More on this topic later.

Banishing the Y chromosome
Chris,

First off: A lot of people are going to miss you.

Next: I want the next DA to be a woman. Tami and Andrea did a nice job then, and the GIA seems to have a shortage of female columnists.

If I can't get that, then at least someone who ISN'T an American. Why? Because I'm so sick of seeing one doing a letters column. I would like to see a gamer from another country host the DA instead simply because they can add a new perspective about games from the OTHER side of the sphere and possibly let some new international culture seep in. (There has been countless times when American pop culture references flew over my head) Surely there are some international gamers from the Asian region who read this column; it would be nice to get one.

If I can't get that either, then I want someone as good as you (suckup) or Drew. Humour and proper reasoning are both very important to me when I read DA.

DMJ (I'd apply for DA if they were asking for a weekender, hint.)

Yep, the staff of the GIA does tend towards the US/Canadian white male nerd demographic, probably because that's who our primary audience tends to be. And there's a fair to middlin' possibility that you'll get your wish - there have been one or two good applications from would-be female DAs (although more are always welcome), and I for one can say that I wouldn't mind seeing a regular woman's perspective on things in the col. On the other hand, we've gotten some killer applications from guys too, and passing someone over just to get a girl as DA brings up a whole bunch of sticky questions... most of which we won't have to mess with, hopefully.

The chances of getting someone who's not American or Canadian, while not completely impossible, aren't as good, unfortunately, mostly because the site's readership is composed of people who speak English as their native language. Still, we'll see what we can see.

And it's too far off to talk about getting a new weekend DA, but it's not impossible either. Nich and Drew are kickass in the position, of course, but it's always possible that school or work pressures would make one or both have to drop out, and if we do need a new full time weekend DA, it won't be me: I enjoy my days off too much.

"Intelligent Gaming". And I want that in quotes, dammit!
Chris,

Thankfully, gaming knowledge and writing ability are not mutually exclusive. Nor are wit and insight. A good DA, like you and your predecessors, will have ample amounts of all four characteristics. Individuals should differ - for instance, Drew has a sharper wit but slightly less gaming knowledge, you personally like to put some serious thought into your responses, etc. - but all four are mandatory in order to run this column for any significant period of time.

The most important function of this column, however, is to provide a forum where "Intelligent Gaming" enthusiasts can discuss and debate our mutual interests. This type of ongoing dialogue is only possible if the hub of the forum - in our case, the DA - takes the role of a moderator. This is not to say that the moderators can't have strong personal opinions - they can, and they do, and unlike those in a political debate, they should express them - just that these opinions shouldn't always eclipse the opinions of others, thus creating a stale and somewhat tyrannical "forum."

So that's what I'd like in a new DA. Sorry to see you go.

Joshua Jarvis

What's to argue with here? Not much, from my standpoint; while I won't presume to say this is the kind of column I've been running, I can say it's the kind of column I've tried to run.

Still, perverse SOB that I am, I can argue some drawbacks to this. If you're a big fan of games - I hesitate to use the phrase "hard core", but certainly someone who has gaming as a big part of their lives - then the above column may hold some interest to you. The problem is, even if you really like games, it's easy to fall behind on the latest releases and let a few weeks or months go by without being absolutely up to date on the latest and greatest. And then if you come back cold to a column like Double Agent, you're liable to be left behind completely, and start wondering if gaming, for you, is still all it was.

The main workaround for something like that, I think, is to have a columnist who's really invigorating and provides insight into why games are so cool in the first place. Not someone who debates the minutia of how game X compares to the classics, but someone who often evokes why gaming was so cool to get into in the first place, and what makes it still worthwhile. Believe me, if we could hire somebody like that, I could retire a very happy DA.

Being in the column without being of the column
Well it seems obvious that a letter column is SUPPOSED to be a forum for the readers to air their voice, rather than a podium for some staff member to vent their opinions (otherwise it would simply be an "editorial"). The new DA should probably view themself as a moderator, but that said, should not restrain themself from voicing their opinion (or popular opinions) in an attempt to further the discussion. People tend to react more strongly when "the man in charge" takes a stance (which isn't a bad thing) than they do when some faceless netizen spouts off, so curbing all opinion would suck much of the feeling and emotion out of the column. All considered however, the primary concern of the DA should be guiding the conversation to things the readers will find interesting, and clearly presenting the opinions of those readers on those subjects.

As to insight and wit... A person without any insight and alot of wit can be quite entertaining (how else could you explain an idiot like Howard Stearn's popularity?). A person with a ton of insight and no wit is just a pretentious bore. I would rather see someone entertaining who is smart enough to host a discussion he may know nothing about, than some know-it-all gaming freak with the personality of a log. Most of all the person should be open minded and considerate of the opinions that may differ from his own, and not some self-righteous, holier-than-thou opinionated prig (*cough*Nich*cough*).

Some Bad Guy
(Is hoping he's not hunted down a slaughtered by grammarians, cuz his spell check is messed)

Tch... I'm letting it go this one time because it is (somewhat) relevant to the point you're making, but in general you don't do yourself any favors by using your letter to badmouth one DA to another. I think Nich's work is great, as do a lot of other people who I respect a heck of a lot more than some guy who won't even sign his real name to his letter, and Nich is a great guy to boot. Hope that settles that argument.

Then again, your request for somebody who tends more towards "fun" than "serious" was echoed in a lot of the letters I got. A lot of people will point out that the two aren't mutually exclusive, and they're right, but it's often the case that you'll get different candidates who drift more towards one side than the other, which makes it a worthwhile point of debate.

I've already given my own personal philosophy on humor above, so let's talk a bit about how humor can work in a gaming context. Gaming's a great hobby: obviously we like it, or you wouldn't be reading this column and I wouldn't be writing it. But at the same time it's a hobby that's often begging to be made fun of, both in terms of the games themselves and the people who enjoy them. The right joke in the right place can cause people to remember how ultimately inconsequential FF vs. DQ really is, or how ludicrous it is to have a giant pink furball crucified on a giant 'T' in the middle of a gripping sci-fi/religious drama. (Ok, that last one's been overdone, but you get the point.)

Of course, it's not easy to make that kind of joke on demand, but nobody ever said being a really great DA was easy, did they?

More maturity, less fart jokes, please
Chris,

One thing I dearly hope remains in double agent, more than the biting sarcasm and witty banter, is maturity. The letters column is one thing that consistently gets me going to thegia daily, instead of just checking every week or so. If double agent degenerates into something where people are role-playing in fifty directions at a time and giving the most rediculous responses to letters that is possible, then I almost certainly won't show up much more. Not to sound as though I'm threatening or anything, it's just that this has happened before, to another website. Read the letters column daily, then suddenly it started feeling like I was trying to wade through a second grade schoolyard argument when I read it.

In other words, gaming knowledge is good, writing ability is vital, wit is great, but I need Double Agent to feel as though it is a cut above typical message board rants, and not needing to compete with them. But then again, what can you expect from a gaming graduate student? It's not like that sort of person is in the majority here.

Kirk B.

Strangely enough, what you're asking for may be even more difficult than well done humor. Guilty confession time: I don't know if even I'd read this column day in, day out, if I was reading my own work. Writing DA is always interesting, because you never know what's coming next and most good letters will bring up a gut response - all you have to do is write it down. But in truth, one of the big reasons I'm retiring is that I've run out of gut responses that haven't been said a dozen times before. Somebody who was really good at this job would always be able to come up with something new and interesting to say about gaming, because gaming is (almost) always new and interesting itself. Will we be able to find that kind of DA the next time around? With a little bit of luck, yeah, hopefully so.

I think that you shall never see
Another poem get printed about me
It was, it seems, an age ago I stumbled across this site,
A web page devoted to console RPG's - I thought to myself "All right!";
I clicked and dragged and pressed ANY KEY, until my fingers were numb,
And stumbled across the letters page which usually were dumb.

But unlike so many other columns whose words were not very telling,
This column's topics were engaging, and look! It even has decent spelling;

It was the toiling efforts of the Double Agent known as Chris,
Which elevated (gaming) discussion to something interesting I'd better not miss.

And so I continued reading, almost every single day,
At least during the week when I had a computer on which to play;
I very rarely wrote in myself, at most a handful of occasions,
Content was I to read the (sometimes) thoughful banter from people of all nations.

But now "Chris Jones is leaving!" shout the headlines one summer morn',
Leaving behind the DA title for someone else to proudly adorn.
"What will be the fate," I asked, "of the GIA's treasured staple?"
The new DA had better put all their cards out on the table.

A...DA...should...be....

Intelligent and whimsical with just a little wit,
Able to argue counterpoints without sounding like a twit;
Knowledgeable of RPG's, and other games as well,
In fact, well versed in worldy topics would also be quite swell.

Prolific in their writing with a touch of artistic flare,
Clear, concise, committed; without being too wordy for us to bear;
Open-mindedness is key, that is to consider other views,
But willing to assert themselves on manners of important news.

Neither Old School or New School; perhaps somewhere in between,
Passionate for games a must - they should be rather keen;
But most importantly of all, pay attention, here's the kicker,
They don't take games TOO seriously, and can laugh at those who bicker.

In closing, I say goodbye to Chris, I'll try hard not to pout,
Thanks for all the good times and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Sean, still very relaxed about the whole ordeal.

Er, yeah. That was... interesting...

All I can really say is I wish this had come in yesterday, in advance of the actual topic, so you guys could have responded wether you wanted a DA who'd print relatively oddball stuff like this, skillfully done though it may be.

On the other hand, if I've got people sending me stuff like this (that last stanza aside), I must not have done too badly here, eh?

Closing Comments:

Free topic day tomorrow, so feel free to send in whatever, including any additional commentary you might have about any of the topics we've covered this past week. And as an aside, I may run a repeat of today's topic for Nich on Saturday, on the off chance there was anything about today's topic you didn't feel you could send in with me behind the wheel. See you Friday.

-Chris Jones, wants to bear Yoko Shimomura's love child... or vice versa

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