A: Also if there's something I've learned from Soviet Jump Game and...uh, Cecil H. H. Mills-
D: Yes.
A: Which are totally real things by the way, let's talk about them as if they're not.
D: Okay!
A: Uh...is, um...whenever there are people that - and I talked about it in the last video that I released for it - whenever there are people that are sort of making the place base, like, tainted a little bit? Like, like, they're sort of, like, making fun of people, or like, teasing people who don't get it or whatever, um, it sorta disincentives people to play?
D: Right.
A: In the space? So, you can sort of apply that to this: to a situation like watching Game Grumps and posting comments, right? Um, so, like...for example: if there's a bunch of people who are, like: "Oh what the hell, this was like, so easy. Y'know, how could you fuck this up?", there are like...a thousand more people that would post, like: "No I had a hard time with this too!", but like, because there are people in the world that are muddying the water a bit-
D: Who don't want to look stupid.
A: -ye, yeah: they don't, they don't wanna...
D: So you're basically saying trolls ruin it for everyone?
A: I mean, not trolls.
D: But negative...?
A: Yeah like negative, negativity, or aggression or something.
D: Yeah.
A: Which is, like, y'know: what are you gonna do?
D: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, online is the place that people go, some people go, to be negative. Y'know? It's like that, um...what was that book we were reading? Was it Alone Together?
A: ...Or The Shallows?
D: I can't remember...it was one of th-one of those books that...we were reading a bunch of books in a row, you and I, about the Internet-
A: About the Internet, right.
D: -And the things it does to people, and one of the books talked about, uh...the second personality that....people start to develop, like, the-th-they...people have their regular personality and the things they would say normally. And they have an online personality where they would say things there. And this online personality, this author argued, tends to be darker, more sexualized, more negative, and um...more impatient. ...I think that was it: "more impatient".
A: Yeah, yeah that's a key one.
D: Yeah, and so the-...trying to take negativity out of the Internet is very difficult because...the Internet is made up, not only of people, but of people that, um, are in a certain headspace because they're on the Internet.
A: Yeah...
A: Interesting.
D: Ain't that some shit? So it's, it's, it's tough, but I mean...what can you do? I mean, like, I remember you were really surprised, uh, at certain reactions.
A: Oh, so like, Soviet Jump Game and stuff?
D: Yeah, yeah...yeah.
A: Well, I mean...b-I guess because there was an assumption that there was some kind of, like, it was, like, mean-spirited or deceptive.
D: Right.
A: Which was, like, you couldn't have been further from th-like, I WANTED people to play along.
D: Yeah, of course!
A: And like, the game's free, so I wasn't necessarily selling anybody, like, it's, it was just like: "Here: come play with us!"
D: Yeah.
A: Because we're...we're havin' a goof!
D: Right.
A: Um, I guess it was just a, a, general misunderstanding of, like, y'know...where the landscape is right now, from my perspective.
D: (Sighs.) I mean-
A: Which I think is, like, important. Y'know, I think it's easy to dismiss, like: "Oh man, times have changed", but it's like...I dunno, the times are the times, and you're either with them or you're not.
D: And, and who knows. Like, I mean it's hard to know, like people...people are getting fucked with and manipulated - us included, cuz we're people.
A: Yeah, that's true.
D: Like, COOOONSTANTLY.
A: I feel like the pernicious nature of advertising or whatever is more prevalent than ever.
D: Right. Right, because I mean: I went to school for advertising; it-it is the act of, y'know, convincing people that they need a product that they might not necessarily need.
A: Yeah.
D: Um, and so i-it's...it's all about your intention but like, it's easy to confuse - for an outsider, an outside perspective I should say - it's easy to confuse your specific intention with the intention of other people that have fucked with them in the past, y'know? So it's...i-it's just hard to know, um, what's going on out there, because like weirdly: you and I are not on the Internet that much. Y'know, lately, we're in our spots-
A: Especially now more than ever.
D: Yeeeah, cuz like: we...we do things that put ourselves out there on the Internet, but it's like, as far as, like, what's going on in online communities: I've never known, really, and I don't know if you're as up-to-date as you used to be.
A: No.
D: Yeah.
A: Certainly not. I mean, y'know, I try to be, but it's-it-even in my own office, like, y'know, Allie is younger than I am and she's a lot more connected.
D: She's very savvy.
A: And - which is why she's so good at her job.
D: Yeah.
A: And, like, she'll tell me stuff that I'm like: "What!?"
D: "Really!?"
A: "I didn't know that", and she's like, "Yeah it's the thing, and it's been goin' on for two months now.". And it's...it's like "Aw geez...".
D: Yeah. Yeah.
A: I feel like an old man.
D: Yeaaaaah, but, I mean, like - and every generation feels that way - but I think now it's more pronounced than ever because things move SO quickly.
A: Oh yeah.