The Joy of Gaming: Exploring Our Love for Video Games, Board Games, and Mobile Games

Laura Wittman: 00:01:14

Why do we play games? Is it Escape Connection Competition, or something deeper? Today, we're diving into games, both digital and analog, that have shaped us.

Whether you're a console gamer, a tabletop strategist, or just here for the nostalgia, this one is for you. Hi, everyone. I'm Laura Whitman, and I'm joined here today by my friend Liz. Do you want to say hi, Liz?

Liz Clyde: 00:01:39

Hello.

Laura Wittman: 00:01:40

Before we get started today, Liz, what have you been geeking out on lately?

Liz Clyde: 00:01:45

Lately? Let me see. I've said it before just because with little time, I've been watching Baruto in the background. So I'm finally.

I started with with all my, like baking season. I started from Naruto episode one, did it all, did all the Shippuden, and now we're in Boruto because I never really finished the anime.

So even if it's a little hard sometimes, I'm gonna finish it.

Laura Wittman: 00:02:07

As you should. I am a one trick pony. So I'm watching the Office again because that's what I do.

Like I watch GRE Anatomy, then I watch the Office, then I go back to something else and back to the Office. So it's the Office again for me. Friends, if you're on a laptop, please consider rating and reviewing our show on Podchaser or Get Pods.

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It's a great deal, so do it. All right, so let's hit start on today's main topic, our favorite video games and board games.

So we picked this topic because we think that games are a big part of geek culture, often overlooked in deep.

And I don't know about you, Liz, I grew up with a video game controller in my hand from the time I was little and our family was a big board game family. So every Friday night was board games and then we'd have church board game parties, and the list goes on and on.

Games shape how we think, how we build community, and even how we explore tough topics. So as we dive in today, what is your favorite video game?

Liz Clyde: 00:03:45

Gosh, old school or currently, literally anything okay, Broad range.

Laura Wittman: 00:03:51

Right. Like from your whole life. What is right.

Liz Clyde: 00:03:53

My whole life. I'm just going to do currently because like the whole life is a lot.

And then you have nostalgia factors playing in where you love crap games because it's nostalgic and not really good. So currently, which is really funny because I got. I literally bought this game.

I was studying for my licensing test to become like a licensed minister and just all like the stress. I broken bought it because I kept on watching TikToks about it and it was one guy and I kept on watching him play Prop Hunt.

And I'm not really that into shooters game. I used to play Gears of Wars back in the day and stuff like that. But like I not into shooters game too much nowadays. And it.

He just made it look so fun. It's like online hide and seek, really extreme. So I. That's my current like go to video game right now. Is Prop Hunt its own cod?

Laura Wittman: 00:04:42

Yeah. I do love some Call of Duty prop hunt. It's one of my favorite things and it's just so ridiculous and I'm really bad at it.

Liz Clyde: 00:04:51

It makes me cackle. I'm pretty. I'm kind of good at it. But like when I'm running away, I'm like laughing like a dummy and I'm like cheesing. I'm like, ah.

And especially when you get to stay in the same spot because you found a really good hiding space. And Taylor's my husband. He's like, you're not moving. I'm like, yeah, because I have a good spot.

Laura Wittman: 00:05:08

Yeah. And just stay there. If nobody signs the name of the.

Liz Clyde: 00:05:11

Game, they're hunting me.

Laura Wittman: 00:05:13

Prop Hunt is so much fun though, and it's so ridiculous. And then when you start seeing things like a wet floor sign, running away for no reason, it's just. I don't know, it's a whole thing.

For me, this is hard to sum up and I realize this is a really broad question. What is your favorite video game? I've said this on here a lot, but my favorite video game will always be Halo Reach.

If I ever come to a point where I play a video game more than I played Halo Reach, then someone needs to check on me because I spent so much time playing that game. When my first son was born, my entire maternity leave was Halo Reach and taking care of my child, but mostly Halo Reach.

For that whole eight weeks, it was just video games.

And so I don't know really what it is about that game other than it was really good timing when it came out, but it's a classic to me, and it's one that I replay on a regular basis. But we played it online just an absurd amount of hours when that game came out.

So probably I'd be embarrassed to know how much time I actually spent on it. Any other video games you'd mention, as, you know, games that are special or games that you really liked?

Liz Clyde: 00:06:26

So I remember having limited games with, like, the old Nintendo 64. And so, of course we did, you know, Super Mario Party 3 specifically. But I randomly loved this tennis game, like, playing with it.

I still remember, like, the. The noise and stuff like that. So when Mario Tennis came out, I felt like I was really reliving my childhood again.

So, like, any of, like, I mean, of course, Mario Jamboree, we've been playing a lot of it lately, too, learning all the new boards, but they're not really new anymore, but pretty much any party games. I mean, one video game that's probably, like, neglected but is so fun is those Jackbox TV games. They are such a hit with a big crowd.

If we're in the, like, at the end of Bible study at our house, we just throw it on. Eight people can play. Or, like, we have people double up if we have a larger crowd of 10. So it's a lot of fun.

Laura Wittman: 00:07:20

That's awesome. Yeah, we. Mario Party Jamboree is a big one at our house.

But I will fully admit Jamboree enrages me because there is no rhyme or reason to why I can beat my kids on every mini game. And then they still come back and they're like a bonus star. A bonus star, bonus star. A bonus star. And then they beat me.

And the competitive person in me can't live with that because there's no logic to why they just hand out bonus stars.

Liz Clyde: 00:07:47

Well, sometimes they just move the least amount of spaces and come and win the whole game, which is what I did. Yeah. And it was the best.

Laura Wittman: 00:07:55

That enrages me.

And so if you ever want to know what are the things that make Laura angry, it's my kids getting an award for losing the most mini games and then coming back to win the whole game. It doesn't make any sense. And I like to keep my title, you know. Oh, we have another friend joining the chat. Alex is here. Alex, you want to say hi?

Liz Clyde: 00:08:19

Hey, everybody.

Laura Wittman: 00:08:21

Alex, we are currently talking about our favorite video game. And then we're going to talk in just a bit about our favorite board games. But what's your favorite video game?

Alex Matthews: 00:08:31

Anything. Zelda.

Liz Clyde: 00:08:33

Oh, I. I played the old school Zelda 2 on 64 back in the day. I loved it.

Alex Matthews: 00:08:38

Me too.

Liz Clyde: 00:08:39

It was so good.

Alex Matthews: 00:08:40

My first Zelda game and I've been hooked ever since.

Laura Wittman: 00:08:44

Any particular Zelda game that you like the best?

Alex Matthews: 00:08:49

I think my all time favorite, I'm probably gonna pronounce this wrong is the Akarna Ocarina.

Laura Wittman: 00:08:57

Yeah.

Alex Matthews: 00:08:58

Yeah, that's my favorite one.

Laura Wittman: 00:09:00

That's a good choice. And that's going to be coming back out on re release, we think for Switch 2, so. Or at least that's the rumor.

And the rumors that I know are what my husband tells me that he saw on the Internet. So it's definitely true then. But I agree with Zelda. That's an excellent choice.

I have a Zelda tattoo because we had a dog named Zelda and Zelda is one of my great loves growing up too. So Ocarina is a great choice. Any other honorable mentions that you guys would like to share as favorite video games?

Liz Clyde: 00:09:36

I mean, I remember like the old Final Fantasy on Xbox was a big one for me. Especially the third one, not Final Fantasy. I'm thinking, well, I still play that. But Fable, Fable, the three of them for Xbox.

And like the third one, you got a dog. That was really. I don't know, I just loved it so much.

Laura Wittman: 00:09:54

I feel like any game where there's a dog involved and I know for sure nothing bad's gonna happen to the dog that I'm in. Like if you're just like this game is about a dog, then I'll. I'll play it and if you give me a dog in the game, then I'll play it.

Very easily wooed in that way. Just me. That's okay.

Liz Clyde: 00:10:15

I'm gonna say I just said I liked the dog, but I was trying to think of any other games I played with the dog.

Laura Wittman: 00:10:20

It's probably why I like Pokemon also, because even though it's not like dogs specifically, I'm like, oh, you look like a dog or you're an animal and you're cute. So you know. But we've talked about our Pokemon obsessions enough. What about board games? Are you guys board game people?

Liz Clyde: 00:11:52

I am. I would say I'm more a board king person than a video game person. Like out of enjoyment.

Laura Wittman: 00:11:59

What are your favorite board games?

Liz Clyde: 00:12:03

Gosh, probably I like group board games. So we did a lot of catan. Very good at that. Especially when they do.

I got a little annoyed when they did all the expansion packs because I'm not, I'm not Buying all of that. Absolutely not. And then Ticket to Ride is one of my favorites. Love that game.

Anything with strategy, because I'm really good at strategizing Pandemic. But then I don't play that game as much because my husband let me know that I was playing for every.

Because I kept on telling them what to do and how to. Because Pandemic, if you don't know which is.

I played way more before COVID And then it kind of was like, how this is crazy how, like, accurate this game is. Wow. Because in Pandemic, the infestation always first breaks out in China. So I was like, this is. But dense population. It's great.

But it was just like so many. So many, like, you know, accuracies to the game. But you're pretty much playing as a team against the board.

But my husband let me know every time we played. I was kind of a dictator with the team. Shocking, right? And I was like, no, you need to move this. You need to do this. And.

Yeah, so we don't play that one as much, especially not since COVID Now it's like two. Like, you're not. Actually, now that I've lived it, it's not as fun.

Laura Wittman: 00:13:20

There is a. And I know you love sci fi, Liz, but there's a Star wars version of the Pandemic game that's really good, and our kids actually really like it too.

I'm the kind of. I like the Pandemic system because it's not complicated. Like, it can be. There's strategy involved, but it's not a difficult game to play.

I am the kind of person that if I have to read the directions and it's more than like, three sentences of instruction, I can't figure it out. I need someone else to explain it to me very, very slowly. So I. I try with board games, but unless my husband can teach me how to play it.

Liz Clyde: 00:13:59

You're not a big board gamer.

Laura Wittman: 00:14:01

I love board games. I just can't understand the instructions. So, like, walk through so well. I'll come back to my. But, Alex, what are your favorite board games?

Alex Matthews: 00:14:13

I really like Secret Hitler. Have you guys heard that game before?

Liz Clyde: 00:14:17

Oh, yeah. That's fun. Yeah. There's so many different, like, little versions of the game.

My favorite version of Secret Hitler right now is it's called Bang the Dice. And it's. It's the same concept. I haven't heard that, but I do love that game. Yeah, it's like more core games and stuff.

Laura Wittman: 00:14:33

So what. What is it? How do you Play it.

Alex Matthews: 00:14:39

There's two teams.

Well, I mean, I think it's fun because it can be a little chaotic depending on who you're playing with, because you're allowed to lie and stuff in that game. But basically you have two teams. I already forgot what their names are, but is it like the Socialists? And are they what. What the good guys are?

The bad guys, basically, and the bad guy, Hitler, Nobody knows except the bad guys who Hitler is. And Hitler doesn't know who's on his side.

And so basically the bad guys are supposed to protect Hitler and, like, get as many, like, tokens on the board as they can to win. And so everyone's trying to figure out who Hitler is to either take him out or elect him as either president or chancellor.

There's, like, different roles in the game. It's. I don't know. I'm not really good at explaining. You just gotta play it.

Liz Clyde: 00:15:32

Like the werewolf game, too.

Laura Wittman: 00:15:34

That's what I was gonna say. It sounds like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't seen that one, but I'll have to look for it because the.

The werewolf style game is a lot of fun. And we play that like my theater friends. That's one that we usually play when we have get togethers.

I think for me, as far as board games, it's not just board games, but, like, card games too. So. Skip Bow. I grew up playing Skip Bow, and that is a very competitive game in our house. Spades is a very competitive game in our house as well.

Love Spades and spades gets violent sometimes.

Liz Clyde: 00:16:11

We.

Laura Wittman: 00:16:12

It's.

It is intense, and there's lots of times where, like, your partner doesn't do what they're supposed to do or, you know, somebody does something crazy. But Skip O especially that is a game that I grew up playing with my grandmother, and it was a regular game in our house, and now our kids play it.

My husband's really into it, and it's just a really simple card game, but it's a lot of fun. And then one thing that just never gets old is scattergories to me. Have y' all. Y' all played scattergories, right?

Liz Clyde: 00:16:41

It's been a minute once or twice.

Laura Wittman: 00:16:44

I. We played it with our kids a couple of weeks ago, and it was a lot of fun.

But also seeing how people interpret the categories and make really long leaps for things that you can put down or write is really fun. So those are probably my two favorite. Like, not video games and board games, just in general.

There's a Lot of really good collaborative board games nowadays. Like, Well, I mean, Pandemic would be an example, but I like kind of the idea of strategizing together and working together. What else?

Any other games that you feel like we should mention or.

Liz Clyde: 00:17:25

I mean, there's code names too. There's a lot of different versions of code name. That's really fun.

I'm trying to, like, once again, this is all the stuff we play at small group, so usually the like at least six plus people, because it's easier that way. Whatever gets everyone involved. I mean, Bananagram or Scrabbles are classics.

My husband hates Scrabble because he has such a better vocabulary than I do and he can spell better. But I beat him because it, once again, strategy doesn't really matter.

Laura Wittman: 00:17:53

I love Scrabble, but I get very irritated at Scrabble because I'm usually the person with the big words and then like, I never win.

Liz Clyde: 00:18:01

Doesn't matter.

Laura Wittman: 00:18:02

So. Yeah, it doesn't.

Liz Clyde: 00:18:03

Triple word score. And I used a Z for zoom.

Laura Wittman: 00:18:07

Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah. No, I usually love word games. I like Boggle. Like, that kind of thing too. Is a lot of fun.

Uno has destroyed relationships in my life because there's my house.

There is something that I learned, okay, that I was not privy to because I was in a family growing up that was like, these are the rules of the game and this is how you play it. And I've discovered that UNO is actually the Wild west because everybody has a different way of playing uno. And when I.

When I started working at Lewisburg College, my students introduced me, and I'm really late to the game here, but my students introduced me to stacking. Okay. I had not grown up with stacking. And stacking became a way of extending hostilities towards people that I, you know, had been harboring.

You know, you have a student who doesn't do exactly what you want them to do in class. You know, you start stacking numbers on them and suddenly they got 30 cards in their hand.

But I made the terrible mistake, per my students request of buying the no mercy uno. Have y' all played this?

Liz Clyde: 00:19:18

Is that like the spicy UNO type deal?

Laura Wittman: 00:19:22

So I, I do not recommend, sorry, Uno company, if you're listening to this, but it has like, draw 10 cards in it. And like, you can stack not just like plus twos on top of plus twos.

You can stack plus twos and then stack plus fours on top of that, plus sixes, plus eights, plus tens, all the way up to where it could land on somebody. And you've given them 40 cards, but if you get more than 25 in your hand, you're out. And I bought this game on our anniversary. My husband.

I had our 16th anniversary a couple weeks ago, and I bought this game and I thought we were going to break up on our anniversary because of this game, because of our interpretations of stacking and how you can stack and what that exactly means. So there was some hostilities over. Over Uno. No mercy.

So if you have some people you're mad at and you just want to make them feel really bad about themselves, play no mercy with them and just stack all the cards.

Alex Matthews: 00:20:28

Wow.

Laura Wittman: 00:20:28

Yeah, it was a rough game, but I've learned a lot about myself also.

Alex Matthews: 00:20:38

No, that's crazy how, like, everybody has their own way of playing uno. It's crazy.

Laura Wittman: 00:20:44

It really is. And I have learned that people are very married to their ways of playing Uno.

Alex Matthews: 00:20:50

Yeah.

Laura Wittman: 00:20:52

And so. But, yeah, my students taught me really quickly about all of the different ways that you can play. And, man, they. They have no mercy themselves.

So I do enjoy playing with my students, though. I also think one classic. You know, Battleship. We have a Star Wars Battleship that you just can't go wrong.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:10

We played that back in the day.

Alex Matthews: 00:21:12

Whoa.

Laura Wittman: 00:21:13

It's a good one.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:14

Yeah. I mean, I feel like if we kept on talking, we can just keep on going and going.

Like, as we unlock the vault, more and more games will spill out of our childhood.

Laura Wittman: 00:21:23

It's true. We have, like, a.

We're one of those families that has, like, a million board games stacked up in our house, but the amount we've actually played of them is, like, so. And I'm sure that as soon as we end this conversation later, I will think of all of the board games I love, and none of them are coming to mind. Now.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:39

We have Pokemon Monopoly. You would appreciate that. I saw it at, like, a yard sale one time, and it has all the pieces.

Laura Wittman: 00:21:46

I love that. Pokemon Monopoly is an excellent choice. I have a Zelda Monopoly, and we have a Ghostbusters Monopoly. That's really cool.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:54

Like, I want all the monopolies, but, like, I really. Why would we play them all? And it's hard, right? Nowadays, it's hard to find people to play Monopoly with. Like, no one wants to play Monopoly with me.

It's very sad. They just don't. We. No one. It was, like, all hustling young adults. Well, I guess I'm just an adult now, but we don't have time, and it's very sad.

Laura Wittman: 00:22:15

You do have to commit yourself to A game like monopoly, you just never know.

Alex Matthews: 00:22:20

It's a long game.

Liz Clyde: 00:22:21

It is. And no one has that moment.

I want one of those board tables where, like, it kind of, like, you can have, like, the indent and you can put, like, the panels over it. So then maybe we could play monopoly and kind of, like, leave it or, like, do puzzles.

Because I know it's not a board game, but, like, puzzles is a whole nother. That's true avenue of entertainment.

Laura Wittman: 00:22:43

I really want one of those tables. We talked about getting one because we play DND a lot. And so, like, having our. I guess that's a game that doesn't fall under board game necessarily.

But, you know, D D you've got all your setup and, like, your structures and things and your miniatures. So to be able to just kind of close it up and then come back to it would be really awesome.

Liz Clyde: 00:23:04

It would be.

Laura Wittman: 00:23:05

So, Liz, you talked a little bit about gaming, like, with your small groups and stuff, with church. And I'm sure we've had. You know, I grew up having board game nights at church.

We actually used to have a spades tournament every year at church, which is where my love for spades started, was in church. But, Alex, what about you? Do you have any moments in gaming that were especially meaningful to you?

Whether it was video games or board games or any kind of gaming?

Alex Matthews: 00:23:37

I would say more. Well, yes. Growing up, me and my siblings and my parents would have, like, Friday nights. We would have, like, Mario nights on, like, our Wii U.

So we would play, you know, the classic Mario game or play Mario Kart or there's, like, one other version of Mario. It was something about sports. Or have basketball. Volleyball. We mainly played the basketball part. Yeah. And we would play that mainly on Friday nights.

And that would be, like, a really fun bonding time. Like, I remember I'll be laughing so hard, like, crying, mainly because of my. Just how the game would go and.

Yeah, and then board games, like, bonding with my family, too. Like, we would play spades or Uno.

And then in college, I would play board games like exploding kittens or secret Hitler or you got crabs or all these random board games I've never heard of. I would find and discover through friends I met in college. And then I'm still friends with those people today.

So board games and video games kind of always been, like, a bonding thing for me.

Laura Wittman: 00:24:45

Yeah, absolutely. That was a big thing for me growing up, too, was we would have friends over and we'd play Mario Kart, and Mario Kart was always a thing growing Up.

And now, again, you know, the new Switch 2 is coming out this week, and that's what I'm most excited for, is Mario Kart. And I'll have to come back and give you guys a review of Mario Kart World once I get it this week, which I'm really excited about. But that was.

There was something about sitting around a TV with two controllers, and everybody had to sit, you know, five inches away from the TV because that was how long the controllers were. And just sitting there and having that sort of connection was a whole different thing than the way we play nowadays. Liz, what about you?

Any other moments that are meaningful that you can think of with gaming or moments that have stood out to you?

Liz Clyde: 00:25:40

I mean, when my husband and I first started dating, I got the Xbox, like, 360 Elite, and I thought it was so cool. And my husband had, like, a expat. We would do, like, online dates because we lived about an hour away from each other.

So we went Gears award dates, and he let me have all the ammo.

Laura Wittman: 00:26:00

Oh, that's so sweet. My husband would never. He would say, go hide in that corner and I'll shoot everything. And then I'll tell you when it's safe.

Oh, it wasn't out of chivalry. It was. He knew I would get us killed. So. Okay.

Liz Clyde: 00:26:14

I am not the best at shooters because, like, I just, like. I go, ah. So I had a saying. When in doubt, melee out. And it worked really well for me.

Laura Wittman: 00:26:23

I like that. I like that. See, in Halo, it was always sticky grenades.

I knew that no matter what, I could just throw a sticky grenade at someone and then, you know, I'd be good. But. Yeah, yeah. No, my husband would just feel. You just stay right there. I'll let you know when you can come out.

Well, let's dive just a little bit deeper. Why do you think it is that people love games so much? I mean, is it the sense of community?

Is it this longing for competition and for proving our skills? What do you all think? Maybe it's a little.

Liz Clyde: 00:26:59

I think, going, like, super on the further side is for the ones who are addicted. I feel like it is a break from reality.

And so they kind of use it as a clutch, which I have done a couple times, of course, specifically with my Game Boy, though. And then also, like, I. Today, I do it for community. Like, I. Mainly that's why board games is over, video games in present day.

I enjoy getting around, having people laugh. Like the friendly competition.

Laura Wittman: 00:27:31

Absolutely. What about you?

Liz Clyde: 00:27:32

I also enjoy winning.

Laura Wittman: 00:27:34

Winning Is great.

Liz Clyde: 00:27:35

Yes.

Alex Matthews: 00:27:37

Yeah, I have to agree. I think it is a little bit of both. I'm not really a competitive gamer. I'm more for community.

But I do feel like a lot of people, especially nowadays it's main.

It's with like streaming and things being like up there, it's community, but also like some games do events where it is for competition and rankings and stuff. So I mean, I'm mainly for the community, whether it's board game or video games.

Laura Wittman: 00:28:08

So, yeah, I would say for me too, it's a little bit of both, you know, depending on the situation. We're.

My husband and I are trying to start like a video game or not a video game, but a board game ministry in Rocky Mount where we live, where we just kind of rent out a space and invite people to come and play.

And there's no like, you know, we're not like deep diving into religion, but just kind of creating space for people to just fellowship and have board game opportunities and space to meet people where you might not normally have that. So community is a big part of it for me. But then also I am deeply competitive when it comes to board games and it is not my.

My best side, so I can get very aggravated. One game that drives me nuts is Taco Cat goat cheese pizza. Have y' all ever played that?

Liz Clyde: 00:28:57

Oh, yeah, I enjoy that.

Alex Matthews: 00:28:59

My sister keeps talking about that game and I've yet to play it.

Liz Clyde: 00:29:04

I think I've. I've droned blood.

Laura Wittman: 00:29:06

Yeah, same. So, like, in theory, I love this game, right, Because I know I'm good at it.

But what drives me nuts, like, the idea is you're going around, you have to say Taco Cat goat cheese Pizza with each card that you're putting down.

And if what you put down matches what you've said, you've either gotta try to grab the card first, like hit the the deck, or there's different gestures. So like, there's like, I can't remember what the other animals are in it, but you've gotta like beat your chest or like hit the T table or something.

And if you do the wrong thing, then, you know, you end up with all of the cards and you can't get rid of your cards. So anyway, something like that.

Again, I'm terrible with rules, but my agitation in the game is when you're playing with people who like, sort of look at the card before they flip it over so they know what's on the card. Even though it's supposed to be a game of like, speed and so then I get angry. I don't have an anger problem, just only when I'm playing games.

But then I get like, really frustrated because I'm like, just play the game the way you're supposed to. And it's hard to win when people don't play it, right? So that's where my competitive side comes out.

And like, Liz, I have drawn blood and I can be very vicious in those kind of games.

Liz Clyde: 00:30:18

Like I've broken a table playing spoons before, man. I have wrestled. I have come home battered, bruised, but Victorian.

Alex Matthews: 00:30:29

I forgot about spoons. Walk that out of my mind.

Laura Wittman: 00:30:35

Too much childhood trauma associated. Right.

It's funny though, during the, the pandemic, my husband and I actually wrote an article for Rethink Church that was published through the Methodist Church about how gaming can be a place to find community. Especially in a time when like, we couldn't get together at all, right?

So we were doing meetups with our churches on Animal Cross Crossing and inviting people to come and like, you know, chat on Discord and like come over to our island and hang out. And that sounds so funny now because, you know, like, looking back, that was the only way we could get together with people.

And so there's something about finding common space. We talk about like food and gathering around the table in common space. But gaming can be a common space too, right?

Like having the opportunity to, especially in collaborative gaming, to work together, to, to meet some sort of common goal. There's a real beauty in that.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:36

I think I'm glad I have a good balance, but I don't even think if I wanted to spend more time in games, I could like, yes, I like.

I find my attention span is a lot shorter in my adult age, which is kind of like ironic because you would think like attention spans of kids, not, not that great. But in my adult age, like I started one piece Odyssey and I just, I heard so much great things about it and I just could not.

I spent two, maybe like two one hour sessions each playing it. And I was like, you know, I just don't like it.

And so, but, and if I would have played it like 10 years ago, I would have probably never stopped and defeated it in a week. So I think I just. Because you have. So you have other priorities than gaming, which is kind of sad.

Laura Wittman: 00:33:10

Yeah, I get that for sure.

I think for me sometimes if something doesn't catch me immediately, like it has to really catch my attention for me to feel like putting time into it. And if it doesn't catch me Immediately, I just kind of.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:23

Which is awful because you spend $60, and it's not like he's like, you know, I didn't, like an hour. Can I return it?

Alex Matthews: 00:33:30

Yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:30

No. And if you buy it digitally, you can't even try and resell it, right? I buy all my games digitally because I can't keep up with them.

Laura Wittman: 00:33:37

Yeah, we need to bring back Blockbuster so that, you know, I can rate games and. And return them or not return them. You know, get late and then paid.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:45

Paid double what they're worth.

Laura Wittman: 00:33:47

Your bill is $300 for your game you never returned.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:50

All right. And you end up losing and never finishing it, right?

Laura Wittman: 00:33:54

No. I was trying to explain to my youngest kid the other day because he wanted me to play Fortnite with him, and I love playing Fortnite with my kids.

Alex Matthews: 00:34:01

I haven't played fortnite in a hot second.

Laura Wittman: 00:34:03

Well, you know, I have three boys that are. They're all getting ready to have birthdays, so they'll be 14 and 12 and 9. And so they're all on, like, prime Fortnite age. And I love playing.

But my youngest son the other day, like, the second I got home from work, he's like, let's play Fortnite. And I'm like, I can't yet. And he's like, why? And I'm like, I need to de stress before I can play Fortnite.

And he's like, but Fortnite is de stressing. I'm like, nope, I gotta have, like, this centering. Like, calm down. Get in the headspace. And then once I'm relaxed, I can play fortnite.

Otherwise, it's just angry Fortnite.

Liz Clyde: 00:34:36

I can't.

Laura Wittman: 00:34:37

I can't play it again. I sound very angry. I'm really not a hostile person. I don't want anybody to be concerned after listening to this.

Like, Laura just sounds like she has problems because I don't. I'm fine. Everything's fine. Well, what about, you know, thinking about, like, even from a theological, philosophical standpoint, are there ways that.

That maybe gaming can be a form of fellowship or worship, even in the way that we do gaming or introduce gaming?

Liz Clyde: 00:35:11

Well, kind of like you guys, we also had a board game group, small group, back in the day. And so that's just a great way for someone to step inside of a church who probably would have never stepped inside of a church ever again.

And being able to meet authentic lover of Jesus and, like, you know, just a setting. Because nine times out of 10, when I talk to people and they don't like church. It's, they don't like that church as in the building itself.

They met one or two hypocritical people and the whole idea of Christians got developed by two or three people, you know what I mean?

Laura Wittman: 00:35:48

For sure.

Liz Clyde: 00:35:48

And so that's my favorite thing. I don't even like announce to anyone. Like I think it took three, four weeks into my job that I told them I was a pastor's wife.

And then it was like two, three weeks later I was like, I'm actually, I'm also a licensed pastor too. And so because I wanted them to get to know me and not a title, you know what I mean? And so I feel like games in that sense can do it.

And as, I mean I play online with COD and all the swearing actually makes me chuckle quite a lot when they're just being really dumb. I think it's funny. And so I don't really like engage with them.

I feel like if you were to try and be like Jesus loves you, then you're going to seem more like a troll than anything. But you know, sometimes when I'm in a, you know, chattitive thing, I chit chat, we talk a little bit. It really doesn't point to God any.

So that's why I like the small group avenue. Because you really need that relationship with a person for them to trust you first.

Because my two minute campaign with someone else, like someone might, can get radically saved, but I doubt it.

Laura Wittman: 00:36:58

For sure. Yeah, I agree with all of that.

I think it's one of the reasons I like games like Dungeons and Dragons because like you actually have to build relationships in a game like that. Right?

Like if you're sitting in like a, in a full campaign and you're trying to go through a whole story, you're going to spend a lot of time with these other people and you're going to learn a lot about, you know, yourself and how you deal with things. Although I would say my D and D characters are very much the opposite of who I am because I'm very orderly and I like structure and I like rules.

But in D D, I'm chaotic and everything. So like, if there's something that can be messed with or fought with, I'm gonna fight it in D and D.

So I think, you know, from like a relationship standpoint or like even like a church standpoint, it's a great way to be expressive of who we are and maybe even to wrestle with things that we're dealing with. But in a Safe space that is just invitational.

At the same time, do you guys think that gaming can teach us things like patience or empathy or just how to take care of one another?

Liz Clyde: 00:38:03

I guess empathy a little bit. Some. I do enjoy to win, but if someone is truly upset, you know what I mean? So it depends on the person.

So like, if I, if I win too much and I know I'm like, okay, I'm being a little obnoxious, I kind of be like, I try and like let other people win. I wouldn't really call that empathy, but that's as close as I can get. I was like, all right, I'm doing too much. Let's calm down.

Laura Wittman: 00:38:28

This is very relatable though, because I'm sitting here thinking, what would it be like if the three of us had a board game night together?

Liz Clyde: 00:38:38

I would win. I'm a was it. But yeah, pinkiness is definitely a good thing. Here's the thing. I'm not, I'm a heckler.

I'm not a sore winner or a sore loser, but I love to heckle in the game and it makes me fun. It makes it fun when I try to like rile people up.

But then if I like, if I can see someone's taking it personal, I like, I step back real hard because you always want someone to have a good time. But then in my head I'm thinking they are weak, but I'll step back. Oh, if we're being honest, it's so.

Laura Wittman: 00:39:11

Funny though, because this is very relatable for me. Well, friends, any other thoughts before we approach our wrap up for this session? Session? I don't know.

Liz Clyde: 00:39:25

You know, we haven't even talked about phone games.

Laura Wittman: 00:39:28

Oh, mobile games. Yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:39:32

Game. Because on my iPad, like you're doing work and stuff. Especially those. I'm gonna be honest, there's this one marble game right now.

It's probably the most game I play. It's called Merge something. It's not Merge Mansion. It's like one of those other off thing like a cafe or something like that.

I'll spend two to five dollars a week on that game.

Alex Matthews: 00:39:52

Dang.

Liz Clyde: 00:39:52

Because I'm like, in my head, I don't get Starbucks every single week. And I'm like, if I haven't, if I have a 30 minutes of entertaining for two to five dollars, I'm like, that's fine for 30 minutes.

It's a pretty good deal.

Laura Wittman: 00:40:03

That's fair. What about you, Alex?

Liz Clyde: 00:40:07

Okay, it's like the, the little shame I see behind those eyes what you.

Alex Matthews: 00:40:13

Be playing Alex, listen, don't judge me, all right? I don't play this game much.

Liz Clyde: 00:40:18

Memorial Match.

Alex Matthews: 00:40:20

Oh, no, no.

Liz Clyde: 00:40:21

Okay. I'm on level: 5700

Alex Matthews: 00:40:24

I just want to say I blame Tick Tock for this game that they got me hooked on. Well, not hooked because I had to, like, detach myself and touch grass, but.

Laura Wittman: 00:40:34

Have you guys.

Alex Matthews: 00:40:36

Have you guys heard of the game Love and Deep Space?

Laura Wittman: 00:40:38

No.

Liz Clyde: 00:40:39

Should I have?

Alex Matthews: 00:40:40

Okay, no, don't look it up.

Liz Clyde: 00:40:41

I'm gonna look it up.

Laura Wittman: 00:40:43

No.

Alex Matthews: 00:40:45

And to all the listeners that know what I'm talking about, do not judge me. I blame Tick Tock because I was only curious because, so basically it's this.

I don't even know what kind of game it is, but it's just this game where you're this character, and then you meet, like, these five, four guys that are really attractive, have all different personalities, and, like, you just, like, get to know them, you date them.

Liz Clyde: 00:41:06

But there's, like, one of those games.

Alex Matthews: 00:41:08

Yeah, but there's this main story, and I only got the game because of the main story. I was like, oh, this. The story sounds kind of cool because it was like. It was like, tragedy, loss. She lost, like, half her family got lost.

Her memories figure that out. And then, like, you1, like, throughout the game, you meet these guys that are part of the story, but they're also turns a love interest.

And so, like, I was in that game for, like, three months, and after month three, I was like, I need to touch grass today.

Liz Clyde: 00:41:39

I used to be. It's like those. What is it called? Shall we date? What's the official terms for them?

It's like, if you do it, like, the anime type deal, they have an actual category game category for them, like the dating ones, but I can't think of what the category's name is.

Laura Wittman: 00:41:56

I have gotten sucked into some of those every once in a while. My favorite is when you see the ads and, like, it starts with like, a.

Like, the woman has been kicked out, and she's in a house that doesn't have windows, and.

Alex Matthews: 00:42:09

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Laura Wittman: 00:42:10

There's no, you know, like, heat and, like, how are you gonna save her life?

And then suddenly there's like, a fashion show, and then you're in a relationship, and I don't know what's happening, but they somehow drag you down into the drama and you're like, I'm very invested.

Liz Clyde: 00:42:25

Right. I play. My husband judges me. I play the ads.

Alex Matthews: 00:42:29

Yeah, me too.

Liz Clyde: 00:42:30

Yeah. But the category is called Otome Games. So it's like Those dating games of Otome.

Laura Wittman: 00:42:37

Okay. Oh, okay.

Liz Clyde: 00:42:38

Yeah, they're very popular. I've played quite a few of them.

Laura Wittman: 00:42:43

That's so funny. There's no judgment here.

Liz Clyde: 00:42:46

There's no judgment, but, like, it's not the happy ending you're thinking of. It's just like, yeah, a better ending.

Alex Matthews: 00:42:53

And the thing with love and D space is it's like there's so many things into it that it's like you don't think you're sucked in until it's too late.

Laura Wittman: 00:43:01

Yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:43:03

Yeah.

Alex Matthews: 00:43:03

It was too late for me. Three months later, I was like, whoa, I needed to stop this.

Laura Wittman: 00:43:11

It's so funny because I'm really. I have not really ever been, like, a mobile gaming person. Like, there's some games that I've gotten into over time.

Like, every once in a while, like, I'll get into one of those merge games, and I start, like, putting stuff together, and you're like, two espressos makes a latte, which doesn't make any sense, but. But, you know, you. You do all this stuff and you're.

Liz Clyde: 00:43:33

And it's somehow, like, make something else that's not even related to coffee.

Laura Wittman: 00:43:36

Yeah, yeah. And you're like, suddenly. Yeah, suddenly it's a carrot cake. And you're like, where did the carrots come from? But it's better not to ask questions.

Right? Right. These are very confusing things. But you're like, this is fun. And so then it just sort of takes you down with it to wherever it is that you go.

But, yeah, no, I've never. I've never really been. The only thing that I got really, really into, and this will shock you all, is Pokemon Go.

But I had to delete it because I just get so into it that that's all I do. And then I have to, like, again, you know, separate myself for a time, put myself in timeout, basically.

Alex Matthews: 00:44:14

I remember when that game came out. That was the time it really was. Yeah.

Like, I remember seeing this one post where this super rare Pokemon spawn in Central park and the traffic that that caused. Like, people were getting out of their cars in the middle of the street and spreading to Central park just to get the Pokemon.

After I saw that, I was like, maybe I should delete that.

Liz Clyde: 00:44:38

Played so much. He got an invitation to go, like, to downtown Charleston to do, like, this raid battle, and he got a Mewtwo.

And this was, like, in the beginning where, like, Mewtwo is super rare. He was. He took off at work. He was stoked. I was a proud wife.

Alex Matthews: 00:44:53

Wow.

Laura Wittman: 00:44:55

That's so crazy. No, I remember when it first came out because our church was super hip, right? And we're like, we're gonna create, like a gym battle area.

Like, I don't remember the word. This is really bad. But anyway, we became like a stop. We became a Pokemon stop and, you know, had like, the thing.

We're like, we're gonna invite people and we're gonna sit in lawn chairs and wait till the kids show up. And we' it is creepy now. We thought it was a good idea. Then we're like, we'll sit out with bottles of water and snacks.

Liz Clyde: 00:45:22

Here's the candy and my man, everyone. Oh, man.

Laura Wittman: 00:45:26

Don't worry, kids. This is fine. And now that sounds very bad. I'm like, why did. Why did we do that? But, you know, maybe. Maybe someone found out about Jesus through that.

Maybe they ran far from the church. I don't know. But, you know, we tried, so there's lots of ways that you can break that down.

Well, I'm glad you mentioned the mobile games, because that was something I completely didn't even think about mentioning. Great. Great addition.

Liz Clyde: 00:45:53

Got you guys.

Laura Wittman: 00:45:54

Well, we are going to wrap up our time together here for today. So our extra question for our subscribers that we will share is, what's one game you've always wanted to play but haven't yet?

And so if you are interested in hearing more about this, be sure to subscribe for $3 a month. I mean, I'm going to mention this again.

I don't know what else you can get for $3 in a month, but I'm sure that you're all dying to know the answer to this question. So you're gonna go and subscribe right now, before we close completely and before we have our bonus question.

What is one recommendation you'd like to share today for anything you've been enjoying, whether it's a game, a com movie, whatever. What's one thing you've been enjoying lately that you would like to recommend?

Liz Clyde: 00:46:48

Netflix released Bet it's in the original series, but it's based off of the anime, like the Kakuri Club or something like that. It's about gambling. So if you. If you enjoyed the anime, if you enjoy gambling, if you enjoy just a fun. Maybe like a little like this.

This is kind of out there. Just go watch it. Please go watch it. It's. So they casted the main character, Kimiko, so well. Like, they did so, so well with the. The casting and it's.

The story's a little different. Like they added like, is it live action? It is live action.

But they didn't, like, they didn't stick to the actual plot of the anime because the anime is wild, kind of borderline Ichi type deal. So they didn't stick to that, which I appreciate, but they added like a lot of backstory.

That was an anime, which I don't think is canon, but it works. I like it. Go watch it.

Laura Wittman: 00:47:38

Alex, what about you? Any recommendations?

Alex Matthews: 00:47:43

Well, I've already seen all the episodes, but my dad just got hooked on my hero academia.

Laura Wittman: 00:47:48

Oh yeah, I've been reading the manga.

Alex Matthews: 00:47:51

Too, so it's very good. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I saw recently that's on Netflix, so hopefully this weekend I'll watch it.

But yeah, I recommend that it's pretty good.

Laura Wittman: 00:48:02

Absolutely. So for like my last several episodes, I have just continuously recommended Dungeon Crawler Carl.

And I'm going to stay on the same train because I'm almost done with book seven and book eight hasn't come out yet and that's tragic for me. But if anybody.

This is me begging again, if anybody is reading Dungeon Crawler Carl or has listened to the Audibles, please let me know so that we can have a conversation about it because it is so good and so ridiculous. It's lit rpg, it's hilarious. This a little inappropriate, but also just a lot of fun. So that's my recommendation.

All right, friends, if you have enjoyed this show and why would you not? Because this was excellent and amazing and so entertaining.

But if you're enjoying the show, rate and review us on Podchaser, GoodPods, Apple Podcast or Spotify. It helps us a whole lot. And a shout out to Jason Vaughn for supporting the show.

Remember, member, you can support us for just $3 a month and get your very own shout out from the host of Systematic Ecology. So what more could you ask for? So thanks for listening, friends, and remember, we all are a chosen.