On Podcasting

At this point, there have been twelve episodes of the Aggrochat podcast, which you can find in the sidebar. I’ve been in nine of them, meaning that it was about three months ago that Belghast approached myself and the rest of the normal cast about starting it. For a few reasons, I was hesitant about the idea at first, but I went along with it and things seem to be working out.

I am not naturally an outspoken person. I have previously been described (by other people on the podcast) as “chill”, “stoic”, “serious”, or other words that imply I don’t talk a lot. In addition, when I do talk I talk too fast and have a tendency to omit words. I think I sometimes come across as a know-it-all, despite efforts to tone it down when I’m talking to new people. All of this would make me think myself unsuitable for a podcast, if not for a few things. I’m told that I have a great speaking voice (and sometimes singing voice, but you will never, ever hear it). And as part of an earlier point, I’ve gained a bit of a reputation for knowing a lot of (sometimes useless) things.

Professor Ashgar

That last part is probably why I was asked to be on in the first place. I have an above-average memory for mechanics and random information. I know what most of the items in League of Legends do by name, even ones no one buys like Guinsoo’s Rageblade. (I don’t know what Vilemaw’s buff does, however.) During my raiding period in World of Warcraft, I knew theoretically how to play classes that weren’t ones I played personally, and what stats were valuable to what specs for everyone in the raid. This continues into games we play now; I tend to figure out most boss mechanics on the first or second try. I know oddball strategies for most of the bosses in FF5, which comes in handy on the Fiestas.

I could go on, but at this point I’m merely proving some of my earlier comments. I am the group’s walking information repository, and I’ve come to accept that as my role sometimes. This doesn’t come up a lot, but I’m actually the youngest one on the podcast, so it’s a bit of an odd situation. I don’t know everything, and sometimes things are mentioned that are simply before my time or beyond my experiences. I got into console gaming in the Genesis/SNES generation, and didn’t have my own system until the PlayStation. My first MMO is World of Warcraft*, so any experience with anything prior comes from what I’ve heard others say. This mix of experiences is what makes the podcast work, I think.

With a Little Help

This is still not a venture I’d be comfortable doing alone. It’s hard for me to think of myself as interesting, but I can see how someone might be interested in the random conversations were were already having before we started the podcast. Bel, Rae, Kodra, Tam, and Dallian are all great to work with. (I’m sure Waren is too, but the only one he’s been on I was gone for.) The final result is a variety of information sources, interests, and backgrounds talking about stuff, and things, and the stuff about the things. This is fun, and seems to work. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.

 

*This is technically not true. My first MMO experience was the beta for Wish, a vaporware MMO.