Yes, it’s been three weeks since the last Alex Talks, I know, but if you hadn’t noticed, ExtraLife happened right there in the middle of that, and it set me back some time to shoot. I used the extra time well I think, because this episode of Alex Talks is a hum-dinger.
First thing to note: I talk about Serial Positioning, or the Serial Position Effect, which is super cool and interesting, and you should read about it, but more in the context of inspiration. It really inspired the idea for this episode, and got me thinking about first impressions, and how SP and first impressions may be related. Now, it’s probably not written or proven that they have, but I’ve seen some writings by some psychologists about them being related. Nothing super official, but I’d just like to put it out there that I’m not making some psychological determination about the effect in this episode.
With that said, that inspiration just about first impressions, lead me down the rabbit whole of thinking about first playthroughs, why they’re special, and how I replay games all the time. I think I’m definitely more of an edge-case situation, but it’s a fun thing to talk about.
Then, in spite of recent events, I changed how I phrased things at the end there to have a strong message about staying together. People are reflective of art, like games, but not limited to their one-note, trapped sentimentality. We can change, even though many think we can’t, so let’s stick together, eh?
There will be a break for Alex Talks for some time, like I reference in the video, so hang tight while I get the last Alex Talks of 2016 ready, and we look forward to a new, second-version of Alex Talks coming in 2017.
I’ll give you a hint, my working title on that is, Alex Talks Presents: Case Study.