Are we done with "Portal 2"?

April 21, 2011 5:09 AM

Would a post-release FPP about "Portal 2" be appropriate, or should discussions of the game be kept confined to the existing thread about the prerelease ARG?

I know that an individual video game is not really "best of the web" per se, but I'd love to read the community's thoughts about the game itself.

posted by Ipsifendus to Etiquette/Policy at 5:09 AM (54 comments total)

Apologies if this is a problematic use of metatalk...I figured better to screw up here than on the blue.
posted by Ipsifendus at 5:13 AM on April 21, 2011

I think the general consensus is that if you're thinking about making a post because "[TOPIC] is not really "best of the web" per se, but I'd love to read the community's thoughts about the [TOPIC]", you should not make that post.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:20 AM on April 21, 2011 [8 favorites]

I'd say if you could construct a post with enough meat in it besides a link to it -- something deeper than just "hey, there's a new game out, what do you think?" and links to youtube videos of gameplay or to Steam -- then it might be able to pass muster, but I think the bar would be set pretty high to avoid deletion.
posted by crunchland at 5:23 AM on April 21, 2011

I tend to agree with Johnny Assay but speaking as a person who has actually never played Portal but only watched others, I would very much like to see a good FPP about it! I've enjoyed it vicariously through a bunch of friends and I think it's hilarious and really remarkable how what was essentially a bonus mini-game has become such a phenomenon and creeped into pop culture (cake anyone?)
posted by like_neon at 5:25 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

No, I don't think that's a good FPP when people are still posting in the original thread.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:26 AM on April 21, 2011

I'm loving the game, but unless you can find some Best of the Web content to match your Fun Game post idea, I'd say no. Give it a little time, I'm sure there will plenty of good posts to make about things that come out of the game, eventually.
posted by Plutor at 5:27 AM on April 21, 2011

Unless you're linking to a particularly good site about Portal 2, it's not really going to be a great post. It would be along the lines of the "my favourite band has a new album" or "Samsung has released a great new phone!" posts that we fortunately don't have too many of. There are better places on the Internet to discuss new games.

And if you want to discuss games with your fellow MeFites, there's a site for that.

If you do have an amazing site about Portal to link to, of course, that would surely merit a post of its own and not have to be tucked away in the old thread.
posted by nowonmai at 5:28 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ipsifendus: Apologies if this is a problematic use of metatalk...I figured better to screw up here than on the blue.

Only if you take some sort of sick pleasure in having a spike thrust into your heart and twisted repeatedly by a large group of bloodthirsty individuals.
posted by gman at 5:36 AM on April 21, 2011

I don't think the release of the game is enough meat for a front-page post. But if you add in, or make the focus of your post, the post-release lashback from a vocal community (as covered on RPS in a couple of spots), and maybe tie it into some think-pieces on "length of game for the money" vs "pure entertainment for the dollar" then I think you've got something.
posted by flipper at 6:34 AM on April 21, 2011

The ARG was interesting, but that's covered. The contrast between the overwhelmingly positive critical reaction and the puerile whining from some fans is marginally interesting, but not enough to make a FPP.

Pity, since seeing Portal get its own thread on the blue was how I found out about it in the first place, and reading the thread - and specifically the longish post from empath - made me buy it. But a new thread will just be a bunch of fanboys going on about how great it is.
posted by daveje at 6:34 AM on April 21, 2011

I think the other idea is that metatalk isn't the place to float your balloon. If you think it'll make a good post make it. It'll stand or be deleted, but a metatalk thread asking about whether or not it's a good idea isn't a good idea. It's like second string posting. So make it or not. If it stands and gets good reception it was worth doing. If not it'll go away. No harm, no foul.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:37 AM on April 21, 2011

There have been about 20,000 posts about minecraft, so I think another post about Portal could be fine, but I also think that just posting about 'hey portal is out' with a round up reviews isn't good enough...

I'm going to guess that someone online is going to write a fabulously insightful and/or controversial article about it in the next few days that will probably be worth posting about.
posted by empath at 6:40 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pity, since seeing Portal get its own thread on the blue was how I found out about it in the first place, and reading the thread - and specifically the longish post from empath - made me buy it.

Someone at valve oughtta send me a gift certificate or something.
posted by empath at 6:41 AM on April 21, 2011

Or a potato!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:51 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I have a policy that I only play videogames on the weekend.

So, last week, when it dropped that perhaps Portal 2 would release early, I was thrilled - I figured it would come out on Saturday or Sunday and I would be so in.

Instead, it came out on Monday. So this entire week has been, thus far, an extreme exercise in patience.

To that end, what I'm really saying is that if you spoil it for me I will drive to your house and I will CUT YOU.

Like one would cut a cake.
posted by kbanas at 7:10 AM on April 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

cjorgensen...yeah, I've seen earlier Metatalk threads that amounted to,"Is this post a good idea that people are interested in?", to which the mods responded by saying Metatalk is not for testing the waters on behalf of a potential FPP.

So, to clarify what I probably worded poorly, I'm not asking here if people are INTERESTED in a post on "Portal 2". I'm asking if a new post would violate the community standards, because I don't want to do that.
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:11 AM on April 21, 2011

Usually, if I'm not sure, I just post it and see if it stands. Nobody gets mad about a deleted post every once in a while, unless you're trolling.
posted by empath at 7:25 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I guess what I'm saying is, it's not violating 'community standards' to make a post with too much editorializing or an overly thin fpp or a double post or a just plain bad one. It'll just get deleted and we'll get on with our lives.

Intentional trolling, spam, etc, violate community standards, just regular old bad posts don't.
posted by empath at 7:28 AM on April 21, 2011

To that end, what I'm really saying is that if you spoil it for me I will drive to your house and I will CUT YOU.

Wheatley is elected Prom Queen on Glee.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 7:28 AM on April 21, 2011 [6 favorites]

Someone else emailed me asking something similar and my suggestion to them was if they were going to make one, make it quickly because I'm certain someone else would have the same idea.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:39 AM on April 21, 2011

Oh, yeah, kbanas? Well, I preordered it a month before release, I was so excited about it. It has still not shipped. Meanwhile, every one of my friends is playing it already [even this guy I know in the Netherlands who gets American TV on apparently a month delay]. I am getting twitter-texts about it every fifteen minutes or so. My estimated delivery date is next. Fucking. Week.

FUCK YOU AMAZON.
posted by ego at 7:45 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Anyone else on XBL playing this? I think I'm nearing the end of the single player campaign (I've already found all the pieces of the Tri-Force, and Master Chief has taken his helmet off, revealing she's a woman)--but I'm jonesing for some coop play. Gamertag is the same as in town.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:49 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah guys, I couldn't imagine playing any sort of FPS on a console when it is available on a computer. Even if your computer is old, you can run this, it is on the Source engine. Plus, it lets you do things like play it the very second it comes out.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 7:58 AM on April 21, 2011

Why don't you just cancel that order and get it through Steam?

My gaming computer died a long while back [never really played much on it besides WoW, anyway, and to fix it would probably lead me down that dark road again], and I don't have a PS3. Only the 360.
posted by ego at 7:59 AM on April 21, 2011

Yeah, I have no idea if there's meat yet for a good new Portal 2 post out there but if there is and someone wants to make it, okie doke: it's a good post. Something that's more just a "omg i am vibrating because portal 2 is out, so let's chat about it" is not so great. Hopefully we won't see any of the latter before we I think pretty inevitably see the former.

If your question is more of a quickie "is this an okay thing to do" thing, it's always totally fine to just hit us up at the contact form to see if we do a spit take or whatever.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:03 AM on April 21, 2011

My estimated delivery date is next. Fucking. Week.

Wow. I ordered Portal 2 for 360 from Amazon on Tuesday around 4pm EDT. I signed up for the free Amazon Prime trial so I could actually use the $20 credit on my next order without paying for shipping. It was in my mailbox around 1pm yesterday.

I've never had delays with Amazon's Super Saver shipping before, but it sounds like they're sitting on your order ... which is totally lame.

(Also I played for about 45 minutes last night ... expectations exceeded.)
posted by uncleozzy at 8:07 AM on April 21, 2011

There's a page on the wiki to collaborate on posts.

I started a portal one.

I don't have time to add much now, but there you go if anyone wants to link dump there.
posted by empath at 8:15 AM on April 21, 2011

They're talking about portal at mefight club, btw.
posted by empath at 8:24 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I know two things about Portal 2.

1.) I want it.

2.) Three Turret Moon t-shirt!
posted by quin at 8:32 AM on April 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

So anyone uncover the "secret story" going on in the background of the game yet?
posted by The Whelk at 8:52 AM on April 21, 2011

it's always totally fine to just hit us up at the contact form to see if we do a spit take or whatever.

This reaction to a post idea is my secret fear.
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:56 AM on April 21, 2011

I've never played the original and am curious about it. I also have zero interest in ARGs, which are little more than marketing, imho. I'd love to see a good Portal post. Its quiet a phenomoenon and its been below my radar this whole time, a bit like EVE online, and the few EVE posts we've had here were excellent. My pet conspiracy theory of the morning is that the East cost Amazon cloud is down today because too many engineers called off to play it yesterday.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:04 AM on April 21, 2011

I downloaded Portal 2 via Steam over the internet. Steam's interface uses web pages. It's probably one of the best games I've ever played.

Ergo, Best of the Web if you torture the definition.

But yeah, the ARG post isn't dead. I kind of wish it could get sidebar'd as "Talk about Portal 2 here!" Although that's not what the sidebar is for.
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:06 AM on April 21, 2011

So anyone uncover the "secret story" going on in the background of the game yet? --- That apparently it's not necessary to make a front page post to talk about the game when you can do it right here.
posted by crunchland at 9:09 AM on April 21, 2011

For anyone who hasn't played portal 2 yet there is a browser based version.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:01 AM on April 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

Y'all should come on over to Gamefilter if you're not there already. There's even a Portal 2 group.
posted by juv3nal at 10:10 AM on April 21, 2011

Oops. Missed nowonmai's earlier mention. I am a filthy skimmer.
posted by juv3nal at 10:51 AM on April 21, 2011

My pet conspiracy theory of the morning is that the East cost Amazon cloud is down today because too many engineers called off to play it yesterday.

Could be true. Good news is that Amazon has confirmed that SkyNet is not responsible.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:02 AM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

SkyNet did not have anything to do with the service event at this time.

"AT THIS TIME?" Uh... "Hasta la vista. Baby."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:18 AM on April 21, 2011

I'd just like to say that the Stephen-Merchant-voiced drone is more amusing than I thought it would be. So far. I haven't gotten very far in yet.
posted by Decani at 11:25 AM on April 21, 2011

"Still Alive" is back in my head again. Damn you Portal thread!

I won't even get a chance to play Portal 2 until a week from Saturday. Curse you cruel world!
posted by Mister Fabulous at 11:58 AM on April 21, 2011

I forget; Is this the game where the cake is a lie?

I bought the first Portal. I got out of a room and moved a beam of light. I didn't get what all the excitement was about, so I gave up. Someday I may go back and try to get farther.

I also logged into Minecraft once. It was nothing like crack.

Yep, I'm a gamer.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:02 PM on April 21, 2011

Is this where we can talk about the awesome new song that The National wrote for the Portal soundtrack? It's really good. (No spoilers!)

Yeah guys, I couldn't imagine playing any sort of FPS on a console when it is available on a computer.

Let me be the first to say that I'm really, really, ridiculously impressed by the way that Valve chose to distribute Portal.

I bought a copy for the PS3 because I was worried that my Mac wouldn't be able to play it, and didn't want to throw $50 down the tubes (especially since Amazon were giving a $20 credit away with the PS3 version).

I ordered it the day it came out (oops), and with 2-day Amazon Prime shipping was on my doorstep less than 16 hours later. In the box is a voucher that entitles you to a free download of the PC and/or Mac version of the game via Steam. How cool is that?

The download was incredibly quick for me -- my 'net connection usually sucks, so Valve must have one hell of a CDN, because I averaged 1.2MB/s downloading the gargantuan file, the day after the game came out.

Trophies, achievements, and the like are kept in sync between the PS3 and PC/Mac versions. Your saved games are also sync'd to the cloud, presumably allowing you to swap between your desktop/laptop/pc/mac without losing progress. Cloud sync also works on the PS3, but the files are sadly not interchangeable with the PC version, which is (as far as I can tell) the only drawback to Valve's magical cross-platform dance.

Valve "Gets It." I can play the game I paid for wherever I want, and on whatever platform I want, without having to pay extra for the privilege of doing so. If I ever lose the discs or get a new computer, I can always re-download the game and my save files via steam at no additional cost. If only the rest of the entertainment industry could be so accommodating and forward-thinking.

....and that's not even talking about the game itself. It's also quite good, although I'm sure that others will cover that aspect in depth.
posted by schmod at 12:11 PM on April 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

I didn't get what all the excitement was about, so I gave up. Someday I may go back and try to get farther.

posted by cjorgensen at 8:02 PM on April 21

Dude, I made this exact comment on reddit shortly after Portal came out. I was told by some nice, persuasive people to be patient and stick with it. I am so glad I believed them.

Portal possibly did drag out the introductory phase - where you're just jumping through these seemingly endless Aperture Science hoops - for too long. But - without spoiling too much, I hope - there comes a point where you, err, take the red pill or die. And then it gets seriously fun. Not Half Life II fun - I will admit that Portal is overrated - but still fun.

Stick with it.
posted by Decani at 12:24 PM on April 21, 2011

Apologies if this is a problematic use of metatalk...

Apologies if this is a problematic use of this thread, but MeMail me if you want to play co-op!
posted by speicus at 1:34 PM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Aperture Science hoops

If you experience nausea, dizziness, or loss of appetite and/or hair and/or skin after prolonged enjoyment of the Aperture Science Asbestos Super Hoop, please contact an Aperture Science Hula Hoop Associate.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:55 PM on April 21, 2011

Not Half Life II fun - I will admit that Portal is overrated -

Half Life II fun? Like that four-hour boat ride where nothing interesting happens and you don't see anything of note except that some Future Cops having a smoke break around piles of exploding barrels?
posted by IjonTichy at 2:48 PM on April 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

>They're talking about portal at mefight club, btw.

>>Y'all should come on over to Gamefilter if you're not there already. There's even a Portal 2 group.

Just to clarify for those who haven't been following along at home, Mefight Club is our private forum (about 1500 of us so far) for Metafilter members, friends, family, and the occasional driveby who got entranced by our Minecraft server to hang out and talk about games and buy each other copies of games and play an awful lot of games together. Also, to just jaw about whatever, which we do.

Gamefilter is the recent addition to the MFC family of sites, expressly created to emulate the basic function of Metafilter, but niche -- links and discussions about games and gaming. It's still in its infancy, but growing, slowly.

I built and run the sites and swear a bit when I break stuff and generally abide.

Please do join us at either site (or the longform blog (and podcast) we run as well, for MFC members to stretch out a bit) if you want. Unfortunately, because my skillz are limited at best, you'll need separate accounts at Mefight Club itself and at Gamefilter. All are welcome!

I understand Metafilter has an audience orders of magnitude larger than Gamefilter and is therefore a preferred place for folks to post (though I have grand hopes for the future), but if anyone wants to post game-related stuff there, or cross-post between MeFi and there, or any mix of the above, you do so with my thanks.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:07 PM on April 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

Stavros, I considered linking to MFC in the post, but it looks like you can't even view the site without registering, which makes it a no-no for the front page even if it's Mefi-related. Is that ever going to change? I've never run a website, but IMHO it seems odd (and bad for growth) to put barriers to entry in front of people even seeing what the community is like.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:02 PM on April 21, 2011

Thanks for thinking of us. It is deliberate, after much consideration. MFC is a private community, unindexed by search bots, but the front door is always open. We are welcoming in the extreme, but we are also quite protective of the small-community feel we have there, and the balance has worked pretty well thus far.

But that shuttered-but-not-closed thing is one of the reasons I started Gamefilter (and also as a place for links rather than ongoing, bumpable, forum-style discussion at MFC proper, or the long-form post style at Full Glass Empty Clip), which is readable and indexed and open to all (but requires signup to post links and comment, just like MeFi (but free)). So if'n you want to link to Gamefilter (or directly to the Portal 2 group there), please do, with my thanks.

The more exposure the site gets, the more it will grow, and the happier I will be!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:09 PM on April 21, 2011

Oh, hey, also, if you really want to talk Portal 2 but not have anything spoiled, we have and encourage the use of spoiler tags at Mefight Club, so the thread there might be right up your alley.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:19 PM on April 21, 2011

It's a pretty big deal for a lot of people. Kind of like saying "stuff about 9/11 should have just gone into one of the pre-9/11 threads", of which there were many.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:12 PM on April 21, 2011

Sorry, everybody, if you signed up in the last week for Gamefilter and couldn't post or join groups or anything on the main site. I made an dumb configuration mistake at some point, which I think I have rectified, and all should be well now.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:56 PM on April 24, 2011

well, last week or three, maybe *facepalm*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:56 PM on April 24, 2011