Dr. Gwynette: Hello and welcome to the Autism News Network. I am joined today by Jennifer Angle and Patrick Reed, and we’re here to talk about a very exciting topic today. Which is what guys?

Patrick: Video games.

Jennifer: Video games.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, that’s right, video games. Everyone’s favorite activity.

Patrick: Especially during these trying times.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, especially during COVID. Both Jennifer and Patrick are not in the video game hall of fame, but they should be. Because they’ve had long and storied careers playing games and let’s just get right into it. So, Patrick, you mentioned that during these trying times of COVID, have you been gaming more?

Patrick: Yeah. A lot.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. How much more?

Patrick: Like almost all the time.

Dr. Gwynette: Jennifer, how about you? Has your gaming like ticked up since COVID happened?

Jennifer: I guess, yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Jennifer: Not being able to go out a lot.

Dr. Gwynette: We’ll be talking about video games today and it’s become such an important part of our lives. Question to both of you, what are your favorite video games of all time?

Patrick: Actually I have a lot, but to name a few, let’s see, Final Fantasy 10, Legends of Zelda Minish Cap. Oh yeah, Pokemon White.

Dr. Gwynette: Pokemon Light?

Patrick: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Now what’s-

Patrick: Like the color white.

Dr. Gwynette: … Oh, white, you said?

Patrick: Yeah, like the color.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. Awesome. And Jennifer, what about you?

Jennifer: Probably Minecraft.

Dr. Gwynette: And are you still playing a lot of Minecraft?

Jennifer: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: Awesome.

Patrick: I play that sometimes too. It’s crazy. It’s a crazy game.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. What makes Minecraft so crazy?

Patrick: The amount of stuff you can build on it. Literally the only-

Jennifer: You can do just about anything with it.

Patrick: … Yeah, the only limit is your imagination.

Jennifer: You can mod it very easily.

Dr. Gwynette: You can do what with it, Jennifer?

Jennifer: You can mod it.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Patrick: Modify it.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: So do you guys remember back, like what were your first video game you ever played?

Jennifer: Wii Sports was my first game ever.

Dr. Gwynette: What’s it called?

Jennifer: Wii Sports.

Dr. Gwynette: Oh, Wii Sports. And on the Wii Sports, what would you like to play on that?

Jennifer: Well, it was when I was getting adopted. We were stopping by someone’s house was open they were playing Wii Sports. So yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. So was that like tennis, bowling?

Jennifer: I think it was bowling.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Patrick: Yeah, I think it has boxing on it, too. I think I still have that game, too.

Dr. Gwynette: And would you get like literally exhausted, like a sore shoulder from playing Wii bowling?

Jennifer: I don’t remember, that was years and years ago-

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, a long time.

Jennifer: … when I first played it.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, Patrick, how about you? What was your first video game?

Patrick: Oh boy. Back years ago when I was still small kid, my sister and I had an SNES and we had a few games on it, mainly Mario. I believe my first game was Super Mario All Stars and it had a few of the classics, like the first Mario game, Super Mario Bros three and Mario World.

Dr. Gwynette: And so you kind of stumbled on something there, like there’s this concept of like video game franchises? What is that?

Jennifer: There’s multiple of them.

Patrick: Right.

Jennifer: It’s a series. That’s pretty much it. That’s it.

Patrick: Like games, movies, anime, pretty much if you can make money off of it, you being merchandise out of it. That’s to my understanding.

Dr. Gwynette: The Mario franchise, you guys remember which game that came from initially?

Jennifer: Just Mario Bros.

Dr. Gwynette: No.

Jennifer: Actually, I think it was Donkey Kong.

Dr. Gwynette: Donkey Kong. Yep.

Jennifer: Oh yeah, that too.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, have you guys ever played Donkey Kong?

Jennifer: I’m kind of tired so my brain is just…

Dr. Gwynette: Oh, no worries. Are you guys Donkey Kong fans?

Patrick: [crosstalk 00:03:53].

Jennifer: I don’t think I ever played the original.

Dr. Gwynette: Never played the original. Okay. It was pretty great.

Patrick: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: It was probably the biggest game after Pac-Man. So Pac-Man came and Donkey Kong was a pretty big one. And yeah, Mario was the hero in Donkey Kong, but then he went on to, of course have pretty much like hundreds of games, right?

Patrick: Yep. He went on to save the princess on pretty much a daily basis.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. That’s all right. That’s right. What have you guys heard about the origins of video games? Do you hear much about the early, early days?

Jennifer: I mean, I know what Atari is and there’s like Jaguar or whatever.

Patrick: I know like very first few games was Pong, I think.

Dr. Gwynette: Yep.

Jennifer: Yeah, Pong was the first game.

Dr. Gwynette: Yep. That’s right. Where it’s just like a line hitting a ball back and forth. Just, yeah. That was one of the early ones. And they had these little, instead of a joystick, you just had a handheld device with a dial. If you move the dial to the left the pong would go up. Move it to the right the pong would go down. And you’re just basically trying to hit this little dot back and forth.

Patrick: Right.

Dr. Gwynette: That was way back. Yeah. Do you guys have a favorite, like OG console that you play once in a while that was maybe from your childhood?

Patrick: Game Boy.

Dr. Gwynette: Game Boy.

Patrick: Yeah.

Jennifer: I don’t know.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, like what consoles do you guys play now?

Jennifer: PC and Switch mostly. Sometimes 3DS. Not nearly as much anymore though.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Patrick: I mainly play on the computer and my DS.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. So you got a DS, you got a Nintendo Switch, and then, Jennifer, you said you play on a PC a lot?

Jennifer: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Now what are-

Jennifer: That’s what I mostly play on.

Dr. Gwynette: … Uh-huh (affirmative). And so you’re doing Minecraft. What other games do you do?

Jennifer: Among Us, that’s a really popular game right now.

Patrick: Oh yeah, that’s an awesome game.

Dr. Gwynette: What is it about Among Us that’s made it so popular?

Patrick: Well, it’s a social game with a mystery aspect.

Jennifer: Yeah. I guess that’s what it is.

Patrick: What is that one party game where it’s a mystery game? Murder Mystery, that’s what it was. It’s literally a murder mystery and at least one of the-

Jennifer: One, two or three.

Patrick: … Yeah, at least-

Jennifer: It depends.

Patrick: … one of the players is an impostor. At least one of the players is the imposter and they go around killing the other players that aren’t the imposters, while they try to do tasks on the spaceship. And if one of them sees a dead body or the imposter killing someone, they report the body and it’s the player’s job to figure out who the imposters are.

Dr. Gwynette: Gotcha. And so how does that game end? Like I know you vote people off and stuff and then…

Patrick: Right. And if there’s an equal amount of imposters and players, the imposters win.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Patrick: And if the imposters get voted off, the players win.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. So it’s like-

Jennifer: Yeah, the crewmate.

Patrick: Well, yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: … Now who owns that game, Among Us?

Patrick: I think the company is called Inner Sloth.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. So it’s not one of the big, big players?

Patrick: Not to my knowledge.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. Now, do you guys, like when you’re playing-

Jennifer: I think they’re little indie studio.

Dr. Gwynette: … Yeah. And they have a major hit on their hands, huh?

Patrick: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think it came out in 2018.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Do you think they’re making a lot of money off that?

Jennifer: Probably.

Patrick: Yeah, probably. It didn’t get popular until this year.

Dr. Gwynette: Right. Yeah, just pretty recently.

Patrick: The sleeper hit of 2020.

Dr. Gwynette: Yep. Yep, that’s right. Now when you guys are playing online, are you typically, are you chatting with friends while you play?

Patrick: Yes.

Jennifer: Sometimes.

Patrick: Sometimes.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, and do you chat within the game or somewhere else?

Patrick: I’m mostly used in game chat rooms.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Patrick: I don’t have a headset.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. Yeah, what’s the advantage, Jennifer, I know you wear a headset when you’re playing. What’s it do for you?

Jennifer: Oh, I don’t normally use those in Among Us. You only have a text chat in Among Us.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. Yeah, but do you find that for other games, the headset-

Jennifer: Thank God. Some games you can use your microphone, some games you can’t.

Dr. Gwynette: … Now I know a lot of players will keep in touch with each other over Discord. What is Discord?

Jennifer: Basically Skype, but a lot better.

Patrick: Right.

Dr. Gwynette: Do you do a video chat on Discord or is it just like text?

Patrick: You can do both.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. Where do you guys end up doing a lot?

Jennifer: You can do a call. You don’t have to have your camera on.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Jennifer: You don’t have to have your camera on in a call. You can, but you don’t have to.

Patrick: Right.

Dr. Gwynette: And so you’ll have, let’s say you’re playing a game and then you use Discord at the same time?

Patrick: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jennifer: Yeah. You can call and do Discord at the same time.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. What is it about Discord that got it to be so popular? It’s like the place where gamers hang out, right?

Jennifer: Pretty much, yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: What is it about Discord that made it so strong in that area?

Patrick: That’s a good question. I’m not exactly sure.

Jennifer: It has a lot of stuff you can do in it and that’s probably why.

Dr. Gwynette: So what kind of stuff?

Patrick: You can share what you’re doing or what’s happening in the game. That’s why it’s sometimes too or a lot.

Jennifer: Yeah, you can share screens and stuff, too. You can add bots to your server.

Patrick: Oh yeah, you can stream on it, too.

Dr. Gwynette: That’s cool.

Jennifer: Yeah, like share your screen to your friends basically.

Dr. Gwynette: While you’re playing? So you can stream while you’re playing games?

Patrick: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: Do you guys watch videos of people playing video games?

Patrick: Sometimes.

Dr. Gwynette: And like-

Jennifer: Yeah, I watch people play games.

Dr. Gwynette: … Yeah. For an old guy like me, help me understand why you do that?

Jennifer: Well, sometimes they could be either really good at it, like really good and it’s just interesting to watch. Sometimes the reactions of the person playing it.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Jennifer: And for example, just like E-Sports types of things. That’s like top level play, tournaments like that, those are interesting to watch or speed runs. Okay, basically what speed runs are, is finishing the game as fast as possible.

Patrick: Yeah, there’s a bunch of world workers for them.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: That’s cool. So like, if it’s Mario Bros, you don’t worry about coins. You just get through as quick as you can.

Patrick: Right.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: Wow. So, how do you guys hear about new games that are coming out?

Patrick: Mostly from friends.

Jennifer: Well, I have a browser that lets me know news.

Dr. Gwynette: And Patrick, you said you hear mostly from where?

Patrick: From friends and on Discord.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Jennifer: Mostly YouTube because I follow Nintendo.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. So you follow Nintendo and they’ll let you know-

Jennifer: Because they’re more big on Nintendo.

Dr. Gwynette: … Now what would you say to people who wonder like are video games social or not?

Jennifer: They can be, yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Patrick: Yeah. There are several video games where you can play multiplayer.

Jennifer: Depends on the game, of course.

Patrick: Yeah. Games like World of Warcraft or Roomscape.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Mm-hmm (affirmative). So in those games, you like talking with people and interacting?

Patrick: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: Now, if you had an unlimited amount of resources or money, how would you set yourself up like in your video game playing area?

Jennifer: Had unlimited money?

Patrick: Yeah, unlimited money and resources.

Jennifer: Well, I have a really good laptop right now, but if I had unlimited money, I probably get an even better one, bunch of games I want.

Patrick: Yeah.

Jennifer: Yeah, I think that would be what I’d do.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, now-

Jennifer: Because I typically like my setup right now.

Dr. Gwynette: … How fast is your internet connection?

Jennifer: Pretty good.

Patrick: I’d get a bigger bedroom or maybe not in my bedroom. A bigger room in general. Like arcade cabinets in one side and a big TV with consoles on the other.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. So you’d have it all decked out?

Patrick: Oh, yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Every kind of console, like which consoles would you have?

Patrick: Every console under the sun.

Dr. Gwynette: So what are the big ones, like the most popular ones?

Patrick: Right now, the Switch.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Patrick: Oh, yeah and the PlayStation Five and Xbox Series X. I think that’s their most recent one.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Jennifer: Yeah, and they’re like brand new.

Patrick: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Gwynette: So there’s a lot of like competition in this area, huh?

Jennifer: Yeah, PlayStation’s beating Xbox I think.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Jennifer: Not surprised.

Dr. Gwynette: Do you ever play games on your cell phone?

Patrick: A lot.

Jennifer: Not a lot. I mostly use it for talking.

Dr. Gwynette: So mostly you’re playing on the PC? Do you see yourself, like as you get older, playing video games the same or less?

Jennifer: Probably at the same.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Patrick: Yeah, maybe a little less. I don’t know.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Patrick: I kind of want to get out some more.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Patrick: Yeah. Well, I really do.

Dr. Gwynette: Do you feel like, what’s the connection, if there’s any, between autism and video games?

Jennifer: My opinion, it’s a good escape from just all stresses and stuff like that.

Patrick: Yeah.

Jennifer: It’s a great escape.

Dr. Gwynette: And what kinds of stresses do you experience?

Patrick: Like real life drama.

Jennifer: Yeah, that especially. Being stuck in this house because of COVID, that’s another one.

Patrick: That too.

Dr. Gwynette: Well, fantastic. Well, anything else that you guys wanted to talk about today? Well, I wanted to thank Patrick and Jennifer for being here today. And Patrick, I didn’t share your handle with the audience. Do you want to tell them?

Patrick: Oh sure, ZephyrBlaze456 or just ZephyrBlaze.

Dr. Gwynette: Awesome, awesome. And Jennifer, do you have a handle when you’re playing online?

Jennifer: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: What is that?

Jennifer: Cheesy Macaroni.

Dr. Gwynette: Cheesy Macaroni?

Jennifer: Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Cool. We’ll put those in the show notes. So, all right guys. Well thank you for being here today-

Jennifer: Okay.

Dr. Gwynette: … and we wanted to thank our audience for watching the Autism News Network. Look forward to having you join us at our next show.

Patrick: See ya.