Atoga Art Connoisseur Gets Interviewed

[POOPERSCOOPER]

<strong>[ Community -> Interview ]</strong> - News related to <a href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/archives.php ... ry=48">Top Story: DAC Exlcusive Interview Atoga</a>

<p><strong>1. How did you first enter the Fallout community?</strong></p><p><span class="postbody">
don't remember the specifics of it but i lurked a bit on the
vault13 forums back in the days ('the days' = 2001) and from there i
somehow made the jump to DAC. i didn't take things all serious like
until a bit later.

<strong>2. What games have you been playing?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
i haven't played anything for a while - the last games i played
were half-life 2: episode 2 and portal when they came out. episode 2
was solid food for gamers, neither here nor there really. i liked
portal for the novelty of the gameplay, though i would have preferred
it if solving the puzzles was less based on incrementally combining
concepts handed to you by the game and instead required more insight.

<strong>3. You are well known for your
cutting edge tastes to the extent that Nicolai looks up to you. What do
you think attributes to this?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
not so sure... probably an insatiable thirst for stimulating new
experiences or something limp-wristed like that. my parents thrust a
lot of books and movies and shit upon me from an early age, my friends
are always passing me music, i'm always hungry for more culture.

<strong>4. What are some of your favorite memories at DAC?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
probably forgetting lots, but spacecat, PALS, chernobill and davide
(actually, all of megatron's & gimp flask's comics) are all truly
special to me and come to my mind often. in terms of actual community
drama, then definitely the 2.8 fiasco with rex and trying to deal with
DAC's more mentally defective posters.

<strong>5. What are your thoughts on Fallout 3? If you haven't played it, why not?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
i played it for five minutes once and it seems, in a word, bland.
haven't played it any more as i can't run it and am not that
interested. i couldn't knowledgably comment on the story or gameplay or
anything like that, though i was definitely put off by the visuals. one
of the more overlooked qualities of the originals was the incredibly
detailed, comic book-influenced graphics but fallout 3 seems to be on
some generic dark gritty shit.

<strong>6. What do you see for the future of RPGs in general?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
the immediate future seems bleak, mainly because morrowind is the
dominant model, though i also think that CRPGs trying to mimic tabletop
RPGs are a dead end. i do not understand people who insist that things
like turn-based combat are absolutely necessary; making something which
is a 1:1 replica of a tabletop RPG isn't particularly interesting, and
certainly isn't commercially viable. instead, CRPGs need to do a better
job of embracing the medium - morrowind-style games are bad as RPGs,
but they're equally bad as action games, as interactive storytelling
games, and so on. so, while i think hybrid RPGs are the way forward,
they are sorely lacking right now. developers need to massively step
things up and get together things such as: actual decent story and
storytelling, actual decent dialogue, more open-ended gameplay, action
driven by the scenario rather than endless pointless dungeon crawling,
you get the idea.

<strong>7. What games are you looking forward to?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
i'm interested in playing GTA4, bully and deus ex but have not
gotten around to doing so, and i would also like to play the black mesa
source conversion thing, if it ever comes out. i'm barely aware of
upcoming games so i can't say more than that.

<strong>
8. What have you been doing in your time away from DAC?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
university is on pause right now (don't know if i want to go back
or not), so i'm working 10 hours a day at a horrible government job and
doing a few odd design jobs as well. also assembling a portfolio so i
can maybe go to art or design school or something, building a bike,
helping to write textbooks, going to shows, running around the city,
generally mucking around in real life.

<strong>
9. What do you think of DAC when compared to NMA and RPGcodex? What do you see for its future?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
RPGcodex is good for really dry, informed discussion from people
who all seem slightly autistic, though i don't like it otherwise. NMA
take themselves way too seriously, being quite heavy on the delusional
groupthink, always ready to label dissenters as sellouts, etc., which
definitely makes them the loser of the three. DAC is obviously where
it's at, though it's dwindling (in terms of both traffic and quality)
and will continue that way. most of the good members have left or are
posting less and it's not like a new fallout game is going to bring
people back. best to just let it go in a quiet, dignified way.

<strong>10. What are the latest cool stuff in comics, books, music, and movies?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
don't know about the latest and greatest i'll say what i'm on right
now... bookswise i'm reading some of ballard's short stories and going
through everything by murakami (who i was put onto by susan, actually),
who is intensely readable and on sort of a magical
realism-meets-modernism thing. musicwise, right now it's mainly
synth-driven/kind of organic sounding instrumental hip-hop coming
mostly out of LA, and heavily syncopated and kind of broken sounding UK
house, as well as grime, juke, and early modern classical suchas
musique concrete and tape composition. as for movies, i am having a
mental block right now and cannot remember the last new movie i saw,
sorry to leave you hung out to dry.

<strong>11. What do you think of Megatron and the Mammas gang?</strong></span></p><p><span class="postbody">
mammas gang forms like voltron and megatron is the head. megatron
is a true blue, an artist, a savant, a mamma's boy. mamma's gang is
blazing an unstoppable path forward into the future. we have to stick
together.</span></p><p><strong>Thanks, atoga. </strong>
</p>

[baby arm]

right now it's mainly synth-driven/kind of organic sounding instrumental hip-hop coming mostly out of LA

If you come out this way, make sure you get yourself to Low End Theory and the Brainfeeder Sessions.

[SenisterDenister]

Not much dignity in dying alone from cancer on a hospital bed. Rather go out with a bang, and by that I mean an explosion.

[susan's twin]

atoga is as hell

[Thor Kaufman]

Great interview, Poops.
atoga, you are my favorite artfag

[S4ur0n27]

atoga >

[Retlaw83]

synth-driven/kind of organic sounding instrumental hip-hop

You should check out the group Restiform Bodies if you haven't already. Good music - they have a 7 minute song called "Drop It" about a plush animal claw-grabber machine that's brilliant - and have a very strong anti-consumerist message.