this really dovetails with the concept of "down time" in video games i think. like you'll be playing a game with a really intense sequence that takes a lot of focus, and then be totally drained afterwards and needing a break.... but not quite wanting to stop playing yet. like for me, i felt it most powerfully when playing planetside 2 years ago. my friends and i would be fighting a really intense battle and afterwards the only option would be to go onto the next fight and you do reach a point where you're like "i don't want to do this" but you also don't want to quit playing with your friends either. we'd sometimes take breaks by doing like buggy races or goofing off but that sometimes still takes focus and even creativity too. having some pre-defined mindless activity would have been great, like idk, mining for resources or something.
@@RoughlingTrue. Although I think a lot of the negative opinions about grinding stem from how maliciously it is used to force players to buy mtx. And rightfully so IMHO. Other then that it's really just a preference thing. My ADHD brain can only handle so much repetition before I give up and move on to the new shiny thing. 😅
this is so real i was trying to figure out what my zone out game is and i realized its cp2077 ncpd scanner missions. im like 60 hours into the game and barely started the main plot
One of the reasons I enjoy games with good movement mechanics is that when I need a break, I don't even consciously switch to it. One second, I'm going through side quests, and the next I realize I just spent 10 minutes aimlessly web swinging in Spider-Man for no other reason than it feels good to do. Reminds me of when I was younger, I would lift much smaller weights in high school in between actually challenging reps, because repeating those motions stress-free just relaxed me. With games, it's a lot more seamless, since I don't have to get up and physically switch anything out, I just go do something else in the game.
my favorite zone-out... not media but activity is knitting/crochet, its the thing i do mindlessly with my hands while i watch other stuff (usually ttrpg actual plays because dear god do i need to be doing something else at the same time to be focused on those even though i love them to bits)
My favorite podcast games are just normal games you can play on mute. Most recently I've been playing _Nonograms_ on my phone while I listen to things like _Dimension 20,_ but in the past I got through those multi-hour video essays by playing _Cuphead_ with the sounds off. I actually beat Expert Mode in that game because I had some free time. Same thing with _OlliOlli World,_ which I 100%'d. The sad part is I beat those games so I have to find something else; you can only play _Vampire Survivors_ or _Venineth_ so many times before you're making yourself play everything.
Oh yeah, since I discovered Nonograms I've been playing so much of it that I've exhausted like 8 games and actually have opinions on the variations of the gameplay... And I've listened to so many hours of podcasts and music albums by turning the (probably good) music of a roguelike/lite off (Vampire survivors, Brotato, SNKRX, 300 hours of Binding of Isaac)
When I need to put something on, RUclips tends to be my go-to. I have comfort videos like Hbomberguy’s roblox oof video or Shoogles 8 and 11 hour pokemon reviews. It’s not that they’re the best content, it’s that I can have them on for extended periods of time and turn my attention every few minutes to see something neat. More recs are defunctland and summoning salt!
I have been building a “good vibes” playlist on YT that I can put on when I need background noise but don’t have the energy to actually pay attention to anything. I use it to soothe anxiety, fall asleep, or just generally ~zone out~
Redlettermedia is my go-to idle video content. Recently I've been trying to replace scroll time with drawing or other stuff with my hands - it's a general improvement on my mood when I do this stuff, but sometimes I just feel so spent that any kind of creative activity feels too much and I wind up scrolling reddit or playing vampire survivors with a video playing.
I remember finding are sharing sites found on it with classmates and friends, every computer in the classroom showing the same website during lunch for a bit before going back to Coolmathgames
My “podcast game” is Dwarf Fortress, which you’d think would be the opposite of an idle game, but once you get the hang of it, most of the game is waiting for your dwarves to get their work done
It's funny because I consider myself a pretty big gamer, but the older I get, the more I like this type of gaming. On my two monitors, I typically have RUclips or a streaming service on one. For example, I just watched all of True Detective, and on my other monitor, I have a game like OSRS. What's interesting and kind of scary is that over the years, this line has blurred. Instead of OSRS, I'll play normal games while having a movie on the side or in the background. I'm basically always consuming two forms of media. There are some exceptions, like when I go to the movies or game with my friends, but if it's a single-player game, I pretty much am always watching something on the side.
After a first play through, each Souls game becomes its own podcast game for me. With Dark Souls 3 specifically, it brought that feeling of going to the bathroom late at night but you don’t want to turn on the light: you have perfect awareness for where you are, but not necessarily what’s around, in the case of family or roommates. A great decompression from stressors that allowed me to try a lot of fun/weird builds, all with podcasts or stream vods in the background. And oddly enough, I think I prefer not to share my flowstate games with podcasts. The chill really comes in when I only have a single point of focus.
I worked in the mobile games industry, it's amazing how little people respect the work that goes into it. I got out pretty soon, but I've found interviewers don't treat it as "proper" games programming experience.
MST3K has been my zone out show for a long time. Even though I've seen every episode numerous times, I can rarely recall anything substantial from the movie segments
Hm, interesting. For me, a 'podcast game' is stuff like Binding of Isaac, Streets of Rogue, Mini Motorways, Noita, or any number of 'tree puncher' games.
I wholly agree, for myself id also add arcadey games like Ridge Racer, Grinding in Final Fantasys, fighting games, counter strike, Dredge, Harvest Moon, dark souls, PORTAL, etc... Any game that doesn't have a ton of plot or repetitive sections. Bubble bobble and tetris were pre phone staples round my house.
Civilization works pretty well for me most of the game--you usually have to get past the early to mid game which can be challenging, but once you hit a certain point it's unlikely that any of the computer-run nations will be able to come anywhere close to you, and you can just autopilot through to victory.
I tried some of the harder difficulties and ooh boy. You cannot just coast to the finish line. Like you absolutely need to try and stop the enemy from winning. It was kind of refreshing.
i'm in my PBS Dad era of zone-out media which right this moment is translating to a lot of chill historical cooking videos on youtube. Townsends and Tasting History are my faves! (also great video!!)
Honestly lately it's been fun watching Let's Plays and even group game content. The amount of other people's Among Us or TTT games I've listened to while working on stuff has definitely increased
0:56 i do like how you talk about the lack of characters and plot/endings right after showing A Dark Room, which has a notable plot, kinda (genuine sentiment)
My recent zone out activity has been listening to podcasts or audiobooks while I play older titles from the Total War franchise which doesn't initially seem like a good zone out series but I've been playing them for decades now and it works for me!
My current favorite zone out media is Drawfee episodes and streams. I also recently realized that watching youtube basically non-stop at home was stressing me out and not letting me think. So I spent two weeks without youtube on my phone, and have now redownloaded it (mostly for Drawfee. I missed them!). I still need my zone out youtube videos for sure, but I'm trying to be more careful about like, letting myself think before rushing to turn my brain off.
My favorite game for playing while half-watching things is Fashion Dreamer. No plot besides the one I've made for myself. No way to lose. Just pretty colors and making cute outfits.
Drawtectives is my favorite zone-out media. The animations change enough to keep me interested, it's funny to listen to, I don't have to pay to watch (it's on youtube), and the newest season has just started
Thank you for making this video. I've been struggling with my feelings towards social media: i.e. tiktok or facebook lately. It has gotten to the point where it was making upset about my use of time and my consumption of content as a whole. The more I thought about it, the more I questioned why it even mattered to me at all. It's great to hear someone put this topic into words and ultimately say it's OK as long as you feel it's OK. I really appreciate that you took the time to make this video.
My zone-out media has recently been the channel Jello Plays Games cause they do lots of bits, or, if I'm having a bad day, Futurama. I really enjoy idle games, but I do have to make sure that I'm not letting it consume all my time. They can very easily slip from being a nice brain-off game for when I need it to eating up all my free time. I would love to see some studies on whether certain types of brain-off media affects the brain differently.
re: I don’t have a TikTok/tv/radio. All of these things have the same positives but not all have the same negatives. I’d rather someone be a regular user of radio or podcasts or tv than the more predatory apps like social media or games with excessive IAP models. (My favorite zone out media is the mobile game Luck Be a Landlord)
I am in luck as I watched this video on my big screen and thus did not waste my time with it :) Very insightful video. Thanks you Jenna. My podcast game was Dark Souls for a long period of times. Played that game so often that it I did not need to orientate myself and knew where to go without thinking.
Drawing while I'm listing to this, I found it really interesting as an artist because I listen to podcasts, audiobooks, TV, and such while I'm working on things and it's honestly a help to slide into that flow state. It's not only interesting but it also let's my thoughts focus in on what I'm working on. C: I also find it interesting how they found that self esteem dropped when they couldn't indulge in daydreams or such, because I've felt that. I almost wonder if that has its own reasoning in pair with the reasoning you gave for the loss of social stigma for the people who stopped watching TV. For myself, I find that if I can't be creative in some way, it almost feels like an itch I can't scratch. I've described it as a need before, when others have tried to call it a want. I have to be creative in the same way I have to eat. If I don't I will suffer negatively. I'd love to hear others thoughts, maybe it's more common than I think?
podcast games felt like a LIFESAVER at the beginning of the pandemic. i have over a thousand play hours on ACNH because all i did from march to september of 2020 was listen to actualplay dnd podcasts and work on my island. in theory, could i have spent lockdown doing something "better"? maybe! but my brain was so fried from the constant existential anxiety (and my increasingly toxic living situation) that that game was all i could focus on. it was what i needed to get through a truly grim period of my life.
This video is such a nice break from all the other videos about content and attention, it's so refreshing to here someone be critical without acting like ALL content consumption is bad ever
the part in this video about socially acceptable time-wasters really resonated with me - I've been beating myself up a lot recently for not reading as much as I used to, and I've started listening to a lot more music in that time, and the idea of the two differing mostly in social acceptance is very interesting to me.
It's funny that we learn the importance of taking a break even when we're just tiny things but then media and technology recontextualize everything over time. Thanks for putting it all into context.
My podcast games are usually big open world grindathons like Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey, Dragon Age Inquisition, any of the Ubisoft style climb a tower to unlock the map kind of games. Or Minecraft. I will usually hop onto the Minecraft server I have with my friends and I'll listen to audiobooks while doing my thing. Recently I've been going through Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles while building out my magical forest island lol
my favorite podcast game is called Battleship Solitaire by Luke Rissacher. It literally has the subtitle “Mindless Podcast Companion” - highly recommended!
OldSchool RuneScape is definitely the game that first comes to mind for me! Although it's not necessarily the best for zoning out in, and it has a lot of content that does require full focus for a long time, and it takes some effort to making decisions about what you want to do next if you haven't already figured out what you wanna do for the next dozen hours... I'm sure most mmorpgs have some amount of design considerations for different "levels of focus", but runescape really focuses in on it. Whenever you feel like playing, there's some activity you can do with whatever level of attention you're willing to give it, that will also meaningfully yield progress for you. A funny quirk of that is how sometimes I get pulled into a lower attention activity than I was planning to do (like encountering a recently fallen star to mine, which you only need to click on once every 7 minutes), but my primary task for the moment was playing the game, so suddenly I have seven minute intervals where my leisure needs are satisfied, and I find within me the unusual impulse to just do some chores I've been putting off as well.
First, dope sweater. Second, really enjoyed the Joan Jett throughline. My zone out media include Blackadder, Broad City, MST3K (especially if trying to go to sleep), TOS, Black Books, Chewing Gum. ETA: I was introduced though GDQ to the Arcade Pit run by Smight and Emily Aster. A+ team based video game gameshow with a snail mascot. These are all probably old news but I love them so much. THE BOY
I feel like a really interesting version of this is RuneScape, where as Marstead said it really well in his video "RuneScape is Awesome, And Here's Why", where he talks about that the idling and concentration and attention you need to give to a game is variable. I love this!
Thank you Jenna for giving me a new vocabulary word to use to seek out media I can enjoy while knitting! And listening to a podcast. My attention is not the limiting factor, it's a crucial lack of extra arms. (also i once bumped into a set for Suits while walking around Toronto. I think. I asked a guy with a camera what they were up to, and he said something like "I can't tell you, but they have a lot of nice SUITS")
Only recently found your channel but I'm already a huge fan! Thanks to your bookshelf for getting me curious about Kate Lister, btw, just picked up a couple of her books. Also I finally got around to watching The Wicker Man -- between your pair of videos and Maggie Mae Fish's discussion of the film, I pushed myself to watch and it does NOT disappoint. (The *music* is *so good!* Catchy, too. Gets in your head in the best way possible.) Oh yeah, and games that let you relax are absolutely awesome. Thanks for laying it out as clearly as you have in this video! ❤
Fantastic as always!! I love Vampire Survivors for exactly the listed things: podcasts, exercise biking, and also audiobooks which is basically just a really elevated podcast or something, lol. It's very real!!
We got third place for the number of points earned in our two favorite logic/puzzle games on Puzzle Baron last month, mostly because that's what we do when we listen to music.
as someone who basically never watches tv, i just binged ALL of Leverage and Leverage Redemption. It's a great zone out show and there's 7 seasons to watch. Each episode is a mini James Bond flick, the cast is loveable, there's a steady anticapitalist bent. It's got the watchability of Law & Order without the copaganda
Yesss! I loved everything about this video. The example games that I've played more than half of. The defense of "wasting time." The incredibly corny Joan Jett jokes! Thank you for making it. Favorite zone-out media: idle games like Cell to Singularity or Realm Grinder, good-hearted and unscripted shows like Taskmaster or Game Changer, nostalgic albums that I still remember all the lyrics to.
I didn't zone out to this because when you mentioned MIhayli I went into that like, 'I know 1% more than most people about this' brain state of wanting to shout about the problems I have with the book flow and how many his research in flow states is built on sand, so like, that's super interesting!
i do this for both the idle games as mentioned, but also for like grinding out some harder stuff in games (right now its mahjong in Yakuza, but in the past its been getting more levels in hyrule warriors, getting back to where i was form a dragon age origins crash, and the big admantose fight form ff15) where my focus is put onto the game an di need focus, with the backrogund nose being something that helps with that. Dead silence sucks for doing things like that. right now my back ground noise in terms of shows has been the Good Place, but i;ve also used NorthernLion stuff for stuff now too
This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot myself recently, and it's very great to hear someone finally put all the thoughts together. I love dropout shows as not paying attention media
vampire survivors has been the lovely zone out game i play after a long day of watching other people's children. ur right about garlic it is always the first thing i upgrade if i have the option bc then i feel powerful wandering around pushing through absolute hordes of creatures with no effort
I ADORE your sweater! Very very jealous. I found that Diablo and BotW/TotK have been my all-time favorite podcast games. They fit my criteria of consistent progression, little dialogue, and subtle music.
This was a very insightful video. I do have problems feeling like I "waste" my time with things like unfinished games or shows, instead of just enjoying the time spent on those activities while I was doing them.
Nice video, Jenna! I would even say many "real" games are played this way by "real" gamers--they just won't admit it. I've spent countless hours fishing in Far Cry 5, playing cards in Red Dead, or even just traversing the open world in BoTW or Just Cause. It's fun to just hang out in a game, big or small.
my go-to rewatches are star trek. TNG, DS9, and Voyager specifically. great shows to chill out while playing an idle game on your phone and then passing out and waking up in a start at 4:30 am as the intro music reaches a crescendo
Super fascinating! I'm a researcher in an environment that does a lot of stuff about disconnecting from media technologies, and I myself try to be on my phone as little as possible, and there are so many interesting strategies that people employ to manage their media habits. While I do think it is great to have options for 'zoning-out media' (great term btw), it is as you say also important to acknowledge how corpos exploit this human impulse to encourage behaviours that generate profit (often at the expense of well-being).
Damn this was really well done, loved it. I am looking forward to seeing people's recs cause I think I'm definitely in the "never take a break" camp and am unsurprisingly stressed 🥴
Bob's Burgers is my favorite zone out show. I have rewatched it probably at least 8 times and everytime I start a new watch, there is more when i get to the newest season, it's pretty great.
food network usually does reruns for really old cake boss episodes so I just leave them on while I do something else and then I can just check it out like "that's a pretty cake"
My favorite zone out media lately has been rewatching old Secret Sleepover Society vods, but I feel like that one might not work for you on the occasions where suddenly the background noise starts literally talking to you and referring to you by name.
there was a period of time where i think i played ori and the blind forest once or twice a week. i would literally use it as a podcast game, since i was making my way through the magnus archives, and since i'd already played it twice and it isn't a super complex game i could run through the entire thing on autopilot. i still replay it when i'm behind on my podcasts, it's great
In honor of this topic, I was playing Binding Of Isaac in another window while listening :P But seriously, as a society we really need to rework how we think about our personal downtime. Great video!
these days when I feel like listening to something while playing something else, I often default to "the technical difficulties" shows, specifically "citation needed" and "two of those people are lying". I think some episodes are going to be part of my dna eventually.
My zone out media as of late has been the same three Hbomberguy vids (Sherlock, Roblox oof, and plagiarism). Sometimes it's Game Changer and Make Some Noise. And my Podcast Game has been organizing my Pokémon Home boxes and finishing my SV dex
If you're looking for chill media that has the feel of old (bbc version) bake-off, I'd recommend The Great British Pottery Throwdown - same format, but with pottery instead of baking, and you get to see a mountain of a man regularly break down in happy tears at how emotional a well-made plate has made him.
Hades is my favourite podcast game because it's very easy to reach that zen state once you've played long enough to familiarize yourself with everything it can throw at you.
Have been playing vampire survivors a bit lately -- a recent best date night was co-op vampire survivors. so damn fun. couch co-op needs to happen more with little games like this. for chill, zone out media, anything on dropout has been my go to.
This makes sense! My video game time after work is my rest after work time. Even if a game is pretty challenging or requires more attention, it's still a welcome break from reality. I always come home exhausted, so I don't just like videogames, I literally need this time to sit down and rest lol.
it only just came out but Balatro has huge potential in the "zone-out" game space. it's basically just single-player poker formatted into a roguelike structure
I always consider it in terms of ehat percentage of my brain is engaged. For a video essay that takes 60% of my brain, I find something like a game to engage the rest. The actual required percentages depend on the day, and sometimes I NEED to watch a movie while working because my brain will beg for distraction otherwise, other days i can barely listen to music
I love watching insanely long video essays like Quentin Reviews' essay series on old Nickelodeon shows. Otherwise things I used to watch as a kid like Gilmore Girls and Vampire Diaries lmao
"Totally raw-dogged their whole day with full consciousness."
What a killer line LOL
I genuinely love that cookie clicker has upgrades that let you play it less.
I mean, so do Diablo 4 and FIFA
Joan Jett really has said a lot of things
At least two
Underrated video game critic Joan Jett
I Hate Myself for Loving Games
oh fuck she said it in the video. i am a preemptive fool
As Joan Jett once said, "Yes."
any game is a podcast game if you have adhd!
this is how we do it!!
skill issue
Sorry you lost me half sentence.
P.s. What does finishing a game mean? How does such a thing feel?
@@DeltaNovum I would also like to know.
shoutout to adhd, after I play an hour of a game with a podcast playing i remember neither the game or the podcast. weekend well spent
One of my favorite game features is "Will never ask you for money ever again"
How young we were when this was simply assumed
i often play minecraft mindlessly. just mining out a large area underground, growing it bigger and bigger without end
the dedicated digger
the undedicated digger
@@biggestastiest which one am i?
Fellow Buried Acolyte
this really dovetails with the concept of "down time" in video games i think. like you'll be playing a game with a really intense sequence that takes a lot of focus, and then be totally drained afterwards and needing a break.... but not quite wanting to stop playing yet.
like for me, i felt it most powerfully when playing planetside 2 years ago. my friends and i would be fighting a really intense battle and afterwards the only option would be to go onto the next fight and you do reach a point where you're like "i don't want to do this" but you also don't want to quit playing with your friends either.
we'd sometimes take breaks by doing like buggy races or goofing off but that sometimes still takes focus and even creativity too. having some pre-defined mindless activity would have been great, like idk, mining for resources or something.
people talk down the concept of grinding a lot these days, but in RPGs those sections had a purpose: giving you an excuse to just hang out in a game
@@RoughlingTrue. Although I think a lot of the negative opinions about grinding stem from how maliciously it is used to force players to buy mtx. And rightfully so IMHO. Other then that it's really just a preference thing. My ADHD brain can only handle so much repetition before I give up and move on to the new shiny thing. 😅
this is so real i was trying to figure out what my zone out game is and i realized its cp2077 ncpd scanner missions. im like 60 hours into the game and barely started the main plot
One of the reasons I enjoy games with good movement mechanics is that when I need a break, I don't even consciously switch to it. One second, I'm going through side quests, and the next I realize I just spent 10 minutes aimlessly web swinging in Spider-Man for no other reason than it feels good to do. Reminds me of when I was younger, I would lift much smaller weights in high school in between actually challenging reps, because repeating those motions stress-free just relaxed me. With games, it's a lot more seamless, since I don't have to get up and physically switch anything out, I just go do something else in the game.
Ive heard this concept called a "digital stomping ground" which I thought was very insightful.
I'm only 40 seconds in, and I feel called out. I currently have this video, and 2 incremental games going at the same time
given that I’m rewatching old seasons of taskmaster, hard same
Pro tip: DON'T start Kittensgame or Trimps UNLESS you have a few months free.
my favorite zone-out... not media but activity is knitting/crochet, its the thing i do mindlessly with my hands while i watch other stuff (usually ttrpg actual plays because dear god do i need to be doing something else at the same time to be focused on those even though i love them to bits)
My favorite podcast games are just normal games you can play on mute. Most recently I've been playing _Nonograms_ on my phone while I listen to things like _Dimension 20,_ but in the past I got through those multi-hour video essays by playing _Cuphead_ with the sounds off. I actually beat Expert Mode in that game because I had some free time. Same thing with _OlliOlli World,_ which I 100%'d. The sad part is I beat those games so I have to find something else; you can only play _Vampire Survivors_ or _Venineth_ so many times before you're making yourself play everything.
Oh yeah, since I discovered Nonograms I've been playing so much of it that I've exhausted like 8 games and actually have opinions on the variations of the gameplay... And I've listened to so many hours of podcasts and music albums by turning the (probably good) music of a roguelike/lite off (Vampire survivors, Brotato, SNKRX, 300 hours of Binding of Isaac)
BOB ROSS is always playing on a second tab when I'm at work
Aw that's sweet!
When I need to put something on, RUclips tends to be my go-to. I have comfort videos like Hbomberguy’s roblox oof video or Shoogles 8 and 11 hour pokemon reviews. It’s not that they’re the best content, it’s that I can have them on for extended periods of time and turn my attention every few minutes to see something neat. More recs are defunctland and summoning salt!
I have been building a “good vibes” playlist on YT that I can put on when I need background noise but don’t have the energy to actually pay attention to anything. I use it to soothe anxiety, fall asleep, or just generally ~zone out~
The MST3K channel has a perma livestream and I couldn't live without it.
Megan "Micro-Flow" Markle
Redlettermedia is my go-to idle video content. Recently I've been trying to replace scroll time with drawing or other stuff with my hands - it's a general improvement on my mood when I do this stuff, but sometimes I just feel so spent that any kind of creative activity feels too much and I wind up scrolling reddit or playing vampire survivors with a video playing.
oh my god the way I got viscerally YANKED BACKWARDS in time when you mentioned stumbleupon 😭😭
oh I missed that!! StumbleUpon was the shit 😭
I remember finding are sharing sites found on it with classmates and friends, every computer in the classroom showing the same website during lunch for a bit before going back to Coolmathgames
My “podcast game” is Dwarf Fortress, which you’d think would be the opposite of an idle game, but once you get the hang of it, most of the game is waiting for your dwarves to get their work done
It's funny because I consider myself a pretty big gamer, but the older I get, the more I like this type of gaming. On my two monitors, I typically have RUclips or a streaming service on one. For example, I just watched all of True Detective, and on my other monitor, I have a game like OSRS. What's interesting and kind of scary is that over the years, this line has blurred. Instead of OSRS, I'll play normal games while having a movie on the side or in the background. I'm basically always consuming two forms of media. There are some exceptions, like when I go to the movies or game with my friends, but if it's a single-player game, I pretty much am always watching something on the side.
After a first play through, each Souls game becomes its own podcast game for me.
With Dark Souls 3 specifically, it brought that feeling of going to the bathroom late at night but you don’t want to turn on the light: you have perfect awareness for where you are, but not necessarily what’s around, in the case of family or roommates.
A great decompression from stressors that allowed me to try a lot of fun/weird builds, all with podcasts or stream vods in the background.
And oddly enough, I think I prefer not to share my flowstate games with podcasts. The chill really comes in when I only have a single point of focus.
New Zealand S2 is SO FRICKEN GOOD Thank you for this correct opinion
Oooh, I've only been watching the british version, I should check out the exports
they started putting NZ and OZ on the youtube channel
Nah Australia season 3 is way better mate
8:30 Jenna 360º no scoped that pronunciation. Goodness.
I worked in the mobile games industry, it's amazing how little people respect the work that goes into it. I got out pretty soon, but I've found interviewers don't treat it as "proper" games programming experience.
I like chilling out to Summoning Salt. The music really helps.
MST3K has been my zone out show for a long time. Even though I've seen every episode numerous times, I can rarely recall anything substantial from the movie segments
Hm, interesting. For me, a 'podcast game' is stuff like Binding of Isaac, Streets of Rogue, Mini Motorways, Noita, or any number of 'tree puncher' games.
For me it's Hades, Celeste, and grinding in RPGs
after enough time they do blend into podcast category
yay streets of rogue reference
yeah same. I always referred to Disgaea games as podcast games because I would mostly be paying attention to something else while grinding.
I wholly agree, for myself id also add arcadey games like Ridge Racer, Grinding in Final Fantasys, fighting games, counter strike, Dredge, Harvest Moon, dark souls, PORTAL, etc... Any game that doesn't have a ton of plot or repetitive sections. Bubble bobble and tetris were pre phone staples round my house.
Civilization works pretty well for me most of the game--you usually have to get past the early to mid game which can be challenging, but once you hit a certain point it's unlikely that any of the computer-run nations will be able to come anywhere close to you, and you can just autopilot through to victory.
I tried some of the harder difficulties and ooh boy. You cannot just coast to the finish line. Like you absolutely need to try and stop the enemy from winning. It was kind of refreshing.
i'm in my PBS Dad era of zone-out media which right this moment is translating to a lot of chill historical cooking videos on youtube. Townsends and Tasting History are my faves! (also great video!!)
I love garlic
Honestly lately it's been fun watching Let's Plays and even group game content.
The amount of other people's Among Us or TTT games I've listened to while working on stuff has definitely increased
0:56 i do like how you talk about the lack of characters and plot/endings right after showing A Dark Room, which has a notable plot, kinda
(genuine sentiment)
I love this video, I love Jenna's sweater, and I love the throw pillow.
My recent zone out activity has been listening to podcasts or audiobooks while I play older titles from the Total War franchise which doesn't initially seem like a good zone out series but I've been playing them for decades now and it works for me!
My current favorite zone out media is Drawfee episodes and streams. I also recently realized that watching youtube basically non-stop at home was stressing me out and not letting me think. So I spent two weeks without youtube on my phone, and have now redownloaded it (mostly for Drawfee. I missed them!). I still need my zone out youtube videos for sure, but I'm trying to be more careful about like, letting myself think before rushing to turn my brain off.
My favorite game for playing while half-watching things is Fashion Dreamer. No plot besides the one I've made for myself. No way to lose. Just pretty colors and making cute outfits.
Drawtectives is my favorite zone-out media. The animations change enough to keep me interested, it's funny to listen to, I don't have to pay to watch (it's on youtube), and the newest season has just started
Thank you for making this video. I've been struggling with my feelings towards social media: i.e. tiktok or facebook lately. It has gotten to the point where it was making upset about my use of time and my consumption of content as a whole. The more I thought about it, the more I questioned why it even mattered to me at all. It's great to hear someone put this topic into words and ultimately say it's OK as long as you feel it's OK. I really appreciate that you took the time to make this video.
My zone-out media has recently been the channel Jello Plays Games cause they do lots of bits, or, if I'm having a bad day, Futurama.
I really enjoy idle games, but I do have to make sure that I'm not letting it consume all my time. They can very easily slip from being a nice brain-off game for when I need it to eating up all my free time. I would love to see some studies on whether certain types of brain-off media affects the brain differently.
re: I don’t have a TikTok/tv/radio. All of these things have the same positives but not all have the same negatives. I’d rather someone be a regular user of radio or podcasts or tv than the more predatory apps like social media or games with excessive IAP models.
(My favorite zone out media is the mobile game Luck Be a Landlord)
Thank you, I found that a really weird argument to be making, the negative effects of social media are very extensively documented
@@mxnevermindfacebook only gives 30% of users mental health issues, which makes it a skill issue /withering sarcasm
I am in luck as I watched this video on my big screen and thus did not waste my time with it :) Very insightful video. Thanks you Jenna.
My podcast game was Dark Souls for a long period of times. Played that game so often that it I did not need to orientate myself and knew where to go without thinking.
Your video is actually making me rethink my whole take on life. I'm so glad I didn't follow what the title says.
My favorite zone out media is absolutely Mystery Science Theater 3000. The formula works. And there's *boatloads* of it.
Drawing while I'm listing to this, I found it really interesting as an artist because I listen to podcasts, audiobooks, TV, and such while I'm working on things and it's honestly a help to slide into that flow state. It's not only interesting but it also let's my thoughts focus in on what I'm working on. C:
I also find it interesting how they found that self esteem dropped when they couldn't indulge in daydreams or such, because I've felt that. I almost wonder if that has its own reasoning in pair with the reasoning you gave for the loss of social stigma for the people who stopped watching TV. For myself, I find that if I can't be creative in some way, it almost feels like an itch I can't scratch. I've described it as a need before, when others have tried to call it a want. I have to be creative in the same way I have to eat. If I don't I will suffer negatively. I'd love to hear others thoughts, maybe it's more common than I think?
This was a great video to half-watch!
podcast games felt like a LIFESAVER at the beginning of the pandemic. i have over a thousand play hours on ACNH because all i did from march to september of 2020 was listen to actualplay dnd podcasts and work on my island. in theory, could i have spent lockdown doing something "better"? maybe! but my brain was so fried from the constant existential anxiety (and my increasingly toxic living situation) that that game was all i could focus on. it was what i needed to get through a truly grim period of my life.
This video is such a nice break from all the other videos about content and attention, it's so refreshing to here someone be critical without acting like ALL content consumption is bad ever
the part in this video about socially acceptable time-wasters really resonated with me - I've been beating myself up a lot recently for not reading as much as I used to, and I've started listening to a lot more music in that time, and the idea of the two differing mostly in social acceptance is very interesting to me.
It's funny that we learn the importance of taking a break even when we're just tiny things but then media and technology recontextualize everything over time. Thanks for putting it all into context.
My podcast games are usually big open world grindathons like Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey, Dragon Age Inquisition, any of the Ubisoft style climb a tower to unlock the map kind of games. Or Minecraft. I will usually hop onto the Minecraft server I have with my friends and I'll listen to audiobooks while doing my thing. Recently I've been going through Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles while building out my magical forest island lol
my favorite podcast game is called Battleship Solitaire by Luke Rissacher. It literally has the subtitle “Mindless Podcast Companion” - highly recommended!
OldSchool RuneScape is definitely the game that first comes to mind for me! Although it's not necessarily the best for zoning out in, and it has a lot of content that does require full focus for a long time, and it takes some effort to making decisions about what you want to do next if you haven't already figured out what you wanna do for the next dozen hours... I'm sure most mmorpgs have some amount of design considerations for different "levels of focus", but runescape really focuses in on it. Whenever you feel like playing, there's some activity you can do with whatever level of attention you're willing to give it, that will also meaningfully yield progress for you. A funny quirk of that is how sometimes I get pulled into a lower attention activity than I was planning to do (like encountering a recently fallen star to mine, which you only need to click on once every 7 minutes), but my primary task for the moment was playing the game, so suddenly I have seven minute intervals where my leisure needs are satisfied, and I find within me the unusual impulse to just do some chores I've been putting off as well.
First, dope sweater. Second, really enjoyed the Joan Jett throughline. My zone out media include Blackadder, Broad City, MST3K (especially if trying to go to sleep), TOS, Black Books, Chewing Gum. ETA: I was introduced though GDQ to the Arcade Pit run by Smight and Emily Aster. A+ team based video game gameshow with a snail mascot. These are all probably old news but I love them so much. THE BOY
Monty Don’s Gardens was my favorite zone out series. It used to be on Netflix. Lots of calm descriptions of historic gardens
I feel like a really interesting version of this is RuneScape, where as Marstead said it really well in his video "RuneScape is Awesome, And Here's Why", where he talks about that the idling and concentration and attention you need to give to a game is variable. I love this!
Thank you Jenna for giving me a new vocabulary word to use to seek out media I can enjoy while knitting! And listening to a podcast. My attention is not the limiting factor, it's a crucial lack of extra arms. (also i once bumped into a set for Suits while walking around Toronto. I think. I asked a guy with a camera what they were up to, and he said something like "I can't tell you, but they have a lot of nice SUITS")
Only recently found your channel but I'm already a huge fan!
Thanks to your bookshelf for getting me curious about Kate Lister, btw, just picked up a couple of her books.
Also I finally got around to watching The Wicker Man -- between your pair of videos and Maggie Mae Fish's discussion of the film, I pushed myself to watch and it does NOT disappoint. (The *music* is *so good!* Catchy, too. Gets in your head in the best way possible.)
Oh yeah, and games that let you relax are absolutely awesome. Thanks for laying it out as clearly as you have in this video! ❤
Fantastic as always!! I love Vampire Survivors for exactly the listed things: podcasts, exercise biking, and also audiobooks which is basically just a really elevated podcast or something, lol. It's very real!!
We got third place for the number of points earned in our two favorite logic/puzzle games on Puzzle Baron last month, mostly because that's what we do when we listen to music.
as someone who basically never watches tv, i just binged ALL of Leverage and Leverage Redemption. It's a great zone out show and there's 7 seasons to watch. Each episode is a mini James Bond flick, the cast is loveable, there's a steady anticapitalist bent. It's got the watchability of Law & Order without the copaganda
Yesss! I loved everything about this video. The example games that I've played more than half of. The defense of "wasting time." The incredibly corny Joan Jett jokes! Thank you for making it.
Favorite zone-out media: idle games like Cell to Singularity or Realm Grinder, good-hearted and unscripted shows like Taskmaster or Game Changer, nostalgic albums that I still remember all the lyrics to.
I didn't zone out to this because when you mentioned MIhayli I went into that like, 'I know 1% more than most people about this' brain state of wanting to shout about the problems I have with the book flow and how many his research in flow states is built on sand, so like, that's super interesting!
thank you! I was surprised to see him being cited here, given the uh. questionable nature of his research and conclusions
@@videodromedary2 weirdly I have a video about how 'flow' makes me uncomfortable coming up in... I think a week?
As someone who makes games and has played this style of game since cookie clicker launched, I agree.
Listen/watched this video while crocheting sleeves. Thank you, this was lovely. You're very easy to listen to, and this was an interesting take.
i do this for both the idle games as mentioned, but also for like grinding out some harder stuff in games (right now its mahjong in Yakuza, but in the past its been getting more levels in hyrule warriors, getting back to where i was form a dragon age origins crash, and the big admantose fight form ff15) where my focus is put onto the game an di need focus, with the backrogund nose being something that helps with that. Dead silence sucks for doing things like that.
right now my back ground noise in terms of shows has been the Good Place, but i;ve also used NorthernLion stuff for stuff now too
picross and sudoku are my favourite style of mobile podcast games, but on my computer it went from Stardew to Rogue Legacy 2
This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot myself recently, and it's very great to hear someone finally put all the thoughts together.
I love dropout shows as not paying attention media
vampire survivors has been the lovely zone out game i play after a long day of watching other people's children. ur right about garlic it is always the first thing i upgrade if i have the option bc then i feel powerful wandering around pushing through absolute hordes of creatures with no effort
I ADORE your sweater! Very very jealous. I found that Diablo and BotW/TotK have been my all-time favorite podcast games. They fit my criteria of consistent progression, little dialogue, and subtle music.
This was a very insightful video. I do have problems feeling like I "waste" my time with things like unfinished games or shows, instead of just enjoying the time spent on those activities while I was doing them.
Nice video, Jenna! I would even say many "real" games are played this way by "real" gamers--they just won't admit it. I've spent countless hours fishing in Far Cry 5, playing cards in Red Dead, or even just traversing the open world in BoTW or Just Cause. It's fun to just hang out in a game, big or small.
my go-to rewatches are star trek. TNG, DS9, and Voyager specifically. great shows to chill out while playing an idle game on your phone and then passing out and waking up in a start at 4:30 am as the intro music reaches a crescendo
Incredible video Jenna. Thank you for speaking truth about VS.
I know you from MinnMax but didn’t know you had a channel, subbed!
Super fascinating! I'm a researcher in an environment that does a lot of stuff about disconnecting from media technologies, and I myself try to be on my phone as little as possible, and there are so many interesting strategies that people employ to manage their media habits. While I do think it is great to have options for 'zoning-out media' (great term btw), it is as you say also important to acknowledge how corpos exploit this human impulse to encourage behaviours that generate profit (often at the expense of well-being).
Damn this was really well done, loved it.
I am looking forward to seeing people's recs cause I think I'm definitely in the "never take a break" camp and am unsurprisingly stressed 🥴
Bob's Burgers is my favorite zone out show. I have rewatched it probably at least 8 times and everytime I start a new watch, there is more when i get to the newest season, it's pretty great.
food network usually does reruns for really old cake boss episodes so I just leave them on while I do something else and then I can just check it out like "that's a pretty cake"
My favorite zone out media lately has been rewatching old Secret Sleepover Society vods, but I feel like that one might not work for you on the occasions where suddenly the background noise starts literally talking to you and referring to you by name.
there was a period of time where i think i played ori and the blind forest once or twice a week. i would literally use it as a podcast game, since i was making my way through the magnus archives, and since i'd already played it twice and it isn't a super complex game i could run through the entire thing on autopilot. i still replay it when i'm behind on my podcasts, it's great
In honor of this topic, I was playing Binding Of Isaac in another window while listening :P But seriously, as a society we really need to rework how we think about our personal downtime. Great video!
Thanks for the validation.
I binge a lot of long form video essays on RUclips.
these days when I feel like listening to something while playing something else, I often default to "the technical difficulties" shows, specifically "citation needed" and "two of those people are lying". I think some episodes are going to be part of my dna eventually.
My zone out media as of late has been the same three Hbomberguy vids (Sherlock, Roblox oof, and plagiarism). Sometimes it's Game Changer and Make Some Noise. And my Podcast Game has been organizing my Pokémon Home boxes and finishing my SV dex
that slight "yes I did" smile after the "Do You Wanna Touch" joke took me out
This was the video that gave me that "I've struck gold" reward while binging RUclips
'If you can chew you can accrue' is a fire line ngl
If you're looking for chill media that has the feel of old (bbc version) bake-off, I'd recommend The Great British Pottery Throwdown - same format, but with pottery instead of baking, and you get to see a mountain of a man regularly break down in happy tears at how emotional a well-made plate has made him.
Hades is my favourite podcast game because it's very easy to reach that zen state once you've played long enough to familiarize yourself with everything it can throw at you.
Have been playing vampire survivors a bit lately -- a recent best date night was co-op vampire survivors. so damn fun. couch co-op needs to happen more with little games like this.
for chill, zone out media, anything on dropout has been my go to.
The Hitchhiker Guide or Dirk Gently Radio plays are a great thing to absorb while mindlessly building things or playing podcast games
This makes sense! My video game time after work is my rest after work time. Even if a game is pretty challenging or requires more attention, it's still a welcome break from reality. I always come home exhausted, so I don't just like videogames, I literally need this time to sit down and rest lol.
I do this all the time, every day. Currently it's catching up on video essays and playing Cozy Grove and/or mending my socks on the side.
it only just came out but Balatro has huge potential in the "zone-out" game space. it's basically just single-player poker formatted into a roguelike structure
There are certain wrestling shows and events that I love to rewatch for this exact purpose
I always consider it in terms of ehat percentage of my brain is engaged. For a video essay that takes 60% of my brain, I find something like a game to engage the rest. The actual required percentages depend on the day, and sometimes I NEED to watch a movie while working because my brain will beg for distraction otherwise, other days i can barely listen to music
I love watching insanely long video essays like Quentin Reviews' essay series on old Nickelodeon shows. Otherwise things I used to watch as a kid like Gilmore Girls and Vampire Diaries lmao
you are a delight, and ive been rewatching Stargate SG-1 lately
I used to zone out a lot to enter the gungeon, i can play it on pure muscle memory now
I have an urge to shake your hand, Jenna... It's an eye-opener to observant folks. Thank you for this.
Great find. I find myself often that I pair playing Minecraft in Creative mode with watching sitcoms I've seen several times before.
this puts into words so succinctly, something that I struggled with for years! great vid :)