I think the leaderboards in the contest were a total joke and would have much preferred Telltale just pick 5 of their favorite each week and let us vote on them the following week or something like that.
Agreed. This is basically a hunt for votes on twitter and stuff like that. I don't use twitter or other fancy "social networking" sites or whatevery they call them. So if you spam you friends with vote requests, or worse: forums, websites, etc. then you win. Do we really need that? Of course that this is just a marketing strategy by Telltale to increase brand awareness and attract more visitors to the website. But that's a different story.
Anyway, Telltale should pick the winner, not other players! Or maybe some of the actors, like Dominic.
Yup those two and the one about him stealing something guarded by rabid weasels (I forget the exact line, but it was great, just the kind of thing I'd imagine Guybrush doing).
I'm referring to the entry that starts off, "Look into me eye. Do ye see me eye? Aye?"
Is it knee-slappingly hilarious? No, but it's the best of the bunch and I see it fitting into a Monkey Island game. Also, the entry got "pirate dialogue" right, as opposed to some of the others.
I'm referring to the entry that starts off, "Look into me eye. Do ye see me eye? Aye?"
Is it knee-slappingly hilarious? No, but it's the best of the bunch and I see it fitting into a Monkey Island game. Also, the entry got "pirate dialogue" right, as opposed to some of the others.
Does the tell-tale logo mean that those are the ones that Telltale has chosen? If so, it's not so bad.
"He sold me these not so fine leather jackets" and "he dug up my perfectly good X" are both ok. The Murray and Bush ones are terrible, but neither of those are tell-tale choices. Not a big fan of the Eye Eye one though.
Why no love for the "eye, aye" one? I thought that was plenty clever. I hope they'll at least copy edit the "insulfeated" one though. Ugh. This is Monkey Island, not a Lewis Caroll book. We don't need to be making up new fanciful words.
None of the leaderboard winners are particularly good--it's too easy to rig an online vote-getting contest. Hell, TIME magazine's Most Influential People poll this year was completely rigged this year, to the point where a smallish group of people managed to keep the top 21 entries exactly in order so the first letter of their names spelled out a hidden message! That's exactly how valid online polling/voting can be, especially when no registration is required to cast a vote.
Im glad somebody brought this up. Those "jokes" are terrible, especially the much confusing "thin friend" one.
The comp has to be fixed. People should win by quality, not by how much they can spam their friends to vote for them.
Unfortunately quality is very subjective. Still I think we can all agree that words should be spelled correctly, or at the very least, actually resemble actual words.
Clearly, a lot of people think the Eye/Aye joke is fine. I must admit, it's okay. I just felt it wasn't very clever of funny. Perhaps it was unfair of me to list it with the atrocious Bush joke and Murray joke. I apologize to the submitter.
But yeah, apart from one guy here who said we are a bunch of whiners who are mad we didn't get our jokes picked (he must really like the winning jokes), it seems we are in agreement that either:
a. people got a bunch of friends to vote for their joke regardless of value
b. someone used some sort of tool to vote for themselves many times
c. a bunch of morons on this site will vote for something just because it has Bush/Murray in the name
Frankly, I'm not sure which it is. But I will be really disappointed if I see either the Bush or Murray joke in the game, and fairly surprised too.
Mine was "a jar jar of porcelain porcelain. I hate it." It's really something told BY Guybrush and it is a reference to his phobia and a terrible character from certain movie. It may not be very good, but the Bush and Murray ones are downright terrible.
The Bush one would break the fourth wall horribly. And it would be passable if at least Bush was still president. And even so it wouldn't be too fun for us non american gamers.
The Murray one simply doesn't make sense. Murray was no longer an skeleton when Guybrush met him! So there's no chance Mr. Threepwood would confuse a thin person for Murray.
I hope Telltale doesn't let these terrible jokes make it to the game or hides them in a dialogue tree as the very last and completely optional choice that leads to such answer.
Completely agree though, the ones on the leaderboard are pretty awful. They're not really funny and they don't really reference any past/other games to the potential that some of the other entries do.
I think not referencing the past is a good thing, to be honest. So many of the entries are just 'He did X thing from previous installment!'. Not especially original or, to someone starting with Tales of MI, funny.
To everyone else: It's one line shouted out in a courtroom, it's not going to ruin the game. It's a shame if you don't like the line, but it won the competition fair and square. I don't like all the winners, and I think at least one doesn't make any sense for the time period of MI, but I will just grit my teeth and wait for the lovely Grossman/Darin/Stemmle/Vanaman dialogue to come back.
I think not referencing the past is a good thing, to be honest. So many of the entries are just 'He did X thing from previous installment!'. Not especially original or, to someone starting with Tales of MI, funny.
I agree. One of the problems that Sam and Max started to have, I think, is that it became far too referential both to itself and other things. It's too much of an easy form of humour to go: 'look, I said this thing, and it's like that other thing that was said before! Isn't that funny?'
Sure, some people find it funny, because it has the trappings of humour - a big part of comedy is the reincorporation of past ideas (next time you watch some sort of comedy, count the number of times that the joke hinges upon bringing something back from before). So people laugh because they recognise the thing, but it's more a laugh of self-congratulatory recognition than because of anything particularly clever or funny about how it was done. That's the short version of my opinion on referential humour, anyway.
Oh, and one other thing to add to that: note how people liked 'He sunk my battleship!'. That's referential humour again, of course, but what makes it work is -context-. Just referring to the game Battleship in itself isn't funny, what makes it work, as someone pointed out before, is saying it within a world within which it could be taken literally.
Yes, I was appalled at the number of MI references within the submissions. Practically every-other submission was some lame reference to a past MI character or action by Guybrush. Many of the things people referenced were funny WHEN THEY FIRST OCCURRED in their respective games. But like any joke, it isn't very funny the second time told.
Imagine if Tales was nothing but a string of lame references to things Monkey Island past. Well, I suppose it would be Escape from Monkey Island (buuurn!).
Telltale is gonna put in some nostalgic references for us. They don't need our lame Murray jokes.
And as for other pop culture references. I agree, the battleship line is a perfect example of how a pop culture reference can work within Monkey Island. Tired jokes about terrible American ex-presidents... not so much.
I think these results are still salvagable, especially now that Telltale are picking favourites too.
For example, when a character says "He insulfeated me in a major sword fight by claiming that my fighting skills were equivalent to George Bushes language skills.", Guybrush (and anyone else present) could always respond with "Huh? What does that even mean?" and play it up a bit.
Or they could just stare blankly at the guy until he goes away...or something funnier than I can think up.
Everyone would be happy that way - the winners get their line in the game, and the community gets a bit of an in-joke about the whole thing.
I think not referencing the past is a good thing, to be honest. So many of the entries are just 'He did X thing from previous installment!'. Not especially original or, to someone starting with Tales of MI, funny.
I don't think very many of the entries are terribly funny, either. There have been way too many cheap references to past MI games. I mean, references CAN be funny, but only if they add something new to it somehow. Most of the references don't do anything other than recall some bit of trivia in the game and stick it into a sentence. It would be like someone creating a line from the cook at the Scumm Bar saying, "He stole a pot and a piece of meat from my kitchen!" Where's the joke? (please note that was a fictional example; I haven't actually seen someone use that one)?
Most of the references have been along those lines; it's like talking to someone about the game and saying, "remember this one joke in the game?" They just don't take any thought to create. Sometimes they make you chuckle, but more often than not it's a chuckle of nostalgia at the original joke, and doesn't mean that the line was funny in it's own right. IMO, if a reference isn't somehow funny in it's own right, it's worthless (and obscurity doesn't necessarily equate to humor, as some seem to think).
There have been way too many cheap references to past MI games. I mean, references CAN be funny, but only if they add something new to it somehow. Most of the references don't do anything other than recall some bit of trivia in the game and stick it into a sentence.
I'm probably a bit guilty of that (mine was "He shot my banjo"). That was after about 20 minutes of not being able to think of anything better though, so that's my excuse.
I agree. One of the problems that Sam and Max started to have, I think, is that it became far too referential both to itself and other things. It's too much of an easy form of humour to go: 'look, I said this thing, and it's like that other thing that was said before! Isn't that funny?'
Yeah that's my biggest problem with Sam and Max Season Two. Playing it ruins Season One totally.
As long as we are on the subject, can someone explain this one to me?
I've a very thin friend, and every time that Guybrush meets him he tells "Murray?"
Now I know Murray is the talking skull seen in MI3 and 4. But why would Guybrush mistake a "thin person" for a skull? is it because skeleton's are thin? Am I forgetting something from MI4 that would make this joke make sense? Did the submitter mean to say "says" instead of "tells"? So many questions. Assuming I am not crazy, and this joke is the dumbest thing ever, can anyone explain how it got voted to winner status?
I am having a hard time understanding that joke too.. am I missing something here?
I'm probably a bit guilty of that (mine was "He shot my banjo"). That was after about 20 minutes of not being able to think of anything better though, so that's my excuse.
I think many people probably fell into the trap of writer's block, and that's probably why there were so many references. I myself found it hard to think while sitting there with the contest page right in front of me. If you're trying to come up with something all at once while sitting at the computer with the contest looming right in front of you, there's a bit of a temptation to just dash one out real quick (especially when you get distracted by the dream of winning and getting your line in the game). Better to do the thinking away from the computer. Bit late for that advice, unfortunately.
I am having a hard time understanding that joke too.. am I missing something here?
I'm thinking he meant thin as in incredibly thin (aka emaciated). He's probably so thin that his skin is stretched really tight over his skull, such that you can see the shape of the skull. It still requires an absurd stretch of logic, though, because for one thing, this friend's head is NOT disembodied. So, at best Guybrush would mistake him for a complete skeleton, not a disembodied skull.
The other problem is that this thin friend more than likely still has ears, eyes, a nose, hair etc, and his skin is likely still skin-colored (the joke says nothing about him having a complexion of ashen gray), so all that makes it even less likely for Guybrush to actually mistake him for a skull (or even skeleton).
I'm thinking he meant thin as in incredibly thin (aka emaciated). He's probably so thin that his skin is stretched really tight over his skull, such that you can see the shape of the skull. It still requires an absurd stretch of logic, though, because for one thing, this friend's head is NOT disembodied. So, at best Guybrush would mistake him for a complete skeleton, not a disembodied skull.
The other problem is that this thin friend more than likely still has ears, eyes, a nose, hair etc, and his skin is likely still skin-colored (the joke says nothing about him having a complexion of ashen gray), so all that makes it even less likely for Guybrush to actually mistake him for a skull (or even skeleton).
I think the guy just thought of "skeletton" instead of "skull" when thinking of murray.
Emaciated friend, more or less a walkin skeletton... murray.
At least i think that's it, but it really feels obvious to me (which doesn't make it any funnier)
I thought some of the entries that made the top were odd as well. I think the Murray one would have worked better with "says" instead of "tells". I'm glad to see that Telltale might not use them or if they do they can make it random.
Mine was something like: "He melted my grog steins into a three-headed monkey statue."
GT says "Murray?" to every skull in the game including the one in De Singe's lab that is part of a full skeleton. This means that it makes sense for him to say it to a full bodied skeleton. I think the "thin" friend is suppose to be anorexic and so they look very bony.
The only one that grates at me is the George Bush one. I really hope they choose to exclude this quote. It's not just that George Bush jokes are already dated and totally inappropriate, but he is accusing him of insulting in an insult contest! I don't think I appreciate the joke on any level. To the TTG people reading this (I know you're there!), please don't put the George Bush joke in the game.
To those who say people complaining about this joke are just sore losers, I didn't even bother entering, so I'm not just lashing out because I didn't win.
"He melted my grog steins into a three-headed monkey statue."
I gotta admit, while it's not my favorite entry, it's certainly one of the better/more original three-headed monkey references I've heard. I still can't believe that someone actually posted "Look behind you! A three-headed monkey--Again!" Another one I thought was pretty dumb was "He told me there was a three-headed monkey behind me, but when I looked, there was no such creature!"
Comments
Agreed. This is basically a hunt for votes on twitter and stuff like that. I don't use twitter or other fancy "social networking" sites or whatevery they call them. So if you spam you friends with vote requests, or worse: forums, websites, etc. then you win. Do we really need that? Of course that this is just a marketing strategy by Telltale to increase brand awareness and attract more visitors to the website. But that's a different story.
Anyway, Telltale should pick the winner, not other players! Or maybe some of the actors, like Dominic.
Crud.
Telltale, put these jokes in. NAO!
"He stole my "Mighty Pirate" certificate and replaced my name with his!"
Most of the rest are just painful, and I really don't see them belonging in any game at all.
What does the Aye/eye one mean?
I'm referring to the entry that starts off, "Look into me eye. Do ye see me eye? Aye?"
Is it knee-slappingly hilarious? No, but it's the best of the bunch and I see it fitting into a Monkey Island game. Also, the entry got "pirate dialogue" right, as opposed to some of the others.
oh, ok
"He sold me these not so fine leather jackets" and "he dug up my perfectly good X" are both ok. The Murray and Bush ones are terrible, but neither of those are tell-tale choices. Not a big fan of the Eye Eye one though.
None of the leaderboard winners are particularly good--it's too easy to rig an online vote-getting contest. Hell, TIME magazine's Most Influential People poll this year was completely rigged this year, to the point where a smallish group of people managed to keep the top 21 entries exactly in order so the first letter of their names spelled out a hidden message! That's exactly how valid online polling/voting can be, especially when no registration is required to cast a vote.
The comp has to be fixed. People should win by quality, not by how much they can spam their friends to vote for them.
But yeah, apart from one guy here who said we are a bunch of whiners who are mad we didn't get our jokes picked (he must really like the winning jokes), it seems we are in agreement that either:
a. people got a bunch of friends to vote for their joke regardless of value
b. someone used some sort of tool to vote for themselves many times
c. a bunch of morons on this site will vote for something just because it has Bush/Murray in the name
Frankly, I'm not sure which it is. But I will be really disappointed if I see either the Bush or Murray joke in the game, and fairly surprised too.
The Bush one would break the fourth wall horribly. And it would be passable if at least Bush was still president. And even so it wouldn't be too fun for us non american gamers.
The Murray one simply doesn't make sense. Murray was no longer an skeleton when Guybrush met him! So there's no chance Mr. Threepwood would confuse a thin person for Murray.
I hope Telltale doesn't let these terrible jokes make it to the game or hides them in a dialogue tree as the very last and completely optional choice that leads to such answer.
I think not referencing the past is a good thing, to be honest. So many of the entries are just 'He did X thing from previous installment!'. Not especially original or, to someone starting with Tales of MI, funny.
To everyone else: It's one line shouted out in a courtroom, it's not going to ruin the game. It's a shame if you don't like the line, but it won the competition fair and square. I don't like all the winners, and I think at least one doesn't make any sense for the time period of MI, but I will just grit my teeth and wait for the lovely Grossman/Darin/Stemmle/Vanaman dialogue to come back.
I agree. One of the problems that Sam and Max started to have, I think, is that it became far too referential both to itself and other things. It's too much of an easy form of humour to go: 'look, I said this thing, and it's like that other thing that was said before! Isn't that funny?'
Sure, some people find it funny, because it has the trappings of humour - a big part of comedy is the reincorporation of past ideas (next time you watch some sort of comedy, count the number of times that the joke hinges upon bringing something back from before). So people laugh because they recognise the thing, but it's more a laugh of self-congratulatory recognition than because of anything particularly clever or funny about how it was done. That's the short version of my opinion on referential humour, anyway.
Oh, and one other thing to add to that: note how people liked 'He sunk my battleship!'. That's referential humour again, of course, but what makes it work is -context-. Just referring to the game Battleship in itself isn't funny, what makes it work, as someone pointed out before, is saying it within a world within which it could be taken literally.
Imagine if Tales was nothing but a string of lame references to things Monkey Island past. Well, I suppose it would be Escape from Monkey Island (buuurn!).
Telltale is gonna put in some nostalgic references for us. They don't need our lame Murray jokes.
And as for other pop culture references. I agree, the battleship line is a perfect example of how a pop culture reference can work within Monkey Island. Tired jokes about terrible American ex-presidents... not so much.
For example, when a character says "He insulfeated me in a major sword fight by claiming that my fighting skills were equivalent to George Bushes language skills.", Guybrush (and anyone else present) could always respond with "Huh? What does that even mean?" and play it up a bit.
Or they could just stare blankly at the guy until he goes away...or something funnier than I can think up.
Everyone would be happy that way - the winners get their line in the game, and the community gets a bit of an in-joke about the whole thing.
Man:I've a very thin friend, and every time that Guybrush meets him he tells "Murray?"
Guybrush: ...are you mental? What are you even talking about?
Quoted from something I posted in another thread:
In other words, I agree completely.
I'm probably a bit guilty of that (mine was "He shot my banjo"). That was after about 20 minutes of not being able to think of anything better though, so that's my excuse.
I am having a hard time understanding that joke too.. am I missing something here?
I think many people probably fell into the trap of writer's block, and that's probably why there were so many references. I myself found it hard to think while sitting there with the contest page right in front of me. If you're trying to come up with something all at once while sitting at the computer with the contest looming right in front of you, there's a bit of a temptation to just dash one out real quick (especially when you get distracted by the dream of winning and getting your line in the game). Better to do the thinking away from the computer. Bit late for that advice, unfortunately.
I'm thinking he meant thin as in incredibly thin (aka emaciated). He's probably so thin that his skin is stretched really tight over his skull, such that you can see the shape of the skull. It still requires an absurd stretch of logic, though, because for one thing, this friend's head is NOT disembodied. So, at best Guybrush would mistake him for a complete skeleton, not a disembodied skull.
The other problem is that this thin friend more than likely still has ears, eyes, a nose, hair etc, and his skin is likely still skin-colored (the joke says nothing about him having a complexion of ashen gray), so all that makes it even less likely for Guybrush to actually mistake him for a skull (or even skeleton).
"He wiped phlegm on my adding machine and insisted that he had "hacked" it!"
Not that great or anything, but certainly better than the nonsensical "he tells Murray" entry.
That is quite funny. :-P
.....
....
..
(Each pirate only votes for hisself! *runs away*)
Oh wait...
It was crap.
To be fair I played it for the first time last month.
I think the guy just thought of "skeletton" instead of "skull" when thinking of murray.
Emaciated friend, more or less a walkin skeletton... murray.
At least i think that's it, but it really feels obvious to me (which doesn't make it any funnier)
Mine was something like: "He melted my grog steins into a three-headed monkey statue."
The only one that grates at me is the George Bush one. I really hope they choose to exclude this quote. It's not just that George Bush jokes are already dated and totally inappropriate, but he is accusing him of insulting in an insult contest! I don't think I appreciate the joke on any level. To the TTG people reading this (I know you're there!), please don't put the George Bush joke in the game.
To those who say people complaining about this joke are just sore losers, I didn't even bother entering, so I'm not just lashing out because I didn't win.
I gotta admit, while it's not my favorite entry, it's certainly one of the better/more original three-headed monkey references I've heard. I still can't believe that someone actually posted "Look behind you! A three-headed monkey--Again!" Another one I thought was pretty dumb was "He told me there was a three-headed monkey behind me, but when I looked, there was no such creature!"