Shoot Club: Saving Private Donny

[TomChick]

Shoot Club: Saving Private Donny

[Murph]

Awesome! Tom Chick, I love you, man! In a completely platonic way, of couse. And I haven't even read it, yet.

[LokeUtgaard]

When is the novel comming out? I would love to read a novel written in the same style as Shoot Club.

[Peter Frazier]

Here are the things we say out loud when we're playing Joint Ops online: 'You moron, land the helicopter and let me out', 'What the fuck, come back and give some of us a ride', 'Quit shooting your fucking gun at the windshield so I can see', 'Don't fucking respawn when you see my medic icon coming towards you', and 'Would some of you goddamn morons defend?' However, the thing we say most of all is 'Fucking snipers', although we're actually glad to see so many snipers on the other team, because those are guys who aren't capturing flags.

Great story, Tom. Every one of those lines, I've screamed at the monitor recently. And I also feel the same way about snipers.

[Hans Lauring]

That was a really good read.

I'm new to Shoot Club, so is there any truth in this story? Not that it would dimminish the quality of writing if the answer was no, I'm just curious.

[Rywill]

Great column, and well-written. Good job.

[MikeOberly]

Good one.When you're writing about 'Trevor',for some reason I always think of Goodman's character from 'The Big Lebowski'.Even more so this time because 'Donny' is also in it.

[Brian Rucker]

Just blows me away how you can put everything into context and perspective like that while at the same time taking potshots at Steam. Nice writing.

[Murph]

Great, as always. Really great.

[Dean]

In this month's CGM Tom was still cohabitating with his girlfriend and trying to explain about "guy shoes" (aka game boxes).

Now apparently she's not only moved out, she's been gone six months.

Sorry, dude.

[MarchHare]

Thanks Tom. I certainly appreciate the effort you put into writing these. :)

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Originally Posted by Dean

In this month's CGM Tom was still cohabitating with his girlfriend and trying to explain about "guy shoes" (aka game boxes).

Now apparently she's not only moved out, she's been gone six months.

Sorry, dude.

Lisa broke up with pseudo-Tom many Shoot Clubs ago, but I was kind of confused by the reference in the CGM column, too. For a minute there, I though that they were back together.

Maybe Three Finger Salute Tom and Shoot Club Tom are living in different time-lines.

Troy

[XPav]

Originally Posted by TSG

Maybe Three Finger Salute Tom and Shoot Club Tom are living in different time-lines.

So its like a comic book then?

[Matthew Gallant]

Originally Posted by TSG

Maybe Three Finger Salute Tom and Shoot Club Tom are living in different time-lines.

Now I'm picturing Tom and Trevor as Quinn and Stormy.

"It's not so much a CD-ROM drive that works with SafeDisc as it is a dodgeball cannon."

[Wholly Schmidt]

Wait, so what Tom is it?







(wait for it)




Dodgeball Tom!

[Alan Dunkin]

Ooh, MST3k references.

--- Alan

[balut]

Originally Posted by Matthew Gallant

Now I'm picturing Tom and Trevor as Quinn and Stormy.

"It's not so much a CD-ROM drive that works with SafeDisc as it is a dodgeball cannon."

Or is one of them BIZARRO TOM?? Living in a BIZARRO time-line, with a BIZARRO girlfriend? BIZARRO!!!

[Wholly Schmidt]

Thread hijack!

(I'm helping! I'm helping! I'm helping! I'm helping!)

[balut]

BIZARRO WHOLLY SCHMIDT, show them how serious we are!

[TomChick]

I'm new to Shoot Club, so is there any truth in this story?

Hanzii, there are elements of truth in all fiction. How's that for a dodge? :) There are a bunch of other Shoot Clubs on the site, but we have to fix up the archives using the new site format.

As for the timelines, the reference in Shoes for Guys wasn't necessarily a present tense thing. It was just pointing out that when Lisa moved in, he had to justify using the closet for games. It didn't say she had just moved in or even that she was still living there.

Finally, I would like to point out that even though they're written in first person, I am *not* the protagonist in Shoot Club or the CGM columns!

-Tom

[Kyle Ackerman]

Originally Posted by TomChick

Finally, I would like to point out that even though they're written in first person, I am *not* the protagonist in Shoot Club or the CGM columns!-Tom

Perhaps not, but it seems that the collective consciousness has dubbed The Narrator a "Tom."

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Originally Posted by Kyle Ackerman

Perhaps not, but it seems that the collective consciousness has dubbed The Narrator a "Tom."

The protagonist is a computer game journalist with a nice turn of phrase. A "Tom" kind of fits.

Troy

[Matthew Gallant]

Originally Posted by TomChick

Finally, I would like to point out that even though they're written in first person, I am *not* the protagonist in Shoot Club or the CGM columns!

So what you're saying then, is that you're a doppelganger?

[balut]

Originally Posted by Matthew Gallant

So what you're saying then, is that you're a doppelganger?

No, he's merely confirming my suspicion that he's really BIZARRO TOM. BIZARRO!!!

[shift6]

So who is the keeper of Shoot Club canon? Spin-offs and fan fiction are not officially recognized! The timeline is sacrosanct!

[Jupiter Jones]

Amazing job, just great. Thanks for keeping this going.

[Sean Tudor]

An excellent Shoot Club Tom ! Moments of JOPS weaved in to a good story with an emotional touching ending.

[BlairFraser]

more shoot club! more shoot club!

[Jack]

Great characterization, Tom -- and a good tale about the separation of games and reality. The Yu-Gi-Oh cards being torn as a last memory of Donny also underlines how seriously the silliness of gaming can be taken. My favorite line, however, wasn't related to that theme:

She's wearing this skirt that I made the mistake of never mentioning how much I liked.

It deftly fills in the relationship between these two characters and illustrated the narrator as someone who is struggling not to be selfish -- someone stuck between adolecense and adulthood, stuck between games and reality.

[Jason McMaster]

Great as always, Tom, you sassy devil.