Oh, no doubt. :P I try to keep my personal beefs as separate as I can because frankly it's ancient history and not worth bringing up at this point. I do wish that Rorie or someone else had stepped in as a community manager at an earlier stage, but what can you do?If I recall correctly, I feel like you personally might have something to say about the way moderators were treating users during that time. :P I'm still on friendly terms with some of the more chill current and former Giant Bomb mods, but there are definitely some of them who were always kind of assholes. IIRC, Rorie wasn't hired to manage the community/support side until after a lot of this started happening, and by that point most of the damage had already been done.
It's been nice seeing you and a couple of other old forum mainstays around these parts. I never did talk to you about my deep, involved thoughts on Lightning Returns and how much of a bizarre trip that game is.
Been this way for years. Brad only ever sounds like the Brad of old during GOTY pods where he's trying to get his games to the top. Otherwise he's just kind of ... there.With streaming being popular, the market has changed. The biggest issue is GB West; They just dont care anymore. Worst offender is Brad. Brad is rarely well informed and as a podcast host he comes across as bored. He needs a kick in the butt, he's just going through the motions.
The funny thing is an 8.8 isn't even a bad score.I went from raging super hard at the 8.8 Zelda score to really liking Jeff
Oh , yeah, it was a compleeeeetely unwarranted outrage but I fell for it. Time actually proved that his score, although still lower than what I would give it, was actually quite fair.
Yeah, I agree. So much has changed over the past ten years, and GBEast has done a good job of keeping up with the overall tone expectations of online content in 2019, while not going full-on obnoxious Youtuber/Twitch personality. It's an admittedly tough balance to strike, but West seems so allergic to showing genuine enthusiasm or emotion on stream that it can look downright outdated. It's videogames people, you're allowed to treat them like the silly toys they are.With streaming being popular, the market has changed. The biggest issue is GB West; They just dont care anymore. Worst offender is Brad. Brad is rarely well informed and as a podcast host he comes across as bored. He needs a kick in the butt, he's just going through the motions.
I don't know, to me it's kind of the opposite. Giant bomb west to me feels like adults who like videogames, are knowledgeable but not to the extent of knowing every single fact or news detail because they probably have other important worries. And that's fine, what I care about more is their commentary based on their experience and their personality.Yeah, I agree. So much has changed over the past ten years, and GBEast has done a good job of keeping up with the overall tone expectations of online content in 2019, while not going full-on obnoxious Youtuber/Twitch personality. It's an admittedly tough balance to strike, but West seems so allergic to showing genuine enthusiasm or emotion on stream that it can look downright outdated. It's videogames people, you're allowed to treat them like the silly toys they are.
Yeah they were grossly unprepared to deal with the blowback caused by gamergate. It says something though when like all of your top Wiki editors vanish from the community. I tended to really enjoy the smaller nature of the GB forums back in the day. I felt like people's individual personalities were able to shine through more.Neglect really is the biggest factor. At the start, GB's one community rule was don't be a dick, but the staff were basically hands off and left enforcement to the moderators, who were for the most part community members that were handpicked at the forum's inception and, as far as I'm aware, whose performance the staff never really oversaw. Factor in a changing online political climate, GamerGate and the staff's piddly response followed by what could charitably be called a gross overcorrection by old guard moderators with too much authority and next to no oversight, and it's just evident that the forums were mismanaged from day one.
I agree with this. Ben, especially combined with Abby, can be rough as its simply forcing absurd jokes non stop but Ben has done an outstanding job lately on the podcast and is very knowledge on a lot of subjects/genres. Jan's been rocking too as he gets more involved with the podcast.
The thing I noticed yesterday as I was browsing around YouTube is there's a ton of YouTuber operations like Linus or that Unboxing Therapy dude etc that do a similar kind of personality run show (albeit on tech rather than games) but the content looks so much better than GB stuff does. I get they're stuck with the small spaces that CBSi provides them but man, their sets and presentation look so low-rent.
I guess that and I don't wanna watch 2+ hour long Burgle my Bananas and stuff. I'd rather have a greater variety of somewhat-shorter videos (like When Brad did those switch mods).
Yeah I guess at the end of the day it's a preference thing, cuz I'm the opposite of literally everything you said haha. But that's alright, at least there's suitable content for all tastes out there.I don't know, to me it's kind of the opposite. Giant bomb west to me feels like adults who like videogames, are knowledgeable but not to the extent of knowing every single fact or news detail because they probably have other important worries. And that's fine, what I care about more is their commentary based on their experience and their personality.
I also like how their sense of humour and jokes don't devolve into artificial super loud and exaggerated laughing. They make their joke and they move on to the next topic even if it was a hilarious one like it was nothing. I like that.
Maybe cause I'm already 39 and started a family recently but it's just more what I look for in a podcast. I
As an example, EZA, which I used to watch a lot, I can barely stand now. With the exception of some good takes here and there, and while Hubert is hilarious sometimes, to me it feels very infantile and a bit forced. Too many silly games and bets that don't lead to meaningful discussion.
edit: I should say that I do think some of this out of their control and gaming in general is so much more scattered than it used to be. I understand it's probably hard covering games that have dedicated audiences instead of everyone being focused on big event games like they used to.
Weird. Since like easily 80% of this thread seem to be saying exactly what I said, some directly and some indirectly.
I wish this was possible.The next part of a successful midlife crisis is getting the man himself, Jeff "Black Dragon" Green on at GB. West, preferably.
I would resubscribe in a heartbeat. Jeff Green is the greatest personality of all time.
Now we talkin bout GFW Radio up in here? goddammit guys you bringing me down.I would resubscribe in a heartbeat. Jeff Green is the greatest personality of all time.
whatno one is trying to replace Ryan. good lord do you people come out of the wood work every time GB gets mentioned?
Yeah the stereotypical "Midwestern educated" raised by Paul 'the Boomer' ryckert generationBurgle My Bananas is pretty amazing so far (like 10 minutes in).
Dan Ryckert is the voice of an entire generation.
They put up so much content for free...
Premium isnt exactly expensive, either, particularly during a sale. Compared to nearly any Patreon I've seen, it's a bargain.
You're 100% right. Giant bomb infinite is great to have on in the background! I have a bit of trouble going back to the past as I like the feeling of being in the present zeitgeist but I understand there's probably 90% of the content I've never seen.50 a year for 10 plus years of content is one hell of deal in my opinion.
You're 100% right. Giant bomb infinite is great to have on in the background! I have a bit of trouble going back to the past as I like the feeling of being in the present zeitgeist but I understand there's probably 90% of the content I've never seen.
Don't get me wrong, I actually like that she was an outsider to the GB culture. It's a nice contrast to Ben who has been immersed in GB since day one.This is a nice way to put it. IMO getting someone outside of that is beneficial to GB as a whole. I don't align with Abby at all in terms of my tastes in games outside of a few Nintendo things, but I often find her perspective really refreshing and enjoyable compared to walking video game encyclopedia Dan Ryckert, despite sharing opinions on games with Dan a lot more often than Abby.
Also I think speculating on how much people "care" about their place of employment is a little low, and I generally think a lot of this is thrown at Abby simply because she's a woman and not afraid to disagree with most of the guys at Giant Bomb.
50 a year for 10 plus years of content is one hell of deal in my opinion.