why is Skyrim for PS3 so broken?
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Idle thumbs IS BACK (Kickstarter ended) -- Funded in 3 hours
- Thread starter The Dutch Slayer
- Start date
why is Skyrim for PS3 so broken?
Hot Coldman
Banned
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
But I want them to be arrested every pod
Fuck that. I listen to most podcasts when I'm driving and the number of times I've looked around to see if there's a police car/ambulance around me is insane because of Thumbs!
... yeah, I'll miss the sirens too
hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
But I want them to be arrested every pod
I want Nick Breckon to be attacked by Pyramid Head and scream.
Hot Coldman
Banned
The sirens were always cool to me because you expect it to be the kind of common background noise that usually gets ignored, but I want whoever's talking to acknowledge it, and Thumbs always go over the top about it in hilarious ways. Love it.
The Pyramid Head thing was the first Thumbs episode I listened to, it was the best.
The Pyramid Head thing was the first Thumbs episode I listened to, it was the best.
But I want them to be arrested every pod
If they reach 100K, they have to record one episode from the back of one of those police cars with the siren on the entire time
classicdms
Neo Member
50 bucks is totally the price I'd pay for the 20 minute podblast. I'm so happy.
MaritalWheat
Member
Holy shit, this happened so fast! I've asked for a legit Thumbs shirt for so long it looks like I'm in for a $50, soon as I pay the bills for the month.
And man, looking at that Kickstarter, 700 something backers and that amount raised, it comes out to an average of something like $70/backer. Pretty nuts. Hope this can sustain itself and grow, especially if they don't limit themselves to video games.
And man, looking at that Kickstarter, 700 something backers and that amount raised, it comes out to an average of something like $70/backer. Pretty nuts. Hope this can sustain itself and grow, especially if they don't limit themselves to video games.
FUUUUUUUUUCK.
I just dropped my iPod Touch by accedent, and it broke. The screen has gone completly blank. But I think it's still operating somehow (I Can sync and play music). God damn, I'm probably gonna buy another one, since I don't think this is fixable. The timing of this shit.....
I just dropped my iPod Touch by accedent, and it broke. The screen has gone completly blank. But I think it's still operating somehow (I Can sync and play music). God damn, I'm probably gonna buy another one, since I don't think this is fixable. The timing of this shit....
.Attackthebase
Member
Sorry for nearly giving you a heart attack. Don't need to send you to the hospital for a few months.
I'll download the buggers in order then. It'll take a while for me to complete them (because of other podcasts giving me news and impressions), but I'll get through them. Hopefully before the new Idle Thumbs.
Chris Remo
Member
Every backing level has a bunch of awesome stuff that comes along with it, so the risk of that should be basically none!
$60,000 for two microphones? What are you talking about?
Joseph Merrick
Member
oops. late to the party. money added. send me a tshirt remo :O~
The Quiet Man
Member
Done and done. There are very few podcasts I would consider funding, and Thumbs is at the top of the list!
That's my brother. Weird.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
I'm in a picture-in-picture YouTube video, eyes wide and full of tears as my mascara (that I wear) runs down my face.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Rebel FM.
The Kickstarter says that you'll get a survey asking for your size.
Oh, rad! Thanks!
The Quiet Man
Member
I started listening to old episodes while playing The Binding Of Isaac last night and it led to a couple of very shortened runs due to me still laughing too much.
I still haven't listened to this podcast yet, despite all of the love it gets. I think that I'll start going through the archives to see what I've missed.
Also, this looks like another heartwarming Kickstarter success story. I think it's awesome that passionate fans have an outlet like this to support what they love, and it seems like it's only going to become more influential in the industry.
Also, this looks like another heartwarming Kickstarter success story. I think it's awesome that passionate fans have an outlet like this to support what they love, and it seems like it's only going to become more influential in the industry.
Joseph Merrick
Member
yep, do this. just start from the first one.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
From the bits i've listened to it sounds no different than the sea of other gaming podcasts out there on pro sites. I do not see the value. I guess you just have to be fans of the people. I still think its ridiculous the amount of funding they are getting but i guess as long as people are willing to pay.....i just foresee a bad trend starting here.
Otrebor Nightmarecoat
Banned
Why did I go to taco bell for breakfast and not donate my last 10 bucks?! I have diarrhea and no thumbs now.
snoopeasystreet
Member
you paid for the wrong hot scoops.
Brawndo Addict
Banned
This thread needs more haters to keep it interesting. (Edit: This is where I stupidly forgot to add something witty and hilarious to make it clear I wasn't trolling but was bringing up critiques. "But seriously though". Grade? C-)
I just want to say off the bat that there’s nothing overtly wrong with anything being done here. They’re free to ask for as much or as little money as they want, and the response will be what it is. People are going to donate what they want to give, and the result is absolutely fair. There’s an incredible amount of passion from the listeners, as the donation numbers clearly show.
That said however, I’m definitely in the very negative camp when it comes to the donation goal and overall message and intent. The kick starter page does not give a clear focus of what the ultimate goal of this project is, which wouldn’t ordinarily be a problem, but they’re asking for 30,000 dollars. Let’s break it down.
So it’s supposed to be free, but also make money? What’s the monetization strategy? What types of expenses are they going to incur that simply asking for donations from listeners would not resolve? Clearly the listener money is there, so I fail to see why donations aren’t the answer to the associated costs. Was money the issue behind the original issues of continuing the podcast or was it jobs, geography, and time commitment?
Podcast equipment is a fixed cost. You don’t need more of it to ramp up your production slate. Doing extra podcasts requires more time on the part of the creator, not more money from the listener, barring bandwidth. And I’d be highly skeptical that the bandwidth costs are in the thousands of dollars not hundreds. Even assuming 4000 a year, without donations, if you split that three ways, it’s about 110 dollars a month. It’s not exactly an extreme amount to put into a hobby you’re super passionate about.
Now we’re asking more questions than we came into this with. Are they launching a new destination website or a weekly podcast? Is this supposed to become their primary source of income or remain an after-hours hobby? If you ask for this much money, say you want to rent an office, start up a presumably professional website, and it all sounds like you’re trying to start a new side business, not resurrect a podcast. Compare that to say, the Angry Video Game Nerd who had a goal of 75,000 dollars on IndieGoGo for helping fund his feature film. Obviously you don’t need 40% of that to run a weekly podcast, but you might need it to start up a podcast network like Maximum Fun.
This seems disingenuous to me. Obviously the cost of doing these rewards isn’t that prohibitive or they wouldn’t be offered. Plus the cost of offering them is already built into the amount you need to donate to receive them. And even if they were extremely expensive, it makes me worry about the management of money if they’re willing to blow a huge chunk of their donations on things unrelated to the project at all. Let’s say the total cost of all the merchandise was 8,000 dollars. That’s a quarter of the total they asked for and it only knocks down their initial goal to 22,000 which is still way too high. It’s bad in either direction, either their original goal was much closer to 30,000 than they want to admit or they want to spend upwards of 25% of their total haul on rewards, which fuels the idea they don’t really need that much money in the first place or that they’re not spending it wisely.
I’ve been super aggressive and negative, but this does bother me. Hobbies take more a lot of out us. They require a great deal of our time, energy, and money. But we spend all that on hobbies because the reward we get out of them is worth those costs. If it’s not worth the cost, then we don’t do it or we ask for help. And that’s what they’re doing, they’re getting help from enthusiastic listeners and that’s great. It will allow them to overcome the barriers that stopped them from doing this in the first place. But I wonder exactly how big those barriers actually are.
I’d rather see a 60,000 dollar venture to help fund a new side business to make a podcast directory site making revenue off ads or something. That’s the vibe I get from this project and I’d prefer that to what we have. Right now it sounds like asking for 30,000 dollars for a weekly podcast or two, and depending on how much money you give us they might do other stuff, but who knows. The listeners clearly can give enough to help fund whatever big-idea they have in the back of their minds. I just wish they would have been confident enough to come out with that front and center.
I just want to say off the bat that there’s nothing overtly wrong with anything being done here. They’re free to ask for as much or as little money as they want, and the response will be what it is. People are going to donate what they want to give, and the result is absolutely fair. There’s an incredible amount of passion from the listeners, as the donation numbers clearly show.
That said however, I’m definitely in the very negative camp when it comes to the donation goal and overall message and intent. The kick starter page does not give a clear focus of what the ultimate goal of this project is, which wouldn’t ordinarily be a problem, but they’re asking for 30,000 dollars. Let’s break it down.
So it’s supposed to be free, but also make money? What’s the monetization strategy? What types of expenses are they going to incur that simply asking for donations from listeners would not resolve? Clearly the listener money is there, so I fail to see why donations aren’t the answer to the associated costs. Was money the issue behind the original issues of continuing the podcast or was it jobs, geography, and time commitment?
Podcast equipment is a fixed cost. You don’t need more of it to ramp up your production slate. Doing extra podcasts requires more time on the part of the creator, not more money from the listener, barring bandwidth. And I’d be highly skeptical that the bandwidth costs are in the thousands of dollars not hundreds. Even assuming 4000 a year, without donations, if you split that three ways, it’s about 110 dollars a month. It’s not exactly an extreme amount to put into a hobby you’re super passionate about.
Now we’re asking more questions than we came into this with. Are they launching a new destination website or a weekly podcast? Is this supposed to become their primary source of income or remain an after-hours hobby? If you ask for this much money, say you want to rent an office, start up a presumably professional website, and it all sounds like you’re trying to start a new side business, not resurrect a podcast. Compare that to say, the Angry Video Game Nerd who had a goal of 75,000 dollars on IndieGoGo for helping fund his feature film. Obviously you don’t need 40% of that to run a weekly podcast, but you might need it to start up a podcast network like Maximum Fun.
This seems disingenuous to me. Obviously the cost of doing these rewards isn’t that prohibitive or they wouldn’t be offered. Plus the cost of offering them is already built into the amount you need to donate to receive them. And even if they were extremely expensive, it makes me worry about the management of money if they’re willing to blow a huge chunk of their donations on things unrelated to the project at all. Let’s say the total cost of all the merchandise was 8,000 dollars. That’s a quarter of the total they asked for and it only knocks down their initial goal to 22,000 which is still way too high. It’s bad in either direction, either their original goal was much closer to 30,000 than they want to admit or they want to spend upwards of 25% of their total haul on rewards, which fuels the idea they don’t really need that much money in the first place or that they’re not spending it wisely.
I’ve been super aggressive and negative, but this does bother me. Hobbies take more a lot of out us. They require a great deal of our time, energy, and money. But we spend all that on hobbies because the reward we get out of them is worth those costs. If it’s not worth the cost, then we don’t do it or we ask for help. And that’s what they’re doing, they’re getting help from enthusiastic listeners and that’s great. It will allow them to overcome the barriers that stopped them from doing this in the first place. But I wonder exactly how big those barriers actually are.
I’d rather see a 60,000 dollar venture to help fund a new side business to make a podcast directory site making revenue off ads or something. That’s the vibe I get from this project and I’d prefer that to what we have. Right now it sounds like asking for 30,000 dollars for a weekly podcast or two, and depending on how much money you give us they might do other stuff, but who knows. The listeners clearly can give enough to help fund whatever big-idea they have in the back of their minds. I just wish they would have been confident enough to come out with that front and center.
Hot Coldman
Banned
No-one's going to take you seriously with that opening sentence, fool.
people like Idle Thumbs
Idle Thumbs want money
people give Idle Thumbs money if they want to
The vast majority of people get it for free
[removed unnecessary insult]
They tend to talk about games that nobody else is talking about and often in a way that is both amusing and intelligent. In addition to the in jokes, gags, and songs, they actually attempt to analyze what they did or did not like about a game on a level that you honestly don't get to hear a lot. Most podcasts have to hit all the top new releases and there's a lot to get to in a short span of time so that it often feels like no one title is receiving genuinely in depth analysis, especially not several weeks after the fact. Idle Thumbs doesn't bother with keeping up to date with all the newest releases, which frees them up to really just talk at length about whatever game they're most intrigued by. There also isn't a whole lot of "this game is good" or "this game is bad" so much as there seems to be discussion of things that are particularly engaging or frustrating about any given game, without having to designate or define the entire experience with so simplistic a label.
I mean how many "pro sites" talk about Neptune's Pride and The Last Express?
It's fine that you don't see a difference between their content and other podcasts but I can assure you that most people donating money are doing so because they find the discussion and the humor to be far above average and worthy of support. Not sure how investing in people who create things that you like is a bad trend really.
Lasthope106
Member
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
You're going to reduce that well-reasoned post to "junior bullshit"? I adore Thumbs and have thrown my wallet at them, but the questions he's asking aren't unreasonable and he didn't present them like an asshole. If you're asking for money on this scale, you should be held accountable, ethically. I'm happy to pay them for the hours I've got for free, alone, but others aren't, and that's -fine-
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
It's fucking Thumbs. I don't need to think long and hard about their figures. Remo and co are good guys who are honest with their community and their production is worth chipping in for. Simple as that for me.
I didn't even read their plans fully. I saw the book club was a cool idea and what I would get for $10 then I instantly paid.
I didn't even read their plans fully. I saw the book club was a cool idea and what I would get for $10 then I instantly paid.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I don't listen to podcasts and I've never listened to an Idle Thumbs, but over the years it's been easily one of the most highly praised podcasts out there on account of the excellent cast and chemistry. I think "the Brodeo" (the Jeff Green podcast thing) is probably the only podcast I've seen get quite as much praise. I've also never heard any complaints about it, which is unusual. Normally even the most glowing podcast threads have a lot of "I love it but so-and-so is a wet sock" or "I love it but they need to cut this segment" and I've never heard that about Idle Thumbs.
Just an outside observation.
You traded the blues mobile for a microphone?! Ok, I can see that.
In other news, I'll be throwing my money toward this as soon as I get home from holidays. I hope they don't lock out any reward tiers before I get back!
I can also confirm the dudes have been working for a good while on this before Double Fine hit. I expressed concern at the timing of that but what can you do? Anyway, my concern was not needed as it's hit double the target even before I get to contribute! Such awesome news.
See Kinggi, the truth is out there. I can't think of any other podcast I'd donate to get going again, ok, I'd give all my monies for The Brodeo back, but otherwise Idle Thumbs is it.
outunderthestars
Banned
There is no need to insult a member simply for voicing legitimate questions.
snoopeasystreet
Member
Why don't you remedy this? Based on your posts, it seems like it'd be your sort of thing.
Sorry, I removed the completely unnecessary insult
Anyway, he's acting like he's entitled to grand explanations to tell him exactly where every single penny spent will go.
It's quite simple. They want money to do something cool. It doesn't matter if they pocket 90% of it to go buy dirty fetish porn. As long as they produce what they say they're going to product, and as long as I get the stuff they said I would get for the dollar level I spend, that's all I'm entitled to.
End the end, it's not even 900 total people who have donated so far. I don't know how many listeners of Idle Thumbs there were, but that's what, less than 2% of their listener base? People are acting like they are forced to pay something to get this new venture, but the fact is that if you're unsure of what you're going to get, don't pay anything. You'll still get it in the end.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
It's heartwarming to see all of the GFW fans have found a semi-replacement in Thumbs, as a sidenote.
Truly the two best podcasts there ever darn was.
Truly the two best podcasts there ever darn was.
But the risk for each individual donor is so low. If "The Internet" was a venture capitalist firm that expected some kind of monetary profit return it'd be more applicable. But when the risk is:
a) What you want to pay
b) That's about fucking it
Then give or don't give. It spreads the risk out so thinly among as many people as possible that it largely becomes irrelevant.
That said, Spencer's post is pretty well-thought out, especially near the end, and I do have some minor concerns about transparency.
Brawndo said:
Speculation here, but it sounds as though they want to start up some kind of merchandising infrastructure and the like, which would work alongside the rewards already in place.
Brawndo Addict
Banned
I know it was far too long to be easily digested, but I'd like to hope it was simply too verbose to be meaningful rather than straight up bullshit.
If I had to distill it to a central point though, how expensive is bandwidth for podcasts of this nature? I said 4,000 a year thinking that was high but maybe it isn't. If their costs were in the 8-12 thousand a year range than they should ask for more money and I hope they get it (they are). Anyone with experience that can give hard numbers?
EDIT: To clarify, I don't have an issue with asking for money or people donating, or even the amount asked for per-say. I do have an issue with people assuming the amount asked for is absolutely necessary. I'm not asking for a line-by-line accounting report on projecting expenditures and revenues, but an estimates of an expected cost like bandwidth helps someone understand a lot. Whether anyone is entitled to such an estimate, however general, in cases like this a discussion I think could be worthwile.
If I had to distill it to a central point though, how expensive is bandwidth for podcasts of this nature? I said 4,000 a year thinking that was high but maybe it isn't. If their costs were in the 8-12 thousand a year range than they should ask for more money and I hope they get it (they are). Anyone with experience that can give hard numbers?
EDIT: To clarify, I don't have an issue with asking for money or people donating, or even the amount asked for per-say. I do have an issue with people assuming the amount asked for is absolutely necessary. I'm not asking for a line-by-line accounting report on projecting expenditures and revenues, but an estimates of an expected cost like bandwidth helps someone understand a lot. Whether anyone is entitled to such an estimate, however general, in cases like this a discussion I think could be worthwile.