Cup of Jones - October 12, 2020

Hey, Hope this gets. Hope you're well. I was wondering whether you would ever consider premiering the reviews on the youtube or channel and following that up with a short livestreamed q&a with the review writer to go into further detail.

LaXouch

Safety Post

Happy Gaming

Hey there Jones, I was recently watching some of Kotaku's "Behind the Voice" videos, and came across their coverage of Erica Lindbeck. A lot of the information was covered in an Easy Update where she and Ian played Just Dance and talked about her career and personal life, however when I went to search for this video after watching the Kotaku coverage, it appears to have been removed. Is there a particular reason for this - possibly Erica wanting the information and coverage to primarily be available in a more interview style video on a more trafficked news centric site? If I remember correctly, there wasn't anything offensive or sensitive in the video, and it was just fun to watch the two friends play Just Dance together and talk, but it made me curious about why it would be taken down, and if there have been any other issues in the past with content needing to be removed from the Easy Allies library. If something like this happens in the future, such as a dev or publisher requesting a take-down of review that's been up for a lengthy period, is it something you'd inform patrons about, or something you'd be more likely to keep to yourselves? Apologies if this is sensitive or private information, I wasn't trying to stir up controversy, I was genuinely just curious. Thanks as always, love you lots Brian from Happy Gaming

Happy Gaming

Alright Jones, I've already got the week off work; so tell me the juicy stuff. What's on the horizon for the patreon party?

César Villa

Hello! I've previously never really understood the appeal of watching game streaming as opposed to just playing a game myself. I did however watch your Among Us group stream just to understand what the game was all about and I ended up really enjoying it and I've now watched (or at least skimmed through) a few more of your older group streams on YouTube and enjoyed them too. A criticism I read a few weeks ago was that there were too many solo streams with one ally just playing a game without interacting much. Maybe I'm wrong in my observation but I get the impression just looking at the most recent weekly schedules that a lot of the solo streams are of games that the ally in question has already played offline, possibly multiple times. I skimmed through a few archived solo streams and they did mostly seem to be like that with a bit of a "going through the motions" feeling. As I fell down this streaming rabbit hole I then discovered and have become completely addicted to the genre of full blind playthroughs of the Outer Wilds. Watching the streamer over the course of the game gradually coming to understand the systems and puzzles and seeing their reactions when big moments happen makes for a very entertaining stream in my opinion and hearing them think out loud addresses the issue of sitting there silently not interacting. Sadly the only EZA Outer Wilds playthrough video I could find was a 20 minute Easy Update episode, but it struck me that the blind playthrough style seems far more suited to solo streams than an ally playing through a game they've probably already played through multiple times (except in specific cases like Bosman Vs Wozniak where there was a specific goal for the series). It doesn't even need to be the big games where an ally wants to experience them on their own in private first. Outer Wilds would be a perfect pick but also there are decades of gaming history out there that are absolutely ripe for this style. Hearing allies on the latest frame trap admitting they'd never played the old X-Wing or TIE Fighter games made me immediately want to watch one of them experience TIE Fighter (the BEST Star Wars game ever made!) for the first time. Similarly I'd adore it to see the reactions of an ally or two to do blind playthroughs of games like Ultima VII or Ultima Underworld which were probably among the most influential games on so many modern day classics, and still hold up as genuinely great and playable games but are largely ignored because most of the allies weren't playing PC games in the nineties. Watching an Elder Scrolls or Witcher 3 fan going through the process of seeing where much of it all began would make my year! Also, while niche (although I would argue no more niche than much of EZA'S streaming content), I think they have the potential to bring in new viewers who wouldn't otherwise be exposed to EZA of which some proportion might even be tempted to stay and join the Patreon. To put this in the form of a question, what are the chances of you putting this suggestion to the rest of the group? 🙂 Thanks for reading this far!

Greg

Hey, Jones! Can you see a time in the coming years where Easy Allies has new/additional staff? What would it take for that to happen? I know it won't be tied to a Patreon dollar amount, so I'm curious. And do you see a point one year down the line where Easy Allies is just not in video production but has a more traditional website like Gamespot, Eurogamer, or Push Square? L&R, Josh Read

Josh Read

It’s a celebration week, so I want to say thank you. Thank you for all the work you doing to keep us well-informed on what games worth or don’t worth our precious time. Thank you for entertaining us and creating numerous wonderful memories. But most importantly, thank you running this enterprise. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it is to steer Easy Allies ship when so many people pull you in so many directions (me included) and every step can instantly alienate a sizeable chunk of your patrons. So, thank you for doing what you do and thank you for keeping doing it.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hey Jones, so I know everything is in a shake up right now due to the world being terrible. But Ive got some ideas in my mind for you to think about and maybe bring it up to the meeting. If any of these ideas were brought before then feel free to not even read them. You also dont have to read them in full, here is a quick summary: 1-Allies can share their playlists monthly to the patreons, making them connect more with the allies through music or at the end of each year every ally that wants to can share their most listened to music and recomend some bands :). 2-Release the Frame Trap EX bits together with the patreon release, that way you can better capitalize on the views. 1- I know both Ben and Ian love music, Ben clearly loves to talk about it, so I think it would be cool if every end of the year they and maybe more of the allies could share and talk about their most listened to music. Spotify does the job for you with its stats so it wouldnt take up that much time or effort and could be just a shill conversation about music. An alternative that could be better would be for ben and ian and whoever else share some of their playlists exclusive to patreons, maybe monthly? or whenever. I think that music is a subject you guys rarely talk about but I have a guess that yall are also passioned about. Anyway, thats my idea. 2-Ive seen the frame trap EX thing in my timeline, Im wondering if it doesnt make more sense to cut up those bits and put them up early, at the same time as the patreon exclusive full episode, that way you can attract the fans that dont pay the patreon, but also Im guessing people who listen to frame trap will always listen to the whole thing. So in summary you are capitalizing on the views two times and giving non 5$ patreons a quick preview that, well if you want to see more, pay up. From Brazil with Love, and Respect. Raphael

Hi Mr. Jones. I want to start off by saying I'm fine, no major injuries to myself or the other party. For the first time in my 36 years, I was in a car accident Tuesday night. I was driving home from work, in the right most lane of three heading west towards an intersection at which I would be turning right (north). There are also three eastbound lanes and I center turn lane. Traffic at the light in the other two westbound lanes was stopped. I was driving towards the intersection and passing a driveway into a gas station on the north side of the street. The person who hit me was trying to turn left into that gas station. Someone who was stopped waiting to continue west had given them "the wave" indicating it would be safe to proceed. The other driver gunned it and slammed into me. I barely had time to try hitting the brakes. I was wearing my seatbelt and my airbag went off. I'm sore but generally unharmed. Maybe you could use your platform to once again discuss road safety. Maybe be a little more cautious before you give someone "the wave", maybe if you are given "the wave" proceed through traffic slowly as opposed to attempting to shoot through quickly and please, for the love of all things good on this earth, wear your seatbelt each and every time you get in the car. I'm lucky I didn't have any of my 4 kids in the car with me. I'm lucky there was no one behind me that hit me as well. I'm lucky that I have no major injuries. It was a completely crap experience, one I'd rather not go through again but it could have been so so so so so much worse. Please be safe. L&R Matt B

Matt Bollenbach

Hey Brandon I'm sure this has been asked in the past but blood mentioned requesting a game for review during this past group stream and that got me wondering how the whole process works a little more. I know it’s kind of a running joke in easy allies the review copy provided by PlayStation thing but are most of the games you guys reviewing being provided for free? Also if the game isn’t being provided do you guys need permission from a company to review their game or can you just review anything that you guys are interested in? On a personal note I just wanted to say with all the craziness going on the past few months with the Patreon numbers going down and you guys and the community all banding together to come up with fun and innovative new ideas to get those back up I just wanted to say that I think you guys at EZA have done a wonderful job through this whole pandemic working from home and giving us great content consistently. Excited for the patron party and as always love & respect

Sage_Mode_Q

I just wanted to say I am thankful for your cups of Jones. Always great to hear some hot takes and behind the scenes stuff from gametrailers. Rock on dude!

Alexander Mcloughlin

Hey Mr. Jones! I’ve noticed recently of all the content creators and groups I follow, Easy Allies interacts with and incorporates their community more than any other I’ve seen. The Patron Party is an excellent example of this, but with the podcast and Frame Trap with dedicated sections of Patrons while the Q&A and Community Showcase are 100% patron fueled, I wanted to ask you: Has or does EZA strive to be the group that involves its community more than any other in games media, and if not, is this a goal you feel can be easily achieved with just a touch more focus? Thanks again as always for reading my questions (and you legitimately make me chuckle with the fun intros), and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! QUESTION: Has or does EZA strive to be the group that involves its community more than any other in games media, and if not, is this a goal you feel can be easily achieved with just a touch more focus? I’ve noticed recently EZA incorporates their community more than any other group I follow, and I was curious if this is a concerted effort to be the best at allowing Patrons and fans to interact with both the content and the Allies.

Brandon K Gann