Cup of Jones - September 21, 2020

Hey Jones how is the house hunting going? Just curious as I haven’t heard you talk about it for a bit. L&R

Sage_Mode_Q

Safety post

Happy Gaming

(just a note, I accidentally posted this under the audio COJ section so apologies if the post repeats. I've since deleted the other one.) Hey there Jones, It's come to my attention that there's a lack of streams or videos specifically relating to Hall of Greats winners. It's true that certain games were streamed at EZ Living, like Symphony of the Night and Metal Gear Solid, but the thought hit me that there isn't necessarily a series to coincide with the Allies playing games specifically to recognize their induction into the Hall itself. There are no playthroughs of Chrono Trigger, Street Fighter 2, Portal, Super Mario Bros 3, Resident Evil 4 or Resident Evil Remake on the channel whatsoever, and many of the streams that exist for entrants aren't made to specifically coincide with a game's induction. I feel that "EZA - Appreciate the Greats" would be an awesome series where everyone could get together (loosely stated during COVID) to do a group stream of full playthrough of entries and specifically talk about why everyone likes and feels entrants new and old deserves to be there. As some of the games are quite lengthy, a full playthrough may be a little bit much to ask for all of them, but I feel at least having the Allies play the games together to compliment them would be enough to differentiate them from something like EZ Living, Bosman V Wozniak and Brandon Plays Pokemon for example. Love and Respect, Brian from Happy Gaming

Happy Gaming

Mr. Jones, With the stretch of holidays around the corner, are the Allies planning anything special as far as content? In the past has holiday or event themed content improved viewership. If you are amenable can I recommend that you include election/voting themed content to promote participation in the upcoming US election. Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

It's really not something that happens often enough to think of clear examples, and we're typically not following other outlets super closely regarding those things. Usually, even if someone says something they're not supposed to, an embargo still stands until the publisher tells us otherwise. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

I saw a suggestion that we should promote some other videos at the end of our reviews and I thought it was a good idea, so I've been trying it out. Adding in that extra pitch felt like it also needed a little change up in the language regarding Patreon as well. I don't think it needs to be done every time though, so if there isn't something that feels natural to promote when I'm going over the script, I'll just stick with the standard text. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Hello Brandon. At the end of some reviews you say “If you like what you see, check out patreon.com/easyallies to help us make more.” (for example, 13 Sentinels), and in the end of some others you say “Contribute at patreon.com/easyallies to help us make more.” (for example, Marvel's Avengers). How do you decide which one should be used in each case? Also in the end of review sometimes you promote respective game discussion in Frame Trap and sometimes you don’t (again, Avengers and 13 Sentinels). Why is that?

Alexander Zyryanov

Heya Jones, Oh, yeah. I can see what the problem is. I can take care of it but it's going to take about a week for the parts to come in. But can Easy Allies remember when they were a tender and callow fellow?

Asbo Zappruder

A question that has been in the back of my mind for a little while, suddenly became relevant, much sooner than I thought. Well relevant for me at least, I would like to know how you guys feel about it. The question is, what do you do if you disagree with a Roost ad? I know this isn't an easy question, you just got Roost to take care of your adds, you might just be getting in some money, these are tough times, etc., etc.. I'm not thinking lightly of this. When I heard the Upstart money lending ad, alarm bells went of in my mind. In short, borrowing money can get you in a lot of trouble if your not careful. The longer explanation: At fist glance what I hear is that you can lend a lot of money very quickly, circumventing checks the US government has in place. I'm not sure if these checks were created with the people or the banks in mind (I'm European) but I'm pretty sure it's better for people borrowing as well. Either way, it sounds like a very flexible loan, which implies high interest rates (higher risk for bank = higher interest rates). And sure enough it says 8%-35% on the website. Imagine borrowing $50000 at 35% for 5 years. Looking at the website, I see that there are more checks in place and it doesn't seem that simple. Also there's probably a big cultural difference between Europe and the US when it comes to borrowing money and this might worry you a lot less, you might find it patronizing to question this even. Still, through school I'm somewhat financially literate and experience (and the news) has taught me a surprising amount of people aren't, not as much at least. I my country (the Netherlands) there's always at least an obligatory warning "Borrowing money costs money" (put into place after the Financial/Euro crisis, I think), after such an ad. Also personally I'd like to add the warning that borrowing money is very risky if you're not sure you can pay it back. And if you are sure, you probably don't really need to borrow money and it's saves you money in the long run if you don't. So in summary, I think enticing people to borrow money simply isn't very ethical, especially in these trying times and I feel such an ad should be accompanied by more warnings at the very least. Honestly, I'd personally prefer not seeing such an ad at all in anything the EZA I love so much produces and whom I've always perceived as having strong morals. Again, I don't mean to stir up a hornets nest and me being the only one in the comments asking about this already makes me feel like a lone voice shouting in the wind. Still, this add hit me pretty hard and it felt wrong not to say anything about it.

LukeW

Hey Jones, Has EZA applied for government relief? I'm curious how a small business like yours is coping with these turbulent times (fires, COVID, economic downturn) and from personal experience and through my work, people seem to be struggling to make sense of how to take advantage of government programs. Curious if you made any efforts in getting outside aide. Love and Respect!

Kanlink

Greetings Jones. Assuming you and the allies get any pre-release next gen systems, have you put any thought into how to best present that content? With the studio not being an option for the foreseeable future, I don't know how well you think a group video conference would work for going over hardware and any other non-game-playing explorations in its place. We still don't have any solid idea of how or what these platforms—moreso the PS5—will support feature-wise at launch (e.g. remote play, share play, streaming experience, content sharing, etc.) Just curious about your thoughts, concerns and other ponderings with roughly a month and a half left to go before the next generation deluge.

Kirbu

Howdy Jones! LOVED the breaking news! Not only did I love the timing of it, but I also just love when you guys focus on singular topics like that (like spoiler modes, or even Brandon plays pokemon as well). I’ve also really been enjoying the game focused Friend Codes where people have a chance to let all their thoughts out on a game or situation, even if it’s an old title with a topical spin (like the monolithsoft friend code). It’s just nice knowing y’all can dig your heels in on a subject. I’ve been seeing a lot more of these types of videos pop up, and all of them are a treat! Please do more? (I needed to make this a question somehow.) L&R TAHK0

TAHK0

i’m willing to bet you wouldn’t praise something as “real” if you disagreed with it. i read through ian’s apology on twitter and the replies were just a long list of people (mostly men) saying f*** you to jk rowland. nothing love and respect or “good energy” about that. all actions have consequences and the allies didn’t need to further turn off more potential patreons. i guess ian at least tried to somewhat apologize for being unprofessional but the damage was done and i’m sure they lost more than a few fans because of it, which they don’t need right now.

A Joker Fan

Hey Jones. It seems like there has been a lot of unwarranted hate and more reasonable criticism of Mario Galaxy Spoiler Mode. Whether they are valid or not, to me it felt like a bonus Spoiler Mode for being a Patreon and not a cash grab like some of the comments are suggesting. Maybe it's because I feel like I know you all better and I don't think you were expecting this one video to move the numbers greatly but it gave me the idea that you could maybe combined the Spoiler Mode promos into one video since there were two others that just came out as well. If there was one video saying we now have Spoiler Modes for Avengers, Tell Me Why with Elyse, and a bonus Mario Galaxy it might have been easier for some people to digest and also feel like more value. I understand this is probably a rare instance where you have three new episodes within a few days but maybe an idea if something similar ever happens again in the future.

Trooper

Just wanted to stop by and express support for the idea of separating the reactions from the post show. If that post show could be added to the RSS Feed so i could listen to it instead of watching, that'd be even better. L&R - Juan

Safety reply just in case it helps with your comment getting deleted.

Rayluaza

Hey Jones, re-typing my comment, hope it sticks this time! I know this is a touchy subject, but I realized something about the podcast recently - not only are you operating on the disadvantage of not having Kyle and a studio, but you also have the disadvantage of not having you as a co-host! I severely miss your chillness, passion, bits, and timeless jones-rants about terrible business or marketing decisions. It's not that you aren't capable of doing each job, but as moderator you are essentially forbidden from being able to do all the things you could do as co-host - you can't be chill and relaxed, can't go on rants, and can't add to the energy whenever a subject gets brought up that you feel passionate about because you have to SUPPLY all the energy. Add onto this the fact you that already have a plethora of responsibilities within EZA, whereas Kyle, purposefully, was able to focus much more on the podcast. So I had an idea. Bloodworth is already hyper tuned-in to the business minutiae of the gaming industry, so it wouldn't be a big stretch for him to prepare for a business podcast, so what if you two teamed up?? Not just with the prep, but with moderating duties on the podcast itself. SHARED THE LOAD so to speak. Give each other a break during the podcast. This may ease the burden on you both, and allow you to flex your jolly, jolly co-moderating muscles every once in awhile. It may not be possible, but I really miss those Jones rants, and the podcast just isn't the same without you in the co-pilot seat. L&R - Confused Hulk

Hey, Jones. This is one of those Ray CoJ posts where I just gush about something and there's nothing actually substantial to read. Just want to say it's been a wonderful week of EZA content so far and it's only Tuesday! But that Super Mario Galaxy spoiler mode.... *like a thousand chef kisses* Special shout out to Ben on that discussion verbalizing so much of my love for that game, but a kudos to everyone, you're doing great work!

Rayluaza

Hi Jones, I just want to say I am thrilled with the idea of the Allies doing the videos they love not just making what they think the Patrons want. There are over 8k patrons and to try to cater to every taste would drive you insane. I think the majority would agree that they want you to take their money and do with it what you will. The ideas you guys have had in the past have proven you know that to make us happy you just have to be yourselves and let us see you enjoying that time you spend together. Now, more than ever, your bonds with the other Allies gives us faith that we will get through this year together, for better or for worse. And I just want to say that how you have been handling the human rights topics lately reaffirms what the REAL meaning of "Love and Respect" are all about <3<3

JessieBlu

Jones I was just wondering if you could recap which Allies were able to get a PS5 and/or Xbox Series S/X? Have the Allies thought about which console will be mainly used for 3rd party game reviews? I was able to grab a PS5 pre order myself so I’m excited for next gen and what a new generation means for Easy Allies!

strawhatninja

There is an audio version of yesterday's discussion up here on Patreon. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

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Varun Kachhwaha

Hey Jones, Firstly, apologies for the essay, one thing led to another. My question this week links back to how you use analytics in your decision making? How much do you look at data (Besides from the Patreon count) for your decision making? Something like clickthrough rates for an example. Take the Easy Allies Podcast, now let's say I have never heard of the Allies. Easy Allies Podcast #233 isn’t going to make me want to click on the video. I don’t know what you are covering, what it is about, why would I want to click on the video? Now I’m not saying change the content, or do clickbait, but at least a question or statement in the video that will make me want to find out more. A thumbnail with at least some information about what is being discussed. Now that was just the Easy Allies Podcast, but I feel the same for the other shows as well. Like Hunting Huber, I loved it, but if I didn’t know the Allies I would not click on it. I just think that the way you frame your videos with your thumbnails and titles could explain things a little, and entice people to watch it. Click through rate is vital, the power of subscriptions isn’t that powerful, and it’s the Youtube algorithm that decides what is shown and what is not. And the lower your click through rate, the less Youtube will recommend you to potential subscribers/ hopeful Patreons. There is this great video by Veritasium (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHsa9DqmId8&t) in which he discusses: why one of his videos got popular, how he basically engineered it so it would go viral, how he will change the framing of his videos to make them more clickable from then on but not reduce the quality. I really recommend at least skimming through the video. There was a line he said that reminded me of what you have gone through with your original content not taking off as much. “If I’m going to work for days, and weeks, and months on a video, I would like that video to get say 10 million views rather than half a million, and a lot of that comes down to is this topic clickable?”. I want your content to succeed as well, but when I ask myself that very question for your content, the only answer I can think of is that is not clickable. Also I understand that your videos are primarily made for the Patreons, however this would not reduce the quality of your videos (Veritasium for example is still making great content). It would just expand it to a larger audience. Thanks, and also apologies for all the words again. I really appreciate this avenue of open discussion, and all the work you do every Monday reading and replying to these comments. Varun Kachhwaha

Varun Kachhwaha

Hey Jones, Follow up to my comment from last week about the game announcements and a comment on the breaking news show. The Breaking News video that went up was EXCELLENT. How about adding an audio version of that to the Podcast RSS feed along with an audio version of the post shows of reactions? The latter of which might be harder as you'd need to structure it more, but a very timely bonus podcast of at least the breaking news I feel would be an great solution of killing 2 birds with one stone. Even if you cover the news in the podcast again because it comes up, I'm fine with hearing more voices on the biggest news out there.

Skankman

You still shouldn't skip the new game announcements on the podcast even if you have impressions. This is a news podcast. Also I don't understand why people think the structure of the podcast needs to change because Kyle left. He created the structure that works. Giantbomb didn't change their podcast structure when Ryan Davis passed away (God rest his soul). Talk about crap, whatcaplayin, news and emails.

Ibrahim Sozer

I’d like to add my opinion to the many already presented. I think Ian voicing an opinion like that was a breath of fresh air in contrast to everything else in Easy Allies. I like Easy Allies because of the constant good energy but to enjoy video games like this is to almost constantly practice some form of death of the author. Inhumane crunch to release games. Large scale sexual misconduct allegations coming out of Ubisoft, Riot Games, and much of the industry. Disgusting monetization practices slowly becoming normalized as game prices rise disproportionately in different regions. The list goes on. There are a lot of things we can put away for the sake of pure and simple enjoyment (and this isn't a bad thing!!!), but we all have certain lines and things that make us tick. What Ian said, I think that’s just real.

Just incase it wasn't clear, but when I say bonus episodes of the podcast, I'm not suggesting you have to do all the normal podcast stuff. You don't need L&R, or any of the normal segments for a bonus episode imo. It would just be the normal post show, with a podcast intro and outro.

BeatenDownBrian

I think having the post show of reactions be a separate thing, at least for some of the bigger events, is a great idea. I implore you to frame those as bonus episodes of the Easy Allies podcast. That way the audio version goes straight into the RSS feed, and it increases the chances of people being caught up for the normal weekly episode. IMO it would be a mistake to just have it be a standalone video that's just labeled as a post show catch up, or what have you, as I feel there's more of a chance of people ignoring it. I even think there might be some who don't realise all this post show talk is happening during reactions, but after hearing it as a bonus podcast, they might be more inclined to check out reactions live in the future.

BeatenDownBrian

Hello Jones, A have a question regarding incentives for new patrons / new podcast show ideas. What do you think about a once-a-month, Love & Respect-style, bonus episode? A couple of weeks ago, someone pitched to you the idea of trying to copy (or borrow) Colin Moriarty's "Sacred Symbols Plus" idea which helped his Patreon grow tremendously in the last year. This past week, someone also pitched the idea of a L&R ONLY episode of the EZA Podcast on every 4th week of the month. What if those two ideas were combined? Picture this: Once a month, you can have a patreon-exclusive, bonus episode of the EZA Podcast where for an hour, many more of the L&R questions that were taken over that month have a renewed chance of being read aloud and discussed by the panel? I think it would draw some more interest to your Patreon and thus get more people interested in joining the $5 tier to get their podcast question addressed! This exclusive episode might only be for $5 and up patrons as well? Just a thought. -Alex Castellanos

Alex Castellanos

Hi Jones! Appreciated your comments this week about dealing with controversial figures. Thanks for struggling along with the community a bit. I thought Ian's post-PS5 Reveal fundraising stream was a great idea to flip the script in a positive way. A couple more ideas: --Prefacing a video with a quick message of support to members of the community --Promoting a relevant charity --Linking to another video with extended thoughts from the Allies and/or a guest --Doing a playthrough of a game that highlights the given issue in a positive way --Suggesting ways that the community/chat can discuss the issue while showing love and respect None of this is new for EZA, sure, but there you go. I appreciate the desire to understand and include people. As terrible as 2020 has been, I hope the Allies don't discount the importance of their work. People need communities outside of political parties, careers, or brand loyalties. The right mix of love, respect, and play can make life worth living. Thanks again! --Cloisterance

Cloisterance

Hey Brandon. So, I've had a little bit more time on my hands than usual and it's given me the opportunity to check out a bit more of the Easy Allies catalog. Cup of Jones is one such show and I've really enjoyed kicking back and listening to you discussing what's going on behind the scenes, the questions you're kicking around the business, and getting your personal view on life, the universe, and everything. I couldn't help but notice that you were talking about the future of Easy A and was interested to hear the feedback you were getting before throwing my tuppenny in. First, to put my comments into context, I've been a fan of the Allies since the GT Days and have supported Easy A on Patreon since the beginning. It's something that I will continue to do no matter what. Even if all you were to do was the Podcast. I loved it when Bosman was in charge and I love what you've done with it. Please don't go changing. What I would say. And you can take this with a pinch of salt as at 46 years old, I'm probably not in your demographic sweetspot. That listening to people's comments, there are two key takeaways for me. One people want to see more from the solo game streams. I'd definitely count myself as one of those people. I've jumped on a couple with Ben and with Brad and they are cool. You get some good commentary. But I would love to see some double teaming. One person playing and the other telling stories. A retrospective if you will, if they are playing a game from a deep franchise. Apologies, if you already do this but as I say I haven't had a chance to deep dive on the content. My biggest takeaway is that your community clearly wants to be involved more and it's here that I have a couple of ideas that could really work. The first is to say that clearly people want more Love and Respect. I appreciate you can't substitute an entire podcast but perhaps you could do a bonus once a quarter that was devoted to it. However, here's my big idea. Something that my work to get the donations humming again. If you've ever listened to the Freakonomics Radio podcast you'll know that to move people to action you typically need an incentive. You know this, which is why you offer perks to patrons. Here's my QUESTION, as a perk, could you invite one of the patrons who get's a question onto Love and Respect to come on and read it on the Podcast and join in on the discussion? It would be straight-forward to do, especially at the moment, would be much sort after and likely boost the number of people in the $5 tier. I appreciate it adds a random and possibly chaotic element to the show but I think people would be super psyched to have the opportunity to join you on the podcast. I know that I would. Thanks for taking the time to read my post. Cheers to you sir. Alex Moscow

Alex Moscow

Hey Mr. Jones! I’ve been curious about how outlets/reviewers like EZA handle when someone else breaks an embargo. While no examples come to mind, are there any instances you can think of (without naming specifics of course) when someone revealed something they weren’t supposed to, does said embargo shift to being able to acknowledge you have said game now that someone else made it public or under the strict nature that are embargoes, do you simply ignore it but internally say something like, “COME ON! WHY did you say that?” I understand embargoes are necessary so everyone can be on an equal playing field (so to speak) for coverage, but when things like this happen, how does that affect those who have been following the rules? Thanks as always for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! QUESTION: In the very rare event an outlet or individual breaks an embargo or publicly say they have/when they will have a game EZA has, are you able to acknowledge you have said game, or because of the strict nature of embargoes are you forced to ignore the breach? Does an embargo being broken even affect EZA if an Ally is NOT responsible for said break?

Brandon K Gann

Hello, new subscriber and first time poster. I would like to say thank you all for all your hard work and dedication to your craft. I've been following Easy Allies for a couple of years ever since rediscovering you guys from the Game Trailers days. What tipped me over into becoming a patreon member was hearing about the recent struggles with your business and I could not bare to lose my favourite connection to the video gaming industry and world. Please keep up all the fantastic work that you do. Love & Respect ♡

Dr.Medic