Cup of Jones - 11/21/17

No Jones, no editing GOTY discussion NO. (Kyle Bosman voice)

Ibrahim Sozer

Hello Jones, hope you're doing well this tuesday. I have a complaint. I've seen all the CoJ since launch and I think it's safe to say that you have mentioned Kinda of Funny in about 80% of those episodes. While it's good to look up to somebody that's "older" in the internet to know what path to take, I find that at this point, with EZA having almost two years (I've been here since day one!) the channel already has it's own identity, needs and aspirations and there's no place to be mentioning other channels every episode. I know you are friends with them and that might be a reason why you feel so compelled to look up to them but I think it would be healthy to tone down a little. I chose to be with EZA because the way all nine of you can present an opinion with thoughtfulness and respect for one another. I chose EZA because of the way you handle your sponsors, by not letting their time be more important than the content. I've tried Kinda Funny and didn't like it. I know that it's impossible to not mention other channels when talking about projects and i'm not asking you do that. I just think that we don't need to hear about Kinda of Funny every episode. I hope my point came across well and I'm not trying to offend you any way. English in not my native language, so, sorry for any mistakes. L&R from Brazil Anderson Santos

You also have my full support to collab with Colin! He's someone who I often disagree with, but I find his dialog and insight to be a healthy conversation, rather than as malicious and political it seems his reputation has painted. When he left Kinda Funny, my interest in them was lost like water amongst wine. Now I only occasionally listen to them, and have tuned back in to Colin for his recent games coverage. Man, I miss him. You guys should also hit up Jim Sterling for an interview. The more varied and interesting personalities, the better as far as I'm concerned!

Marceline Leiman

Hey Jones, a question regarding merch (as if there haven't been enough!). I haven't yet bought any EZA merch in anticipation for the before-mentioned rebranding of your merch. I am super into the EZA hat Damiani sometimes wears, but I prefer the look of embroidered emblems on my hats. It makes the material seem of higher quality than perhaps it might be. Is this a possibility in the future? L&R

Marceline Leiman

TTE/New/Old Shows season renewal idea: is it possible to make a 1 time patreon pledge, like the one with Box Peek, but for something like TableTop Escapedes? TTE is likely ending its campaing soon, and like many of us, i want to have a new adventure mastered by Ben, but i know that is really time consuming, and also some of us wantes to take the production level up a bit, so how about, after the campaing is over (and if Ben is willing to do another round, of course), you guys raise money like with Box Peek to afford Season 2 of TTE and do it with all the things you want, being buying figurines, maybe setting the second camera so the audience can see the board (also the players and Ben could use a map so things like "what distance from X am i?" doesnt arise 3 times per episode), and more things like the Spells card Kyle had, but for everyone, and anything Ben thinks he needs to make it great. Obviously doing all that just for an 1 hour recording would be crazy, but maybe they could go back to recording big batches of episodes and make it easier to not forget what happened 1 week ago. This could also be used for new or old shows that you guys arent as sure that they should begin/continue. Also you could put a $9/12/15 reward for something like a TTE Tabern for patreons to make suggestions or gave ben a little extra budget to justify writing all the lore he wants for his new campaing and make it patreons exclusive. Just some ideas i just thought at 7am and i need to run to my PC to post it before is too late Like always L&R from Argentina Kevin

To the guy asking what localization is and some other thrash questions: Use google

Mr. Jones, What is the Allies position on doing short formed sponsored content? Would showcasing a new video game along with an approved ad read, at the behest of the publisher be worth the compensation and the production time? Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Always remember to be yourself, it's gotten you this far. Love & Respect.

Mac

When is the official date for the community showcase post?

BeardedScotsman86

I’d be really interested to see some collaboration with Colin, I don’t really know much about him but if Jones thinks it’d be good and has no personal problems with him then I’m happy for EZA to give it a shot. Whilst the allies are super welcoming, this community can be weirdly cliquey a lot of the time so expanding the reach of EZA I think is a great idea. Go for it Jones

Rhys Simons

I’ve listened to at least a 1000 hours of Colin and I completely disagree with what you are saying.

I don’t always agree with Colin but when people cry about a discussion being had then you know it would a good discussion. Take the hit you will just purge the people who get triggered(it’s going to happen eventually). Grow and find an audience willing and wanting to learn and laugh with Easy A.

The patreon comment section is one of the worst "Comment" systems I've seen.

laughter47

Sorry to see you go, especially since the thread that has developed since this comment prove almost the opposite of your claims. There's hate and immaturity, but it's being far out-paced by reasonable comments and constructive discussion. If you haven't yet canceled, please reconsider. L&R.

Fluffhead108

Hi Brandon. Obviously lots of stuff going down this week, and I have a more general question about the issue: All in all, do you think Twitter has a more positive effect or more negative effect on internet communities? Is there anything about Twitter you'd like to change?

Fluffhead108

Jones, do what you wanna do. Personally, I would love to see Colin in Frame Trap or Friend Code. Or just Jones & Colin in comfortable chairs talking about various game-related topics (best games of 2017, micro transactions, crowd funding) for 90 minutes. Video games are a great way to bring people together from different backgrounds and beliefs. And people should always be for respectful exchange of ideas, not against. If Colin is down for that, so should be this "L&R" community.

the_finnish_ally

Does anyone else get Patreon assigning random likes to things you never clicked on? Sort of frustrating, lol.

Minamik

Let's forget about all the drama what's your favorite thanksgiving dish ?

I've read through most of the comments, and the vast majority of the posts that are concerned with Colin don't say anything about canceling their pledges. In fact, I think I've seen more pro-Colin people state that they were canceling. My sense is that Jones asked us for our opinions, and a lot of us have given them, on both sides. People have been passionate about this (because we love EZA), and I don't think it would serve Jones or EZA in general any good if we tried to hide any of it.

I am very upset with this whole situation and parts of our community. Threatening to cancel their pledges because Jones wants to be on a show/podcast/bit with someone who's views don't align with them. In my mind this is a community that loves and shares a deep passion for videogames. Videogames are something everybody can enjoy regardless of sex, religion, race, political views or any other box that we place eachother in. Despite all our differences we sould be able to come toghether and enjoy and celebrate our silly hobby of shooting aliens, building/destroying worlds, enjoying those dank microtransactions and all the other fun stuff videogames has to offer us. If Brandon Jones, a man who let us in his life and garage, who spends hours and hours every single day working his butt off to provide us with hundreds if not thousands of hours of some of the best videogame content out there, ask us, to give someone at least 1 chance in a collaboration about videogames.....Why o why are we not able to show Jones the Love and Respect he deserves and trust in his judgement!? I am upset.

FreeDoM

Wow, that is encouraging to hear. I apologize then for my false assumption that was based on the logs I've seen from yesterday. Thank you. Aside from that yes I wouldn't disagree here.

Colin and the people in his community harassing members of our community are wrong and should apologize, with Colin leading the way. But is it fair to say that the people in our community that imply Colin and all his ilk are toxic should also apologize? Dave action was taken privately concerning your issue with a member of the discord. I apologize for my failures, I do try to keep things civil but I can't be everywhere at once and things slip past me, sorry.

Ehie Yovach

Just wanted to drop a comment for Jones, you're doing a fantastic job and EzA is my favorite place to listen to video game coverage, full stop. Hope you and yours have a great holiday, and I look forward to hearing those sultry tones for years to come. Cheers Jones, fucking cheers.

Reese Redmond

Favorite Yoshi color?

GmanSir

The funny thing is the way they defend themselves is toxic as heck only proving everyone right. Do you think that stormcrownn "trolling this bitch hard" was ok? Did anyone speak up and say "hey that's taking it too far"? Stuff like that is what makes your discord toxic and doesn't help your argument in the least. Also nice victim blaming dude so cause he didn't dm jones makes it ok for Colin to publicly put him out to his following that did harass him as a consequence. Colin is smart enough to know better.

Let's get it out of the way that we agree harassment is bad and people should stop, it's dumb and childish. If it were a DM to Jones I'd definitely agree with you, but it was a public statement. Sure he @'ed Jones but the tweet was out there for the whole world to see. If he didn't want it to be public he could have DM'd or emailed Jones his concern. And when a person says just reaching out to a person invites toxicity well that's a huge swath of people they just attacked, so not only he is calling Colin toxic but he's implying every one of Colin's fans might be toxic as well. I can't blame them for feeling like they have to defend themselves, it's awful that they defended themselves by lashing out at this guy as it just proves his point. There's fault on both sides, and just because one side did 10 bad acts it doesn't excuse the other side's 1 bad act.

Ehie Yovach

Because no matter what he says people will continue to fight and he will always get blamed for it so it will ultimately just be wasted energy. He could come out with a beautifully crafted statement that disavows his community attacking the EZA community but as soon as someone says something mean to an EZA community member it'll flare up again. So should he spend time and energy fighting an unwinnable battle or stay clear of the whole thing? And really it shouldn't be up to one person to change everyone's minds, it should be up to the members of the communities to stop treating each other like crap and show each other, as well as the people they follow some respect. Maybe Colin and Jones meeting would be a good way to start some sort of discussion between the communities, if Jones and Colin can have a light-hearted, constructive chat then maybe we can extend an olive branch to CLS fans as well and try to get over this nastiness. All of us sitting in our respective corners waiting for the other side to come to us will never get anywhere.

Ehie Yovach

Can someone please tell me why Colin doesn't make a public tweet disavowing any harassment happening in his name and telling the people that do it to screw off? He also still has that tweet from an EZA member up open that was deleted and is getting harassed by his following. Not the first time this whole thing happened where he brings unwanted attention of his following to someone that gets piled on by them. Real classy.

I gave Colin countless chances to not treat people with no empathy. I asked him to try to be more thoughtful of people situations it was all for naught. You ask people to give him another shot that already gave him dozens. Again I used to a huge beyond listener and fan. How is it that people can just ignore all the countless examples provided and say give him another chance? How many until it is enough?

I don't understand this view point. Because he's only shown general sexism and racist comments, and nothing aimed specifically at the "EZA brand", we should welcome him with open arms?

"Love and respect" is why someone like Colin shouldn't be involved with EZA. Yes, everyone deserves respect but that's why I leave Colin and his views alone. If he wants to continue with his sexist, trolling behavior he can and I'll never harass him about it - I just don't want any part in it and I really hope that EZA don't either.

Happy Thanksgiving, Brandon. Here's hoping you can enjoy a relaxful, stress free day. And yes, I'm willing to give you the one shot you asked for this episode. I'm wondering how many people heard that and just ignored it.

Minamik

Hello Jones! First time question here! On this weeks Easy Allies Podcast the panel was talking about lootboxes. Kyle asked the panel about the predatory nature of lootboxes and you didn't seem like you agreed with that statement also comparing casino gambling to video games saying their were huge differences between the two. Could you expound your thoughts more on this matter? You seem to be the biggest mobile guy of the allies so I'm really curious to what you think. These are my thoughts: Blind box purchases may not meet the legal criteria for what certain countries consider gambling, but it certainly meets the literal definition of it: to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes. to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance "Whales" has been a common industry term for awhile now and there's good reason for it. You're paying money for a desired outcome on a game of chance that was designed to have the same visual and psychological effect as a slot machine. I honestly can't see how any person that stops and thinks about this could not at bare minimum see this as predatory behavior. Even if a person is not buying loot boxes with money, simply engaging with that type of system can be damaging. Operant conditioning and gambling rewards is a well researched subject put forth by behaviorist B F Skinner. Without the proper context and maturity children and young adults should probably not be engaging with systems that reinforce addiction-based tendencies. What the folks in Belgium, Hawaii and Austrailia seem to be advocating is not necessarily banning blind box purchases outright, but regulating them. The same way casino gambling is regulated, the same way tobacco is regulated. Anyway, long question and thanks for everything that you and the allies do. I hope you take some time to answer this question and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. L&R

The mere mention of Colin has greatly divided the community and the guy is even posting screencaps of community comments on his twitter, I think getting further involved with someone like that would be a terrible choice. If it were me I'd even release a public statement telling him to leave the community alone and get lost

Best comment I've seen so far. Really sums up my thoughts on the matter.

Alex

This is a really bold claim, and I'm sure you could some research to see if there's a difference in patron numbers from yesterday to today before making more accusations

44stars

Sorry for spamming you. Patreon hates me and I was on my phone. I should really know better.

Rinney

I feel compelled to share here that it really bothers me how this began as a question in a Patron-only forum which Jones responded to in a Patron-only video and explicitly asked EZA Patrons to share their thoughts on the subject, and we did so here only to have news of the discussion spread elsewhere and Colin's supporters get up in arms about many of us being uncomfortable with a possible guest appearance. At that point someone (who admittedly could be a "pro-Colin" EZA Patron) thinks it would be cute to force the topic into a public forum (where Colin can get involved) by tweeting Colin that he should have Jones on CLS. Colin then directly includes Jones in his response, and the comments come flooding in. Now the outside discussion moves to twitter, where Colin and his followers pass judgement on Patron comments most of them can't see (though Colin says he is now an EZA Patron himself). Colin &Co proceed to attack EZA Patrons, suggesting that we're all short sighted, demanding McArthyists on a witch hunt, when by my count ALMOST NONE of the comments here are laying down a gauntlet saying "that's it, I'm pulling my pledge if you collaborate with him," most of the comments have been respectful, and ALL of the comments are doing what Jones asked us to do - tell him what we thought on the matter. Not to mention, they seem to be under the impression that we are all railing against the idea of Jones appearing on CLS, which is not at all the case. Now with Jones agreeing to be a guest, Colin and his twitter followers seem to be patting themselves on the backs for their victory. It all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I also don't think it's a coincidence that many of the Pro-Colin voices here were a little late to the game. I have to wonder how many of them are brand new patrons, maybe pledging a dollar to come stir the pot. Just a thought - nothing solid to base it on.

Rinney

Ian say things I disagree all the time. And I freaking love Ian! I don't understand when the world turn upside down we we can't disagree with eachother anymore...

Stefano Trida

I love Colin and I love EZA, a team up would be amazing!

Alex

I rarely comment on here. Not that I didn't want to get involved, but mostly felt I had nothing meaningful to contribute. I’ve always loved this community and have hoped to meet these faceless nameless people one day to share our common love for games and EZA. This might be my last comment here though. This "discussion" with respect to Colin, has made me realize that I’m, apparently, a toxic person that makes other people feel unsafe for the sole reason that I follow Colin too. However, I will not be withdrawing my pledge because it is, after all, for the Allies. I love the content you all put out and genuinely want to see you guys do better. But, I hope you guys never feel forced to NOT DO something because of the community. I would never want you to hold back. And I genuinely hope you guys don’t shut out someone, especially if it’s a person who has been good to you (from what you’ve said), because of differing views. I would never want you to take part in anything that makes you uncomfortable. That’s why.I was completely on your side with regards to the Beach Splash game. I wouldn’t want a bunch of allies to sit there being really uncomfortable. Would’ve made for a really awkward stream. My point is, do what YOU want to do. My pledge is to see what you have to share with the world - whether that involves Colin or not - and not to see you dance for others. I would like to end by saying that I would love to see you’ve a chat with Colin, whether it’s on EZA or if you appear on his Fireside Chats. Everything from Patreon, your love for games to Star Wars would make for really interesting conversation, imo. L&R

Dileepan M

"Taking a break from all your troubles sure would help a lot." Isn't this supposed to be the central vibe of EZA, and Cup of Jones especially?

TurboChickenMan

I have very few issues with Colin. He's said some things that I disagree with, but I don't understand at all this community's complete insistence on blacklisting him or treating him as if he's one of these actually dangerous voices coming from the right. He raises concerns about hyper-political correctness and I hear he has done a poor job citing his sources in the past. I don't see how any of that equates him to a Tomi Lahren or someone equally as dangerous when it comes to negatively affecting the stability of this country.

Hello, in case you were interested, here's an article on how the model minority myth is used by white supremacists to pit minorities against each other. Colin repeated this myth on twitter, which is why everyone was calling him out. Like, if he doesn't want to be called racist, then maybe he shouldn't parrot racist garbage. Hope this helps. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/04/19/524571669/model-minority-myth-again-used-as-a-racial-wedge-between-asians-and-blacks" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/04/19/524571669/model-minority-myth-again-used-as-a-racial-wedge-between-asians-and-blacks</a>

Brandon &lt;3 , have the discussion with Colin. I think we both all really know that he isnt what people say about him. I used to get annoyed because he always acted like a victim, but this reaffirms the thought that people are really out to get him. As an Asian American, I didn't get why everyone was saying what he said was racist. And the infamous tweet, you can hear worse on Seinfeld. Lets also go with the intention, I don't think he was trying to offend women, look at all of the supportive women in his life and going on his shows. You want to call some of what he says woefully ignorant, ok I can vibe with that. But racist, sexist, transphobic, w/e... not in a million years. I just know if I was in his position, I would be heartbroken if you reneged on the offer.

Simon Concepcion Jr.

Hello Brandon, I respect that others may have a differing opinion, but I have read many of the respectful entries detailing why we are uncomfortable associating with Colin, which includes both Colin's words and actions along with his toxic fanbase. That being said, I find this comment from Colin to be completely unacceptable. <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/notaxation/status/933505884893847552" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://mobile.twitter.com/notaxation/status/933505884893847552</a> My concern, and I have to imagine that the concern of many of the commenters are with our most vulnerable (women, LGBTQ, PoC). I don't appreciate that someone that you might collaborate with is insinuating that we are irrational, unreasonable, and McCarthyists. And I don't appreciate that many commenters on Patreon and Twitter have been harassed for expressing their discomfort with Colin (EDIT: and now Colin is directly targeting members of the EZA community by retweeting their posts to his Twitter followers). Thank you for listening, but I can't help but note how disappointed I am at how this has played out. With that said, have a great Thanksgiving, everyone.

The issue here isn't colins politics it's his attitude and his fan base. I don't care what colins political beliefs are, I do care that he makes questionable tweets about race as well as sexist tweets and when he gets called out on it he doubled down and refuses to see his actions through any lense except his own. He's a big fan of telling people they are wrong and blowing them off instead of taking the time to really internalize the perspective being presented to him. To be fair that's a problem a lot of people have but the level of arrogance seen in colins Twitter interactions makes it insufferable imo.

klastical

First day as a Patreon supporter. Just wanted to say, it's a bad idea to get involved with Colin's community.

He asks you guys to give him one shot. And you don't even want to give him that?

Minamik

Didn't he answer this question a month a go

Ibrahim Sozer

QUESTION FOR JONES: easy allies uses the mantra LOVE &amp; RESPECT, what does L&amp;R really mean to the Allies?

Eric Estrada

Just wanna say I would totally be on board for having any kind of collaboration with Colin Morriarty. The man is articulate and can convey his stance in a clear and entertaining manner. I don't see why agreeing with those stances should be a prerequisite of being a guest on EZA. Frankly I hate that "Love &amp; Respect" has been turned into "I only want to see opinions that line up with my own" by a certain section of the EZA community. Colin is a Republican. He's not a racist. Or a homophobe. Or a Nazi. The fact it's even seen as contentious to have him as a guest saddens me.

Michael Tennick

L&amp;R right?

Zugdar

As a person who can more often agree with Colin I don't mind him on EZA if its about gaming. I don't think this platform is meant for political discussion and their are plenty of other options for that sort of thing (like going to his show if that was really a desire). His first episode of SideQuest got into the business side of the BF2 story which is an area that I would consider EZA to be weaker in. However, I would like to point out that their are some Allies (one in particular) that is pretty Liberal Progressive and even when not politically focused uses many opportunities during gaming discussion to make those opinions known AND I'M OK WITH THAT even if I don't agree with it and does not become the focus of discussion. It would be extremely hypocritical of EZA (and the notion of L&amp;R) to let that slide and to shun someone on the other side especially when the discussion is about the focus of the site, gaming. There are many opinions about Colin that can be understandable and irrefutable, but as someone who has been passively watching him over the past three years many statements are fully unfounded, assuming and ill informed.

Zugdar

This might be a weird comparison to draw, but in a way, EZA reminds me of the theme song from Cheers. "Making your way in the world today, takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your troubles sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away?" I don't think you need to get political because the wonderful thing about EZA is that anyone can feel welcome watching you guys. Whatever differences we may have don't matter, because we're all here for our love of you guys and video games...and anime.

Minamik

The guy wants to appear on colins podcast to just simply discuss about how eza is doing and what future plans are in store and you guys are acting like the dudes gonna go into a full on political rant with jones.... people cancelling their patreon backings just to possibly spread the eza brand and bring on new patrons? man how evil.....

There is a difference between diversity and differing viewpoints, though. When seeking more diversity in games coverage, we’re not looking for different opinions - we’ve already got a ton of those, and they are important and valuable and why we love the Allies. Instead, we’re looking for an evening out of the numbers of those opinions that are coming from people who have broadly similar backgrounds, in that the majority of people who can currently make a career off games journalism are largely male, white, straight, not trans, and able bodied. The conflation of “diversity” with “think different things” is deflecting from the real fact that this (like many others) is a tougher industry to be in if you are not one of those things, let alone more than one, and maybe the time and effort spent on collaboration would be better used by giving a platform for someone who differs in some of these ways from most of the Allies.

Ray Aldiar

YESSSSS, not because I like or hate Collins, but mostly because I hate people make who talk about "diversity" but don't really like diversity in their discussions, and are not open to other points of view.

Eric Estrada

As a Patreon I just wanna offer some simple input and I think you guys should be free to try out collaborations with whoever you want and if it doesn't work then it doesn't work. Getting outside of the bubble is important and I personally have a pretty heavy love/hate relationship with Colin when it comes to games and politics, sometimes I agree with what he says, sometimes I don't agree but respect they way he lays things out and his intelligence, and sometimes I think he should come down off his high horse and look in a mirror for like two seconds, but I don't think he's someone you guys should write off. If someone wants to try doing a podcast or something with Colin even if its a one off thing then I would absolutely give it a watch.

A note for this comment section. This conversation is obviously one that people have strong feelings about, but if you’re upset that people are voicing their opinions about not wanting to see Colin work with EZA, please remember that in this particular case, they were asked for that feedback in the first place. If you don’t want to see it happen, then by all means state why, and if you do want to see it happen, then feel free to state that too. What I would implore from all of you, is to not throw around generalisations about what this community is or isn’t, as that helps nobody, and only seeks to fan the flames, and create a divide. While everyone is of course free to do as you please with you pledge, please do not attempt to use your patronage as some sort of leverage, or seek to weaponise it. It’s just my opinion, but presenting an ultimatum is not a great way of creating a dialogue. Stop trying to provoke each other. You may all have different viewpoints, and that’s okay. Discuss those differences if you want to, but please, at least try to listen &amp; respect where others are coming from, that should be what we’re all about. This does NOT have to turn into “us vs. them” we can disagree and have this conversation and still all move forward together, perhaps even all the better and stronger for it.

BeatenDownBrian

Heya Jones! At one point, the patreon was up to about 46k, and then dropped all the way down to 40.5 k, now back up again to about 43k. Aside from the end-of-the-month-shenanigans on patreon, (with credit cards not going through and such) do you know why this is? I get that box peek boosted income for a while, but then the numbers went way below what they had been in a long time afterwards. I'm curios as to how much insight you have in to more/less money coming in from patreon. L&amp;R

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Politics and tweets aside, almost every time I watched Kinda Funny vids, Colin came across as biased, arrogant, condescending and often downright dismissive towards other people's point of view, as if they were stupid for liking games he couldn't stand. Often he seemed disinterested in gaming discussions altogether, just sitting there apathetic and only chiming in to tell people they're wrong or that he had predicted something months ago, as if someone was supposed to pat him on the back. To me he's a disrespectful guy who's quite full of himself and who rarely added anything constructive to the conversation. Because of his unbearable attitude I stopped following Kinda Funny after some time and only returned after he had left. That being said, if the Allies decide to collaborate with him on whatever the heck he's doing now, that's entirely up to you, I simply wouldn't watch it. However, if you announced a permanent collaboration or something similar, that would be a whole other story and I'd have to think hard about how to respond to that. Especially when you add all that stuff mentioned here in the comments about Colin that I didn't even know about.

Hey Jones, just one patron's opinion: if you want to go on Colin's show or whatever I'd be more than okay with that (considering I don't watch his stuff anyway), but he's not the kind of person I want to see on EZA content in any way. I followed him for a long time before finding GT and I don't think he'd mesh well personality-wise with most allies, not to mention some of his more recent opinions have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. In any case, you do you. L&amp;R

CJCW

I am a proud patron of EZA and I have been since the beginning at different amounts as money has drifted in and out of my fingers and one of the great things about EZA being backed by Patrons instead of something like a Defy Media is the freedom to do what they want when they want. They no longer have to count the numbers of viewers or the amount of clicks on their reviews, they have the support of their fans and it's a beautiful thing. I do not though think I'm entitled to tell them what I expect them to do or who to talk to and who to associate with. They are adults with their own free wills and have every right to have a guest or be a guest for anyone they want. If it's someone I'm not interested in I won't watch. I feel no need to command them to do otherwise. Brandon - I can understand you wanting to address everyone but I also feel it will drive you insane at a certain point you just gotta go with your gut. Peace and Love and Respect - The Jastrom

Jason Walstrom

This is my first comment I've written on Patron, I believe. And I'm doing so merely to say that Jones should feel free to do stuff with Colin if he wants to. I hate the social pressure that occurs from just talking with people that might think differently than you. It's anti-diversity, anti-L&amp;R, and is actively contributing to the corrosive environment that exists nowadays. You do you, Jones. Don't let people bully you into boycotting a guy if you don't feel their arguments have merit.

Michael G

I think Jones can decide for himself who he can and cannot talk to, and i'm sure that if Colin M. said some stupid stuff, he'll be the first the person to call him out and have a good discussion about it. I couldn't care less about him (in fact, i disagreed with pretty much all he has ever said about videogames, and don't even get me started about economics and politics, his twitter handle is "notaxation" ffs), but i still think that his long experience in this industry can still contriubute to an insightful debate. Does this mean i endorse him? No! I would say the EXACT same thing if Anita Sarkesian or Zoe Quinn were invited. The act of having a civilized discourse with someone you don't agree with is such a powerful and useful thing, and a way to expand your thoughts and see things from an angle you probably didn't see before. That's what i, personally, think Love &amp; Respect is all about. Good night and sorry for the spelling mistakes, it's late.

44stars

... This cluster**** of a comment section is exactly why EZA fans get concerned whenever politics creep in. The intentions may be good, but it NEVER ends positively.

TurboChickenMan

Man, I'll be honest here. When I heard that Brandon and Colin were potentially going to do a colab I was kind of excited as I love to watch personalities collide. Perhaps it is easy for me to digest peoples varied opinions as I am a heterosexual white male and am typically pretty thick skinned and a tolerant person. However, seeing the reaction within the community that i hold so dear to the simple notion of this colab makes me rethink my position on this. If this will make anyone here feel alienated, marginalized or disrespected then I have to agree that this colab could hurt the community and therefore is a bad idea. Just my 2 cents. Love and respect to all. ~Brad

Brad Russell [Toukz]

no one is forbidding anyone anything. At most people are saying they're not gonna support and withdraw their pledge and giving a reason for that and what's wrong with that on both sides? Everyone is free to make the decision they feel comfortable with that goes for Jones and every other patron right?

Mr. Jones, your community is an echo chamber and is the one thing that makes me contemplate not being a patron any longer. I have been a $10 patron and twitch subscriber since day one dispite the fact I never watch your streams. I have stood by Easy Allies when members advertise work by known doxers and abusers, literally danced on people's grave and voiced distain for other people's opinions. I have tried to ignore the community but it is almost becoming neogaf pre when all the mods and owner turned out to be sexual harasers. All you're missing now the mods who ban anyone for not thinking like everybody else.

Damn guys, grow up. I don't really know what the hell is going on with this Colin but all I can find is news about his peace and quiet Tweet. And is that seriously something to get all twisty about? I've made way worse jokes in the past (even do it now) but does that make me a bad person? Does that make Colin a bad person? Just because you don't agree with someones humor or ideals doesn't make them a bad person. Also, let Jones decide who he wants to have a podcast with. It's not even an EZA podcast they will be sharing. So everyone just chill. If you don't like something then ignore it. The fact that you don't like someone doesn't mean you have the right to forbid someone else from interacting with him. That's pretty much the opposite of L&amp;R. You don't have to respect Colin but you can respect Jones' decision.

Stefan Vlemmix

Probably the most level headed comment in the whole thread

44stars

My vote is a big "No" to any sorts of collaborations with Colin, not a big fan but I'll still stick around if he does show up at some point.

Brandon Robinson

Having Colin on would be great, sure he's made some sharp jokes in a sensitive time but I don't think that should be reason to ban him from collaborations. Hearing those differing viewpoints and debating them is invaluable to being an informed person. Hell I still think the debates between Beer and Satterfield were some of the best moments of IW. And having Ryan show up on Frame Trap was a real treat But to be fair to everybody if you have someone like Colin come in then the next month you should bring in someone that's more progressive. And if people don't want to watch the Colin episode or any of the others they don't have too, I keep seeing people say in comments that they don't want to watch X or Y like they are being forced to watch everything EZA puts out. I get that they don't want their money going to someone they don't agree with but unless EZA is paying their guests the financial gains are minuscule at best. I'm just frustrated that we are so quick to push people away for the most micro of micro aggressions

Ehie Yovach

Moriarty has alienated people with crass, misguided sexism, and shown very clearly that he's more concerned with his sense of unburdened expression than his utterly basic responsibility to show love and respect to people who are constantly denied it. Endorsing his behaviour and attitude with an EZA appearance would be nothing but a needless compromise of what you guys stand for. I'm very relieved that you're not pursuing this.

DaleBastion

I would be very upset if EZA associated with Colin in any way. Especially if it’s him appearon on any EZA content. He has shown repeated missteps that clearly don’t align with what I believe EZA as a group and commuty stand for. I’m cool with EZA having guests. Colin is on that very short list of no, never list. Now The KF crew? Andrea? Noclip? Giantbomb? Sounds great. But not Colin.

Greg Kettering

The worst part of this is that were probably going to have to wait a week to see any official response to this and who knows how ugly this thread will get by then.

klastical

Do whatever you want Jones. I don't understand why people would be upset for you to interact with someone with differing opinions than them. Its not even a part of EZA.

This community already has a lot of friction and people that are picked on in the community.

Ibrahim Sozer

Yeah, I understand wanting to expand your reach and all, but a collaboration with Colin comes with several string attached, the biggest and smelliest string being "his audience". Colin might be a decent dude off cam, but all you'll get from his most vocal fanbase is unfiltered shite. Out of all the people out there to collaborate with, I think this one will cause a lot of friction and might alienate the people who specifically picked the Allies for their relatively safe community.

The Hashtagonist

I think you guys need more guests but you can't have these people as guests ........

Ibrahim Sozer

I only corrected typos and grammatical mistakes I caught since I'm not a native speaker.

And what you're doing Storm is telling people that get those shitty jokes every day, that have to fight against stereotypes everyday to shut up and show love and respect to the guy. You make it seem like we all outraged at this single thing but the reality is a lot of us are battered by his shitty behavior as shown, behavior that spreads to people like you. I wanna see you not react like us after receiving the same treatment over and over and over. + You've shown that you're arguing in bad faith with that discord message as most of colin fans I've had the pleasure dealing with do(also honestly what's with all your comment deleting? Ashamed of what you've been writing at others?). But who am I kidding we are just the evil SJW to you right?

I almost never post (but if you read this - love EZA, you're all awesome), I see there are a lot of very strong opinions in these comments about Colin and I just wanted to say I would very much be interested in seeing a discussion or some kind of collab, even if it's just a one-off. I just watched his first Side Quest video and I thought it was excellent. I never really followed Kinda Funny and only learned about Colin from the news during his exit/the Joe Rogan podcast. I think he would be a great guest to have a deep-dive discussion about something video games related. But I understand with EZA being mainly crowd-funded you have to make sure you don't overly upset a section of your audience. It's a tricky situation, but whatever way it ends up going - thanks for even discussing the idea.

bouge

"This all being said, EZA is still a huge influence in many peoples lives. All I’m asking is you use this influence in a genuine positive way. I understand it is not your job to educate people on politics, but there is a line that you will have to lay down at some point. Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Ableism are all things I draw the line at. tdlr; I don’t understand how you can believe that staying apolitical is the best choice. Staying apolitical is, in my opinion, opening the doors to horrible types of people who don’t understand that “Love and Respect” actually means Love and Respect." While the left sees support of those groups as the golden standard, the right sees it as taking away from everyone else. This kind of loaded wasp nest that is the embodiment of politics is exactly why Easy Allies, if they want to stay easy, absolutely need to be apolitical.

TurboChickenMan

well and people wonder why we're so opposed.

my 5c: I think people don't realize that practicing "Love and Respect" means NOT giving the Colins of the world a platform on here. It's that simple.

Steven Blomkamp

Hi Jones, I'd like to pitch in on this Colin debate. I get that you might be friends with him and that outside of his misogynistic, racist, inflammatory and generally outright jerk twitter account, he might be a decent guy. But spare a thought for the kind of audience you'd be attracting to EZA by working with him. They launched twitter abuse campaigns against anyone who dared oppose Colin, including Greg and Tim at Kinda Funny. They're a toxic community. Just look at what our friend Stormcrownn really thinks when he feels free to show his true colours: <a href="https://imgur.com/fGCoh5g" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/fGCoh5g</a> Is that really the community you want at EZA? Is that what you think L&amp;R is? Because personally, I have no interest in being part of that community and I'm concerned that those are the kind of people who would then turn around and start abusing other allies. Cheers, LiquidSolid

What does "back away from" mean. Would Frame Trap become totally Ben's responsibility, or would it be dead? Also, as a GM and Fiasco player who lives in the English countryside, improv stuff would be great. However, totally understandable that it doesn't totally fit.

Kif

Neil Druckmann, not exactly the most bigoted Dev out there, in fact, the one ensuring most female, minority representation in AAA games where it's more difficult than in the indie space, recently "liked" Colin's return to games on Twitter. But I guess Colin is still too toxic for this community. What happened? This is it for me, Jones. After Ian getting awfully close to "guilty until proven innocent" and his "as white males we can't talk about sexual harassment", a few weeks after a white male claimed sexual harassment and your podcast talked about that (how hard is it to say "as people that have not experienced it" instead to avoid erasing experiences of thousands of humans because of their skin and gender?), I'm done. You will read it in my exit message. As this is an "investors meeting", let me tell you why I have no more trust in my investment though. You are artificially limiting yourself to an increasingly dogmatic community that is alienating to others. That's not even a bold claim, it's what the community you're nurturing is stating in this very comment thread as intent. This is of course your choice alone, as is my patreon donation that I've been doing for charity pretty much so far. This is very sad moment for me. It really is. I will be back here in case the situation changes, but I wish you the best anyway. Keep in mind though, that this handling of politics keeps more money, support and happy humans away from you than just those leaving, it also keeps people from entering. Maybe it also attracts more. Who knows. Let's hope they don't have it out for Bloodworth next year. Remember when Ian spoke about what Love &amp; Respect means to him? And how he mentioned that he got into very heated debates with Bloodworth about politics? But they still respect each other and know they are both very good people deserving of L&amp;R? That's the L&amp;R you advertised to me on GT. Look through your Cup Of Jones comments. Where has it gone? Love and Respect; - Christoph Lorey

You said it perfectly. Thanks.

Since Game of the year is just around the corner and I am sure you're wanting to wait until then to reveal yours, instead who is your favorite video game character of the year? I think mine would have to be Zelda from Breath of the Wild. Now hear me out, her voice acting is terrible but the fact that she sacrifices 100 years of her life containing Ganon tells me she was the real hero of that story.

Joey and Cait

Have you thought of an ALL PATRON survey? It sounds like you are considering some 2018 changes, and your patrons could be a good resource to help you make your 2018 decisions.

Matt Brookbank

Jones, I appreciate that this is weekly, it makes an hour of my work week that much more bearable, cheers.

POKEY CLYDE

This is not the community that i've been part of since the beginning anymore. It has become a bulbous monster that rejects every single opinion or thought that is even slightly outside their own standpoint, and feels entitled to force it on Easy Allies as a Group and individually to their members, threatening to stop supporting them as soon as something remotely controversial gets said. It's absoulutely insane how far this has come.

44stars

Something that strikes me in this conversation is that you mention struggling with balancing your own experience with the impressions of others. I would hope that given the discussion elsewhere in the episode about the lack of diversity within the Allies, you would give particular weight to concerns raised by those in the community with a different perspective. This is not a Colin-specific comment, but rather something we’re seeing a lot of in this era of sexual harassment being exposed. The fact that an individual - in this case a straight white cis man meeting another in a situation where both have equal power - had a good experience with someone doesn’t always mean that the same goes for those who have interacted with that person on different footing. In attempting to strike this balance, please try to be sure to pay particular attention to the concerns of groups whose identities offer a different perspective than your own. Thanks, and I look forward to the conversation that will be happening around this on next week’s CoJ.

Ray Aldiar

Collaboration doesn't equal endorsement of Colin...It would only mean that he'd be a guest. Guests have opinions, and those can be disagreed with by the allies. Like Colin or not, he has made waves in the industry, does have a certainly "unique" viewpoint on...everything (eye roll), but he's also a valuable person to interview. Not in spite of those things, but because of them. That being said...I'd personally much prefer a guest like Adam Sessler, Anthony Carboni, or Max Scoville for entertainment value. I don't believe that Colin would be a complete waste of space overall. Unfortunately the reality is that his impact would only have a negative effect on the community here at Easy Allies, which I find sad. Love and Respect is not a weapon, but an invitation. Colin has done little, if anything at all, directly towards the Easy Allies brand/community, so it's sad that we can't at least open our hand to see what he would have to say, before preparing his crucifixion.

drd7of14

Collaboration doesn't equal endorsement of Colin...It would only mean that he'd be a guest. Guests have opinions, and those can be disagreed with by the allies. Like Colin or not, he has made waves in the industry, does have a certainly "unique" viewpoint on...everything (eye roll), but he's also a valuable person to interview. Not in spite of those things, but because of them. That being said...I'd personally much prefer a guest like Adam Sessler, Anthony Carboni, or Max Scoville for entertainment value. I don't believe that Colin would be a complete waste of space overall. Unfortunately the reality is that his impact would only have a negative effect on the community here at Easy Allies, which I find sad. Love and Respect is not a weapon, but an invitation. Colin has done little, if anything at all, directly towards the Easy Allies brand/community, so it's sad that we can't at least open our hand to see what he would have to say, before preparing his crucifixion.

drd7of14

It's seriously disgusting.

For the Game Awards videos, the Allies should do it like a silly reality TV show...Where there's cutaways after an Ally's vote being shutdown...Where they are in a separate area recording what they thought after the fact, kind of like those dumb reality shows always do. That could be quite humorous as a parody, and helps control the moments, by giving a ridiculous exaggeration on such things in a playful somewhat fictitious way, much like Opinion Yell. I feel like this is the best way to do it, though the editing may be a real pain. I just think it would get the overall coverage, behind-the-scenes deliberation, opportunity for comedic sketches (like when some games get the shaft/booted), and of course the actual awards themselves. Let me know what you think Jones, Love and Respect, -drd7of14

drd7of14

Any form of collaboration with Mr. Moriarty will result in the withdrawal of my Patreon funding.

I don't really like KF nor Colin but I'm probably more close to Colin's political views than most of the Allies (I'm not a libertarian like him, I'm pretty much a conservative), but he always came off to me as jaded and bored about videogames, like didn't want to be a part of that anymore. So I don't really understand why he came back to videogames and how he could contribute to any show here... but I would be willing to give any guest one shot, just like Jones said.

It's one of those things people get wrong because they hear so many other people say it that way that they never question it or stop to think about the words.

Rinney

Totally agree. In order for EZA to grow, people need to allow them to experiment with new ideas even if a few are irked by them. Important to get people with different points of view in your podcasts to keep them refreshing and liven debate.

Justin Little

I don't think having Colin on any (at least current) EZA shows would make sense. I don't think he even would want either. But it would make more sense for Brandon to visit his chat show, if he invites Brandon. Some people have issues with EZA being associated with Colin Moriarty, but i personally have issues of EZA being associated with Rooster teeth or Funhaus, and Funhaus is already somewhat connected with EZA cause Don works there, Elyse once being at GT and Omar being Ian's roommate. My issue with Rooster teeth is that when Fallout 4 released they attacked Jeff from Giant bomb for giving a fair 3 star review and criticism of the console versions of the game being poorly optimized at launch. Then these Rooster Teeth clowns sponsored by Bethesda accused of him being an attention seeker on their podcast with pipboys in their arms. i've never watched Roooster teeth but at that moment they lost all credibility to me, and if EZA would associate with them that would be a deal breaker for me. Same goes with Funhaus Adam Kovic spreading made up rumors and "the Know" show is totally clickbait garbage that panders to youtube dummies. So Brandon you saying you want to do collaborations is kinda treading dangerous waters. Alienating your core fanbase by doing collabs just to get more exposure is not necessarily a good thing. Different people want different things. If you do decide to do something i'd prefer you don't go overboard. The way you talked about it kinda worries me though. Patreon kinda sucks tho. Deleting comments when you edit them.,

*deep sigh* Does all of this give anyone else the same sense of dread as watching family drama unfold? I've got enough of the real thing at the moment. I feel the need to lighten the mood just a tad, so Jones - What is your favorite holiday side dish? Is there a particular one you look forward to at family gatherings? My personal favorites are my mom's cranberry dressing, and my Great Aunt Claire's recipes for ambrosia and corn casserole. I could probably happily servive on these three dishes and little else!

Rinney

Jones, you guys already talked about this in the past and I'm from Brazil and english is not my first language but I believe the saying is "I couldn't care less". If you say "I could care less" it means that you actually cared about the thing you're talking about (the views of some of the shows), right?

Echoing the "lighting", as the Pink Hue version was looking a bit more pro. Keep up the good work!

Hey Brandon, thought I'd add my own droplet into this ocean of comments regarding Colin Moriarty/guests/politics. Personally I'm ambivalent about Colin. Just speaking content-wise, I've both really enjoyed and really disliked videos featuring Colin. I thought the "Colin was Right" series he did back in KFGames was fantastic; his conversations with other people in the industry were especially good. Nowadays I'll watch CLS on occasion and find his history-oriented videos pretty interesting and informative. But at the same time I've found him to be overly dogmatic, too confrontational, and in general very unwilling to listen to people who disagree/criticize him. I used to be an avid listener of the KF Gamescast but eventually stopped, mainly due to his attitude and demeanor. As for his tweets I don't follow him so the only incident I was aware of was his International Women's Day tweet, but reading through the comments here it seems that isn't the only problematic comment he's made. He seems to the polar opposite of EZA, not only in his political beliefs but also his penchant for confrontation. All that to say I'm not vehemently opposed to you guys working with Colin, but I'm also not particular ecstatic about it either. So whatever you decide to do, you'll have my support. I think the bigger point I want to say regarding this matter is: to always prioritize what YOU GUYS want to do first. This seems like a no-brainer but I feel it needs to be said. Obviously EZA is crowd-funded and very community-focused, but if you run into a situation where the nine of you want to go in one direction but your community doesn't, then I would encourage you to go in the direction you nine desire. Ultimately this is your business, and we patrons don't call the shots (although we can certainly give feedback). And finally on the topic of guests, I would love if you brought back Ryan Stevens, Matt Blair, and Jonathan Metts back for the podcasts.

"Love and respect but only if you respect who we tell you to". This is what this comment section looks like.

44stars

I was attempting go be as pragmatic as possible and not attach labels to people in my comments but I was not talking about libertarians, I'm specifically talking about people who think it's ok to make fun of gay and transgender people, and yes, I'm well aware that those people are already a part of our community but I don't think that's a good enough reason to invite more of them in. If Colin is associated with those types of people and easy allies are associated with Colin that means eza is associated with the people who make those kinds of comments as well and I personally don't want that.

klastical

Hi Brandon! I’m afraid this question may be a biiiit meaty and perhaps more of a Topic I’d like to start (or continue) a conversation about. I really don’t understand how you can say and/or believe that as a group of internet personalities Easy Allies can remain apolitical. Politics can be a personal thing, but it seeps into every aspect of our lives. While I don’t want to assume anyone's gender/sexual identities and ethnicities I feel like it is a safe bet that a Large portion of the community and the Allies themselves are cisgender heterosexual males or at the very least we treat it as such because that is what everyone assumes and because that’s how most communities have been. I bring up these identities because it is these identities that benefit from staying apolitical, it is these identities that are not being consistently oppressed and need to fight for equal rights and their voices to be heard. These people can afford to stay apolitical because they do nothing but benefit from it. Whereas people of colour, transgender people, every person under the LGBT umbrella, those who are disabled or are autistic, cannot afford to be apolitical. I mean this as no offence, but there are people who see your group being apolitical and see it as another community for bigots to thrive. They thrive because your group hasn’t explicitly said “we are against X” or “we support X” and they take it as Fact that your group won’t venture or explicitly state your support for these oppressed and marginalized groups. I understand you all don’t see this community the same way I would. I admit, I lurk around 4chan and other unsavoury places so I see probably the worst of the worst people in this community can say. While people say ignorance is bliss, it allows these people to continue spewing hate and horrible comments. Honestly I’ve been worrying for weeks about the possibility of writing this comment because I know for a fact that because this spiel is coming from me, an autistic gay transgender individual, there is a LARGE chunk of this community that will immediately disregard all of my words. They don’t respect people like me, they will continue to not because they truly believe I am lower than them. I brought up that I lurk around “unsavoury” places on the internet, and while you could say the simple solution is to just stop, I can’t. I have personally witnessed people I know been talked about in a horrible manner. I’ve witnessed people sexualizing a friend of mine, a minor I might add. There is a paranoia and anxiety attached to this, but I cannot stop lurking in these areas, because it feels as if no one is saying or doing anything to combat this gross and indefensible behaviour. I want people I know, people I am friends with to be able to feel safe and with these people leering and making more than offensive comments, they aren’t safe. There is so many people in this community, and I’m so glad Easy Allies is doing as well as it is, but It was my understanding that Love and Respect was something to uphold and work towards, not something to tack onto the end of a comment filled with ignorant statements as a free “get out of jail” card. I know I have been guilty of being too harsh, and truly do believe you all are trying your best! I also understand that you all are not directly responsible for how your community acts on it’s own. This all being said, EZA is still a huge influence in many peoples lives. All I’m asking is you use this influence in a genuine positive way. I understand it is not your job to educate people on politics, but there is a line that you will have to lay down at some point. Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Ableism are all things I draw the line at. tdlr; I don’t understand how you can believe that staying apolitical is the best choice. Staying apolitical is, in my opinion, opening the doors to horrible types of people who don’t understand that “Love and Respect” actually means Love and Respect. Thank you for your time! Kit Snow &lt;3

Kit Snow

Hey Jones. This isn't really a comment for on air just thought I'd offer my two cents. Podcast Beyond was one of the first gaming podcasts I listened to back in probably 2009, so while I've never met the guy, I feel like I know Colin fairly well. While I use to really like him, some of the stuff he's said on Twitter really irks me, specifically his "joke", comment about asian people/racism, and his fighting with Bob Mackey from Retronauts. I was openly very critical of him on NeoGAF before he left KF and enjoy their content much more now that he's gone. That said, he's always been kind to EZA, especially since Kyle was less than kind to KF in a few instances in the GT-era. While he might be arrogant and have some misguided opinions/world views that he probably doesn't present well on social media, I do believe in his heart of hearts, Colin's probably a good dude. (Though, full disclosure, my bar on who is a "good dude" these days is pretty low.) I see on Twitter he invited you onto his show, which might be a good way to go about this. That way those who financially support EZA and are very opposed to Colin being on EZA content, don't have to worry about their money supporting Colin. I noticed Kristine Steimer from What's Good Games was on his show recently and there didn't seem to be any uproar there. Who knows, maybe your different backgrounds and opinions could lead to some interesting discussion. EDIT: Also, just want to mention as I read more of the nearly 100 comments previous to mine.... I see a lot of people mentioning that Colin shouldn't be collaborated with because that will bring his audience in. I'm assuming the fear is that his audience is mostly far-right wing people? Whoever is saying that needs to take a look at the YouTube comments for the most recent EZA Podcast. Those types of people are already here.

On the topic of politics, what do you think about the FCC planning on taking down Net Neutraility? This could impact not only Easy Allies but almost every internet based operation significantly. I am pretty terrified of the future where the Internet is chopped up and sold piece meal to consumers.

I like Colin

Ibrahim Sozer

I don't like Colin. It has nothing to do with his political views or a single tweet. I just don't believe he's a good dude. At the very least he comes off as being arrogant and rude. That being said, I would never tell you who to have on the show, because I think this community and Easy Allies as a whole is becoming dangerously like-minded and afraid of inclusion. The podcasts are often filled with agreeable viewpoints, you guys tend to have similar opinions on many of the big releases, and like you said about guests, nobody wants somebody they 'don't like' on, even when it would only be for a short time (when they may not even be there). I am with EZA because I believe in what you are doing, not because I or any other fan knows what's best. Keep doing what you're doing. L&amp;R.

Hey Jones. I see a lot of comments about Colin. Instead, let's take a minute to talk about STAR WARS. I'm a huge Star Wars nerd, and I miss the Star Wars EU. Did you ever get into any of that stuff, and if so what were your favorite stories from it? I personally find Wedge Antilles to be my favorite Star Wars character from the original trilogy. He's a normal-ass dude that goes from rookie to badass Death Star killer over the course of 3 films, and I absolutely love the books and series' that focus on his career and exploits as a pilot and Commander. Then there's countless other memorable characters that were built up and fleshed out over the course of two decades of comics, books, and games. I hope those Legends stories always stick around for people to remember them by or to go back and read anew in case people decide they hate Disney's version of events. Lastly, we're getting really close to The Last Jedi time. Do you have any speculation about what's going to happen? Do you think they'll bring in the concept of neutral Force users/Grey Jedi or do you think they'll keep things the way they are? Any guesses about Rey's parentage, since they have hinted that it's significant? I think that her being the daughter of Obi-Wan would be the best scenario given the nods and hints in TFA but is that too convenient?

VGJunky

"I honestly think that's a small part of the success of things like Good Mythical Morning by YouTubers Rhett &amp; Link" GMM may have a small set, but from a technical standpoint it's much better produced than Easy Allies (sorry). Lighting, framing, sound, prop layout, all slick in a cozy way. Alas, it may not be possible for EZA to look that good just yet, as GMM very likely have dedicated tech people whereas the Allies are pretty much all multitaskers. GMM is also a more focused channel, while EZA films a billion different things in their space. Even so, I feel there's a lot of room for near-term improvement in EZA's presentation.

TurboChickenMan

someone should do timestamps for this show

Here's my input on the topic of garagey-ness. Whilst I'm excited for the bump in production value and other benefits that would come with a studio, I think it's important to keep somewhat of a garage or home feel to the eventual EZA studio set. With the uprise of personality based content, I think that reflecting who you guys are and what you like in the set is important. It plays a big part in making people relatable. Whilst having a glossy desk with your logo or something on a bunch of monitors is cool, it's also (in my opinion at least) a boring and somewhat of a sterile look. The gaming posters, trinkets and even just materials like wood just gives that cosy homely feeling... Relaxing, in a way. I honestly think that's a small part of the success of things like Good Mythical Morning by YouTubers Rhett &amp; Link or shows like Talking Dead/Bad/Saul and Beyond Stranger Things. --- Furthermore, and again It's very early to talk about this kind of thing, but when you eventually get another person to work exclusively behind the scenes, I hope you'll stick to the single wide shot in podcasts etc. I find that having a multicam setup and a vision mixer (td) cutting back and forth between two-shots to be very distracting. Again, this harkens back to personality and relatability... Such a format is obviously in many ways more professional, however it becomes an extra layer between you and the viewer. It's nice being able to see everybodies reactions at all times, and that's something you lose when cutting to a closeup of whoever's speaking. Just some more food for thought for the inevitable studio upgrade. Excited to see when 'we' get there, but loving every moment until then! :) Love and respect!

GermanScientist

Long time GT fan, day one Patreon follower, first comment in over a year, writing to express pure shock and horror at the idea of Colin showing up as a guest in EZA programming for reasons already stated by others in this comment thread. I’m kind of floored that Colin would even be considered for a collaboration or guest appearance with the EZA team given his video content and voice on social media, regardless of any personal relationships at play. I see less of an issue with Jones (or any member of the team) as a guest on other shows (including Colin’s), but I honestly cannot think of a worse possible candidate for guest collaboration on an EZA show. I’m not fishing to get into some argument with commenters on the details of Colin’s politics or internet presence - just throwing in my personal feedback as prompted by Jones. Also, as you do take steps toward guest programming, please consider prioritizing a presence of female and non-white voices. Your comments on bringing women into the conversation are on point, even if the “my favorite race that’s not mine” aside seems to playfully rush past the idea of addressing the complete lack of racial diversity amongst the EZA dudes. Guest programming would be a great way to incorporate these perspectives that are sorely lacking in current EZA discussions.

Stackhouse

Just putting in my opinion here, I hope the allies don't have guests very often, I subscribe on Twitch and Patreon and watch as much EZA stuff as I can because I love the allies not random guests. At the same time I can see how it's important to do those things and as long as it doesn't happen often I'm okay with it.

Rosamune

Spot on comment. Glad you're calling out the rampant hypocrisy of folks hiding under "love and respect".

Gustavo

I'm totally indifferent to the whole thing since I never had much love for ANY of the previous IGN staff or the things they're doing presently. But, preface aside I'm of the belief that if we're all about "Love and respect" you can't really *say* that and then be gatekeepers on who is and who isn't welcome. It's also not conductive to progressive discussions, challenging opinions and views, or general understanding of other people's points of view if there's only ever one voice or view point. Not only is that disingenuous to the communities' motto but to us as viewers by not wanting to expand our horizons or just spice up the current outlook of content as a whole. To be fair I'm pretty much against collabs in general as there's nobody outside of EZA I'm really a fan of either personally or just in an entertainment sense to care about what they have to add to an EZA stream, but if I'm expected to have "Love and respect" towards whomever they DO choose to work with, I feel like everyone else should be held to the same standard. Just my $0.02

ZyloWolfBane

Disappointed in the comments I see regarding Colin. I'm a big fan of him and his work, we also share various political views. I commented on YouTube but I'll share this. I'm 28 and I've been a fan of Colin and his work since I was 18. He made a stupid joke, he didn't back down and I'm glad he didn't. Folks are overly sensitive and I truly believe many feel that way but are worried to speak their mind. I agree with the sentiment that if having a collaboration with Colin would be bad for the community then it shouldn't happen. But I think that if folks weren't so quick to judge or personally attack Colin's character the collaboration wouldn't be so bad or bad at all. GAF constantly character assassinated Colin. He isn't welcome on ResetERA nor any threads about his current work, are welcome. Colin can come across as abrasive and standoffish. But it's who he has been for as long as I have been a fan of his work. Nothing new to see. I personally would like to see a EZA/CLS collaboration, especially centered around gaming.

Gustavo

Hey, Jones! Just wanted to add a point or two to the Colin discussion. Firstly, it seems like you think the general negative response many people have toward him is based on political leanings. While I’m not personally wild about his ideals (what I know of them at least), I don’t think being a Libertarian is what motivated the public response that lead to his departure from Kinda Funny, nor what has so many Allies viewers groaning “NOOOoooooo” at the thought of an EZA/Colin Moriarty collaboration. The infamous tweet that served as catalyst wasn’t political, it was sexist. I don’t believe you’ll find Pro-Sexism on any major party’s official platform (though you could arguably be forgiven for thinking so these days). I think this is an important distinction. Colin didn’t express a political opinion, he expressed disdain for an entire gender. Whether the comment was made in jest or not is a different discussion, but consider the fact that he framed the tweet and hung it on his wall. I know this is getting long and I’m certain there will be many more comments like it, so I just have one more thing to add. Not sure if I’m alone in this or not, but it isn’t just that I don’t want to see EZA work with Colin, it’s also that I would dread the introduction of Colin’s fan base to the EZA community. I’m sure there are some lovely people among them, but overall they seem negative, aggressive, and toxic. Maybe it’s selfish, but I kinda dig this whole Love and Respect thing we have going here, and I don’t want to spoil it.

Rinney

Are you really telling me that you can't remember a SINGLE song from ANY Tony Hawk game? A series that has 13 entries featuring hundreds of songs? And no, "Higher Ground" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is not one of them.

TurboChickenMan

Don't know if this will help you, but since patreon regularly eats my posts it seems to do it more frequently when you edit your post more than once. Worse if it's a particularly long post.

ZyloWolfBane

@trailerjones I know different people are bothered by different things, but your ums really aren't bad for unscripted live productions. I think people notice it more because the Allies as a whole are producing more live unscripted material than ever, and you as a performer are quite used to doing scripted, pre-recorded, heavily edited features like reviews and retrospectives.

Kiraz

I agree with all that you've said, but you might want to listen to the part about reviews and Frame Trap again, as I believe he was refering to when they were starting Easy Allies. :)

BeatenDownBrian

Dear Diary, Patreon hates me. The end.

Rinney

Feel free to read this or skip it. I'd say on the whole your "Ums" and "Uhs" are a lot better than other allies, not to intentionally mock them or anything but "Um, Uh, Like, and stuff" are very common. It's kinda hard to avoid that when doing things live but I mean when you're recording things for an hour or more and you're not doing multiple takes you're bound to forget. Further feedback backing up a comment that was read about more "Entertaining" streams could be more "Entertaining" if they were handled where there was never an ally by themselves, have at least one other ally on air with them so there's someone other than chat to bounce off of. Naturally scheduling would be more difficult, but maybe instead of MORE solo streams you just have fewer more lengthy duo/trio streams, some of the full playthrough streams with multiple allies are among the most funny streams you guys have had.

ZyloWolfBane

Jones, it makes me real happy to hear more of the allies have expressed an interest in doing the GOTY talks. I know it’s not locked in or whatever, but I’m just happy you're considering it, and I do hope we get it in some form. Also, Nooooo. Obviously I don't know Colin, but from what I’ve seen of him, I’m not a fan. Let’s just say there was a reason I never got into watching that much of Kinda Funny’s stuff. Back when those guys started KF, I said I’d give them a shot, I even ended up giving them a few bucks on Patreon for a couple of months. Then one evening, I was watching their daily podcast thing on Twitch, and Colin had went off on something related to a game. Then at the end of the show, they took questions from subs, someone quite politely challenged Colin’s stance (I can’t even remember what it was about) and tried to offer a different viewpoint, Colin’s exact response was “Well, you're wrong, and if you don’t like what I’m saying, there’s the door, fuck off, and don’t come back.”. I was so completely taken aback by this, it was simply so uncalled for, and so disrespectful to that commenter, and if I’d been him I would’ve F’ed off and not came back. It actually ended up being the reason I pulled my own patronage, though I did continue to intermittently watch their stuff. Colin is a smart dude, I don’t think many would argue that. To me, that made his repeated actions on twitter etc. just all the worse. Around the time of “the tweet” he had been talking a lot about how much he hated outrage culture. To me personally, the goal of that tweet was simply to cause outrage, so he could then comment on how right he was about outrage culture. His “joke” was constructed in such a manner where, it was just borderline misogynistic enough to cause backlash, but not so bad that he couldn't pass it off as a “Dad joke” and then hide behind the thin veil of comedy. When he then followed up this by tweeting that “anyone who is offended by this is a humorless sack of shit”, well, he might aswell have tweeted “I have no interest in discussing this, because I have absolutely no respect for any you.” Like I said he is a smart dude, but as far as I can make out he is also arrogant as hell, to a fault I would say personally. To the point where he doesn't seem like he genuinely even does want to foster conversation, he just wants to be told he's right, get a pat on the back for himself, and feel like the smartest guy in the room. To me, he is almost the polar opposite of what EZA is, you guys are all about engaging with, listening to, and talking about issues with the community. Your motto is Love and Respect, and you try to encourage that as much as you can, even in simple ways, like how you treat each other, or asking people to try and be mindful of others, or if they’re having a disagreement with someone on Twitch or in a comments section, to maybe just take a step back if it gets heated, and maybe leave out the snide personal remark that can often be so easy to make. At the end of the day, I’m not going to be up in arms or start leaving angry comments if you decide to do some sort of collaboration with him. I just personally would have zero interest in it, and honestly I wouldn't even watch that video in the first place. I’ve seen enough of the guy over the years to know I don’t want to see anymore of him, even if that means having to skip an EZA show.

BeatenDownBrian

Agreed.

Rinney

When it comes to Colin I can see where your coming from in a lot of ways. This man has been good to you, why shouldn't you return the favor. He's made some questionable statements but who hasn't said something dumb in there life. My issue with Colin is that I don't want his fan base coming around. If you want to see what colins fans are like take a look at the replies to some of his tweets. I would like to point you to this recent tweet about America electing a transgender person to public office: <a href="https://twitter.com/notaxation/status/928097075102851072?s=09." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/notaxation/status/928097075102851072?s=09.</a> Colins initial tweet and other tweets in this thread are totally fine but look at the sort of comments some of his fans are making. I don't think the people making these comments are going to have any easy time respecting the moto of love and respect.

klastical

I would like to see you with Colin. The BS that happened to him about a dumb Al Bundy joke was unfortunate. Especially the people who said things about him that turned out to be a 1000 times worse then they said he was. He's smart, funny and loves games and I think Brandon and Colin would have a great conversation on video. Nothing against Ian, but I know he had a problem with him after his tweet but I feel if Ian sat down with colin and talked, he'd really like him. Just watch his second talk with Dave Ruban. Different opinions are a good thing. L&amp;R

Oh, Troop. ♥

Rinney

I love easy allies :)

Dalink28

Hiya Jones! Thank you and good work with those game terms last week! I know I couldn't do that so smoothly. So, a real question for you. I assume like with many of us, there are many games out there you want many people to play. If you could only recommend a single game to each of the other eight allies, what would it be? And to make it a little more interesting, try to make every game you choose a different one.

Parasitepaladin

From listening to this cup of jones, I worry that what I value most out of the Easy Allies ( journalistic background, editorial excellence, engaging and enlightening discussion via podcasts) is on the way out. This fear is a direct result of the last two cup of jones, where you've hinted at making big changes, questioning the value of reviews, and concerned about putting resources towards content like Frame Trap. I feel that the review process focuses and affirms the professional value of allies' opinions on the show. Why am I watching your content? Because you have something to offer that another outlet doesn't. Taking away outlets for that editorial muscle to flex - reviews, Frame trap, etc, I fear would deligitmze, over time, the opinions of EZA as a brand. I understand that EZA has evolved a lot from its GT roots. Just pull up an old invisible walls podcast, and compare how Shane Satterfield would lay into and grill Bloodworth at every turn on his opinions (I feel Bloodworth now is lauded on tape as a sort of wise sensei), and you can see that EZA has already softened and loosened the editorial focus quite a bit over time. That's not a bad thing - it's a changing thing. Just like changing the review score from a 10 point scale, to a 5 point scale is an evolution. But these changes still honor the editorial strengths of your team, and put a lot of focus on it. That's why, to me, shows like the betting specials work. Because it's a silly moment and outburst from a team of intelligent journalists who have the professional capacity to be down and serious about the industry we love. That to me is the punchline of such content, and why I enjoy it so much. I'm babbling at this point so TL;DR, I understand that change is inevitible, but I hope you and the rest of EZA don't forget how strong you are in editorial, and that's the roots from which you've grown your community.

Kiraz

Hello Brandon, I had posted a Star Wars question in Love and Respect but it has yet to be answered. As a huge Star Wars fan like yourself, do you feel that the franchise has currently reach a point of being saturated? With the announcement of a new trilogy, a new TV series and more Star Wars games plus the micro transactions debacle of Star Wars Battlefront 2, it feels that Disney view Star Wars as a cash cow for the company. I want to watch The Last Jedi this December, but I already had enough of the hype surrounding the franchise.

Oh man can you imagine??

JD

Would love to see Colin and Ben, Damiani discuss classic JRPGs and Mega Man and with Jones, Bosman on state of industry and overarching topics about games media. And maybe even with Huber talking about FPS games like Wolfenstein and COD. That would be a lot of fun!

JD

With all due respect, I've seen your other posts (before you deleted them) and I don't believe you're arguing in good faith so I will not engage you further.

I haven't had a chance to watch this Cup of Jones yet, but based on the comments, I wanted to chime in and say that I'm against any collaboration with Colin until he renounces and atones for his hateful racist and sexist comments.

Mr. Jones, Thanks for the compliment on my questions each week. I really appreciate the chance to contribute to the community in any small way. Question for this week - Would it be possible to get an official monthly game recomendation from each Ally? The recomendations can be a low tiered post and include a sidequest, trophy/achievement, or milestone to reach in the recomended game. Earlier this year I got to rent a dvd from a movie rental store. The rental store was an intense dose of nostalgia, and included a staff's pick section. I thought that the Allies could utilize such a recomendation post to have more interaction with the community with minimal effort. Thanks for all the Allies do, Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla Ps: I made a temp post to come back to and had to scroll up through a ton of back and forth on Collin M. Follow up question, how are the Allies going to handle all of this spiciness?

Morgan Mohalla

The pink light missing is legit. Made it look really good.

ComboBreaker

Agreed. It goes way beyond just being a few things he said on Twitter, it's just who he is. I especially don't want people who support the things Colin says to be mixed in with the EZA community. There's been enough issues with the Youtube comments as is and it would only get much worse if he were to make a guest appearance.

Hey Jones Who do you think would win if you all were contestants on Jeopardy?

Olf Himself

Do not work with Colin. He was so proud of his misogyny he framed it in his house. I love the Allies because I know you're a women friendly zone. Bringing Colin into the picture makes it no longer women friendly.

Hey Brandon! You talked about maybe doing some collaborations in the future. Knowing your love for puppets, may I suggest ARLO, the lovable gaming muppet? The guy is such a good fit for EZA, he's just as jolly as you guys, he's well informed and knowledgeable about Nintendo and he's just funny as hell. I think he would be a really good fit as a guest on Friend Code for example. He also lives in California as far as I know. Check him out! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ArloStuff/videos" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/user/ArloStuff/videos</a>

Hi, I dropped down to dollar level a few months ago. This was to do with being in Europe and also being busy and poor (University, amirite?), so early access to the podcast wasn't really working out. It's usually Sunday by the time I get around to it. Any-who, I'll stick around at this level until the summer. Good luck.

Hey Mr. Jones! Either you skipped my submission or Patreon continues to bite the dust, but either way, I'll repost my question (I think it's ok. A simple "No" and moving on would be good =-) ). I was wondering once the Game Awards have been handed out, if you are allowed and willing, will the Allies let it be known what the group as a whole voted for, how the voting process works, etc.? If not that's cool, but I ask because it's an awesome honor to be a part of the show and having a little of your perspective on how it works would help me and others better understand the process about how the awards are won. As always, thank you very much for taking any of my questions! Have a great day.

Brandon K Gann

Hey Brandon. With the recent news that Metal Gear Solid: The Movie is moving forward with production, I can't help but think it's going to fail. I feel that it's too hard to try and squeeze a full game's narrative into a 2 and a half hour film. That is why I think that video games should, instead, be turned into TV shows. So my question to you, is which video game franchise do you want to see or think will do well if done in a TV show/ mini-series format?

Andrew Left

Noooo

Amanda Troop