Background
So Bomb Should Have A Face, the Giant Bomb Community Podcast, has come a long way since it was a crazy idea MattBodega came up with way back when. Now, owing to changing circumstances, the show's various jobs have changed hands and changed method a lot since we began. At first, MattBodega did almost everything. He found topics (With TC's help), edited the show, booked guests and of course hosted...Everything. But since then, his workload has increased, so he can't really do that any more.So TC and I took over much of the Production stuff. Editing is us, TC leads on finding Topics and I book Guests. But we haven't had particularly structured methods of preparing the show up until now, mostly owing to the fact that we have other stuff to deal with too. It's been okay, but there has been an increasing amount of feedback which (Correctly) identifies the content that is getting BSHAF-ed as coming from incresingly repetitive places, and points out that BSHAF is slightly hindered by the somewhat segregated community.
Today, I'm taking steps to change that. This post is designed to reveal the process (Which we are now formalising) behind making the BSHAF.
Topics for Discussion
Topic Picking is receiving a re-vamp. TokyoChicken, my hard-working counterpart, reads more User Blogs and Forum Topics than anyone else on Giant Bomb. I Guarantee it. Just because he hasn't left a response, doesn't mean he hasn't read it and noted it. But he is of course, just one guy. He can't possibly see everything the community does in one week.So, we are encouraging that same community to help him out. In future, if you see a Blog Post or a Forum Topic which you think is rad, or which could lead to an interesting discussion on the show (Or a shallow, but highly entertaining, fight between the Regulars) then drop TokyoChicken a PM or e-mail your suggestion to theBSHAF@gmail.com.
Now, in the past, TokyoChicken (Occassionally with my input) has put together a raw list of 5-6 topics for discussion on the Night of the Recording and then the Regulars, in the Pre-Show Skype Call, would whittle it down to two or three. Occassionally adding in Site Business or whatnot if we felt the need. As such, final say has been entirely editorial. With this new focus on Community-picked content, future BSHAF Topic Picking will be heavily weighted in favour of Discussion Topics which have been suggested most often.
Editorial discretion (In that same Pre-Show Skype Call) will be excercised for taste or to stop people gaming the system - i.e., to prevent the same repetition of only a select few contributors we're trying to get away from.
What this means is, Bomb Should Have A Face Discussion Topics will now be based heavily on The Community Matters that The Community tell us Matter Most!
Guests & Rotating Regular
To deal with these related areas in reverse order...Rotating Regular (This Week's Disgaeamad)
As many of you may know, Bomb Should Have A Face used to be a Four Man operation, not a Three Man operation. That was before we lost voice of my (And his) heartland Disgaeamad, whose connection issues are now legendary and can be discussed here. Since then, we have typically used the 4th seat as a second Guest Spot. Starting in Episode 19, we are using a Rotating Regulars list.That means the following Users can now be considered a part of the Bomb Should Have A Face Team (Albeit only occassionally actively involved)
I'll sort out with them which weeks they'll be appearing on individually. If you ever want to know who will be on any upcoming episode (I usually know 2 in advance for sure and 3 on a preliminary basis), just PM or e-mail me. This list is not set in stone, we can easily add some new folks to it. So if you feel snubbed, do not be alarmed!
Guests
Up until now, BSHAF guests would PM one of us or get in touch somehow and we would try and fit them in, or else we would suddenly ask you if you could do it "tonight" or "this week". Now that's a bit of a fiasco, so I'm going to streamline matters. From now on, I will handle all guest spot booking. What this means is that if you want to appear on the show, all you have to do is PM or e-mail me any time starting from now and I will add you to the newly created Guest Pool.Later, I will get in touch with you about a date and the logistics.
A couple of things to note here:
- Everyone is welcome. No user is a nobody. Bomb Should Have A Face awarded User of the Year to Everyone for a reason. We think ech and every user of Giant Bomb is interesting and worthy of getting a shot on the show. Hell, look at me! I've done virtually nothing of significance but annoy people and I'm a host! If I can do that, then you are at least twice as qualified to be a guest. So no matter who you are, if you want on, put your name down.
- Bomb Should Have A Face is a Skype Podcast. As such, a Skype Account is required. Additionally, you will obviously need a microphone of some sort and we cannot stress enough that you should use headphones no matter what kind of microhphone you use. If you want to be cool and call us from a PSP, you will earn mad Kudos. In fact, I'm going to make an Achievement for that.
Listener Questions
Bomb Should Have A Face is infamous for not vetting Listener Questions - to MattBodega's audible chagrin. We have no itnention of changing that policy, so we'll just remind you that questions can be PM'd to MattBodega, TokyoChicken or Myself. They can be e-mailed to theBSHAF@gamil.com or me. And finally, we solicit questions from the Giant Bomb IRC every show night - sometimes engaging the chat in live discussions about the show and its topics (iBSHAFs).To Conclude
This has been a look at how Bomb Should Have A Face is going to be managed in the future. But we're a Communtiy Podcast, so we love to hear from you! That means we encourage your feedback on our process as well as stuff in the community. So let us know what you think and drop us any suggestions you have for improvements!The BSHAF Team
| Name | Roles |
|---|---|
| MattBodega | Creator, Host, Executive Producer |
| TokyoChicken | Show Runner (Topics Picker), Co-Host |
| Jensonb | Casting Director (Fancy way of saying Guest Booker), 2nd Co-Host, Backup Host |
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