So did that sell anyone on becoming a Whiskey Media Subscriber?

I don't mean to sound harsh, but if anything the live show just confirmed why I wouldn't subscribe. It seems obviously to me they're completely out of ideas. Grown up men forcing themselves to have fun in front of a camera for 7 hours is not really that interesting to me. To me it gave the impression that they don't really aspire to do much more, and would much rather rely on some cult of personality than producing good content. It's been a year already.

@RazielCuts: Ohh god this nonsense again. Just support Whiskey Media so we don't have advertiser's doing "editorial overviews" like they do on IGN, Gamespot or any other major videogame site HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND?

The funky dumb shit they do in the videos is just a plus.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but if anything the live show just confirmed why I wouldn't subscribe. It seems obviously to me they're completely out of ideas. Grown up men forcing themselves to have fun in front of a camera for 7 hours is not really that interesting to me. To me it gave the impression that they don't really aspire to do much more, and would much rather rely on some cult of personality than producing good content. It's been a year already.

meh, I spent way more than 5hrs a month watching video content and listen to the bombcast on this site to make it worth 5 bones. All the live stuff is just a bonus for me. I never able to watch things live anyways.

Nope. I don't use this site enough to warrant paying money for it. And I missed the live show because I couldn't be arsed, to be honest.

I wish they would restructure and focus all their efforts on Giant Bomb and Giant Bomb alone. I feel like these other sites are expendable.

@Meowshi said:

@DonPixel said:

@RazielCuts: Ohh god this nonsense again. Just support Whiskey Media so we don't have advertiser's doing "editorial overviews" like they do on IGN, Gamespot or any other major videogame site HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND?

The funky dumb shit they do in the videos is just a plus.

Yo champ, I don't mean to interrupt your hero worship, but the whole idea of the show was to sell subscriptions. This whole, "just support them no matter what" isn't what they want and it isn't what you should want either. They wanted the show to be entertaining, and if it wasn't, then the community owes it to them to say so. I know that you don't need to be sold, but the goal was to sell the rest of the community on subscribing. Without feedback, they will not accomplish this goal and the site will not grow to be financially viable.

You're accomplishing nothing by being a non-critical consumer. Well, you've earned my lack of respect, so maybe that's something.

1- Yo bro I don't think they are looking for "just support them no matter what" I think they are doing a hard job and I'm please with the site content so I have no idea where this paranoia is coming from.

2- I'm a critical consumer, I've following the GB since Gamestop days I like how they deal with videogames so I like to support them, Again I do it to avoid Advertising Dependence the videos and funky stuff they do is just a plus I don't even care much about as I don't have time to TNT and Happy Hour, you know I have a work I rather waste my free time actually playing games.

3.- I don't base my respect for people based in one or two board post I find that to be arbitrary and short sighted, Something you learn when you used to deal with people in real life is voice tone, facial expression, current mood and cotext means more than the word phrasing... but anyway INTERNET!

If I wasn't a subscriber, then the BLLSL might not have done it for me. The reason I could watch all 7 hours and enjoy it, was because I had the premium member stream available as well. When less interesting stuff was showing on the main stream, I just muted it and watched the premium one instead. They had some great conversations there and it really was like an extended behind-the-scene video with bunch of different peope.

It was one of those "glad I'm a premium member" moments, that will probably happen more and more often from now on (Daggerfall etc.). They probably should've enabled it for free members as well though, since it worked so well with the main stream - might've sold a few more subs that way.

@Mrsignerman44: Yeah you right my bad, I miss red the post I thoug he was saying "everybody in the internet lies" which came to me as a very paranoic and insecure though, anyway it wasn't that so my bad.

Threads where people talk about why they aren't subscribing - unnecessary. 
 
Threads where people talk about how awesome they are for subscribing: unnecessary. 
 
Do we have to discuss everything? No.

troll form

I made rent within 34 cents this month. My school had a 20% rise in tuition and a reduction in scholarships and loans. I won't be subscribing for anything until I'm out of college :/ 

yeah i dont know how but my card details just somehow appeared on the subscribe page about 1 hour in lol

@RazielCuts said:

I love these guys, its a really good family atmosphere and £30 quid a year (there about's) in English isn't that much so I'll definitely support these guys when I stop being a student and become a real boy (get a job), but I won't be doing it for the content displayed today. I'll be doing it for my love of the personalities at Giant Bomb.

You seem to be missing something, so maybe it should be made more clear to you:

You are not paying $50 for the BLLSL. You are paying $50 for more Whiskey Media. You are not paying Whiskey Media $50 conditionally, on the expectation that they will never make anything you don't like. You are paying them $50 to give back to you at least $50 worth of content.

Or at least you would, if you weren't such a jerk.

Yeah, it definitely reminded me why I want to keep subscribing.

But I do agree that they could have probably done a better job actually showing non-subscribers what kind of content they're missing out on. The Tested guys inparticular always just seem to throw something together at the last minute, without remotely thinking about it. As much as I love those guys and the site, it always feel very half-assed with them. There's much better and funnier demonstrations of most of the products they do on Youtube already by people who don't even get paid.

I gladly renewed my subscription for this. I'm not expecting to get tripple A material in everything Whiskey Media puts out but it would be a sader world without them. And that's the main reason why I put in some money. I will never evaluate how much extra content I get from every penny 'cause I'm already happy from what I'm getting. I just want to make sure it continues.

but I don't know. If you're a student, unemployed, or have a ton of other expenses, maybe it's a bit pricey if you're expecting a ton of extra content.

I did like that thing Matt did, the quiz thing. Don't know why he called it shit.

Sadly I didn't watch it but I mainly subscribed because I got sick of all the hoops I had to jump through to watch TNTs and the best bits of the happy hours.

I won't  sub to WM out of principle i dont want to support Comic Vine

@RazielCuts said:

I love these guys, its a really good family atmosphere and £30 quid a year (there about's) in English isn't that much so I'll definitely support these guys when I stop being a student and become a real boy (get a job), but I won't be doing it for the content displayed today. I'll be doing it for my love of the personalities at Giant Bomb.

You seem to be missing something, so maybe it should be made more clear to you:

You are not paying $50 for the BLLSL. You are paying $50 for more Whiskey Media. You are not paying Whiskey Media $50 conditionally, on the expectation that they will never make anything you don't like. You are paying them $50 to give back to you at least $50 worth of content.

As far as the actual show itself goes, I thought it was well produced and executed, much better than last year (Bravo to Vinny and the rest of the video guys for making it all so seamless). There were some moments I enjoyed (Twisted Pixel, Harmonix, DoubleFine, Jean Baudin, the spy game guy, etc.), and there were also quite a few things I didn't really enjoy.

I'm kinda left with the some of the same feelings I had after last year's show. Last year's BLLSL was the first time I really became aware of the sister sites. It was really weird seeing Ryan shilling the subscriber thing and all of a sudden talking about the 'Whiskey Media Family'; and along with the whole paid bombcast debable, I was very taken aback and turned off by the whole thing at the time. However I did eventually subscribe, for no other reason but to support Giantbomb. Those four guys (and Dave/Drew) are the reason I came to this site; their humour, their conversations, the fantastic podcast, quicklooks, and endurance run. I love the stuff they do and their whole attitude to covering video games.

I understand why the Whiskey higher-ups and businessmen are pushing these variety shows, trying to package the sites all together as a cohesive network and piggyback the whole thing on the back of GB's success. But personally I don't like it. I don't care about the other sites at all, I've never used any of them and have very little interest in doing so in the future. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against the people behind those sites (in fact I love Matt Rorie!), but the topics, the content and their styles just don't necessarily work for me. I don't mind the live variety shows existing, but what bothers me is that some of this stuff is happening in lieu of more proper Giantbomb content. And frankly ever since last year's BLLSL, I feel like the whole Whiskey Family thing is being forced down my throat. Part of me wishes there was an option to make my subscription money go only towards supporting GB content; although again, I understand why the Whiskey management wouldn't want such a thing.

But despite all that, I'm still confident that the GB guys will keep doing fun content specifically for their fans. And having a new Endurance Run announced and the promise of more video content like the 'random PC game thing', makes me happy to continue to support these guys. Having said that though, watching the show yesterday and seeing around the big fancy office and all the expensive equipment and the new, young, trendy faces frantically running around, having fun with all the chaos and excitement of a booming start up, ... it all made me long for the days when it really was just four guys in a basement talking about these damn video games!

I only regularly visit Comic Vine and Screened, how is the subscription fee divided amongst the websites? 
 
One of the reasons I'm apprehensive about subscribing, other than it's not in my DNA to subscribe to a website, is Comic Vine and Screened already have too little video content as is.  I don't game anymore so GB isn't on my list on daily visits, and I don't like Tested.com or Will Smith. 
 
Oh, and before some idiot asks if I prefer ads, I've got three words for you: ad blocking extension.  derp

@CaLe said:

I never became a subscriber for anything extra. I just wanted to support Giant Bomb, simple as that really. I don't need extra reasons.

It's great that Whiskey Media is doing big events like the live show, but the above is also why I'm on board.

For me the BLLSL was a bit of a let down, much preferred the Subscriber feed (For the most part I had the BLLSL muted). I felt Tested's segments didn't really convey what Tested is actually about (other than the segments with Volpin Props) and was more about what random shit they could throw together ('Eat your words' being a prime example). Comic Vine I honestly don't care about at all and Screened was basically the same segment as last year, just with a different movie although the quiz at the end was OK. Of Giant Bomb's segments, I enjoyed the Dreamcast bit, the live music was pretty good (Chainsaw & Jean Baudin) and the VidRhythmn bit was quality too.

Threads where people talk about why they aren't subscribing - unnecessary.  Threads where people talk about how awesome they are for subscribing: unnecessary.  Do we have to discuss everything? No.

@gladspooky said:

When you've given your best content away for free, it's really hard to make that case.

No, it isn't. Their best content is still great content, it's still worth paying $50 for, and it doesn't devalue because they let me have it without demanding I pay for it.

@RazielCuts said:

@ErinIsADrunk said:

I think they really need a new pitch. The "give us money so we can keep doing dumb shit" is not really a great pitch. No I want to pay because the content is cool and relevant to my interests. My favourite segments on the BLLSL were the more well put together segments were the Whiskey Folks were leveraging their knowledge, personalities along with showing cool stuff. Why would anyone pay $50 to watch Will or Norm to shove hard boiled eggs in their mouths? I will be subscribing this year, but it will be just to support the site because I think what they do with the free stuff is really awesome and worth $50 and not to help them keeping doing dumb shit.

Exactly! I really liked the Game Room videos Jeff did as they would talk about older games I might not of necessarily heard of, with historical context and memories from Jeffs childhood growing up with them and if they got the emulation wrong and what didn't feel right. That was interesting stuff. If they went more that route, education (with the laughs the GB crew brings) of forgotten games and systems I think that would be pretty cool to see. Also the random ass Eastern Europe PC games Dave plays, something I would know nothing about but its interesting to see.

Totally my favorite stuff on the site also. I hate it when they go into Quicklooks blind because they're clearly very knowledgeable guys and I love nothing more than to hear them wax lyrical about the stuff they know. They're funny guys for sure, but that's not what keeps me coming back to the site. I'd rather have informative content over a cheap laugh any day.

Hit play > Menu of some music game > Stopped watching

No other web site about video games does content like Giant Bomb, even though in the past year many have tried to imitate it.

Last year they wanted 50 bucks to keep doing what they do, I had 50 bucks, so I gave them 50 bucks.

I don't think the core subscribers who signed up last year did so for extra content. It's because we wanted to show our appreciation for what they were doing and help out. It was all very NPR.

Now the decision to subscribe is a very different one, especially for new members. Whiskey already have a core subscriber base established so the reasons people subscribe start to change and law of diminishing returns starts to apply. I don't know if Whiskey are really offering anything compelling to people who think the site is already paid for and are more self interested than community spirited.

im already a subscriber but i was too a tad dissapointed to find that the Big Live show turned out to be a long episode of Happy Hour. I also expected some new features to be shown and dare i say it a little more polish here and there.

I also feel a tad uneasy still that Giant Bomb is still 90% the reason why Whiskey media has ANY Subcribers. The other sites are nice but out on their own wouldn't get close to convincing people to give em their cash. I was hoping for a big leap in content ideas for those sites and saw nothing at all really. Meaning that my hard earned cash continues to only partly go to those who really deserve it (Giant Bomb).

I like tested , they make me laugh and they perhaps just need a little extra polish and a few more ideas. Comic Vine is great for those who like Comics alot but for those of us who are only casually aware of the comic universe they still have zero content for us. Screened Seems almost at the point of non exsistent content compared to those around them. Alex seems to be providing content more for Giant Bomb lately.

I think they are all dangerously approaching a dull routine for content. A fact that didn't come into disrepute yesterday. Which is unfortunate since i think they had enough prep time to stir up new ideas. I'm sure this event was something they were planning for at least 3 months.

I hope the fact that only something like 250-350 new subs yesterday gives them a wake up call to kickstart new content over the next 6 months. while continuing to improve the old ones.

Still a Happy Subscriber but without a doubt want to see a few improvements over the next 12 months as last night didnt convince me this current format will be worth it for this to remain a Whiskey Media Group. Giant Bomb is still the only reason i pay a subscription and without changes i hope that Giant Bomb doesnt sink with the ship.

I hope the fact that only something like 250-350 new subs yesterday gives them a wake up call to kickstart new content over the next 6 months. while continuing to improve the old ones.

The subscriber only feed was absolutely brilliant, i felt i WAS a whiskey media team member! But i suppose persuading non-subscribers to subscibe by saying how good the subscriber only feed was well, is a little bit mental.

@_jackbauer said:

it's not in my DNA to subscribe to a website, Comic Vine and Screened have too little video content, I don't like Tested.com or Will Smith. I've got three words for you: ad blocking extension. derp

So you're a thieving leech and an asshole about it. Thanks for contributing.

@gamerpigeon: Very well said. I randomly watch Tested videos and I read Screened reviews when I actually want to read a movie review, but that's usually after I've consumed all the GB content I can. I love comics but personally think Comic Vine has some poor content...I hope nobody takes offense to this (they will) but Tony just shouldn't be on camera.

@RockmanBionics said:

I did not expect to enjoy the BLLSL as much as I did, but I'm already a member and would still be regardless of the show.

But man, hearing you talk about it makes me imagine what watching it would have been like if, whenever a "less interesting" segment came up, I couldn't just turn down the volume on that stream and up on the other, or sometimes listen to a phonecall or two.

Much less fun, by far.

I think it would have been a much bigger sell if they had at least one of those streams up and running for non-subs. For a few hours there, the second stream was entirely more entertaining than what was happening on the stage. I mean, the show started out with Jeff talking about how much he hates the really popular wrestling games for N64 and how the Blitz on DC sucked. That's not exactly compelling. If I didn't have another stream to turn to, I'd probably just turn it off and play a game for awhile or something.

To the OP: I haven't read the whole thread, but you shouldn't be getting shit on. If there are subscribers shitting on you, they do not speak for all of us. I'm in a decent position right now finishing college from my home and saving money on gas and books, so I can just kinda randomly spend 50 bucks, but 50 bucks is a lot of money, and that shouldn't be scoffed at by others.

At first, I was under the impression that it was a members only show, and after hearing all the hype from the bombcast and elsewhere, I had to sign up. No harm no foul though, as I got access to the ever so delicious members stream as well as all the perks of being a premium member. So in a way, this event was the one to finally push me over the edge. Time to catch up on tons of good Members-only content!

I like Whiskey Media. I don't want them to go away. I'll happily give them my money. I don't need them to sell me on anything, because they've already done such a great job. I can't believe people are still talking about this. I can't believe I'm still talking about this..

@Insectecutor said:

@_jackbauer said:

it's not in my DNA to subscribe to a website, Comic Vine and Screened have too little video content, I don't like Tested.com or Will Smith. I've got three words for you: ad blocking extension. derp

So you're a thieving leech and an asshole about it. Thanks for contributing.

That's even more stupid than calling piracy stealing.

@AndrewB said:

Threads where people talk about why they aren't subscribing - unnecessary.  Threads where people talk about how awesome they are for subscribing: unnecessary.  Do we have to discuss everything? No.

Sorry AndrewB, we should have checked with you before starting a discussion. All discussions will be passed by your critical eye in the future. 

@_jackbauer said:

it's not in my DNA to subscribe to a website, Comic Vine and Screened have too little video content, I don't like Tested.com or Will Smith. I've got three words for you: ad blocking extension. derp

So you're a thieving leech and an asshole about it. Thanks for contributing.

@Binman88 said:

@AndrewB said:

Threads where people talk about why they aren't subscribing - unnecessary.  Threads where people talk about how awesome they are for subscribing: unnecessary.  Do we have to discuss everything? No.

Sorry AndrewB, we should have checked with you before starting a discussion. All discussions will be passed by your critical eye in the future. 

This thread should have just been about whether or not you liked the Big Live Live Show, but it's turned into another argument about subscriptions.  Fuck this.  

Like others have said, I wanted to support them. For me it was just a matter of when I had some money to throw their way.

@Sooty: This is way off topic from the thread but I'm interested in seeing what your view on piracy is. A trial run maybe? Do you buy and support the people you've pirated from if you end up liking their product or something like that?

@RazielCuts said:

did the Big Live Live Show Live live up to its name and sell anyone on becoming a Whiskey Media Member who previously wasn't? For me the answer is no.

so I'll definitely support these guys when I stop being a student

Hmmmm......HMMMMMM........

@Binman88 said:

@Insectecutor said:

@_jackbauer said:

it's not in my DNA to subscribe to a website, Comic Vine and Screened have too little video content, I don't like Tested.com or Will Smith. I've got three words for you: ad blocking extension. derp

So you're a thieving leech and an asshole about it. Thanks for contributing.

What exactly qualifies him as a thieving leech? His use of an adblocker? To be fair here, Whiskey staffers have mentioned they use adblock too, so I don't really feel bad for them in that regard.

That was an overreaction, his attitude pissed me off. If he's not subscribing and also blocking ads he is a leech because he's blocking all revenue streams his activity on the site might generate, but he's not a thief and for that I apologise.

I upgraded from monthly to yearly the night before the show. No skin off my back to throw some money their way to keep them going. The BLLSL if anything strengthened my decision. Also that members stream and the Redphone was bitchin'.

Keepin' it chill dude's.

Been a subscriber since the last BLLSL, for me it's about supporting whiskey, but also I wouldn't know what to do without that mobile site. It's pretty much the way I listen to podcasts on the whiskey sites.

I'll renew for another year pretty much for the mobile access, though the happy hours are fun on occasion. I already have a million subscriptions, so meh what's one more?

I really enjoyed the show, was thoroughly entertained, and I appreciate that they did not want to turn the day into a telethon for premium memberships. But perhaps they didn't pimp their shit enough? If Ryan did a rundown of what subscribers can look forward to every hour or something of the sorts, it may have gotten them more members but at the expense of some goodwill. They leaned towards goodwill and keeping things fun, which to me shows what kind of company they are and why I feel good supporting them. I don't pay $60 a month for cable TV, but I'm happy to pay $50 a year to Whiskey for the dozen or so hours of content I consume every week.

That being said, I'd also appreciate a more business oriented text writeup of what ideas they have in store for premium content moving forward. Even if it's subject to change folks want to know what they're signing up for, and I'd imagine having some specifics on paper would convert some that are on the fence.

@Scodiac said:

@Sooty: This is way off topic from the thread but I'm interested in seeing what your view on piracy is. A trial run maybe? Do you buy and support the people you've pirated from if you end up liking their product or something like that?

I don't pirate, it's not stealing, though.

Piracy via the Internet is downloading, making a copy of something, Not taking a physical item away like stealing from a store.

Well technically I pirate TV shows but that's mostly because it takes months, even over a year in some cases for some shows to come to the UK. I also hate adhering to a fixed television schedule, it's probably why I love ondemand stuff so damn much. I don't really feel bad about it, even if the shows were aired in the UK at a reasonable time I'd still download them instead, I just find it more convenient. I'm not really a fan of TV at all anymore, except for live sports.