An odd 10-20 seconds ad before a half hour video of shenanigans is tolerable to me personally. 

I'm trying to decide if you're a troll, an idiot, or both.

@gladspooky said:

The thing is, I bought a monthly subscription because I recently got a job and felt like throwing 5 bucks Giant Bomb's way. Apparently that means I'm entitled to "exclusive content." I just find that a bit weird, is all. Thanks for the stuff, I guess, but I'd rather pay for nothing if it meant everyone else could watch everything for free.

I agree that that would be great. but there have been a lot of people saying that the reason they haven't subscribed is that they feel there's a lack of worthwhile exclusive content.

OH THIS.

@BulletproofMonk said:

You sure like to blow things out of proportion, Ahmad.

BATTLEFIELD 3 WILL BE THE RECKONING OF PC GAMING!!!!

Okay, I'll bite--and risk getting bitten.
 
If I'm bored tonight, I might buy a month just for the Daggerfall feature, but I'd just like to know (in a much clearer fashion) what subscriber-only features are going to be guaranteed in the next year before I commit to a premium membership. Hopefully, the Big Live Live Show 2 will clear this up. Being spontaneous and sporadic about site content is fine for the free stuff--it even gives this site a certain charm--but if I'm going to pay for something I need to feel secure in advance that I'll get my money's worth. Based on the amount of subscriber content delivered so far, frankly, I don't really regret not signing up this year, but if it was guaranteed that I'd get more of this kind of thing then, heck yeah, I'd pay.  And before I get yelled at: this statement reflects my personal criteria for spending my own money--I'm not judging people who've been more free with their cash, either because they've got more of it than I do or because their priorities in life lie elsewhere. Still, all the complaining about this one little video suggests to me that GB needs to communicate more clearly about what we get for fifty bucks and then stick to it that list. Treating the membership like it's only a loyalty thing obfuscates a basic truth: once money becomes involved, all members become potential customers and should be treated accordingly.

From Ryan's twitter:

Angry emailer who claims "I always blocked ads with Adblock anyways!" and "I hope you get mugged and killed by blacks." You sound special.

I guess people really don't like paying for stuff. Classy stuff, whoever sent that email to him.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@Vinny_Says said:

@FritzDude said:

I'm perfectly fine with this as long as they don't, let me repeat that, DO NOT block out regular members with the upcoming Endurance Run and Quick Looks.

Pretty sure they said the new ER would be for subs only

No, they didn't. But I'd want the ER to be subscriber only and I'm glad that they made their first "RPG" video exclusive to subscribers.

I want to get a subscription but, much like the 3DS, I just don't see the value. If they start doing more of these new subscriber-only videos, I'll subscribe.

I'd say most subscribers don't do it for the content value. They do so because they like the crew and want to support them.

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@BulletproofMonk said:

You sure like to blow things out of proportion, Ahmad.

That sometimes is true, I know ;p But if you were a long-time regular who isn't subscribed, and you learned that our beloved Dave and Vinny are doing a new funny lets-play kind of video feature of good old school PC games, and you couldn't watch it, you'd feel shitty wouldn't you?

Premium membership on any website or service gives you better extra stuff, more options and "the whole cake", It gives you the better version and more of it, not exclusivity to a sort of thing that everyone would love to see and enjoy.

As a non subscriber I don't see the problem with making a new video feature subscriber only.

Thank you! Thank you! ... good to see there are still some reasonable people out there. Someone else said it in the comments to the video: They need to make new contenten to encurage people to become premium members yet everyone starts complaining when they make new content to attract new subscribers. From what I know Whiskey still doesn't make any money. If you want to see GB in 5 years that has to change at some point so they HAVE to encurage people to pay for some kind of content.

@gladspooky said:

The thing is, I bought a monthly subscription because I recently got a job and felt like throwing 5 bucks Giant Bomb's way. Apparently that means I'm entitled to "exclusive content." I just find that a bit weird, is all. Thanks for the stuff, I guess, but I'd rather pay for nothing if it meant everyone else could watch everything for free.

That doesn't make any sense. How are you shocked that you are receiving exclusive content for your money? If you just got nothing, then no one would pay. I don't see how that's weird. That's like saying you went into McDonald, gave the cashier five dollars and then was shocked when they handed you a hamburger.

I'M OKAY WITH THIS

@BulletproofMonk said:

Giving subscribers more value for their money is completely reasonable.

Won't somebody please think of the children!?

Won't somebody please think of the children!?

They're not taking anything away so why are people so butthurt? Fuck people.

@ProfessorEss said:

@KarlPilkington said:

Won't somebody please think of the children!?

Hard not to think of children when you hang around these forums :O

All I can think about is children on these forums.

That... worked better in my head...

I meant the people on these forums bitching about the Daggerfall video are children.

@HandsomeDevil said:

@ProfessorEss said:

@KarlPilkington said:

Won't somebody please think of the children!?

Hard not to think of children when you hang around these forums :O

All I can think about is children on these forums.

That... worked better in my head...

I meant the people on these forums bitching about the Daggerfall video are children.

Who you want to think about?

The bombcast fiasco: worth complaining about. Getting eye blasters as ads: worth complaining about. This: NOT worth complaining about.

My problem with this isn't that subscribers are getting more features, it's that every single new feature that's appeared has been subscriber only. Things like watching the podcasts live before they go up, the Happy Hour, the Radio Show, and the Big Red Phone are absolutely fine seeing as it's not the reason most regular users come to the site. But it I randomly stumbled upon this site, clicked the link for a video and saw "This is Subscriber only" I'd probably just leave.

@gladspooky said:

The thing is, I bought a monthly subscription because I recently got a job and felt like throwing 5 bucks Giant Bomb's way. Apparently that means I'm entitled to "exclusive content." I just find that a bit weird, is all. Thanks for the stuff, I guess, but I'd rather pay for nothing if it meant everyone else could watch everything for free.

That doesn't make any sense. How are you shocked that you are receiving exclusive content for your money? If you just got nothing, then no one would pay. I don't see how that's weird. That's like saying you went into McDonald, gave the cashier five dollars and then was shocked when they handed you a hamburger.

@FritzDude said:

I'm perfectly fine with this as long as they don't, let me repeat that, DO NOT block out regular members with the upcoming Endurance Run and Quick Looks.

they've said countless times that they don't ever want to take away free content that they had before subscriptions got introduced. why is this an issue? GB has tons of free video content and it's gonna stay that way, the only thing that's changing is they're creating more content for people who decided to subscribe.

the daggerfall video now has almost a thousand comments, most of them about this "issue" ... I just don't get it.

In all fairness you do have to give them credit for at least trying. It's a tough balancing act to make subscribers feel special without making non-subscribers feel left out but love the site just as much i.e. Myself. The only reason I'm not is because subscriber issues just don't appeal to me.

@ch13696 said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@CL60 said:

Just because it's not a regular feature doesn't make it any different.. subscriber or not, they said they would never take content away, simple as that. If they made the ER subscriber only they would be going against that.

They also said they were never going to do an Endurance Run again and yet...

Welcome to Giant Bomb. Where they take away what everyone wants and only the subscribers opinion matters.

What has been taken away?

I'd say most subscribers don't do it for the content value. They do so because they like the crew and want to support them.

@ch13696 said:

@KarlPilkington said:

@ch13696 said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@CL60 said:

Just because it's not a regular feature doesn't make it any different.. subscriber or not, they said they would never take content away, simple as that. If they made the ER subscriber only they would be going against that.

They also said they were never going to do an Endurance Run again and yet...

Welcome to Giant Bomb. Where they take away what everyone wants and only the subscribers opinion matters.

What has been taken away?

Your mind of course.

I will assume you ignored my last comment because it wasn't filled with curse words that you could get angry at, but let me lay out the facts for you one more time. 2000 non trailer, original content videos on GB this year, 71 subscriber ones. 3.55% None of those 71 videos are current features.

My problem with this isn't that subscribers are getting more features, it's that every single new feature that's appeared has been subscriber only. Things like watching the podcasts live before they go up, the Happy Hour, the Radio Show, and the Big Red Phone are absolutely fine seeing as it's not the reason most regular users come to the site. But it I randomly stumbled upon this site, clicked the link for a video and saw "This is Subscriber only" I'd probably just leave.

I hope it stays subscriber only, too. I mean, I understand not wanting to "alienate" non-paying memebers, but you gotta show subscribers some love other than 3/4 of a shirt and a lack of ads on the site.

@ch13696 said:

@KarlPilkington said:

@ch13696 said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@CL60 said:

Just because it's not a regular feature doesn't make it any different.. subscriber or not, they said they would never take content away, simple as that. If they made the ER subscriber only they would be going against that.

They also said they were never going to do an Endurance Run again and yet...

Welcome to Giant Bomb. Where they take away what everyone wants and only the subscribers opinion matters.

What has been taken away?

Your mind of course.

I will assume you ignored my last comment because it wasn't filled with curse words that you could get angry at, but let me lay out the facts for you one more time. 2000 non trailer, original content videos on GB this year, 71 subscriber ones. 3.55% None of those 71 videos are current features.

• Don't care
• Fuck off
• Suck a cock
• What the fuck is in my food?

that's why Dave agreed to add a subscriber icon to all subscriber video links. so now you won't accidentally click those links.

@ ch13696

refreshing to see some honesty in here, at least.

@gladspooky said:

@Milkman said:

@gladspooky said:

The thing is, I bought a monthly subscription because I recently got a job and felt like throwing 5 bucks Giant Bomb's way. Apparently that means I'm entitled to "exclusive content." I just find that a bit weird, is all. Thanks for the stuff, I guess, but I'd rather pay for nothing if it meant everyone else could watch everything for free.

That doesn't make any sense. How are you shocked that you are receiving exclusive content for your money? If you just got nothing, then no one would pay. I don't see how that's weird. That's like saying you went into McDonald, gave the cashier five dollars and then was shocked when they handed you a hamburger.

This ain't McDonald's, bro, this is the internet. People have been paying Giant Bomb for nothing, as far as I can tell, for over a year. Also, you know that box in front of the cashier's at McDonald's, the one with all the children's faces on it? Yeah, that's a donation box.

That's false. I haven't been paying Giant Bomb for nothing. For past year, subscribers got the Happy Hour every week, TNT archives on the site, HD video and the mobile site. Now, Giant Bomb has decided to give us some more bang for a buck but that's shady business, according to some people around here. This isn't a donation and it never has been.

They need something to entice subscriptions, so they're using a new video feature to try to do that. There is nothing wrong with what they're doing.

@ch13696 said:

I didn't ignore. Just didn't see it. Anyways, yeah I don't give a shit any more. For now on, my comments will consist of:

• Don't care
• Fuck off
• Suck a cock
• What the fuck is in my food?

Since people like to give away their money so they can download videos, watch content that can easily be done during anyone's free time, and to get a free t-shirt. I believe that no one is in their right mind to listen to my valid arguments.

Gee, I wonder why nobody is taking such a clearly mature, intelligent person seriously. "This gentleman telling me to suck a cock does make a good point..." There, is that better?

And "content that can easily be done during someone's free time"? What content are you looking at? Professional grade HD video capturing equipment, live streams with multiple HD cameras they switch between on the fly, thousands of gigs worth of harddrives, high quality podcast equipment... Yeah, this is a real cheap, simple operation these guys are running. Why isn't all the content free?

What a pointless topic. 

@gladspooky said:

@damnable_fiend said:

@gladspooky said:

The thing is, I bought a monthly subscription because I recently got a job and felt like throwing 5 bucks Giant Bomb's way. Apparently that means I'm entitled to "exclusive content." I just find that a bit weird, is all. Thanks for the stuff, I guess, but I'd rather pay for nothing if it meant everyone else could watch everything for free.

I agree that that would be great. but there have been a lot of people saying that the reason they haven't subscribed is that they feel there's a lack of worthwhile exclusive content.

They probably should have just done donations or ads, then, and there would have been nothing to complain about (well, maybe ads, but those are commonplace). Oh well, it's too late for that.

Donations? Seriously? Most people would only donate once, if at all. How could they have a consistent income?

I'm totally out of my mind thinking I might get something for my fifty dollars. I appreciate those of you who have corrected my wayward thinking.

@McGhee_the_Insomniac said:

I'm trying to decide if you're a troll, an idiot, or both.

I'm definitely not a troll, so this thread could be idiotic. Then again Metal_Milis and SeriouslyNow put this into perspective and I don't mind it anymore, but sure you didn't care enough to keep reading ^^

@Gabriel said:

@BulletproofMonk said:

You sure like to blow things out of proportion, Ahmad.

BATTLEFIELD 3 WILL BE THE RECKONING OF PC GAMING!!!!

lolwat? BF3? reckoning of PC gaming? it got butchered by the limitations the consoles forced on it, it's anything but a true PC game.. A lot of missing features, lack of proper lan and mod and server support, the maps and core gameplay have been watered down and simplified..

So no, not really.

I think people are being a bit naive thinking that a 30 second ad at the begining of videos is the golden bullet to financing the content. There's probably a better chance that subscriber-only content remains subscriber-only, and ads are added to the already free stuff. People need to take a step into the real world, If you want ad revenue to pay for this website you're not going to get little pre-video ads, you're going to get floating ads, wallpaper ads, intersital ads.