The only reason you are doing this is to draw attention to yourself. I get that people have to give up their premium subscriptions because of changing circumstances in their life and unexpected financial hardship. You are going about it in a melodramatic way and I find it off-putting. Giant Bomb as a website is like everything else in life. It evolves and changes. People come and go. I miss the Whiskey Media days too but it is foolish to expects things to be the same for ten years.
For someone who has been a subscriber for ten years such as yourself. You are not a very active user on the site. Your last forum post was four years ago and your last blog post was ten years. The community is not exactly going to notice your absence. You are not being held against your will. The Giant Bomb community has a good open door policy. You can come and go as you like. You will always be welcomed with open arms if you decide to come back. Seriously, don't expect to be rewarded with a trophy or get a parade for leaving.
Personally I don't watch as much Giant Bomb content as I used to, especially compared to 10 years ago when I watched every video they put up and waited eagerly every day for a video to drop. However, I've kept subscribed except for times of financial instability and plan to keep subscribed for as long as I can. I love this site. It got me through tough times, and I don't know where I'd be without it. To me having asked a question at PAX East almost a decade ago and getting into a GB video as a result is my highest point of pride. But sometimes, you gotta move on if you gotta move. GLHB.
This isn't for attention, they're sad about the state of the site and wants to a) leave this as feedback and b) see if anyone else feels the way they do about it.
Honestly, I'm not as happy with the site RN as when I joined, but other circumstances, covid is shitty for everyone, I have my own kid so having somewhere with professional game players also trying to pursue their work/hobby around having kids is super relevant to me. I still like the site, I can still afford to have the subscription - I'm even enjoying the content, but it isn't making me laugh or even giggle anywhere near as much as it did say a year ago or more. Which is fine. As Tom Waits said, things are tough all over. Maybe things will turn around.
I got the year sub earlier this year. I like supporting these guys but I hope their GOTY content is better this year. With no restrictions on time and logistics they should have more flexibility In doing better material like more categories and an improved format.
A person paying for a thing who is no longer satisfied with the service is perfectly entitled to leave an opinion. You might disagree but that’s all this is. No need to show out in force and hammer on the war drums about it, folks.
I don’t entirely get the “hey guys, but the OP is sad” posts in this thread. It’s 2020. C’mon.
That said, if the premium community is vocal enough that they want a certain kind of something, maybe it can get it.
Why do I say it? The return of the motherf’n Hotspot is why I say that. We’re getting regular content with Jeff, Vinny, and Brad again, just like the super old days. We even had an episode with Rich Gallup.
The question is, what exactly from the Whiskey Media days do people want brought back? Ryan Davis is gone. Live in person shows are not feasible in the foreseeable future. GB can’t make all of us 10 years younger. What do people want that GB can actually do?
10 years go by and things change. I became a subscriber about 10 years ago, and in the time since then, I've bought a house, gotten married, had three children, bought another house, changed jobs, and heck knows what else. Still happily subscribing, even though these days I mostly just listen to the Bomb/Beastcasts and don't have much time for any of the premium stuff (don't feel like I need to for the $5/month to be worth it). I'll probably keep subscribing for as long as it's an option. Different strokes for different folks :)
Everytime someone posts a message about cancelling their subscription I write a snooty comment to all the people being snooty about the snooty message.
I didn't enjoy the modern staff and content so I dropped my sub. It was as simple as that. And this is coming from someone who subbed on day one. I just dont engage with the content anymore.
@mikeotron1980: We're all (generally speaking) working during all the craziness of 2020, lets not make it sound like game critics are heroes lol. Did the OP need to announce this, not really, but a forum is supposed to be somewhere people leave their opinion/feedback.
Chiming in to say that I stick with this website purely for the fact that the crew does change with the times and they embrace that process. They refuse to cover games within an arbitrary vacuum and bring the relevant material of their own lives into their work. Further to that point, they are extremely transparent in regards to why they develop their content the way they do and have been since the beginning. I love that this is an essential component of Giant Bomb.
There, of course, have been times I have been a premium subscriber and times I have not been one. However, that typically comes down to where I am in my own life and how much time I have available to spend on the grand void of the internet.
I’m assuming this is a carryover between these two from another thread. If not, I don’t know how to explain why someone would go there other than to troll and start shit.
I'm not entirely sure I see a political connection in that post, but the fact you do certainly tells us something about your actual agenda.
Oh no you're right. This place and it's community definitely hasn't become an echo chamber of a certain ideology. And that ideology definitely doesn't have ties in politics. I'll stop pushing my "agenda" when every one else does.
Dumping politics into a thread that isn't political is very specifically agenda-driven.
If you want to create a thread for rational political discussion, you can do that. I'd actually be interested to see such a thing here if it can be done without regurgitating lies and conspiracy theories.
I don't get why people have a problem with posts like this. Every other business in the world will ask you for feedback after you've bought something, it's totally normal. This is just that.
I mean you can do what I do - no longer subscribe, dont follow too closely, hardly use the fourms anymore and watch little video footage. I listen to the bombcast regularly however. You dont need to totally step away. Unless you want to, of course.
Things grow and change, such is life. I dont even get on here much anymore but i will continue to sub as giant bomb has got me through some bad times and i feel the need to help them what little i can through this bad time. Enjoy the hiatus, you will be back someday (or not, and thats fine too) but either way there's nothing wrong with taking a break from it if you dont enjoy it currently. Take care brother.
Sorry to hear OP has drifted apart from the site; from the language it sounds like it used to mean a lot to them.
Things change with time. I’m sure OP was at quite a different point in their life 10 years ago, and the Giant Bomb staff was also at a different point in their life and attitudes 10 years ago. Staff members have come and gone with time, though frankly it’s been very consistent compared to most other gaming sites. The loss of Ryan still saddens me, as he was such a defining voice and hosting presence on the site, and I commend the staff on handling his loss the best they could.
Ultimately it’s probably a healthy decision that OP just take a step back from the site if it’s really not connecting with them anymore. Some people seem to insist on sticking around purely out of spite/contempt, as if their individual complaints are ever likely to sway the overall direction of the site. The staff has direct access to their viewership numbers, their sub numbers, their long-term subs that have canceled, their acquisition of new subs in recent years. I’m pretty sure that knowledge is more illuminating on whether GB is on the right track than a handful of users who stick around with an axe to grind about how “GB has changed, man.”
I have zero problem with these threads, but I do think that there is a level of attention-seeking from them. And you know what, who cares? Similarly, I think there is ALSO a level of attention-seeking from people that want to let everyone know how much they *hate* these threads. But also, who cares? It's a web forum.
Having said all that, if, at the end of the day, this is about feedback to GB and NOT an attempt at attention-seeking...why not send them an email? The staff's email address is easy to find. Or hell, a PM to the staff even? Either situation would be more likely to get the eyes on it that feedback would matter to. Why is this not people's first and only outlet?
It's very indicative of the modern GB userbase to see people slamming a guy for expressing his opinion about something that's pretty near and dear to him
This forum used to be a small, tight knit community, where we all knew each other. I guess that's what happens when a community blows up- everyone is a faceless avatar
I would contest that this community has always been one where you had a very high risk of getting a bunch of asshole responses on the forums. I say this as someone who has consistently received and given asshole responses on the forums for the last decade.
@sombre: What? This community is smaller now than it ever was early on. It consists of like 30 or so people that often post and then a collection of random of people that show up from time to time.
@sombre: What? This community is smaller now than it ever was early on. It consists of like 30 or so people that often post and then a collection of random of people that show up from time to time.
Edit: 30 is probably super generous.
That's what I mean. Back when it was Claude, AgentJ, Bruce, Sweep, Hamz, KaosAngel, I felt like I knew EVERYONE who posted. Nowadays I can maybe pull 5 people that I recognise
There were definitely posters back in the day who not only posted 1000s of times a year, but were constantly bringing creative stuff to the forums and blogs every week.
@sombre: ? This feels like old man yelling at cloud shit. The forums now consist mostly ONLY of names I recognize.
Sorry you don't know everyone now? It should not be hard to accomplish though?
this dude weeps at black-and-white pictures of the Old Posters in lots of threads like this. soon...it will be only he who remembers...
I don't know why this thread is arguably different than other threads by people airing their grievances on the way out. While it is even-tempered, the feedback is useless. "I miss when they were young". Okay, they're not now. That's not feedback, that's nostalgia. Nothing to be done.
50 buckazoids a year for 10+ year of godly content is a super deal if you ask me and you keep supporting them to keep going, I paid more than that for Cable TV for one year with nothing but hot air to show.
I really miss the good old days, I've very definitely gotten older, and I'm happy to be a subscriber now.
More to relevance to the OP's thread, I do remember reading his comment(s) some days back, and he seemed even-handed about it. But I keep seeing this thread pop back up.
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