Cup of Jones - August 10, 2020
Added 2020-08-10 16:59:13 +0000 UTCI’m proud of the effort put forth by the team last week as I look now at everything we produced: 3 separate impressions videos on very different games, a Pop-Facts-esque look at the history of the Luminous Productions studio from Damiani, and a multi-ally reaction to Thursday’s State of Play. And this is on top of everything we usually produce in a week, regular shows/streams, etc. Today’s editorial is on the lack of Easy Livin’ this month given a variety of factors, and a crazy week like this is the perfect example of how those usual August vibes have changed at EZA.
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdFZdZccqB0
Brandon
DISCLAIMER: I take questions from the post comments on the previous week’s episode here on Patreon. You can ask a business-related question which I may answer live, or a personal question which I may answer below. If your business question was not answered live, I either replied to it in the comments, or referenced the answer in a recent episode. Feel free to inquire why your question wasn't included, or ask the same question a second time if you think I may have missed it. I will edit your comment/question before reading it live to ensure the show moves as quickly as possible. I typically grab all the questions by midnight (PT) the night before each episode.
PERSONAL QUESTIONS
JEREMY FERRIS - What are some of your favorite non Muppet things from the Jim Henson company? Personally, I love The Dark Crystal and the Age of Resistance, and as a kid I watched Dinosaurs for hours and hours. Also, if you have early Muppets Now impressions I'd love to hear them. JONES - Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and Labyrinth jump to mind immediately. Muppets Now is sadly not very good. Kermit is bad. No one’s in charge.
Comments
Just want to say $400 mics+the additional equipment for that mic (the shure that was previously suggested) are not necessary to have good sounding audio. Streamers that have significantly more viewers have good audio with just a $70-100 ModMic. And you don't really have to address this part, but get some money back when things go wrong such as Tommy's Place or beach houses' different from advertised instead of just writing it off in the future. I know how annoying it is to deal with that stuff, but those potential funds could be used toward the Allies or equipment.
Rappy
2020-08-16 23:36:33 +0000 UTCHi Jones, Writing this on Sunday. Was a little annoyed tonight to see that Brad's audio was fixed for the public release of the podcast. Prior to this the only word to Patrons was "We had issues with Brad's audio, Sorry". It would have been considerate of you guys to let us know that the audio could in fact have been fixed, so that we didn't have to settle for an inferior version, even if it meant waiting for the public release. The impression that I and a lot of people got was that Brad's audio was broken and nothing could be done to fix it. I'm not going to listen to the podcast again so I've basically missed out when compared to non-Patrons of Easy Allies, which I feel should not be the case. Cheers, Harrison
Harrison Holt-McHale
2020-08-16 19:16:32 +0000 UTCHey there Jones, I feel like Love and Respect on the podcast has felt rushed the last several weeks. In the off days in between new episodes coming out, I've been simultaneously watching the EZA Podcast (and Frame Trap) from the beginning while I do housework, etc. The average EZA Podcast episode is around 1:40, and in older episodes when you were starting up, Love and Respect segments would often get an even half of the podcast, if not more, and would sometimes stretch the podcast into the 2 hour mark. The last podcast episode on the other hand delegated L&R to around the last five percent of the episode and felt very rushed. I recognize that there have been some big news the last several weeks, but I would love, especially with the retirement of Gaming Gladiators, an extension of time given to the community questions and involvement. Brian from Happy Gaming
Happy Gaming
2020-08-16 18:36:07 +0000 UTCHey Jones, Just watched the newest Huber Syndrome and was just wondering if Huber was moving as well? Also, hope your move to your new place will be nice and easy,
Victor Ko
2020-08-15 07:49:30 +0000 UTCHeya Jones, Oh, wow. Um, yeah. That's...that's very interesting. But if Easy Allies was a famous striptease artist, would it care for Whistler's mother, Charley's aunt, or Shubert's brother?
Asbo Zappruder
2020-08-15 00:34:51 +0000 UTCIt's been close to a year since that happened. Basically, we had to make some necessary changes to the account, and for whatever reason, making those changes caused us to lose the verified badge. As far as I can tell though, it really doesn't matter. -Bloodworth
Easy Allies
2020-08-13 08:18:27 +0000 UTCIn the last COJ there was a question about not using the studio and you mentioned you thought it might only be for a few months... I'm wondering where you got that idea? with the current state of the world we likely will not have a "real" vaccine or treatment for another year or more and even then it will take a long time to get it to everyone and be 'back to normal'. it's very likely this won't even happen and we will all need to live in a new reality where masks, distancing, etc are here to stay. Have the allies discussed what will happen in this scenario? or are you all just holding out that things will go back to normal soon somehow?
David Warren
2020-08-13 05:58:17 +0000 UTCHey jones. I noticed easy allies was no longer verified on youtube. Any reason for the change? Does verification help you in any way?
Lucid Ludwig
2020-08-13 04:18:03 +0000 UTCMr. Jones, Would you consider revisiting a wellness editorial this week or in the near future. Since your last wellness editorial it feels like the world is completely different and it would be great to hear your take on maintaining wellness (or how you have maintained your wellness) with the following topics. Somehow, through it all, you seem to be managing very well and if you have any wisdom to impart, I am positive that it would be greatly appreciated by the EZA community. - Sleep deprivation and Fatherhood, - Business operations during a recession. - Losing touch with a friend and close co-worker - National civil unrest in your area - Moving - Self quarantine and Pandemics - Lengthy COJ questions Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla
Morgan Mohalla
2020-08-13 02:02:12 +0000 UTCHey Jones, I just finished watching the Origami King review and I noticed that you added "If you're looking for more thoughts on paper mario check out Frame Trap for impressions..." I'm not sure if this is the first time this has been on a review, or if I'm just noticing it for the first time and as a fan of Frame Trap, I really like the addition because it could draw more eyes to the awesome podcast. My question is, can you maybe tweak the wording to something like "check out Frame Trap on the Easy Allies youtube channel"? I'm afraid some people watching won't immediately recognize that Frame Trap is another podcast that EZA produces, and when googling the phrase they will only find definitions of the FGC term, and videos explaining what a frame trap is. L&R Scott
Scott Kaplan
2020-08-11 23:30:11 +0000 UTCNobody is Easy Livin' in 2020, and I don't think Easy Allies should be expected to do this in the current year, but it would truly bum me out and feel like a deescalation of Easy Allies if yall were to get rid of the event entirely in future years or downgrade it to just being from the Studio. Jessieblu brought up a point I second above with maybe yall could do a temporary replacement for Easy Livin' this year if that was possible, but even if not I'd like to see something similar come back in some form in the future. It was always cited that you guys could never do a Freezie Livin' because end of the year is when lots of you go on vacation to go see your family or such, but what about the possibility of a Freezie Livin' in the summer! If yall were up in the mountains somewhere, I imagine whether the AC is working there or not would be much less of a problem, and even though this surely would result in a longer drive to the location, I imagine the location itself would have to be cheaper to rent than a beach house and more private to boot. Internet is the only thing I'm uncertain about, but I imagine the nicer houses up there have got to have decent internet. Now I know this still might not be exactly a fun break for you guys end of the day, moving equipment around, then playing 50 straight hours of games in a cabin or whatever together, but as mentioned before, yall do still get the end of the year off for yourselves. Really, if yall could just find a single place that works for the needs, I think it would become a much easier thing to setup in consecutive following years. While the morale of the team is of course important, and things like paternity leave or Damiani's cats will always come first, I know the community would appreciate the effort and the drive to provide a fun annual event to look forward to in the back half, even moreso in this future where E3 feels like way less of an event now. So maybe instead go chill out in the mountains playing video games for 50 hours at the end of each summer when / if the world bounces back with some Cozy Livin'™ ?
MBUN
2020-08-11 10:06:39 +0000 UTCHey Jones! I want to share my own personal view of easy allies, and see what you think. I feel almost resentful of you guys, and mostly for reasons that are out of your control. You guys used to be like a fun distraction from my day to day life, and were a kind of comfort. But with 2020 being the crazy whirlwind that it is, more social pressure has been put on the media we consume. Just look at Tiger King. If it didn't premier on the biggest streaming platform at the start of the pandemic, I don't think it would have been a huge deal. So more of people's lives are online, and people are worried and/or frustrated. The internet in general seems a bit more hostile than it did a couple of months ago. And with Kyle leaving and the stay at home order leaving the studio unoccupied, even this usually agreeable and cheery community feels more split than ever. It's also hard to just keep interest in something inherently frivolous. I think Dunkey said on a recent video something along the lines of, "It's hard being excited for cyberpunk 2077 when you don't know if you're going to be alive to play it." Kinda dark, but so's the world we're in right now. I don't realistically think there's much you can really do about this. I think I personally would appreciate a good Jones guided meditation at this point. Or maybe a temporary "good news" opening segment on the podcast or something. I may just have to take a break from the internet though. Anyway, thanks for indulging my rambling. Hope you're doing well, and I wish you luck if you do indeed end up moving. And happy first birthday to the lucky baby. -Quaznarg
Quaznarg
2020-08-11 06:57:35 +0000 UTCJones I don’t think any of us expected an Easy Living this year. Just keep your heads up over there in the states and I hope things turn a corner for all you guys there. Love from Australia
Diggles
2020-08-11 03:07:58 +0000 UTCKyle streams too long though, harder to plan.
Ibrahim Sozer
2020-08-11 01:10:50 +0000 UTCJones, I just wanted to say thank you for keeping me entertained during this pandemic and answering my questions. It can’t be easy dealing with everything what are some ways Easy Allies as a company can help the Allies deal with all this stress and uncertainty?
strawhatninja
2020-08-10 23:02:06 +0000 UTCYes, Twitch takes a larger cut than Patreon does. 5 bucks here is more than 5 Bucks on Twitch.
Olf Himself
2020-08-10 22:26:25 +0000 UTCquick question I am currently a patron but I also subscribe on Twitch. being that I don't use the emotes and you guys don't keep anything behind a paywall on Twitch I am wondering if you guys would get a better cut if I just moved the money from my twitch sub to increase my patreon level
Foxfire
2020-08-10 21:12:18 +0000 UTCWould you stay in charge of EZA if you one day lose interest in video games? I recently started losing interest in VGs for the first time which prompted this question
Swet T.
2020-08-10 20:12:38 +0000 UTCHello Jones. Last week EZA Patrons choosing to support Kyle’s streams as well was brought up for some reason which got me thinking - have you guys considered trying to not overlap your own streams with his? For now the people who watch EZA are the same people who watch Kyle, same as before he left, which means you’re splitting the viewer base when you stream at the same time. And, excuse me for being blunt, you guys are the ones coming out worse from that. From what I’ve seen streams that used to be in the 200-250 range can go down to as low as 80-90. It’s not strange for streamers who share large parts of their viewer base to plan their broadcast times accordingly. Is this something that’s worth considering or is the current stream schedule as it is because that’s the only way that fits in with your other duties?
Olf Himself
2020-08-10 18:15:47 +0000 UTCmy guess is the passion combined with a gap in the normal schedule of events, (i.e. not having to commute for 3 hours to get to the Studio on streaming days or not having a game to review in that immediate time).
JessieBlu
2020-08-10 18:12:22 +0000 UTCHi Jones, Might I suggest something similar to what you all did for EZX as a substitution for Easy Livin'? My additional comment would be to re-run the 8 (or whatever) hours of each day's streaming at night after the streams end so that the other time zones have the chance to see everything before the next day of streaming starts. Wouldn't want part of the community to miss out on the new MEMES! =) L&R Jessie Blu
JessieBlu
2020-08-10 18:10:33 +0000 UTCL&R
Rich J
2020-08-10 18:07:55 +0000 UTClol the outro, Jones don't worry about Easy Livin I think the majority of us understand how difficult it is to arrange something like that in current climate and also the costs involved and the toll it takes.
Rich J
2020-08-10 18:07:37 +0000 UTCoohhh! I would love to see this as the first hour or two of a "return to the studio" marathon stream with Monopoly =)
JessieBlu
2020-08-10 18:07:21 +0000 UTCHey Mr. Jones! The video about the history of Luminous Productions was a type of content I have been seriously missing from EZA. As I’ve had said several times, my favorite things EZA has ever done have all (for very understandable reasons) been cancelled or put on indefinite hold, two of the former being Retros and Game Sleuth. As you touched on in your opener, this is the type of thing that I’m not the only person who really enjoyed it, so I wanted to ask: Since these types of one-off videos are very sporadic and up to a given Ally’s discretion to make, what, if any, criteria are factored in to make these videos? Is it simply an Ally or multiple Allies’ passion for a topic enough to prioritize it over other projects, or does EZA factor in any metrics when determining if a video/show/stream/etc. is produced? Again, I loved the video and even if it will be many more months before another similar one is made, I can’t wait. Thanks as always for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day! QUESTION: Considering the Luminous Productions video, are there any criteria an Ally has in determining if any similar one-off videos get made? Does having passion for a particular topic or idea enough to justify in prioritizing said projects over more regular shows/streams, or does EZA also factor in other metrics such as hours needed to produce it, minimal desired view count, or something else entirely? I LOVED the video and as a fan of Game Sleuth and Retros, any similar feeling video is a delightful treat and I wanted to gauge what pushed this video to get made.
Brandon K Gann
2020-08-10 18:06:30 +0000 UTCHello Brandon. Some people though that Huber scored Fast & Furious Crossroads too high given his critique of the game. I thought this is a perfect excuse to ask you what each score actually means (in your opinion). You’ve already described your understanding of scores from 6 to 10 in your Ghost Recon Breakpoint impressions (https://youtu.be/vYyEZwlkmDY?t=1224), so can you please give similar descriptions for scores below 6? P.S. Maybe you should temporary remove fan mail address from easyallies.com or add a note that you currently don’t accept fan mail. Not everyone listens to the Cup of Jones and someone may spend their money trying to send you something.
Alexander Zyryanov
2020-08-10 17:03:29 +0000 UTC
