Cup of Jones - September 2, 2019
Added 2019-09-02 16:59:10 +0000 UTCIntroducing the new Cup of Jones! This show has evolved a lot since we first started this Patreon, and I think it’s in a good place. I want it to serve all types of viewers - people that want all the quick updates to our schedule, those that are waiting for answers to their questions, and others that just tune in to hear me ramble and occasionally rant. Special thanks to Chris and Joe, who always produce such jolly graphics for us, and will be working on even more in the coming weeks for other shows and streams. I’m going to start this episode by going through how the new Cup works, one last time. People already seem accustomed to the new format (only 2 personal questions!), but if you have any ideas about how to streamline it even more, never hesitate to throw them my way.
- Brandon
PERSONAL QUESTIONS
PARASITEPALADIN - Thank you for trying out Battle Cats! I assume all the ads made you stop playing it? I personally never went to the shop so I didn't think they were a problem. But everybody is different! JONES - It wasn’t the ads. I hit a big wall in terms of having the characters be a high enough level to proceed. But I made it to the “end” of the initial round of levels and loved it.
KARL WILLIAMS - Were you trying to show off your best Tiger Woods look in that photo? JONES - No, but if Milo wants to go Pro that’s okay with me. My folks love golf.
Comments
Hey Jones, To protect my PC from Power Outages, i have a surge protector that also has a battery in it. This is what it looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Back-UPS-BE650G1/dp/B005GZRUZW Products like this come in many shapes, sizes, prices, and voltages. May be worth looking into. L&R, Justin
Justin Loomis
2019-09-09 13:54:39 +0000 UTCHave you considered putting a watermark or lower third with information on interviews? A certain clip twitter of Damiani's last FFXIV E3 interview went "viral" and no way to see EZA itself in the clip. Now the person probably meant no ill-will asthey did include a link to the youtube vid in the tweet but seeing as they clipped out the video itself, who is going to bother to click that link or check out EZA or think that vid wasn't his? I know interviews aren't that common so it's not a huge current issue, but that viral clip might have done wonders for exposure.
Rappy
2019-09-09 02:13:28 +0000 UTCGood point.
Easy Allies
2019-09-08 20:17:26 +0000 UTCHi Cup of Jones, Would you consider at least allowing the option of users submitting their Community Showcase post through Google Forms? Even with the so called "safety post" my Community Showcase post was eaten by Patreon. I would rather forgo the ability to edit for not having to worry about it disappearing. If it was optional, people who prefer to submit here could still do so. Would you also consider allowing a Google Forms option for Cup Of Jones? I've had like 4 Cup of Jones questions eaten already.
Master Pantz
2019-09-08 19:20:38 +0000 UTCBusiness question: multiple podcasts and had issues with corrupted or lost audio files.. When are we getting a backup of some sort? It could be as simple as running a line to one of the cameras to record on them at the same time as whatever you're using now.
David Warren
2019-09-08 01:12:34 +0000 UTCPersonal question for yourself et al. Since you are making a concerted effort to downsize your cup from a venti to a tall. Plus, Mission to Zyxx is on break, and Harmontown is ending. I'm going to have a 3 or so hour gap per week in my daily commute to and from work. As you are the only one of those I have a direct line to, what are your podcast recommendations to fill said gap?
Kif
2019-09-07 08:43:53 +0000 UTCHey Jones maybe a weird question, maybe random, maybe been asked before. On this week’s podcast Huber said to Kyle something to the affect of “as some who doesn’t review...” - have I just never noticed that Kyle doesn’t review games? Or did I just hear Huber incorrectly? If that’s the case is it okay if I ask what he does in addition to moderating the easy allies podcast and box peek? Just a curiosity! L&R
Owen
2019-09-06 21:19:53 +0000 UTCHey Jones, I'm gonna ask a question that's been biting at me for a while but I've avoided asking because I didn't like the optics, but here it goes. You have oftentimes given the answer that certain shows do or don't happen simply because a particular Ally, or the Allies as a whole, don't want to do it; recent examples of this include Final Bosman and Top Tens, but you also acknowledge the value those shows could add to EZA. At what point does an Ally's, or the Allies', desire to not do a show get outweighed by the known increase creating said show would have on the Patreon numbers? Thus far it would seem the answer is never, but I'm curious if you have a more detailed answer for us Patrons. Granted, you have no fiduciary duty to the Patrons, you don't have to regularly try to grow EZA, you owe us no reports or even answers to any questions as we are free to leave any time. That said, the Allies do owe a duty to each other to do everything they can do grow the business, as it is an LLC and you're all considered managers of the company, so I return to the above question, and add when do you tell an Ally you /have/ to do this whether you want to or not for the good of the company? Love and Respect!
Joseph La Russa
2019-09-06 17:53:16 +0000 UTCUnfortunately, Matt lives about 2500 miles away now, so it would be totally dependent on him coming back to town for other reasons. -Bloodworth
Easy Allies
2019-09-06 07:20:54 +0000 UTCHi Jones, Is phase 4 bingeable? Ok joke aside, during the last Cup of Jones you expressed some concern about being loopy in the podcast. Why do you think that is a bad thing? Do any of the other 8 Allies feel the same? would you rather lean more to an "all-business, no-nonsense" podcast? I personally found that episode, particularly that Sims related game so funny that I regretted listening to it while doing some chores around the house rather than watching it on YouTube. L&R
AsGenesis
2019-09-05 20:05:44 +0000 UTCHey Jones, hear me out. A group stream, the game is Blair Witch. And the guest is... Matt Blair!
Sergey P.
2019-09-05 18:21:26 +0000 UTCBusiness Question: Do you guys have a policy against taking paid worked from game publishers and developers? When I see other channels doing things where clearly they are being paid to take about a game. I inherently have issues with trusting them after that and would not like to see the allies fall into that camp. Sure they can say they are still impartial until they are blue in the face but companies would only do those deals with people who they do not fear will speak badly about them.
Joe Frantik
2019-09-05 05:53:04 +0000 UTCBusiness question: Mr. Jones, Could you try to quantify what influences EZA company decisions? Is it 50/50 audience/Allies? Is it 51% Brand manager 49% everything else? Does the amount a Patron funds the company equate to any amount of influence? If it is an even split democracy like I think it is, could the Allies form a majority clique that controls the unfortunate minority? Is there a fail safe for such an event? PS: Please reconsider personal comments being read on the show. It adds a lot of personality and entertainment.
Morgan Mohalla
2019-09-05 01:02:22 +0000 UTCHi Jones, the teases on twitter and facebook have really improved lately, so i just wanna say great job! Here is my related question: Why do you still not have a Instagram page? You can link your Instagram with Facebook and only post it once and thick 'copy to instagram'. It literally is only 1 click and you'll touch a whole audience that is on Instagram. A lot of people have moved from facebook to Instagram so this is the logic step. I know you said in the past noone wants to take care of the instagram page, but again... you can just copy the content teough Facebook automatically. Other question (i havent asked a lot in quite a while :p ): What is the next investment you guys are looking into for the future? Thanks
Sven Van Lathem
2019-09-04 19:40:44 +0000 UTCHey Jones, Do you think the podcast length will creep again? You would know better than me, but I get the impression that there's a fair few people who are very active in the Cup of Jones question asking community, some of whom probably ask you a question almost every week. Do you think a lot of people will still want to be read "on air," and the people who would have asked personal questions will now just ask business questions? Just so my intentions don't get misinterpreted, I don't think it's bad that so many people want to be part of this community, and engage in this show. I just think it could be tricky to cut down on length with so many people wanting to engage with you
Quaznarg
2019-09-04 16:41:52 +0000 UTCSave comment
Varun Kachhwaha
2019-09-04 10:22:29 +0000 UTCHi Jones, my comment is actually an extension of the discussion Alexander started, so if possible I would prefer it to be discussed next to his comment. Thank you. I was going to write something like you did, but your previous comment excellently summarised exactly what I was thinking. I don’t think you come across as selfish at all, and I’m sure Jones did not intend for it to come across that way. Most of the time I am much too busy to watch the whole video, or even write the question so far in advance, even if I have the question in mind already. I can't watch it all live, Evenings in the weekend are always busy, or watch it all at once, they are quite long. So, knowing exactly where my question is really helps. I could be skimming through it knowing my question is after x comment, or before x comment. It's a massive help and helps me save so much time when I would otherwise be busy with something else. Usually when I ask a question I look forward to the answer, it’s natural to care more about the question you have asked. So I’m usually impatient and want to know the answer to that first and then listen to the rest another time. I am a constant worrier, and this extends to me editing my question so many times after I submit because I always miss something or word something weird. Even after my edits I still miss something or word something badly. The ability to edit my submission was another thing that was massively helpful. Both going really makes me think that submitting to the Q&A just might seem like more trouble than it should be. And I know the goal is to go through the all the questions. But I also know that if your question is below approximately 20 other questions then the chances are that your comment will not get read. I don’t mind Google Forms, I just need the ability to edit my comment and view the other comments/ where it lies in those comments. I think it makes everything a lot more convenient, and this seems like a backwards step. I have edited this comment 5 times already.
Varun Kachhwaha
2019-09-04 10:22:15 +0000 UTCHeya Jones, OK, so if Phase 4 of Easy Allies was Pippin, would it choose fire or family?
Asbo Zappruder
2019-09-04 04:43:59 +0000 UTCJones I have a question about the guests you get on your shows. I know you have gotten Ash and Rogersbase recently, so do they get paid for appearing or how does that work?
strawhatninja
2019-09-04 00:20:56 +0000 UTCHello Brandon. I hope your have a good day. I wanted to ask about the Group Selection Committee. I know your not in charge, but the whole process feels a bit messy. The process of nominating the games is odd as when thinking up games a person doesn't know what the people streaming are looking for. An idea, what if you had a way to categorize the game for the period. Like for example in October the category which people could horror games, or christmas games for winter. Then always other ways like this group stream will be about this system games or this type of games. Then you do that and can move on. I think it would give the patreon's at that level more guidance in knowing what games to nominate based on what game the people streaming would be looking to play.
Mr.V
2019-09-04 00:13:07 +0000 UTCI love all of the new group streams, but I now have the issue where there is too much EZA content for me to reasonably enjoy, so unfortunately I don't benefit much from these exciting additions. I know it's been mentioned before, but the revival of something like EZA Clips would really be the only way I could enjoy the new content. Less of a question, more of a comment - thanks Jones! - B-Ray
Brandon Ray
2019-09-03 23:17:33 +0000 UTC+1 for the new Jazz
Mac
2019-09-03 22:44:33 +0000 UTCFirst time writing in, it's a question that popped into my head with the discussion of the upcoming Man of Medan stream. How do you justify streaming the entirety of a story heavy game? Do you ever worry that it will lead to others not buying the game when they can watch y'all play the story? I don't feel that strongly about it either way at the moment and am looking forward to the Medan stream, just wanted to get your thoughts.
Tanner Hoisington
2019-09-03 21:30:02 +0000 UTCI was going to write something like you did, but your previous comment excellently summarised exactly what I was thinking. I don’t think you come across as selfish at all, and I’m sure Jones did not intend for it to come across that way. Most of the time I am much too busy to watch the whole video, or even write the question so far in advance, even if I have the question in mind already. I can't watch it all live, Evenings in the weekend are always busy, or watch it all at once, they are quite long. So, knowing exactly where my question is really helps. I could be skimming through it knowing my question is after x comment, or before x comment. It's a massive help and helps me save so much time when I would otherwise be busy with something else. Usually when I ask a question I look forward to the answer, it’s natural to care more about the question you have asked. So I’m usually impatient and want to know the answer to that first and then listen to the rest another time. I am a constant worrier, and this extends to me editing my question so many times after I submit because I always miss something or word something weird. Even after my edits I still miss something or word something badly. The ability to edit my submission was another thing that was massively helpful. Both going really makes me think that submitting to the Q&A just might seem like more trouble than it should be. And I know the goal is to go through the all the questions. But I also know that if your question is below approximately 20 other questions then the chances are that your comment will not get read. I don’t mind Google Forms, I just need the ability to edit my comment and view the other comments/ where it lies in those comments. I think it makes everything a lot more convenient, and this seems like a backwards step. I have edited this comment 5 times already.
Varun Kachhwaha
2019-09-03 16:01:27 +0000 UTCSorry, did I say gambling mechanics? I meant SURPRISE mechanics. 😁
Natsu
2019-09-03 13:59:08 +0000 UTCWith NBA 2k20 being rated E for everyone and being littered with gambling games and mechanics via loot boxes, games of chance, and LITERAL slot machines, I was wondering at what age do you plan on introducing Milo to these things, and at what age do you think he will be before he steals your credit card and spends your family's life savings on loot boxes and slot machines in an effort to get Lebron on his team? Since the ESRB says that any age is perfectly fine to aquire a crippling lifelong gambling addiction, would you, as a new father, start now or wait a couple of years before you get Milo hooked?
Natsu
2019-09-03 13:54:23 +0000 UTCHey Jones, Not a Question, more a follow-up to the Mobile Friendly Website Question. While I completely understand the "investing money into the website right now isn't going to help the business", Let's focus on the new shows, I really want to get out ahead of the thought that "the website being good to use on mobile is a personal preference" comment you made. The number of people accessing the internet solely via a mobile device is increasing year on year, and WARC released a report in January projecting that it will be 72% of all internet users by 2025. The comment addressed several usability issues and looking myself I agree that it's not great. Again, I totally get it's not the priority, but it is important that websites work well on mobile platforms in 2019 and beyond.
Harrison Holt-McHale
2019-09-03 11:24:58 +0000 UTCWould you guys want to do game streams with other people outside of EZA I'd be totally down for it
Sekiro505
2019-09-03 03:37:27 +0000 UTCLoved the new graphics, Jones, and glad CoJ is getting shorter with fewer mid-stream rants =)
JessieBlu
2019-09-02 23:59:16 +0000 UTCHello from Melbourne, Australia!! How are things progressing with the "Office Manager" position? As Phase 4 continues with more streams being in the studio with several of you together, I'm thinking the need for a more "9-5" position that is in the studio on a consistent schedule (perhaps part time hours based on your business needs) is going to be increasingly important, so you can ensure that everything is running smoothly when the regular allies come in to do their thing. What other duties are you thinking this person will do? I'm thinking business administration functions, like making sure you have facilities working, consumabkes are restocked, perhaps a receptionist to greet guests as the become a more a regular thing.
Matthew Borg
2019-09-02 22:10:09 +0000 UTCI'll let Jones get to the meat of your question, but as mentioned in a previous episode, the emphasis isn't really about streaming more, it's just about shifting how we stream. Rather than everyone streaming individually from home, our streams are more focused on coming in to the studio to stream together. Whether that amounts to more or less time streaming overall isn't really the goal. -Bloodworth
Easy Allies
2019-09-02 19:04:06 +0000 UTCNice new graphics!
navyblueprince
2019-09-02 18:50:41 +0000 UTCWith the focus on streams for phase 4 was there any consideration on how much income is generated from steams through subscriptions and ad views etc or is this figure so insignificant compared to Patreon it wasn’t thought of during the discussions?
Owen D-J
2019-09-02 18:43:29 +0000 UTCHey Mr. Jones! I love the Pokemon Silver stream and I’ve decided to have my own playthrough following along, stopping when you both do, doing the same things (but picking different pokemon!), etc. And I was curious if you’d be willing to have a little list of “Things you missed,” a small list of observations to point out about the world/game, not to go back and see/pick up, but for example, in this first part, the list would only be: * You missed a Potion on the first route to the North of the second grass patch you ever walk in. * Did you see the man on the island in CherryGrove? * If your game was set during the morning or day, you missed Sentret, Weedle, Kakuna, Pidgey, and Ledyba. * The two men on the route west of Violet have something for you! The top guy is a special day character and will give you a hold item powering up Rock moves, while the guy at the bottom will give you a TM once you clear the “wiggly” tree. * You skipped the Ruins of Alph, a small contained area to the west of Violet. * You can see your Pokemon's stats without backing out in the menu. When you're viewing a Pokemon's info, just hit up or down on the d-pad. * In the spot you found the hidden Great Ball right above the Pokemon Center, one of the seven day people sits there and also gives you a hold item. Again, this is not something to go back and see, and would ONLY be provided once you’ve past said points (So you see I haven’t said anything about the future except what you’ve seen), just notes to give more insight into the world. I’m pretty sure the answer is no, but I thought I’d ask. Regardless, thanks for reading (even if you don’t answer. I THINK this is business, but I can see how you can consider this personal), and I love the stream (minus the 20 boring minutes wasted looking for a Pokemon that actually has a 1/1000 appearance rate, not 1/100, yet appeared in the very first fight in stream 2. What a moment.)! Have a wonderful rest of your day and Cheers! P.S. I LOVE the new Cup graphics and intros!! QUESTION: Would you be willing to have a small list of observations on things you missed while playing Silver for every following stream (for example, you missed an item on the first route, what pokemon you missed out on catching, and characters that will give you items on the route west of Violet) ONLY for the purposes of, “Oh, ok. Cool. Not going back to that, but that’s neat to know.” to coincide with the fan art suggestion?
Brandon K Gann
2019-09-02 17:50:03 +0000 UTCJones, just want to say that I love the new abundance of mid-day streams for the east coast patrons. It's a big deal to me and those streams are much appreciated!
TravelingSnowman
2019-09-02 17:48:59 +0000 UTCThanks for answering my question. I want to clarify my point about watching answer only to my question – I didn’t mean that I’m watching only this part of Q&A, I watch only this part of Q&A live and I watch the whole stream later. And I want to reserve the spot because I have to go to sleep soon after you begin. Also I have a couple suggestions for Google Forms: 1. Share the view-only link to the table, where submissions are stored. Especially if you plan to use this method for Community Showcase. 2. Consider enabling editing of submission if you aren’t doing this already. This video shows how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7e1SlN-t50 P.S. Sorry if this causes too much trouble and takes too much of your attention. My goal was to inform you about my perspective, not to make Easy Allies revolve around myself. Looks like I failed in communicating that.
Alexander Zyryanov
2019-09-02 17:39:17 +0000 UTCHello Jones. Request for future Q&A streams: Please start the stream then wait like 5 minutes or so before starting with questions. This allows not only the email notification to go out but also Patreon itself to update. Several times I've been sitting and F5ing Patreon and still somehow missed the first question.
Olf Himself
2019-09-02 17:04:58 +0000 UTCHey Jones, No questions from me this week, but just wanted to bring attention to the ViewSonic sponsor. I was in need of a new monitor and remembered ViewSonic sponsors you guys, so I bought a new monitor from ViewSonic… it not their Elite brand, but it’s ViewSonic… just wanted to let them know the sponsorship works. That is all I wanted to say. I was going to post this last week (the week I actually bought the monitor), but it slipped my mind and I thought it was not all that important… but wanted to get this off of my chest lol. During the week I had another question and I am just going to edit it in… BUSINESS: Actually, I have one small and quick question and was not sure where to place it (I would guess Business). Do you guys have a ViewSonic sponsorship link or something? It will most likely be useless to me now, but I was just curious (but now that I think about it, being in Canada might make that link pointless away xD). Also, I am just curious… what is up with the schedule on the website? It is showing some ridiculous uploading times for me then only to have the show I am looking at posted a day before and at a more appropriate time. For example: On the website the podcast for me says it will be up on Saturday at 2 a.m., but will then be posted on Friday around 3 p.m. my time!? I also just noticed something similar with Weekly Hunts this week. It was very confusing hearing Ben go on about weekly hunts later in the day during the FFVIII Remastered stream and the website was (at the time) telling me it was happen on Friday. This is not a big issue for me really, it only becomes a bit of problem with the live shows. This is just something I was curious about, if it is an issue that cannot be fixed no worries.
SoulCaster
2019-09-02 17:03:18 +0000 UTC
