Patreon is killing ad based sites. Hell it could kill the escapist as we saw with Jim. I feel this will be a weird five years for a lot of this types of sites.Vault101 said:
A Plethora of Content Producers Leave Channel Awesome
- Thread starter soren7550
- Start date
I remember back in University for the first few years watching a lot of TGWTG content to break the grind of studying. Video games would take to much time, but I could load up a video while studying then watch a show, then go back to studying. Of course, that wasn't exactly how it went as time went on.
Speaking from my experiences, I just fell out of the channel over time, as most of them seemed to be just reviewers screaming half the time, doing really childish stuff that after a while just got super annoying. The only one I watch from time to time is Angry Joe, but he might be his own thing at this point. I stayed with the Weekly Manga Recap guys for a while, but not anymore.
Another thing for me is after University, I started offshore work, where I would be gone for weeks at a time. This means that if I really wanted to keep up, I would have to come home then catch up on 5 weeks worth of stuff. Instead of watching those guys, I can probably find that movie on a boat, then watch it and get more entertainment mocking it myself.
Still sad to see an old friend break up like that though.
Speaking from my experiences, I just fell out of the channel over time, as most of them seemed to be just reviewers screaming half the time, doing really childish stuff that after a while just got super annoying. The only one I watch from time to time is Angry Joe, but he might be his own thing at this point. I stayed with the Weekly Manga Recap guys for a while, but not anymore.
Another thing for me is after University, I started offshore work, where I would be gone for weeks at a time. This means that if I really wanted to keep up, I would have to come home then catch up on 5 weeks worth of stuff. Instead of watching those guys, I can probably find that movie on a boat, then watch it and get more entertainment mocking it myself.
Still sad to see an old friend break up like that though.
That might be partly the case, but I think Doug was really just done with the Nostalgia Critic and reviews in general and was crushed when demo real didn't work out and he had to go back to it. I mean he has been using the melody of Queen's "the show must go on" as his outro music since then and that song screams "I don't want to do this":Armadox said:
"The Show must go on!
The Show must go on!
Inside my heart is breaking,
My make-up may be flaking,
But my smile, still, stays on!"
Which might also be why his reviews seem so bitter now...
At least Maven can be found here: http://chezapocalypse.com/Darks63 said:
The others you could just follow on blip.
Lupa had this sort of nasally, deep voiced way of speaking in a lot of her clips. I can't really describe it other than it sounded sort of like....actually I don't know, just odd. It was distracting and annoying to me. Maybe it was simply a combination of her natural voice and the quality of her recording equipment, but the end result just annoyed me.Queen Michael said:
As for Phelous' behaviour, in the few clips of his that I could sit through for a few seconds, he did a lot of this over exaggerated eye rolling, and super sarcastic, ironic tone to his voice. It was just annoying. I don't know if this was his normal way of behaving in his clips, maybe I just had bad luck to find the ones where he behaved like this, but it just annoyed the shit out of me. Most of my exposure to him are from the Channel Awesome movies they did, and not from his specific show, but the few bits I did watch, annoyed me. Granted, it was only a few moments of any clip, because his voice really does annoy the piss out of me that much. But if his behavior in the official movies they did is a reasonable representation of his average work, I don't like it, and find it annoying.
You know people here are lot more reasoned than the people over on the actual CA forum. They are all leaping to random conclusions and playing a very extended blame game with only one side's testimony. I'm actually kind of shocked because I came here for more snark than I'm seeing. I dunno how to feel really...
I'm going to miss Lupa and especially Phelous. Though I'll never miss either of them together...such a terrible duo on camera for some reason.
These two and Spoony are the only people who have left the site that had content I truly enjoyed. Not to say that it's a big deal at all. Simply favorite their personal sites and continue to enjoy what they post.
The other producers mentioned weren't my cup of tea. No big loss.
The site as a whole still has a promising future though. Several of the new content creators have been wonderful especially when going through their history of content prior to the site. Some of the NEWER ones I'd recommend are:
- The Horror Guru
- Good Hook
- Ross's Game Dungeon
- What we had to watch
- The Yomarz Show
- Blood splattered Cinema
These two and Spoony are the only people who have left the site that had content I truly enjoyed. Not to say that it's a big deal at all. Simply favorite their personal sites and continue to enjoy what they post.
The other producers mentioned weren't my cup of tea. No big loss.
The site as a whole still has a promising future though. Several of the new content creators have been wonderful especially when going through their history of content prior to the site. Some of the NEWER ones I'd recommend are:
- The Horror Guru
- Good Hook
- Ross's Game Dungeon
- What we had to watch
- The Yomarz Show
- Blood splattered Cinema
A lot of people are demanding that Doug Walker making a statement on the issue, even though he had little or nothing to do with the situation. More are accusing him of being some kind of complete asshole. It hasn't broken down into White Knights Vs More White Knights yet but it is starting to lean that way. Loads of people talk about having pestered one side or the other on social media rather than just letting the people actually involved handle their business.Queen Michael said:
There are a lot of long running arguments that are just speculation or at worst demands to be given answers, which will comes I assure anyone that cares just not instantly. Some other people who have left over the years are getting really vocal and hostile on social media, the person in question has a history of whiping the forums up by sending followers to basically troll the site but that hasn't happened this time as of yet.
From what I can tell the majority of the issue is from the over the head of the Channel Awesome Mike Michaud (apparently) being a colossal dick and the clear favoritism shown to Doug Walker's productions in Chicago. He is the both the most popular member of and most recognized member of CA so it just makes sense he'd get better treatment but from the testimony of Allison (Lupa) it seems that it goes beyond the norm for such a situation.
Overall it is like any other forum but with a really bitter edge to it currently and the mood doesn't seem to be improving. I doubt that this is the end of the site in any way but a nice strong hit on the fans for sure.
It is more the Phelous/Lupa side that left, Andy Dickman is also featured on their personal site so I'm assuming he left to show kinship. From what I can tell Lindsay was planning to leave on her own for numerous reasons. Not sure of those though, I'm not normally into site gossip unless it ends up becoming the only thing anyone wants to talk about.Nieroshai said:
I feel, after going over their posts partly but mostly based on the Spoony Incident, that Doug doesn't really get to make decisions on the channel. I don't know much about Rob, but the owner of CA has definitely shown far more animosity towards contributors than Doug ever has. The Spoony Incident, though, reminds me of something: firstly, that even Noah doesn't blame Doug for it, and second, that Lupa is now in Spoony's shoes (minus nasty heart disease/bipolar combo I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies) and yet she still takes the time in her farewell address to go "Poor me!" about the twit-storm that supposedly led to Spoony's banishment. Based on these recent developments in particular, I wonder if it was the popularity of Spoony's own site that was at least partly the issue and a mental disorder-related outburst in the wake of an anniversary special that pissed EVERYONE off was just an excuse to let him go without fanbase fuss.nyarlathotepsama said:
All things must come to an end some day. Like many others I just grew out of their videos; The content wasn't anything new or refreshing and the humor didn't appeal to me anymore. Spoony was indeed my favorite. It's sad to see all of them go like this. What's most interesting is that they are leaving for almost the same reasons: They don't like the business direction that Channel Awesome is taking post TBF. It become far too strict where people should be in order to be supported, i.e. Chicago.
I'll remember their content fondly, and I hope they have good luck in their future endeavors.
This makes me want to watch the SWAT 4 vids again.
I'll remember their content fondly, and I hope they have good luck in their future endeavors.
This makes me want to watch the SWAT 4 vids again.
I feel mostly the same. I don't blame Lupa for being upset though, if her story is even half true it is pretty disheartening. I like Doug, not just the characters he plays and not even just his personality but what he represented. His site used to be a place of just pure creative joy with friends working together to make content and pool resources to some degree or other. I think though, like in most popular communities, money started become a factor. A lot of people saw Doug as an inspiration so after he quit his time to be the NC full time other people followed that example leading to a lot of folks just not being able to get the revenue required support a decent lifestyle. Not everyone has the cult of personality to make reviewing their full time job, sadly I'm one of the idiots who tried this at one point. It didn't go well. I'm so personally embarrassed of my videos I not only took them down from my channel but deleted the files two hard-drives ago. I'd have burned them but I didn't want the fines.Nieroshai said:
I think Spoony is doing better than the majority of CA producers because of patreon, which should be the "industry" standard instead of ads, it just works out better if recent information is to be believed.
patreon I think is another factor in this. it has been so much easier for people to make money on the web because of it. it cut out the middle me, gives content creators more power on the web and it much easier for them to leave places they don't like. We saw the same thing with Jim.nyarlathotepsama said:
I almost forgot about Jim! I'd go so far as to say it is a massive game changer and that a lot of similar sites are seeing the same effects as we did with Jim. I personally prefer the patreon system, well obviously, for the reasons you stated. It is going to be an interesting year for internet based shows me thinks.tf2godz said:
its an interesting concept and has definitely had an effect on content producers but I wouldn't call it the next big thing yet, relying solely on goodwill might not always worktf2godz said:
Lindsey left because she needed to move on and stopped being "Nostalga chick" long before she gave up the name, Oancitizen because of creative differences...he didn't see the need for CANieroshai said:
I think Todd is still there and Chez contributors Stuff you like and needs more gay have actually joined CA
The whole thing bugs me. I didn't know about the politics behind the scenes, and from what I've heard, it's none too pleasant. This is why I hate it when reality interferes with my interests...
It feels like the "internet review" craze is dying down, and all this just leaves me feeling depressed...
I wonder if it's time to move on from the site and just start watching my favorite reviewers on Blip or their own sites... (of the newer CA reviewers, I recommend checking out Calluna, SF Debris, and Some Jerk With a Camera. They at least are worth a look)
It feels like the "internet review" craze is dying down, and all this just leaves me feeling depressed...
I wonder if it's time to move on from the site and just start watching my favorite reviewers on Blip or their own sites... (of the newer CA reviewers, I recommend checking out Calluna, SF Debris, and Some Jerk With a Camera. They at least are worth a look)