So it's been about a month of Giant Bomb on Lockdown - what does everyone think?

Yeah, much of the solo stuff just isn't for me. I've given it a shot, but most of the games the staff have latched onto just aren't terribly interesting or exciting for me in these long play formats. Appreciate the variety Jeff always brings. I still love the group stuff and things like The Hotspot. Bums me out to hear the staff appears to be burning out some when I'm watching more old videos than I ever have before.

@themizener445: I imagine it’s their home life and just dealing with the current situation that is wearing them down more so than work as their individual schedules aren’t that grueling. Dealing with small kids all day while trying to get work done is tough. I’ve been working regular 8 hour days remotely from home since March and just having a pet that is now constantly wanting your attention can be tiring - kids.. man I can’t even imagine.

Thanks for doing this because it's exactly what I wanted and felt would back up my point in my posts, I'm just too lazy and dumb to do it.

I know if you think everyone is doing their own videos here that might not seem like much, but it adds up overall big time. I also think being on camera for that long is also a drain in a way people don't think about, especially if you do have kids running around your house.

@plan6: I also get that it isn't just easy to do it but they have been doing it with some of the staff for a while now. If they can't do it, the answer isn't to fix it but instead twitch stream all day? It just doesn't work for anyone. It's not GB.

Also I think its a bummer someone had to come in and say "Staff Lazy". I for sure was not saying that, don't let one person troll and derail the thread.

As I'm saying I think it's becoming more work for everyone overall. I would take much less output but focused stuff.

@development: sorry if you're already aware, but qlcrew.com is great for staff filtering and more. I do wish GB would add a lot of features like it on the site but gave up on expecting that a while ago.

Most of the time I don't think well intentioned folk aren't trying to say anyone is lazy here. It's like that effect of having a friend that is a construction worker that tars roofs in the summer who you meet up for a beer after work and tell them "man I had 3 meetings today back to back, work has been exhausting!" and he gives you that "give me a break.." sort of look. I think everyone can agree that they are doing a stellar job of putting up content on the site, regardless of how much you enjoy each individual piece of content. Thankfully there is enough variety that I think everyone can find at least one thing they like. I don't find the Nancy Drew games engaging at all but I really liked the Dead Space playthrough, and I've heard people say the exact opposite so pleasing everyone is absolutely impossible.

The lockdown content is fantastic and I can't praise Giantbomb enough for their efforts.
I'm not going to share my "favorite streams" but safe to say there are some I love and some I don't
which is how it always is. I enjoy some of the solo stuff and pretty much all the group stuff.

Honestly I wouldn't mind if Giantbomb stayed this way post-pandemic (if we get there).

Keep in mind those video numbers are slightly inflated, since sometimes they'll do an Astroneering or Minecraft stream, and when they post the VODs they'll put up different videos for each person's perspective. Nonetheless, yeah, the video content posted by GB during April/May/June of this year is pretty staggering compared to years past, whether you're looking at total number of videos or total hours.

I had to cancel my premium membership this month for financial reasons and its made me fall off GB completely.

Other than the odd QL most of the free content is solo and that’s just not what I’m here for, even if I were it’s the same stuff over and over which is a drag. I’d love if they’d do less live streams and shift to more recorded group videos. Like UPF, I get that would be hard to do live remotely but maybe a recorded format would work for it? You know, bring some variety back to the site?

That said, I want the crew to do what they want to do, focus on what interests them, and find a healthy balance between work and home life. My feelings on site content are so insignificant compared to the stress they must be under these days.

Some of the best content on the site.

The Bombcast has greatly improved as well for some reason.

The only thing I watch is the minecraft stream, I’ve been absolutely bored to tears by the solo stuff. The podcasts are still good, but they’re podcasts. I have no idea why anyone would want to *watch* one.

I never watch live because I’m in the UK and I work so whenever I would have the chance to watch it’s either Jason playing something I have no interest in or Alex trucking which again, no interest in.

I’m also pretty bothered by the fact that not everything is being archived? I didn’t even know until I read this thread and looking at the twitch archive there’s some stuff that actually sounds interesting, but the fact that I had no idea it was there, no way to know when they’re doing it and have to go to an entirely different website to watch is actually pretty fucking annoying.

@planetfunksquad: yup I had zero clue about chunks of content not even being posted on the site, ugh. It explains why I practically never see Brad stuff in the archives.

@planetfunksquad: Stuff isn't being archived? Why on earth would they do that?

@csl316: Forget who talked about it (want to say Jan?) but there have been thoughts to declutter the youtube page. Which presumably extends to the "chaos" of the site that people are complaining about in this very thread.

It is kind of interesting to see the complaints range from (obviously oversimplifying) "GB makes too much content" to "I don't like all of the content GB is making". Which ironically both have the same solution of "Watch what you like, ignore what you don't, and fuck fomo"

The more interesting, and concerning, topic is burnout but I do wonder how much is the extended taping schedule versus... everything going on in the world. Whether that is the difficulty of WFH for most of us (there is a reason I applied for jobs with physical offices and mostly defined work hours) or being made aware of the systematic abuse pervasive in everything and having to figure out how to address that.

But one thing that I don't think has been brought up in this thread: A lot of companies are going to be looking to "trim the fat" as time goes on and many never had a culture of WFH until 2020. If you can very clearly say that every employee is responsible for X, Y, and Z and is irreplaceable because only they can do that job, it makes things a lot easier when those conversations start. Which may be why there is a focus on having each staff member do solo streams and trying to appeal more toward the twitch side of things.

Something that Vinny mentioned on the last Beastcast was something that I've personally dealt with too as a WFH parent, which could be contributing to the burned-out feeling. Because your kids are stuck at home too and not in school, even if you take "vacation" time off from work, you're still in the noisy house all day and it's going to be hard to truly decompress much at all. So you're in a situation where you're stressed out all the time, you need a break, and you don't really have a realistic prospect of getting much of one for the foreseeable future.

Citation needed.

@nicolasvh: lunch and 10 min breaks are literally required to be part of work hours in both NY and CA.

Also that post is not a “troll post” as someone said.

I missed the post about the crew not having a hard job and I can’t help but laugh at it. After almost two decades of office work, pretty much everyone I know has a hard job in some way or another. I mean sure, their job is pretty great. But also I don’t see putting on internet TV show all week as any easier than my work at a law firm.

But the other thing I learned in two decades was that there is always someone saying “BLANK has a pretty easy job. How much do they really do in a day?”

PS: Also down time is important at the job. Everyone needs that time to catch up on all the shit that doesn’t fit neatly into the work flow. You know, those HR emails and other stuff.

Given all that is going on in the world, they are doing great. I actually feel like we saw Jeff on Beastcast more and Vinny on Bombcast during COVID. That was a nice perk, right?

Moreover, I think it demonstrated that they CAN do podcast and other things at a lower fidelity and people will still love it! A little flying by the "seat-of-the-pants" is good for everyone. I think that when Giant Bomb is at its best look when they are just talking with each other.

I am really digging them doing game streams too. So, if they continued with less written reviews and more game streams I'd accept that too. The written material I do engage with and read every week is Marino's (Brad Lynch) 'Community Spotlight'. In addition, I dig the reviews from other people on the site . I enjoy when "lists" people make are shown off. Writing isn't dead, but just who and what that writing is about has changed....I do not need reviews. The world is getting past that.

Amazing! I just would love more Nancy <3

My wife and I love the content. Alex's streams, in particular, are a bright spot in these dark days. It's fun to set up multiple windows for the Minecraft streams, too. I've also really enjoyed having three video podcasts, since it's uplifting to see people crack up rather than just hearing it. My wife particularly loves Clue Crew, because of the sibling-esque Abby/Alex dynamic. That chill Jeff Trackmania / music stream I caught the other night was hypnotic.

There are some streams I don't tune in for, and a few - Bloodborne Identity - I've fallen off of because I want to consume them in order. But I'm grateful for everything the crew's doing, and doubly so during these hellish times. I'll welcome more Quick Looks if the world ever pivots back to something resembling the era before, but hope some of the current content continues. Especially video Beastcast...and maybe drum streams every few weeks at least.

I've also been going back through the archives on Quick Looks, but that's more because Ryan's been on the mind of late.

Love me some trucking, Pokemon, and Minecraft <3

Would have never thought I would see competitive Pokemon being played on Giant Bomb. Jan's the man.

Theyre doing a great job imo.

Seems to me like theres more videocontent coming out then theres ever been?

And I absolutely adore the new hotspot podcast.

Yeah I definitely get that. But boy, seeing a bunch more solo streams since I posted this so lol. Man I hope they switch things up finally its such a fucking bummer right now.

He’s basing this off of a minnmax interview you can find on YouTube that Dan did shortly after leaving GB where he says one of the driving forces for wanting to go to a new job was that he felt like he wasn’t fully challenged after being at GB for a while so he wanted to try something new to push himself more.

He is still making an assumption though off of that interview

The HotSpot has been great and the Giant Bombcast is always solid. Otherwise, watching the staff be streamers isn't what I come to Giant Bomb for. If they start making more produced content for premium subscribers I'll stick with it, otherwise I'll let it lapse until they get back in the studio.