Ain't no amount of Taking a Short break screens that could keep me away from some classic TC content. Great topic as y'all usually host. Also, would love to hear Steven do his country dialect, I love dialects and some deep American country is awesome, so long as he's actually genuinely enjoy it.
As someone running a small RU-vid channel, this conversation resonates strongly with me. I’m just a dude who likes card games and I don’t ever want to be anything but that. My goal isn’t to be the biggest channel ever, but to try to find other people like me who simply like playing limited formats. I feel people set out to create something with a vision in mind and fall into a trap of thinking growth is a measure of their success. Achieving your vision will most likely bring you some level of growth, but you can gain fame/money/influence and still not achieve your vision. For this reason I think growth is an unreliable metric for determining success in meeting your goals.
Re phones. I've been on a journey with my phone and minimising my phone screen time (2-8hrs per day, mostly between youtube & chrome) with the aim of doing more of the things that bring me joy. On new years day 2024 I bought a some-what smart phone, dumb enough to stop me from using it too much but clever enough to use spotify, whatsapp & mobile banking (if anyones interested it was the CAT S22). I survived for 10 weeks with that phone until it quickly ran out of space, but my phone screen time went down to 30 mins per day. Some days this phone slowed to a crawl, so much so I would resort to my old phone to perform mobile banking tasks and the like. On March 21st 2024, I bought myself a Unihertz Jelly Star for it's quicker processor while maintaining a small form factor and keeping me from checking youtube for a distraction. This small change in my life, starting with the question 'What makes me happy?' and the answer being 'definitely not the 2-8hrs a day I spend on my phone', has led to an interesting year so far. Love your philosophical dives. Keep it up #roadto5k
Steven was thinking of Tom Scott, who is a very genuine seeming creator. Also, Sphere is a fun movie with some interesting ideas. I really enjoy it. However, it has to be admitted that it has a lot of flaws. Its based on a really good book by Michael Crichton who also wrote Jurrasic Park.
Regarding artists creating content out for the love of it, or to increase their base, what is the goal for these weekly live streams? I absolutely love watching these live streams (after the fact over a few nights when I have the downtime), but the discussion you were having on the topic this week got me wondering what brings you back each week to make these live streams? Would the two of you be getting together regardless to discuss game related philosophy and also play a game together and you figure why not spend the extra effort to live stream it and share the experience with others? It really is a breath of fresh air compared to so many other RU-vid options. I hope you enjoy doing this and it doesn't become a burden over time.
This is a fantastic comment. I think each of us have our different personal goals for the livestream, but the overarching goal is simply to be with everybody - both live and in the comment section after the fact. It's a communication channel that can keep us all connected and keep us all human. I guess if I had to put it as succinctly as possible, the goal of the livestream is to help the world remember that we're just people running a company about a hobby we love, and to help us not get too far removed from the audience that gives us such an amazing amount of support. We'd definitely be getting together to discuss game related philosophy even if there was no livestream (and do!). But it's great to be able to check in and make sure we're not crazy. Thank you for the comment and questions! They are really great to ponder. -Jonathan
Do you think part of the reason you are “stuck” at your subscriber count is because you are constantly changing and evolving from what you’ve been in the past? New people find you and subscribe at the same rate that people don’t like the direction you’ve headed and unsubscribe? Either way, I don’t think you can go wrong by being genuine and presenting an authentic self which is why I’ll always be a subscriber.
I think you're absolutely correct. It's something we've been struggling to figure out for years now. We're going to keep working at it and maybe we'll eventually find that sweet spot. Thank you for being a subscriber! And thank you for the comment.
Are there not some artists when they reach a level of success feel free to put out what they truly want to create, and trust that their fans will follow along with them?
That's exactly what Brandon Sanderson did. He always wanted to make The Stormlight Archive but knew it just wouldn't be publishable from a new author. So, he waited until after becoming successful to go all-in on it. Same with him jumping into self-publishing; he's successful enough now that he can take risks without worry. He does what he wants and his fans follow him.
Re bias/influenced reviews. UK board game couple at No Pun Included officially do not accept free games. They buy their games themselves and are funded through Patreon
