GeekNights is better than Scott gives it credit for. I have a very good method for telling whether a podcast is entertaining: I drive 2 hours each day, and most podcasts make me fall asleep. A very few good ones do the opposite and keep me awake. I wouldn't consider myself a "fan" (of any podcast, really) but I've done a shitload of semi-professional media stuff over the years, mostly writing, and it's a god damn thankless world our there. People deserve some bucks for being content creators.
I agree. I'm a hair-trigger on dropping podcasts, if it sucks, I'll drop it right away. Geeknights doesn't just not suck, it's a standard up to which I hold a lot of other podcasts, and find many wanting.
I'm kind of in the same boat as Matt - I don't think I'm really so much of a fan, partially for the same reason, and partially because, well, we've been talking back and forth for years now, it's less something that I'm a fan of, than my friends having something to say that I think is worth listening to. If I could reliably afford it(Welcome to being a low-end freelancer), I'd throw cash in the pot, just to help out mates make something, and keep doing something they clearly enjoy - after all, if they didn't, they wouldn't still be doing it after all this time and all these episodes. I'd throw time in to help - and being a freelancer, time is money, so I'm equally comfortable throwing in some money, if I could.
Rym is an egotist. Fame is his end and also his means. He wants many people to know of him, like him, be his fan, kiss his ass, etc. If the listener did not exist, he would not make anything. He is perfectly willing to pander, placate, and lie to the listener to keep them around.
I on the other hand, truly have a barren field of fucks. I have no desire for fame whatsoever. I make things for the sake of making them. I would make a podcast even without the listener. I'm not going to lie or pander to the audience. I'm going to do what I like. It's fine if someone wants to listen, but they owe me nothing. In turn, I ask nothing of them. Not even that they continue listening.
My only worldly desire is to break the societal chains which bind me to a desk for almost 40 hours each week. Fame or money may be means to achieve that goal, but extremely unlikely ones. I'm not going to expend any special effort into attaining them, just as I would not buy a lottery ticket.
While I may not care if anyone listens, I do care about the people who do listen. I have seen all too many times fans have taken drastic actions based upon our influence, intended or not. I have seen people choose to go to RIT because we went there. At least one told me they graduated and got a better job than I have. Yeah! I've also seen people who went so far as to try to follow in our footsteps rather than be themselves. They were sad people.
I recognize that this is unavoidable. No matter what you create, you will influence the audience. Therefore, I have to take some responsibility and not turn people down any wrong paths. Whenever I am able, I must advise people to take a course of action that I believe to be in their own best interest, not in mine. That's why I tell people not to give your money to Rym. You almost definitely need it much more than he does.
If it was true that money is what Rym needed to produce more and better content for your benefit, he should start by making some sacrifices. He currently lives in a luxury 2BR apartment in a tall NYC building with a doorman, a gym, etc. He goes skiing any weekend the weather allows. He has a membership at a rock climbing gym and eats expensive delicious food very frequently.
If he really need money, like a real artist, he could get that money from himself. Move to an apartment a bit less luxurious with one less room. Go skiing only once a year. Cutting back even this much would bring in $1000+ a month. An amount that makes the Patreon a relative pittance. That kind of money could easily buy a ton of studio lights or whatever else he needs to produce better videos and such. Keep in mind he has already purchased plenty of such equipment without making any cutbacks whatsoever.
He wants it, but he doesn't want it so badly he'll suffer for it. Of course, he's perfectly happy to let someone else pay!
Save your money. Use it on yourself. If you are so rich the money is meaningless to you, call me.
Rym is an egotist. Fame is his end and also his means. He wants many people to know of him, like him, be his fan, kiss his ass, etc. If the listener did not exist, he would not make anything. He is perfectly willing to pander, placate, and lie to the listener to keep them around.
I on the other hand, truly have a barren field of fucks. I have no desire for fame whatsoever. I make things for the sake of making them. I would make a podcast even without the listener. I'm not going to lie or pander to the audience. I'm going to do what I like. It's fine if someone wants to listen, but they owe me nothing. In turn, I ask nothing of them. Not even that they continue listening.
This is exactly why Geeknights has consistently been one of my favourite podcasts for the last 8 years.
Save your money. Use it on yourself. If you are so rich the money is meaningless to you, call me.
Rym is an egotist. Fame is his end and also his means. He wants many people to know of him, like him, be his fan, kiss his ass, etc. If the listener did not exist, he would not make anything. He is perfectly willing to pander, placate, and lie to the listener to keep them around.
I on the other hand, truly have a barren field of fucks. I have no desire for fame whatsoever. I make things for the sake of making them. I would make a podcast even without the listener. I'm not going to lie or pander to the audience. I'm going to do what I like. It's fine if someone wants to listen, but they owe me nothing. In turn, I ask nothing of them. Not even that they continue listening.
This is exactly why Geeknights has consistently been one of my favourite podcasts for the last 8 years.
Save your money. Use it on yourself. If you are so rich the money is meaningless to you, call me.
One dollar a month is meaningless to me.Damn, $1 a month isn't meaningless to me. That's one whole bagel a month! One whole delicious fig bar!
While I may not care if anyone listens, I do care about the people who do listen. I have seen all too many times fans have taken drastic actions based upon our influence, intended or not. I have seen people choose to go to RIT because we went there. At least one told me they graduated and got a better job than I have. Yeah! I've also seen people who went so far as to try to follow in our footsteps rather than be themselves. They were sad people.
OK yeah that is some uncomfortable shit right there.
He is always very on-edge when people come up to us at cons to tell us how much they love the show, and always tells them that they're "too into it," that listening to the archives is a horrific waste of their lives. I remember a Zenkaikon years ago where he was berating this kid who asked us for our autographs.
I get us all of our convention gigs, mostly because Scott will never sell himself, never highlight his real skills or accomplishments, and generally pulls a Dead Piro act on the fact that he's been doing a regular talk radio show semi-professionally for over a decade.
As for the actual Patreon, I'm slowly doing more and more non-GeekNights content that's exclusive in there. (Stay tuned for the Monthly Movie with Rym and Emily). The money itself is all going in a pool, and when such a time comes that we can do something amazing with that money, it'll fund the project.
Fame is an uncomfortable thing, especially when it's not really something you wanted in the first place. It's weird as hell to have people you don't know come up to you and tell you how your little side project has inspired them to make major life decisions. Such power you wield, and from doing something that seemed so inconsequential!
The thing is, fame generally comes with a social contract. "I will worship your shit, so long as you continue to produce the shit I like."
So then maybe like the pipes burst in your house and there's mold everywhere and your lunch was shitty and everything sucks and you just need to not care about your fans for like a few months while you straighten it all out.
Social contract doesn't allow that.
You do it anyway, and people are butthurt, and you say "whatever man, life."
But the truth is that it takes something out of most people to deal with that kind of stuff. Fame, to an extent, means that you give up some of what you would normally do in order to appeal to an audience.
Scott doesn't want to do anything he wasn't already planning to do. Spotlight not in the plan? Get that shit away from me.
Rym will do things to stay in the spotlight, because it's part of his plan.
So I totally understand Scott shying away from the fans and the fame. It's not in His Path, and Scott ain't gonna do things that ain't in His Path.
While I may not care if anyone listens, I do care about the people who do listen. I have seen all too many times fans have taken drastic actions based upon our influence, intended or not. I have seen people choose to go to RIT because we went there. At least one told me they graduated and got a better job than I have. Yeah! I've also seen people who went so far as to try to follow in our footsteps rather than be themselves. They were sad people.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, the most you pair have influenced me(outside of occasions where I might have directly asked your opinion or advice on something, obviously) to do is go to PAX, and use the words "Suffice it to say" on occasion. Maybe exercise more.
While I may not care if anyone listens, I do care about the people who do listen. I have seen all too many times fans have taken drastic actions based upon our influence, intended or not. I have seen people choose to go to RIT because we went there. At least one told me they graduated and got a better job than I have. Yeah! I've also seen people who went so far as to try to follow in our footsteps rather than be themselves. They were sad people.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, the most you pair have influenced me(outside of occasions where I might have directly asked your opinion or advice on something, obviously) to do is go to PAX, and use the words "Suffice it to say" on occasion. Maybe exercise more.
I understand Scott's point, but I'm also happy paying $1/month. Do whatever you want with it. I spent more buying cocktails before our FreeMarket game at PAX South than your Patreon costs me in a year. Also, I want more Utena episodes.
I guess Scott's admonishments were effective in that because of the GeekNights Patreon I ended up supporting more artists on Patreon.
Creative Commons Attribute-only license. If Rym wants to put any of the non-Patreon free stuff I make into there as an additional distribution channel, it's no problem.
More exercise means extended life, means MORE PAXES
If PAX itself doesn't kill me. I think the last one I slept maybe eight or nine hours across all three days, walking 26-ish klicks per day, and making one meal, two if I was lucky. I throw myself into PAX like Scrooge throws himself into his money bin.
I suppose Geeknights was one of the significant drivers for me deciding to do CS in college, but I probably would have done CS anyways, and you know what? I'm now making more money than I'm willing to spend on myself, which is a pretty good deal.
I suppose Geeknights was one of the significant drivers for me deciding to do CS in college, but I probably would have done CS anyways, and you know what? I'm now making more money than I'm willing to spend on myself, which is a pretty good deal.
Yeah but what are you going to do with a degree in Counterstrike?
Comments
I'm kind of in the same boat as Matt - I don't think I'm really so much of a fan, partially for the same reason, and partially because, well, we've been talking back and forth for years now, it's less something that I'm a fan of, than my friends having something to say that I think is worth listening to. If I could reliably afford it(Welcome to being a low-end freelancer), I'd throw cash in the pot, just to help out mates make something, and keep doing something they clearly enjoy - after all, if they didn't, they wouldn't still be doing it after all this time and all these episodes. I'd throw time in to help - and being a freelancer, time is money, so I'm equally comfortable throwing in some money, if I could.
I on the other hand, truly have a barren field of fucks. I have no desire for fame whatsoever. I make things for the sake of making them. I would make a podcast even without the listener. I'm not going to lie or pander to the audience. I'm going to do what I like. It's fine if someone wants to listen, but they owe me nothing. In turn, I ask nothing of them. Not even that they continue listening.
My only worldly desire is to break the societal chains which bind me to a desk for almost 40 hours each week. Fame or money may be means to achieve that goal, but extremely unlikely ones. I'm not going to expend any special effort into attaining them, just as I would not buy a lottery ticket.
While I may not care if anyone listens, I do care about the people who do listen. I have seen all too many times fans have taken drastic actions based upon our influence, intended or not. I have seen people choose to go to RIT because we went there. At least one told me they graduated and got a better job than I have. Yeah! I've also seen people who went so far as to try to follow in our footsteps rather than be themselves. They were sad people.
I recognize that this is unavoidable. No matter what you create, you will influence the audience. Therefore, I have to take some responsibility and not turn people down any wrong paths. Whenever I am able, I must advise people to take a course of action that I believe to be in their own best interest, not in mine. That's why I tell people not to give your money to Rym. You almost definitely need it much more than he does.
If it was true that money is what Rym needed to produce more and better content for your benefit, he should start by making some sacrifices. He currently lives in a luxury 2BR apartment in a tall NYC building with a doorman, a gym, etc. He goes skiing any weekend the weather allows. He has a membership at a rock climbing gym and eats expensive delicious food very frequently.
If he really need money, like a real artist, he could get that money from himself. Move to an apartment a bit less luxurious with one less room. Go skiing only once a year. Cutting back even this much would bring in $1000+ a month. An amount that makes the Patreon a relative pittance. That kind of money could easily buy a ton of studio lights or whatever else he needs to produce better videos and such. Keep in mind he has already purchased plenty of such equipment without making any cutbacks whatsoever.
He wants it, but he doesn't want it so badly he'll suffer for it. Of course, he's perfectly happy to let someone else pay!
Save your money. Use it on yourself. If you are so rich the money is meaningless to you, call me.
If you truly didn't care you wouldn't even comment :-p
The thing is, fame generally comes with a social contract. "I will worship your shit, so long as you continue to produce the shit I like."
So then maybe like the pipes burst in your house and there's mold everywhere and your lunch was shitty and everything sucks and you just need to not care about your fans for like a few months while you straighten it all out.
Social contract doesn't allow that.
You do it anyway, and people are butthurt, and you say "whatever man, life."
But the truth is that it takes something out of most people to deal with that kind of stuff. Fame, to an extent, means that you give up some of what you would normally do in order to appeal to an audience.
Scott doesn't want to do anything he wasn't already planning to do. Spotlight not in the plan? Get that shit away from me.
Rym will do things to stay in the spotlight, because it's part of his plan.
So I totally understand Scott shying away from the fans and the fame. It's not in His Path, and Scott ain't gonna do things that ain't in His Path.
I guess Scott's admonishments were effective in that because of the GeekNights Patreon I ended up supporting more artists on Patreon.
Also, move the newsletter into the Patreon.
((Will Scott be angry that I'm using my pulpit to give advice?))
(((But seriously, don't eat Soylent)))
"Consume."
And the show introduced me to Burning Wheel and thus got me into indie roleplaying games...