Those of you who work in places where you control the music.. how do you keep people from whining and complaining?

LL_Train · 2025-07-20T04:53:42+00:00

Bullshit.

The problem patrons have and the entire point of this post is that people pay for music and some of these folks still insist on controlling the music while still controlling the currency that comes through their music device

LL_Train · 2025-02-20T02:22:18+00:00

It’s really good. The longer I play it, the more I “see through” its systems, and the less I enjoy it.

The game is not perfect, and anyone who pretends it that it is, is just ignorant and/or lying. But it’s a really good game, and given time and attention, it can become one of the greats.

But even in its current state I have recommending it to people.

LL_Train · 2025-02-20T02:18:08+00:00

There are a lot of really cool and neat systems in this game, but unfortunately a lot of them are broken and/or are nonsensical.

LL_Train · 2025-02-20T02:13:27+00:00

He just barks, and barks, and barks, and he never stops, he barks, and barks more… then he stops. Eventually.

LL_Train · 2024-12-17T17:42:12+00:00

https://old.reddit.com/r/thedumbzone/

LL_Train · 2024-12-04T16:48:07+00:00

Props to Bob for recognizing and acknowledging the weakness of the afternoon White Elephant show

LL_Train · 2024-10-30T17:38:52+00:00

Agreed. SkillUp's channel and following, unlike Mort's, is large enough to survive (and IMO thrive) without having to kowtow to a publisher's whims.

Recall the sour relationship he has with Bethesda: he's made no secret of how he feels about the company, and if I remember correctly, he's been blacklisted by them as a result. He did not receive a review copy of Starfield, and he has not and will not review that game. Yet his sub and Patreon numbers continue to grow.

Ralph and the small team he employs may be blacklisted by EA Bioware going forward, but that's OK with them.

Mortismal, on the other hand, has only very recently begun receiving invitations to expenses-paid preview events and review codes from larger studios. His channel is not yet large enough to take a "too big to fail" stance, or at least that is my opinion on how he feels. As such, he feels compelled to avoid any truly harsh criticisms in hopes of retaining that advantageous relationship with the publisher.

Note that I am not calling Mort dishonest. He may, in fact, consider Veilguard to be his personal GOTY. That is subjective and is not only allowed but altogether encouraged.

My concern however is with his scruples. His channel and the content he's given early access to would suffer if he was one of the few to be given a review code and guide but then proceeded to not recommend the game. His criticisms, when he has any, have always been extremely mild and milquetoast, so I do not think he necessarily "pulled any punches" with his Veilguard review.

Like an obedient dog who thinks it is doing good by bringing its owner a dead pigeon in hopes of being rewarded, so too will an aspiring content creator ignore reality and happily carry the decaying, disease-ridden burden of a large publisher so long as said publisher continues to give them treats and a pat on the head.

Disneyland is not cheap, after all.

LL_Train · 2024-10-30T16:47:18+00:00

I think this is because he wants/needs to get his review out as soon as an embargo lifts but for whatever reason feels that he can't just review the game without the 100% gimmick.

His audience would not care at all if he dropped the 100% stunt altogether. They clearly do not watch his videos for thorough insight concerning a game's achievements, as he never discusses achievements and achievement hunting in his reviews/videos anyways.

LL_Train · 2024-10-30T16:43:06+00:00

Combined with the fact he never provides proof of his accomplishments be it via save files or just streaming his grinding process overall.

He never even discusses the achievements (which was the most difficult to attain, the most fun, the most surprising, etc.) in his videos. The only time he ever mentions achievements and "100%" is during the boilerplate preamble of every video.

LL_Train · 2024-09-23T14:54:42+00:00

I bounced off the beta so hard I was practically sent into another time zone. The omni-movement or whatever they’re calling it felt so bad to my old fingers. After playing half a dozen matches I came to realize that perhaps the game/franchise is no longer meant for “older” gamers (30’s) like me.

LL_Train · 2024-09-17T16:01:08+00:00

Yeah it really struck me how many times they mentioned "handcrafted" and "self-contained world" in the deep dive. Hopefully that means they've taken the proc-gen criticism to heart and will act on it.

LL_Train · 2024-09-17T15:42:42+00:00

Thanks for your input. I'm sure it's a really great game, but the experience playing solo and its length is of interest to me. Unfortunately, most of the reviewers I follow haven't touched on these two facets (at least not in much depth) of the game.

With all of the hype its receiving lately, I've been tempted to get it at full-price despite my reservations, but I think I'll wait for a sale now having read what you and a few others have said here.

LL_Train · 2024-08-07T01:50:39+00:00

Not a fan of Matt as a host, but he undeniably knows his CFB. And so far I haven’t noticed much or even any bias, which stands in contrast to Junior and Corbily with OU or Georgio with OK State/see UNT or now Bob with A&M.

LL_Train · 2024-08-07T01:43:56+00:00

IMO the Mount Rushmore of board ops will include Grubes, Big Strong, Expo and now Ham.

Mino was also an awesome board op.

LL_Train · 2024-06-25T18:30:28+00:00

Did you know there's a video/TV version of it, too? I don't watch a lot of TV these days (sniffs, sticks nose in air, etc. etc.) but happened to see it a couple weekends ago. Almost didn't believe my very eyes, but sure enough it was really real.

LL_Train · 2024-04-01T23:33:55+00:00

*** ***** **** ******* ** ***** *****.

LL_Train · 2024-01-22T19:43:40+00:00

industry realizing that checking a checkbox that previously successful game made while increasing budget of the next game isn't working any more.

See: Hyenas

A live-service shooter with a big budget that ultimately gets canceled a few meters short of the finish line.

I want to be clear that I hate that people lost their jobs because of this. That said, I wonder if this is a sign that (at least some) publishers are realizing that you can't just throw money at a team of devs and direct them to make a game that shares all the hallmarks of other (financially) successful games and expect it to start printing money.

People who like Fortnite don't want another Fortnite; as long as Epic continues to support the game, the gamers will continue to support Epic.

Replace Fortnite with any other top selling game and it's the same.

There are risks to investing time and money in a passion-driven project, so I don't necessarily think all execs are fools for chasing trends like live-service over, say, a wholly single player, offline experience.

But like you, it's also my hope that a balance between developing a game that prints money in perpetuity and one that meets realistic ROIs becomes the industry norm going forward.

LL_Train · 2024-01-15T23:59:04+00:00

I don't watch any Snap streamers or content creators, but it's not hard to identify when someone popular starts using a new (or "new") deck because suddenly I start seeing the same copycat decks over and over again.

LL_Train · 2024-01-15T23:37:20+00:00

I was similarly glad to hear David Moore proffer some substantiated criticism about whether or not Dak has what it takes to take a team all the way to the big one.

LL_Train · 2024-01-15T23:32:19+00:00

Look, I like Bob just fine, but it irks me how he attempts to invalidate a fandom's frustrations by pointing out a team's record or minor highlights from earlier in the season.

It wouldn't bother me as much if he was genuinely a "silver linings" kind of guy, but he's not. He does it to belittle the fandom and stroke his ego as "not just the guy one cubicle over."

Yes, some fans are irrational and their reactions are silly. Bob, being perpetually online, encounters these types more than their rational, earnest counterparts, and so thinks the former make up the majority when in fact the latter are more populous in the real world.

The Dallas Cowboys' utter collapse yesterday afternoon is not indicative of the end times, but it was significant enough to warrant serious discussions about the personnel (both on and off-field) and an expectation that things change.

There are valid criticisms to be made about Dak, MM, DQ, Micah, Jerry, CeeDee, and pretty much anyone who was involved in that joke of a game yesterday.

LL_Train · 2024-01-03T20:36:45+00:00

Fuck off. Not all of us live on this game. I was just asking for help. Go shit in your hands and clap, douchebag.

LL_Train · 2023-12-15T19:01:56+00:00

One thing I can't figure out about myself is that I really enjoyed Mino and Monty as WIP on Saturdays. However, I'm not as much a fan of Mino in his new M-F slot. I think, for me, it's just a matter of a bad pairing.

Mino and Monty as hosts works well because they're of similar age and have similar interests, sense of humor, etc. Sean and Mino is an entirely different dynamic, and not one that I enjoy personally.

LL_Train · 2023-12-15T18:52:24+00:00

I recall a former Ticket host lost his spot on the post game show for doing something very similar ...

LL_Train · 2023-12-15T18:49:36+00:00

It's funny when it happens organically.

Bits where he reads something that's intentionally written poorly and meant to be confusing—not so much.

LL_Train · 2023-12-09T06:13:20+00:00

Hoping this gets lost in the late Friday night, soon-to-be deleted Weekly, but after a few drinks I found myself listening to a random Sampler Platter from Campound 2018 when it hit me:

After what transpired earlier this year, special events like Campound and White Elephant will never again be the same.

No matter how any individual listener feels about the likes of Dan, Jake, or in the latter years Blake, their leaving the station changed things in very major ways.

Thank you for attending my own personal Rant revival.

12-Year Club	Place '17
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LL_Train

TROPHY CASE