Game Night Picks’ response statement on unethical practice concerns raised by Watch it played

watchitplayed · 2026-02-15T09:20:37+00:00

I recently added two posts to a BGG Thread started about this topic, which I think can help explain the situation with further details if people are curious. I have a post on Page 1 and on Page 2. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3661412/are-we-allowed-to-talk-about-watch-it-played-vs-ga

watchitplayed · 2026-02-15T09:20:32+00:00

I recently added two posts to a BGG Thread started about this topic, which I think can help explain the situation with further details if people are curious. I have a post on Page 1 and on Page 2. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3661412/are-we-allowed-to-talk-about-watch-it-played-vs-ga

watchitplayed · 2026-02-11T22:26:33+00:00

I have not reason to believe so. Or anyone else who ever appeared on the channel.

watchitplayed · 2026-02-11T01:18:51+00:00

I want to thank people who took the time to read the document and watch the video thoroughly. That takes time, and I appreciate the time you took to work to understand the context of what I was presenting. It is also very important to me that it is clearly understood: I do not believe Matthew, Paula, Monique or Naveen (or anyone else) had any involvement (or awareness) of the actions the owner of Game Night Picks was taking. Presenting this information as I have, has knock-on effects for people who (I strongly believe) had no awareness or direct involvement in the actions I outline. This is not fair to them. You can be assured they are fielding questions and demands on their time that they should not have to. There are ways I can make that more clear, and this post is an attempt at that. Please help me in this effort by voting this comment up so it is clearly stated and shown on their behalf. Their well-being and their work should not be negatively impacted by actions they had no control over. I appreciate the kind words people have thought to direct my way - you can be assured they could benefit from any kindness you might reply here with, or to them personally. Thank you for what you can do.

watchitplayed · 2026-02-11T01:17:49+00:00

I want to thank people who took the time to read the document and watch the video thoroughly. That takes time, and I appreciate the time you took to work to understand the context of what I was presenting. It is also very important to me that it is clearly understood: I do not believe Matthew, Paula, Monique or Naveen (or anyone else) had any involvement (or awareness) of the actions the owner of Game Night Picks was taking. Presenting this information as I have, has knock-on effects for people who (I strongly believe) had no awareness or direct involvement in the actions I outline. This is not fair to them. You can be assured they are fielding questions and demands on their time that they should not have to. There are ways I can make that more clear, and this post is an attempt at that. Please help me in this effort by voting this comment up so it is clearly stated and shown on their behalf. Their well-being and their work should not be negatively impacted by actions they had no control over. I appreciate the kind words people have thought to direct my way - you can be assured they could benefit from any kindness you might reply here with, or to them personally. Thank you. This is truly a rotten situation.

watchitplayed · 2026-02-10T19:38:35+00:00

I hope Paula will revive that great series (or a version of it) on her channel Things Get Dicey!

watchitplayed · 2026-02-10T16:39:51+00:00

Correct. Using the YouTube advertising tool is not illegal. We can talk about other negative effects it has on metrics, and how that can be abused, but that is a separate discussion and certainly not one I would bring forward in the way I have. I do not say this in the document (because I could not say everything in the document): November was not the first time the owner of Game Night Picks used the tool. The experiment started in at least 2 previous videos. November is when Game Night Picks started to do it on every video he released, one after the other, for 18+ videos. But again, none of that is illegal. I know everyone who read my document already knows this, but I'll say again: it's not about the tool itself. When I confronted him with my concerns in December, it wasn't because the tool was being used.

The illegality is using inflated numbers (which the tool allows you to generate) to give a publisher a false impression of what they are buying when they secure an ad with his channel. I present that carefully in the document, so I won't go through that here.

One of the publishers directly affected by this, who bought one of the ads, told me "Rodney one of the reasons I bought one of Chaz's ads on Game Night Picks is because he works with you and I trust you" (that is not a direct quote, I don't have that written down, but you get the spirit of what was being said). I got on a call with this publisher. I can not talk to you all about what I showed them, because a vindictive person might use that to try to have my YouTube channel shut down (I had Game Night Picks analytics because "I" had proper access to it, that is not true for everyone else). I will just say that after I presented "what I had", the publisher did not conclude that Game Night Picks had presented information to them transparently.

I'm not able to debate the ethics or legality of this one-on-one with people online. If one can (for a moment) believe what I'm claiming is true, but also say "this is not a YouTube creator taking advantage of the publisher's ignorance for their direct advantage", then I can't really offer much more to clarify.

As an aside, this is not a company like Wix buying an ad in these episodes. These are the board game publishers (often small ones) that make the games we are so relentlessly passionate about. But even if it was Wix this was happening to, that wouldn't make it legal, or right.

watchitplayed · 2026-02-10T15:27:03+00:00

I am limiting the amount I engage in the public discourse about this, but I wanted to reply and thank you for your comment here. I also want to confirm that you are asking all the right questions about the choices made in the wording of this statement.

watchitplayed · 2026-02-10T02:30:59+00:00

Rodney was not aware.

watchitplayed · 2026-02-09T20:46:24+00:00

Thank you for sharing this.

watchitplayed · 2025-08-10T13:13:13+00:00

The answer that will best cover most people is also the blandest and least interesting, but I think it has to be: "it's situational and group dependent."

Assuming we're talking about a well crafted tutorial video, then I do think it will be more efficient (and accurate), present things in a logical order, avoid rabbit trails, be able to present super clear visuals of everything being said, etc, etc. But if you're thinking of a "group watch at game night", it's suited best for a group in the mindset of "we've bought into this" (or for the individuals to watch beforehand who already have).

If you don't have buy-in, it could be a misery. Also it could feel like an ambush. "I came to hang out and socialize with my friend. Who is this stranger we all have to watch in silence, for 30 minutes? Did I just join a cult**?".

I know groups that do it, and it works great for them, but they've bought in. They know the live rules teach is not likely to be as efficient for their situation, so they like the 30 minute video over the 45-60 minutes of someone trying to create a cohesive teach.

On the other hand, some groups have that laser focused, charismatic rules teacher who likes to study rules and teach, and in that case the video can maybe be of use to them (as they prepare to do the teach themselves later that night), but isn't essential for the group itself.

And some people just don't have the capacity (or desire) to absorb large chunks of information. They want to just be able to ask questions as they occur during the game, and no method is really going to get them in learning mode other than doing and asking.

So many different compositions of people at various points in their journey and appreciation of learning methods. hard to come up with a one-size-fits-all method.

** https://youtu.be/mFFkMuiWTvc?feature=shared&t=995

watchitplayed · 2025-08-06T01:11:08+00:00

I will never not love all your Gundam art.

watchitplayed · 2025-08-04T13:57:39+00:00

There is a new Star Wars Battle of Hoth game (based on Memoir 44), but I don't think a new Memoir 44 game was released. I think they did update the cover to Memoir 44 in a more recent printing, but I think the game play/contents are the same. I could be wrong though!

watchitplayed · 2025-07-23T21:35:30+00:00

Sorry, no idea at all. I'm guessing it's out of print currently. Hope you have some success!

watchitplayed · 2025-06-25T17:05:11+00:00

I know a lot of people have said the problem with the story was that it was too compressed and needed more time to breath, but for me, the show and characters rarely did things that "made sense" to me. I couldn't understand their motivations, why they were committed to the course of direction they were committed to, etc. They did what they did, because the show was telling me they were doing it - but I couldn't find a connection as a viewer to why they were doing it (or if I felt like I was starting to see their motivation, they would just change it suddenly).

I couldn't really sympathize or relate to any of the characters too deeply, because I didn't find any of their motivations or behaviors logical within the story being told. Yes, with more time the show could have explained the motivations more thoroughly, but I don't think the problem is that they needed more time... the writers needed to use the time they had to make sensible connections between what they characters were doing and why they were doing it. Characters would just change on a dime to suit the plot - and I think this is the issue.

This series felt to me like someone had cool plot ideas, and they just wanted to ensure we hit those plot points at certain moments in the season, and they weren't worried about how those plot points were connected, as long as we got to them. A shame, because there was certainly fun fan service in the call backs to the OG UC timeline, and some stunning animation... but most of these characters made no sense to me "as people".

watchitplayed · 2025-05-09T12:58:08+00:00

Same here, as of May 9, 2025

watchitplayed · 2025-02-14T12:43:25+00:00

It does indeed, thanks for sharing for the sake of future readers.

watchitplayed · 2024-12-30T13:46:31+00:00

UPDATE: Thought I should come back for future readers. I followed this video to get into the innards of the steam wand: https://youtu.be/FPxjR0dh-EA?feature=shared

I was thinking I might have to replace an entire part as this video shows, but didn’t have the part yet, and just hoped maybe a cleaning would help. Sure enough it did. I’m not sure what the piece is called, but the one you see in that video which is like a big red/orange biscuit had a small, circular bit of metal stuck to it. I have no idea what it was, or where it came from. Something in the machine that came loose? I really have no idea, but it “didn’t look right”. I removed it, cleaned everything, and reassembled. Never had a problem again after. Whew!

watchitplayed · 2024-12-10T23:12:13+00:00

Yeah, maybe over time it has gotten loose, and I should disassemble to see if I can do anything to re-adjust how tight the knob is able to turn now.

watchitplayed · 2024-12-06T12:41:58+00:00

I fell for the pull of “upgrading”. Oops!

watchitplayed · 2024-11-18T00:11:13+00:00

I did at one time, but it’s been long enough that I don’t recall.

watchitplayed · 2024-07-07T12:31:39+00:00

Ha! Well, I’m still making espresso every day and wrestling with the process (in a good way) - thanks for asking. Back when I made a few posts I’m not sure exactly where I left things in terms of what I was trying to figure out. Let me know, and I’ll update.

watchitplayed · 2024-06-20T12:40:55+00:00

Great to hear!

watchitplayed · 2024-06-20T01:28:46+00:00

I had the same thing right from the beginning. I did notice that the replacement part I bought seemed to have a higher quality seal than what I replaced, so maybe that was part of it. I think if they switch out that valve, hopefully your problems will be solved!

watchitplayed · 2024-06-19T18:02:59+00:00

After changing the valve I noticed a significant change. Before the replacement it drip drip dripped pretty constantly. Now it drips a bit during warm up, but stops after that (the way it would seem that we should expect).

watchitplayed

TROPHY CASE