A Suggestion for the Podcasts

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by Bhayar, Apr 24, 2020.

  1. Bhayar Well-Known Member

    After just reading through Merchchalice's typed transcripts of Episode 5 between Dream and Kander, first I want to say to Mercychalice, you have the patience of a saint and bless you for doing this for the hearing impaired. You deserve a medal.

    That done, it was my impression when these started that it was an attempt to serve as a communication vehicle between DPG and the players community. Questions and concerns voiced by the players could be addressed in the podcasts and/or it could serve as a vehicle for Kander to relay information out to the player base. After reading the latest iteration, I'm really wondering if this is working as intended.

    My impression at this point is that there is no prior information sharing or discussion by the two of you about the subject of the podcast prior to sitting down together. This thought would appear to be reinforced by a question from Dream and then a rather unorganized, incoherent stream of consciousness response liberally laced with "you know," "like," etc. from Kander. There's repeated useage of the same words over and over again in the response.

    Let me be clear--I do not expect Kander to have the communication skills to deliver a state of the union message. But frankly, as the long time Lead Designer for the organization, I would expect a more clearer and concise response then what I'm seeing. He should have a copy of the meeting agenda with the questions in hand well before he and Dream sit down so he has the opportunity to think about what he's going to say.

    Right now, I'm reminded of the old burger commercial with the two old ladies sitting there with their now-famous question, "Where's the beef?" After this last podcast, I really had to ask myself if anyone really knew where the ship was sailing to. I point to the long explanation about M/C gear and where it fits into the framework. Frankly, with a game that's celebrating 15 years and crafting has long been a part of it, this question shouldn't be vague in anyone's mind at this point. I suspect Kander has several ideas about this, but getting hit with a question prior to having the opportunity to think about it doesn't appear to be a strong suit. His brain is probably careening around with ideas in his head 16 hrs. a day. Give the guy a chance to think about his responses to the questions, haha.

    I think the podcast is an excellent idea and I want to commend both Dream and Kander for their willingness to do this. I'm offering up these observations, not as a criticism, but honest feedback to make the sessions both better and more meaningful to the entire community on both sides of the table. I'm sharing this feedback because I suspect I'm not the only one who might be having these observations and people may be hesitant to articulate them.
    Zylara, Rhodris, Rosyposy and 4 others like this.
  2. Rhodris EQ2Wire Ninja

    Beautifully written, and very good points here.
  3. Bludd Well-Known Member

    transcript should probably omit all "thinking words" used in podcast
    podcast is meant to be casual and conversational
    Thornfinger likes this.
  4. Zylara Well-Known Member

    Agree 100% with what Bhayar has written and expressed for us all, reading the transcript was very randomness with information tbh and personally i would have hated to listen to that one as worst yet i would have to say, well done Mercychalice on having the patience for doing that.
    Didnt really seem like we got any information out of that podcast at all and like Bhayar said if Kander had the questions slightly ahead of time then even more questions could be answered a bit more clearly and concisely, so many questions on the thread are waiting to be answered and even more are still stockpiling up
  5. Bhayar Well-Known Member

    There's nothing wrong with a casual and conversational format; the problem I see is that you can't make bread with chaff. You need actual "grains" to do that. My observation is that for the time allotted to the podcast, there's very little substantive value. If you were to actually cut and paste the dialogue into a Word document and then delete any and all "chaff," you'd see what I'm talking about. Again, there's nothing wrong with "smoking and joking," but that doesn't mean at the end of the conversation, real information of value hasn't been provided to the listener/reader.
    Mermut and Rhodris like this.
  6. dorotea Well-Known Member

    I agree with the OP.
    I also think that it would save significant time in preparing the transcript, and would give a better impression of the speaker, if some of the pure filler with no substantive content was left out. Thus:

    You know, I think, maybe we could, I think, consider changing the overseer system, like maybe to have, like, you know, a way to have more, maybe, you know, like a few more

    Could be put as "We could consider changing the overseer system to have a few more"
  7. dorotea Well-Known Member

    I agree with the OP.

    I also think that it would save significant time in preparing the transcript, and would give a better impression of the speaker, if some of the pure filler with no substantive content was left out. Thus. making up something the speaker never said and with a bit of exaggeration on my part



    You know, I think, maybe we could, I think, consider changing the overseer system, like maybe to have, like, you know, a way to have more, maybe, you know, like a few more



    Could be put as "We could consider changing the overseer system to have a few more
  8. Bhayar Well-Known Member

    And I rest my case, haha.