Classic Game Room moving to Patreon

[Gabriel]

I'll have to think about this. I feel that CGR is, by far, the best gaming channel on YouTube. However, I also feel the quality has dipped quite a bit in the past couple of years.

 

If it meant more videos like the phenomenal AT-AT review, or a return to the 20 minute features of Mark geeking out and being in love with shmups, I'd definitely pay for a subscription.

 

He needs to also tone down some of his stock routines. Stuff like the love of flamethrowers never really gets old and isn't overused, but the whole prequel and Jar Jar hate is really old and tired.

 

To me, CGR is about a love of all things geeky. It's about fun. It's also about providing information, and it's ironic that a show done mostly for laughs is so much more informative than genuine reviews of the same things. If CGR could return to that, instead of a frantic dash to produce six five minute videos a week, then that would be worth it.

[Ransom]

My wife and I used to watch Mark's show regularly, but for a while there he started just posting videos about his comic book or whatever it was he was working on, and we lost interest. Before that, we probably would have thrown a few bucks his way. But he lost us as viewers, so there's no reason for me to sign up to Patreon in order to give him money. Too bad, because we did enjoy his reviews and felt they had value.

[leods]

 

Well, he could have fooled me. I need to get on YouTube so I, too, can move my video games to an office. For some reason.

 

See, my issue isn't with Patreon, it's with nutty shit like having an office to do videos that consist of gameplay footage and maybe an item on a table.

 

I have to repeat, you obviously don't know CGR. Mark becomes so many donations that he had to rent storage space, and then he just made his storage room a big Studio. He has his Systems set up there, the Office for the guy who Edits the Videos and CGR undertow (a sister channel) run in the same facilities. Mark has half a dozen (if not more) arcade machines there.

 

Of course you can say "screw this idiot, who cares about his oppinion", but the hundreds of People who have already been donating games and Systems to his Show already have been caring enough to invest financially in the Show, so now taking Money donations is just a natural step.

 

I'm not telling you to donate. I'm not donating myself. But you obviously don't know the channel and it's history. He isn't some Steve benway (love his videos), who just plugs some game in and Plays for 10 minutes. There's a lot of effort that goes into his Videos, and he does have a following. When he annopunced the Show was going to Change I made a Video talking about it. There was no announcement whatsoever from a Patreon, and I still said in my Video that I though if he just went to patreon he'd make ends meet.

 

We'll see, but it's very simple. if enough People donate 10 bucks a month to him the Show will go on. 10 bucks for a couple hours of original Videos every month doesn't sond like a horrible deal. People certainly do way worse with their Money. So whoever wants to donate will. I see no reason to judge People who donate or People who don't donate. And much less Mark that is a guy who has proven to be serious, relyable and competent over almost a decade of hard work. As I said before, after so many years of making Videos on YouTube I never heard anyone talk shit about him, nor him fall for the many traps of YouTube and gaming Content creation. That's actually harder than People might think.

[SoulBlazer]

I watch some of his stuff, but it's nothing to go to on a regular basis. There's so many videos and channels dedicated to games on YouTube for both classic and modern games that I can find what I want within five seconds. And I don't subscribe to any of them save for one guy -- Phil, AKA The No Swear Gamer. I love all of his stuff.

 

As for Patreon, I really like it, and there's a number of podcasts that I support that way each month. None of them require it -- they are free podcasts. It's just I really enjoy the content and what they do that I'm willing to kick them a few bucks each month to help cover their hosting operations and the expanses of doing it. Unlike some YouTuber's, they aren't doing this as a job. It's just a passion of love for them.

Edited January 2, 2016 by SoulBlazer

[CGQuarterly]

Just to be clear, I wasn't "bashing" his channel at all. What I am saying is that with the system that YouTube has in place for paying content creators, Mark should be rolling in dough considering his subscriber numbers. He isn't because his content is no longer resonating with viewers. He needs to evolve.

[Gregory DG]

Just to be clear, I wasn't "bashing" his channel at all. What I am saying is that with the system that YouTube has in place for paying content creators, Mark should be rolling in dough considering his subscriber numbers. He isn't because his content is no longer resonating with viewers. He needs to evolve.

 

He's explained why on several interviews and later videos. Basically YouTube changed their ad model and also pulled several of his best performing videos. So, he's not making what he used to. And with that CGR is no longer feasible for him as a full time job. It's pretty simple to understand what happened, really.

[SoulBlazer]

Gregory DG, on 02 Jan 2016 - 8:35 PM, said:

 

He's explained why on several interviews and later videos. Basically YouTube changed their ad model and also pulled several of his best performing videos. So, he's not making what he used to. And with that CGR is no longer feasible for him as a full time job. It's pretty simple to understand what happened, really.

 

I'm sorry, call me old fashioned, but no one should depend on YouTube for all your money and it should never be a full time job. Part time at best, to supplement income, that's fine...but you should do it if you love it, not cause you need the money rolling in.

Edited January 3, 2016 by SoulBlazer

[CGQuarterly]

 

He's explained why on several interviews and later videos. Basically YouTube changed their ad model and also pulled several of his best performing videos. So, he's not making what he used to. And with that CGR is no longer feasible for him as a full time job. It's pretty simple to understand what happened, really.

 

 

That really doesn't explain why his new videos get such low views. As far as the videos that got pulled, all he needs to do is edit out whatever got them pulled, and re-upload them.

[Great Hierophant]

 

I have to repeat, you obviously don't know CGR. Mark becomes so many donations that he had to rent storage space, and then he just made his storage room a big Studio. He has his Systems set up there, the Office for the guy who Edits the Videos and CGR undertow (a sister channel) run in the same facilities. Mark has half a dozen (if not more) arcade machines there.

 

Of course you can say "screw this idiot, who cares about his oppinion", but the hundreds of People who have already been donating games and Systems to his Show already have been caring enough to invest financially in the Show, so now taking Money donations is just a natural step.

 

I'm not telling you to donate. I'm not donating myself. But you obviously don't know the channel and it's history. He isn't some Steve benway (love his videos), who just plugs some game in and Plays for 10 minutes. There's a lot of effort that goes into his Videos, and he does have a following. When he annopunced the Show was going to Change I made a Video talking about it. There was no announcement whatsoever from a Patreon, and I still said in my Video that I though if he just went to patreon he'd make ends meet.

 

We'll see, but it's very simple. if enough People donate 10 bucks a month to him the Show will go on. 10 bucks for a couple hours of original Videos every month doesn't sond like a horrible deal. People certainly do way worse with their Money. So whoever wants to donate will. I see no reason to judge People who donate or People who don't donate. And much less Mark that is a guy who has proven to be serious, relyable and competent over almost a decade of hard work. As I said before, after so many years of making Videos on YouTube I never heard anyone talk shit about him, nor him fall for the many traps of YouTube and gaming Content creation. That's actually harder than People might think.

 

I understand how space can become a crunch, but maybe he should consider passing on some of the donated items to others he trusts not to resell them instantly to make room for new items. For $10.00 per month, you can obtain HD access to all of Netflix. I could not justify spending that kind of $$ to support one YouTube channel.

[bretthorror]

 

I'm sorry, call me old fashioned, but no one should depend on YouTube for all your money and it should never be a full time job. Part time at best, to supplement income, that's fine...but you should do it if you love it, not cause you need the money rolling in.

 

This is the best I've heard so far. It's true, because once the money is even barely paying the rent, it seems these guys lose their ways. Mark may not have, but I also don't need a Genesis controller review in 2015. Information wise, I think any asshole is just as valid as him.

 

It's like I said before, these guys think they're Scorcese doing gameplay footage. They suckered 80 Patreon people in, that's it, that's all. It's no different than suckering anyone else in in life. I'm not gonna worry about giving some dumbass 5 grand a month to make a review of Scrapyard Dog when real artists need 15 grand to make a real art movie,

[Great Hierophant]

If he is paying someone to edit his videos, they should be able to fix the irksome garbage in this video :

 

There should not be interlacing in the video footage of Haunted House in HD, he should be able to deinterlace and upscale to show the flicker at 60fps.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Great Hierophant

[Eltigro]

My $0.02.

 

I like Mark and CGR. I like his humor and the recurring jokes (Truxton, trying to put games in the wrong system at the beginning of the videos, beer...). Are his videos the most informative? No. He gives some info, shows some gameplay, cracks some jokes... It's entertaining to me.

 

I don't watch the ones about the comic book or other toys (usually... I did watch a couple about some Hot Wheels cars...). I do watch the ones about gaming, whether they are about systems, games, peripherals... whatever. It doesn't matter to me if it's not the latest games or newest systems or whatever. So what. Some guy in Idaho sends him an old 3rd party Genesis controller, he does a "review" on it. I'm fine with that.

 

About his move to Patreon... well... I don't know. If people like him enough and want to donate money so he can keep doing the videos they like, more power to them. There's a lot of YouTubers using Patreon now. If it works for them and allows them to keep making the content they want, let them. Will I be donating? Probably not. I'm pretty broke and wasn't even sure if I could afford to post my two cents here. But I won't berate anyone who can and wants to do it. I'll continue to watch CGR gaming reviews when they come out.

[CGQuarterly]

If he is paying someone to edit his videos, they should be able to fix the irksome garbage in this video :

 

There should not be interlacing in the video footage of Haunted House in HD, he should be able to deinterlace and upscale to show the flicker at 60fps.

 

 

The problem with 60fps footage is that the vast majority of YouTube viewers do not watch videos at 60fps, so the transparency effect will be lost on the viewers' end. There are ways to preserve the transparency effect and have your video be 30fps but they require labor.

[Great Hierophant]

 

 

The problem with 60fps footage is that the vast majority of YouTube viewers do not watch videos at 60fps, so the transparency effect will be lost on the viewers' end. There are ways to preserve the transparency effect and have your video be 30fps but they require labor.

 

Unfortunately YouTube does not support 60fps at 480p or lower, which would help out people who do not want to watch in HD or do not have the bandwidth to watch in HD. However, it is Classic Game Room HD, so for HD you generally get the benefit of 60fps. The guys at My Life in Gaming seem to use it always (not too long after YouTube began to support it) to show proper footage of retro games.

[Austin]

I assume he will still be posting the videos to YouTube as well, albeit with ads? I can't really see the Patreon thing being worth it unless he's doing both, i.e., getting Patreon revenue, then still getting the ad revenue from YouTube. I'm not really certain how he's going to do it, but if he is doing both then that will probably bring him the most money.

 

CGR was one of the first classic gaming channels I followed in 2009 or so. I started to get burned out by the videos a few years in and the more recent comic, art and toy stuff hasn't really helped reel me back in. To be fair, my consumption of YouTube gaming videos has waned significantly over the years.

 

That said, I'm not really sure why he still can't keep it as a full-time job if he's bringing in $6k a month (going by JibbaJabba's numbers). Ditch the office, ditch the editors and go solo again. He's in Pittsburgh and it's a pretty cheap area to live. Unless he's throwing away all his money on hookers and blow, I'm not really seeing how he can't survive off of that salary. Maybe he is just getting bored with doing the show. Nothing wrong with that.

[The Usotsuki]

'Swhat I heard. (Boredom, I mean.)

[leods]

I see nothing nothing wrong with the patreon thing. I do agree with a couple Points though:

 

first, if Mark can just simplify things, fire everyone and move to less storage space, that's the first intelligent step to do.

 

I also think the quantity of Videos Mark does is detrimental and the reason why People don't watch that much. I'd rather see one good Video from him a week than a bunch of Videos running the same jokes again and again.

 

That said I stand by what I said. If enough People enjoy the Show and want to donate cause they want that volume, I don't see what the Problem is.

 

Just realyze, if you have a Video with tons of views that gets taken down, if you reupload that Video it will start at 0 views. It won't ever go up again to be one of the first to be found in the search engine.

 

Patreon is the best monetizing method for this Kind of conternt Producer. The poeple who live from ad Revenue just have disgusting practices. Even the let's Players that already make a shit ton of Videos, because they record and upload every fart still Need to do These payed Promotion deals. A solid patreon account lets People just work on making good Videos and ignore the ammount of views.

[dj_convoy]

More power to the guy; if his fanbase will support him on Patreon, cool. I give a bit of money to a handful of people there and have no qualms about it. Dunno if I will for CGR (I don't watch his vids nearly as often as I used to), but I may. I'm not going to speculate on the guy's financial situation.

[Gregory DG]

CGR is obliterating it! Looks like he will be able to continue the show! I pledged $5 per month, but you can even do a one time pledge.

 

https://www.patreon.com/ClassicGameRoom

 

} } } } } NEW JERSEY!!!!!! { { { { {

[cybercylon]

I haven't consistently watched his videos for the last couple of years... more due to the lack of time. I do like his sense of humor, but if it has gone somewhat down hill as some have said, maybe he is better off doing fewer ones of better quality.

 

But since he is local, I might toss a few bucks his way after I see what he has been up to.

[leods]

Just looked and they're at 7k Will this go over 9000!?

 

I find it excessive to be honest. But whatever. Still People do much worse with their Money. The Problem is, once he gets to 10k he'll Keep doing tons of Reviews, and that means lower Quality to each one... a pitty.

[Gabriel]

Just looked and they're at 7k Will this go over 9000!?

 

I find it excessive to be honest. But whatever. Still People do much worse with their Money. The Problem is, once he gets to 10k he'll Keep doing tons of Reviews, and that means lower Quality to each one... a pitty.

 

Yeah. I'm even more torn now. On the one hand, I wouldn't mind supporting CGR. On the other hand, the higher goals seem at odds with the kind of CGR I'd want to support.

[BillyHW]

Hey Guys, Mark has posted his Patreon drive now:

 

https://www.patreon.com/ClassicGameRoom?ty=h

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5NyEFNiE3M

 

Please support if you wish. And if not, that's fine too. It's a free country.

 

Can a mod give me editing rights to this thread so I can post this in the OP?

Edited January 9, 2016 by BillyHW

[BillyHW]

 

Yeah. I'm even more torn now. On the one hand, I wouldn't mind supporting CGR. On the other hand, the higher goals seem at odds with the kind of CGR I'd want to support.

 

Hey folks, please be aware that there's probably a huge drop-off in donations after the initial drive. There's nothing forcing people who pledged from keeping their subscriptions. I wonder what the average drop-off is, and I hope that Patreon shares their stats with members.

 

And doing something like this of quality part-time is difficult.

[MotoRacer]

Yeah, it needs to be a full time gig. I really hope people keep donating. I know a lot of people here poo poo this whole thing, but without ad money coming in, he's paying for the studio/warehouse, electric, an editor, his pay, and (maybe?) undertow's.

 

I know many here don't care, but seriously it's one of the last shows in the gaming world out there with really high quality that isn't based on negativity, screaming, acting scared, acting like a mentally challenged person, etc. And that is more than accepting of 10 bucks a month for me, especially when I'm paying the same for Spotify, which I rarely use.

 

Anywho, great job Mark .

Edited January 9, 2016 by MotoRacer