Nerds on the Rocks/Dual Wielding FeedBack

[uber_paddler]

Saturday morning works best for me as well, I'll be hammered on Saturday night and hung over on Sunday.

[BreakABone]

Just so we're clear since there are 3 different time zones being represented, what time Saturday morning works for everyone?

[uber_paddler]

Nothing after like 5pm AST (1 Pacific). Anything before that is fine.

[Default]

BaB suggested 11 PST. Not sure what time that is for you guys, but it works for me

[BreakABone]

BaB suggested 11 PST. Not sure what time that is for you guys, but it works for me

That would be 2pm EST
3pm for weird Canadian Time

[magus113]

Alright gents.

I'm a failure of a host since I seem to disappear. Life happens.

So sorry! I'm up for tomorrow. Anytime after 8:30 EST is fine for me. I'll be on AIM at work all day tomorrow so we can work things out if needed.

scarz0ftime is my screenname. Don't hesitate to leave me an IM. If I'm away it's cause I'm away from my desk so I'll get back to you ASAP

[Teuthida]

Seriously...don't know any podcast that misses this many weeks. Current one going through...I'm up to ep 172....they never missed a week...even when one of the hosts DIED.

[BreakABone]

Seriously...don't know any podcast that misses this many weeks. Current one going through...I'm up to ep 172....they never missed a week...even when one of the hosts DIED.

I don't like doing this, it just doesn't work.
You can't compare two products no matter how much you want.

That being said, this is beginning to becoming an exercise in frustration. Yes, I know people do things outside of this podcast, but it just becomes a pain when others clear time and no one is around.

Anyhow, we shall try for the final time tonight, and if not you folks can have a thrill planning it over the weekend.

IF folks want to make it easier, you can exchange all manners of information. AIM names, Skype names, become facebook friends, I don't care.

So depending on who shows up tonight, we're either gonna record the Summer TV episode or try and record that and at least the FMA discussion part of an episode.

[Xantar]

Seriously...don't know any podcast that misses this many weeks.

Clearly you don't listen to IGN podcasts.

That being said, this is beginning to becoming an exercise in frustration. Yes, I know people do things outside of this podcast, but it just becomes a pain when others clear time and no one is around.


Hate to say this, but maybe this should be an indication to you that attempting to do two podcasts when the first one you started wasn't even fully established was a REALLY stupid idea.

[BreakABone]

Hate to say this, but maybe this should be an indication to you that attempting to do two podcasts when the first one you started wasn't even fully established was a REALLY stupid idea.

No because for the most part, I don't have any trouble with Dual Wielding. Yes, they've had sporadic recording.

But of the 4 times they all agreed to meet, they showed up 3 of those times. They work together on planning their time and are good about it. Even during the joint podcast we had Uber and Default show up when needed.

And they were willing to do a podcast on the 4th, but would have been 2 down.

So I'm not gonna hold it against them, that we can't get NoTR down to a nice rhythm.

[Xantar]

No because for the most part, I don't have any trouble with Dual Wielding. Yes, they've had sporadic recording.

But of the 4 times they all agreed to meet, they showed up 3 of those times. They work together on planning their time and are good about it. Even during the joint podcast we had Uber and Default show up when needed.

And they were willing to do a podcast on the 4th, but would have been 2 down.

So I'm not gonna hold it against them, that we can't get NoTR down to a nice rhythm.

You completely missed the point while simultaneously making mine.

If we were only doing one podcast, we would have 7 or 8 people all able to contribute to it and we'd have a much easier time getting people together for a recording. Instead, it's been decided to split people up and attempt to maintain two podcasts simultaneously.

I don't hold anything against uber_paddler, default, or soccerant either. In fact, their punctuality is a great asset. It should be harnessed to along with people like you, me, Magus and thatmariolover to produce one regularly updating podcast about all subjects relevant to nerd-dom instead of two sporadically updating podcasts where the subject matter is split up and we struggle to come up with things to talk about when we don't have enough material for two shows. I don't care if this means Dual Wielding should be merged into Nerds on the Rocks or Nerds on the Rocks should be merged into Dual Wielding or if a whole new podcast should be started. We just don't have the manpower to do this reliably. Of all the people I've talked to, only one person ever thought it was a good idea to divide such clearly scarce resources.

I'm here to do whatever you guys want me to do, but this blatant idiocy is wearing on my patience.

[BreakABone]

If we were only doing one podcast, we would have 7 or 8 people all able to contribute to it and we'd have a much easier time getting people together for a recording. Instead, it's been decided to split people up and attempt to maintain two podcasts simultaneously.

There is no rule against them doing both or vice versa
Actually, a rotating cast was my original idea for this cast. It just somehow settled down to Magus, yourself and me.
Hell Uber and Default were on this week's podcast.

Its not taking anything away from NoTR to do DW, other than maybe an hour and a half on Sunday for them to record.

Of all the people I've talked to, only one person ever thought it was a good idea to divide such clearly scarce resources.
And hell as long as that one person remains me, I'll stand by my decision.

I'm here to do whatever you guys want me to do, but this blatant idiocy is wearing on my patience.

Listen, I didn't tie any anchor to your arse.

[Xantar]

There is no rule against them doing both or vice versa
Actually, a rotating cast was my original idea for this cast. It just somehow settled down to Magus, yourself and me.
Hell Uber and Default were on this week's podcast.

Its not taking anything away from NoTR to do DW, other than maybe an hour and a half on Sunday for them to record.

So if there's a rotating, interchangeable cast between the two podcasts, why exactly are there two podcasts? Remember when we were recording last time and you couldn't come up with a second subject to talk about? I had a whole bunch of ideas to talk about, but there was one problem: they were all videogame ideas and you wanted me to go talk about them on Dual Wielding. Videogames is not what NOTR is supposed to be about, you said.

You've basically admitted as much: you're not sticking to this scheme because you think it's a good idea. You can't even defend it. You're sticking with two podcasts out of sheer inertia and bull-headedness.

Listen, I didn't tie any anchor to your arse.

Fine. Then I'm not participating in any podcasts. And I'm not recording or mixing any podcasts in the future. I sincerely wish you and your podcasts all the best, but I am not going to enable you.

[Teuthida]

That little fight would have made a good episode......

[BlueFire]

I'm definitely late to the party, but I don't see the purpose of having two separate podcasts when gaming chat is inevitable in NOTR. I say scrap Dual Wielding and stick with NOTR.

Two cents contributed.

[uber_paddler]

I think this setup works fine. DW is almost totally autonomous for the most part, and gives us a game-focused podcast for those of us who have little or no knowledge of comics, movies, etc. Game sections on NotR are totally cool as well, but NotR's strength is that it also provides a more diverse array of topics.

There's no reason that they can't both work. I think the most important thing is a schedule. With we know what day and time we're recording every week, and we show up. If we get NotR into a similar position things should move along just fine.

[Typhoid]

While this has nothing to do with podcasts, I'm just dual-whoring the fact I have started, and posted the first article for Manvice. Advice on how to be more manly.
Up now on the NOTR site.

[Xantar]

See, the thing is that's a very nice theoretical setup, but it's not working out that way in practice.

DW is almost totally autonomous for the most part, and gives us a game-focused podcast for those of us who have little or no knowledge of comics, movies, etc.

1. BAB is really the only person who has an interest in comics on a regular basis. As far as I can remember, the only time comics (not comic book movies but just comics) have been discussed on the podcast is during the Cocktail Chatter section. And who exactly listens to a podcast about videogames but has no interest or knowledge of movies? It's not like we're talking about obscure films by Truffaut.

2. Every podcast is going to occasionally discuss subjects that the listeners aren't very interested in. Even a totally videogame-focused podcast will occasionally discuss something that listeners who are into videogames aren't interested in. It's the nature of the podcast.

3. If videogame subjects are totally fine to talk about on Nerds on the Rocks, then someone needs to tell that to BAB. And if that's the case, I find myself once again wondering why Dual Wielding exists since everything Dual Wielding talks about can be covered by Nerds on the Rocks.

4. If you and all the people who podcast for Dual Wielding are willing to contribute your time on a regular basis to Nerds on the Rocks in addition to your regular recording for Dual Wielding, that would be great. I'm sorry to say that quite frankly, I'm very skeptical and what's more, I think that when push comes to shove, you would rather devote your time to Dual Wielding than to Nerds on the Rocks. And I don't blame you. We all lead busy lives.

5. I have repeatedly asked for an affirmative justification for the two podcasts. Not "It's going to be fine and we'll make it work." Not "I think this all makes sense in theory." What I'm looking for is "There are two podcasts produced by GameTavern because..." Nobody has ever been able to give me that justification, and it's a real problem.

It's nothing against you or default or soccerant. I think BAB has done you a disservice by encouraging you to start your own podcast instead of just helping out with the current one which anybody could see has always had a rocky schedule. As you know, I'm not alone in thinking this way. If BAB wants to think he's The Decider, that's fine. But if he wants me and several others to give up our time for his project, he has to communicate with us. And so far, he's been failing.

[manasecret]

I never understood the point of two podcasts so early, when the first one was barely even started. But I'm not running the show or contributing. From my listener perspective (albeit from someone who doesn't listen to many podcasts in general anyway), I'm only going to listen to one podcast, if I'm lucky, and I'd prefer video games were talked about in that one as well as movies, since those are my two main interests. And booze.

[Teuthida]

My problem is I like the DW fellows but can't listen to the show. They have a good rapport and I enjoyed the Starbucks story and nostalgia gaming talk but I just don't play video games anymore so not going to listen to an hour long show about them.

[manasecret]

My problem is I like the DW fellows but can't listen to the show. They have a good rapport and I enjoyed the Starbucks story and nostalgia gaming talk but I just don't play video games anymore so not going to listen to an hour long show about them.

That is another good point. I even like video games and discussing them, but I'd prefer it mixed in with other topics. I like the variety show style of Nerds on the Rocks. And it wouldn't make much sense if Nerds didn't discuss video games.

[Hitman0769]

Hey everybody.

I had a great time participating in the latest NoTR Podcast where we discussed anime, dlc's effect on the gamees industry, and much more! Thanks for having me on! :)

Hope everyone enjoys the podcast, we had a lot of fun creating it for you.

-Jon Ireson (Contributing Editor at www.DualShockers.com)

[BreakABone]

I've been having a good week so been avoiding this topic, but eh might as well.

I will say off the bat that I will continue to support both NoTR and DW as long as everyone makes it possible. If everyone wants to quit after this, I guess it happens.

Also, after this shall set up an e-mail account for NoTR so that folks don't IM me directly with their problems with the podcast (when its out, who's on it, etc). I get that it will come down to me anyhow, but its much easier to deal with when it doesn't cross over with my personal life/time.

With those two bits said, there is no answer that will satisfy folks as to why DW exist so I really won't try and make up a story for it. On a personal level, I'm a huge fan of games, and at some point assume everyone at this site was/is, so I liked the idea of having a dedicated gaming podcast. At the time of coming up with the concept of NoTR, I didn't think we had the caliber of gamers to run a weekly podcast (for the most part, many here don't buy games on a weekly or even monthly basis and not sure how many actually keep up with the news)

This is when I came up with the idea of NoTR which would focus on all things nerdy, and would be less topical so you didn't have to be a comic buyer or movie buyer or game buyer on a weekly basis and still have an interesting conversation. During the course of starting up NoTR (which was about 2 months or so), I also started to run the GameTavern Twitter account. And through that account, I came into contact with gamers who seemed to have a bit more of a passion for all things gaming.

After getting the foundation for NoTR set (which I think is fine, its the planning and execution we have issues with) I ASKED folks from Twitter, not from GT if they had any interest in doing this podcast. The reason I want to point this out, is for the folks saying that it takes resources away from NoTR. Aside from Uber, none of these folks were really GT posters before doing DW, they kind of hover around these parts because they are part of DW. Even with that said, they are still allowed to go on NoTR when they feel like its a topic that fits them.

So may be losing myself in the points so here is how it breaks down to me
-DW and NoTR exist for a broader appeal. As much as I LOVE the concept of NoTR, I also find it can be a bit limiting in reaching an audience since we jump from category to category each week. On the same hand, it is so broad that it can net us a lot of different folks.
-DW exists because at heart, I'm a gamer before anything else, and if it sounds selfish it happens, but I liked the idea of doing a gaming podcast, and I found talent that works well together and for the most part do their own thing. The podcast is scheduled, recorded and edited all by Dual Wielding staff.
-In more nefarious means, it was also a way to get Soccerant, Default and Carnage to become part of the GT community quickly.

That's all I really got.

Just to fix some other issues
-Like I said several times, Dual Wielders can be on NoTR, and Nerds can be on Dual Wielding. There's no rule against it.
-There is no rule against having a gaming discussion on NoTR, since we've done two episodes on e3, and this recent one dealt with DLC. I however will nix an idea I don't think has enough backing for. One of those ideas Xantar proposed that I nixed was talk on onLive and that was because none of us have experience using it so I didn't want to have a discussion on something we hadn't used before. I also believe I nixed the DRM talk because at the time, it was just uber, default and myself and Default didn't play PC game so would have been a two man discussion on something like that.
-As listeners, I don't expect everyone to listen to both podcasts, but I do like having the option out there for members of the forum, but also for the people I post to on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere else.

[Xantar]

-DW and NoTR exist for a broader appeal. As much as I LOVE the concept of NoTR, I also find it can be a bit limiting in reaching an audience since we jump from category to category each week. On the same hand, it is so broad that it can net us a lot of different folks.

I completely disagree. The fact is that in the podcasting world, there is no such thing as a podcast that always talks about what the listeners are always interested in hearing. If you have a podcast dedicated only to talking about videogames, you're still going to sometimes talk about games for the PS3 or MMORPGs or tournament fighters, all of which are going to be subjects that some portion of your audience is not really interested in. I haven't seen any evidence that Dual Wielding attracts a different audience from Nerds on the Rocks. It seems to me that Dual Wielding listeners are mostly just a small subset of the Nerds on the Rocks listeners. But maybe you have some audience data that you can tell us about.

Since I was on the production side of things, I don't really know why anybody listens to either of the podcasts other than simply because they know the people involved. All I can see is that Nerds on the Rocks is at least a little differentiated from podcasts by IGN or 1UP by virtue of its format and subject matter. As much as I like the Dual Wielding guys, it basically plays as IGN GameScoop with fewer exclusives and 90% less douchebaggery. Not necessarily a bad trade-off, but I don't know if that's the best sales pitch you can make.

And as much as you continue to deny it, the podcasts do compete for resources. They are both supported by the same web page, for example, but the very name of the website makes the Dual Wielding guys look like second-class citizens. And then there's the matter of recruiting additional people to get on the show. Right now, new people are coming from these GameTavern forums and are being asked by both podcasts to consider contributing. I don't think this is sustainable.

In fact, I'm pretty sure it isn't being sustained at all. It's been almost a month since the last Dual Wielding podcast. What exactly is the difference between that and doing an occasional all-gaming episode of Nerds on the Rocks? At the end of all this, all I'm left to think is that this was a vanity project for you. Far be it for me to stop you, but I also don't see why anybody would want to support you. Especially since you now have a proven track record of just hiding from problems.

[Xantar]

No thread for the latest Nerds on the Rocks, eh? Well, I'll just say that I've forgotten the name of the third guy because he barely spoke, the audio recording quality was really jumpy, and Kate Beckinsale did not play Lois Lane. You're thinking of Kate Bosworth. Kate Beckinsale might actually be a plausible Catwoman because she's used to running around in absurdly tight pants. And I'm predicting that Catwoman will show up at some point because she is an important part of the Batman mythos and because otherwise the movie will have zero women.

[Typhoid]

We now have a fan page on facebook, which will [hopefully] in time, grow in followers.

You can be one of the first!
Brag to your friends!
Start the trend!
Find us on facebook.

[Teuthida]

Thread hasn't been updated in a long while...

Doing a weekly webcomic called Cliffhanger (http://nerdsontherocks.com/category/cliffhanger). Without a doubt the worst comic to read week to week. Enjoy. :)

[BreakABone]

We're trying to do something special for NoTr 80 since it lands on Superbowl Weekend, and are doing the first ever Nerd Bowl, and looking for selections/picks to form our Draft Pool

http://nerdsontherocks.com/nerds-rocks-nerd-bowl-draft-nominees