MOON GAMING: CYRIL CYBERPUNK

[Bindal]

First of all, I have to say that I personally don't have much interest at all about Moon Gaming in its entirety. So I didn't bother watching the thing in the first place. So, for what I am about to say, that probably matters a bit.

 

Regarding the poll, the actual question should be - should you continue doing this exactly this way? I can imagine that with a bit of tweaking how the format works, people will look at it a bit more positive. Not every style of LP works for everyone equally well. It might already be enough to show only the game and never yourselves. Or maybe make cuts (or remove them, if they're there). Or doing longer games in smaller chunks/shorter games in one long video - the latter would then probably be a Long Play, then. Even just changing what the commentary is about could make a difference on how people like it.

[Nz17]

If you are going to ax Moon Gaming, I think the footage you shot of Cyril Cyberpunk and some of the jokes and comments you made should be recycled into a new Ross's Game Dungeon. The material is already there, you just need to buff it up with a little more commentary, background information, and insightful observations. It could even be the second-to-last RGD video for October so you don't run two videos about Cyril Cyberpunk back-to-back. Think about it.

[Mr Nutt]

To be honest, if you were to continue Moon Gaming (though it seems I'm too late with this considering all the no answers), you'd definitely need to change the type of game you're going to play. It really does need to be something you can work off of and have plenty to say about. It might have also helped if you cut down the video some more. Or you could try what Retsupurae do and watch a Longplay of a weird old game that may have not aged well (kind of like MST3000).

[Cleytinho]

I think the game choice held this episode back, moon gaming has potential though. However, i would advise against putting RGD on hold for moon gaming, i understand this is much easier and faster to make but RGD is just better.

 

Overall a disappointing video, not really bad per se but not the quality i have come to expect of you.

Sorry if this sounds harsh or entitled, i mean this purely as feedback.

[Aldibar]

I know you want to put in less and get more content out faster but we waited 7 years for freeman's mind to come to fruition. It was great because the content was thought out and was worth waiting for, and for me, no episode of freeman's mind disappointed. I could count on quality videos! Now, however, you've found the low end of content production. Now bring the quality up some and find that happy medium so you can work on your movie. To be honest this is the first video i couldn't watch through. About a third of the way through part 1 I skipped ahead about 5 times until the end. Part 2 I immediately skipped halfway and then 2 more times to the end. Part 3 the same. Just couldn't get into it. To be honest, I hope you're thinking about freeman's further adventures and filing away some fantastic stuff for his return someday!

 

Looking forward to more! (but go with what works...tried and true.)

[Magikabula]

Hey Ross! I'm a long time follower and first time poster, but I suppose you need as much feedback as possible for this project... or maybe you've seen enough feedback and want this whole thing to disappear. Regardless, here's mine!

 

One thing you do pretty well for the Game Dungeon is introduce the games, an aspect which was unfortunately absent from this game. If you and Tom had taken a minute or two to script some kind of history of the game rather than going into it blind, it would have given the audience some investment into the project you both were getting into. Also, was I the only one who found it a tad awkward that you decided to switch off playing a single player game? It can work, but if you must have a guest star, not only will you have more fun playing, but it will be more fun to watch.

 

Game choice is important, as many have said. So if you find yourself with a game that doesn't even interest you from the intro, it may not interest your audience much.

[skeropo]

Maybe this is an opportunity to return to Civil Protection, or is that just my wishful thinking?

[ScottD.Betson]

the PSA that Tom was talking about in Part 2 was actually an advertisement for The War Amps of Canada I think (not sure if they had anything like that in the US)

QhRRRRu83vY they had that ad running for a good while until 2006 here but they updated it in 1997

[Amadeus]

I wouldn't be surprised if you're sick of opinions by now, Ross, but just on the off-hand chance that you'll pass by here:

 

I didn't find this very entertaining, for much the same reasons as others have gone into. However, I do feel like there's real potential here. The setup could be fun and your style of humor I think could fit quite well with a character isolated and alone. Maybe a little more scripting and editing and a weirder/dumber/crazier game would do the trick? Regardless, I hope the rocky reception of this won't deter you from experimenting more in the future. Game Dungeon was a pretty drastic departure from your previous stuff and for my part I've enjoyed every single episode of that.

[rafterman]

Yo. This show is dope. Tom is not. Also, 70 minutes was too long.

[BTGBullseye]

"Should I continue Moon Gaming?"

 

D. "I have no strong feelings one way or another." -Neutral President, Futurama

This. Also, I voted "yes".

[Sunny]

I could vote, but I won't, because I want to give more detailed feedback than a poll allows for.

 

To get it out of the way: This first episode of Moon Gaming was nowhere near the level of the Game Dungeons.

 

That's not to say it was all bad, however. There were plenty of funny moments in all 3 parts, and when it got to the end of the game I was pretty much blown away because Tom had Fucking. Called. It. I liked the speculations about the parallels between the game and Grimm's fairy tales, the analysis of how the levels were constructed... But there was just too much dead time.

Compared to the GD there was a LOT of time where nothing happened. Some small talk, Cyril running back and forth, but nothing interesting. In your Game Dungeon we get a well-thought-out comment with pretty much everything, everything is relevant. A "Let's Play" is just a really huge departure from that. As was suggested earlier, a MST3k-format might work better.

 

 

I wouldn't want to vote either yes or no, because while I think this was weaker than what you've presented us with so far, I also think it has potential. Maybe do 2 to 4 Moon Gaming episodes a year but don't make it your main focus, see if it works out, if it does that's great, and if not... well, then it was not to be.

[Descriptor]

Hey Ross, mind if I make a suggestion?

 

I don't think you should necessarily give up on Moon Gaming just yet. I think it could be pretty good if you retooled it a little bit.

I think the biggest problem is that there is a lack of conversational flow through the whole thing, as well as a lot of dead air, as you mentioned.

My personal thought on how to improve this would be to use the guest player aspect to your advantage. To help give better flow to the show, it might be more interesting if you interview the guest through the episode while playing the game. You know, prepare a set of questions to ask when the gameplay slows down a bit (in terms of having stuff to talk about, anyway) and just ad lib stuff from there. Like for instance, I know nothing about the other guy in this episode, and when it was over, I still didn't. By having a set of interview questions ("such as who are you?", "what do you do?", "why are you here?","what's your opinion on recent gaming news?", "what's with that thing in your face?", that sort of thing.) you remove from the guest the burden of having to think of stuff to talk about, while also helping the viewer get to know who this other person is, as well as giving the whole exercise more purpose. Even better, if you could work in the stilted moon-based shut-in aspect to the questions and ad-libbed discussion, it could make for a very entertaining and still fairly easy to produce product.

 

I would also suggest that you play up the whole "games being assigned to me" secret conspiracy thing a bit more. Maybe stuff like getting your orders from transmissions from an obscured talking head (like The Sovereign from The Venture Brothers, for instance) in the intro/outro, as well as building up subtle references to something larger going on behind the show(but without getting too mired in some hamfisted story like a lot of internet shows do. Just play it fast and loose, with the broader picture of why you are on the moon coming across as more ridiculous and absurd with every new vague reference to whatever is going on).

Anyway, good luck with everything, and I hope that helps a bit!

 

EDIT: Oh, also, you totally missed the best opportunity with the forklift boss!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx7ldTl7txQ

[ScottD.Betson]

I think if you continue to make Moon Gaming, Ross, I would maybe have it possible to make it like a Game Dungeon with Face cam somewhat, still do obscure games but do some on your own with you sort of interacting with your audience

[danielsangeo]

So, basically the same format as what jacksepticeye uses, but have Ross do his own take on it?

 

 

vQlMX06odis

 

[Jeb_CC]

Wooh! Jacksepticeye!

 

I dunno if that's Ross' kinda thing though... I think he purposely didn't follow those kind of videos because he didn't want his channel to start reflecting that type of 'let's play' format.

[Vapymid]

Maybe this is an opportunity to return to Civil Protection, or is that just my wishful thinking?

 

Oh, wow, that!

 

I would vote +1000 for more Civil Protection!

 

Regards

[HLPrincess]

Whoa! Everybody has advice for Ross

[Forgot_My_Account]

If everyone started doing it, do you mind if I drop some advice too?

 

Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It's pretty much agreed upon that even if the format isn't bad, the episode wasn't that good. But instead of saying what we feel about it, we can just compare it to Let's Play that are successful RIGHT NOW and derive what's wrong with it.

-SUDDEN REALIZATION-

No need to bother, actually. Everyone here agrees that the Let's Play format right now is full of sensationalist bullshit, geared toward children or is just background noise. That describes none of what you do, or what you're (I think) trying to achieve. So far, every RGD had some sort of educational value beyond the game reviewed itself. So even if you can force yourself to shut off your personality to create something that isn't you, would it really be worth it? Or better yet, is it something you want yourself to be associated with?

Even just thinking about Let's Plays today, you see YouTubers pumping them out in an incredible rate, because they're a hit and miss with a low retention rate. You simply can't make something like that with a high production value and a message that's consistent between videos. You can't say "Tom called it in the first video" when some people might just join in for the third because that's what popped up. The only option is to segment videos not only by content, but by subjects as well. And not make any predictions or talk about anything that might get too long or interesting or lead to another deep subject. If that doesn't sound dull and mind numbing, I don't know what is.

 

tl;dr - You're incompatible with the format. Not that bad, considering that Let's Plays are the Daytime TV of YouTube. Please don't force yourself into it.

[_PArker]

Please don't become a let's play channel! I wouldn't mind if you did it every once in awhile, but don't make it a regular thing. That stuff gets boring. I personally prefer stuff that's more edited and planned out, which is why I subbed in the first place.