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My Problem with G&S

GrandpriestGrandpriest Member
edited July 2016 in Geek & Sundry Discussion
For a while now, I've been unhappy with this show, and I haven't been able to put my finger on exactly as to why that is.  
Until now, that is.
Geek & Sundry, as the name implies, is something that should bring geeks together in celebration of games and geekdom.  G&S would have its audience believe that is what its all about.  But sadly ... that is not what G&S is about.

I saw on the Hearthstone twitter that G&S is going to do shows based off of Hearthstone.  
I was like, "Awesome!  It'd be fun to see them playing with people who play Hearthstone.  I'll read this article to see what it's about."
Then a specific line caught my eye.

"Critical Role’s Matt and eSports host Rachel hosts this tournament of celebrity players."

There.  The part in bold.  That's what G&S is about.  And that is what is wrong with G&S.

The name "Geek & Sundry" gives normal people hope that they'll be on equal footing to the cast of the show; normal, every-day geeks who play games.  But no ... that's not the real heart of this show/company.
Most of the budget goes towards the celebrities.  That's what the show actually cares about.  G&S doesn't care about your normal, every-day geek.  It cares about being a celebrity-only party.  Hell, half of the guests who the show pays for (or actually the fans, when you look at TableTop) aren't even geeks.  They are just celebrities that *might* be connected to geeks in some manner.

That's honestly heartbreaking ...
A company that should be as connected as possible to your everyday geek is actually as DIS-CONNECTED as possible when they put that "celebrities or popular people only" sign at the entrance.  The audience can do nothing but look through the window and dream of being in the same room as the people on the show.  They ... *we* never will.

tl;dr = Geek & Sundry is an illusion.  It's not about geeks.  It's about celebrities.

Comments

  • TheMightyJerdTheMightyJerd Member
    PM
    This is becoming more and more of a valid criticism unfortunately...
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  • mjr511mjr511 Member
    PM
    There has been a shift I'm afraid, for example I was always a huge fan of the G&S Vlogs and how it gave the opportunity to basically anyone who was a massive geek about a subject the chance to talk about their interest. Of course I understand that at the end of the day G&S is a business and needs to make money, and if getting celebrities on shows mean more views (and therefore more income) then of course G&S would be silly to ignore that, but the channel has definitely moved from how it used to be - and I certainly understand that all things change, and whenever change happens people complain about the change (which I fully appreciate I'm doing right now!).

    Of course there is still good stuff on the channel, I'm thinking about having a go at the G&S Inkshares Fantasy Contest at the moment, but I can't say that I feel that the channel makes as much use of the community as it could.
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  • mjr511mjr511 Member
    PM
    That's a really good post Zuffy, it really brings things into perspective.  I would absolutely love to love G&S, but I'm wanting to see people really keen on unusual hobbies that may broaden my horizons (which I feel is one of the core points of that first G&S About blurb).  Don't get me wrong, the G&S shows are good - and maybe I've just become a little negative over the years and I need to immerse myself in G&S content again - but I think Grandpriest hit the nail on the head when he noted the Hearthstone shows with celebrity players.  I like celebrities, but wouldn't be it more awesome to have, at least in the mix, some of the really good (or even really bad!) everyday gamers that play Hearthstone? I don't know if it's a budget thing which restricts G&S from offering more engagement with the community, I would imagine that a lot of people would happily create good quality content for G&S simply because they could have their work shown on G&S.
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    @ravenswingthog
  • SilvermilesSilvermiles Member
    PM
    Glad to see I'm not the only one thinking that G&S is not what it used to be. I think the problem is that someone, don't know if from G&S or from Legendary Entertainment, has changed the spirit of G&S to "lets do things for fun" to "lets do things to sell".

    Lately I haven't been able to see more than five minutes of their new programs. I study marketing, and I can understand some things, but there is this wonderful marketing principle set by Simon Sinek (TED talks, look it up) that states "people want to buy from companies that believe in what they believe", and I feel that what G&S is doing is no longer what I believe to be fun, to be engaging, to be geek or to be sundry.

    I still have high hopes that somewhere deep inside they know they are not what they used to be and will bring back the old G&S spirit that we all loved and trusted.
  • captdafcaptdaf Member
    PM
    "Home to ... the award-winning scripted series LARPs..."
    Still waiting for LARPs Season 3!
  • captdafcaptdaf Member
    PM
    Oh yeah, I really enjoy the Exatled game they're playing on Sundays, great fun! :)
  • DE4681DE4681 Member
    PM
    I'll start this off by saying that I subscribed to G&S solely for Critical Role at first, but have slowly come to enjoy much of the other content. Given that I came here to watch a show that's directly based around a celebrity cast, my perspective of this debate is coloured. 

    If I wanted to watch Average Joes sit around and play games, I could tune into almost any other Twitch or YouTube channel. I've watched a lot of the other guys take a crack at what G&S has been so successful at, but I never stick around for long because they lack one thing that celebrities tend to have in abundance: talent (heck, it's why they're celebrities). Professional performers, of all kinds, bring a level of composure that you just don't find around people outside of that environment and its really fun to watch them dig into the same things I enjoy. 
  • RolistesPodRolistesPod Member
    PM
    I'm increasingly sad I missed the G&S party :'(
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