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Idle thumbs IS BACK (Kickstarter ended) -- Funded in 3 hours

Maybe I just made this up because its been so long, but i thought thats what they were doing?

I think you just made it up - in fact Jake outright said it isn't an editorial site. Their excuse for relying on the website to launch the podcast has been because they need a way of presenting multiple podcasts at once (IT, IT:Books, and Three Moves Ahead)

So...yeah. Doesn't really make any sense in this age of RSS feeds.
 
If they had gotten 100% funded they would have already been back. Too much money? LEYS HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!!

Completely rude and irresponsible to their backers
 

Ceebs

Member
If they had gotten 100% funded they would have already been back. Too much money? LEYS HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!!

Completely rude and irresponsible to their backers

Lets not be crazy here. They have put out several hours worth of podcasts for the backers while we are waiting, not to mention their backer rewards sound like they will be very high quality. Would it be nice if the normal cast was up and running? Absolutely, but remember this is a weekend project for all three of them, two of which have been in crunch mode for their episodic game while the other just started a new job and is still relocating his life back from the other side of the country.

Cut them some slack. You will get your pods casted soon enough.
 
It's not hard to get together and talk. The film talk has 1 guy in la and 1 in Belfast and they do it over Skype etc or something, and you get it regularly.

Excuses
 
I think all that is required at this point is for them to put forward a semi-realistic timeline. I mean, are we talking days, weeks or months here?

I'm a backer, and I don't want to rush things, but would like to have an honest idea of what to expect. That's all.
 
I think all that is required at this point is for them to put forward a semi-realistic timeline. I mean, are we talking days, weeks or months here?

I'm a backer, and I don't want to rush things, but would like to have an honest idea of what to expect. That's all.

Im not a backer, so I dont know what they've done for those who are. But this is what I really want
 

Odrion

Banned
Fuck this.

RIOT.

pDzhT.jpg

5o89v.jpg
 

S0N0S

Member
Reality doesn't always match up with expectations, as evidenced by the overwhelming support for their Kickstarter. So, things are taking longer than expected, maybe too much longer, but I don't mind that, as long we're not left completely in the dark.

Take all the time you need, but a bit more communication, however insignificant, wouldn't be unwelcome.
 

Odrion

Banned
Reality doesn't always match up with expectations, as evidenced by the overwhelming support for their Kickstarter. So, things are taking longer than expected, maybe too much longer, but I don't mind that, as long we're not left completely in the dark.

Take all the time you need, but a bit more communication, however insignificant, wouldn't be unwelcome.

Hell no! I ain't waitin' for the MAN, er... THUMB.

r0YZV.jpg
 
Reality doesn't always match up with expectations, as evidenced by the overwhelming support for their Kickstarter. So, things are taking longer than expected, maybe too much longer, but I don't mind that, as long we're not left completely in the dark.

Take all the time you need, but a bit more communication, however insignificant, wouldn't be unwelcome.

That would be a sound argument if they were actually creating something that required a fairly typical production cycle, like a game or a movie. It's reasonable to say those projects need time to get everything right.

Idle Thumbs is not that. Idle Thumbs is explicitly praised because of how unproduced it is. It's a handful of dudes talking into microphones about games and not games. That's it.

Out of all the podcasts out there, IDLE THUMBS is trying to convinces its audience that the i's need to be dotted and the t's crossed and the stars aligned for them to come back? Really? It sounds disingenuous and, with the lack of any communication, kinda gross.
 

hamchan

Member
Don't see why they need to launch the podcast and website at the same time. Giant Bomb were putting out podcasts while they were still building their website.
 

commissar

Member
That would be a sound argument if they were actually creating something that required a fairly typical production cycle, like a game or a movie, or an album, or a run of t-shirts, or multiple art prints, and then sorting and sending them all off in their spare time.

You missed a few examples so I added them in :)

+1 on more communication on what's happening though.



edit: that goldblum video is so good hahahaha
 

Jintor

Member
Don't see why they need to launch the podcast and website at the same time. Giant Bomb were putting out podcasts while they were still building their website.

Giant Bomb also had a dedicated webteam for whom it was their actual job to make that site.
 
You missed a few examples so I added them in :)

+1 on more communication on what's happening though.



edit: that goldblum video is so good hahahaha

heh, the idea of Kickstarter rewards literally delaying the very thing you're actually donating for is a pretty dangerous path to explore. Let's hope they don't use that excuse.
 

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
At least I got 3MA, which I enjoy more and more. Tom Chick is alright, fuck the haters.
Also, there's a new Hardcore History, which makes me wayy more agreeable in general for at least a week.

They really need to get their shit going though, or at least figure out a schedule that makes sense, and communicate it.


Anyway, there are things you can't just throw money at. One of those is a cool website you want to make just right with your own ideas and a specific team in mind. Which seems to be what's going on on that front.
I mean, you can throw money at a webdev house, like mine haha, and expect a product and shit, but sometimes, you really don't want that, right?

I dunno wtf is going on anyway, keep calm and carry on.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I've started playing Dawn of Discovery. This is a cool cool game. I traded some tools.
 

El Sloth

Banned
Just wanted to bring up that while most here don't care about the website, the Idle forums still has a dedicated little group of regulars and then there's the whole thing about finally giving fans of the Three Moves Ahead podcast a forum of their own.

I really doubt that's the reason why we've had no updates for a while. I'd wager that they're just plain old busy + signing all those damn postcards.
 

Jintor

Member
There aren't nearly enough 'best of' idle thumbs segments on YouTube. They only have Goldblum, Shadow & Colossus, College Baby, Dark Knight Begins: Spiderman 2, Airfield, Horse Bag and Jurassic Park.
 
I've listened to every thumbs episode like twice now. =/

The second time was after they had gone dark and Remo was in Boston and I thought it was dead forever.
 
When I enjoy a podcast, I always try to support them by donating money (if it's possible) as a way of thanking them for the hours of free entertainment and offsetting some of the cost that doing so has accrued them.

I came to Idle Thumbs after they had already finished so the opportunity to thank them was not afforded to me. When the Kickstarter was started, not only did I see it as a way to get new Idle Thumbs into my ears, I saw it as a way to give them back something. I jumped in, like many/most people in this thread, eagerly and counting the days until the podcast began anew.

However, it didn't take long after the end of the Kickstarter until 'buyer's remorse' started to creep into my feelings for it. I listen to a lot of podcasts and none of them have asked for money for their time and equipment. None of them felt the need for an office, a website and dedicated equipment and to reach out to their audience for help finance it. Most of them are doing their podcast from their homes via equipment and programs that most people have at home; the dedicated of them buy their own specialised equipment, out of their own pockets.

I reasoned back to myself that the money was my way of thanking them for their past efforts and nothing more. But the unease remains.

If the new podcasts had started to flow quite quickly, I think my unease was have been quashed. Instead, we got progresscasts where we were reminded, by them, of the work and pressure that acquiring an office and buying equipment had placed upon them. Until everything was "just right" we would have to wait for official podcasts to resume. Wait for the office. Wait for the equipment. Wait for the website. Wait for the backer rewards.

I'm left feeling that they're a prisoner in a situation of their own creation. Whether it was needed or not, they asked for money to start podcasting again. In order to justify it, they felt the need to promise a bigger, better experience. Now they have to live up to this, an expectation that they created and we hadn't original wanted. We just wanted more casts.

Months later and, well, here we are. It's been a month since the last progresscast, which they no longer wanted to put out because it "wasn't the quality that they wanted it to be." But they were exactly what we wanted, more podcasts, and now even they have stopped.

I don't know, this is just my ramble. These are just the feelings that I have had with regards to this whole venture. Whenever they do come back, I just hope it's what we've wanted and that it lives up to the legacy that the original (well, two) run had.

Thanks for reading.
 

Jintor

Member
Caveat emptor.

It's a problem with Kickstarter generally. But dude... I listened to a lot of Idle Thumbs. A one-time payment of whatever I paid is fine by me. I know a question of worth differs from person to person, especially when the product is free, but I feel like whatever money I put in was already spoken for.
 
I get that, I really do. My primary concern - now that I've had time to think about it - is that the basis for the Kickstarter is a flaw in the concept of their return and will also be an uncessary pressure that sets their - and some of our - expectations too high

I'm not bemoaning the money that I've out-layed. It's thanks for the 80odd Podcasts that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's in return for a bunch of stuff that they'll send me. It's for the return of the podcast.

But, ultimately, it was a podcast that was better than the rest that was produced without an office, dedicated equipment, a revamped site and another Podcast in their network.

All we wanted was podcasts, and I think there's a danger that the expectations and promises that are a result of the Kickstarted are forming a barrier to the end goal that we all want.
 

Cohsae

Member
Caveat emptor.

It's a problem with Kickstarter generally. But dude... I listened to a lot of Idle Thumbs. A one-time payment of whatever I paid is fine by me. I know a question of worth differs from person to person, especially when the product is free, but I feel like whatever money I put in was already spoken for.

Agreed.
People need to chill the fuck out, this thread is the biggest echo chamber right now. Parrot city.
 

Margalis

Banned
Kickstarter is not supposed to be a payment for stuff the people have already done in the past. You may feel like the money you put in was already spoken for but that's definitely not how KS is supposed to work.

I'm sure they'll get up to speed eventually but this situations is a bit odd. All we want is some intelligent game talk and horsebag jokes.
 

Ledsen

Member
Come on guys, no need for a pile-up. They clearly underestimated the amount of work they would have to put into this.

1. They all have full-time jobs. Like jake said, this is a weekend project. They knew this beforehand, but because of 2) and 3) this has become a bigger factor than they anticipated.

2. The rewards. They severly underestimated the amount of support they would get, and I think one of the biggest factors in the delay is the huge amount of work that goes into the backer rewards. They had to sit there signing postcards and working out printing, shipping and administration instead of working on the website or the cast. Not until this was finished could they start working on the stuff that matters the most to us.

3. The website. I'm not sure what the plan for this was beforehand, but they didn't communicate to the backers that this was going to be the no 1 priority before any casting would take place. Now it seems they underestimated the amount of work that had to go into this, too. I'm sure they'd love to just start recording, but they had a plan and they're sticking to it.

All of the above factors seem to contribute to the delay. The only thing i wish they did better was communicating with us, even if it was basically the same story each week.
 
When they raised this much money a lot of other podcasts were making fun of them. I recall Cheapy from Cheapassgamer in particular pointing put the total coast of his weekly podcasts including mics for everybody and web hosting being a few hundred tops for years of podcasting. Player One podcasts made similar remarks in passing.

At the time, I didnt really care because I wanted more Idle Thumbs, but I do feel kind of like a sucker now. At the very least after raking in $136,000 fucking dollars to talk into a goddamn mic they could be more expedient and communicative. It has now been over three months. I don't know anything about podcasting and I have a full time job teaching and working on my dissertation, but I'm sure even I could set up a website and a podcast in three months.

I like these guys and I like their work but this is pretty inexcusable. There are literally dozens of great podcasts put out for free by people who have full time jobs like Gamers With Jobs, Player One Podcasts, Cheap Ass Gamer, etc. I should have donated money to those guys instead but they didnt go pan handling at kickstarter and just kept on doing what they've always done instead in a professional manner.

The longer it goes the more I realize the people making fun of this whole idea of giving them a ton of money to make a podcast were right. At first I thought they were jealous. Now I realize they just had more class and professionalism.
 

Sloane

Banned
At the very least after raking in $136,000 fucking dollars to talk into a goddamn mic they could be more expedient and communicative.
Eh. I obviously don't know exact numbers but I bet that about $100,000 of that went into fees and rewards, maybe even more considering the quality they are trying to achieve.

What stops you from donating money to the other podcasts by the way?
 

rexor0717

Member
I think they could be a bit more forthcoming with the progress and just how much longer we should expect to wait. But its not bothering me that much.
 

fallout

Member
The longer it goes the more I realize the people making fun of this whole idea of giving them a ton of money to make a podcast were right. At first I thought they were jealous. Now I realize they just had more class and professionalism.
Nah, those people are still dumb. There's nothing wrong with getting paid for the content you deliver.

The problem is that they've gotten paid for content they're not yet delivering.
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
It's a kickstarter for podcasts so one would think they would be getting back to making podcasts eventually but Remo doesn't seem like an unreliable guy
 
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