Lack of flow on the bombcast?

Has anyone noticed that the last few bombcasts have lacked flow? seems like a lot of the podcast is people either fighting to get their 2 cents in or people trying to let someone else talk. Ive liked the new voices on the podcast but seems like they arent clicking yet.

Yes, but there has also been a noticed connection problem with Jeff Gs to internet, which is also where the cross talk seems to happen the most. I’m willing to believe it could at least be largely to technical delays.

Also, Jess is new and still building her report with everyone, just like Jan, Dan, Jason, Austin, Abby, Ben and Drew all had to ease into finding their voice. Flow occurs with familiarity, and they aren’t in the same space anymore, so it makes sense it might not happen as fast as it otherwise would have. Between that and potential technical issues, it’s not any real problem to me.

The chemistry is really lacking lately. It's rough, I haven't even finished the past few Bombcasts.

y'know, i think i'd actually disagree. on last week's i was thinking to myself "damn, THE NEW CLASS has really hit their stride."

there continues to be a lot of cross talk and video-conference-interruption...but so it goes. more important to me is the riffing, and in that regard i think they've all settled in pretty well. opening of "716: Homeopathic Indiana Jones" was great!

@kerned: I don’t envy anybody conducting life through a zoom call. I changed career paths during the pandemic specifically to never do that with my life. I’ve probably missed 200+ of those calls in the year and a half since I quit. I want to lobby for prisoners that only get video calls with love ones. Not a substitute.

We're going to have to have to deal with the cross talk until they get back in the office (if they ever do). It's been that way to me this entire time. No idea how that will work with everyone so spread out now.

Zoom is the new flow. There may be a future office or studio, but it isn't going to be the same collaborative space 4-5 days a week ever again.

Bakalar lives in and will continue to live in New Jersey. Jess is in Illinois. Jason is in Georgia. Jeff moved to somewhere not the Bay Area that seems like maybe Southern California somewhere? Not sure because he hasn't elaborated as is his right. Jan and Rorie are the only Bay people now.

Hopefully there is a way to move passed the overlap and lag on the podcast, but it's understandably difficult when you have 4-6 voices at a time. Still enjoying the site and thanks for the years of entertainment.

I am still beating the drum that live podcasts is a crummy idea. I understand that the Giant Bombcast is one of the biggest draws of this staff and being able to monetize it into their premium structure is important. But holy crap, as soon as they switched to live shows its never been the same. Constantly watching what you say and cancel culture being what it is has to be a nerve-wracking nightmare.

I've paid for premium for a very very long time and I still listen to the regular Bombcast feed with the ads. Mostly because they do different things with them and I find most of them pretty funny. I would LOVE SO MUCH if the podcast wasn't live anymore and they had a little more freedom to speak their minds and be able to edit the show after the fact like the good old days.

A lot of the old YouTube clips and best-ofs of the Bombcast are things that were probably going to be cut out but they ended up doing some sort of bit with it and made some comedy out of it.

It's the nature of going remote. A lot of GB content has always been conversational and vibe-heavy, which is something that's impossible to maintain to the same level over teleconferencing. I'd also think this makes it more difficult for new staff/guests to quickly and easily plug in. If you already have a rapport with someone in person, you can, up to a point, work around the disruption the tech causes and try to maintain your usual conversational rhythm, but establishing that flow from scratch in an environment that is working against you is a struggle. Plus, their relatively large group size exacerbates things.

I listen to a lot of podcasts that have had to deal with the same problems adapting to remote recording. The podcasts that are less affected are typically some combination of 1) not as casual/conversational in tone, 2) have only 2 or 3 hosts at max, or 3) edited to smooth them out.

There's always going to be lag in Zoom, and that's going to disrupt the spontaneity. For the longest time Jeff G. seemed to hold the position that the podcast, live or recorded, had to be done by people in the same room to keep it natural. I know the pandemic forced their hand regardless, but, gawd, I miss the half game journalism / half improv scene stuff of the early years. But, that's not going to change regardless of where or how they record.

The problem with the live Bombcasts isn't that they're live -- the problem is that, by the time they started doing live Bombcasts, it was a significantly different cast, creating a different vibe. I don't think it would make a difference if they went back to recording live to tape. (Especially now, since the cast is completely different. I'm not saying it's good or bad -- it's just different.)

They do every other show live -- why would being live on the Bombcast be any different than any of the other live shenanigans they've done?

In my opinion:

Really going through some growing pains with Jess. I really want to like her, but every time she talks, it’s like a huge record scratch.

Bakalar was also better as a rotating chair and not the main attraction. He has no idea how to direct content or a website.

No wonder all the GB all-stars jumped ship and started their own things.

Less Jess and Bakalar on the podcast, more Rorie

Yeah, i've stopped listening to bombcasts - there's no chemistry, Rorie will just interrupt people and throw people off track with non-sequiturs. At least there's nextlander.

@99bajakid: those guys are seasoned. It’s going to be hard to generate chemistry. That should be obvious and probably no longer worth commenting on… starting now. Nextlander when they were part of giant bomb needed the foil of Jeff. Now they drift aimlessly in misremembering territory. They are people that played games found jobs where they played games. Jeff forged a path. He’s got the machete in this jungle it succeeds regardless of who is carrying the water. Don’t be so tough. There’s enough content on this site to go back to the great again years and just watch stuff you missed. At some point these people will get together for pax or something and the “I didn’t know you had a glass eye.” type conversations will be gold.

I dunno about chemistry because I think thats somewhat subjective but there has been a lot of cross-talk lately, and I listen to other podcasts which are also recorded remotely and it's not nearly as pervasive although it obviously does happen once in a while.

I think we're trapped in a boring time of the year in some sense, but I disagree with a lot of posts in here--I've really been enjoying Bombcast 3.0 a lot. I've been on this website and listening to this pod since 2008 and I'm always surprised how rude some of the comments and threads people make about the site and the staff are. They're settling into a new groove.

Since covid started I've been playing D&D with my mates over discord every week or so. We have known each other for about twenty years at this stage. We Still talk over each other and interrupt each others speech because when you are not face to face there are no ques whatsoever, you have only audio.

We played a game in person for the first time and it was infinitely easier to know when and where to step in or let someone else talk.

It is extremely difficult to have any kind of free flowing live conversation over a streaming service. Give the guys a break.

People pay a subscription price for quality content. If the staff NEED “a break”, perhaps they should give their paying subscribers “a break” in their wallets until they find a way to make better quality content. The staff is not entitled to “a break” on good will alone. At a certain point, the content needs to speak for itself. Enough excuses, figure it out

@sometingbanuble: Uh, what?

What exactly do you think you're asking for here?

@galasonron: Genuinely was just asking you what you have in mind, but thanks.

@regularassmilk: I genuinely doubt that

There's certainly stuff I miss! I wish there were more Game Tapes! More Demo Derby! I love Jar Time and those are rare. I don't know maybe I'm just coming at this from a different perspective. These people don't owe me anything, I'm paying to access this stuff and to support this team and this site. I'm a supporter, I'm not going to get into my own head and be convinced that I'm the boss or something. I feel like the normal response to "hmmm I'm not really into this" should be to re-consider your subscription instead of holding it over the sites head in a roundabout way. That's like the internet equivalent to people who put tip money on the table at a restaurant when they sit down and then whittle it down based on the perceived quality of the service. There's a constructive way for the audience to guide the content of the site when applicable and I don't think this is it. For what it's worth, I think it can be tough to deliver fair and even-handed criticisms of a site that is focused on its personalities by design, and I hate Hall Monitor "you can't talk about this!" bullshit but like I said I just think threads like this suck, no two ways about it.

It's been like that the whole pandemic. There's always going to be overlap when you're effectively doing a video call. A live video call that you can't edit the stumbles out, too. I don't put it down much to the staff.

Echoing what other people have said: it’s a symptom of being on Zoom/Google Meet. I use both for work and the amount of “sorry, go ahead” has been consistent throughout the conference call Bombcast era. I thought things were way more crosstalky in the February-April period this year, but I think part of that is due to Danny experiencing lag in the calls. For one of the more recent Bombcasts, I think they also stated they needed to use a backup recording. Even when things are normal, Vinny used to talk about the drift issues that could occur on the conference call Beastcasts; I’m sure it’s still a factor.

Cast-wise, I think it’s good. I’m definitely hearing more from Jan (and Jason when his health allows him to be part of the show), and both used to get talked over for all but a couple minutes out of 3 hours prior to 2021. Jess has been a great addition; I was grateful she asked the question about MMO servers on this week’s episode because I sure as hell didn’t understand what Jeff had left unspoken. It’ll be interesting to see what GOTY sounds like with this bunch.

Agree. I listen to a bunch of podcasts, pretty much all of them are remote now? And nothing has been nearly as bad with the cross-talk/interruptions. My only other complaint with remote podcasts is when you have a group of people with great audio and then that one person who's in like a bathroom with a gaming headset.. If you're going to have someone guest on the show or whatever.. they really need to motivate them to get better audio. Bombcast has been good on this front I think.

More Detailed Theories/Whining:

TL;DR - The podcast has been kinda hard to listen to lately. I find myself looking for something else to listen to or I will cut the podcast short.

@shindig said:

Is this my theory too. You canto get the same flow with people on a video call as you do with a four chair in a room podcast. We don't have to like it, but I don't think there are people to blame - its the situation that is to blame. Do we have group with big personalities? Yup. Do we have group where everyone has something to say? Yup. Do we have a crew of people still feeling each other out to find cohesion? Yup. But, the biggest issue by far is they are all on a delay with each other that messes up any flow or conversation.

Want to get Giant Bomb back to where it needs to be? Then wear a mask, get your shots & booster, and wash your hands; then encourage every single person around you to do the same.

It's due to the Zoom type podcasts. Hopefully we see some of the staff return to the office for in person podcasting. A majority of the staff is still near San Francisco and could theoretically go into the office a couple days a week (plus any future west coast hires), one being for the Bombcast. That hybrid style of work approach seems like what a lot of companies are changing to. When that will happen though who knows, maybe by summer of next year.

It would be nice to hear about future return to work plans, if that's a hybrid approach, to say "We will be back in the office at some point, just not yet" or even if its to say "We are never going back". Just let the fan base know.

@seikenfreak: I don’t know what other podcasts you listen to but video gaming podcasts is the only type where somebody has input on everything. Sports? I might have missed that fight. Politics? I don’t agree with that stance but I’m going to let you finish. Life? Funny story about my 3 legged dog? Beyoncé had the best video but I’m going to let you finish. Videogames? As an example. Excitebike? Everybody has a point of view so 6 people want to chime in because they are… excited. Tip of the tongue riffs that can’t wait lest you forget. Unless you listen to books or movie podcasts constantly which have more prepared schedule where you can write down all your prepared thoughts on the couple of possible topics. With videogames you can start googling. And get excited. For any game! You guys don’t get it. Quit complaining. They haven’t missed a Tuesday. This is why nobody wants to meet their fans. Creeps. They at most need a pen and paper so they can write down what they are going to say before they say it in case their is crosstalk. Not knowing what they were about to say and the dead air from it is just amateur hour. Forgetting is a symptom of not being prepared. Other than that... carry on.

@emospacemonkey: is Dan absent? Flow? Babbling brook.

This thread is not your chance to insult the staff members.

Please keep this thread on topic or it will be locked.

Only Rorie and Jan are in the Bay Area. Jeff is at minumum hours away now and everyone else is on the other side of the country. As stated earlier, there isn't going to be much of a "return to the studio" as it sounded like earlier in the pandemic.

@rebellion91: how the hell did you end up talking about cancel culture here?

@sometingbanuble: ..don't know about all that..

But.. yea, anyway. I listen to mostly video game related podcasts these days. Each of them has their own quirks, which, I'm sure the people on them would like to change if it weren't just their personal habits/ticks that are super hard to break. Nobody wants to listen their recorded selves talk because they'd be cringing at things they do just like we as the audience do. I'd bet money on it that there are services out there to provide professional feedback and training for podcast/radio talk. I think Brad/Will may have even talked about it? Brad acknowledged a certain thing he does that he didn't like. He still does it, but maybe he's still working on it.

I also want to make it clear, I'm just throwing my two cents in because I happened to check the forum page (I don't often come here these days), noticed the topic, and thought it interesting as I had the same thoughts the other day. The issue I'm picking up on doesn't feel like it has to do with Zoom calls because they've been doing this for awhile now. I noticed this change when Jess started. There are always changes when people on a podcast change! I am merely pointing out my anecdotal thoughts on this recent one.

That does not mean I have a real problem with her or anyone else on Giant Bomb. Just an observance. She seems cool and a great fit for the site. I don't think she is specifically talking over people, as much as it seems like everyone is talking over everyone.

I'm more curious in the.. science?.. of podcasting. The social dynamics and behaviors. Mannerisms. I find it interesting when anyone on a podcast you listen to says something like "You don't know me, just because you listen to a podcast" and no, not like that, but more so the details of someones speech habits, behaviors, tones, responses etc etc. Things these people probably don't even realize they are doing. But because you've listened to them socially communicate with people for literally hundreds or thousands of hours, over many years, you can pick up on subtle or not so subtle changes.

It's a fascinating study.

TL;DR - Whatever. I probably shouldn't have even responded here. Shame on me.

I personally have been digging the bombcast just as much as I always have.

@sometingbanuble: agreed, but I will say I enjoy the HG 101 47,000 greatest games of all time podcast. It’s amateur as hell but I kinda like them more for it.

Seriously, though, the invasion of all the complaining on the forums has been a real bummer, even as I’ve been guilty of it myself. GB has always been a silly production, and in light of the pandemic, the departures and everything else, the fact they are still going is a good thing.

@tartyron: I don't know how they are. I've been a fan of GB since day 1, but it just really seems like they are running on fumes for the past long while. I was hopeful recently when there was a "Here's what's coming up on GB this week!" post, but it seems like that only happened once. Probably because there was actual content that week. Unless I'm missing those posts somewhere.

As for the bombcast crosstalk and interrupting complaints, it's not because of being on zoom. Being on zoom doesn't make someone interrupt anothers story to tell their own for 5 minutes and then let the other person go back to the point they were making. It's a personality trait. People do it face to face too. Whether it's been happening more so lately? Perhaps.

Not any more than any usual online call I have. Even with friends I've had for my whole life, there's a lot of crosstalk and chatter while we play games online. It's impossible to tell by body language if someone is going to talk, or even who is going to stop talking once it starts. The Bombcast is done live so they can't even edit audio after the fact. They just sound like real people having an actual call.

hey someone that has a completely different idea of the world entirely. someone kind of like dan like but not Dan like . and also they need who's working the video game business itself. and I think they need a Canadian member.

Its obviously telecommunication issues, each one has to wait and pause cause your not seeing mouths in real time. Youd be surprised how humans predict and let each other speak in auto mode. Only when your around a person that doesnt do you notice that you have to see jaw movements and whatnot and stuff. Lag can ruin that. Nothing to do with crew synergy IMO. They seem to actually agree with most opinions and id even love it if more didnt, like old days when half love a game and the other half doesn't and they debate and showcase stuff the other didnt notice. Honestly surprised this isn't closed thou, thought mods would close threads like this. Seems they pop up again anyway for people to mail their grievances but your supposed to send the issues in personal mail or something I think. We need to give the crew time, they are getting used to the new normal of working far away and other things. Dont wanna be that company that expects work from home to triple productivity as they cut costs.

I stopped listening to the bombcast for a few months but have been giving it a try recently. The flow is not there and this is not related to being remote.

I've been giving Jess a chance but her personality does not work great. You could see this over the GOTY discussions. Takes things very personally and overall detracts from the process. There seemed to be some barbs between herself and Jeff G.

I'm going to keep trying, but it's getting harder to tune-in. I love hearing Jeff G talk about nearly anything. Would love to see more Rorie. But as of now there are too many cooks not enough chefs.

The discussions hinge on Jeff G driving. Otherwise it's clamoring for something to say.

Jess is funny as hell. Great line up.

I'm listening Bombcast since early days and I have to say that its not doing it for me anymore.

I moved to Nextlander and paid for their mid tier, giving me plenty podcasts to go through the week.

In my humble opinion the best what could happen is departure of Jeff G, Jason, Jan and Jeff B (and Danny!) from the site so they could create they own content like Nextlander did. I would be happy to support them.