Long overdue but a big one - Am I safe?

Thank you! :) I'm alright with it, I just really do appreciate feedback and critique, you guys help make this channel great, it's not just me! Thanks for helping with that!

The King of Average

I really appreciate the feedback thank you! :) I certainly am not for everyone and I think that's okay :)

The King of Average

A big part of the reason I decided to recently become your patreon is because of your passion and strong opinions. I completely agree with you that its hard to really evaluate your own thoughts and position unless you find someone who disagrees with you. As other people above have mentioned I really love how straightforward and genuine your content is, maybe its not the right thing for some but its definitely what I am looking for so please don't become milder.

Hey Michael! Like someone already mentioned, I too have the feeling that this "no safe space" comment was probably not caused by something you did or said. Maybe this person wrote something and some guy replied in a rude way (as it unfortunately appears to happen in the internet...). Maybe then this person had the feeling that your efforts to set a kind and polite tone are not sufficient...? I do not know! And honestly, I think, the way that you adress this issue and how much you care about it, shows, that this person might be wrong or it might be some kind of odd misunderstanding. Further investigation would surely be necessary to judge profoundly! :-) But, I think you should not take it too seriously either. It's the internet! And people come and go. Sure, you want to make everyone happy, that is because you are awesome. But the more you grow, the less you will be able to satisfy everyone's needs. And I think maybe you should limit the time you spend reading comments. I can imagine that this is very exhausting and again - the more you grow, the less you will be able to read them all anyway... btw, I really appreciate your honesty and hard work!!

Hey Michael, unfortunately in our modern culture, "safe space" has come to mean "a place where I don't have to listen to someone say something that I don't like". So, if you say someone's favorite game is crap, they will cancel you. I hate this aspect of culture and appreciate that you express your opinions in a straightforward manner (even when I disagree with them). Please don't change!

As a relatively new patreon member, and relatively new to the online board game community, I really appreciate the honest opinions, including the rants. So many other channels are too positive too much of the time. It is easy to get caught up in all the hype about new games and Kickstarters. I appreciate having a place I can go to hear honest opinions about the flaws in games and campaigns. It's a reality check that has saved my wallet a few times already. You are doing a service to the community, and that is why I am a patreon. Keep up the good work!

Nameless_Adventurer

Okay I am a simple guy, so had to google "raison d'etre" and couldn't pronounce it if I wanted to, but thank you for the very well reasoned comment and feedback!

The King of Average

I will google that right now copy/paste style :D Really though I fret over stuff like this because I care which I suppose at least that means the root of the issue is a good thing, just not always a great outcome? Between touchy subjects here and tons of work hours at work I'm not really at 100% (worked until after midnight yesterday for instance). But coming here and seeing you guys be WAY smarter than me and is always a joy :) I think perhaps a broader issue is how we as people learn more through failure. We always do. That tends to make coverage a look at something I feel went wrong, not what went right. We typically aren't critical and try to figure stuff out when things go smooth and well, only when the process breaks down which can sometimes lead to a more negative focus than I wish my videos had.

The King of Average

That's really cool advice - I've never heard it described that way before! The irony of it is, I never put that much thought into the video once the camera rolls. Sure you guys see me here planning and working and hustling to do things for the channel, but once the camera rolls I just....speak. That's a great thing usually I feel. I believe it gives my channel a different vibe because of *how* I speak on video. I never think of speaking to a camera in a room alone by myself at 2am. I'm thinking of all of you and about what I want to say to you and what you might say back, just like a normal conversation. I know that sounds dumb/cheesy but that's how it honestly is. With that comes some negative though as it's not prepared well. I'm going to work on that a bit. Gotta get that second date after all! :D

The King of Average

hahah well put as only you can put it :D

The King of Average

Hey where you from in switzerland ?

Part 2 : Also i feel kind of odd that people have some disappointment about you giving your opinion, there was some studies about that "Parasocial relationships on youtube" maybe you can find some answers there. Direct addressing, physical appearance, and frequency create a relationship between you and your Patreon, but this relation goes one way, even if you love your community, we are a mass, while you are an individual, that we respect and love, but you don't know us, while we know : you, your dog, your house and maybe more... But it is obvious that at some point in your video you’ll disappoint someone, and that someone will take it way to personally because he feels like he is your Bud'. Finally, once, I had to take a seminar on “nonviolent conversation”. In this seminar they said that people are responsible of their own emotion, we shouldn’t hold other people responsible for what we feel. You can be sorry that you “let down” someone by giving your opinion, but you aren’t responsible for his feeling. People are free to watch your content and they shouldn’t give you the responsibility to moderate your content, and either they leave, or they stay. As for my personal opinion : I think you are great and I fear that listening to much on what people say will affect your sanity by stressing you out, and it’ll also affect your work because you’ll have to double check everything before releasing a video ending up decreasing the number of video you do. So thanks for being yourself and keep up the good work. Sorry for the long post

This is all kind of upsetting, and heartwarming at the same time that you are taking every single comment so personally. On a Rosewater conference he said that your production is like a blind date. If there is no joy, no excitement, no passion, it doesn’t matter what you do, there won’t be a second date, or a second view if we will. A blind date isn’t about not having bad thing to say, but something positive, viewer doesn’t need to like everything but to love something. Something they feel strongly about. Worrying about people not loving something that would evoke strong responses. It isn’t possible to make strong responses in one direction without having others in the opposite direction, and it’s proven that people want to hate some things that other people love… it's impossible to please everyone. I think that it is your duty, to the people supporting your channel to be you, and not anybody, otherwise you are not a company sellout like you say in every video but a SJW sell out. As a patreon, i want you to be yourself. I like knowing that someone think like me and don't say stuff just to get popular (and I’m with you, ç%&/ those IP games.)

When I see the brutal comments and instant rage that can happen on other fora, it paints this group as a mature, reasoned and caring bunch who have a passion for gaming and seek an honest approach. Michael, you are the heart of that philosophy, and this is as safe a space as one could discover on a flaming internet. So, please don't change. When you share your honest, unbiased, unsponsored opinions it is possible you will surpass someone's level of comfort or, perhaps, timidity. It is a discussion forum, hence its raison d'etre is differing opinions - the diversity of thought is the necessary and essential essence. If we all had the same opinion, its a cult. The Cult of Average ? Nah, let's keep it as it is. It's safe, Michael.

Hey hey, I am a new patreon and I support you because you have a distinct and critic opinion of games and companies. Keep up the fantastic work! Never had the feeling the community is any way or form an unsafe space. Greetings from rainy Switzerland

That is VERY well put - and welcome to the other side of the channel btw! As you can tell I'm a bit more personal here but the group here is rock solid and really helps keep my course straight, and looks like you'll fit right in :) I do really appreciate the kind words Ron, and am happy to have ya here!

The King of Average

I’m a brand new patron, so I guess I took that persons spot haha. Honestly, the best way to address speech is always with more speech. If people jump ship without forging their own thoughts, they will be at a loss in the future when there is no longer an opportunity to “cancel.” Keep up the great work and be encouraged!

Hehe yep! And with the amount of opinions I share we're all bound to disagree from time to time. I hope I make it clear that it's okay to disagree.

The King of Average

Hehe very true! :D

The King of Average

So I make fun of much of liberal culture because it can get out of hand really fast with people expecting pronouns without any way of the other person knowing what their pronouns are, and at the same time, if someone wants to be called a certain pronoun, it costs me nothing to do that and if it enriches their life some way, all the better. I think the biggest measure is how diverse is the audience, and if it isn't where the level you want is, what can you do to enhance that. I'm realizing through watching my wife work in HR, different people sometimes need more leeway or sometimes not the best person for the position should be chosen to increase diversity because many didn't have the opportunities the non diverse had, so that part does take extra work and patience if we want diversity to actually get to a point where it matches demographics of the world. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a niche you want to go after and resonate with as long as that niche doesn't prevent others from getting involved outside. Nothing you are doing wrong here I see, just kind of thoughts I am going through trying to understand more sides of issues. There is a reason I'm a patron here.

SuccessfulGeek

there is a quote I've heard once that I loved.. "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Thanks for your hard work. It’s safe enough, ideas are dangerous I guess.

Bill Ellis

I have always thought this place was informative, supportive, and eclectic mish-mash of fun-loving guys and gals from all corners of the world. I appreciate the openness and honesty of discussions and have never felt unable to express my opinions. But for the most part I mostly just see is acting like goofy nerd kids. Says the old man about to go to sleep in a KoA tshirt

Yeah very true, and with an opinion there will be a time where I disagree with you guys at one point or another - and I think that's okay! :)

The King of Average

Hehe thanks! Plenty of past audio updates like this actually. You've been GREAT btw! You've fit right into this crazy family lol :D

The King of Average

First podcast I hear since my recent sub on Patreon. Overall I’d say keep up the good work( as long as it does not cost you your health)

I don't think it's an unsafe space. I also don't come here to be in a safe space, either, I guess. You can be pretty opinionated, but have good reasons behind it, and I'd rather hear a thoughtful debate about something anyway. As you mentioned, as long as we are debating and not directly attacking anyone (except corporations trying to take our money and give us little for it :), then I say debating helps us all figure out our true point of view. As long as the arguments people are making come from a place of good faith, I'd rather have the honesty you and others bring, because the passion for the hobby and its consumers is valuable I feel. Let other channels be a little overly positive sometimes...there's room for LOTS of different styles of commentating on the internet.

I subscribed to this patreon because you have an opinion.There will always be someone that will feel offended or attacked. There is no safespace.

HenDai

I think I know you well enough to say that you are fair in every debate. You just expect the other opinion to be well thought out which is not always the case. I can even tell you that your way of explaining your opinion on something has a time or two caused me to change my mind and agree with you.

It sounds to me the safe space they might be referring to is discord and other people, not necessarily you or your commentary. That’s just my thought when hearing that comment, I don’t know what they would be referring to. I really like the discord and it’s the only one I’ve ever really interacted in before.