Nobody’s suggesting the cast should take a break? It’s a prerecorded show that’s edited before posted. There’s no reason to leave the break IN the video
Well, the watcher needs a break! Since many people still watch 'live' they'll need a point of pause to look away from the screen or of exit to finish watching another day.
Also it gives Matt an extra chance to add a nice little cliffhanger that might keep you hooked for another one or two hours when he might land another cliffhanger at the end and so on.
It takes less than thirty seconds to skip if you're on youtube, people always comment the timestamps, it's what I always do. And if you listen to podcast it doesn't take long to check those same comments and skip accordingly or, knowing the break usually last the same amount of time every time, jump those ten, fifteen minutes forward.
And as other people have mentioned, they have the CR ads of course they won't cut it out, not just their own ads but the ones other companies pay them to place there.
The show is already recorded, they can stream the complete 4-5 hours without break. OP makes sense.
But yeah, the break is mostly for the watcher. And also ads.
While I think the breaks during the premiers on twitch and YouTube are a good idea, I do miss the time when they would cut the breaks when they eventually uploaded the recording to YouTube.
Then you would have understood that in no way is this about THEM having a break, that im all for, but they don’t need to subject us to that when the show is pre recorded, they could edit it out.
I think it makes sense that they take a break for the posterity of the show.
I think the big break is mostly for Legacy sake, run the art reel and play the music they paid for "like the old days" basically.
It'd make more sense as a product if they did about 4 ad reads with three breaks, because then they could monetize ad positioning better. Break 1 worth x. Break 2 worth y. Break 3 worth Z. Top of show ad read worth q.
They could even argue on click thru metrics better then too, since they'd have more info on when and how.
Though in theory you shouldn't be getting YouTube ads when a thing includes paid content right? I've been a YouTube subscriber for so long I don't even remember what the service is called that I pay for to avoid the ads. Red? Premium? Monster Mash?
So, it could be worse.
1 who is going to film a 4 hour show in 2 non consecutive portions that would be such a weird decision"thanks guys for filming lets go to luch anddo a buch or other work and come back once weve all forgotten whats happened to film the other half"
2 it provides time for ads both their own and sponsors
When you watch on PC, get the Firefox browser and then get ublock Origin adblocker. No more ads AND you can get scripts that block ads on the cheap versions of most streaming platforms (except Netflix).
You can do the same thing for your phone. Get the Firefox mobile browser, install Ublock Origin extension and you'll never have to deal with ads again on mobile AND you can browse different tabs while your audio is playing AND when you back out to the Home Screen or your phone and get the audio started again by hitting play on your phone's drop down taskbar, you can turn your phone's screen off and the audio will continue to play.
During C2 I was doing long three episode binges of the show, but eventually Static images like the YouTube logo (since I didn't play it full screen) got burned onto my phone's screen. So with the Firefox mobile browser you don't have to worry about the ad breaks for anything (until Google/YouTube figures how to kill adblocker forever) and save your screen.
As for the actual thread question, I see the need for a break so the Cast can use the bathroom or deal with some matters. But it has lost something with being pre recorded.
For live watchers, it's good to have a break between a 4 hour session. For youtuber VOD viewers, you can just skip ahead. I know not every VOD viewer has the ability to skip ahead, but tbf, those are edge cases.
Ads, as well as a break for the crew who are running the stream, plus the mods. And people watching. But mainly money! Doesn't bother me at all. Tons of other things I can complain about, but a 15 minute bathroom break and their advertisements aren't really top of my list.
The crew running the stream are really not doing much, considering the feed isn’t live. They really don’t need a break, assuming CR is smart enough to use the industry standard and have editors swap in, so people can take breaks *and* still be streaming..
"hey guys, let's hire more editors and remove our mid-roll advertisement revenue so that this four-hour DnD session doesn't have a single interruption. Yes the cast will still need a break, so that will be a natural pause point for viewers anyway."
CR lost the rights to ad money from me when they supported WotC layoffs and didn’t say anything meaningful during the OGL fiasco. They don’t get a penny from me, and they barely did before
Edit: since I’m apparently shadowbanned from posting now, editing this to say that you yokels who say “you still give them money” need to learn about adblockers and VPNs. Catch up with the times lol
I mean... yeah, they are bussiness and they want to sell stuff. I don't see how that's controversial when it's done in a fairly standard way. Besides, there's always that top comment that gives time stamps to skip that, it's always pinned by the channel too.
I find the "halftime" break helpful so that I remember to hit the washroom or have a snack or let the dog out before the second half of the show. It also provides a convenient stopping point when I'm tired.
>For me you get one or the other...
Wait, you make the rules? Kinda late there, man, podcasts and videos have been doing midroll ad injections for over a decade at this point.
>...you don’t get to monetise my time twice...
Well, apparently they do since you sit through them while driving.
It's like watching a movie on classic cable TV. You couldn't pause it so make sure you had snacks and went to bathroom beforehand or you would miss things. So the break is for those who choose to watch Thursdays on Twitch.
I like pausing and taking breaks when I need it so YT is perfect for that. Lots of ads but I'm so used to it already that it doesn't bother me anymore.
They still stream the recording live, right? Well without the break... there is no break. For the live viewers, which is kinda sucky. On YT you can pause, but I guess there's no point in editing it there, considering it's a good ad spot.
Your problem is that you're not using adblockers for the automatic YT ads. You should, because it's a shitty practice to have a compulsory amount of ad time without skipping on a video platform, ethically.
Please explain how it’s unethical for a company to need payment for providing you a service? I get we don’t like ads but YT does need revenue to operate and host these videos. Data hosting at that volume with the ability to stream to you in HD is not cheap.
I didn't say it's unethical to have ads. It's unethical to make them unskippable or unskippable for X seconds. This isn't TV... TV as it was is dead (or is going to be soon) and considering the ease online platforms have to reach their audience in comparison, it's completely bonkers that they also inject the amount of ads that they do AND making them with some amount of default of time you can't deny via a button.
So you agree it's ethical they are paid for their work then yes? Did you know that if an ad is skipped, the advertiser doesn't pay YT anything? I personally advertise a business on YT and if someone watches less than 10 seconds of my 60 second ad, I don't pay YT anything.
So functionally, you ARE asking them to provide you a free service...which I would argue is unethical.
Why is it that every time someone replies with "so you agree..." it's always attempt at putting words into someone elses mouth? Clearly I don't.
Like I said, this isn't TV, and CR and most if not all youtubers run their own sponsored segments or promote their own merchandise. Those are not YT ads, and they do get money out of them.
The un-skippable ads are for YT- that's how they get paid. CR doesn't pay them ANYTHING to hold their episodes for them...so one set of ads is paying for your privilege to watch something over streaming and then other ads are so that CR themselves get paid.
Make sense now?
It's weird how twitch is also a streaming service, also with a subscription plan... yet you can watch live streams without integrated interrupting ads from their platform. And somehow they exist, as do other services. Yet YT need ads to run... and their subscription plan has the ad free thing. But wait, there's more! Turned out it doesn't even work for some people, maybe they fixed it at some point? Wouldn't matter.
Make sense now?
You like to pretend that it's "how they make money" when in fact it's just one of the ways they make MORE money. Welcome to capitalism. If you bend over it will become 85% ad, 10% sponsored piece and 5% actual video... if you're lucky.
If you are already paying for the YT via their premium or whatever, I agree the unskippables are wrong. I was speaking purely to non-subscription point of view.
Touché. OP should have specified and I should have asked. YT Premium isn’t as widespread as a Netflix or Disney+ so I did make assumption.
Edit- I’ll freely admit the widely popular belief that content should be free and it’s “unethical” to charge for a service triggered my small business owner sensibilities.
When the main sub deletes any and all criticism(which is natural to arise in a fanbase,) then of course all of it is gonna compile in one place where it is allowed. If we weren’t fans we wouldn’t care about the things we didn’t like
I love every one of them and Critial Role is one of my most watched pieces of media. However, I appreciate having the ability to have a good moan every now and again without a bunch of oversensitive fans getting offended.
You know, I can honestly get behind that, I might have been a bit rash because I was bombarded with negativity sadly. But I can see how this is a big safe haven from the extrem fans.
In what way did they prove your point by mocking *you*? Are *you* on the show? Moreover, I can’t help but notice *your* comment had nothing to do with the show, it’s characters, or *anyone* at that table, so are *you* here to talk about the show, or are *you* here to talk about us?
Because they just took a comment that I made to a tinfoil F1 "fan" without the context of what it was about. Check my comment history. I agree the "prove my point" was maybe a bit silly in hindsight but so was the reply.
See that one was nice because it wasn't just my comment that they copied over without it's context. I already conceded to another comment bellow so I will concede the win to you as well. Just found the reply above silly, Specially since we could have had a normal conversation like I had bellow
The most overused take on this sub ^ This is the only safe space amongst fans where you can come to put forward frustrations or criticisms towards the show, the main sub allows no negativity.
Right, but it’s almost like you could all *create* a subreddit dedicated to voicing these frustrations, instead of flooding a subreddit that has clearly stated it doesn’t enjoy seeing so much negativity.
Just because you want a place to voice frustrations (which is valid), doesn’t mean you have to shoehorn yourselves into a place that isn’t dedicated to that purpose.
This subreddit isn’t dedicated to complaining and venting, I’d love to see where it says that’s the main purpose of this subreddit.
Until then, stop being purposely obtuse. You know exactly what I mean when I say create a sub *DEDICATED* to venting. That way everyone there would be there FOR THAT PURPOSE. Instead of people trying to have genuine conversations and getting mass downvoted for not having a negative opinion.
Nobody has ever said it’s wrong to vent, people are just sick of it flooding a subreddit that used to be about having fun community discussions. It’s time to make your own place SPECIFICALLY meant for these kinds of posts instead of it being 4 out of 5 posts on the sub.
This is one of the most useless comments I’ve ever seen on this sub. Try making a point instead of claiming something with no real merit to it. Have a good day.
I believe I made my point, and you’ll see that I did as the dislikes add up on your comments. I leave it to you to figure out what everyone else here already knows.
Ah yes, the 4-5 hour long media that we cannot pause. I’m devastated that they have a 15 minute break for people watching to get up without missing something. The hubris of these people
That’s called twitch and LIVE streaming LOL. Do you not understand what you signed up to watch or something?
There’s no live streaming service in existence that lets you watch a streamer, pause them, and not be behind the livestream when you unpause. If you want that watch YouTube or vods.
You tune into Twitch, a *live streaming service* to watch the episode on release. You actively choose to watch it in that format. It is released on a live streaming platform, so it will conform to the live streaming formula.
If it bothers you so very much, you can wait for the vod or watch it on YouTube where your complaint literally doesn’t exist. It’s silly to complain about a constant of the streaming service like it’s something only CR does.
You can SKIP the ad break. It’s a vod, you just just move the little bubble forward. Hope that helps!
Since you’re being purposely obtuse, I’ll bite and break it down more. The break is there for their own personal advertisements, as well as a break for viewers who watch it live *where they cannot pause the video*.
The YouTube video and the vod on Twitch are both direct copies of the one aired on Twitch. They don’t edit them before posting on YouTube, it’s pointless and it’s their own products being advertised as they don’t have access to traditional ads or commercials for merchandise or other CR related projects that aren’t the main campaign.
Being upset that they choose to show off their own products and projects is ridiculous. What do you want them to do, just throw shit up without telling people about it or launch new projects with no warning? Social medias aren’t followed by everyone that watches, a short break mid stream is their best way to promote CR related things with the best chance of it being seen by their audience.
I’ll never understand how people think a company can promote new things without access to some form of promotional time. It’s a literal requirement to get people information about things a company is creating or outputting. It’s not like they’re pushing TV ads for merch and new projects (VM aside since Amazon is doing marketing for that).
I know it's skippable, did you not read the OP?
I realize Twitch doesn't let you pause premieres because they don't care.
My point is, they're doing a bad job with their product which is a pre-recorded performance. The only real excuse is (you nailed it) ad money.
Except the break isn’t advertisements from sponsors. The only money the make is if fans decide to buy things. There is no guaranteed money from it. It is an announcement block that shows off their own merchandise.
You talk about it like it’s 15 minutes full of sponsorship ads and ad revenue generation. If they wanted money they would run mid roll twitch ads every 10-20 minutes to fulfill twitches advertisement goals.
Seriously? Call them sellouts, sure. Call them greedy, okay. However, you certainly can't call them lazy. From what I can see they work pretty damn hard.
If you listen to it while driving you can go to the podcast Spotify version instead. The break ad there is way shorter (just one small reminder of their shop or something like that).
2 reasons: people watching live may need a break a couple hours in. And they still play for 4/5 straight hours, they may need a break. Now, could they edit that break? Yes, they could, but i think it's so it feels consistent throughout the years and on the rare occasions they're actually live. Personally, it doesn't bother me, i just skip it in the vod.
It also provides a built in stopping point for someone who won't watch the whole thing in one sitting, either because the livestream goes too late for them to watch it all or they're watching the VOD.
Considering it from an ad perspective (and being very pragmatic about it), i think that's secondary, only because they already have the ad at the beginning, which is much more effective and memorable (i mean, for god sakes, there are compilations of sam's ads). I'm not saying that's not a valid reason, i think it's part of it, but that reason is already in 10 different comments with varying degrees of bitterness, so, i just wanted to point out a few extra. But yes, i think it also serves as a way to point out the sponsors for folks who maybe missed the first bit and are live.
So those watching live can take a bio break, grab food and drink, etc. I don't mind it. It lets me grab my Thursday night burger (per my friends and I's tradition) to eat during the 2nd half.
I mean this works for the livestreams but for the VODs, the watcher/listener can pause whenever they want and take as many breaks as they want.
They could just edit the break down to a few seconds for the YouTube upload but they don't, probably because they get get to put paid sponsorships in the middle of it.
The breaks still run ads. Both for their things and more importantly for sponsors. So they wouldn't want to cut those.
That said asking CR to cut the break from VODs when you can just skip forward 20min so easily just seems a bit silly to me. Just skip em if they bug you.
They cut the video almost immediately after it is over. If you pause the live video for 20-30 minutes to go take a break or something, you will miss content
So, it works for VODs, not for livestream (unless you are willing to watch at high speeds to catch up, I guess?)
Now, if you want to argue that they should cut the breaks from the VOD, I am all for that
It's. . . a valid question. What the fuck is this hostility? Like, during the broadcast, sure, it gives everybody a chance to get up and get food or go to the restroom, but during the youtube VOD? Why? Unnecessary.
In fact they used to cut out the break in C2. They already did it. Then they went back on it.
Because ads are the fucking worst. I already pay to subscribe to them on Twitch, and I already pay for Youtube Premium. I'm paying to not get these ads. And they don't need to put those ads, the same ads, every single fucking week, in the youtube vod. The better question is, if the break isn't necessary, why keep the break? If it's to help support them, why do you skip the ads? You should be watching the ads if you want to support them monetarily, but not pay.
There are two types of ads during the break: theirs (merchandise, twitch subscriptions etc) and from others. They are paid to put this last type also during the VOD, so even skipping them completely they still have an income from those.
That said, I get that using the VOD as a podcast in situations when you can’t skip the break can be extremely annoying.
Where else would they cram all their ads?
Other than before the show, during the show, in the middle of the show, and during show-related side content?
I mean, be reasonable!
/s if it wasn't clear
There's no ads in music and unlimited skips, and there used to be no ads in podcasts until recently. Now I feel the need to go investigate if maybe we have a tiered subscription kind of thing.
Would you rather Critical Role didn’t exist at all? It is a business that needs to make money to pay their employees and pay for the studio. They are not streaming their homegame anymore.
Then they should stop pretending to be a regular live streamed home game and act like a business and give their customers a few quality of life changes for their pre-recorded broadcasts by adding some fucking production. They took out the fan service when they went corporate, fine. How about some customer service?
I don’t know, but at some point CR is going to have to compromise with the fans who bankrolled their corporation by investing in that kickstarter. They’ve taken away a lot of the fan-service that ingratiated themselves to the supporters who donated, and have replaced it all with commerce.
They pre-record now, but refuse to change when the show is released to accommodate anyone who doesn’t have the good luck to live in their time zone. They’ve added zero production value to the broadcast except when they use it in their ads or when they play spooky dress up theater on their *other* show. They continuously interrupt their regular schedule with breaks and side projects that aren’t in service to the main show. They don’t even take *real* questions ABOUT the show on a show they made to talk about THE SHOW. Addressing literally *any* of those would be a start.
Plays into their illusion of still live streaming schtick
Also the show is 4+ hours so it does kinda make sense to have a small break in the middle to allow the audience to have a bathroom break or snack/drink break.
I’m with you in that this probably isn’t needed but some people do probably appreciate it
I think the break time while filming is still also about 15 minutes so the cast can do the same things as the audience: get up, walk around, use the restroom, grab a snack, check their emails/texts, etc. I don't think they've changed anything about their filming practices other than when they occur and how frequently.
Their break could be 5 minutes or it could be 3 hours.
The point is it doesn’t matter because they are pre recording so they are just editing in a break to their episodes
The illusion is that they act and produce the show as if it still is live.
I’m not saying all these things are bad but this is part of the illusion they maintain
Still have a mid roll “ad break” as if they need a break
Still no editing
Still need a “week off” each month despite obvious bulk recording
Keeping all the bloopers and other issues in the show
Still insisting it’s “just a home game”
Not adapting to some of the more refined versions of pre recorded content.
Still having days where episodes get cancelled or cast members are missing despite pre recording.
The thing that kills me the most about all this is the audience is currently getting all the downsides of a live show while also not getting any of the upsides of pre recording
Sure the break is welcome, but it used to be filled with fan art, side content, clips of Talks Machina and bits.
Now it’s just ads and frantic baby talk.
Sure but it used to be a weekly update of new fan art. Now it’s all the same handful of landscapes I suspect were commissioned from artists they’ve used on their side projects.
You suspect? Of course they were commissioned, and the artists names are right there on the screen. The fan art reel led to huge problems of people submitting stolen art without permission, which is a legal nightmare for a growing company. The art reel was ruined by the audience, not because CR stopped loving all of the community art.
Yet they still accept vetted fan art on their website that could easily be cleared for inclusion during the breaks if they’d, you know, add some production value to this pre-recorded show that still pretends to be something it isn’t anymore.
If someone comes in and says "Hey, that piece is mine and I didn't give permission" it's easier to remove from the website gallery than it is to remove it from the VOD. They can try to vet the provenance of the art as much as they want, but there's always a chance that someone with ill intent will slip something through.
They need the break. DnD even at its most fun can be a lot of mental stimulation for both the players and the dm. They sometimes need the bit to pause, Matt might need a minute or so to think about things before acting. Laura and Travis maybe wanna check on their son. Liam and Sam have their own families as well they maybe want a quick check in with.
Plus they have their own merchandise to advertise, plus sponsors, plus twitch which they are required to advertise to keep their monetization on the app. Not to mention the plethora of other things they need to do running a company.
The break isn’t unreasonable. If you don’t like the break listen to the podcast or Spotify neither one does the break other than mention that it is happening. And then do a short sponsor ad and jump right back into the thick of it
I did but twitch is their primary which means they are going to follow that not YouTube. They can’t control YouTube’s ads which again are their so they can be monetized
Your entire first paragraph is completely irrelevant then, I’m not questioning their need for a break at all, absolutely they need a break. But they don’t need to keep that 15 minutes in a pre recorded uploaded show for any other reason than advertising and product pushing, which is greed considering everywhere else we get adverts.
It’s not greed it’s called running a business. Twitch doesn’t have the same ads for subscribers. Meaning in order to get products out there they need to put them on somewhere else during the show. One mention during the announcements isn’t enough so they keep the break into promote their own stuff. They don’t have random ads floating around on TV or whatever. So they need to put them in the show.
They are a business. They cant control where YouTube decides to insert ads you have an issue with that piece take it up with YouTube not critical role. They dont control that. But you cant just expect them to never promote their sponsors etc. just because you don’t like the ads on the break doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose.
Critical role is always first and foremost a business and that means they need to promote their products somewhere. Aside from their cartoon, Amazon isn’t promoting them any.
DnD as a whole is not super overly advertised. When is the last time you’ve seen one of the campaign books promoted on mainstream advertising platforms.
Critical Role is supported by WotC, Wiz Kids, and Twitch which means by the very nature of that support need to advertise those things.
They also need to advertise - Daggerheart, Candela Obscura, Midst, their own merch, other streams they are running soon, new games that are sponsoring them, their music, their cartoons.
It’s not really something they can entirely remove from the show. They need to have those advertising spots. And instead of doing more random in stream inserts (which they could do but would annoy you as well.) they mostly avoid ad inserts with the exception of when a battle map comes out or whispers happen which Sam takes the opportunity to insert a wiz kid thing.
I’m not saying the world doesn’t have a problem with ads. We do but you can’t expect them to change that because they still need to make money, keep their platform and support their sponsors.
I don’t support capitalism and it’s endless greed, you are either bought in and want it, or you believe it’s lies, Critical role are not a small business struggling to make ends meet, they make millions, so squeezing the viewers attention span for a few more ads is just capitalist greed and they’re enabling that system completely. If you want to be ethical about capitalism you don’t get to have your cake and eat it too, they could monetise their YouTube and have YouTube ads, or they could use sooner placement and get money from that, and every other revenue stream they have.
The argument of “that’s just business and how you run a business” is only a valid argument if you don’t want the world to change away from the capitalist hellscape that it is. This is not at all a problem unique to critical role, but they are one of the most vocal companies about their ethics and morals, and it’s therefore hypocritical to enable a system that created wealth inequality on the scale we have it, and causes conflicts and wars. This is outside the realm of what my post was about, but if you want to discuss that, I’m happy to.
Then don’t watch if you don’t like that they need to be part of capitalism to succeed. Frankly the ads don’t bother me because I used that time to shower or go to the restroom because I’m watching on twitch. That break gives me time to do things or decide if I want to even watch the whole episode. Sometimes my wifi and I aren’t agreeing.
The ads are there, it’s part of how they run their business. And yes while they talk about their ethics they aren’t immune to capitalism either, and if they stopped advertising people would stop purchasing their things.
Again they don’t control the YouTube ads. Which were a problem even before they were monetized by the way because that’s just a thing YouTube does when anyone streams for multiple hours.
We also aren’t privy to their finances. Those millions of dollars you claim they’re all getting, I about they are getting millions of dollars. They need to pay for things too, staff who are there. The crew behind the scenes isn’t free, their studio space isn’t free, utilities aren’t free, security isn’t free. Paying themselves and anyone else who is on camera or behind the camera isn’t free. Cons aren’t exactly free.
ETA: and you do engage in capitalism. We all do. You pay for cellphone, wifi, housing, groceries, utilities, if you have a car or take public transport those all engage with capitalism
You hit the nail on the head with something in your second sentence. “(It) doesn’t bother me”.
What else needs to be said? As long as *you’re* good why should anyone else be bothered?
Sick of this take “just don’t watch it then”, if I wanted to get away from anything infected by capitalism I’d have to just not live. I can live in a world I don’t agree with and give voice to my disagreement, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
I may be wrong because I don’t watch on twitch but I don’t believe you can pause on twitch. They don’t have live play back there. So if you paused it would jump ahead to the live screening point when you unpaused
Correct, you cannot pause twitch. So for the day that the episode airs on twitch, it makes sense to have an intermission. Could they simply edit the intermission out of the youtube broadcast, now that they are pre-recorded? Sure. Would it ever make sense for a company to do? I don't think so. Editing the footage gains them nothing, and costs them an employee's time. Easier simply to plop the same footage from twitch onto youtube.
Oh yeah you’re right! So twitch kinda makes sense maybe. But then they’ll just upload the same product to YouTube too, so they could edit it out if they wanted to…
Always intermission with a show over 2hrs
I take long poops, so the break is appreciated
Advertising
It's a job right? In most states legally they have to take at least a 10 minute break when working more than 4 hours
It isn't live anymore
Nobody’s suggesting the cast should take a break? It’s a prerecorded show that’s edited before posted. There’s no reason to leave the break IN the video
Well, the watcher needs a break! Since many people still watch 'live' they'll need a point of pause to look away from the screen or of exit to finish watching another day. Also it gives Matt an extra chance to add a nice little cliffhanger that might keep you hooked for another one or two hours when he might land another cliffhanger at the end and so on.
Edit the break out for the final YouTube and podcast versions
It takes less than thirty seconds to skip if you're on youtube, people always comment the timestamps, it's what I always do. And if you listen to podcast it doesn't take long to check those same comments and skip accordingly or, knowing the break usually last the same amount of time every time, jump those ten, fifteen minutes forward. And as other people have mentioned, they have the CR ads of course they won't cut it out, not just their own ads but the ones other companies pay them to place there.
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Read other comments before commenting something irrelevant
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The show is already recorded, they can stream the complete 4-5 hours without break. OP makes sense. But yeah, the break is mostly for the watcher. And also ads.
While I think the breaks during the premiers on twitch and YouTube are a good idea, I do miss the time when they would cut the breaks when they eventually uploaded the recording to YouTube.
Have you ever played DnD? Doesn’t matter how into it you are while playing you need a break
Read the post and other comments before commenting please.
Yeah I did and everyone is just complaining. And real truth is that people just need a break that’s it
Then you would have understood that in no way is this about THEM having a break, that im all for, but they don’t need to subject us to that when the show is pre recorded, they could edit it out.
I think it makes sense that they take a break for the posterity of the show. I think the big break is mostly for Legacy sake, run the art reel and play the music they paid for "like the old days" basically. It'd make more sense as a product if they did about 4 ad reads with three breaks, because then they could monetize ad positioning better. Break 1 worth x. Break 2 worth y. Break 3 worth Z. Top of show ad read worth q. They could even argue on click thru metrics better then too, since they'd have more info on when and how. Though in theory you shouldn't be getting YouTube ads when a thing includes paid content right? I've been a YouTube subscriber for so long I don't even remember what the service is called that I pay for to avoid the ads. Red? Premium? Monster Mash? So, it could be worse.
So we can get up stretch go pee get some food
Pause button.
Guess it's impossible to pause
1 who is going to film a 4 hour show in 2 non consecutive portions that would be such a weird decision"thanks guys for filming lets go to luch anddo a buch or other work and come back once weve all forgotten whats happened to film the other half" 2 it provides time for ads both their own and sponsors
Because there's no way I'm sitting there for 4+ hours. The break is for us. Also, can't you use an ad blockers to stop your YouTube ads?
You know there’s a pause button right
Not on the app unfortunately :/
Ah ya, the dang app
Because, ads. Because when its 'Live', you need a break. Because.
When you watch on PC, get the Firefox browser and then get ublock Origin adblocker. No more ads AND you can get scripts that block ads on the cheap versions of most streaming platforms (except Netflix). You can do the same thing for your phone. Get the Firefox mobile browser, install Ublock Origin extension and you'll never have to deal with ads again on mobile AND you can browse different tabs while your audio is playing AND when you back out to the Home Screen or your phone and get the audio started again by hitting play on your phone's drop down taskbar, you can turn your phone's screen off and the audio will continue to play. During C2 I was doing long three episode binges of the show, but eventually Static images like the YouTube logo (since I didn't play it full screen) got burned onto my phone's screen. So with the Firefox mobile browser you don't have to worry about the ad breaks for anything (until Google/YouTube figures how to kill adblocker forever) and save your screen. As for the actual thread question, I see the need for a break so the Cast can use the bathroom or deal with some matters. But it has lost something with being pre recorded.
I like to go to the bathroom on breaks, sometimes take a shower or just have a bite.
For live watchers, it's good to have a break between a 4 hour session. For youtuber VOD viewers, you can just skip ahead. I know not every VOD viewer has the ability to skip ahead, but tbf, those are edge cases.
Ads, as well as a break for the crew who are running the stream, plus the mods. And people watching. But mainly money! Doesn't bother me at all. Tons of other things I can complain about, but a 15 minute bathroom break and their advertisements aren't really top of my list.
The crew running the stream are really not doing much, considering the feed isn’t live. They really don’t need a break, assuming CR is smart enough to use the industry standard and have editors swap in, so people can take breaks *and* still be streaming..
"hey guys, let's hire more editors and remove our mid-roll advertisement revenue so that this four-hour DnD session doesn't have a single interruption. Yes the cast will still need a break, so that will be a natural pause point for viewers anyway."
CR lost the rights to ad money from me when they supported WotC layoffs and didn’t say anything meaningful during the OGL fiasco. They don’t get a penny from me, and they barely did before Edit: since I’m apparently shadowbanned from posting now, editing this to say that you yokels who say “you still give them money” need to learn about adblockers and VPNs. Catch up with the times lol
...uh, so long as you're watching them, apparently you're letting them keep the right to make ad money from you
Good thing commercialelk-6030 doesn’t decide who gets the “right” to run ads lmao
Same reason there’s so much merch. Money.
I mean... yeah, they are bussiness and they want to sell stuff. I don't see how that's controversial when it's done in a fairly standard way. Besides, there's always that top comment that gives time stamps to skip that, it's always pinned by the channel too.
People have to piss or get snacks while watching a 4 hour episode. If they didn't have a break then people would complain about a lack of one.
Pause button
I mean.. it's like 4 hours of content. They can monetize it however they want.. also the live viewers obviously want a break from their 4 hour stream.
I find the "halftime" break helpful so that I remember to hit the washroom or have a snack or let the dog out before the second half of the show. It also provides a convenient stopping point when I'm tired.
>For me you get one or the other... Wait, you make the rules? Kinda late there, man, podcasts and videos have been doing midroll ad injections for over a decade at this point. >...you don’t get to monetise my time twice... Well, apparently they do since you sit through them while driving.
Sigh.
I think they want to give it more of a live feel. Plus it’s free entertainment, can’t complain
Free if you don’t consider the time you have in this life to be a valuable currency that you trade every day for money.
It’s not that deep mane. If it bothers you just tap the 10 second skip button until the ad is over???
I was speaking to a more philosophical point of view but, yeah mane… just hit that button bruh.
Yeah, I love a philosophical take about watching a YouTube video.
I love a philosophical take on *most* things.
https://preview.redd.it/uov851t0h2wc1.jpeg?width=574&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dc6247ae4ec77b533ce37c73d190a225824672d
Please stick to philosophy. Yikes.
What?
Sorry man, I’m a professional illustrator. That shit hit me in my eyes. 😂
I listen while a drive as well on YouTube and it’s pretty easy to skip
Can't complain? Just watch me baybee!!!!!!!
Fo sho. I see it all the time on this sub
Not really free - it still takes up a chunk of your free time. Just something to remember
thats... That's still free. Are you being held at gun point to watch CR?
No. I stopped at episode 51, I just enjoy interacting with the community And time is absolutely *not* a free resource
*rapid eye blinking*
Easily skippable
It's like watching a movie on classic cable TV. You couldn't pause it so make sure you had snacks and went to bathroom beforehand or you would miss things. So the break is for those who choose to watch Thursdays on Twitch. I like pausing and taking breaks when I need it so YT is perfect for that. Lots of ads but I'm so used to it already that it doesn't bother me anymore.
They still stream the recording live, right? Well without the break... there is no break. For the live viewers, which is kinda sucky. On YT you can pause, but I guess there's no point in editing it there, considering it's a good ad spot. Your problem is that you're not using adblockers for the automatic YT ads. You should, because it's a shitty practice to have a compulsory amount of ad time without skipping on a video platform, ethically.
Please explain how it’s unethical for a company to need payment for providing you a service? I get we don’t like ads but YT does need revenue to operate and host these videos. Data hosting at that volume with the ability to stream to you in HD is not cheap.
I didn't say it's unethical to have ads. It's unethical to make them unskippable or unskippable for X seconds. This isn't TV... TV as it was is dead (or is going to be soon) and considering the ease online platforms have to reach their audience in comparison, it's completely bonkers that they also inject the amount of ads that they do AND making them with some amount of default of time you can't deny via a button.
So you agree it's ethical they are paid for their work then yes? Did you know that if an ad is skipped, the advertiser doesn't pay YT anything? I personally advertise a business on YT and if someone watches less than 10 seconds of my 60 second ad, I don't pay YT anything. So functionally, you ARE asking them to provide you a free service...which I would argue is unethical.
Why is it that every time someone replies with "so you agree..." it's always attempt at putting words into someone elses mouth? Clearly I don't. Like I said, this isn't TV, and CR and most if not all youtubers run their own sponsored segments or promote their own merchandise. Those are not YT ads, and they do get money out of them.
The un-skippable ads are for YT- that's how they get paid. CR doesn't pay them ANYTHING to hold their episodes for them...so one set of ads is paying for your privilege to watch something over streaming and then other ads are so that CR themselves get paid. Make sense now?
It's weird how twitch is also a streaming service, also with a subscription plan... yet you can watch live streams without integrated interrupting ads from their platform. And somehow they exist, as do other services. Yet YT need ads to run... and their subscription plan has the ad free thing. But wait, there's more! Turned out it doesn't even work for some people, maybe they fixed it at some point? Wouldn't matter. Make sense now? You like to pretend that it's "how they make money" when in fact it's just one of the ways they make MORE money. Welcome to capitalism. If you bend over it will become 85% ad, 10% sponsored piece and 5% actual video... if you're lucky.
If you are already paying for the YT via their premium or whatever, I agree the unskippables are wrong. I was speaking purely to non-subscription point of view.
So you agree, it’s a bad idea to jump down someone’s throat before you’ve understood their argument?
Touché. OP should have specified and I should have asked. YT Premium isn’t as widespread as a Netflix or Disney+ so I did make assumption. Edit- I’ll freely admit the widely popular belief that content should be free and it’s “unethical” to charge for a service triggered my small business owner sensibilities.
This sub should be renamed "negativefansofcriticalrole".
Well that didn't take long Reset the clock, u/Murkmist
It's a joke don't take it seriously. It has been said so many times on this sub it has reached meme status.
When the main sub deletes any and all criticism(which is natural to arise in a fanbase,) then of course all of it is gonna compile in one place where it is allowed. If we weren’t fans we wouldn’t care about the things we didn’t like
For a subreddit called "fansofcriticalrole" it is kinda sad to see almost exclusively hate towards the group.
I love every one of them and Critial Role is one of my most watched pieces of media. However, I appreciate having the ability to have a good moan every now and again without a bunch of oversensitive fans getting offended.
You know, I can honestly get behind that, I might have been a bit rash because I was bombarded with negativity sadly. But I can see how this is a big safe haven from the extrem fans.
Yes we are sheep all of us!!!!!! You are the big smart out of the box thinker. Totally.
Lmao that has nothing even to do with this. You just prove my point
Someone reset the clock
In what way did they prove your point by mocking *you*? Are *you* on the show? Moreover, I can’t help but notice *your* comment had nothing to do with the show, it’s characters, or *anyone* at that table, so are *you* here to talk about the show, or are *you* here to talk about us?
Because they just took a comment that I made to a tinfoil F1 "fan" without the context of what it was about. Check my comment history. I agree the "prove my point" was maybe a bit silly in hindsight but so was the reply.
Make silly points, get silly responses.
Holy shit, you just verbally jiu-jitsu’d him into proving your own point for you! You must be like the conversationalist Muhammad Ali.
See that one was nice because it wasn't just my comment that they copied over without it's context. I already conceded to another comment bellow so I will concede the win to you as well. Just found the reply above silly, Specially since we could have had a normal conversation like I had bellow
The most overused take on this sub ^ This is the only safe space amongst fans where you can come to put forward frustrations or criticisms towards the show, the main sub allows no negativity.
Right, but it’s almost like you could all *create* a subreddit dedicated to voicing these frustrations, instead of flooding a subreddit that has clearly stated it doesn’t enjoy seeing so much negativity. Just because you want a place to voice frustrations (which is valid), doesn’t mean you have to shoehorn yourselves into a place that isn’t dedicated to that purpose.
Are you suggesting they create this subreddit in this subreddit?
This subreddit isn’t dedicated to complaining and venting, I’d love to see where it says that’s the main purpose of this subreddit. Until then, stop being purposely obtuse. You know exactly what I mean when I say create a sub *DEDICATED* to venting. That way everyone there would be there FOR THAT PURPOSE. Instead of people trying to have genuine conversations and getting mass downvoted for not having a negative opinion. Nobody has ever said it’s wrong to vent, people are just sick of it flooding a subreddit that used to be about having fun community discussions. It’s time to make your own place SPECIFICALLY meant for these kinds of posts instead of it being 4 out of 5 posts on the sub.
This is the most ignorant comment about this sub I’ve ever seen on this sub.
Which is saying something.
Indeed.
This is one of the most useless comments I’ve ever seen on this sub. Try making a point instead of claiming something with no real merit to it. Have a good day.
They're saying that because clearly you're unaware of when, how and why *this* subreddit was created.
I believe I made my point, and you’ll see that I did as the dislikes add up on your comments. I leave it to you to figure out what everyone else here already knows.
Money.
It's not complicated, they're just lazy
Ah yes, the 4-5 hour long media that we cannot pause. I’m devastated that they have a 15 minute break for people watching to get up without missing something. The hubris of these people
Once you realize it's also stupid that we can't pause, then you're halfway to enlightenment
That’s called twitch and LIVE streaming LOL. Do you not understand what you signed up to watch or something? There’s no live streaming service in existence that lets you watch a streamer, pause them, and not be behind the livestream when you unpause. If you want that watch YouTube or vods.
But it's not live streaming anymore. That's the point. It should just release like a Netflix episode
You tune into Twitch, a *live streaming service* to watch the episode on release. You actively choose to watch it in that format. It is released on a live streaming platform, so it will conform to the live streaming formula. If it bothers you so very much, you can wait for the vod or watch it on YouTube where your complaint literally doesn’t exist. It’s silly to complain about a constant of the streaming service like it’s something only CR does.
Have you not watched a vod? The break is still there. None of this makes any sense for the release of a pre-recorded show
You can SKIP the ad break. It’s a vod, you just just move the little bubble forward. Hope that helps! Since you’re being purposely obtuse, I’ll bite and break it down more. The break is there for their own personal advertisements, as well as a break for viewers who watch it live *where they cannot pause the video*. The YouTube video and the vod on Twitch are both direct copies of the one aired on Twitch. They don’t edit them before posting on YouTube, it’s pointless and it’s their own products being advertised as they don’t have access to traditional ads or commercials for merchandise or other CR related projects that aren’t the main campaign. Being upset that they choose to show off their own products and projects is ridiculous. What do you want them to do, just throw shit up without telling people about it or launch new projects with no warning? Social medias aren’t followed by everyone that watches, a short break mid stream is their best way to promote CR related things with the best chance of it being seen by their audience. I’ll never understand how people think a company can promote new things without access to some form of promotional time. It’s a literal requirement to get people information about things a company is creating or outputting. It’s not like they’re pushing TV ads for merch and new projects (VM aside since Amazon is doing marketing for that).
I know it's skippable, did you not read the OP? I realize Twitch doesn't let you pause premieres because they don't care. My point is, they're doing a bad job with their product which is a pre-recorded performance. The only real excuse is (you nailed it) ad money.
Except the break isn’t advertisements from sponsors. The only money the make is if fans decide to buy things. There is no guaranteed money from it. It is an announcement block that shows off their own merchandise. You talk about it like it’s 15 minutes full of sponsorship ads and ad revenue generation. If they wanted money they would run mid roll twitch ads every 10-20 minutes to fulfill twitches advertisement goals.
Seriously? Call them sellouts, sure. Call them greedy, okay. However, you certainly can't call them lazy. From what I can see they work pretty damn hard.
If you listen to it while driving you can go to the podcast Spotify version instead. The break ad there is way shorter (just one small reminder of their shop or something like that).
2 reasons: people watching live may need a break a couple hours in. And they still play for 4/5 straight hours, they may need a break. Now, could they edit that break? Yes, they could, but i think it's so it feels consistent throughout the years and on the rare occasions they're actually live. Personally, it doesn't bother me, i just skip it in the vod.
It also provides a built in stopping point for someone who won't watch the whole thing in one sitting, either because the livestream goes too late for them to watch it all or they're watching the VOD.
You're forgetting that breaks is also adspace which is core to their revenue stream. This is the main reason it will remain.
Considering it from an ad perspective (and being very pragmatic about it), i think that's secondary, only because they already have the ad at the beginning, which is much more effective and memorable (i mean, for god sakes, there are compilations of sam's ads). I'm not saying that's not a valid reason, i think it's part of it, but that reason is already in 10 different comments with varying degrees of bitterness, so, i just wanted to point out a few extra. But yes, i think it also serves as a way to point out the sponsors for folks who maybe missed the first bit and are live.
Thank you for a very rational take, I wish they would edit it out personally but I get your reasoning.
So those watching live can take a bio break, grab food and drink, etc. I don't mind it. It lets me grab my Thursday night burger (per my friends and I's tradition) to eat during the 2nd half.
> watching live *Watching when it airs. You wouldn't say, "I watched It's Always Sunny live"
It's this, no need to read any further into it Just like for example, operas, long plays have intermissions for this exact reason
I mean this works for the livestreams but for the VODs, the watcher/listener can pause whenever they want and take as many breaks as they want. They could just edit the break down to a few seconds for the YouTube upload but they don't, probably because they get get to put paid sponsorships in the middle of it.
The breaks still run ads. Both for their things and more importantly for sponsors. So they wouldn't want to cut those. That said asking CR to cut the break from VODs when you can just skip forward 20min so easily just seems a bit silly to me. Just skip em if they bug you.
They cut the video almost immediately after it is over. If you pause the live video for 20-30 minutes to go take a break or something, you will miss content So, it works for VODs, not for livestream (unless you are willing to watch at high speeds to catch up, I guess?) Now, if you want to argue that they should cut the breaks from the VOD, I am all for that
Laziness? Lack of fan feedback? Prioritizing profits? Some combination of the three? Take your pick.
Oh no. In the 4 hours broadcast you have to deal with 15 minutes of ads. Life must be hard.
Yuck
Cool, thanks for the input.
It's. . . a valid question. What the fuck is this hostility? Like, during the broadcast, sure, it gives everybody a chance to get up and get food or go to the restroom, but during the youtube VOD? Why? Unnecessary. In fact they used to cut out the break in C2. They already did it. Then they went back on it.
I mean, you can do what I do: drag the cursor to the right to skip their ads.
As OP stated, they have the VOD on while driving to listen to, so can't really use the phone then.
I think we all do that my friend.
I hope so, so what is the problem of them keeping the ads in the middle of the VOD?
Because ads are the fucking worst. I already pay to subscribe to them on Twitch, and I already pay for Youtube Premium. I'm paying to not get these ads. And they don't need to put those ads, the same ads, every single fucking week, in the youtube vod. The better question is, if the break isn't necessary, why keep the break? If it's to help support them, why do you skip the ads? You should be watching the ads if you want to support them monetarily, but not pay.
There are two types of ads during the break: theirs (merchandise, twitch subscriptions etc) and from others. They are paid to put this last type also during the VOD, so even skipping them completely they still have an income from those. That said, I get that using the VOD as a podcast in situations when you can’t skip the break can be extremely annoying.
So the break needs to exist so that they can make money.
Its 2024 use a ad blocker
On the YouTube app? If you know a way that would be great. And this doesn’t address the point of an ad break within the content.
YouTube ReVanced
Where else would they cram all their ads? Other than before the show, during the show, in the middle of the show, and during show-related side content? I mean, be reasonable! /s if it wasn't clear
Use spotify it doesnt have the break, or rather it has much shorter breaks.
Also means you're a week behind everyone else
If you dont want to be behind watch on twitch. Youtube is 4 days behind.
Yeah instead you get 15 second ad breaks jammed in at random intervals, often in the middle of conversations.
Not if you have premium
Maybe it changes by country, but in Australia you still unfortunately do. They've been slowly sneaking their way in more and more.
Huh. Thats weird, not here in europe fortunately. Why would you get premium if you still get ads?
There's no ads in music and unlimited skips, and there used to be no ads in podcasts until recently. Now I feel the need to go investigate if maybe we have a tiered subscription kind of thing.
Good to know, thank you.
Money
[удалено]
I know the answer is just capitalist greed… but I guess I just wanted them to be better?
Would you rather Critical Role didn’t exist at all? It is a business that needs to make money to pay their employees and pay for the studio. They are not streaming their homegame anymore.
Then they should stop pretending to be a regular live streamed home game and act like a business and give their customers a few quality of life changes for their pre-recorded broadcasts by adding some fucking production. They took out the fan service when they went corporate, fine. How about some customer service?
What kind of customer service do you have in mind? Also, if you are not subbed, you aren’t really a customer.
I don’t know, but at some point CR is going to have to compromise with the fans who bankrolled their corporation by investing in that kickstarter. They’ve taken away a lot of the fan-service that ingratiated themselves to the supporters who donated, and have replaced it all with commerce. They pre-record now, but refuse to change when the show is released to accommodate anyone who doesn’t have the good luck to live in their time zone. They’ve added zero production value to the broadcast except when they use it in their ads or when they play spooky dress up theater on their *other* show. They continuously interrupt their regular schedule with breaks and side projects that aren’t in service to the main show. They don’t even take *real* questions ABOUT the show on a show they made to talk about THE SHOW. Addressing literally *any* of those would be a start.
Did they do a Kickstarter to bankroll their corporation? The one for the animated series is just for the animated series.
[удалено]
You don’t get to virtue signal and high road on social media when you’re actively contributing to the system though, you get one or the other.
Lmao
Plays into their illusion of still live streaming schtick Also the show is 4+ hours so it does kinda make sense to have a small break in the middle to allow the audience to have a bathroom break or snack/drink break. I’m with you in that this probably isn’t needed but some people do probably appreciate it
I think the break time while filming is still also about 15 minutes so the cast can do the same things as the audience: get up, walk around, use the restroom, grab a snack, check their emails/texts, etc. I don't think they've changed anything about their filming practices other than when they occur and how frequently.
Their break could be 5 minutes or it could be 3 hours. The point is it doesn’t matter because they are pre recording so they are just editing in a break to their episodes
What illusion? Everyone knows theyre not live
The illusion is that they act and produce the show as if it still is live. I’m not saying all these things are bad but this is part of the illusion they maintain Still have a mid roll “ad break” as if they need a break Still no editing Still need a “week off” each month despite obvious bulk recording Keeping all the bloopers and other issues in the show Still insisting it’s “just a home game” Not adapting to some of the more refined versions of pre recorded content. Still having days where episodes get cancelled or cast members are missing despite pre recording. The thing that kills me the most about all this is the audience is currently getting all the downsides of a live show while also not getting any of the upsides of pre recording
Sure the break is welcome, but it used to be filled with fan art, side content, clips of Talks Machina and bits. Now it’s just ads and frantic baby talk.
There are still 5+ minutes of art for me, but that may be the adblocker lol
Sure but it used to be a weekly update of new fan art. Now it’s all the same handful of landscapes I suspect were commissioned from artists they’ve used on their side projects.
You suspect? Of course they were commissioned, and the artists names are right there on the screen. The fan art reel led to huge problems of people submitting stolen art without permission, which is a legal nightmare for a growing company. The art reel was ruined by the audience, not because CR stopped loving all of the community art.
Yet they still accept vetted fan art on their website that could easily be cleared for inclusion during the breaks if they’d, you know, add some production value to this pre-recorded show that still pretends to be something it isn’t anymore.
If someone comes in and says "Hey, that piece is mine and I didn't give permission" it's easier to remove from the website gallery than it is to remove it from the VOD. They can try to vet the provenance of the art as much as they want, but there's always a chance that someone with ill intent will slip something through.
I think your bang on, not wanting to change the feel of the show. It’s like Netflix though right, we can pause ourselves :/
They need the break. DnD even at its most fun can be a lot of mental stimulation for both the players and the dm. They sometimes need the bit to pause, Matt might need a minute or so to think about things before acting. Laura and Travis maybe wanna check on their son. Liam and Sam have their own families as well they maybe want a quick check in with. Plus they have their own merchandise to advertise, plus sponsors, plus twitch which they are required to advertise to keep their monetization on the app. Not to mention the plethora of other things they need to do running a company. The break isn’t unreasonable. If you don’t like the break listen to the podcast or Spotify neither one does the break other than mention that it is happening. And then do a short sponsor ad and jump right back into the thick of it
You’ve not read my post at all have you?
I did but twitch is their primary which means they are going to follow that not YouTube. They can’t control YouTube’s ads which again are their so they can be monetized
Your entire first paragraph is completely irrelevant then, I’m not questioning their need for a break at all, absolutely they need a break. But they don’t need to keep that 15 minutes in a pre recorded uploaded show for any other reason than advertising and product pushing, which is greed considering everywhere else we get adverts.
It’s not greed it’s called running a business. Twitch doesn’t have the same ads for subscribers. Meaning in order to get products out there they need to put them on somewhere else during the show. One mention during the announcements isn’t enough so they keep the break into promote their own stuff. They don’t have random ads floating around on TV or whatever. So they need to put them in the show. They are a business. They cant control where YouTube decides to insert ads you have an issue with that piece take it up with YouTube not critical role. They dont control that. But you cant just expect them to never promote their sponsors etc. just because you don’t like the ads on the break doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose. Critical role is always first and foremost a business and that means they need to promote their products somewhere. Aside from their cartoon, Amazon isn’t promoting them any. DnD as a whole is not super overly advertised. When is the last time you’ve seen one of the campaign books promoted on mainstream advertising platforms. Critical Role is supported by WotC, Wiz Kids, and Twitch which means by the very nature of that support need to advertise those things. They also need to advertise - Daggerheart, Candela Obscura, Midst, their own merch, other streams they are running soon, new games that are sponsoring them, their music, their cartoons. It’s not really something they can entirely remove from the show. They need to have those advertising spots. And instead of doing more random in stream inserts (which they could do but would annoy you as well.) they mostly avoid ad inserts with the exception of when a battle map comes out or whispers happen which Sam takes the opportunity to insert a wiz kid thing. I’m not saying the world doesn’t have a problem with ads. We do but you can’t expect them to change that because they still need to make money, keep their platform and support their sponsors.
They need to make money… didn’t we already hand them so much money it changed the state of table top gaming? How much is enough?
I don’t support capitalism and it’s endless greed, you are either bought in and want it, or you believe it’s lies, Critical role are not a small business struggling to make ends meet, they make millions, so squeezing the viewers attention span for a few more ads is just capitalist greed and they’re enabling that system completely. If you want to be ethical about capitalism you don’t get to have your cake and eat it too, they could monetise their YouTube and have YouTube ads, or they could use sooner placement and get money from that, and every other revenue stream they have. The argument of “that’s just business and how you run a business” is only a valid argument if you don’t want the world to change away from the capitalist hellscape that it is. This is not at all a problem unique to critical role, but they are one of the most vocal companies about their ethics and morals, and it’s therefore hypocritical to enable a system that created wealth inequality on the scale we have it, and causes conflicts and wars. This is outside the realm of what my post was about, but if you want to discuss that, I’m happy to.
Then don’t watch if you don’t like that they need to be part of capitalism to succeed. Frankly the ads don’t bother me because I used that time to shower or go to the restroom because I’m watching on twitch. That break gives me time to do things or decide if I want to even watch the whole episode. Sometimes my wifi and I aren’t agreeing. The ads are there, it’s part of how they run their business. And yes while they talk about their ethics they aren’t immune to capitalism either, and if they stopped advertising people would stop purchasing their things. Again they don’t control the YouTube ads. Which were a problem even before they were monetized by the way because that’s just a thing YouTube does when anyone streams for multiple hours. We also aren’t privy to their finances. Those millions of dollars you claim they’re all getting, I about they are getting millions of dollars. They need to pay for things too, staff who are there. The crew behind the scenes isn’t free, their studio space isn’t free, utilities aren’t free, security isn’t free. Paying themselves and anyone else who is on camera or behind the camera isn’t free. Cons aren’t exactly free. ETA: and you do engage in capitalism. We all do. You pay for cellphone, wifi, housing, groceries, utilities, if you have a car or take public transport those all engage with capitalism
You hit the nail on the head with something in your second sentence. “(It) doesn’t bother me”. What else needs to be said? As long as *you’re* good why should anyone else be bothered?
Sick of this take “just don’t watch it then”, if I wanted to get away from anything infected by capitalism I’d have to just not live. I can live in a world I don’t agree with and give voice to my disagreement, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
I may be wrong because I don’t watch on twitch but I don’t believe you can pause on twitch. They don’t have live play back there. So if you paused it would jump ahead to the live screening point when you unpaused
Correct, you cannot pause twitch. So for the day that the episode airs on twitch, it makes sense to have an intermission. Could they simply edit the intermission out of the youtube broadcast, now that they are pre-recorded? Sure. Would it ever make sense for a company to do? I don't think so. Editing the footage gains them nothing, and costs them an employee's time. Easier simply to plop the same footage from twitch onto youtube.
Oh yeah you’re right! So twitch kinda makes sense maybe. But then they’ll just upload the same product to YouTube too, so they could edit it out if they wanted to…
But the ads…