Patreon Exclusive Podcast (How Many Topics?)

I've finally created a Patreon to support your work! I have a question for future podcasts. I would like to get a friend to try a Final Fantasy game. Which would you recommend to start with and why? And which would you absolutely not recommend to start with and why? Thank you so much for your amazing podcast, it's the best gaming podcast I've come across so far! PS sorry if my english sucks

Kr00noz

Hey, Mike. Since it looks like “In Depth on fewer topics” is going to win. I have a suggestion. Perhaps at the start of the month, you could make a patreon post asking for questions from the patrons (like you did last time). Then about a week later, make another post with what you think are the top 5-10 most interesting/best questions and have the patrons vote on which questions they want to have answered. But if there is a really great question that you or Casen want to answer, you could exclude that from the voting process and answer it anyway. I watch another podcast that uses this system and it works pretty well for them. (They actually field questions from twitter/Youtube comments and take votes for them on Patreon. Then answer the top 2 questions/topics in terms of votes, and maybe 1 more question that stands out to them as something they want to talk about.)

^ fair/solid point there (I didn’t think about as you continued to grow vs just this one and the next) And I think that might be a good compromise, but again (to your own point) if patrons grow and you’re getting 60-70 questions even answering all the comments isn’t much of a fair ask

coltdee

I can understand this perspective, but I think there will come a time when we simply won't have the time to answer all the suggestions we get as more patrons come in. If we get up to 50 or 60 topics, we'd HAVE to try to answer every one in about a minute. That doesn't leave us with much room to go in-depth on anything. That is the concern we have. What I could try to do is answer the ones we don't choose for the podcast here in the comments.

Resonant Arc

I hear you on this, but the concern is less about whether we'll be able to talk in-depth on every topic and more about just not having time to get through every question, especially as we gain more patrons over time. There will come a time where we get 50 topic suggestions and just won't have the time available to hit every one of them--not unless we tried to answer them in 1 minute or less. That would mean we'd never go in-depth on anything.

Resonant Arc

Pigging backing off some sentiments of others: I think answering or trying to answer all (or at the very least acknowledging all Q’s) would be a good idea but no need to bloat Q’s that you don’t have much to say on! So maybe if possible acknowledge the Q’s, but pick the ones you’d be passionate about dive in on! Regardless great work guys :)

coltdee

Agree too.

The reason I voted "do every topic" is because there are some topics where you very well may not have a lot to say and so I do not think it makes this podcast bloated. Also, it should not matter because this podcast is for Patreons only so if anything doing all the topics helps each person "get their say" in terms of feeling like they were heard and answered. People wanna hear what you guys have to say on certain topics and if you only cover a few from the suggestions that will suck for those who didn't get chosen. Which kind of makes the purpose of this podcast a bit less special and I could see how it would look less enticing for people to want to be patrons then. Given this is Patreon exclusive you do not receive as many topics as you would if you just said "hey tweet/message/comment on YT what you want us to talk about". In that scenario I could understand how you would need to reduce and funnel the topics. But I just feel that reducing the topics then reduces what makes this Patreon podcast special in the first place.

appreciate you trying to cover everyone but yeah, less is more for sure. or just go with the flow – set aside 90 minutes for the podcast and talk on your favorite questions for as long as you're inspired to speak for each. if you're engaged by the question and enjoying answering it makes no difference to me whether you get through one question or twelve

coughsoda

Pick just a few and go in depth. Especially because as time goes on we'll see the same questions from different people /new patrons.

Edrees Hatef

agree.

FFXIIKD

Personally I would say do whatever feels natural to you guys - if you don't have much to say on a topic, no need to stretch it out forever. But if you have a lot to say, then go for it!

Gestalt

I definitely think the latter is the better option, though I'd probably lean more toward the "5" side than the "3" side of that range for the sake of diversity.

Tim Rattray