You are not only among my favorite board game youtubers, you are my favorite English teacher as well. You are talking so insanely fast, I had to learn to listen better :)
Hahah - my wife speaks super fast so I can usually keep up without backing it up too many times. In comparison, if I did videos I'd probably have to upload it at 1.25 speed to compete.
Alex, you're a good guy. You seem to try very hard to just be honest and upfront, which the world could use more of. Keep it up and I'm sure your channel will keep growing.
Thanks for your transparency. I haven't noticed any change in your approach since you started working for Gamefound, but I respect that you continue to highlight that in your videos (and agree that you should continue to do so).
Ran into you at PAX-U! You make me want to move to Ohio to be in your game group! Keep up the great work! Most open, objective, honest, and genuine fellow I follow online! Thanks for the fantastic effort!
Listening from China since almost 3years. I am always amazed how you can go through your videos in one short with what seems little to no need for editing while being precise and very logical in the flow. Thanks for the transparency.
I think it's fun that my ratings on BGG also have a similar distribution: (4 - 2%, 5 - 6%, 6 - 17%, 7 - 33%, 8- 30%, 9- 9%, 10- 3% over 171 reviews). It makes sense because since I discovered your channel over the last 3 years, you have been a heavy influence on how I enjoy and engage with this hobby. I've culled and refined my collection (although I'm always buying more), and I've been able to think more about what makes a game fun to me personally and what I can see other people liking and not liking. Thanks for everything that you do!
Congrats on hitting 4 years! I always appreciate your honesty and how upfront you are. I think it’s great you do a video like this every year. I also wanted say that I have not noticed any changes since you have started gamefound. Lastly I love how you do your reviews. I love that you always list “what you like and what u can see others not liking”. I think it’s a great way to handle reviews and I find it fair, unbias and informative. Appreciate you as always 👍🏽
Thanks as always for sharing-this one was especially heartfelt. Very happy to be a (extremely small) part of both benefiting from and enabling you to do what you love. Happy holidays!
Love the transparency and even more so much of the content. Your consistency is what has kept me watching for the past 3 years. Keep it up glad to see where the channel is gone and excited for where it’s going
Two things I have always really loved about your channel is one the time stamps but more importantly is your approach towards reviewing and talking about games. The transparency is always appreciated and the way you give pros and cons about the games as well as explain your reasoning for liking or not liking something. It feels authentic and gives me more to think about with an upcoming game opposed to just feeling hyped up with purely positives statements.
I like that you talk fast. I don't have to speed up your videos to get the speaking speed that makes me comfortable. Thank you for doing this video. It was interesting.
Thank you for the amazing transparency. I watch your channel because you are the most candid person I encountered in this space… And 17 videos a week… that is crazy … I am sorry I only am able to watch 2-3 of you video every week. :-)
1) Still my favorite channel! Can't get enough of your stuff! 2) Is there somewhere where we can see the list of game ratings you've given, if you're comfortable with that? (you mentioned Notion?) It would just be cool to look at when browsing for something else to try out 😁)
25:30 appreciate your openness about the larger likely impact of friendship on reviews than business conflict of interest/bias. I suspect one of the biggest impacts is that you're more aware of the level of effort that went into creating the game and the good will of the creators, so you're more likely to grade a little bit on a curve based on that known effort and intent. That said, I personally have never heard a review from you where I think that's had an impact that was perceptible to me.
Perhaps on top or even instead of regular merchandise, you could offer board game related itens with your logo... for instance, you could offer One Sharp Joe products with your logo (don't know if would be too expensive, but it's an idea that I would definitely look into buying it).
Always appreciate your candid honesty, Alex. Which is yet another reason you are one of my top 3 board game reviewers. TY also for having conditioned me to be able to translate “fast talk”. I am now almost at auctioneer level 😂
I love the new third camera angle. I noticed it in a different video and meant to comment. As someone who owns a BGC mousepad and mug, I could use more ▶️’s in my life. Print it on everything and I will buy it.
Thanks for the update, interesting and illuminating. A suggestion (not that you asked or needed) for a video category would be a five series. Take your fives and dissect/discuss/ play them with another creator so the audience can be entertained and also better understand what makes a great game. This would be great for the couch...
Just realized I haven’t thought of Rhett and link in years For the games you only played once and never reviewed would it be worth a video that groups all those games into one video every 6 months or year?
Good job Alex, keep rolling 😊 Greetings from Poland - lots of games purchased smiling at me thanks to your chanel. It does not mean my wife is smiling as well 😂
Your comments around 4:00 make me think of other, larger media, where similarly all of the items support the whole, but rather than it being one of many videos that you are making, there are specific creators (actors, writers, etc) working on each of those smaller videos that don't by themselves justify the investment, but do help the whole-not in respect to a UA-cam channel, but more like all of Netflix. Optimizing and monetarily rewarding each of those shows based purely on their performance ends up disproportionately rewarding the winners and penalizing the losers, because they all contribute to the whole viewership and audience. Anyway, food for thought.
How about a rating system that is less about the number and more about the recommendation or genre comparison? I.e. have categories to put them in like "not recommended", "recommended", or "highly recommended". This could be augmented with a tangent rating such as "fits my interests" or "not something I'm interested in" and paid content or not. I don't really see the numbers as meaning much for most reviewers. There's no standard generally to compare with so it doesn't really stand out unless it's at the top or the bottom of the scale or you are quite familiar with the reviewer.
I've been watching since the couch and I say that the editorial content of your videos is the same as it ever was. You had a job, same. You left that job to do UA-cam full time, same. You got a different job, at a company focused on board gaming, but still same. I feel bad about having to cancel Patreon, but it was solely that I didn't have the C-note and it couldn't be helped. I'm still a supporter and viewer.
i love your content and it's great you do this kind of thing for transparency but I hope you dont feel obligated to explain yourself to an anonymous you tube audience-you owe us none of it...patreon maybe but while it is appreciated i wouldn't expect this level of sharing from any other youtuber nor should I. But as said...this is why you have unimpeachable integrity and will always be a go to source for me. Cheers
Thank you. I've never gotten the sense that it's owed, and I recognize that my community has always been incredible and never made me feel like It is owed, rather, I personally appreciate this kind of look behind the curtain and I've always been for transparency when I can do so without compromising on others privacy
I wanna live where you live that you can have 3-4 kids, a house with a basement, a wife and your total expenses are 90-100K a year and get by (even separating out your very expensive board game hobby). I live in So Cal and that'd barely get you by as a single person living in a condo. =(
I actually stopped watching after you announced the job at Gamefound, but came back and hadnt noticed a change in your critics regardless if a game is retail or from specific crowdfunding platforms. On the point on negative reviews, personally, i find those interesting and verbalizing critic on "bad" games gives perspective on the good reviews. I fully understand not wanting to play bad games enough to properly review them, but what about a first impressions video bunching a few games together for example?
After the Quackalope scandal where he blackmailed Into the Unknown in order to give them a good review, you have been my number 1 Boardgame channel. I have watch every video and I appreciate the honesty. Thank you so much for entertaining us
@@boardgameaddict4262Exactly. I don't really like Quackalope's content since it's incredibly clickbait focused, but there wasn't blackmail involved. Sad to see people still perceive it that way.
Misinformed and unnecessary comment. You could have shown your appreciation for Alex without dragging someone else through the mud. It is sad to see this still come up.
its not misinformation actually (as I am prevy to certain information from the company being a relative) and its important remind people of the youtubers who are genuine and the others like quackalope who are not.@@Lost_vault_boy
You are not only among my favorite board game youtubers, you are my favorite English teacher as well. You are talking so insanely fast, I had to learn to listen better :)
Lol thank you :)
It's funny that you speak at exactly 1.25x speed compared to regular speech. I've watched some of the videos at .75x and it sounds totally normal 😂
@@hellprince1sone people talk at half the speed of Alex... And I don't watch those people
That's funny. I listen to his videos at 1.5x speed
Hahah - my wife speaks super fast so I can usually keep up without backing it up too many times. In comparison, if I did videos I'd probably have to upload it at 1.25 speed to compete.
Alex, you're a good guy. You seem to try very hard to just be honest and upfront, which the world could use more of. Keep it up and I'm sure your channel will keep growing.
Thank you!
Thanks for your transparency. I haven't noticed any change in your approach since you started working for Gamefound, but I respect that you continue to highlight that in your videos (and agree that you should continue to do so).
Happy anniversary! Glad you are in the space and watch you do your magic. Always appreciate an honest reviewer
Thanks Raphael!
Ran into you at PAX-U! You make me want to move to Ohio to be in your game group! Keep up the great work! Most open, objective, honest, and genuine fellow I follow online! Thanks for the fantastic effort!
Cant believe its been 4 years already! Congratulations Matt Radford, you've been a great cohost for Meg.
Listening from China since almost 3years. I am always amazed how you can go through your videos in one short with what seems little to no need for editing while being precise and very logical in the flow. Thanks for the transparency.
Thank you 🙂 I really appreciate it!
Congrats on the 4 year anniversary, I’ve been following along for the last ~2.5 years and continue to enjoy your content and transparency.
I think it's fun that my ratings on BGG also have a similar distribution: (4 - 2%, 5 - 6%, 6 - 17%, 7 - 33%, 8- 30%, 9- 9%, 10- 3% over 171 reviews). It makes sense because since I discovered your channel over the last 3 years, you have been a heavy influence on how I enjoy and engage with this hobby. I've culled and refined my collection (although I'm always buying more), and I've been able to think more about what makes a game fun to me personally and what I can see other people liking and not liking. Thanks for everything that you do!
Congrats on hitting 4 years! I always appreciate your honesty and how upfront you are. I think it’s great you do a video like this every year. I also wanted say that I have not noticed any changes since you have started gamefound. Lastly I love how you do your reviews. I love that you always list “what you like and what u can see others not liking”. I think it’s a great way to handle reviews and I find it fair, unbias and informative. Appreciate you as always 👍🏽
Congratulations on the 4 year anniversary. It has been awesome to watch the channel grow over the last few years. You are on of the best!
Super happy to be along for the ride! Great content as always.
Thank you!
Hey Alex, wish you, the family and the channel all the best for 2024. Keep up the great work and never slow down the cadence.
Thanks as always for sharing-this one was especially heartfelt. Very happy to be a (extremely small) part of both benefiting from and enabling you to do what you love. Happy holidays!
Love the transparency and even more so much of the content. Your consistency is what has kept me watching for the past 3 years. Keep it up glad to see where the channel is gone and excited for where it’s going
I appreciate the openness, honesty and fun of this channel. I wish you continued fortune and best wishes!
Thank you Patrick!
Two things I have always really loved about your channel is one the time stamps but more importantly is your approach towards reviewing and talking about games. The transparency is always appreciated and the way you give pros and cons about the games as well as explain your reasoning for liking or not liking something. It feels authentic and gives me more to think about with an upcoming game opposed to just feeling hyped up with purely positives statements.
Congratulations, you have always been very transparent. I was also very excited when you paired with Gamefound.
Thank you!
This type of video is a big part of what sets BGC apart. I love the look behind the curtain and I'm glad you and the channel are doing pretty well :)
Thank you Noah, I'm glad you're here 🙂
Congrats on 4 years. Strange to think that I discovered two years ago now. How time flies.
I like that you talk fast. I don't have to speed up your videos to get the speaking speed that makes me comfortable. Thank you for doing this video. It was interesting.
You started the channel on my birthday! Nice 👍 you’ve been doing a great job. My favorite Boardgame channel!
“AFTER THIS” merch!!!
Yes!
Here's celebrating all that has been and celebrating all that is still to come, Alex.
Thanks for the update! Looking forward to another year of fun and informative videos!!
Monumental on the shelf in view is during the video is highly fitting.
Lol fair :)
@@BoardGameCo fitting major news one can say is Monumental. Cough cough
Thank you for the amazing transparency. I watch your channel because you are the most candid person I encountered in this space…
And 17 videos a week… that is crazy … I am sorry I only am able to watch 2-3 of you video every week. :-)
1) Still my favorite channel! Can't get enough of your stuff!
2) Is there somewhere where we can see the list of game ratings you've given, if you're comfortable with that? (you mentioned Notion?) It would just be cool to look at when browsing for something else to try out 😁)
25:30 appreciate your openness about the larger likely impact of friendship on reviews than business conflict of interest/bias. I suspect one of the biggest impacts is that you're more aware of the level of effort that went into creating the game and the good will of the creators, so you're more likely to grade a little bit on a curve based on that known effort and intent. That said, I personally have never heard a review from you where I think that's had an impact that was perceptible to me.
Thank you for the content Alex. I’ve enjoyed your channel for a long time and enjoyed watching it mature into what it is today.
Thank you for sticking around Jason :)
Perhaps on top or even instead of regular merchandise, you could offer board game related itens with your logo... for instance, you could offer One Sharp Joe products with your logo (don't know if would be too expensive, but it's an idea that I would definitely look into buying it).
I'm quite happy with the content of the channel. It's always a pleasure to watch the videos. Cheers Alex!
Love you passion for the hobby and honestly throughout. Keep up the great work good sir.
Thank you Brad! I really appreciate
Always appreciate your candid honesty, Alex. Which is yet another reason you are one of my top 3 board game reviewers.
TY also for having conditioned me to be able to translate “fast talk”. I am now almost at auctioneer level 😂
Good stuff - keep up the great work Alex!
Thanks Kirk!
Would love some merch as would like to support in a way that isn’t a recurring charge
wow 4 years hard work and a solid subscriber base 🎉 remember to take breaks 🤗
You don't need Merch, if you want greater success, you just need more Meg.
Lol I'll let her know
Thanks for the transparency. Appreciate your content, and I try to watch all videos if possible.
Thanks for your continued hard work and passion for the industry and content! Hope you have many more successful years to come.
Boardgame Co. Meeple! For my shelf, make it happen!
Thanks for sharing, your honesty, and transparency.
Thank you Alex for all the awesome content you do ❤
Appreciate it :)
I love the new third camera angle. I noticed it in a different video and meant to comment.
As someone who owns a BGC mousepad and mug, I could use more ▶️’s in my life. Print it on everything and I will buy it.
Great job this year Alex!
I appreciate that you are a man leading with integrity.
Thank you, I appreciate it
Thanks for the update, interesting and illuminating. A suggestion (not that you asked or needed) for a video category would be a five series.
Take your fives and dissect/discuss/ play them with another creator so the audience can be entertained and also better understand what makes a great game. This would be great for the couch...
Ooooh...I do enjoy this idea :)
was hoping you might
Just realized I haven’t thought of Rhett and link in years
For the games you only played once and never reviewed would it be worth a video that groups all those games into one video every 6 months or year?
Good job Alex, keep rolling 😊 Greetings from Poland - lots of games purchased smiling at me thanks to your chanel. It does not mean my wife is smiling as well 😂
Thanks for tuning in, I appreciate it 🙂
Your comments around 4:00 make me think of other, larger media, where similarly all of the items support the whole, but rather than it being one of many videos that you are making, there are specific creators (actors, writers, etc) working on each of those smaller videos that don't by themselves justify the investment, but do help the whole-not in respect to a UA-cam channel, but more like all of Netflix. Optimizing and monetarily rewarding each of those shows based purely on their performance ends up disproportionately rewarding the winners and penalizing the losers, because they all contribute to the whole viewership and audience. Anyway, food for thought.
How about a rating system that is less about the number and more about the recommendation or genre comparison? I.e. have categories to put them in like "not recommended", "recommended", or "highly recommended". This could be augmented with a tangent rating such as "fits my interests" or "not something I'm interested in" and paid content or not.
I don't really see the numbers as meaning much for most reviewers. There's no standard generally to compare with so it doesn't really stand out unless it's at the top or the bottom of the scale or you are quite familiar with the reviewer.
I clicked this vid and UA-cam automatically lowered the playback speed to .5 lol
lol nice
Is a list of rated games available somewhere?
I guess the coolest part of running the channel is that you can expense all your board game purchases as business expenses 😊
I've been watching since the couch and I say that the editorial content of your videos is the same as it ever was. You had a job, same. You left that job to do UA-cam full time, same. You got a different job, at a company focused on board gaming, but still same.
I feel bad about having to cancel Patreon, but it was solely that I didn't have the C-note and it couldn't be helped. I'm still a supporter and viewer.
i love your content and it's great you do this kind of thing for transparency but I hope you dont feel obligated to explain yourself to an anonymous you tube audience-you owe us none of it...patreon maybe but while it is appreciated i wouldn't expect this level of sharing from any other youtuber nor should I. But as said...this is why you have unimpeachable integrity and will always be a go to source for me. Cheers
Thank you. I've never gotten the sense that it's owed, and I recognize that my community has always been incredible and never made me feel like It is owed, rather, I personally appreciate this kind of look behind the curtain and I've always been for transparency when I can do so without compromising on others privacy
Speaking of the algorithm...
:)
I wanna live where you live that you can have 3-4 kids, a house with a basement, a wife and your total expenses are 90-100K a year and get by (even separating out your very expensive board game hobby). I live in So Cal and that'd barely get you by as a single person living in a condo. =(
Yeah, cost of living is a big deal. We bought our first house in Cleveland for 93,000
@@BoardGameCo Amazing!
I miss the couch too! 🤗
One day... One day
I actually stopped watching after you announced the job at Gamefound, but came back and hadnt noticed a change in your critics regardless if a game is retail or from specific crowdfunding platforms.
On the point on negative reviews, personally, i find those interesting and verbalizing critic on "bad" games gives perspective on the good reviews. I fully understand not wanting to play bad games enough to properly review them, but what about a first impressions video bunching a few games together for example?
You are my favorite board game reviewer ❤
Im in for a shirt and a mug
Sometimes I think u r tougher on Gamefound than other platforms😲
Your own brand of coffee when? 😄
Oh man that would be amazing
Need the merch Alex 😘
Working on it :)
After the Quackalope scandal where he blackmailed Into the Unknown in order to give them a good review, you have been my number 1 Boardgame channel. I have watch every video and I appreciate the honesty. Thank you so much for entertaining us
Not what happened. Was a miscommunication. Sad that people have just jumped to conclusion.
@@boardgameaddict4262Exactly. I don't really like Quackalope's content since it's incredibly clickbait focused, but there wasn't blackmail involved. Sad to see people still perceive it that way.
Misinformed and unnecessary comment. You could have shown your appreciation for Alex without dragging someone else through the mud. It is sad to see this still come up.
its not misinformation actually (as I am prevy to certain information from the company being a relative) and its important remind people of the youtubers who are genuine and the others like quackalope who are not.@@Lost_vault_boy
@@boardgameaddict4262 it wasn't misinformation lol.
This comment is meant to feed the algorithm. 😊