#who wants to be...?

[dropoutposts]

Sorry, I should have saved my "????" for THIS moment

[albinodino]

The LinkedIn sponsor on Game Changer is not the corporate own you people seem to think it is.

Dropout markets itself as 'ad-free'. I counted this claim twice on their homepage, once in the tab banner and again at the point of payment. When I paid for my dropout subscription, I did it in assurance that I was paying for an 'ad-free' service, as did everyone who pays for Dropout. Even if it's not something you care much about, it is something they promised to you that they have failed to maintain.

Many of us (myself included) are invested in the project of Dropout, a better way to build a subscription service which pays its staff fairly and is honest with its audience. We were fine with the price increase because we believe in what Dropout stands for. They launched a streaming service because they wanted to get away from advertisers, the launch video literally includes the cast booing a sponsor out of frame, and in the 5 year video Sam claims to have 'dropped out of corporate America.'

By taking this sponsorship, they are undermining the project of Dropout. They set out to oppose big streaming services who have constantly lied to and betrayed the trust of their viewers in order to squeeze more money out of them. By compromising their values 'just this once' they are reinforcing that some things are just too hard, that companies just have to do that sometimes! And if they do it once, who's to say they won't do it again? Especially when they see the overwhelmingly positive reactions.

Dropout did not trick, con or 'Robin Hood' LinkedIn into giving Jacob Wysocki a lot of money. Dropout sold off your attention and expected you not to care because you love the person the money is going to. They betrayed your trust and used your goodwill to others to get away with it. You may think it's a stupid sponsor because none of the Dropout audience want to use LinkedIn - it's so out of place that it's comical. The marketing team must be so clueless, bless their hearts! That is a positive sentiment you now hold of LinkedIn. The advertisement worked and it did it by making you think you saw straight through it. I've seen people saying they are going back to LinkedIn 'for Jacob/Sam/Dropout,' that 'the games are kinda fire'. I don't care how much of a joke you think it is, they got you talking about them en masse. They bought your attention and you gave it to them laughing.

The crux of the issue for me is this episode did not need a sponsor. If the prize was too much for them to afford, they could have made it lower. If Dropout is as committed to paying their cast and crew well as they claim to be, why should any of their staff need $100,000? It didn't even make for a particularly satisfying episode, it wasn't for a certain cause, it wasn't something tailored to Jacob, it's just a lot of money.

Dropout aren't the underdogs anymore. Early on, it was nice to see them use their shows to get nice things for their friends. Total Forgiveness aimed to solve a tangible problem in the contestant's real lives, and paid less than $50,000 between 2 people. This episode had no larger plot, no deeper meaning, just a company that is now worth an incredibly large amount of money telling you they're doing good things whilst betraying one of their core principles of being ad-free in order to auction off your attention to the highest bidder and give the money to their friend.

TL;DR: Dropout betrayed their principle of being ad-free and their audience's trust and used your parasocial relationships to get away with it.

Anticipated FAQ under the cut

'So you hate Jacob?' I love Jacob, I hate that Dropout used that to betray my trust.

'Do you know Jacob has been through [bad thing]?' Yes. My investment in an episode shouldn't rely on background knowledge I saw on reddit.

'So people have to flaunt their problems to be deserving of help?' Absolutely not. They could have helped Jacob in private, but they chose to make it entertainment.

'Sponsorships are different to advertisements.' The claim is still misleading and you know that.

'They gave a warning for the sponsor.' Where they practically stated that they are using your altruism to get away with it.

[icarus-falling-down]

one day, I hope I have a group of friends that love me as much as jacob wysocki's friends love him

[simon-smiles]

In the newest episode of Game Changer, Jacob Wysocki says "Everyone's doubting me at home" and I just wanted it on the record that I have never doubted him for a moment and I hope he wins this whole competition

[the-idjits-randomness]

Jacob got his own personal $100,000 version of "Who wants to be a millionaire." Good for him. He deserves it.

[superb-fairywren]

DROPOUT: WATCH A BUNCH OF BOYS EAT A BUNCH OF DOGS

[wu-does-art]

the contrast of kris/player relationship between routes is absolutely hilarious

[blueskittlesart]

knowledge long forgotten

got really into reading item descriptions on this playthrough. anyway did you know the silent princess is one of the only raw materials with a cooking effect to not explicitly list that effect in its description

[pookapufferfish]

[rafeandonlyrafe]

well 🧍‍♀️ as a reminder this blog is NOT a safe space for trump supporters but it IS a safe place for women, queers, trans ppl, people of color, undocumented people, and any marginalized group.

[moonolor]

I feel like they deserve a sleepover. Susie is a better blanket than the actual blanket.

[dropoutposts]

????????????????

[mintaii]

a vengeful spectre. those who approach her notice her resemblance to a beloved knight who lost her life to the sea.

[captainjonnitkessler]

>Join a union

>Hear people constantly complaining that the current union leadership is super corrupt, it's all just the same ten guys making all the decisions in secret and nobody else in the union ever gets to know what's going on

>Go to the monthly union meetings that are completely open to all 1200 union members

>The only attendees are the same ten guys every month, giving detailed reports about everything that's going on

[chongoblog]

WAIT

I JUST REMEMBERED HEARING AN ELON MUSK QUOTE WHERE HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HE BELIEVES CHESS IS "TOO SIMPLE" OR WHATEVER AND HE SAID HIS FAVORITE GAME WAS A GAME CALLED "POLYTOPIA"

I JUST REMEMBERED THAT IVE PLAYED POLYTOPIA

It being Elon's favorite game (or at least one so important to him that his biographer dedicates a lot of time to it) is.....really really funny.

Basically, imagine Civilization, but as a mobile game. So like if Civilization Revolution was even more dumbed down (that's a Civilization insult. That's devastating. It's devastated right now). For what it's worth, it's not a bad game. On the contrary, from what I could tell in the little bit of time I played it, it's a perfectly competent game with good design. But it's not a deep game by any means. I played through it once, won easily on my first go, then saw that the other playable characters had barely any differences between them.

Like, not to imply you can judge a book by its cover, but here's what it looks like

I came across an article by Dave Karpf discussing this exact thing, and I think it describes it wonderfully