^ What is optimal, what is desirable and what is last resort can all be very different things. I think most of us see the difference. And see why the latter happens when it does. We wont be fooled by those that wish to dress that up for any reason.
(23-10-2024 20:46 )CheekyKev Wrote: Sorry if I hold Xpanded to a higher standard than giving us cam from home shows that can be found pretty much anywhere on the web, therefore defeats the purpose of a TV show with decent picture quality, production values, etc.
Let's look at my old schooler's current expectations of XP shall we...
First off, expecting more from the shows than them becoming a stable for cams of various dubious image quality is perfectly valid IMO. We had nearly 20 years of the channels proscribing themselves as a premium product with premium TV-standard production values. Why expect us punters to accept any less now..?
Primarily, thereafter, we look to XP to 'do better' because BS, as industry leader, sets the tone. And, thus, they've epitomised the industry's lowering of its standards in recent years. We want XP to maintain what BS have lost.
What else does that entail? Well, besides decent production values, the shows were founded in one other thing: Their relationship with the restrictions placed upon them. Consumers and babes were forced to work with, and around, the regs as they looked to get what they wanted. What was possible viz-a-viz the restrictions formulised the very nature of the genre.
Thesedays however, it seems that most of this industry wants to take us ever further from that original formula - into a babeland full of endless paywalls and associated gimmicks. And you have to fear XP may go the same way - changing the very nature of 'the product' forever. What an ignominous end!
The things we wish to retain matter to some of us simply because they're the things that made the shows unique. And they are the things we're gradually losing. And you can't blame guys for being disatisfied with the lowering of standards that's come with these changes. Nor should we expect to be gaslit by those that wish to pretend the changes are insignificant.
Some of us
remember; and we see what's happening for what it is. Everytime. We know why the shows hit the spot in the past and why they (often) no longer do. It's not so much that the shows are all "bad" now (there were always poor babes and poor shifts in the past, there are just more of them nowadays) but more precisely it's that
the shows (at BS at least) no longer wish to be what we want them to be. The old desire to appeal to as many wallets as possible at once, has become the desire to find those individuals with the biggest wallets. And fuck the rest. And that has fundamentally altered what we see. Especially at BS.
XP is the old schoolers ' laat hope then. We want it to keep to certain core values. Even as it makes itself ever more web-orientated (nigbt shifrs in the day... sure; just find a way to do it that doesnt leave black screens everywhere).
We still believe it can be better than the lost cause that is BS. We hope that bucking the industry trends will be XP's path to prosperity. And that it's how they can take money from the industry leader... By being different from BS in every bloody way they possibly can!
Do tipping properly. Even do Gold Shows properly if you must (i.e. NOT as simple promos for subsequent paywalls). Just keep the central fta focus, keep it studio-based and keep the crowdcentric revenue creation ethic. Basically if BS have turned to it, don't do it that way!