Fear is the Mind Hunter.
Fear is the Mind Hunter.
Aw man, lots of love to Danielle and Austin. Go forth, be good, and be good at it.Big Day https://forum.waypoint.vice.com/t/austin-shifting-responsibilities-a-goodbye-to-danielle/24058/2
Danielle Rien-adieu. Austin Walksout.
He's not an employee, he's a contractor for the pod. He said he doesn't even have a vice games email anymore.
I mean, he's still a contractor for VICE for the time being, he's still being paid to co-host the podcast, that's a bit better than the usual "you'll continue to hear from me" bits.Austin basically is waypoint to me and 80% of why I listen cause I just find him incredibly engaging to listen to, especially in a freeform audio format. I like everyone else but he was always the glue that held everything else together to me and it is really saddening to see him go. It's selfish to want, unfortunately. Austin should do what is best for him, though, and hopefully we'll continue to hear him on waypoint radio just like Beastcast's Jeff "rotating chair" Backalar, but as was stated before, "you'll continue to hear from me" rarely ever actually plays out.
I mean, he's still a contractor for VICE for the time being, he's still being paid to co-host the podcast, that's a bit better than the usual "you'll continue to hear from me" bits.
Considering that FatT makes pretty decent bank on Patreon, it makes sense that Austin feels confident enough to commit to it more than a side-gig.
The thing is, he's leaving behind things like Health Insurance, Retirement benefits, PTO, etc by going out on his own/Patreon. I can't speak to the value of those benefits, but considering Vice is unionized, I feel fairly confident in saying that they probably had above average benefits. It sounds like he was really burnt out and just wanted out of working at Vice.Considering that FatT makes pretty decent bank on Patreon, it makes sense that Austin feels confident enough to commit to it more than a side-gig.
He already said he isn't though? He's gonna focus more on that, but not exclusively. It definitely feels to me like he wants to expand his storytelling skills to more mediums though, which I'm 100% into. Given how much I love FatT, him writing a novel or a comic or something like that would be super cool.I really hope he's not devoting his full time to FatT, I mean he should do what he wants of course but I just don't care about FatT at all.
He already said he isn't though? He's gonna focus more on that, but not exclusively. It definitely feels to me like he wants to expand his storytelling skills to more mediums though, which I'm 100% into. Given how much I love FatT, him writing a novel or a comic or something like that would be super cool.
I mean if you think he might be lying that's on you :P I think he's been pretty explicit about what he's doing. I don't default to believing people are deceiving me :PI mean it also sounds like how people would go "things will not change at all" as thing eventually change shortly after.
I mean if you think he might be lying that's on you :P I think he's been pretty explicit about what he's doing. I don't default to believing people are deceiving me :P
I mean yeah, specially to the bold, he evidently has ambitions beyond games journalism, but that's a far cry from where you started (oh no he's doing FatT 100% now), which is just not true.Not lying, it's just that people think that they can keep control of the circumstances but eventually drift away when there's no more full commitment.
If his passion now lies outside of waypoint who's to say if he'll come back to it once he's found something else he's passionate about?
I mean yeah, specially to the bold, he evidently has ambitions beyond games journalism, but that's a far cry from where you started (oh no he's doing FatT 100% now), which is just not true.
I don't think we understand each other too well :P I'll just say I tend to be more optimistic, and I know Austin to be extremely skilled and capable and know he's got waaaay more in his future as a creator/storyteller than "just" FatT, and I fucking love FatT.No that's what I'm saying. It's easy to say that everything will remain the same but in my experience. It's like telling your ex you'll still be friends. It can work, more often than not it doesn;t.
no its cool, like they said, Danielle wanted to work with teens at Vice and her leaving now is totally unrelated and has nothing to do with Austin stepping back
Dear Scoops,I normally stay away from threads like this, but today is an exception. I can tell you they are honestly disconnected; Danielle's offer letter for hew new gig (which will make sense when it's announced, it's exciting) just happened to come in as Austin has formalized his next moves (which we had to wait on, to make sure he could get paid for his labor on the pod going forward). We only figured out we could announce both moves together right before the podcast recording.
Anyway, I can answer some questions if people have them.
Are you in charge now? Will you fire Rob for dunking on you?I normally stay away from threads like this, but today is an exception. I can tell you they are honestly disconnected; Danielle's offer letter for hew new gig (which will make sense when it's announced, it's exciting) just happened to come in as Austin has formalized his next moves (which we had to wait on, to make sure he could get paid for his labor on the pod going forward). We only figured out we could announce both moves together right before the podcast recording.
Anyway, I can answer some questions if people have them.
Any Waypoint Radio guests lined up yet? I mean in terms of on-air folks it's just you, Rob, Cado, and a rotating chair now, right?I normally stay away from threads like this, but today is an exception. I can tell you they are honestly disconnected; Danielle's offer letter for hew new gig (which will make sense when it's announced, it's exciting) just happened to come in as Austin has formalized his next moves (which we had to wait on, to make sure he could get paid for his labor on the pod going forward). We only figured out we could announce both moves together right before the podcast recording.
Anyway, I can answer some questions if people have them.
Any Waypoint Radio guests lined up yet? I mean in terms of on-air folks it's just you, Rob, Cado, and a rotating chair now, right?
Did you already message a mod to get your tag changed to Waypoint Co-Editor in Chief? :P
I think it would be cool to see Dia Lacina on a Waypoint pod again sometime. The pod she and Rob did about her Shadow of the Tomb Raider review was pretty rad.Nothing specific, though feel free to make suggestions. There will be two regular podcasts a week, and the plan is to have Austin on both of them. There's a real world where we ended the pod if we weren't able to figure out how to keep Austin on it and make him a paid contributor. We are not in that world.
Did you already message a mod to get your tag changed to Waypoint Co-Editor in Chief? :P
Best of luck to you and Rob (and Cado and anyone I'm not listing) in this new phase for Waypoint! It's a relief that Austin will still be on the pod and I'm looking forward to hearing more voices on it. Keep up the great work :)
I think it would be cool to see Dia Lacina on a Waypoint pod again sometime. The pod she and Rob did about her Shadow of the Tomb Raider review was pretty rad.
It's a new, scary phase. I could not tell you what things will look like in a year, though I can tell you with some measure of confidence, with as much confidence as you can say given how fucked working in media is, that I do not think our (me, Rob, Cado) jobs are in any jeopardy.
Funny, Rob mentioned that this week when we were talking about pod guests.
Yeah, changes can be scary, not necessarily in terms of "will I have a job next year" but just the general increase of unpredictability and having new responsibilities to attend to can make one nervous. I changed positions last year into a more of a mentoring and management role after 7+ years of other stuff, and have seen people depart from my job that were a big deal and obviously meant we were going to have to shift some things, so I can relate.It's a new, scary phase. I could not tell you what things will look like in a year, though I can tell you with some measure of confidence, with as much confidence as you can say given how fucked working in media is, that I do not think our (me, Rob, Cado) jobs are in any jeopardy.
Hi Patrick - glad to hear that you and Rob (and Cado) will still be running things. Do you think that with this reduction in staff you'll still continue with production of both Waypoint Radio and Waypoints? Or any new shows to look forward to? I'm a big fan of all of your work - good luck with all the transitions ahead.
I don't have anything specific to ask, just wanted to take the moment to say that I appreciate everything you guys do and am glad you're carrying on - excited for what it means for Danielle and Austin, and for the future of the podcast. And I REALLY appreciate the transparency you tend to approach this stuff with. Means a lot.I'd think of it this way: one exclusively (mostly, given our tangents, I guess) games podcast a week, and another podcast that could be almost anything. Waypoints, WPR, whatever. But outside of an emergency pod, two podcasts a week, with Austin on both.
1) More guests is a great idea, especially with the wide array of contributors on Waypoint
Hmm think I'm gonna have to disagree and say that Austin is definitely Polaris and Danielle is Emily Pope.