"Joey wanted to pay them in 'exposure'..."

My late brother was a comic book artist, and he often said to would-be non-paying clients that "Exposure is what people die from when they can't afford food and shelter because you expect them to work for free."

People who try to be Critical Role never seem to realize one crucial thing:  Not even Critical Role was trying to be Critical Role.  It was just a regular home game between close friends for years, until they were invited to try streaming it on Geek & Sundry.  They never set out to have the kind of success they ended up achieving, it just wound up happening.

Did people forget that critical role is comprised of PROFESSIONAL VOICE ACTORS?

As an artist there's nothing more spine chillingly terrifying to hear than getting "paid in exPoSuRE" 😰

Matt has made it very, very clear that while he's the DM, he sees it as a responsibility and not a right or a position that people should automatically kowtow to. He is also very vocal about how lucky he and the rest of the crew are to be supported by the community, the fandom, and the people behind the scenes.

He has never once tried to pretend it's not a huge effort by a lot of people, and that they put in a lot of work to make a polished finished project.

Joey: I want to be the new Critical Role!
Joey's mind : I want to be the new Critical Role as they are at the start of Season 2 without any of the work that lead to that.

What everyone of the people in these D&D streaming horror stories don’t seem to get.

CRITICAL ROLE STARTED AS A HOME GAME BETWEEN FRIENDS!

No one went out and found a bunch of random voice actors and got one of them to start a D&D campaign.

Imagine you're sitting at the corner of the store with a friend, doing a TikTok where you open your fresh MtG card packs, and Joey stomps up to you going "This video is now my property, Streaming Monopoly dude"

I once heard someone say that Critical Role is to D&D what porn is to sex.

I like Critical Role well enough but I agree I hate it when people try so hard to be the next Critical Role rather than trying to do their own thing.

Having the mindset of “I’m gonna be the next *BLANK*” isn’t the greatest of mindsets

When I was younger, I went to Jackcepticeyes live show world tour I was fortunate enough to be able to ask him some questions. At the time, I was really big into the idea of becoming a YouTuber and I always said “I’m gonna be the next Markiplier” or “I’m gonna be the next Jackcepticeye” or that sort of shit

Naturally, I asked if he could give me pointers on how to be just like him, what advice he could give me so I could be the next jackcepticeye (which is very rude looking back on it but I was a dumb kid then) and he gave me a piece of advice that I’ll always remember

“Don’t be the next me, be the first you.”

Dreaming of being like Critical Role or Jackcepticeye is great and all, but it’s unrealistic. Instead, find what you’re good at, work hard with it and make a name for yourself so one day, someone can look at it and say “I wanna be the next you”

Playing in an isekai world sounds like the perfect opportunity to bring out that purposely over edgy/cringey character and just have fun.

The harem of cat girls made me cackle. Honestly as a joke character this is gold but the fact that he's dead serious.....

"This Joey character is a terrible author if he needs a whole team of other writers only to axe them from the credits"

This is the entire Ghostwriting industry in one sentence

Calling your show "The Next Critical Role" reminds me of all the MMOs back in the day who all marketed themselves as "The WoW killer" that all flopped. Ironically, WoW itself would wind up being the true "WoW Killer."

Lesson to learn: don’t be like Joey and try to copy CR. Just do it your way. Hell, I think the CR cast and so many Critters (like me) would say the same thing. Hell, even Matt Mercer is not fond of the “Matt Mercer Effect” and thus he urges us to just play it however we want.

Also… PLAN FOR EVERYTHING BEFOREHAND, and don’t rush into streaming right away. Even Critical Role started off as a home game for three years before they were approached by Geek and Sundry in 2015. They wanted to take a chance and have their game streamed, and from there the rest is history.
If they hadn’t had G&S supporting them, CR wouldn’t have been able to be streamed in the first place.

So to reiterate: don’t be like Joey.

Speaking as a streamer named Joey who also likes to GM, I started having nervous sweats at the beginning of this video lol

"A streaming monopoly" My machinima PTSD is kicking in again, I remember they trapped my brother in a 5 year contract because back then, it was a great deal to be partnered AT ALL.
It wasn't.

There is no comparison to critical role. all those people are professional and already had fans. Along with tons of experience within the industry which gives them a huge advantage over all the other amateurs like myself who have podcast streams and whatnot.

"He wants to pay them...in exposure!"
Me: hisses

When i heard "cat girl harem" I died laughing. "Cat girl harem" is a running joke as a signature trait of neckbeards, I can't believe somebody actually made this with a serious face