The Community Spotlight 2023.12.02

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations from the previous week.

With it being the start of December, that can mean only one thing: Giant Bomb is officially in the midst of GOTY FEVER! In case you missed it, Giant Bomb has already started its GOTY coverage, category discussions, and podcasts so the staff can attend The 2023 Game Awards and host their own GOTY live show on December 9th! Friday, December 1st, saw the staff debate the site's first seven GOTY categories and the programming will continue on December 5th! If you want the VOD, here you go! If you are wondering about the future, here's a programming schedule in case you were wondering:

If you plan to be in LA on December 9th, tickets to attend Giant Bomb's LIVE GOTY performance are still available, though they are in low supply. Be aware: the tickets are $30, the venue is a standing concert hall with no seating, and if you are wondering about transportation you should check out the venue's FAQ.

When it comes to community-based GOTY stuff, I will try to get a thread up asking for people to share their GOTY lists to help me have an easier time collating them on the Spotlight. For now, I will hold off on making a dedicated GOTY section on the Spotlight as it seems many of you need more time to mull over your options. Also, I will try to ask about the status on community voting for GOTY next week.

When it comes to the site, I recently attended a meeting with a Fandom community engagement representative to talk about the state of Giant Bomb. They were incredibly frank and honest about the current situation with the Podcast feed and video player. They did explain the many ways people behind the scenes have attempted to resolve these issues and that led to the agreement that there needs to be greater transparency of what is being done to report and resolve issues on the site.

Whether that be a State of the Site show, pinned thread, or monthly article, everyone at the roundtable agreed that there needs to be better communication about what is being done to address issues and usability problems with the site. And as frustrating as it sounds, using the channels that you have to report these issues have helped and it is appreciated if they continue until these problems resolve. Please continue sending emails to support@giantbomb.com and pinging @dtoast in the appropriate bug reporting thread topics.

When it comes to podcast advertisements, there should be no political ads on any Giant Bomb related podcast and that doesn't just apply to premium subscribers. If you are getting political ads, send an email to support@giantbomb.com or report them to the site's Zendesk domain! For those of you still getting advertisements in the premium podcast feed, use same resources or drop a comment in this thread but please remember to @dtoast in your comment.

For those of you that wish to report advertisements that are displaying in a manner that make the site difficult to use, especially on mobile, there's a thread for you to report that. All Dylan/dtoast asks is that you include a screencap of what the advertisement looks like on your end.

Finally, in case you missed it last week, there is new merchandise in the Giant Bomb store! Before I list off all of the things available, be aware that the Holofoil prints are now SOLD OUT! If a new batch becomes available, I will try to keep you posted. Here's what is still up on the store and keep in mind that international shipping rate will apply to orders outside of North America:

• Giant Bomb x Cotopaxi Fanny Pack (1 Color Option Available) - $50
• Giant Bomb Sweats/Joggers (15 Color Options Available) - $55
• New Era Giant Bomb Logo Dad Hat (1 Color Option Available; Adjustable) - $30
• Giant Bomb x JustAJar Woodcut Poster (Standard Edition Only) - $30

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