Train Sim Society Covers What Is Happening On The Discord

Most of the ambassadors that I’ve seen post content are critical of some releases and lack of fixes, they just don’t go as far in the criticism as some people would like I guess. For the few whose content I’ve seen, they do raise and discuss the issues as part of some of their content.

Are they going to completely rip DTG like people do on the forums here? No and part of that could be because of being ambassadors while it could also be their approach of wanting to have a certain level of constructive criticism. But I haven’t seen too many be only positive about the game.

As for TSS, your videos are pretty informative and I understand why they need to be thumbnail a certain way. But when almost every review is titled “brutally honest review”, my opinion is that it starts to take away from the actual content. Having a change of title each time, even if it’s still clickbaity, goes a long way in changing perception of that. Whenever I see that for the guys who review sports games like EA and 2k, I usually end up skipping after it’s been repetitive. Just my two cents as a fan of TSW YouTube content, but that shouldn’t change your approach if it’s successful for you!

 

I was quite surprised with what TSD even said as he is an ambassador who does call out issues with the game and wasn't one to completely shy away from that.

It seems to work for him given the number of subs/views he gets compared to other channels.

I feel like at the end of the day, the substance of the video itself should matter more than the title of a video. That's is what matters at the end of the day

 

The big issues I'd have with clickbait back in the day is just when the title flat out lies about the content. Stuff like "brutally honest" doesn't really cross that line, as silly as it maybe, which is why I don't get the complaints. In contrast look toward Vsauce, they use their own form of clickbait, but importantly the question posed in the title is always a topic of the video an answered pretty well. It's just that Vsauce videos also tend to cover way more than the title lets on.

That said, if I had to recommend a alternative approach, maybe use the system Skill Up uses for reviews. "I recommend/do not recommend".

It's practically anti-clickbait, you know the opinion going in, but the idea should be to draw in the viewer and have them ask "ok, but why?"

Dare I say, it's also less clickbait than what many of the ambassadors actually use. Listing something as just "___ review" or "___ honest review" in itself is clickbait, because you need to watch the video to know even their basic opinions on it. Sucks even more if you don't get a summary at the start, which it's worth baring in mind is something you're taught to do if you're writing "serious" papers. They make you need to watch the whole thing in a lot of cases, that is silly in its own way as much as people like to overlook that.

 

What is the matter with a video titled "brutally honest review"? When i see a title like that, to me it just simply means that the person is giving his/her honest opinion about a product that can be positive or have criticisms. Happens all the time. No different than a video called "Southeastern High Speed Review"

 

I agree that some of his video titles are clickbait, but imo I find his videos very informative and he covers everything that’s being discussed on the forums and discord that I missed. I don’t check discord (not my thing) and the forums I rarely come on here that much now days. I don’t think he speaks out of turn or adds fuel to the fire, he just gives his opinion like any content creator does.
Everyone has their favourite content creator though. To each their own I guess.

 

I don't see the issue personally, I quite like TSS's videos, they are well put together and he provides a good balance between the good and bad sides of TSW. Unfortunately with the way things are on social media, exaggerated clickbait titles seem to be what the algorithms like so there is some element of having to play that game regrettably.

 

Two reasons for me:

1) Would we expect someone’s review to not be honest? It should be implied that if you are giving a review, it should be brutally honest because that’s why we are watching it.

2) When looking at the last 5 videos around review content, they all say “Brutally Honest Review” in the screencaps (I’d post a screenshot but I’m figuring out how to do that here). When you keep using the same title over and over again, it loses some of the meaning since it seems like it’s just for clickbait even when the content is probably really good.

Again this is personal preference as I see it all the time for reviewers of sports games who mostly have some disingenuous videos. Also like I said I find the content of TSS video to be thoughtful and ask valid questions (even though I disagree on some of his opinions being stated as facts which is another thing YouTube creators require today due to how content is driven). It’s just when I see titles like that used constantly or repetitively, it takes away from the content IMO. I get it’s how best to use YouTube today to post content, I just feel there are much better and more creative ways to catch the audiences attention.

 

Since I discovered TSS fairly recently I've found him to be one of the better TSW Youtubers - neither overly positive, nor overly negative, but constructive criticism based on wanting the game to be better, and expressing many of the frustrations a lot of us have on here, while still clearly really liking the game. Point taken about the titles, but I suppose that's Youtube being Youtube, and I think his content adds something, and his reviews are probably among the most useful you'll find.

 

Yes, frequently, those places have lots of pressure, intentional or not (Which most here overlook) to not be overly harsh toward games.

And on the flipside, even a lot of people who ain't paid off often just have poor taste frankly, they'll overlook issues for various reasons. Whether it be out of ignorance, or just not valuing that stuff as much as I feel they should. Realistically the amount of reviewers I'd actually trust to sell me on stuff I could count on both hands, maybe even on frankly. Like in flight sim just about the only reviewer I trust is Into the Blue Simulation's, he has sold me on stuff. Likewise I used Gamer's Nexus to help settle some PC build questions, they're about the only ones I'd trust to do that.

If anything the real criticism is that anyone can put "honest" in the review title, including the dishonest. I've seen great reviews with literally nor more than just "____ Review", because they clearly put all the effort into the actual video. On the flip-side I've seen shills who do way too much legwork trying to convince you that your eyes are lying to you and that don't play up their opinion, when it's obvious that isn't true. And to be clear, I've seen clickbait videos that are actually good, and not clickbait ones that were mindbogglingly stupid.

I would argue though that's less a argument against TSS in particular, and just more of a cautionary thing you need to keep in mind in general.

I mean, tell that to the people who go around harassing people just because they gave abnormally low scores to game or had harsh things to say about it. I remember people doing that with Jim (at the time) Sterling, because his review was both the only 7/10, and lowered BOTW's score from a 98 to a 97 on Metacritic. And his review wasn't even that bad, it's actually kind of interesting because he doesn't really like open world games, so it's actually a decent alternative perspective from what I remember.

Lot of people do just read reviews trying to reconfirm biases, in the same way lot of people read the news more to reconfirm existing believes as opposed to challenging them.

Counterpoint, the more exotic a title is the harder it can be to actually find if you are actually looking for a solid review on something. And frankly if you are just trying to make a inoffensive, informative review that can put people off. Take this combo Star Fox Zero/Wii U video.

If someone here posted "Island Line 2019 & Arosa Line: A Tale of Two Sh**ties" how many here would think "Yeah, this is the video I should watch as someone looking to get a fair review of those two addons"?

I think it's telling that the guy's most viewed video has a comparatively very generic title.

Now if someone did a video comparing any TSC to TSW route under that title, I think people here would at least give it a chance. Also I imagine lot of people outside here looking for comparisons would actually see that too, the title's basic, but it's descriptive and gets the point across.

My counterpoint would be that the term "Don't judge a book by its cover" doesn't mean "Only read books with titles that meet you sensibilities" it's about realizing that any book anywhere can be gold or trash, quality of the cover is irrelevant.

And you've address a lot of the marketing arguments yourself, I don't like it, but it's true that catchy "covers" sell more.

 

i absolutely second this and DTG Alex really needs to rethink if this is the type of person DTG want as a “influencer” god I hate that word, to be showing off content as an early access point to get DTG sales. He came across as rude in his video and it is online bullying. It seems reading the comments on TSD video that 95 percent of people whom commented agreed he was out of order and shouldn’t have done the video so much so a few have told him they have unsubscribed to his channel.
It appears reading elsewhere he is known to be rude in the past as well and reading comments on the other video TSS, you have people saying they knew it was about TSD before they even watched the video. If someone has that reputation they would be removed from my ambassador list as I wouldn’t want them representing my product.

 

I still don't see how it's clickbait nor how it's losing it's meaning. I feel like that criticism is just gasping at straws as it is quite common to have creators make brutally honest reviews which is basically giving their own opinion on a product. The substance of a video and the points of a video should matter more than the title.

 

It's like being back at school!

All this fabricated drama over two people making videos.

Social media has a lot to answer for,

 

Two people making videos yes

1. who is an ambassador

2. one who isn’t an ambassador and should be allowed an opinion without getting bullied and personally attacked by someone who represents the company. Ie the ambassador.

 

From what I've gleaned from the unfolding drama it is a bit of tit for tat.

Is it really worth making a drama out of nothing!

Seems like there is a lot of faux outrage in my opinion.

 

A bit of a latecomer to this discussion, but I am definitely on TSS's side with this one. I watch most of his videos, have engaged with him occasionally both in youtube comments and here on the forums. He is always so pleasant, helpful and 100% wants TSW and it's community to progress in a positive direction. His criticism is always constructive and I know there are DTG staff members who also watch his videos, so the points he raises are being heard by the right people.

The response from TSD reinforces some of his original points he was making about the community in general and should not have been interpreted as a personal attack. Hopefully their differences can be resolved as they are both great content creators and focus needs to remain on TSW

 

Drama sells in 2025. We need it in the train sim world community!

(We actually do not in fact need it)

 

I now remember why I walked away from all forums and other social media 10 years ago. I only came here to understand after spending so much money on TSW 5 and now 6 I'm HAVING SO MANY PROBLEMS with my game. Missing content, maps that aren't finished, signals that aren't red and then I rear end another train, trying to download user created content to only see a ⚠️ required content message even though I own all the content. I spent many hours making a livery for my Swiss route only to find out I can't get BLE RhB EW1AB coach to spawn ANYWHERE IN GAME. Amongst many other issues.

Anyway THANK YOU AGAIN MATT AND THE TSS CHANNEL.

 

I also enjoy TSS's videos - the criticism is measured and proportionate IMHO, and the guy clearly wants what's best for the game, albeit framed mostly from the perspective of the player rather than DTG the company. For me, while he often echoes much of the criticism that I read on here, he states it in a pretty polite and reasonable way, even offering up some defence of DTG at times.

And regarding the clickbaity titles, I think you can in the main thank YouTube for those....

I wasn't aware that he'd been publicly criticised by an Ambassador, incidentally; as others have commented, it's a huge no-no for an organisation to be associated with advocates who attack those who buy the product.

 

I’d trust TSS more than an ambassador that get free hand out’s from DTG, they all lie through their teeth, afraid to say a bad word against DTG in fear of being removed from the program. I can’t stand any of them, only one I find mildly entertaining is DadRail as he actually isn’t afraid to speak out on issues with the game.

 

I’ve seen some of them be critical, but like I said before it’s probably not in the way that some people here would prefer. They aren’t going to go off the deep end in terms of tone, but they will highlight issues and use their channels to raise them.

I think the funniest part of this whole thing is people feeling the need to pick sides when at the end of the day, it’s all YouTube content about a silly train game that we’re all passionate about. Plenty of room for all of the content out there without having to pick a favorite.

 

The problem I see here on the forum is that many people complain because they’ve experienced something annoying, and then they start looking for others to back them up. From there, they make statements that are often interpreted in a way that suits their own argument… “Surely they can just do it like this,” or “That shouldn’t take long at all.” Then someone else comes in and says, “Hold on, it’s not that simple,” and arguments start going back and forth. But that’s when things escalate, because contradicting someone quickly turns into a yes‑no argument and endless discussions with very little constructive value or even outright rude behaviour, simply because someone doesn’t go along with the point being made and has a different opinion. It’s always the same story: people think far too easily, just because it gives them a valid point to argue that something should be fixed faster. I understand that it’s frustrating, but unfortunately many people lose sight of the reality of the work involved and how long it actually takes to resolve something.

That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have a bad experience if someone disagrees with you the issue is purely the difference in opinion about the solution, and that’s where things go wrong. Especially when comments like “don’t be stupid” start appearing, or other remarks that contribute nothing and simply shut down the conversation by being unnecessarily rude.

And to come back to TSS for a moment: what exactly is “constructive criticism” in the context of the things he keeps repeating endlessly? I think DTG is perfectly aware of what’s going on they don’t need him for that. What he actually fuels is exactly what I described above: lots of people thinking “See, I am right,” which in my view only increases polarization.

He contributes very little, but endlessly feeds a polarized discussion.

 

Careful you will be having a video made about you now on YouTube from an ambassador for saying that lol

 

TrainSimSociety is an insufferable whiner, what's wrong with him? It's quite clear he takes a crazy negative attitude to stuff that isn't available yet, so it's no wonder he hates what _is_ available too.

As soon as someone describes their own review as "brutally honest", you know they are being defensive about a hatchet job.

 

So TSS actually makes a living out of driving discontent? It makes more sense now.

 

Bingo. What conclusion is he expecting is to draw about any review where this phrase wasn't attached?

 

That is basically what I described he embellishes his stories with a prevailing sentiment and, in my view, mainly polarizes.

 

Are you the YouTuber he made a video on?

 

I mean, by that logic what conclusion are you supposed to take from people that make grammar mistakes? Imagine how insane you'd sound suggesting everyone who makes them wants to abolish grammar rules entirely.

Slightly different example, but I've been on forums where "In my opinion" was considered silly, because opinions were consider implied unless stated otherwise, yet that's common here. I wouldn't expect this forum to cast judgement on them for that decision, and vice versa.

In the same way some reviewers feel the need to clarify, some don't, to suggest that the mere act of doing that is some big statement on the matter... Well, IMHO, suggesting that is frankly boarding on conspiracy levels of pure nonsense.

 

Does seem strange we get a influx of messages from the same account. Have reported them

 

Does seen rather suss.

They last used the forum september 2022 over 3 years ago and came back to spam comments on this thread all of a sudden

 

What exactly have you reported him for? Daring to disagree with your opinion?