Has anyone seen Dad Rails streams on BML? With the experience of being a real world train driver, he gives great insight into both the train and route experience. Makes for great viewing. He could provide great feedback to DTG and others for future routes/DLC. Much better viewing and chat than some existing ambassadors with more existing subscribers. He could make the game even better!
I’ve been watching Dad Rail for quite a long time. I’m glad he’s got into TSW streams now and he would be a great ambassador for DTG, and he is eager to grow his channel further too. He has a very honest and laid back style and bags of first hand expert knowledge and good stories to tell.
Agree with the above posts, his videos make good viewing. Love the way he knows the route and describes what action he is taking and why, ie two yellows, introduce a bit of break, bring it down, 40 limit ahead.... good stuff.
I’d never heard of him before this post, but watched a few videos last night. Really good. Nice to get a real train drivers perspective. So +1 from me.
This is what DTG needs. Dad rail is a great channel and says it like it is. He was even apologetic of being critical of some parts of the game but that’s exactly what you want, so the game can be improved upon.
DTG Natster DTG Protagonist , appreciate you guys are very busy and there are more important things but based on the feedback above, could “dad rail” be approached please, if not already? Personally, I’m sick of Mega Sim’s content to put it bluntly. Sorry if this breaks any rules.
I think he’s very repetitive, both with his routes and narrative. Also, his “Train real world” videos make it seem like he wants anything for a few views. Rather than learning new things such as PZB, I’d rather see him at least trying and failing, making an attempt than the same old repetitive stuff and then saying he doesn’t have the time to learn PZB. Just my opinion though and have removed myself as a subscriber this past week or so.
Can someone clarify why he would be a good ambassador? Watched a few videos of him because of this topic and don't understand the appeal. I presume this topic is a plug?
Not a plug, just find his videos much better than those of other and current ambassadors and ticks all the boxes that were mentioned by Matt for an ambassador. As for clarifying why he would be a good ambassador, please read my opening comments.
I don't agree at all. Sure there is stuff to say about the existing ambassadors but Dad rail would not improve on that in my opinion. I haven't found any brand ambassador for TSW 2 that I'm subscribed to. The only channel that I'm subscribed to is the one from Train Simulator itself and that's because the news always comes from there. There are a few I watch streams of when they get pushed by Youtube so it's not like I don't watch them at all. But most streamers on TSW lack production value and those that do don't have much interesting to say about the game that we don't get on the official stream. Dad Rail has a lot interesting to say about rail stuff but doesn't have much interesting to say about the game and with al the "like, subscribe and send me money" approach he lacks the production value to make me actually do all those things. The stuff DTG tells about in their streams you could discuss for hours on streams and make interesting content but the only thing most streamers do is do a service. Make ambassadors debate the streams with each other that would already be more fun to watch than to watch a route I can drive myself. More collaboration between TSW 2 streamers would be nice. There is more interesting stuff to read on the forums about TSW2 than there is on the streams. Most of the games it's the other way around.
The reason I like Dad Rail is his actual driving experience. It gives a completely different point of view. The only ambassadors I’m aware of are British Ace and Megasim. I’ve nothing against either of them, they can be quite enjoyable, but they do seem to have much idea how the trains actually work. One of them even gave the DB 187 a positive review (which is fine if they really felt that, but I can’t see a real driver thinking that). My personal favourite is trainsimulatordriver. He has some driving experience, presents things in a balanced way and contributes a lot on here. Sadly I don’t think he has nearly enough subscribers to be an ambassador.
Well I think Dad Rail will also give a positive review on the BR-187 when he is a brand ambassador from what I've seen on his stream.
Agree with a lot of your points. I’m not subscribed to any ambassadors at present as I prefer the news from the company. I do like dad rail though and find his views as an experienced train driver fascinating. Seems like a genuine nice bloke in my opinion.
It’s because of his positive and honest attitude towards all things railway related and his appreciation of what is good about the simulator. A brand ambassador wouldn’t be much use if they started from a point of negativity and added a bit of extra negativity every time they found something wrong with a DLC. They can be critical and honest when needed but ambassadors are there to show how good the sim is to a wider audience and the impression many people get is that Dad Rail would be good at doing that based on his knowledge and honesty and his personality on his videos and streams. Watching his content is a pleasurable experience.
There is a difference with running a patreon stream and being a brand ambassador. You can do both but the honesty part disappears. What's the difference with "I noticed that X but was told this will be fixed in the final build" and "some people in the stream mentioned that X but I'm sure it will not be present in the final build"? The first would be Dad Rail and the latter the current version of it.
he was quite direct with dtg about the quality of the class 66, which is one of his his working day office. Quite short shrift. I think he has good balance.
Because he can. He is not tied to DTG so he can say whatever he wants about the game. He even uses a disclaimer for that. When he becomes a brand ambassador he will get the game for free and that changes the dynamic. When he would stream video's about to be released content there is an embargo on things he can say and show. If you want an honest opinion of Dad Rail about the content of DTG the best thing is to leave him independent and use the like button or support him on Patreon.
So the upshot is the ambassador programme has little meaning because it destroys a person's neutrality? I see where you're coming from. Still, the critical eye is probably what is actually needed to give such a programme credibility.
Brand ambassadors are marketing tools. Why would a brand ambassador programme be useless just because they only spread a good image about a brand? That is what they are their for.
As far as I know (and that isn’t much). The ambassadors are still allowed to give their own opinion. It’s just that the 2 I’ve seen are nearly always positive about everything. If DTG tells them what to say, then in my opinion this totally devalues the point of it. The ambassador program does however give them advance copies and I’d like to see the opinion of someone such as Dad Rail instead of just people that play it as a game before I buy. If they have to sign something that limits what feedback they give, then I agree, it’s not so good and rather pointless. All this assumes Dad Rail would want to do it anyway.
Ambassador or not I hope Dad Rail continues to give honest reviews of TSW2 DLC as they are very informative, shame he’s not on PS4. Keep up the good work!!!
My honest opinion is that DTG will encourage the ambassadors to say if there is something they’re not happy with. They always say they are happy to receive all feedback after all. As to if the ambassadors feel pressure to not to give that feedback I’m not sure.