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[Tuba]

So, what you guys think about those?

On one hand, it's great that people now have can really watch a gameplay video and that helps them to decide if the game is worth purchasing or not. It's also a great tool for research and keeping our "History" alive, nowadays if I need to look up a specific part of game for research or reference or whatever, I can just look it up on Youtube, it's great.

But on the other hand, it worries me that some people might be consuming games "the wrong way". Games are meant to be played and not watched and by just watching it you may ruin some great experiences. Stuff like Heavy Rain or the Telltale games or games with big twists like Undertale and Spec Ops: The Line can be ruined by watching it being played IMO. But at the same time, a lot of games today get popular thanks to youtubers so... I'm confused. A lot of people are now doing games only to pander to youtubers and that bothers me a little.

Not sure how I would feel if I made a game full of secrets and narrative heavy stuff and know that a lot people just watched it on youtube instead of playing it.

[Schoq]

I don't see why you're making this a dichotomy

[s0]

first of all, i think uncommented gameplay footage is great. quickest and most comprehensive way to check out a game without going through the hassle of downloading a demo or some shit. ive bought quite a few games based on youtube footage and can't remember ever disliking a game that looked good to me on yt.

i can't stand 99% of "gaming youtubers". either way, youtube meme games are annoying but i feel like they're on the decline anyway and there are worse problems in the world (and in videogames) than goat simulator or that game where ur a badly rendered baby.

with regards to narrative games: sure people can spoil things for themselves, but people can also spoil books for themselves by reading them out of order, or even films unless they're watching them at the cinema. that's on the people doing the spoiling. i should say i don't consider spoilers and the like a big deal and i don't put that much importance on intended order in general.

the more interesting question imo is how much youtube actually cuts into the revenue of linear narrative games. i know it's difficult to get solid data on that, but it would be interesting.

[Schoq]

tbh if it makes more games hinge less on pure spoilable plot reveals and more on actually being engaging (more fun to play than watch) that's a good thing

[s0]

i have this personal rule that if a game/book/film/series is ruined by spoilers, it probably wasn't worth engaging with in the first place, but that's beside the point.

[Tuba]

I don't see why you're making this a dichotomy

Ok... maybe I am being a little too dramatic. 

i have this personal rule that if a game/book/film/series is ruined by spoilers, it probably wasn't worth engaging with in the first place, but that's beside the point.

That's an interesting way to look at it. I guess we could argue that if something relies too much on a single element of surprise, that's bad writing. But I really enjoy games with a clever twist and better yet, games that make that clever twist using gameplay elements. Undertale is a weird case of a game that IMO doesn't work as well if you know whats coming but at the same time got popular thanks to gameplay videos. Even weirder is the fact that most youtubers seem to recognize that and in a lot of Undertale videos that I've saw there's a warning at the beginning telling people to play the game first.

[ThemsAllTook]

I'm a let's player. I make sure to link the game's purchase/download page in every video I put up, and encourage viewers to buy/play for themselves. If a game is too linear or story-driven, or doesn't give a different enough experience to each player, I'll sometimes steer away from it. It is a tricky balance to strike between showing everything for completeness and preservation, and showing just enough to get people to want to play after watching... There have been a couple of times at the beginning of a series where I'll encourage people to play instead of watching, and only come back once they've experienced the game firsthand. I'm not sure if anyone does it, but I do make an effort.

On the other end of things, as a viewer, I've occasionally bought a game after watching an LP even though I didn't intend to play it. Since I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching it played, I wanted to give the developer some support. I think it's important both as a viewer and as an LPer to be mindful of these things.

There are certainly a lot of different niches being filled in different ways. I try to focus on lesser-known games that I want to give some extra exposure, though I'll occasionally play something more popular to try to bring in new viewers. It's worked pretty well so far - I have a relatively small but dedicated (and growing) following who mostly comes for my personality and unique take on things, and I get to show them things that I think deserve more attention.

A lot of YouTubers are just in it for popularity at any cost... These are the ones you see playing bottom-of-the-barrel YouTube bait, screaming and memeing, and being generally obnoxious in order to appeal to the large teenage demographic. Only a scant few of these are successful, but a whole lot of people try to ride their coattails and get some of the same fame. It's an unfortunate dynamic, and these sorts of channels dominate YouTube's video recommendations, so it takes some extra effort to find the calmer, more mature LPers.

[Superb Joe]

THE JOKER: I think you and I are destined to do this forever

BAT MAN: [shaking with rage] Hey guys welcome to part 7 of Let's Play Final Fantasy 3, which was known as Final Fantasy 6 in Japan

[Superb Joe]

100% of people who play computer games on youtube for a living should be put to the sword. that is what i believe.

[NoLocality]

I think LP videos are pretty useful to devs and consumers alike.

...i think uncommented gameplay footage is great. quickest and most comprehensive way to check out a game without going through the hassle of downloading a demo or some shit.

This.


As for devs I've seen sales/visibility boosts consistently from a LOT of games when covered by LPers, so much so that it was newsworthy on the only occasion the covered game didn't get boosts in sales.  Unless the playing field shifts in some drastic unforeseen way you're damn right I'm gonna be shooting out emails w' free copies of my freshly released game pandering for someone to do a LP.

Once upon a time people had to pay for advertising...I really dig the idea of not having to shell out to get eyes on your game.  It's a symbiotic, mutually beneficial thing it seems.

I would imagine there are games that a LP could 'ruin' for the audience but I can't imagine this is going to be a frequent case to be honest.

100% of people who play computer games on youtube for a living should be put to the sword. that is what i believe.

Not all at once though, we need to ease the kids off slowly or else they'll be eating books and staring into the sun on day one.  Some minds aren't ready for the grand revelation that memes aren't a naturally occurring phenomena.

[readyplaygames]

I think that the only way that a "Let's Play" could hurt a game would be for a story-heavy one. Although I have been turned onto games that I otherwise wouldn't have looked at because of let's plays.

[Superb Joe]

[Torchkas]

more let's plays should be like this

also 90% of the time people watch let's plays for the person playing not for the game

[Schoq]

my contribution:

[ProgramGamer]

more let's plays should be like this

also 90% of the time people watch let's plays for the person playing not for the game

Northernlion

[s0]

Hey to be fair, goat simulator is kind of fun until you realize that it actually sucks ass and start hating yourself for wasting time and money on it (which is after about 5 minutes of playing).

[JWK5]

Hey to be fair, goat simulator is kind of fun until you realize that it actually sucks ass and start hating yourself for wasting time and money on it (which is after about 5 minutes of playing).

That was my reaction, but my kids were playing it for days.

My first thought was to think that they have poor standards when it comes to video games and entertainment but then I had that horrible revelation that I am just getting old. Some of the shit I played and enjoyed on the NES as a kid makes Goat Simulator seem like a masterpiece.

[J-Snake]

My first thought was to think that they have poor standards when it comes to video games and entertainment but then I had that horrible revelation that I am just getting old. Some of the shit I played and enjoyed on the NES as a kid makes Goat Simulator seem like a masterpiece.

That only says that you had poor standards yourself, as a kid. It isn't that surprising. You have an excuse though, back then you didn't have much choice:P

[JWK5]

My first thought was to think that they have poor standards when it comes to video games and entertainment but then I had that horrible revelation that I am just getting old. Some of the shit I played and enjoyed on the NES as a kid makes Goat Simulator seem like a masterpiece.

That only says that you had poor standards yourself, as a kid. It isn't that surprising. You have an excuse though, back then you didn't have much choice:P

Sometimes I wonder if it is a matter of standards or a matter of imagination. When I played goat simulator it was amusing for all of 5 minutes and then I was pissed that I paid for the damn game. They played it for hours and some of the elaborate shit they were doing never even crossed my mind let alone seemed as amusing as they found it. The problem is I saw the game for what it was and I didn't like it, but they had their own games within the game and that is what they found so entertaining. To them, it was like a box of Legos, to me it was just a bad game.

I am finding that is what age does to you. Not your actual age number, but the passing of time and growing of experience. You see things more analytically and with a more strict understanding of what things are due to how much knowledge you've accumulated, where as a child has less knowledge but sees more possibilities and opportunities (and is often more likely to seize upon them).

There are many adults who're able to hold on to the magic of possibility and play, unfortunately I kind of got hit with grim side of reality early on in life so that magic is limited to drawing and video games at the moment, and even then (as stated above) I don't hold a candle to the kind of imaginings my kids can pull off. They're happy with just about anything you give them because they can easily weave it into something else. Some game, some idea, some amusement. I'd gladly give up my 'standards' for that.



tl;dr: Sometimes having standards sucks.



EDIT:
In regards to the actual topic, my kids and their cousins watch a lot of these "Let's Play" gamers, especially the MineCraft ones and that Dan TDM or whatever where he just overreacts to every mundane thing happening in the game. I don't quite know why they watch them but there is definitely a subculture developing there, I mean while at WalMart I spotted a Dan TDM MineCraft shirt. I asked them why they would want to watch someone playing a game rather than play it themselves (you'd think that'd spoil it for them) especially when we own a lot of the games they are playing, they just shrugged and said they didn't know.

I realized they aren't watching for the game, they are watching for the player. This is just the next big fad, and like some geezer bitching about how boy bands are ruining music and "x" isn't a real "y" because "back in my day" blah blah blah I am just completely out of the loop.

So that's my guess, these "gameplay" videos are often less about the games and more about pseudo-celebrity.

[J-Snake]

You see things more analytically and with a more strict understanding of what things are due to how much knowledge you've accumulated, where as a child has less knowledge but sees more possibilities and opportunities (and is often more likely to seize upon them).

You don't really see things more analytically if a child sees more possibilities.

Being analytical and creative is not something mutually exclusive, how else could I create Trap Them;)

As for the kids, they are just motivated to toy around until they find ever more "retarded stunts". It doesn't imply they understand/learn the abstractions behind all that mechanical happening, may be to a basic intuitive level but not beyond that.