What puts you off a YouTube Channel?

pixelburp

I think the fact Sterling does do good thinkpiece work forgives his intentionally crude and confrontational manner; he sheds light on the seedier practise of the games industry, from AAA to Steam shovelware devs, but sometimes I do wonder if his style is holding him back, credibility wise. He's not an empty vessel like those streamers mentioned earlier, but he is an acquired taste all the same.

Penn

Sabre0001 wrote: »

What puts respondents here off is exactly how you get massive viewership.

The largest target audience for YouTube is teens (Boards' demographic, on the other hand, would be older). There's a reason why so many YouTubers have clickbait titles, eyecatching / clickbait thumbnails, commentate in similar ways, etc.; it works! I knew of one guy; had a decent YouTube base. Then decided he was going to do it properly for a year...and it worked. But he did exactly the kind of thing that so many people here find annoying (but so many of his target audience love) - prank videos, dares / challenges, etc.

A different style can most certainly work (you have to find your voice, style, USP, etc.), but the typical YouTuber persona is the low hanging fruit in a sense (even among them you need to have something to stand out in an increasingly crowded market).

Nail on the head imo. To get big viewer numbers at this stage given how saturated Youtube is with people doing similar you have to aim at the lowest common denominator (younger teens) and do all the stuff that would put most people here off viewing/subscribing.

To appeal to most people of an older age is a much larger and more difficult challenge because it's likely that older people have far less time to sit watching Youtubers and those minutes are already taken by people they already watch and know. And I'd say a lot of those Youtubers are ones who offer proper commentary and analysis of games, developers and the industry in general which requires a lot more behind the scenes research etc than just playing the game and talking while you do.

kunst nugget

pixelburp wrote: »

I think the fact Sterling does do good thinkpiece work forgives his intentionally crude and confrontational manner; he sheds light on the seedier practise of the games industry, from AAA to Steam shovelware devs, but sometimes I do wonder if his style is holding him back, credibility wise. He's not an empty vessel like those streamers mentioned earlier, but he is an acquired taste all the same.

I could listen to Sterling if he didn't have to do that fat angry gamer nerd schtick at the podium. Once the videos get past that they're usually interesting - it's just trying to get past that is the difficulty.

Mars Bar

I went to college with JackSepticEye. He had a small touch of that American twang before he was famous but it's definitely more pronounced now. He certainly wasn't that loud either. Delighted it has worked out for him.

ERG89

Sterling is an acquired taste but if he kept the camp stuff separately from the Jimquisition I'd be happier. Although this was very funny imo

Generic Dreadhead

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Anyone like Jim Sterling.

Yes. Can definitely see how he would annoy the f**king **** out of people now given how much his character has developed over time. But I like his integrity about a lot of stuff and how he puts shady stuff fully on-blast

Penn

Generic Dreadhead wrote: »

Yes. Can definitely see how he would annoy the f**king **** out of people now given how much his character has developed over time. But I like his integrity about a lot of stuff and how he puts shady stuff fully on-blast

Aye he's an acquired taste, but the bulk of his stuff is interesting, well-informed and usually very fair. Though I hate the constant in-jokes via random images and sounds that obviously mean something to those who've been watching him for a long time but just seem completely random and over-used when you don't know what it refers to.

mrkiscool2

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Anyone like Jim Sterling.

Delivering an interesting point but acting like a 13 year old who swallowed ten thesauruses.

I can understand this to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I love Jim fcuking Sterling Son but sometimes his intros for the Jimquistion do annoy me (although I do have a soft spot for the Cornflakes Humuculus. Yes, I know it is super childish but I chuckle everytime) as they are just really childish.

However, once you get into the meat of his videos it's usually pretty awesome and well informed. Although in some videos he just makes the same point over and over again but phrases it differently.

His first impression videos are quite good to be honest.

johnny_ultimate

I wish more YouTube channels - of which there's only a handful I actually watch regularly - spent less time on the 'consumer advocacy' angle, which IMO drags much of the conversation about gaming down to talking about 'products' rather than the content of the games themselves. There's a place for it, sure, but just not as much as there is. Especially when much of the actual game content is just casual banter over long, lightly edited stretches of gameplay.

More efforts along the likes of Game Maker's Toolkit - accessible but thorough & intelligent critical analyses of games themselves - would be welcome. Maybe they're lurking somewhere, but have found very few channels that offer anywhere near the depth of criticism found in the best games writing. I do think there's a limit to what you can do video-wise, true, but definitely a lot of unexplored potential for video essays and the like.