Are Youtube Let's Players Destroying The Hard Work Ethic

[Maxximus 353]

Got the idea for this from watching a well known youtube let's player's stream.

 

Not only is he streaming on youtube and twitch and making money from views but is also accepting donations. In the time I've watched(less than an hour) he's made over $400 from donations alone for sitting in front of a screen and failing to get past the first two levels of Super Mario World. On top of the donations he's partnered with both youtube and twitch so, like I said, he's making money from those views. Not only that but he'll upload the stream to youtube once it's done and make even more money from those views.

 

All he's doing is sitting there and failing at a video game and he probably makes more money in a month than I will all year.

 

Has this fad destroyed the hard work ethic that out parents and grandparents had? A lot of children watch these youtubers and look at them as celebrities and role models. Is this acceptable? Would you let your children emulate these people?

[Guest fattyfudge]

In my opinion, as long as their YouTube content is not literally their twitch broadcasts just edited into small chunks then it is acceptable.

 

I think that producing gaming content for YouTube is hard work on its own, constantly having to stay relevant and keep making these videos, but when YouTubers stream once a week, and then use 10 min segments of that stream as a replacement for making original content for YouTube, then I think its a bit of a cash grab.

 

Someone I know that does this is Maximillian, a popular fighting game YouTuber who I am a pretty decent fan of... he streams a lot, and is sponsored by elgato, so he'll be making money off of three things for essentially one piece of content. But the reason I am still a fan is that he commits to making other content as well. He could quite easily sit back and just grab everyones money, but he makes extra separate videos for YouTube and only uploads about 50% of the streams he does as content on YouTube, as he plays a tonne of different games. I believe he actually enjoys the interaction with the fans and he hasn't compromised on either twitch or YouTube content, because he streams daily which is, in fairness, time consuming.

 

However, I could be wrong as I don't know his real motives, but putting ethics aside, he's a solid YouTuber that hasn't compromised on any content and still uploads a few videos daily like he used to do, along with his extra streams.. if he's making extra money or not doesn't really concern me, just as long as he keeps the content flowing

Edited June 3, 2014 by fattyfudge

[ShaolinHandLock 73]

As a big fan of Let's Plays, I see nothing wrong with it. I'll leave it at that.

[DC 536]

All he's doing is sitting there and failing at a video game and he probably makes more money in a month than I will all year.

Fair play to him, I say.

 

If he's found a way to make a lot of money (legally) for playing video games and letting people watch him play video games (as well as the uploading work, etc), then more power to him and his ilk.

[Omega 354]

I think I see the real point Maxx is making, which isn't about whether Let's Play is right or wrong in itself. To be honest at least this guy is doing something that people must find entertaining. Think about something as worthless as Fred and how much that guy makes now he's disney or whatever.

 

It's a little cheap if someone uses twitch and then simply uploads a whole session of the same content straight away but then again is that any different than a replay on TV? I don't get why anyone would donate to a youtuber though, that's just kind of bizzare. Unless it's for a specific project that requires additional funding like a feature length episode or something with a professional edge to it.

 

In terms of "the youth", I think they;ve already been corrupted by the lure of fame before they get to wanting to be youtube famous which is like the 99c store version of famous really. They want to be a Kardasian or real housewife or whatever and just be famous and rich for being famous and rich. Famous is literally a career, not for anything just the simple fact of being well known is a job.

[dsrchris 190]

It all depends on how entertaining the videos are. For example, Rooster Teeth put a buttload of work into their videos, and that's just one small facet of a wider company doing all kinds of good stuff. My problem is with the people who think they can get away with making poorly produced videos that are boring as hell.

[Maxximus 353]

It's not a question of right or wrong at all, so, Megz, you're totally on to the point I was trying to make. I watch quite a few let's payers; well known, others no so much. The point of the question is, how does this affect the younger generation? A majority of the views of these videos are between 12-18. They're growing up watching these people. What I want to know is, with this popularity and people making legit livings off of playing video games, is that damaging or removing any sort of hard work ethic, not whether being a youtube let's player is right or wrong.

 

There were people literally donating 50$ a pop and like 5 or 6 of 'em at a time. This guy made BANK just off of donations for playing 2 levels, over and over, of a 20+ year old video game.

[dsrchris 190]

The hard work ethic is already long gone. Folks think they don't need to pay attention at school because they're gonna be on X-Factor and be a HUGE pop star. Or they're gonna marry a footballer and never want for anything again.

 

Parents encourage it too. Look at the episodes of Pop Idol where some kid comes out and is absolutely awful, but their parent has always told them how amazing and how much of a precious little sunbeam they are.

 

I'm all for building your kid's confidence, but sometimes you've got to be a realist and tell them that they're not good at something. Criticism can be a healthy thing. It's the same kind of thing as how kids get medals at sports day now for just competing, you don't even have to win to get a "reward". What kind of example is that to set? And they wonder why kids grow up feeling like their entitled to something and don't have to work for it anymore.

[Guest Anime Otaku]

I follow a bunch of World of Tanks players on YouTube and on Twitch and going by comments made by one guy it's actually quite involved and time consuming stuff.

The guy Maxx is talking about, if his content is always like that, will most likely lose his audience but someone like WOT player Quickybaby who are actually really good at their chosen games spend 6 to 8 hours 2 or 3 times a week livestreaming, plus they have to power through bad runs of matches rather than just give up because they are running the livestream. If they also post on YouTube each 20 minute video can be the equivalent to a full working day by the time they get gameplay worth posting, edit it and add a commentary to it, and several of them put out new content on a daily basis too.

[etz 78]

It's the modern equivalent of early film, people pratting about with new technology trying to find a way to turn it into a commodity. Nothing bad about it per se, but I wouldn't be donating either.

[DC 536]

This article about Phil Fish's comments about why developers of the games being shown in the "Let's Play" style on YouTube should get a cut of the ad revenue income received by the uploading party might be of interest.

[Omega 354]

Now, I tried to put up a monetized Dayz video and yuotube asked if I had got consent from Bohemia to make money from gameplay footage. So this article seems to be missing that if someone doesn't want someone to make money off of gameplay footage they can simply get Youtube to take down the videos.

 

Plus that article points out that all those youtubers are advertising your game for free. If a guy with a million subs plays your game and enthuses about it a decent portion of that audience is going buy the game as well.

[ViciousPrism 177]

Eh, Youtube monetization is hit and miss when it comes to gaming. I've got a ton monetized (I get jack shit because I'm not drawing PewDiePie numbers) and then sometimes it'll flag others as "check for permission" or whatever.

[Omega 354]

Then it's youtube itself that's the issue not the lets players really and dev's should complain about that rather than trying to kill lets players themselves.

[ViciousPrism 177]

Pretty much. Youtube have an inbuilt content check system, where some items get flagged super quick for holding content that is held by certain parties (I have a MGS 2 video that got flagged for containing video content from the game, so it hit really accurately and thus I couldn't monetize it), others took months and those were only for music bits (Thanks Kanye) and some just not at all.

 

There was a massive spread of takedown notices and whatever last year I believe when Youtube updated their system with Nintendo stuff and Lets Players were pissed. I would have been pissed too, not so much on a money standpoint, but because it's legit original content in the form of an extended review or some such stuff. It's not like I'm playing a game and uploading my playthrough without context or additional content. Anyway, Nintendo now have a partnership system so if Lets Players want to continue monetizing Nintendo content in Lets Play videos, Uncle Mario must get a cut.

 

If devs want more money out of these videos, they can pretty much just register their content with Youtube and upon getting flagged, any ads that run concurrently with videos with their content, they get the money or as I understand it anyway.

 

Where Phil Fish is coming from is straight outright douchebaggery, because Phil Fish is in fact a douchebag. Straight up fact.

 

Phil is the type of dude who when getting criticized (or outright blasted) on Twitter, urged one of his detractors to (and I quote) "compare [his] life to mine and then kill yourself". Yep. Phil also burned all his bridges with a ton of people because in during an argument with a games journo he announced that the sequel to his game Fez was cancelled and that he was leaving the gaming industry. Philippe can go f*ck himself, but I doubt he'd read my comment on a random wrestling forum. :lol

Edited June 22, 2014 by ViciousPrism