Totally unrelated to the stories and all, but just something I felt like saying. I probably sound really ticked off throughout most of this, and that's because the things I saw in these videos did irritate me. Part of it may be hormonally fueled rage, but I think anyone can admit that most of these need to be dealt with.
If you do a "Let's Play" of any video game, particularly a horror one, please follow these simple rules:
1. Post two versions-one with commentary and one without. It may be tricky to record, but a lot of people would rather simply see and hear the game itself, not you talking and commenting throughout. If they wanted to hear you screaming at the scary bits, they could watch reaction videos.
2. If you are doing a blind run, put a warning that you are doing so beforehand so watchers will know that there will be a lot of pointless wandering around to put up with. While some viewers don't mind, others hate this and will be driven up a wall by it.
3. That said, even when doing a blind run, don't pointlessly stand in corners talking or humming or whining, or stall by playing with rocks or whatever else is around that has no relevance to the plot, particularly while whimpering about how much you don't want to go into the next room or what have you. You knew what you were getting into when you started the game, grow a pair and PLAY THE DAMN GAME. No one is watching to listen to you bitch.
4. Running up to the monsters while yelling stupidly into your microphone only to whine about getting killed tends to piss people off. Stop it.
5. If there is a painfully obvious solution staring you in the face, USE IT. This is why it helps to play the game through at least once beforehand, so we don't have to watch you standing around slobbering on yourself and pointlessly throwing things at a door while we shake the screen and scream at you to use the frikken' crowbar IT'S RIGHT THERE YOU FOUND IT IN THE SAME GODDAMNED ROOM WHAT DO YOU THINK THOSE THINGS ARE FOR?!
6. Whining and bitching pisses people off. STOP IT.
7. Wasting time is annoying. Don't do it. Just get on with the dang game, as everyone watching wants you to do. If you want to wander around one room commenting on everything in there, don't record and post it, do that on your own. That's not what people watch playthroughs for.
8. You may think that the little backstory you made up for that skull or dead pig is hilarious as you stand in one tiny room for fifteen minutes just talking about this one object instead of moving forward or doing anything, but it's not. It's really not. Shut the hell up.
9. Try to avoid shaky-cam or tilting the viewscreen as much as possible. Also, if you know that standing in darkness or staring at a particular thing will cause the view to go all wonky and start going in and out, avoid doing it. It makes a lot of viewers sick and generally serves no purpose. Also, if you can't see anything or where you are going, neither can the viewer. Try to keep things visible.
10. If there is a note being read by a character in the game, or something being said, particularly if it could be important, shut up. Don't talk over it about 'woah flashback isn't that weird blah blah blah' or any of that nonsense, the viewers want to hear what's going on in the game. It is more important than whatever inane blather is passing through your frontal lobe at that moment.
So yeah, a few things in some let's play videos that really irritated me. I watch things without ANY commentary at all if possible, with just the sounds of the game (I saw one of Arkham Asylum that did this SPLENDIDLY.) so as to better immerse themselves in it and get a better look at what the game is like before buying it themselves or, if they can't buy or play it for whatever reason, simply to see what it's all about. There have been a few cases where the commentary wasn't bad, and only occasional, but one particular series just frinked me right off and I wanted to reach through the computer and pop the guy a few times. GAH.
I probably need chocolate right now.
You need chocolate. -Gives chocolate-
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest problem here is that there isn't a standard terminology difference between a blind playthrough and a walk through of a game. I, personally, would HATE a silent, robotic play through of a game. That would be BORING.
Maybe you should search for 'walkthrough' instead of 'let's play' in the future... and avoid pewdiepie... he's obviously not for you ;) He's exactly what I enjoy though (if a bit TOO extreme), but he's funny, and his derping around and being distracted is part of what he *does* (just like an art style) and results in him being all the more frightened when something DOES happen.
past that, rahter then address this point by point, I'll say that everyone wants something different out of their youtube experience... and every letsplayer is different... but they're all human and sometimes get scared, and don't always SEE the obvious solutions. and some people have different fear-coping mechanisms. One of my favorite players copes by laughing and talking to the furniture. It's just what he does. I watch his videos, I accept that. If I don't like it, find someone else who's played the game.
"7. Wasting time is annoying. Don't do it. Just get on with the dang game, as everyone watching wants you to do. If you want to wander around one room commenting on everything in there, don't record and post it, do that on your own. That's not what people watch playthroughs for."
Actually, that's not what YOU are watching this playthrough for. there's a big difference. <3
True, a lot of it is personal preference. Personally I prefer the ones without commentary, unless I'm just watching for something to laugh at, then the 'reaction' videos can be hilarious. Also, I was pretty irate when I wrote this.
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