There are some quality videos out there. There’s also some crap. Almost a year ago, after seeing BvS: DoJ, more than ever I felt duty-bound to fire up our own YouTube channel and give a play-by-play bullet-point rant about everything wrong with that comic-cinema-cultural garbage fire. Since then quite a few people have pretty much covered all the bases, but it’s too late to turn back now. Nearly Infinite YouTube is happening.
So I’ve done some “research” (aka, spent a shameful amount of time watching YouTube), and come to some realizations about what works and what doesn’t.
Most Tabletop RPG YouTubers are firmly set on the D&D 5th Ed. Fine. I hear it’s pretty good. But when I look for Pathfinder related videos, especially on the specific search results I look for, I always get This One Guy. I understand it’s unwise to start a YouTube rivalry with a prominent channel or personality before you have a steady viewer base, or even before you’ve posted a single video, for the fear of alienating your potential audience. But This One Guy…
I can’t watch his videos. I want to – they are supposedly exactly the topic I want to see and hear about – but he Is Doing It Wrong.
Firstly, his voice. It’s this soft, whispery, ASMR shit. I have to crank my volume to articulate what he’s saying, and it still sets my nerves on edge. It’s the opposite of the Radio Voice that grabs your attention, or the various excited inflections that you may have noticed on the more popular channels. When you present this stuff, you can’t just Talk, and for God’s Sake please don’t whisper like you’re pacifying a child to sleep. I know some people just love that ASMR shit, it’s a whole thing, but for whatever reason I can’t stand it. Just today, after months of a hiatus, one of his videos came up with my search querry and I was at first, “Ok let’s try this,” but after 10 seconds it was a resounding “NOPE.”
Secondly, video length. Every video I gravitate toward are these meaty chunks of about 5 minutes, 8-10 if I know the content is going to be great or I don’t have anywhere to be. But that’s pretty much it.
This jackass can’t help but blabber on for 24+ minutes about the simplest of conceptual videos, and that’s on the short side. His “Intro to Pathfinder,” My God. These are how I found him while I wanted to introduce my lady friend to game. He also uses his lady friend as a vehicle for these introductory videos. EACH ONE IS TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG, AND THERE ARE NO LESS SIX OF THEM. I think there may be as many as eight. One entire feature-film length whisper-fest is JUST ABOUT ATTRIBUTES.
So, yeah folks, brevity. Somehow this guy has enough views that his videos jump to the top of the search hit list. Maybe because he’s the only one out there? There’s not a lot of others, and those other guys also spend waaay too much time on simple concepts, and they make other amateur mistakes.
Single Takes with no edits. Dumb. The reason why quality content YouTubers usually post 3-5 minute videos; they know how to edit.
- Making a good video takes a lot of time in Post-Production
- Attention spans are short
- If they post a 10 minute vid, you can guarantee it’s good, because they are already practiced at pacing and pairing down their content to pure distilled goodness.
- Script your shit, or at least have an outline.
- If you go off script, and it’s not great, edit it out.
- Dead Air/Mumbling/ page turning/meandering FUCK YOU SRSLY.
This is a big deal. Yeah, I’m all for Long-ish episodes of game sessions, but I’m thinking an editted-down-to-an-hour version of a 4-6 hour session. And even then, our staples should be 3-5 minute videos. Something easily digestible. Something that will fit into the 4-6 videos people will jam into their coffee-and/or-breakfast moments before work. Because even if I’ve got an hour and a half before I need to head out the door, I’m not committing half an hour of my time to one scruffy nerfherder who may not inform or entertain me at all. I’m offended by the very concept. You sir have stolen my precious time, WHICH I WILL NEVER GET BACK. And now I need to go to work disappointed, or even angry.
Besides, it’s far more tempting to click on a 4 minute video, even if it might suck, because once it is over you can bounce to another. It’s just internet logic.
