Do you feel that bigger YouTubers are too greedy and egotistical?
Yea kinda. I really like PARTS of the Yogscast. I like when they are being completely self-aware about who they are, what they are doing, and how preposterous their entire situation is. I guess that's what Simon brings to the whole thing. Self-awareness. And with him sort of off and away being sick, the whole thing feels cheap and gross.
And I think that's where I get off the hype-train. It's when they are totally self-serious about screaming at videogames for a few hundred thousand dollars a year. When they can "partner" with developers to take a cut of sales when they are doing "marketing". Whether I like it or not, the Let's Player is here to stay.
There are a few good ones, the guys over at [Two Best Friends Play] have been completely sweet to me, and they seem like fans like any of us. I don't watch a lot of their stuff, but they are the nicest. Really!
I do however, think that YouTubers and Let's Players should respect a company like Nintendo's choice to not allow footage of their games to get out there and to be used to make money without Nintendo making a cut. The Let's Player cannot exist without the Game. You need to have footage of a game running in the background to even be on Twitch.tv in the first place. That footage/that game came from somewhere. The people who made the content that you are sitting on might deserve a little nod. Especially if your entire living is made off of playing Minecraft.
Now, you can argue the "transformative work" thing all day if you like. But, you should also note that the people who made Mystery Science Theater 3000 had to pay royalties in order to create a "transformative work". (provided a film wasn't in the public domain)
Games should be no different. The internet has been a Wild West where anything goes, so the precedent of non-policing, exploiting content you've not created and what one might call "entitlement" will be hard to undo.
And I think that's where I get off the hype-train. It's when they are totally self-serious about screaming at videogames for a few hundred thousand dollars a year. When they can "partner" with developers to take a cut of sales when they are doing "marketing". Whether I like it or not, the Let's Player is here to stay.
There are a few good ones, the guys over at [Two Best Friends Play] have been completely sweet to me, and they seem like fans like any of us. I don't watch a lot of their stuff, but they are the nicest. Really!
I do however, think that YouTubers and Let's Players should respect a company like Nintendo's choice to not allow footage of their games to get out there and to be used to make money without Nintendo making a cut. The Let's Player cannot exist without the Game. You need to have footage of a game running in the background to even be on Twitch.tv in the first place. That footage/that game came from somewhere. The people who made the content that you are sitting on might deserve a little nod. Especially if your entire living is made off of playing Minecraft.
Now, you can argue the "transformative work" thing all day if you like. But, you should also note that the people who made Mystery Science Theater 3000 had to pay royalties in order to create a "transformative work". (provided a film wasn't in the public domain)
Games should be no different. The internet has been a Wild West where anything goes, so the precedent of non-policing, exploiting content you've not created and what one might call "entitlement" will be hard to undo.
