Jimquisition: The Rise of YouTube Fodder

[AdagioBoognish]

why not instead of constantly complaining about bad games you use your "internet celebrity" status to promote good games that deserve our attention

here I'll start

TOME the best "pure" roguelike ever made, super polished interface, works across every platform HUNDREDS of hours of truly interesting gameplay

http://store.steampowered.com/app/259680

but the developer is so honest he lets you download the WHOLE GAME for free from his website so you can try it as long as you would like

support this guy and not corporate publishers

I agree with you to some extent, but the nature of this show leans more towards pointing out the negative things currently happening. I love when people like you recommend games though. I've found a few games I love through the comments here that I never would have discovered otherwise. I'll have to give Tome a shot soon.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

errrm jim, i think you are wrong on this one, some of these games might simply try to be stupid in an entertaining way, i can for instance see some of the appeal of a game like goat simulator, its something similar to a toybox sandbox, like gmod, it has no story, no premise, its just there for you to fuck up

plus we would be seeing more negative user reviews for these games in the store page

http://store.steampowered.com/app/265930/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

http://store.steampowered.com/app/233720/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

hell just looking at the metascore surgeon simulator has scored higher than most dynasty warrior games, a franchise i know you like

people like different kind of games, and if they find enjoyment in them, let em be, not everything is a get rich quick scene

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

why not instead of constantly complaining about bad games you use your "internet celebrity" status to promote good games that deserve our attention

here I'll start

TOME the best "pure" roguelike ever made, super polished interface, works across every platform HUNDREDS of hours of truly interesting gameplay

http://store.steampowered.com/app/259680

but the developer is so honest he lets you download the WHOLE GAME for free from his website so you can try it as long as you would like

support this guy and not corporate publishers

thats another thing

i like how jim is all critical and shit, but if you want to help the good small independent devs, shaming the terrible devs is sometimes not the right way to go

i dunno, just saying, not all the time, just sometimes

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I love the term "Pewdiebait" there.

I didn't realize until now that when a horror game gets screamed at by literally anyone with a facecam, you -know- it's fake. Amnesia The Dark Descent isn't SO scary that no one on the Internet can go through it without smashing the ESC key every 5 steps.

 

[Dradeeus]

Eeeeh. >__> I love the Jimquisition (like, a ton), but this episode..
Look, if it's just a personal pet peeve of yours that you wanted to talk about, that's all cool.
But. Given that:

A) As you say, they are already not being hugely rewarded financially for this type of marketing choice.
and B) If they're the type of companies that make commercials that completely bank off the screams of youtubers- they probably wouldn't be making creative, innovative games otherwise.

..this type of criticism seems a little unsubstantial, in my opinion. Just game developers, youtube viewers, and youtube hosts doing their own little thing that you're not that into.
I do get that the greater point might be that you are worried about the trend or general mentality, the slope it might one day lead to, but I don't think it's quite to that point yet, where this will take off as anything but a niche, because again, it's apparently not working too well financially.

And I agree that commercials showing youtubers screaming is kinda lame.

 

[MooseHowl]

Thank god for Jim!

Really, a lot of these low-budget games festering on Steam are just moronic. Hey there, indie devs who are also apparently flailing chimps with a keyboard: sorry to tell you this, but your dreadful game is dreadful, and deserves to fail in obscurity. It isn't satirical, or even slightly clever. That ship sailed many years ago, when mildly better shovelware did it at a more apropos time.

So many face-cams seem wholly superfluous, quite honestly. They don't really contribute anything if the video they're attached to is bland and uninteresting.

I'm not feeling as harsh against them or their Youtube channels as I am about the stupid games, though; Youtube is mostly for entertainment, and performing basic, rote imitation of more popular people is a time-tested method of becoming genuinely entertaining. Sometimes it even works.

At least those content creators think they have talent, or might have talent some time in the future. Good! Seeking self-improvement is always admirable! But these shovelware devs are basically saying, "Look at how our game sucks, and how much we suck too! Buy our game! Or don't, because it sucks!" That's not exaggeration, by the way; that's the product description for several pieces of junk floating around Steam. Goat simulator, by comparison, is practically the cream of the crop.

Pewdiepie, Markiplier, the Yogscast... they all know what they're doing with a face cam, at least (though half the yogscast look stoned out of their gourds 2/3rds of the time; I'm looking at you, Duncan and Lewis, because FACE CAM).

I do think a face-cam can add something to a video, though. It just doesn't make for good entertainment all on its own.

The face itself needs to be attached to someone interesting.

 

[daxterx2005]

"Have a good E3"

Jim, you're asking for the impossible...

 

[fractured_sanity]

Totally off topic, but did you lose weight Jim?

That's funny, I was just about to ask the same thing.

 

[GabeZhul]

Honestly, when I first heard the term YouTube Fodder, I thought Jim would make a video about how the recent changes in YouTube advertisement and content-pairing policies are very much in favor of short, "guys-talk-into-a-webcam" style, zero-budget channels that can churn out videos at an alarming rate and leaving any content creator that actually puts out a proper show in the dust when it comes to promotions and thus view-counts, which results in low-quality trash (aka. fodder) taking views away from actually worthwhile shows through over-saturation.

In fact, taken that the video started with Jim casually talking to his cam instead of doing the usual show, I was pretty sure of my interpretation right until the game footage started rolling...

 

[lord.jeff]

My easy solution is to not watch Youtube "celebrities."

Most are insufferable enough as it is.

Also why are you derisive of the Putt Putt games? Putt Putt is amazing.

I especially wish the people who complained about Pewdiepie would just stop. About the only time I hear about a lot of these things is when people complain about them. I don't know, has anyone here ever actually heard someone say something positive about PDP? Maybe it's just me.

Because there IS nothing positive to say. God only knows how people can listen to that dreck.

I have to agree with Zachary Amaranth the constant "I hate Pewdiepie" is way worse then Pewdiepie himself because at least I can avoid Pewdiepie easily like everyone should be doing if they hate him.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Then don't browse games on Steam.

Slow clap.

Walking into a bookstore and trying to find good books solely by their cover, is also a pain in the ass.

Book stores are organized. So are video game retail stores for that matter. The shovelware trash is in the bin at the back of the store, not in the window displays.

Wow, I know gamers are a generally challenged species and defend absolutely everything but this is a new low.

Even the worst shovelware trash in the back of the bookstore still had to go through numerous quality control measures before it was allowed in the store.

The book is guaranteed to not have half the pages blank, or burst into flames when you try to read it.

 

[RicoADF]

why not instead of constantly complaining about bad games you use your "internet celebrity" status to promote good games that deserve our attention

here I'll start

TOME the best "pure" roguelike ever made, super polished interface, works across every platform HUNDREDS of hours of truly interesting gameplay

http://store.steampowered.com/app/259680

but the developer is so honest he lets you download the WHOLE GAME for free from his website so you can try it as long as you would like

support this guy and not corporate publishers

Thanks for letting me know about this game, will check it out!

OT: Yeah I agree with Rembrand above, Jim it's good you point out the bad ones but pointing out some lesser known good ones would be nice to see as well, positivity to go with the negative

 

[Rozalia1]

Well Jim stated quite a few reasons why I don't like the survival horror genre in its current state (I'd rather it be dead than this travesty).
Glad I'm not the only one who has a problem with all the trash.

 

[QuicklyAcross]

Right, but why I cover them *confidently* is because of what I said. Like I said.

Because all they do is take up space? Because informing the consumer is not the job of the reviewer, right?

I...what...i dont...
Do explain because that might have been the most contradictory thing ive heard today

Being a reviewer and not informing the costumer about the game you're reviewing...whaaa?

 

[Something Amyss]

Don't think of Steam as Amazon, think of them as YouTube.

You made the bookstore comparison, not me.

Because there IS nothing positive to say. God only knows how people can listen to that dreck.

Still, it's baffling to think anyone could have as many viewers as him and nobody seems to like it. Limbaugh, Bieber, Howard Stern, John Cena....People hate them, but you'll see defenders.

Every gamer I know personally uses a web browser to peruse news sites or youtube for that purpose.

I don't know anyone personally who's ever been to Idaho. Doesn't mean people don't want to go to Idaho for...Whatever reason. Doesn't mean people don't go to Idaho. Doesn't mean that Idaho shouldn't have some operating road system.

 

[RealRT]

Yahtzee the father, TotalBiscuit the Son, Jim the Holy Ghost - the Holy Trinity of British Game Reviews

 

[loc978]

Every gamer I know personally uses a web browser to peruse news sites or youtube for that purpose.

I don't know anyone personally who's ever been to Idaho. Doesn't mean people don't want to go to Idaho for...Whatever reason. Doesn't mean people don't go to Idaho. Doesn't mean that Idaho shouldn't have some operating road system.

Not an apt comparison. The same information (plus some) is available all over the internet. You're not asking for Idaho to have a working road system, you're asking for it to organize its public records to your liking. Unless you think Idaho's roads are somehow traversable in Montana.

In any case, I've already admitted defeat here. I just don't understand people.

... the storefront is shitty because it's an advertising method. Advertising methods are there to lie to you, been that way since Edward Bernays revolutionized it all for the worse, long before any of us were born.

In any case, I'll admit this is just me not understanding people who don't immediately dismiss all attempts to sell them something. I've been like that since I was a kid. This is probably one of those things that does need changing, I'm just confused by the existence of that need.

 

[Abnaxis]

You made the bookstore comparison, not me.

Eh, no, that was someone else, who made the initial metaphor on this thread. A metaphor which you were all to happy to engage with before.

My point is, Steam isn't built to be a store, it's built to be a hosting service. They aren't Barnes and Noble, they're the landlord leasing the Barnes and Noble building. As long as the rent is paid, they get their money. And, since they have essentially limitless real-estate, it makes sense for them to grant title to anyone who's willing pay their 20% tariff to the Duke of Newell.

We think of Steam as a store, because they take our money and give us a server to download content from. However, the developer/publisher is the one that really providing us with what we are interested in, and Valve is only there to make the devs' jobs easier.

 

[LeQuack_Is_Back]

OY! Do not put this crap in the same category as the putt-putt games! Those are playable! And maybe fun, at least when I played them years ago.