Poll: The State Of Let's Play

[Awesomesauce123]

This is my first topic here on the Escapist Forums, so forgive me if it's silly or has been discussed here before.


So, I assume we all know what let's play is. If not, it's essentially a person/group of people playing a game while talking.

However, over the last couple years let's play has changed a bit.People are now making money off of games, and are now placing their faces over the game. Youtube channels that you wouldn't expect are now making let's play channels, like Smosh, AmazingAtheist, etc. Even game companies themselves are making Let's Plays.

So, what's your opinion on the state of let's play? Personally, I think it;s getting worse, and something needs to happen for it to get better.


If you want to hear what let's players from the earlier days think, episode 17 of the podcast Retsupurae has them discussing the future and current state of let's play.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I think there are so many different LPers out there these days that if you don't like one, you can easily find another to suit your tastes. That said, I do find the flavour of the month face cam fake screaming to be something I can certainly do without, and I'm glad that not all LPers have devolved to it. I just don't see any benefits to seeing the face of the person playing the game, especially if it's just to show faked reaction shots to things.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I feel bad when on the recommended videos on a popular video I see Let's Plays of people with views in the low hundreds or even double digits. There is a lot of that stuff on the internet at the moment, and not all of them interesting. They see people get popular doing them and assume anyone can do them.
The most offensive thing is the title. Let us play? That assumes we are playing too, not just watching someone else's gameplay while they talk!

 

[Goofguy]

It's certainly catching on like wild fire. Unless you have a personality and/or play style that sets you apart from the others, then you're just wasting your time. The only LP I watch is Rooster Teeth's Rage Quit. Sure, the guy overdoes it with the rage sometimes but at least it's a funny take on a increasingly boring subject.

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

IMO LPing is so popular now that there's bound to be somebody out there you can get into. Sure the excessive cam screaming can get annoying sometimes, but I don't think it's as big a deal as some people say it is.

 

[hazabaza1]

On youtube it's mostly awful. Myself included.
Thing is, people nowadays seem to enjoy bad demonstrations of skill and people being stupid, so if someone makes videos of them being decent/good and informative about games it's rare for them to get any kind of attention without having a pre-established guaranteed viewer base.
It's also creates this horrible cycle of "hey, Pewdiepie got popular by doing "X"! I'll do "X"!" And then that person gets popular and inspires someone else to do "X", over and over, so unless you go to SomethingAwful or somesuch not doing "X" is so discouraged that it's pointless to do otherwise.

 

[Weaver]

I really like LPs. They're great to watch when I need to relax. They're also a good way to 'experience' an old game without actually playing it.

I did LPs for a year, and it was a lot of fun. Then I quit for a year, and recently started doing them again.
Unfortunately, that hiatus basically killed the channel and no one watches my stuff anymore .
I think switching to youtube one channel was also a really bad idea.

edit: If anyone is interested, you can find my youtube channel in my profile if you'd like to watch my stuff. I'm older at 26, I don't facecam and I don't fake rage at the screen for a laugh. If you're looking for that kind of content feel free to take a look!

 

[GloatingSwine]

Let's Play of anything that isn't inherently randomised or quasi-random is always rubbish anyway.

I don't want to watch someone playing a game that's going to be fundamentally the same as if I play it myself, because then I could just play it myself.

A game which is random or quasi-random at least has the chance of producing an emergent story which will not be the same as anyone else's playthrough of that game.

 

[MajorTomServo]

I tend to find them boring, but their existence doesn't hurt me.

I dislike Retsupurae though. It's not even remotely funny or entertaining. It's just "Wow, this guy sucks. Wow, really? Died on level one? This guy sucks." Just seems kind of mean spirited. But hey, the internet is an unnecessary meanness-based economy... Also, full disclosure, I've only seen one full episode and clips here and there.

 

[Phlakes]

I'm definitely coming from a heavily biased hipster mindset here but I prefer when LPs were regular people sharing games rather than this super-commercialized mainstream (sorry for using that word but it's appropriate) entertainment phase. I still stand by my opinion that NCS is one of the best, for the sole reason that he acts like a human being rather than a screaming manchild or a TV personality.

 

[Easton Dark]

Of the 5 channels I'm subscribed to, 3 of them are dedicated to Lets plays, so I think the ones I'm a fan of are pretty good. There is a lot of trash and copying out there, and god damn if I go read the comments and there isn't 5 people on the first page of a popular video saying "I do lets play (minecraft, black ops), please subscribe, I'll subscribe back" and I just think how sad that is that they want to be popular starting out with the most overdone things on youtube ever.

 

[joshuaayt]

I enjoy watching a good few Let's Plays at the moment- as far as content goes, I have no problems with the state of things.

What pisses me off is the culture- That Slowbeef is a god, and to LP poorly is to dishonor His name. Retsupurae is pretty much the worst thing ever.

 

[Best of the 3]

I think Lets playing is good. There are so many out there that there are going to be some I can get into, even if they're not the massively popular ones. Currently I'm watching Unit Lost's lets plays of Civ 5 and FTL. Top British stuff.

 

[SnowyGamester]

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand there are more great let's players than ever before that provide buttloads of free entertainment. On the other hand there is a higher proportion of bad ones than ever. It's just a process of weeding out the crap and finding stuff that appeals to you.

it's mostly awful. Myself included.

I know that feel, bro.

 

[jelock]

It can be good if you find someone you like. Ive been watching heaps of Nerd3 on youtube lately. A British guy who mixes up known and obscure stuff. (London Underground Simulator anyone...???) Quite funny

 

[BushMonstar]

While I'm not really a fan of the screaming man child let's plays, I am a fan of the more laid back, casual, actual walkthrough lets players. People like Chuggaaconroy, NCS, JoshJepson. Speaking of JoshJepson, while I do love the guy's videos, it's people like him who really paved the way for the screaming kids of today. Partnerships for lets play channels were really rare a while back, and somehow he managed to get one, showing that it was possible, thus kind of starting the whole "Let's Play for money and fame" thing.

 

[Shpongled]

It's not getting worse, it's just getting bigger. There are still plenty of decent LP'ers out there.

Honestly OP doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. If 5 years ago there were 100 LP'ers and 90 of them were good, and now there's 1000 LP'ers, chances are at least 1 of those extra 900 people are also good, even if the majority are crap, thus the total amount of good LP'ers has increased. Sure the ratio of good LP'ers/bad LP'ers might have decreased, but who the fuck gives a shit about ratios if the overall amount of good LP'ers is rising anyway. It's not like all the bad LP'ers are taking up all the space on the internet so the good LP'ers can't get in anymore.

 

[Broderick]

I am subscribed to quite a few lets players, and I think based on what I have seen, that it is not getting better or worse, just bigger. People are just seeing Sturgeon's Law in action here I think. There are lots of crap lets plays, but many good ones as well. Mangaminx, Halloween, Cry, Paulsoarsjr, Etho, all great lets players(in my opinion at least). So yeah...sturgeon's law; the larger popularity has made the crap more easily seen.

 

[triggrhappy94]

They're fun to make and anyone can do it for basically the price of the game.
I don't think you should worry.
There's so many people doing it that there's no way to make a definite statement about the medium. For every face-cam one, there's a non-face-cam one; for every silent walkthrough, there's a loud scream-y one; for every annoying one, there's a funny one.
And so what if some people get some money off it. They can only really make money off advertising, it's not like it's a big corrupting influence.