Poll: Totalbiscuit

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I like his videos a lot.

However after the Bioshock Infinite video, he has been proclaiming himself a critic, which is an odd direction to take, as his channel's banner still says "gaming commentator".

And the usual arrogance problems coupled with the fact that he isn't all that cynical.

If I want to see a game torn to shreds, I go to Yahtzee.

 

[Agayek]

I tend to enjoy his WTF is... videos, but I haven't watched much of his other stuff. Ultimately, I like what I've seen, but I haven't seen enough to form a real opinion, and I don't care enough to change that.

 

[5ilver]

I think he is smug, naive and annoying but there aren't any other ways to get news about new Indie games (which I am a fan of) so I see him as a necessary evil.

 

[Vigormortis]

Can't stand the guy.

You ever take one look at a person and instantly think, "Yeah, fuck that guy and all he stands for!" Well, it's like that.

Even when I agree with what he's saying he still rubs me up the wrong way something fierce.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. At least, on most of the occasions that I've seen his videos.

A touch of arrogance I can take. Hell, someone being extremely opinionated is even tolerable, whether I agree with them or not.

But TB? Christ, the man's ego is so bloated I'm amazed it hasn't blown his skull apart.

Even then, that ego might not bother me as much as it seems to if he didn't incessantly go off on rants about things completely unrelated to the game he's showcasing. And even then, those rants might not bother as much as they do if he didn't constantly repeat himself, taking twenty or more minutes to explain something that should only take three.
[sub]Also doesn't help that he often over exaggerates his grievances, abandons logical objectivity when convenient, and states his opinion as fact. But then, this IS the internet. That sort of mindset is par-for-the-course. Even I'm guilty of it. Though, I hate myself when I do it.[/sub]

I guess what I mean is, I might be able to tolerate him a bit more if he wasn't so hell bent on proselytizing to his audience so much and so often.

Really, though, I'm mostly indifferent to him. He's got a pretty good presence in the Starcraft 2 community, though most of that comes from his wife I'm told. And, he does tend to bring awareness to the indie game and PC gaming scenes, which is usually a good thing; even if I'm not particularly fond of being associated with him by being an indie or PC gamer. So, despite his oft-present sense of doom-and-gloom, he is doing something good.

That's about all I can say about him.

I think he is smug, naive and annoying but there aren't any other ways to get news about new Indie games (which I am a fan of) so I see him as a necessary evil.

Huh. That's actually a good way to put it.

Though, I would add condescending and preachy to your list.

 

[Charli]

He does good work. But there are days where I just can't deal with his attitude.
I have to be in the right mood for it.

I'm already pretty cynical, and adding his own cynicism (In the traditional sense, he is cynical) to my own will at times just depress me.
But I really don't feel the need to rag on his parade like some, if I'm tired of him I can really just not watch his videos, it's that easy.

I had to unsub from him to stop the temptation because sometimes his opinions were so utterly convicted and I disagreed with him so hard it made for 'butt clench', now I just look up via search, if I ask myself 'Am I in the mood for this?' and 'Do I want to see a game I know is a total train wreck receive a verbal whipping without waiting for Yahtzee on Wednesday?' If yes, I go search out his videos.
If not. There's other things to do.


Oh and don't follow him on twitter, seriously, sometimes his wife has to ban him from it. And I'm with her.

 

[FallenMessiah88]

I'm pretty indifferent towards him. I do sometimes enjoy his "WTF is..." series when it's about a game which I myself am very interested in.

 

[teebeeohh]

i generally like him, i don't really get why people are bitching about his view-pandering, it's his job, i assume he likes to eat so he tries to get as many views as possible.
being a PC gamer myself i love his focus on proper PC versions and option menus(seriously, all my friends laugh at me when i mention how much a bad option menu bugs me).
what i don't like is that i feel he sometimes goes against popular opinion just cause (bioshock infinite) and his extreme focus on the FOV thing. i get the problem and low FOV bugs me too but there are also a lot of color blind gamers and he never even mentions that option.

oh and i like his sc2 casting, he is entertaining and smart enough to get someone who is better at analysing the game than he is.

 

[00slash00]

i consider him intelligent and well informed (though the british accent may have something to do with that, haha) and i generally trust him. i primarily watch his channel for content patch because i love hearing his point of view. wtf is..., is supposedly his more popular series but i generally only watch those after watching the other videos my subs posted, unless its a game ive been really excited for or a game with a lot of hype around it, like bioshock infinite

 

[NightmareExpress]

I like the idea of his videos, but I dislike his mannerisms.
Even more so, I dislike the way he interacts with some of his viewers.
Granted, some of the viewers are pretty scummy (others not so much) but the prevailing attitude is applied to the viewer-base in their entirety;

You are a bunch of insignificant numbers that serve to make him some cash.
That is the harsh reality of it, as it is with almost anything. But I imagine that it's unprofessional to go around saying such a thing in any other field, so why should this individual be exempt? In those circumstances where he's lashed out on people, he made some pretty telling indicators as to what he thinks of you all (in reference to the people who routinely or periodically watch his videos) indirectly.

Thus, as of this date, I think I've watched a grand total of two of his videos.
Because I disagree with some of his practices on a principle level, I won't watch any in the future.
That's what I think of the guy. I don't even need to insult him. I just avoid him like I'd do with anyone that has his disposition.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

He's got some good points and gives a good focus to a lot of indie games.

For reviewers and critics, you can either be on my ok/good side or my bad side (with a rare few in between). TB is on my ok side.

 

[HellbirdIV]

I watched some videos he's made and I liked pretty much all of them and found most of his points reasonable and well-researched even when I didn't agree with them.

... Wow, that was easy.

 

[Goofguy]

I don't care much either way. I am very familiar with TB but I just don't follow his body of work. I'll listen to him occasionally on the TGS podcast but his role in that is more so to guide the flow of conversations and keep Jesse's shenanigans under control.

 

[Bvenged]

He's ridiculously forward and honest for a youtuber. I like his videos because they're informative. All of them.

 

[Something Amyss]

If I wanted to listen to someone childish and abrasive, I'd record myself talking about video games.

 

[Terramax]

As in he portrays them as boring or what? Or just that he's generally somewhat calm? It's not meant to be incredibly entertaining it's meant to be informative.

His videos are neither informative nor entertaining. You can learn pretty much nothing from his videos that you couldn't figure out through watching gameplay footage without his commentary, or browsing somewhere else on the net, with greater detail.

And, yes, being entertain is MUCH more important. Because if you have the choice between watching something that is both informative AND entertaining, why would you choose something that is neither, which tends to be the case with this guy.

Not only that, with forums such as these, why waste your time watching a 30 minute video, listening to the droning opinion of one, than read a post that can sum up the issue in just 2 or so paragraphs?

Further more, I would suggest the reason Classic Game Room has less subscriptions, is because he's one of the rare video makers that doesn't rely on jumping on the hate and fear bandwagon. It's more than proven that the majority of people on the internet will keep returning to videos that they can spew their anger, hatred, and nonsense at, than say anything nice about. A lot of the time, it doesn't even come to anything remotely like a 'debate'.

 

[J Tyran]

Probably going to go with a lot of other people posting here, he can be informative and he tried not to be swayed by the whole industry juggernaut thing but he can be a bit of an arse at times too. His content patch news series is pretty good though, I try to keep on top of that but unless its a game I might be interested in I so not usually watch his WTF is?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

He's good. The only problem is that his reviews are too fuckin' long. If he had a written version somewhere with most important points I'd pay more attention to him. Content patch is good though. I watch that from time to time.

 

[CriticalMiss]

The true cynical brit is Yahtzee. He at least swears gratuitously in his videos.

I've watched a few of his vids and didn't find them all that great. If others enjoy the videos, then good for them. I'm also not that bothered about the whole comment clensing thing he apparently gets/got up to. Apparently that annoys folks.