Why do lets players often dub non voiced games?

[Hades]

From time to time I have the urge to watch certain video game scenes again on Youtube. When doing so for older games or newer once that aren't voiced I often get an unpleasant surprise.

We are in the era of lets plays where the lets players talk through most of the game(which is annoying in its own right when it comes to games like Kid Icarus). When you're looking for game footage you're much more likely to find the youtuber talking rather then just giving me a watch of the game. Fair enough.

But when it comes to cutscenes in games without voice acting these lets players have a tendency to voice those scenes themselves. Why would they do this? They are not voice actors and usually it shows. A LOT! Every time I try to watch a cutscene from an older Final Fantasy, a paper Mario, fire emblem or the like I'm treated to lets players flatly reading the text boxes regardless of how dramatic or amusing those scenes are intended to be. And it honestly breaks the scenes for me. The worst part is that its harder and harder to find people who don't do that so just choosing another video gets an ever more annoying process of trial and error.

I know its their job but can lets players just shut their yapper at certain times? Or at least explain why they chose to try and be voice actors?

 

[s0denone]

I'm not sure whether you're being serious or not, because the answer is quite evident: The "Let's Players" like doing it. That would be a very easy answer to your question.
There is also the possibility that they found a certain demographic that enjoys them doing the voiceacting/roleplaying, which earns them extra views, money and popularity, but I would say it is easily majorly because they simply enjoy doing it.

On the question of "why are they talking throughout the game instead of doing a silent run of it" there is a legal reason. Doing no (or lackluster) commentary runs of games is legally dubious and the only reason the people doing it aren't being sued are because they are so small time players, along with the developers not wanting to attract such massive bad press.

That and the fact that usually a "Let's Player" would want to engage their viewer in the experience in their own particular way or merely showcase their personality, in order to stand out from the rest.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Well there is Cry who is actually pretty good at voice acting some of the moments in his LPs. Seriously, you see his old Corpse Party LP and he manages some damn good voice acting.

Also in general, since there's not much else to do in those kinds of games while there's no gameplay going on, it makes sense for them to at least try to do the voices to fill the time I guess.

Still I wonder if anyone has ever managed to do a decent LP of a real fully voiced Visual Novel, G Senjo comes to mind. I would love seeing some first time LPer reacting to some of the quality plot twists but damn how do you make that entertaining? You turn off the voices and people hate you because G Senjo has really good voices but all you can do is like, let the characters talk and I guess add some thoughts during the main character's inner monologue? I mean, i've seen people pull off some more difficult games to LP so it's not impossible.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

I appreciate it. Often times when I'm doing work I'll throw on a Vinesauce stream in the background, and since Vinny plays quite a few indie games without voice-acting, it keeps me informed as to what's going on.

 

[FPLOON]

I thought it was so that the viewer can keep up to where they are in the voiceless cutscene, let alone in the game itself... especially when the LP is being used as a pseudo-podcast and shit... Then again, I think it would kill the vibe even more if they said "The reason why I'm badly voice-acting is because I'm trying to annoy those people that don't want me to speak during the most silent parts of the game, vocal-wise..." in the middle of their LP...

Other than that, I thought [certain] groups of friends would do that too when they're all playing/watching the same game... so, an LPer would want to have that same kind of feeling showcased in their LPs, you know?

 

[Chessrook44]

As one of those LPers who does that, well...

For one, the games I play are very text and dialog-heavy. If I just silently read, or read only parts of it, others may not keep up, or may be unsure which option I choose, or things like that. Thus resulting in confusion.

For another, since the games I do are so heavy in dialog, the video would be VERY quiet without it. I do talk often, but I've also seen moments where I go quiet... and since there's no real music or such, it tends to become, in my opinion, fairly dull.

For a third... I admit, I have a bit of an acting bug in me, and this lets me practice it. And I try to actually ACT the lines instead of just... read them. I cough if someone is said to cough, I do voices appropriate for the characters, I read them as they likely are talking... I'm not the best, surely, though having gotten complements a few times I hope that at least means I'm not terrible at it.

That said, I'm fully aware these things aren't for everyone. Everyone has their own preference to what they watch, and each LPer has their own method of gaming. Some skim through the lines, some read through all of it monotone, some act it out, some do a mix.

And for those wondering about my LPs, I know I shouldn't advertise but well... ah heck, you don't really get an opportunity to post links or self-promotions like this often [https://www.youtube.com/user/Chessrook44] so may as well take advantage.

Please don't kill/ban me.

 

[EyeReaper]

Because if all the let's players didn't, then there'd be even less marginal differences between them all.

I mean, that's the key difference between a let's play and just a walkthru. You generally aren't there for the game, but the personality behind the camera.

Also because every let's player thinks they have something important to say at all times. They wouldn't let a moment of silence go wasted.

 

[Harlemura]

Yeah, pretty much what everyone else has said. People often watch Let's Plays for the people playing the games more than the games themselves, so prolonged periods of those people not saying anything defeats the purpose of the video.
What I don't like is when they start giving characters silly or purposely unfitting voices. I was recently watching Markiplier's playthrough of Fran Bow and about halfway through the game he ran out of voices to give characters so just had to dish out goofy, over-the-top accents and speech impediments to each new character, which ended backfiring when some of those later characters have an awful lot of dialogue. They're his videos, of course, so it's his choice what he does with them, and I'm sure a lot of people enjoy the personal spin he puts on all the characters, but given the game's pretty grim themes it just put me right off the whole Let's Play.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

I appreciate it. Often times when I'm doing work I'll throw on a Vinesauce stream in the background, and since Vinny plays quite a few indie games without voice-acting, it keeps me informed as to what's going on.

Ahhhh, a fellow Vinesauce Viewer

It's kinda hit and miss when Vinny does VA but when it hits, it's really good.
Personally, I just want more of his amazing Mario and Luigi series, they sound so legit while still taking the piss the whole time.

 

[sXeth]

Because when people were doing LP's without commentary, it was mostly derided for being lazy faux-work by viewers, clogging up the searches for people who wanted commentary, and came under legal fire for just basically uploading the entire game onto youtube without transformative work to justify it as a separate entity.

Whether or not the voice work and commentary is to your taste (either in quality or quantity) is of course your choice to make, and you may view whichever LPer you find that suits your preference. But in a field where projecting your persona is basically the critical point of maintaining any real audience (and thereby getting paid), I doubt you're going to find anyone going in the direct opposite direction for long.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well for one thing, not everyone nessacery "watch" the let's play video or just listen to it (one tab on it but focusing on another tab).

I have a co worker who does this cos they are playing a game he already play so just listenning to the commentary let him know exactly where they are in the game.

For that reason I can assume a voiceless cutscene would just sound boring (don't ask me what my co worker think of this is I asked him about it as he worked in the other store now).

 

[Neverhoodian]

If you're looking for game footage sans commentary you may want to look into longplays.

https://www.youtube.com/user/cubex55

The only real issue with them is that the entire playthrough is uploaded in one huge video, which can make it difficult to isolate a particular segment or pick up where you left off. Also, most longplays are tool-assisted, which can be a bad thing depending on what you're looking for.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Because radio silence is boring. A draw for lets plays is often the video commentator, otherwise I could just play the game myself, I rarely watch lets plays of games I havent already finished unless I am after a non review chance for me to evaluate the gameplay.

Besides some people suck at reading quickly and might miss everything that was said.

 

[sanquin]

My personal reason: Because I watch youtube to watch and listen, not to read.

 

[shrekfan246]

For another, since the games I do are so heavy in dialog, the video would be VERY quiet without it. I do talk often, but I've also seen moments where I go quiet... and since there's no real music or such, it tends to become, in my opinion, fairly dull.

This, mixed with

Because radio silence is boring.

this.

I have two current series' running that are both dialogue-heavy RPGs; one has voice acting for every character except the main character (Dex, and she does get a voice in the game's rare cutscenes) and the other doesn't (Shadowrun: Dragonfall). Reading out the main character's dialogue options is a good way to clue in viewers as to what you're doing. As for games without any voice acting, I do it because I don't want to leave any viewers behind, I don't want to have long stretches of complete and utter silence, and I don't want to be talking about something completely unrelated to the game when important narrative things are happening. It's distracting for me, first and foremost, which almost assuredly means that it's going to distract somebody who's just watching what I've done.

There are, albeit a small number, let's plays that are done without commentary, though nowadays they tend to be called other things (such as the aforementioned longplays). But most people who will watch a let's play aren't solely there for the game. While this may be an admittedly small sample size, one of the best LPers around (Chip Cheezum) generally uploads two sets of videos now, one with commentary cut from the cutscenes of whatever game he's playing and the other with uncut commentary; there is a huge difference between the amount of people who watch the uncut videos and the cut ones, with the full commentary videos generally having magnitudes more views.

Also, it's fun. You think I don't know I'm bad at voice acting? I've been mocking myself endlessly in my Dragonfall playthrough. But that doesn't mean it isn't fun to try it anyway. Who are you to tell me I can't do what I like with something you don't have to spend any expense other than time to watch? If someone's just monotonously reading everything, then yeah, that's boring and you should probably look for something else because lord knows there's no shortage of video game videos on Youtube now, but poo-pooing all over the people who are just trying to get into their work is just not cool.

 

[Zaltys]

I tend to watch LPs while multitasking: I do something more important in an another browser while only paying marginal attention to the LP. If the player didn't voice the dialogue, I wouldn't be able to follow what's going on. It'd be like listening to a radio show where someone constantly goes "look at that!".

One downside is that dubbing makes good sound quality even more vital. It's always sad to stumble on LPs where a crackling microphone kills an otherwise enjoyable LP.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

For the same reason I don't really enjoy watching subbed anime all the time:

Because it's a background thing. If they didn't have fun voice acting the lines, it'd be dead air and, even worse, I'd have to stare at the screen constantly to have any idea what is going on. For example, Dodger just finished a playthrough of Aviary Attorney, a game that is actually incredibly interesting, but it's long and lacks voice acting. For me to enjoy and understand the story, I would have to sit there and stare at the screen, as doing anything else would distract me and likely mean I miss out on the story. If I'm going to do that, I might as well just get the game myself, especially since the text IS the game.

Plus, it helps that Dodgers voice acting is actually really quite good, but even when it's not I don't really care as long as the let's player actually sounds interested in their lines. Which, as someone who has recorded a fair few myself, is remarkably harder than you would think. Sometimes you really do just want to skim and then click through the random characters dialogue who has zero relevance to the story, so often you'll go "Yes I live in the Green District .. blah blah blah... didn't hear anything, good day." but that's boring and no-one wants to hear that.

Lastly, because of reading speed. Some people are not speed readers, I'm fast as all hell so if I were to read and not voice act lines a lot of people wouldn't finish reading before I click next. Or there's the other end, where someone is very slow at reading and everyone watching gets bored as hell waiting for them. These are all reasons why someone would talk. It's sort of the whole point.