Your genuine views of Let's Players and Let's Plays.

[RedDeadFred]

Some are good. Most are awful.

I'll never understand people's fascination with another person's ability to fake scream for hours on end.

The only time I enjoy Lets Plays are when the primary purpose of the game is to tell a story and the player shuts up.

 

[Fat Hippo]

EpicNameBro is one of them. Much better than his name might imply. Did work on the Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne guides and is currently doing a nice Bloodborne LP. Very down to earth sounding fella.

I love ENB! I don't have a PS4 and I never plan on playing Bloodborne so I'm loving his LP of it. Having worked on the guide for BB and Dark Souls 2 he has so much knowledge of the lore and little nuggets of information that other people might miss. I think that's what legitimizes LPers, at least to me, the fact that they do inject their own personalities and bring commentaries and different takes on the games.

Haha, I'm doing the same thing. I would actually love to play Bloodborne, but I won't be getting a PS4 anytime soon, so this is the next best thing, and ENB is one of cooler guys doing Souls LP's.

I think my favorite part is when he starts quoting Rage Against the Machine in his flat even voice. the "bam chicka bam bam" cracks me up each time.

Aaaaaand now I have to listen to Bulls on Parade again: "Come wit it now, come wit it now!"

Yeah, ENB you kite that bastard and show him who's boss!

 

[FPLOON]

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?

I have no problem with them in general... Then again, I seem to only watch the ones that have, more or less, LPed the games that I have already played beforehand...

Do they help the gaming industry?

Eh... It depends on the game in question... I would be lying if I said that I haven't seen an LP of a game that made me want to buy the game in question and vise verse...

Do they hurt game devs more then game publishers?

Again, it depends on the game in question... or, rather, if the LPer in question is, theoretically, making more money playing the game than the game dev(s) in question who made the game that the LPer in question is playing... In terms of game publishers, it's probably a different, yet similar, situation that could either be stopped beforehand or taken care of at a later time...

Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?

I see it as becoming a public post-QA tester only with the choice of either being seen as a pseudo-QA tester or as just a prop entertainer in a gaming sense... Besides, any hobby, in my opinion, can lead to a steady career choice, so I don't see LPing as something that can't be turned into a means of a steady income, at least...

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?

Yet again, it depends on who's the one doing the LPs in general... For me, it's not conceptually stupid, but I can see how it could be considered stupid when certain examples are presented in the forefront...

This thread kinda reminds me of <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.831296-Poll-What-makes-a-good-Lets-Play>this thread for some reason...

 

[Story]

Thanks for making this thread, it was interesting to read some of the responses from others.

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?

I honestly like them and I watch them more often than I probably should. It depends on the person however and what constitutes as a let's play. If you are talking about marathons of games from beginning to end, I tend to not watch them. I do like people who take short looks at a game, like 15 minutes or an hour's worth of content more than I do full play through. The RageSelect guys are my favorite of the bunch.

Do they help the gaming industry?

Hmm...hard to say. I think they are good for some indie games that would otherwise never get noticed. I also think they are great for non-linear games like Minecraft...and yes, Mario Party is a good candidate too...as well as Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros.

Do they hurt game devs more than game publishers?

That's an interesting question. Do you mean just game developers and not the publishers too? Because I would argue that they can hurt both (as well as the industry). This is just personal experience but I can say that there were many more times when I watched a let's play instead of buying a game I was interested in at launch. At the same time, there were very few times when a let's play encouraged me to by buy a game (usually it was indie stuff). In my opinion the free advertisement defense only really works if there wasn't already paid media like commercials leading for that game. Someone posting gameplay seems redundant, if most sales are done within the first week. Now, again it depends on the game. Indie games that can't afford a huge advertising campaign certainly get a lot of free advertising from let's plays.

If you mean hurting devs more than publishers specifically, I don't know.

Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?

Currently? Sure. Though I can't help but feel like this won't be the case forever as more companies place copyright strikes. It would be nice if that doesn't happen, but I have a feeling that it will as long as money is involved.

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?

Kinda a repeat of the first question but whatever, I don't think they are dumb. However, I do recognize that they are for certain types of people. I spent years before I even played games watching a family member play before I got my own system, so I'm certainly one of those people who find watching someone else's play entertaining.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

I don't get it personally, I like watching the game as I am playing it. Watching someone else play a game kind if bores me to tears. Maybe it's a generational thing, maybe it's just a me thing. The only time I watch someone else play online is if I am looking up how to solve something I have been stuck on for too long.

 

[EHKOS]

Well, let's start off by taking down your question of "Does it hurt the industry?" I would say it actually helps, and that's because I've bought at least three games because of watching an LP. This is bigger than you'd think because I never cave to advertising, I either want the product or I don't. So when I went out and bought Dark Souls II because of TBF, I was genuinely surprised by myself. But the other side of this is since I can't see a future where I'd ever have enough disposable cash to get a next-gen console, I just sit back and watch other people play the games I'm interested in. (Really only three games and two aren't even out yet, so I wouldn't buy a PS4 even if I had the cash.) But if there are games I don't want to spend the cash on, I'll just find an LP of it, and I've done that way more times than I've been influenced to buy one.

I love LP's, I watch multiple Youtube channels a day. Some of them I enjoy for the commentary, like Game Grumps (unless it's a glitch-fest or gameshow episode,) and Yahtzee's Let's Drown Out, others I'll watch for both gameplay and commentary like TBF, where Pat usually adapts pretty quickly and has at least an average IQ. And some, like TheKingNappy, I watch for the gameplay first, and just enjoy being around Nappy as a plus, since his energy is infectious.

They can be incredibly stupid, you have to have pro equipment and a winning personality before you even get started. Lots of channels fail right there. Then you have to be super lucky and catch a decent sized fan-base.

I'm totally for 'em though, they help me through the day, and I can use them as background noise if needed.

 

[Ravenier]

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?
I dislike most. Especially those who adopt "funny" stage personas.

Do they help the gaming industry?
Quite so. Let's Players, for good or bad, have an extremely large audience, and can make or break games (cf. Five Night at Freddies and Markiplier, Slender and Pewdiepie, and Minecraft in general).

Do they hurt game devs more then game publishers?
I do believe they help both. For one thing, large LPers are the dream of market analysts who no longer have to grind through rows upon rows of statistics to know hat is being played. For another, the fondness of many LPers for Indie Game allows a greater number of otherwise completely unknown games to flourish (again, consider Five Nights at Freddies.


Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?
Unlikely. Face it, so long as you're not Pewdiepie or another big fish with literally millions of followers and the ensuring ad revenue, you will hardly be able to make a living off it.

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?
There's no point in generalizing them. However, there is one thing I absolutely HATE - LPers doing Horror Games. You see, Horror Games imho are about the atmosphere. The feeling of dread, the psychological horror. Yet for some reason, LPers who do Horror Games will never ever just shut their mouth for five seconds, and whoever invented the idea of a facecam for such games should rot in hell. If I want to see a Horror Game, I want to see the Horror Game, not a fully grown man who (probably pretends to) scream like a little girl.

 

[Elfgore]

1. I think of them as one of my favorite ways to past the time.

2. I say they do, they boost sales and awareness of games. I've bought at least ten games because I've seen it on a Funhaus/Inside Gaming stream. Euro Truck Simulator, Distance, and Chaser to name a few.

3. They hurt no one.

4.Depends. Freelancers most likely have a tough time making ends meet. Those who are sellouts work for larger media companies get a set pay check, so they should be fine. I imagine the big names make plenty of money though.

5. There is a difference between acting stupid and being stupid Inside Gaming/Funhaus act stupid in their videos. Watch their podcast and they become people who can have an hour long conversation about the game industry.

 

[Amaror]

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?

I think their great. I don't watch all of them or all kinds of let's players but i enjoy them a lot and i think their doing a great job with what their doing.

Do they help the gaming industry?

Absolutly. I have seen it dozens of times and often confirmed by the devs. Sales spike dramatically when youtubers play their games and enjoy them, even if their smaller, lesser known youtubers. This doesn't just count for Pewdiepie, but pretty much everyone with at least a few thousand subscribers.
In fact i think that youtubers are one of the main reasons that indie developers are striving on pc as they currently are. Having youtubers as advertisement isn't that huge for publishers, their games get covered by the games media anyway and most people that are enough into games to watch Let's plays know them anyway. But it's absolutly huge for indies. Having a free and pretty damn effective way of presenting your game to thousands and thousands of people is huge.
Just as an Example: The developer of Rimworld Tynan Silvester mentioned multiple times in his tweets how his sales skiped after a video of a popular Let's Player.

Do they hurt game devs more then game publishers?

I don't see how they possibly hurt anyone. They don't take any profit from anyone since they earn their money through advertisements. I think their nothing but a boon for any dev in the games industry. Published or Indie.

Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?

Yes. And you generally don't have to be Pewdiepie levels of well known to have a steady career as a let's player. Pewdiepie is a millionair, but there's still plenty of lesser known youtubers that manage to make a good living for them and their family doing let's plays.
Many Let's players don't like to talk about money, which is understandable, but i watch a few let's players that have expressed severall times that doing Let's plays is their primary job and source of income.
Examples include: Arumba, SplattercatGaming, Northernlion.
You still need a decent audience, though, each of these has at least 100k subscribers.

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?

No, their pretty great.
Edit: I guess you're refering to the Stereotype that let's players earn their money through screaming through five nights at freddies? Yeah there might be plenty of let's players that do that, but i generally just don't watch those and it's not hard to find Let's Players that just act naturally. Just watch any Let's plays of "Not-Horror" games and you'll find them.


Edit2: I do want to add that i don't think the Let's play "Industry" is perfect, though, as it can be pretty luck based. I noticed this since i did a few let's play videos myself back in the day, but most likely not in the way you would think i noticed.
I did a few videos on youtube, about 2 videos of dead space 2, 1 video of braid and a couple of videos on evil genius. None did too great until i did videos of Project Zomboid.
I got the idea when i just discovered Project Zomboid pretty much just before it became better known and since i didn't find any let's plays of it on youtube i decided to make my own. And surprisingly it did great. I got a couple of thousand views on each of my PZ videos and brought a big amount of new viewers to the evil genius videos too.
But i really didn't deserve that. My videos were awfull. I can't really examine the quality of my commentary, lots of comments said they liked it though, but the video quality was just awfull. The audio was way too low and many of the videos i uploaded had rendering errors. Visual Clitches in the videos were frequent and one particular video had just a black screen for 15 minutes. I am not kidding you. On top of that i uploaded horribly inconsistent with weeks of months between uploads and very few videos overall. And that makes me a bit sad when i discover a small Let's player that consistently uploads videos with good quality and commentary and yet struggle to achieve view amounts in the tripple digits.

 

[balladbird]

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?

Personally, I don't really get the appeal. Then again, I've always preferred playing a game myself to watching someone else play a game. I will admit that I'm apparently in the minority in that regard, though. A few months back my brother kept recommending I play Five Nights at Freddy's, so I punched the title into Youtube to see some gameplay footage, and the most popular videos were Markiplier's LP. the first part had 20,000,000 views, and the channel had 7 million subscribers. XD I was floored. I didn't think ANYTHING related to games was that popular, and apparently he's not even the number 1 LPer out there.

the popularity of LPs is undeniable and insane.

Do they help the gaming industry?

I haven't done the research to say with any authority one way or the other, but if you're asking me to just go with my gut, then I'd imagine they do more good than harm. As I said above, an LPer helped me find footage I was looking for in my one and only encounter with them, so if they do the same for other people curious about titles, then they do plenty of good.

Do they hurt game devs more then game publishers?

probably not. Publishers bankroll the game devs, so if let's players did, in fact, alter sales figures, it's the publishers who would suffer the most, while the devs at least have their work on display.

Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?

Let me repeat my surprised reaction from above: *ahem* TWENTY MILLION VIEWS AND SEVEN MILLION SUBSCRIBERS! Yes, I dare say that that's a steady career and comfortable living. there are televised celebrities who can't claim those numbers.

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?

As I said above, I don't really see the long term appeal of them, personally, but "stupid" is a strong word. Looked at firmly enough, most things people do for fun eventually seem pretty stupid, but to each their own and all that.

 

[CaitSeith]

After the last question, I just couldn't take this post seriously anymore. But for those who still do, my answer is: it depends.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?

I do not have anything against them. They helped me when I am stuck in a game and depending on who you are watching the videos, they can also be humorous. I also like when a skilled player showcased their amazing skills on youtube just for me to envy them.

Do they help the gaming industry?

Personally yes. There are many games that I thought I would never play but the Lets players introduced them to me which makes me a potential buyer and a fan of the said game.

Do they hurt game devs more then game publishers?

Well if the game is bad well I can understand but if the game is good then I will buy the game to support the developers.

Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?

Right now Nope. but who knows. They may even regarded as a celebrity soon especially with fans supports and donations.

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?

Well not everyone. There are some Humorous, skillful, informative, analytical LPers who can entertained their audience for being intelligent rather than being a stupid.

 

[Dizchu]

I much prefer it when a Let's Player knows the intricacies of the game they're playing rather than playing it blind.

What I want to listen to is an insightful breakdown of a game and the reasons why the LPer is so fond of it. I don't want to listen to "OH WOW LOOK AT THAT! WOW YOU GUYS, ISN'T THIS SPOOKY??!?". Some people dig that and I think that's fine.

The exception for me is when the game is just a horrendous pile of excrement. I liked the Game Grumps Sonic 06 series quite a lot.

My favourite LPs at the moment are Research Indicates (his breakdown of Jurassic Park: Trespasser is a Let's Play classic as far as I'm concerend), Classic Gamer Dave for his insight on Thief: The Dark Project, and Yahtzee because he and Gabe alternate between a podcast format and offering some really good discussion on the games (or just banter, I like both). His current "Ego Review" series is amazing and I can't wait until he gets to 5 Days a Stranger.

 

[Hofstadter]

What do you all think in general about Let's Players?

Eh. Just people doing a thing to get views.

Do they help the gaming industry?
Well I guess they help people decide if they wish to get a game

Do they hurt game devs more then game publishers?
No clue

Can just doing LPs be seen as a steady career and make a living off of that?
No way in hell.

Do you think LPs are stupid in general?
I dont really care, but the fans that care that deeply about them....those sad sacks are hilarious