Your opinion on Let's Plays

[Scarim Coral]

I view Let Plays as being no different to when I "let play" with my bro aka watching behind him playing game. We only had one pc which is his and he had games on it (we played together on the SNES and Gamecube althought I do watched him when he is playing solo games). Well there is a different, my brother wasn't as funny compared to most Let Players out there well other than his reaction in a few scary situation (the face hugger part in Alien vs Predator).

Also that part of the video when Kyle mention the living room thing, ha, who still watched something on the tv together with your family on a daily basis? I thought the whole ideal of everyone in the living room was dead when everyone has own more than one tv!"

Lastly, I only watched Let Play videos on games that I don't owned.

 

[Hofstadter]

For me, the only purpose to lets plays is to mock the people that are rabidly obsessed with them.

 

[laggyteabag]

It's easy content to make, and people seem to love it. I hardly ever watch any Let's Play content (ie in a series of parts), but if I do it is because i'm stuck on a game. That being said, if you can make it big with Let's Plays, then good on you. People give PewDiePie a lot of shit, and that is understandable, but he is like the Call of Duty of YouTube: He knows his audience, and he knows what people come for, so why stop or change anything when you are making a shitload of money?

Do I envy him? Of course I do. That guy must make millions.

In terms of actual Let's Players that I do watch, it is mostly Inside Gaming, RoosterTeeth (rarely), or Jim Sterling's Squirty Play series if you can really count it.

 

[waj9876]

I personally love blind let's plays. Where I get to hear and possibly see someone's reaction to a game I know a lot about. It's surprisingly addicting. I don't like to use let's plays as a strategy guide, I might sometimes use it as a review (seeing someone's first impression of it), and I might watch one just because the person is funny. Genuinely funny.

Another kind of let's play I like, but very rarely can I find a good one, is a let's play where the people involved aren't trying to show off anything, or to prove anything, or do anything other than get together with their friends and just play some video games.

"Video Games AWESOME" and "Best Friends Play" are two of the only good ones. The youtube channels for each are "farfromsubtle" and "sw1tcher" respectively. I also like Game Grumps, but I realize not everyone does.

 

[DeimosMasque]

I pretty much only watch Markiplier and Jim's Squirty Plays on any sort of regular basis because I find I smile and enjoy watching them.

Sometimes if it's a game I can't play due to my computer's processor being 6 years old or it's an exclusive I'm not going to get I'll check out a let's play just to see what I was missing, but that's rare.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

If people cite PewDiePie as an example of an LP'er, then I swear they're doing it wrong.

Smaller and more intimate channels like Gopher [https://www.youtube.com/user/GophersVids/featured] and Jingles/SorcererDave [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOVxXJSvl3qXFUtf-UZ8qjw] are where it's at.
( ...if you like the games they feature, obviously)

I never used to understand the appeal, but now I'm a quite regular watcher, especially of the aforementioned guys. It's an extension of savvy gaming culture, frankly, and done right, it is simply engaging entertainment in and of itself. Skyrim's particularly good where RP's are concerned, but Gopher's current LP of Alien Isolation is very impressive - I've not seen any other LP'er quite immerse themselves in the experience like he does throughout that playthrough (it's surprisingly still damn scary/tense).

Then again, Jingles started his own run of the same game, and it's interesting as a contrast; he acknowledges it openly as a game, whilst Gopher almost never talks about the design, the systems, or even the visuals/locations. Both approaches make for good content, and that's just two LP'ers.

 

[Drathnoxis]

There are some games that have bad mechanics but are still very much worth seeing in a so-bad-it's-good sort of way.

Illbleed is a good example of this. The game seems like it would be tedious and boring to actually play, but it's not so bad when watching someone else go through it who knows what they are doing and offers good commentary while doing so. I would seriously recommend SuperGreatFriend's let's play of the game to anyone looking to see a good playthrough of a completely unique game. Seriously, I guarantee that this game has an ending unlike any other game ever created, and it's awesome.


Also, SuperGreatFriend's more deadpan style of humour is a great change of pace for anybody tired of the more loud and obnoxious let's players. Not to mention that he always seems to know practically everything about the games he plays through.

His let's play of Deadly Premonition was very good aswell.


Another reason I watch let's plays is sometimes I don't feel like actually playing a game myself, or I'm eating or something, but I still want to have something to do with video games. Let's plays fulfill this need very well by providing a non-interactive way of experiencing video games.

Finally, not all let's plays are in video form. Written let's plays can offer the unique feature of spinning off their own narrative to go along with the game. These let's plays use the games as a jumping off point to tell their own tales and can be very good.

Notable examples are the excellent let's play of Dwarf Fortress Let's horribly break Pokemon blue [http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Update%201-1/]

 

[kilenem]

I kind of think of it like a Pod cast. You get to hear interesting things about people's lives.

 

[cleric of the order]

It's cheaper then buying the game if you are afraid of torrenting.
....What?
There's more?
Okay.
Some of them can actually have good writing, be funny and insightful, really rare but I'm looking forward to mech warrior 3 with rae.
And it's a good way to kill an afternoon

 

[Smooth Operator]

They have a radio show kind of appeal, you tune in and some random entertainer talks endlessly about something you might care about.

However I have no regard for people who can't even be bothered to talk and instead just make random noises, but I really loved it when I was 5 and had a whole cassette full of animal noises, so I see why pew is the highest earning LP-er.

 

[Karadalis]

Lets plays allow you to check out a product that is otherwise for the lack of better term... "uncheckable" before you buy it and register it to your name (steam, origin whatever you call that ubisoft abomination) for things like quality, if the game actually runs (!) and if its actually fun or a whole load of bollocks.


In recent years it has become all to common for game developers, even for multi million AAA titles to just come out broken. However you have no way of seeing this for yourselfe till either a lets player takes it on, or theres a review out for it. And usually the lets players go into alot more depth then a simple written review, and since most lets players are legit gamers themselves i find their opinions wich are often unfiltered and unscripted to be alot more honest, especialy since they arent dependend on add revenue from the publishers of said games, so they can say what they really want to say. Also i get to see with my own two eyes what the gameplay is like so i can decide for myselfe if i like it or not.

Lets plays are also a great way to beat some time, and depending on who does the lets playing can be alot of fun due to commentary.

But again.. if the industry would stop being so consumer hostile with their miriad of DRMs that completly screws the customer over when it turns out what he bought was a steaming pile of shit that wont run properly no matter what you do (X-rebirth anyone?) then there might be something negative to say about letsplays.

But right now i see letsplays as consumer information and plain good old fun.

 

[leberkaese]

There are a few I enjoy quite a lot but I rarely stick with the entire playthrough.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Ah... Well, It sounds like some of you have some very specific ideas about what a "let's play" is compared to gaming videos in general... I can be a bit loose with how I use and interpret words, so it kind of surprises me sometimes what people think it means.

Anyway, I watch a lot of gaming related channels... I honestly can't say if you could call it let's plays or not. I think it's a mixture...

I don't quite myself understand why anyone would watch a full playthrough of a game they've never played themselves, but I guess it happens.

I do watch lots and lots of these videos though.

Thing is, I'm clearly quite biased, because I make gaming videos on youtube.

And yes, "let's plays" are easy to make... Compared to other stuff. But you'd be surprised how much work goes into it... I doubt my videos are much good, but just releasing 2 videos a week... Well, if it hasn't cost me about 10-20 hours per video, (after accounting for all the extra seemingly minor details involve), I'd be quite surprised.

Thing is, the gap between what I want to be doing and what I'm actually releasing at the moment is pretty big. And I don't know if I'll ever be good enough at all the skills involved to even approach my original intentions... Especially given a schedule that leaves me about 3 days to do a video...

I also have some ideas, based on what I wish I could do sometimes with games I've played through many, many times...
But I'm fairly certain actually doing videos based on that premise would pretty much instantly run afoul of youtube's copyright policies...

Also note that releasing a gameplay video without comentary on it is a very risky thing to try on youtube... (so I wouldn't expect to see many of them around, if that's what you're into) Gaming videos are already on shaky ground with youtube's copyright policies, and if you aren't even adding any commentary or anything... Well, good luck keeping your account going... -_-

Anyway, I like the general concept of gaming videos (Not sure about let's plays as such. I usually won't sit through someone doing 70+ episodes of the same game either)

I don't know. Obviously, I like them. And obviously, I like the concept enough to try doing it myself.

And I understand why people watch them. A lot of the channels I've watched play games I didn't even know existed prior to watching a video on it.
And some people are just... Well, funny. At that point it's not really about the game.

Personally, I don't feel it's appropriate to do full playthoughs of newer games if they rely heavily on story. That just seems... Innapropriate.
Older games? Well, if a game is 5 years old (or more), spoilers should be less of an issue, and anyone really into that particular game would probably know it anyway...
So you're more likely to be doing it for entertainment alone, and less for the purposes of showing off the game...

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I find LP's boring almost always. The main reason why I check out a LP is to see if the game is good and if I should get it.

However, there are some exceptions. Why it's almost always more enjoyable to play the game than to watch is, some games have a creative aspect to it that allows LP's to be really enjoyable. When I was playing Minecraft regualrily few years ago, I really enjoyed watching Etho's Lab. After reading the thread I checked out on Youtube and he's still doing it and it seems like he still has his little crazy yet extremely awesome ideas.

For anyone who likes Minecraft, I suggest check his youtube channel. You will get some decent inspiration for what to build and if you're as creatively bankrupt as I am, you will find the creative enjoyment of Minecraft that you yourself couldn't make.

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

 

[Saetha]

Basically, I had a questions to all you fellow escapists out there. When you watch a let's play, and unvoiced dialogue appears onscreen, what do you prefer, The LPer read it, or just kinda leave it there for a couple seconds so the viewer can read it themselves. furthermore, in a completely unvoiced game, say, like a visual novel or RPG, would you like different voices for each character? or just previously mentioned options one and two? Thanks guys.

Ooh, and face-cam, for horror or otherwise, yay or nay? I personally find it atrocious but if it's what the people want, then whatevs

Has no one else answered this question yet? Umm...

Well, I'm obviously just one person, but I don't like face-cams in general for any LP. They're just distracting and take up too much of the screen, and don't offer much value beyond "Look, I can make a funny face!" which is... not terrifically entertaining. That being said, if you don't EVER use a face-cam or show your face or something, expect to have watchers demand you do. Like I said, Cry's my favorite LPer, and he refuses to show his face or give away his identity at all, but people pester him about it all the time. It's to the point where "face-cam" is a banned word in his Twitch chat.

As for dialouge... well, to go back to Cry (I'm sorry! I only keep up with three LPers and the other two are heavy editors who don't pay much attention to the game they're playing) he'll always voice the characters if there's unspoken dialogue in a game. But he's not a half-bad voice actor, and he's got a pretty nice voice to boot. But Cry doesn't really shoot for comedy, he just lets it happen, and most of his LPs have a calm atmosphere. I'm not sure a more... energetic LPer could really pull it off. *Shrug* Depends on how you play, I guess.

 

[veloper]

Most let's play are a total waste of time, so I don't bother with them usually.

Now a good video review of a game, that is not a puzzle game or some other game that may be spoiled by seeing it before playing, I may sometimes still look for, if I'm on the fence about getting some new game.
Even then I'll check Metacritic first and click a bunch of links to written reviews, because you can read dozen reviews by the time a let's-player gets round to the showing the important bits.

 

[garjian]

The vast, vast majority are garbage. The only LPers I consistently enjoy are slowbeef, Diabetus and to a lesser extent Jim Sterling's stuff.

I have watched some Game Grumps, more for the game than the people though... they irritate me, but they're bearable. They also LP a lot of games I never get to play, mostly Nintendo and local multiplayer-based games.
...
...
...and...
...I'm ashamed to admit... I do like Lewis & Simon from the Yogscast... They have good chemistry, so long as it's just the two of them, and I like to see what Minecraft mods can do, ok?

Generally, I'll only watch things I can't do myself...
My shite computer can struggle to run Minecraft with a lot of mods going, and it gets very boring on your own... and again because my PC sucks, Jim's theme of 'new releases on Steam' appeals.
Unless I'm really, really into something, I won't watch an LP if there's any chance I'll play it myself.