Support NeoGAF

[Ragnorok64]

...Other example: Two Best Friends Play. From time to time I put their video playing Demon's Souls. It's one of the greatest thing ever on the internet. Ok, so they improved bringing Woolie to be officially on the team, wich is awesome too. But now, even their small videos are getting just gameplays with next to no fun beteween the guys. Where is the emotion, man?...

I can only speak for the Super Best Friends as that's the only one of the examples I watch but if you're thinking bringing on Woolie is a recent thing you're crazy out of date. Plenty of their recent LPs are entertaining and engaging. Souls-game LPs are extremely long though so I couldn't imagine all of them are high energy. Watch the Sens Fortress boss and DLC parts of the Dark Souls LP.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I never really found people talking over gameplay exciting.

 

[OBias]

Maybe you should try more niche channels. I'm addicted to Greth's Starcraft vidreps lately.

 

[Mechanized]

When you turn gaming into a full-time job, it can show. But I have to disagree with 2BF. They are the best. A lot of the time I find if there's a lull it's actually just me being burnt out on content. I've watched so many videos by different youtubers over and over. It really helps if you're not using their videos as background noise. It's really easy to miss visual jokes and little things that way.

One example is Continue?. I must have watched all their videos at least 5 times and know them front to back. I was in a real rut just watching them and AVGN over and over and was bored as shit, then I found 2BFP and it got me completely out of that rut, and now I can watch and enjoy those videos again because I just needed something new.

It's definitely worth reaching out and finding new people to watch. It will refresh your interest in even stuff you've seen a hundred times. Just think about it, if you watched every episode of X Files like 5 times you'd probably want to watch a new show eventually. Maybe.

 

[Beartruck]

Gotta be super PG to get that ad money now so it's a race to the bland.

This ain't true for 2 best friends. Here's 2 recent podcast titles:
-CEO suicide montage
-Does australian horse semen taste like apples?

And then there's their old titles like:
-Who trashed my baby's grave?
-Crowdfund the fourth reich
-Miracle girls festival: Let me bear your child, stop me from burying your child.

Etc., etc.

 

[Dynasty]

For me Gaming Youtubers themselves havent got boring, i just got bored with them. I tend to look for gaming stuff more away from the mainstream now when lookin for something new, it is a good idea to have a mixture. look to the smaller youtubers they tend to have more faults than the bigger youtubers but they come across as being more real.

I also am now watching more political videos.
Destiny is a pefect example, he does video games but also gets into politics, I wanted to learn more about the trans issues and started watchin Contrapoints, Phillip Defranco, I used to watch him back in the days but found him abit immature, watchin his content since the election started it has matured alot.

In general watchin the same thing gets boring, important to always look for something new.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Well made documentary style videos never get boring for me. Stuff like gaming historian, DF Retro, Did You Know Gaming or (german) Dengeki Gamer are the channels I watch frequently.

I like Jim Sterling, Angry Joe and I still enjoy Angry Video Game Nerd.

I never watch Let's plays, Twitch or stuff like that. That was always boring for me because I prefer playing the games for myself.

 

[Gator86]

"How do you do, fellow kids, it's ya boy, Generic Asshole with a terrible voice, here to talk over gameplay that's actually the reason you're here in the first place. Here are some random, mostly incoherent thoughts that are wrong or completely pointless. I hope you liked this video. Definitely like and subscribe to my channel!"

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I never really found people talking over gameplay exciting.

it's decent background tv imho.

 

[purpleblastoise]

Super Best Friends Play is the only LP'ers I watch. I'm not enjoying their LA Noire LP because it just seems like a boring game. So self-serious, repetitive, bland characters/stories and boring gameplay. That's not a slight on them, but it leads me to watch less of their stuff.

 

[ehead]

The boys at Mega64 doesn't really upload videos regularly except for their podcast which I think is consistently great.

 

[Iriscomeback]

I think there is still good content out there. LGR for instance is consistently great. BlueMaxima is also still great for Vita owners.

AVGN has gotten a bit stale though.... That's one I stopped watching a little while ago.

 

[Transistor]

"Getting"?

Nah, most of them have been boring for a long time now. Easy Allies is the only channel I watch anymore

I think there is still good content out there. LGR for instance is consistently great. BlueMaxima is also still great for Vita owners.

AVGN has gotten a bit stale though.... That's one I stopped watching a little while ago.

His Sonic 06 episode was pretty damn good

 

[T.O.P]

I got bored of Funhaus wich is weird considering i love these guys so much

Nowadays i only care abour Mr.Clemps, Dunkey, RLM, Escapist has some fun playthroughs as well, and Harshly Critical (mostly because of what he plays rather than his yt persona)

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It's just you. They were always boring.

Though I think the influence of Twitch and the style of broadcasting it's popularized has probably made things worse.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Maybe its novelty is wearing off and it was actually always bland in the first place.

 

[TriangularDuck]

As far as LPesque things go, Monster Factory on Polygon is the best. Can't get enough of those sweet, sweet boys.

 

[lyrick]

They were never interesting.

That's my take too.

 

[Last Prime]

Lack of originality.

 

[kewlmyc]

I would agree with you on SBFP, but their recent output has been surprisingly strong. LA Noire and Omicron are some of the strongest content they've done in years. Nier was also good.

They best when doing either strong narrative games or hilariously shitty broken games.

 

[faridmon]

I don't think its you, because 90% of Youtubers are imitating and not innovating

But there some who keep it interesting and fresh from time to time

Really enjoyed CDM 1 month adventure ahead of Switch release for instance.

They were never interesting.

Seriously, I never got the appeal. I spend my time actually playing the games instead of watching someone else play.

Read the second bolded part.

Now read the first sentence

 

[Putosaure]

They always were. Maybe some went even more into the "top 5" type of videos, but it has always been like this. Just separate the great content like LGR and others, over the ocean of Let's Players who upload one video a day of screaming "gameplay".

 

[sasliquid]

Realising 99% of youtubers are shit is just part of growing up

 

[InStrangerAeons]

The problem has always been that content creators on YouTube are typically entertaining at one or two projects, max.

Once they become popular and see success, they start going "Wow, I can do all these things now!" and become hyper-motivated with everything but the thing that made them popular in the first place.

The main product then sees little attention because they're only doing it to pay the bills and to sell shirts with memes on them, then it becomes stale. Or, they go completely overboard on the main product and ruin the charm it had in the first place because the creators are under the delusion that they're auteurs (ex. Rooster Teeth's bastardization of Red vs. Blue).

It's the same ouroboros of garbage, which is why I've stopped bothering. It also doesn't help that most channels' target audience at this point are literal children.

 

[Azoor]

I follow those who make interesting gaming content, like critique or history recitation.

Let's plays? Not my thing.

 

[creatchee]

Easy Allies' Devolver E3 conference coverage ruined them for me. I can't watch them anymore without thinking about the smug little hipster shits they were during the show.

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

Even though I'm subbed to some gaming related and official channels, I've never been one to closely follow gaming personalities anyway. Their "buddies hanging out playing games" content was never that interesting to me.

 

[Gnome Scat]

The only good comedy based channels I can think of now are Dunkey, Cr1TiKaL, and Vinesauce Joel.

Monster Factory is amazing, but they're a series through Polygon versus a youtuber.

 

[Triforce141]

Youtube LP'ers that record gameplay first, commentate over it later are more entertaining and make better background noise as most of the time it's not them asking "where the hell do I go" or being forced to be silent to focus on the game (ChipCheezum and Chuggaconroy)

There are also the channels that provide straight forward info like Gaming Historian, Digital Foundry, Did You Know Gaming; My Life in Gaming

And review channels simply have to be entertaining for me like Classic Game Room

 

[SmokedMeat]

I can't say. I don't really follow Youtubers, and only use them for when I'm interested in a particular game. Mainly footage and for their thoughts. I'm not looking for them to entertain me.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Ah, you're not watching Funhaus. What a shame. Basically the only channel I watch related to gaming. Oh, and Criken.

 

[KingNoLife]

Your taste is evolving. It's time to hunt for new and different youtube channels.

To be fair, I never enjoyed any of the shows quoted by OP, and I have my fill with EZA, SuperBunnyHop and many other shows I enjoy right now. But I might get sick of those in a few years and follow different ones, that's part of the thing.

 

[JayEH]

A lot of them stopped doing what what made they made interesting and are getting too routine. I know Giant bomb isn't primarily a YouTube channel but they've really fallen off in recent years IMO. They used to do unique things like TANG but now they just do the occasional quick look, podcast, and a live stream you need to pay to watch. SBFP same thing. Before they all started doing this full time they had some fun stuff like fighterpedia or best friends brawl but now it's just LPs.

Easy Allies' Devolver E3 conference coverage ruined them for me. I can't watch them anymore without thinking about the smug little hipster shits they were during the show.

Seeing them act the way they were during that was weird. I say that as someone who wasn't even a big fan of that conference.

 

[kunonabi]

They've always been boring. The few i do watch are mostly just a means to learn about older obscure titles i never heard of and they keep the nonsense to a bare minimum.

 

[Fried Food]

To be clear, Twitch is where it's at now. Specifically DrDisrespect.

 

[Kalnos]

YouTube and Twitch (Justin.tv) got significantly worse once money was involved.

 

[Freshmaker]

I'm really not sure if they're loosing the touch or I'm getting too cranky and can't see the fun anymore with them.

How about you guys?

Probably just boils down to them having to do a consistent content feed which in turn rapidly makes something like that even if it's playing games into a full time job rather than simply a lark then do in their spare time.

Do anything frequently enough and you'll fall into some degree of tedium.

 

[ForkNetwork]

I've been transitioning from youtubers.
Abandoned Jontron and started watching Dunkey
Abandoned Game Theory ( ) and started watching Hbomberguy
Abandoned most lets players to start watching more of the best friends (I still love the podcast and Machinima videos)

Maybe you need to do the same

 

[Monkeyball]

It just means you arent 12 anymore.

 

[Spukc]

I think OP is just getting older

 

[Ivellios]

They were never interesting.

Seriously, I never got the appeal. I spend my time actually playing the games instead of watching someone else play.

Agreed, i only watch lets play to see some of the gameplay for 5 minutes to help me decide if a game is worth buying.

 

[Orochinagis]

I just simply avoid the ones who plaste their faces on the video description doing silly gestures.

 

[LinkSlayer64]

Watch Klyka and Helloween4545, two guys who do it just because they like doing it.

 

[Toe-Knee]

They were never interesting.

Seriously, I never got the appeal. I spend my time actually playing the games instead of watching someone else play.

This 100%

 

[blame space]

YouTube sucks

 

[shandy706]

They were never interesting.

Seriously, I never got the appeal. I spend my time actually playing the games instead of watching someone else play.

This..

..never found a singe youtube personality "interesting"...I don't get it. I don't watch "lets plays" or anything like that either. Never watch anything on Twitch...minus, I think, that fish that played a game. Haha

 

[Lucumo]

They were never interesting.

Seriously, I never got the appeal. I spend my time actually playing the games instead of watching someone else play.

I agree that Youtubers were never interesting. But watching someone else play and interacting with them and others live can be fun. I've been watching livestreams since 2009 and I still haven't grown tired of it.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

I imagine all these "you're just growing up" posters would be surprised at the viewership metrics for a lot of these channels.

 

[Salty Rice]

Most youtubers are garbage because they try to fit into the youtuber formula with how they act, cut their videos, their thumbnails etc.

Best youtubers are the ones who dont give a shit about that.

Expect nothing and get even less.

The Best Friends are truly the best.

 

[True Fire]

It's not even about growing up. YouTubers have been growing down. They all do the Markiplier or Pewdiepie voice and promote clickbait and sponsored content. You can see how tired they are from the 9 to 5 grind video curation has become. YouTube isn't fun anymore.