This really hits home. There was a period of time where I played games to review them and it was awful. I’ve taken a massive step back from that over the years and focus on playing for the fun and if I want to make a video afterwards, great… but no pressure! You nailed it here man. 💥
Thanks man ! It’s so easy to get caught up in the process ( which can certainly be fun from time to time) but it definitely shouldn’t be the only reason we play video games. These were always meant to be fun, and they keep us young.
As a casual YT content creator (unlikely ever to be monetised), I started playing Full Void, thought "I'm enjoying this", started afresh with a 20 min let's play and completed it off camera. I felt the game's title was deservedly put out there whilst not ruining the entire experience for others and gave me room to casually enjoy the ride without needless pressure. No regrets.
Yeah, and even if you aren’t to monetized channel, people definitely have other similar motivations, such as growing an audience, getting more views, or just trying to start a conversation with some like-minded individuals. I really need to continue playing full void. There are so many videos I wanted to watch of people who made videos about that. It looks really cool. It’s so nice when we don’t have pressure when playing a game.
Agree. I just beat God of War, Kena, and more and didn't talk at all about them on my channel. Gaming is my hobby and I share my hobby when I want to talk about something.
Great points PK! Yes, we need to remember that gaming is meant to be fun and not just a "Busman's Holiday". I'm not a content creator but regularly contribute to a gaming related FB group. I only post on things that I feel might be of interest to group members simply because I found it interesting. I don't post on every single gaming activity I'm up to and also take periods of time away from the group to recharge. Also, shout out to A Boy & His Dog RE who's doing great work and his companion channel A Boy & His Dog Presents where he embarks on a variety of very entertaining playthroughs :-) Keep up the awesome work!
Exactly! We really don’t need to share every single gaming activity we are up to , it often times can become a habit that we don’t always recognize. ABAHD:RE does such an incredible job ! I’m really digging some of his more conversational videos as well that he has been putting out lately.
Back in 1999 I spent over 5 years making a retro computer related web site. I did it for fun originally but then people expect more and more and before you know it you "can" have too much of a good thing and start to hate it. It still effects me now all these years later. Taking it easy at your own pace like your doing PK is the way to go. Some video game channels without mentioning names that are always busy every day you can feel the enthusiasm is not what it used to be, a shame as thats the RU-vid machine slowly grinding them down and only RU-vid wins at the end of the day. Do it for fun and in your sweet own time is the best way!
A retro computer website. Sounds like a lot of fun . It’s crazy how a simple hobby can spiral into something totally different . Yeah so many people grind out video after video and day in and day out , no wonder people lose their passion. Finding balance is so important.
Great take! I barely played anything for the past 6 months (Mario Wonder is the only game I’ve played since October) but it’s always for fun (or competition, which is fun also).
Thanks man! I’ve heard a lot of good things about Mario wonder. Playing games together always makes it more special whether it’s competitively or cooperatively for that matter.
I've started to stray from reviews to enjoy the games I love more. Unicorn Overlord is coming out and I am gonna record, but I'm not gonna think about what I want to review about it. I'm just gonna play and think about it later!
After I started streaming I have struggled playing a game when I am not streaming it. This month I broke the mold and have played games just to play. It has been so refreshing. I beat 5 games and that is huge for me. lol I hope to carry it forward and just play more games to play and not worrying about making sure I stream it.
I am a gamer first, not a reviewer first. I play games because I enjoy them, not because I am obligated to let people know what I think about them. Last year when you gave me that code for Silver Falls, the first thing I thought of was, I am going to review this.
I had the review mindset for a while. It's a whole different perspective. When you're playing just to play you think more like the targeted audience and see things a lot of reviewers /hardcore players probably overlooked or didn't find enjoyable
ppl pretty much buy/play games on youtube only cause of their youtube channel. Its annoying and thats why i say i wish you couldnt make money on youtube. If money was eliminated then u would have ppl make videos and play games because they WANT to lol
95% of people on RU-vid are not monetized , so technically most people on RU-vid are playing video games for free and not making money. Twitch on the other hand is another story. I do agree, though I think most people would continue to play games and just talk to themselves whether they were recording or not. I don’t think people play games they hate or anything , like nobody’s gonna play Barbies horse riding adventure because their audience tells them to( most people anyways). I think people still are gonna play what they know they will at least can somewhat enjoy, but RU-vid can have a negative influence on that, depending on the creator. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making money on RU-vid. With the exception of maybe the first two years people ALWAYS made money on RU-vid, now it’s just open to way more people. I just don’t think it should be the only reason to play video games. I don’t have an extreme opinion about it one way or the other. I just think there needs to be some kind of balance in peoples lives. PS: I think you are missing the larger point which is that people in many cases are ruining their own gaming experience by making content in general the money isn’t the real problem.
It does make a huge difference when playing a game with the intention of making a video about it apposed to 'just' playing a game. I totally agree, we should set aside some time for ourselves and do things we enjoy, which for many of us is gaming. In 'creator' mode you're constantly looking out for ways you can use what you come across and have a part of you that needs to keep overview, making it hard to fully get emerged. I would argue that the reverse can also be true though. Making reviews just from memory of how you remember a game, is usually a bad idea, leading to inaccuracies. Could still end in a strong video, but more on the lines of what a particular game meant to you and not so much a review of the game itself. So I find myself in complete agreement and yet barely ever do it myself. These days man, they just fit too few hours in 'm!
as you know, I'm a newer content creator, but I have thought about this quite a bit when I was considering starting my channel. I want to play games first and foremost for myself as a fan, and i think as long as I do that, I won't be led astray. After I finished the Excite Truck video for example, the first thing I wanted to do is play Excite Truck, and that was a great signal to me that I'm doing things the right way. But yeah, there are definitely games I'm playing right now but may not make content around. For example, I'm playing Ys Chronicles on the PSP, and it's SO awesome! But I don't necessarily think I'm going to make a video about it. Outside of the channel, I play in a band that's written and recorded a ton of songs. A lot of them have never seen the light of day and some of those unreleased tracks are my favorites. Sometimes its nice to have something to yourself or to create/play purely for the enjoyment of creation/playing.
Very well said . Yeah, it’s all about finding balance. That’s awesome that you play in a band. My wife teaches piano part-time. She’s quite good herself, and I try to encourage her to play piano for the sake of playing. No matter what we’re playing it can be so therapeutic just to do it for the hell of it.
@@PKInTheUniverse that's really cool! always wished I could play piano. and yeah, that's very true -- sometimes I get a little down and can't figure out why, and then usually I realize it's because I haven't played guitar enough 😅
Absolutely! It’s tough to get it out of the back of my mind as well . I’m really glad I could talk to you guys about Sherlock Holmes games on your podcast. It was fun having a beer with you guys and talking about games.
Gaming in general is one of the worst genres to pick, sure some of the channels get views and video games are popular but we’re all competing with tens of thousands of other channels talking about the same games There’s also the issue of gaming being one of the worst to monetise as so many games are 18+ and some games like Happy Wheels are games that cause RU-vid to automatically age restrict or demonetise even if only a clip is shown RU-vid needs to find a way to figure out how to make other genres more appealing
There’s a lot of people out there, making a lot of money on RU-vid gaming. But most people don’t know what the hell they’re doing. And they certainly don’t want to take the time to learn to even put themselves in a position to have a breakout moment. And I suppose you could say this about a lot of kind of content creation. There are certainly ones that are easier to break into than others.
