Vlogs, podcasts and our hobby on YouTube and their (lack of) quality.

[sundancer 42905xp 1]

So, please read the entire thing before answering. I know this is going to sound/read as me being picky or so but it’s something that bothers me a lot.

For a long time now I’ve been watching videos on the internet and listening to podcasts. And mostly those are English speaking. Myself being German usually you would expect that I’d like to listen/watch those things in German too, and I do, but it’s very hard to find descent quality.

What do I mean by this? Well, most podcasts and videos I’ve watched in the past 2 – 3 years are so bad in quality that it hurts my eyes and hears. And often it’s not the problem of equipment. Heck, I’ve just proven that a 25€ USB microphone can make a hell of a difference. But more often than not those channels/podcasters just seem to not care. Cameras are out of focus, lighting is non existent and even facts aren’t always checked but shrugged of with a “could be or not”.

If those content creators would all be just hobbyists who do it for fun in there spare time I wouldn’t mind it so much but there is more then one creator who tries to make some sort of money of it. And that’s when it starts to bug me. If someone expects me to hand over cash (either in any form of donation or affiliate link) I tend to expect a bit more than a hastily set up webcam.

A bad example:

But of  course there are German channels that do it very well, one of them being Tabletop Workshop. What I would like to know from the rest of the OTT/BoW family: am I to picky? Or are there just to many “wannabe creators” that flood the platforms?

All that being said if I find a new channel (and I don’t just mean new to me but someone who just started) I tend to be more “forgiving” and try to give constructive criticism. And as long as improvements are seen I stick to them. If their content interest me. So, what are your thoughts on this?

[seldon9 12954xp 1]

For me there’s far too much content out there to keep up with all of it. I used to have quite a few Infinity podcasts I regularly listened to but I’ve trimmed it back to two now. One of those I cherry pick episodes. Many of the other podcasts I listened to out of a false sense of a duty to support the game’s community. Likewise with youtube I just get a big list of content from creators I’ve subscribed to and watch the episodes that catch my eye. The stuff I do watch I frequently skip parts. I have no problem with this.

I may have misunderstood your point. Do you feel that you’re not helping some content creators get started by not sticking with them?

[sundancer 42905xp 1]

I guess my main question is really am I to picky or do other people too think that there is to much “low effort junk” on the table (to put it bluntly)

[flatbattery 8265xp 2]

I can sympathise with you there, while I won’t begrudge anybody from producing videos on Youtube or Podcasts on Podbean, Soundcloud, etc. I do draw the line if quality/content doesn’t improve over time, especially if they are gaining financially. With that said, those with a genuine passion for it do generally put in the effort.

There aren’t many I regularly follow as most seem to miss the mark on what I’m looking for, or more often than not they only cover GW which I only dip a toe in occasionally, so creates a filter all of it’s own.

Personally I believe it’s a requirement to be picky, otherwise standards would never improve. Eventually those that are only in it for the money will soon realise that the gaming community is far too passionate to appease with third rate content.

 

 

[Anonymous 0xp 3]

If you think you are picky, I don’t know how I would describe myself.  On stuff like a video or podcast you have a very limited time to catch my attention or I will flick on through.  Long winded introductions, disorganisation etc, I’m simply not watching it.  Being brutally honest, if I don’t like your accent or even the way you pronounce some words… nope, not watching or listening to that.    Length of video is very important to me – if it takes you 30 minutes to show me how to paint something, I’ll not watch it, which is why I prefer written content for certain things.

Production quality is important, but if the content is good, I can live with it.  Queen’s University have put up a couple of videos recently on how soldiers in medieval Ulster would have dressed.  The presenter seems very knowledgeable but they filmed outside in the wind…and the sound quality is terrible… still watched it as I was really interested in the topic and that type of content is like hen’s teeth.

We live in a free world, people can do what they like, post the content they like within the law and their own moral compass.  No-one is tying me to the bed and forcing me to watch stuff (I normally have to pay extra for that).  So if people produce stuff I don’t like or don’t enjoy, I don’t watch it.  There are videos on OTT i don’t watch or have turn off half way through or even earlier because they just aren’t for me but when you see the number of positive comments, people seem to like them.  No-one can cater for everyone’s tastes.

 

[seldon9 12954xp 1]

I don’t think you’re being too picky @sundancer. I watch a lot of painting videos but I’ve drawn the line at Twitch. Much of the time seems to be spent talking to subscribers as much as painting despite the artist often being very capable. Whatever works for you.

[blinky465 17027xp 1]

I think the problem is becoming more prevalent with more and more content users signing up for things like Patreon and the YouTube advertising programming. This encourages volume over quality.

Personally, I watch a few vloggers whose video is “poor quality” because I’m interested in the content (the guy who reports on his travels up and down the canals on his narrowboat springs to mind, because I’m currently quite wistful about no longer living on my own boat). There’s a difference between poor quality content and poor quality video.

Feel free to skip the ones you don’t like – but I know what you mean, there does seem to be an awful lot of dross out there.

[limburger 21673xp 0]

The thing with YouTube (and modern technology) is that the threshold to produce is practically zero, but it hasn’t reduced the skill needed to make something worth watching.

Add to this that whenever there is money to be made the content will shift towards what makes money as opposed to what makes good content.

We’ve seen this with Steam after Valve removed the barrier to entry.
We’ve seen this in app stores for mobile phones.
And we’re seeing this on any social media platform.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the good channels/youtubers have become ridiculously good.
They are on par with tv channels.

So the barrier to entry may be low, but the bar set by the top end is the same as that of a national tv channel.

Given the gazillion channels available I think we can and should be picky.
I don’t have time to waste on content that lacks basic quality control of output.
Never mind the content itself.

I must say that I haven’t dared to watch Dutch youtubers, because I just know that they will try to speak English with the most horrible accent you can think of.
And as for how horrible ? Think of an English person trying to speak German  …

Oh … and then there’s the native English speakers who like .. speak like … *eh* … you guys know like … *eh* what that is like, right you guys ?

So @sundancer I wouldn’t call it being picky.
I don’t even care if they monetize it or not.
Crappy content is crappy content.

This is what is possible when people make an effort :

 

[doctoretherParticipant 9166xp 0]

Speaking as a podcaster, and one which goes out for free (and makes zero ad revenue) It grinds my gears when other podcasters don’t edit their audio (noise, dead air) and are just generally unprofessional/ignorant/ill informed. DDR only puts out episodes when we have something new to say, and something new to review (we always find something for about 2 or so episodes a month), but it has to be good content.

Video is a higher bar to meet, and I would love to do more video at home, but it is much more effort to edit. And again that is the key. Edit…. just edit edit edit. Video filled up with childish banter does my head in.

Edit:

The extra thing that really gets my goat is the kickstarters and patreons for podcasts so they can buy apple this and that – errrm podcasts are not that intensive to edit, and the software is free.

[blinky465 17027xp 1]

The trouble is, “quality” is such a subjective metric to measure content by. There are some people who produce videos with really good audio and video quality, fancy graphics, fades and wipes etc. but the actual content is a bit…. meh. There are also a few people whose editing skills and even camera quality could do with sharpening up, but their videos are watchable because of the actual content.

Some people just have infectious personalities that make you want to watch (yes, Mel The Terrain Tutor, I’m looking at you). Even if  – in the early days – the performances weren’t very “polished” their personality and love of the subject shines through. Then I find there are some ‘tubers who produce really good visuals, impart loads of imformation, get light and audio levels just right – but are really difficult to watch, just because I can’t connect with them as a person (cough, cough, Kenny Butcher from Next Level Painting).

So with “quality” being so subjective – and the reason some of us find a ‘tuber fascinating to watch the very reason why so many other viewers switch off – it’s tricky to address; I guess we all like what we like. There is a lot of dross and a lot of amazing content out there. It’s quite possible that of the channels you say you find “low quality” some of us would love them!

Maybe, as a community, we could start a thread with favourite channels (if there isn’t one already) *and why* (a thread on haters would be infinity long, as we’d all probably have reasons to dislike something that someone else loves!)

 

[sundancer 42905xp 0]

Thanks for all the input guys. I really appreciate it. Makes me fell a little less grumpy, old and mean 😉

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