Need Help for a Variety Gaming Youtube Channel

[mfowler3000]

Not entirely sure if this is the right forum, but what the hell:

So I've been uploading on Youtube for a while now, and while I've gotten used to how Youtube works and what gets traffic to the channel, I still haven't learned the ins and outs of it just yet.

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BACK-STORY (QUESTIONS BELOW)

Right when Borderlands 2 came out I immediately started a series of guides known as "The Looter's Guide", covering multiple aspects of Borderlands 2 gameplay. This worked wonders for my channel, starting from 300 subscribers and then reaching 2.6k within 3-4 months. I've more than tripled my starting number of subscribers, and I'm thankful for what that series has done, but as Borderlands 2 gets more and more boring, I've been trying my best to get out of the game's trap on my channel.

Most people subscribed for that game, and most BL2 videos I upload get atleast 2,000 views, while my other content is lucky to reach 500 views.

I've decided that, because I cannot ever stick to one game for longer than 1 or 2 months, that a variety gaming channel would work best for me.

This is where the problem arises.

I've been trying for about a month now, uploading high quality variety content, and some irregular Borderlands 2 content (to try and ease those viewers into the change), but it doesn't seem to be working. In fact, because I haven't uploaded a Looter's Guide in almost a month, I saw my monthly views drop SIGNIFICANTLY, which caused me to cave in and make another one. What surprised me was the fact that right after the surge of subscribers and new viewers, my next 2 videos, got absolutely no attention what-so-ever.

Before this point, most non-BL2 content got atleast 300 views, usually 400-500. These 2 videos got less than 200. I was appalled!

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QUESTIONS

So I'm here to ask, as I've been looking everywhere and thinking constantly, what can I do to get rid of this now "curse"? I don't want to lose my subscribers, but at the same time, I don't want to keep "feeding" them this content that I DON'T want to do.

One of my questions is: How can I make a safe and sound switch, enough to make my Borderlands 2 viewers become familiar with the fact that I am no longer going to produce regular Borderlands 2 content.

I also need to ask: What kind of series can I come up with that will maintain variety on the channel and is high quality enough to replace the Looter's Guide? I'm not asking for guide quality though.

One of my ideas was a simple first impressions series, but that requires a catchy name for the series, and I'm also afraid of taking too many ideas from TotalBiscuit, who is actually one of my favorite Youtubers. If I get rid of the Looter's Guides, I won't have anything to advertise to forums, and will no longer be able to actively bring new viewers to the channel.

I'm also thinking that I need to project my personality a bit more, as that might pull viewers onto my videos whether or not it's a specific game being covered or not.

So, I apologize for such a long read, but this is seriously troubling to me, and I very much do need some brainstorming.

Thank you for any help you can think of! I'd greatly appreciate it!

 

[Corven]

It's sad to say but if part of your subscriber base is only interested in one piece of content you provide and you don't have the passion to create it anymore, then you should just cut your losses and wait for them to unsub.

Since you mentioned totalbiscuit, I'll use him as an example; when he stopped creating WoW content because he got sick of the game he most definitely had a significant drop in subcribers, but he stuck it out and went on to make content that he was interested rather than pander to his subscriber base and create content that he no longer cared for, this in turn led to more subs that were interested in a variety of subjects rather than a specific series (if you don't count terraria).


Also go ahead with the first impression series, you don't have to feel like you're ripping anyone off, totalbiscuit said on several occasions that he blatantly stole his first impression series idea from Giant Bomb's Quick Looks.

 

[mfowler3000]

It's sad to say but if part of your subscriber base is only interested in one piece of content you provide and you don't have the passion to create it anymore, then you should just cut your losses and wait for them to unsub.

Since you mentioned totalbiscuit, I'll use him as an example; when he stopped creating WoW content because he got sick of the game he most definitely had a significant drop in subcribers, but he stuck it out and went on to make content that he was interested rather than pander to his subscriber base and create content that he no longer cared for, this in turn led to more subs that were interested in a variety of subjects rather than a specific series (if you don't count terraria).


Also go ahead with the first impression series, you don't have to feel like you're ripping anyone off, totalbiscuit said on several occasions that he blatantly stole his first impression series idea from Giant Bomb's Quick Looks.

Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it.

As for the first impressions, I have absolutely no clue as to what to call it, but I also came up with a second series:

I'm not entirely sure if this is worth it or not, but it's interesting.
It's going to be called "A Critical Look At" where I essentially take a look back on a game I beat and talk about the negatives of the game.

I like it, it seems like it could help those interested in the game being critiqued get a different view on the game at hand, but at the same time I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to hurt the games, as it is not a full review, and is extremely one-sided.

I think Borderlands 2 would be perfect to start off that series

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well I would primarily just ask in your next Borderlands video what the people want to see (considering that is where most of them end up), I'm pretty sure they are looking for more of the same/similar and that those videos have something people come back to watch.
Also if you want to keep up a steady influx of viewers you should have some content on a regular schedule, so say every week people can rely on your channel having some content they like and is well worth a sub.

I can honestly tell you I do not subscribe to non regular channels, or those that have a bunch of non entertaining content (looking at you GiantBomb), it's not actually something I though about before but now that I'm looking at my list that is how things ended up.

 

[mfowler3000]

Well I would primarily just ask in your next Borderlands video what the people want to see (considering that is where most of them end up), I'm pretty sure they are looking for more of the same/similar and that those videos have something people come back to watch.
Also if you want to keep up a steady influx of viewers you should have some content on a regular schedule, so say every week people can rely on your channel having some content they like and is well worth a sub.

I can honestly tell you I do not subscribe to non regular channels, or those that have a bunch of non entertaining content (looking at you GiantBomb), it's not actually something I though about before but now that I'm looking at my list that is how things ended up.

That's the thing, I can upload garbage Borderlands 2 content if I wanted to and it would still get over 2,000 views.
I don't upload crap content, but as long as the video title consists of "Borderlands 2" people will click it, it doesn't matter much about the content at this point, because my other videos provide just as good quality of content.

As for the schedule, I usually upload 2-4 times per week, about a video every other day. I find that uploading daily is extremely difficult at this point, probably because most of my time has to be spent thinking of video ideas, maybe when I forge a series it will be easier. But my schedule is decent, the channel has new videos 50% of the time a person checks, if that person checks only once a day.

I'm really hoping these series ideas formulate into something, and then I hope it will be a decent enough replacement for the Looter's Guides for Borderlands 2.

 

[Legendairy314]

Many a youtubers have said that if you make content that you enjoy you'll be happier in the long run. You can please one specific audience if that's what you want but if it's time for you to branch out then do so. Subs will come and go but if you continue to do what you feel is right your videos will show it and a more general audience should arise.

 

[mfowler3000]

Many a youtubers have said that if you make content that you enjoy you'll be happier in the long run. You can please one specific audience if that's what you want but if it's time for you to branch out then do so. Subs will come and go but if you continue to do what you feel is right your videos will show it and a more general audience should arise.

I figured this, but at the same time, I don't want to end up starting these 2 series and slowly realize they have little value to external audiences.

It's hard to see if these 2 series have enough potential, and if I should revise a bit more.

I'm not sure the first impressions series would end up successful because TotalBiscuit seems to have that side of things covered very well.

I'm also not sure if this critical series will have enough value in the long run if a review covers the negatives anyways, I figured if I can go a bit more in-depth it would be interesting, but it's hard to tell.

Do you think these series will work on Youtube today? The gaming community is completely over-saturated, and when I did Borderlands 2, I definitely had the upper hand, but now I feel like I'm back to the beginning.

 

[OniaPL]

Snip

(Disclaimer: This is all just my personal opinion)

I took the liberty of quickly checking out 3 of your videos.

Borderlands 2: The Looter's Guide - Eridian Technology (E-Tech)
Scribblenauts Unlimited: First Look
Red Orchestra 2: A Highly Underlooked Game


I liked your Borderlands video the most. Mind you, I have never played Borderlands 2, but your knowledge about the subject and the way you explained it to me was interesting to me, as a viewer. Meanwhile, I felt like your first look at Scribblenauts didn't provide me either with entertainment through comedy, nor with any insightful commentary as you were just learning about the game yourself.
While your viewers may simply favor Borderlands, from what I saw (admittedly I do not have extensive knowledge about your channel or videos) there does seem to be a difference in quality between your Borderlands- related video and the two others.
If you were to release more videos such as the Borderlands- video about a variety of different games, I'd probably think about subscribing.

Also, I felt like you repeated yourself a tad bit too much at times, which made me lose interest at times.

I don't think there's anything else I can say that others haven't said already.

However, if you want to achieve more viewers, you need to come up with an answer to the question of "What can I offer that others can't?", because right now you are just another post Total Biscuit -era gaming commentator. If you want to be a variety gaming commentator, you need to weave all the videos you create into a web that covers gaming as a whole. Right now I feel like the videos I watched were just individual pieces.

 

[mfowler3000]

Snip

(Disclaimer: This is all just my personal opinion)

I took the liberty of quickly checking out 3 of your videos.

Borderlands 2: The Looter's Guide - Eridian Technology (E-Tech)
Scribblenauts Unlimited: First Look
Red Orchestra 2: A Highly Underlooked Game


I liked your Borderlands video the most. Mind you, I have never played Borderlands 2, but your knowledge about the subject and the way you explained it to me was interesting to me, as a viewer. Meanwhile, I felt like your first look at Scribblenauts didn't provide me either with entertainment through comedy, nor with any insightful commentary as you were just learning about the game yourself.
While your viewers may simply favor Borderlands, from what I saw (admittedly I do not have extensive knowledge about your channel or videos) there does seem to be a difference in quality between your Borderlands- related video and the two others.
If you were to release more videos such as the Borderlands- video about a variety of different games, I'd probably think about subscribing.

Also, I felt like you repeated yourself a tad bit too much at times, which made me lose interest at times.

I don't think there's anything else I can say that others haven't said already.

However, if you want to achieve more viewers, you need to come up with an answer to the question of "What can I offer that others can't?", because right now you are just another post Total Biscuit -era gaming commentator. If you want to be a variety gaming commentator, you need to weave all the videos you create into a web that covers gaming as a whole. Right now I feel like the videos I watched were just individual pieces.

I appreciate you taking the time to check out the videos, It definitely adds a different perspective to this whole situation.

Of those 3 videos, there is no doubt that the Looter's Guide would have a much higher level of quality, but I don't see myself always finding the time to make those guides, or something of guide-quality. Those are a huge time sink, and sometimes it feels like work. So looking at making guides as the main thing on this channel wouldn't be wise for me, as it can drain my creativity quite a lot.

As for the Scribblenauts video, I have to say, after uploading, I realized I didn't quite hit the point I was trying to make it in that video, I've actually been considering taking it down because it's not up to my standards.

When you said I repeated myself a bit, was that in the Red Orchestra 2 video or Scribblenauts? I felt pretty good about my Red Orchestra 2 video for the most part, but I'd love to hear a bit more about that if you found anything.

And you're completely right about this whole TotalBiscuit thing, I take WAY too much inspiration from him. It's annoying, but I really like what he does with his channel.

Essentially I just want to provide informative content about games. I really enjoy producing a high quality form of content that people will enjoy. Finding a specific niche is the difficult part.

Also, I have a random question: For those of you who know SideStrafe, how did he get to where he is now? I've looked around his channel a few times and all I see is essentially live-commentary of him playing games. I'm not hating on him, I'm just genuinely curious.

 

[OniaPL]

When you said I repeated myself a bit, was that in the Red Orchestra 2 video or Scribblenauts? I felt pretty good about my Red Orchestra 2 video for the most part, but I'd love to hear a bit more about that if you found anything.

And you're completely right about this whole TotalBiscuit thing, I take WAY too much inspiration from him. It's annoying, but I really like what he does with his channel.

Essentially I just want to provide informative content about games. I really enjoy producing a high quality form of content that people will enjoy. Finding a specific niche is the difficult part.

I meant both, but Red Orchestra in lesser part. I don't necessarily mean that you constantly talk about a subject matter you already covered (though some points you tend to repeat, such as remarking about the realism of Red Orchestra on multiple occasions), but that in terms of vocabulary you repeat yourself. For example, your primary response to anything is "Okay". When your only means of conveying who you are and what you think in your videos is your voice and your words, as a listener/watcher I feel slightly disengaged when the same pattern in your reactions and the words you use repeats. It may be just me since I've grown somewhat self-aware of it when I write my stories however.

Well, if your main goal is to provide informative content about games, think about the way you do that. For example, Egoraptor's Sequelitis- videos convey his opinions and thoughts about particular games, game mechanics or trends in game design; it is by nature informative. But he also uses comedy to a large extent to keep the audience engaged long enough to get them to hear him out. For a viewer, the major point of a 10-20 minute long video are the first 3 minutes. You need to captivate your audience somehow within that time limit to ensure that they stay around long enough to hear you out. If you don't, they might not stay around.
Of course, comedy is not the only way. You can try to convey a short, precise package of information in the start of the video to inform the viewer what the video is about, and why he should be interested. Extra Credits videos do this well: They present the subject, explain why it is important and how they will tackle it, before they proceed to the actual main chunk of the information about game design.

Last thing I forgot to mention in the first post: Consider cutting your videos down in length closer to 10-15 minutes. In modern society where all forms of entertainment are readily available at your leisure is a very competitive one, and for many just seeing that the video is 20 minutes long is offputting since it is an investment of time that they might not be willing to make straight out of the gate.
I don't know if the majority of your videos is as long as Red orchestra though. If this isn't the case, just ignore this point.

Sorry for possible typos, 2 am and I am off to sleep.

 

[Bad Jim]

I'd say there's just too much competition for first impressions videos, because anyone can make them, so virtually everyone does, so you're guaranteed obscurity unless you are really good at it like Totalbiscuit.

Making guides requires playing the game extensively and knowing your stuff, so popular Youtubers can only cover a limited number of games, so it is more likely that some people will be dissatisfied with the popular guides and stumble upon the ones you've been making.

If you want to play lots of different games, you have two options:

1) Make really, really good videos that I might want to click on in preference to say Totalbiscuit.

2) Cover indie games. Major channels do cover indie games, but there are loads and loads of indie games, and they cannot cover them all. The downside to this of course is that most indie games are shit. But the upside is that you may discover a diamond in the rough and get millions of hits. Amnesia: The Dark Descent came to popular attention through Youtube videos.

Of those 3 videos, there is no doubt that the Looter's Guide would have a much higher level of quality, but I don't see myself always finding the time to make those guides, or something of guide-quality. Those are a huge time sink, and sometimes it feels like work. So looking at making guides as the main thing on this channel wouldn't be wise for me, as it can drain my creativity quite a lot.

If you want popularity, there isn't really any substitute for hard work. Yes, it's a time sink, but watching boring, half assed videos is also a timesink.

 

[Libra]

I'm going to plug my favourite youtube channel here: Overhazard. She mostly does Nintendo and Sega games, and does full videos of every level. She also gives really insightful descriptions of the background of levels and characters. I very much advise checking that channel to see if you like her style.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Well, you don't have to only do playthroughs. There are other things you can do with videogames that would take less time. Take a look at the content from these guys. It might be just what you're looking for.

Peanut Butter Gamer
https://www.youtube.com/user/PeanutButterGamer

JonTron Show
https://www.youtube.com/user/JonTronShow

Egoraptor
https://www.youtube.com/user/egoraptor

Emcee Prophlt
https://www.youtube.com/user/EmceeProphIt

Some Call me "Johnny"
https://www.youtube.com/user/SomecallmeJohnny

Actually, Emcee Prophlt is right here on The Escapist, so you could talk to him about this stuff, if you'd like.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Overusedname

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

I don't mean to sound critical, but even a couple thousand views is peanuts on YouTube. It's nothing. Truth of the matter is that it's because you released something different on your channel that wasn't your regular stuff. That's exactly what happens. People subscribe to you for exactly one thing, so when you release something that isn't that one thing, you're going to find less and less people care.

Thing is, with YouTube, you're building multiple facets of your fanbase, in that a fraction with like one thing you do, another fraction will like the other thing you do, then you have those who like everything you do. It's a pie chart. An example is that I might have subscribed to someone because they made a Skyrim playthough, but all I watched is that one playthrough and nothing else because none of the other playthroughs interest me. So everytime he releases a video that isn't Skyrim related, I'll probably ignore. It's how the system works basically.

Essentially what I'm saying is that you're still in the building phase of your presence on YouTube. In the same way people came to you for Borderlands 2 content, people will come for the other content you put on your channel. You just need to keep moving forward to find your peaks and not be deterred by the inevitable valleys that cross your path.

 

[lRookiel]

Snip

Depends what other games you have.

You could do what game grumps do and ask people to send in video games to play. I'm sure a few of your subscribers would do that and you could get a great following by doing requests, the downside is that some of these games could be absolutely horrible. another option you have is to ask your fan base what they want you to play next. Listening to the fans is definitely your best bet.

(This is just my suggestion.)

 

[Pink Gregory]

:

I'm not entirely sure if this is worth it or not, but it's interesting.
It's going to be called "A Critical Look At" where I essentially take a look back on a game I beat and talk about the negatives of the game.

I like it, it seems like it could help those interested in the game being critiqued get a different view on the game at hand, but at the same time I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to hurt the games, as it is not a full review, and is extremely one-sided.

Thing is, if you only talk about the negative in the rather-in-vogue 'cynical' fashion, that's of no help to anyone but people that simply want to be confirmed in their beliefs about games they dislike.

'Critique' does not mean 'point out everything bad', otherwise there's no context. Make the positives equally important, don't approach everything with the old 'this is bad until it convinces me otherwise', because EVERYONE does that, and it gets grating unless you can do it well.

 

[mfowler3000]

:

I'm not entirely sure if this is worth it or not, but it's interesting.
It's going to be called "A Critical Look At" where I essentially take a look back on a game I beat and talk about the negatives of the game.

I like it, it seems like it could help those interested in the game being critiqued get a different view on the game at hand, but at the same time I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to hurt the games, as it is not a full review, and is extremely one-sided.

Thing is, if you only talk about the negative in the rather-in-vogue 'cynical' fashion, that's of no help to anyone but people that simply want to be confirmed in their beliefs about games they dislike.

'Critique' does not mean 'point out everything bad', otherwise there's no context. Make the positives equally important, don't approach everything with the old 'this is bad until it convinces me otherwise', because EVERYONE does that, and it gets grating unless you can do it well.

Well it was a series based around a popular game that I enjoyed enough to complete, but felt that pointing out what it did wrong and how it could have been made a better game as a result would have been interesting.

I understand Critique isn't inherently negative, but if I decided to point out the positives as well, then I essentially just made a very casual review, which isn't all that interesting.


Now I understand that Youtube is personality driven, but I find this hard to implement this knowledge into my videos. I feel pretty good about projecting my voice, it doesn't seem monotonous. Of course, I will have a little bias towards my own work, because it is my own creation, but I feel pretty confident with voice projection.

The problem I can then assume, is that I don't seem to include much of an interesting personality in my videos.

To those who watched some of my videos: I can only assume my personality isn't really unique or engrossing. Is it something that needs work? And what is your opinion on personalities for Youtube?

I'd really appreciate the help, because while good content is important, so is a unique personality. That's why everyone watches SeaNanners no matter what game he uploads. (I'm not saying i'm willing to change my personality, but I do feel that Youtube is a place for branding, and if a certain trait of my personality is unique enough, It might feel natural to expand upon it.)