Poll: The State Of Let's Play

[Skeleon]

(I for one shall always believe in Iron Chitlin.)

He did win that one race particularly magnificently.
You know, when he defeated Wheel Gator.

 

[JEBWrench]

I never liked them. And I doubt I ever will. Can't be bothered to watch someone ramble on. It's incredibly boring to me and most people try too hard to be funny. If I want to see what a game is like, I just search for a no commentary video.

If you want to see what a game is like, you might want to check out Total Biscuit(TotalHalibut) he does good first impressions and is really informative about a game, and it is way more interesting than looking at only gameplay.

I love LPs all of my favorite youtubers have atleast done one LP and all but two are dedicated letsplayers(wait would you count Crendor as a LPer? I dunno). I think the state of it is good right now. just watch who you like and don't watch who you don't like. Except me, you are going to be forced at gunpoint to watch me.

Or you could watch the high lord of LPs, Niggurath. (Iconoclast187 on youtube) He's the best so hard, and has the only watchable LP of Silent Hill 4 ever.

I think you spelled "Research Indicates" wrong. Trespasser LP über alles.

In all seriousness, I find it a civic duty when recommending LPs that someone mentions Trespasser, but to each his own.

EDIT (to avoid double-posting):

(I for one shall always believe in Iron Chitlin.)

He did win that one race particularly magnificently.
You know, when he defeated Wheel Gator.

No word of a lie, I love to watch that video when I'm feeling depressed. It's so damned uplifting.

 

[Terramax]

I've always disliked them. I hate them even.

99.9% of all people who do 'Lets Play's have absolutely nothing interesting to say. Worst of all, many of them have really, really annoying American accents.

 

[JEBWrench]

I never liked them. And I doubt I ever will. Can't be bothered to watch someone ramble on. It's incredibly boring to me and most people try too hard to be funny. If I want to see what a game is like, I just search for a no commentary video.

If you want to see what a game is like, you might want to check out Total Biscuit(TotalHalibut) he does good first impressions and is really informative about a game, and it is way more interesting than looking at only gameplay.

I love LPs all of my favorite youtubers have atleast done one LP and all but two are dedicated letsplayers(wait would you count Crendor as a LPer? I dunno). I think the state of it is good right now. just watch who you like and don't watch who you don't like. Except me, you are going to be forced at gunpoint to watch me.

Nah. No thanks. Not a fan of TotalBiscuit. Watched a few of his vids before. Didn't care for his style. He is informative, I'll give him that. I just do not like LPs in general. I'd almost say hate, but that's too strong of a word. I prefer reading about a game than listening to someone talk about it.

Just out of curiosity, have you watched informative LPs rather than humourous ones? Some people genuinely do put a lot of research and provide interesting information in their videos. I think it tends to provide another way to enjoy or experience games you might not have found the same way?

 

[The_Lost_King]

I never liked them. And I doubt I ever will. Can't be bothered to watch someone ramble on. It's incredibly boring to me and most people try too hard to be funny. If I want to see what a game is like, I just search for a no commentary video.

If you want to see what a game is like, you might want to check out Total Biscuit(TotalHalibut) he does good first impressions and is really informative about a game, and it is way more interesting than looking at only gameplay.

I love LPs all of my favorite youtubers have atleast done one LP and all but two are dedicated letsplayers(wait would you count Crendor as a LPer? I dunno). I think the state of it is good right now. just watch who you like and don't watch who you don't like. Except me, you are going to be forced at gunpoint to watch me.

Or you could watch the high lord of LPs, Niggurath. (Iconoclast187 on youtube) He's the best so hard, and has the only watchable LP of Silent Hill 4 ever.

I think I'll stick with Jingles and Jesse Cox and a lot of other TGS members. Also I don't like horror games/movies/books.

 

[Ghostbody]

There are many that I don't mind: Lotus Prince, Pushing Up Roses, Pat Matt & Woolie, and a few others but the overly yelling ones like Pewdipie and even Game Grumps just make me wonder why I watch them. But I still like reading ones by the likes of The Dark Id. Favorite by far.

 

[Headsprouter]

I think LP is okay, at the minute. I like CaptainSparklez in particular. Especially when he teams up with his buddies Mark and Nick. Ryan, too for Hunger Games.

I have contemplated Let's Play for a while, doubting my ability to entertain, willpower and general talent. Also what game(s) to play, and what program to use to film it.

Sometimes I Let's Play in my head, and it goes well. Of course, that's pretty meaningless. I've done one commentary on an interesting Minecraft glitch, and it went smoothly. Since then I created my new channel, though, deleting my old one.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Must admit I don't really watch LPs unless they're from people I follow for other reasons, for example Yahtzee or Graham and Paul. They're just not my thing, really.

For some reason though I do like watching livestreams of games, which can often be rather similar.

 

[rob_simple]

I mostly stick to what I know, so the only time I'm made aware of some of the less desirable aspects of Let's Play (i.e. Pewdiepie) is when a huge srs bizness shitstorm erupts.

As it stands, I love watching Achievement Hunter's Let's Plays because it's just a bunch of guys having fun playing games and getting pissed off at each other; I watch LtMkilla's (Rage Quit guy) LP's because I like his sense of humour and he's pretty good at what he plays; I watch Retsupurae because I like watching bad people fail horribly; and my favourite LP channel is Chip and Ironicus' because, in stuff like MGS, Chip is both really good at and really knowledgeable about the game.

They are also responsible for my favourite LP of all time:

Spoiler

"Good son, good! Kill more...More Geese!"

 

[SecondPrize]

I can't really get into them. Of the lps I've tried watching it's either someone trying too hard and coming up with some unfunny comment for everything that happens, or they insist on reading text aloud to me. I can read, thank you, and if I couldn't I wouldn't be able to leave a comment on your video complaining about how I didn't know what the text said.

 

[Awesomesauce123]

I enjoy watching a good few Let's Plays at the moment- as far as content goes, I have no problems with the state of things.

What pisses me off is the culture- That Slowbeef is a god, and to LP poorly is to dishonor His name. Retsupurae is pretty much the worst thing ever.

I have to agree, I enjoy Retsupurae and their normal let's plays, but it's really annoying how people treat slowbeef and Diabeetus like their these amazing revolutionary people when really they just dick around on the internet for fun.




Also, I'd like to say when I mentioned people monetize let's plays, I wasn't saying that as a particularly negative thing, as well as the other things, like other non gaming people doing gaming channels, I have no problem with people making money doing something they enjoy, I just wanted to point out the changes from when it was kinda just an internet forum thing.

 

[Mikeyfell]

There are lots of different types of Let's Plays.

Achievement Hunter style LP's that are hilarious.
Splitplaythrough style LP's that are no commentary perfect runs
GDQ style LP's or Speed Runs
Spoiler Warning Show style LP's where they academically break down the game stage by stage


And there are bad LP's too, but there are more than enough good ones
I think the state of LP's is pretty good

 

[Lewg999]

I dont have much of an opinion either way. Though I watch LP's and there are terrible , terrible ones as far as I'm concerned you dont have to pay attention to them , just let them be mocked by retsupurae ( which I enjoy a fair bit , their lets plays more so ). On the opposing side there are plenty of LPers out there who , In my opinion anyway , are genuinely entertaining or informative and sometimes both. Just a case of focusing on the positives in my opinion.

And because it seems standard I enjoy watching Nerd3 , Restsupurae lets plays and The Auzzie Gamer's lets plays of Hitman Blood Money and what he's done so far of Absolution

 

[Ashadowpie]

i enjoy lets plays without the person talking, but for flash games or indie scary indie games like Inside, or Slender then i like the small window of them when they freak out or be funny. its very entertaining.

Deadspace for example. im too chicken to play that awesome game and i perfer a no commentary lets play just so it makes me feel like im playing it, or at least "watching" the game as a movie or somthing.

most lets plays i watch just because im stuck in the game and i learn better by showing rather than telling.

 

[JEBWrench]

*snip* and my favourite LP channel is Chip and Ironicus' because, in stuff like MGS, Chip is both really good at and really knowledgeable about the game.

They are also responsible for my favourite LP of all time:

Spoiler

"Good son, good! Kill more...More Geese!"

What's really odd about ChipRonicus is watching, for example, the LEGO Star Wars LP; where Ironicus is the one who knows the game inside and out, and Chip is the one who knows next to nothing about the source material.

 

[rob_simple]

*snip* and my favourite LP channel is Chip and Ironicus' because, in stuff like MGS, Chip is both really good at and really knowledgeable about the game.

They are also responsible for my favourite LP of all time:

Spoiler

"Good son, good! Kill more...More Geese!"

What's really odd about ChipRonicus is watching, for example, the LEGO Star Wars LP; where Ironicus is the one who knows the game inside and out, and Chip is the one who knows next to nothing about the source material.

Yeah that's kind of what I like about them: whenever one's doing the serious stuff the other one just takes the piss but you know they're both capable LP'ers.

It sounds stupid, I guess, but I find LP's more enjoyable to watch when you know the guys doing them are skilled as well as funny.

 

[Awesomesauce123]

I tend to find them boring, but their existence doesn't hurt me.

I dislike Retsupurae though. It's not even remotely funny or entertaining. It's just "Wow, this guy sucks. Wow, really? Died on level one? This guy sucks." Just seems kind of mean spirited. But hey, the internet is an unnecessary meanness-based economy... Also, full disclosure, I've only seen one full episode and clips here and there.

I could understand where you're coming from, but I don't really think think Retsupurae is mean spirited. I think it's kinda just light teasing.

They're actually really nice, they apologized numerous times because one of the people they RPed was still getting death threats years later, and they take down videos if the creator asks them kindly. They're actually cool people.

 

[nvzboy]

Let's playing is currently in a position where every random person with recording software and a microphone is willing to put their footage on youtube. I had a friend wanting to start out posting LPs; he was like "yeah you have to check out my vids i'm getting better" and stuff. His vids were about the most lp-ed to death game ever: skyrim. He asked what i thought about it... I had a hard time explaining to him why he had to try something different without putting him off to the idea, I didn't want to be responsible for breaking a dream.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I really don't mind. For every annoying Tobuscus or PewDiePie, there's a Tetraninja or a Lotus Prince. You've got muggers and smirkers and users of various levels of humour, and then there's people who make the effort to bring something to the table.

It all comes down to personal preference. Do you want to watch Let's Plays for the lulz, or because you're itching to figure out how a particular someone who's got a specific approach to gaming happens to react to your favourite title? In either case, it's a fertile trend. Why do you think TJ Kirk started to cover games? It brings in views, and he can use his LP channel as a means to promote The Amazing Atheist. From a business point of view, it makes perfect sense.

 

[britishpanda]

I'm definitely coming from a heavily biased hipster mindset here but I prefer when LPs were regular people sharing games rather than this super-commercialized mainstream (sorry for using that word but it's appropriate) entertainment phase. I still stand by my opinion that NCS is one of the best, for the sole reason that he acts like a human being rather than a screaming manchild or a TV personality.

i agree, i used to watch his LPs a lot and i think the fact that he was hesitant to show his face made it feel more genuine - it wasnt all about him, it was about the game and he also did have some interesting things to say.

i dont think the standards of LPs are going down - you can still find good ones out there. the problem is a few immensely popular LPers - their LPs tend to not be for gamers so much as for anyone really, so they try harder to be funny and the games are generally less of a focus.

as a side note, i initially hated pewdiepie because i thought he was constantly putting on a stupid voice. when i found out he was swedish, i felt like a dick. heh