Poll: What do you look for in a Let's Play?

[JasonBurnout16]

Comedy is probably the first thing I look for. This is easier of course when there are two people playing as then you can get some good banter.

Also look for a newer game - if it's an old game, I'll just buy it myself, I wouldn't need to watch someone else play.

Also some good tips. At times I turn to Let's Play's instead of guides as the people usually know what they are doing. To that end, I don't want to see someone dying 5 times on one level, so the player must have a good grasp of the game also.

 

[Fijiman]

It really should be a combination of the those aspects. While comedy can be a major selling point of the more popular LPs, but the comedy should not be forced if at all possible.(it can help if you or your friend is a little crazy and tends to overreact sometimes) You should also make sure that you have semi-decent audio and video quality because it's really bad when you can make out what's on the screen or when the audio sounds like it went through a blender. As most of the others who have posted here have said, make sure your voice isn't going to annoy everyone that hears it(no squeaker voice) and that you don't just ramble on about random things while playing unless it's relevant to what you're doing. While you're commentating, facts about the game, its creators, or other related subjects can be nice(when mentioned at the right time) but are not necessary. It will probably help get more people to watch your Let's Play if you play a more popular/well known game, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

If you need to know more, just look at some of the more popular/funny LPers and take note of how they do it.

 

[C F]

If you're doing a video, then good recording and audio quality.
My rules of thumb for all Let's Plays: you need to be experienced, know a fair bit about the story, everything about the gameplay, and you need to try not to be obtrusive. By this, I mean you are but a humble presenter, and the game is the actual thing being showcased. Remember that.

Good humor is, as they say, icing on the cake. But only boring people eat a cake without icing.

 

[imnot]

Comedy, which is why i spent today watching this.

 

[woodaba]

All of these things, really. All of those elements are essential for a good LP, and to make a great one, you have to find the right balance.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I think some people are a bit confused between a 'walk-through' and a 'Let's Play'.

If I was looking for proper information, I'd watch a 'walk-through'. Walk-throughs are more about doing it the proper way, so you can gain an achievement or a higher percentage of the game played, or makes you aware of something you've missed,..or whatever. They tend to scrape every corner to give you the information you need. It's more of a 'guide' than anything. However, it can also have comedy; but the player tends to be quieter or not speak at all, so you wont miss dialogue and little tid-bits.

While a 'Let's Play' is usually watching a good-humoured/intereting person/persons play through a game on their terms. They might be thorough and you may be able to garner information from them that may be helpful, but you might get easily annoyed at the fact that they will probably skip a lot of things, and even talk over the characters in-game during a cutscene. It really depends on their play-style. I am usually looking for a good humored/interesting 'Let's Play', instead of a step-by-step guide.

I tend to look for a thorough and more serious 'walk-through' and comedic/interesting 'Let's Play'. Like Tobuscus playing Amnesia : Dark Descent. It's still his best work.

 

[GLo Jones]

Depending on the game, it can be nice for the LPer to think aloud. Tell us what you're planning, any ideas you might have, etc. It's nice to through that with you.

Also, the main thing that really get's tiring quickly is when the LPer keeps using the same word/phrase. I can understand that if your head's in the game, you probably aren't thinking about keeping your speech varied. But you'd be surprised how often people can either repeat themselves, or sound like they're repeating themselves simply because they're using the same language all the time.

 

[oddball250]

the number one thing i think a LP'er should have is a good voice, people dont want to listen to bad quality voices or strange accents they normal want to be able to understand what the person is saying

 

[PatrickXD]

I look for an experienced gamer who will draw parallels between the game being played and other games that they have played. I prefer it if they haven't played the game before, but only because of the tendency for people who have to drop spoilers without warning. Co-op let's plays can be good (See Giff and Guizz, or Shamus Young's let's plays) or they can be awful (too many to list).
For the most part, though, it's all about production quality. Good diction is a must, otherwise whats the point in the commentary, and the audio needs to be crisp, so not sounding like the mic is either in your mouth or outside of the room.

 

[The Heavy Metal Nerd]

A deal-breaker for me is if there's only one commentator. One commentator is just a guy rambling to himself, and it gets annoying FAST. Two or more people can have a discussion and bounce jokes and observations off each other.

It's even better if one of the commentators hasn't played this game before, so he can pose questions to the guy who has, that way, both he and the viewers can learn. In my opinion, that's a more natural way of informing viewers about the game than the players going 'BTW, this is this'

And this is probably a given, but a bit of an MST3K element never hurts either. ^w^

 

[pyrokin]

Thanks for responding everyone! I just thought I'd do something like this to better understand potential audiences and see if I should better myself and Let's Plays in the future. If you'd like to see my first Let's Play, you can message me. Hopefully I won't be too annoying because I was sick when I did it, and looking at the comments, thank god I didn't speak over characters like I said I would in one of the episodes

 

[M0rp43vs]

Personally I can stand a annoying voice, up to a certain limit of course. I put more emphasis on what they say during the LP and the charisma they put up. A nice observation, a well placed joke, maybe some funny raging during some teeth gnashingly difficult parts and I'll be alright to overlook any ineptitude or stupid mistake you make in the game(once again, within reason though).

Also, it would be a good idea to keep your ego in check unless you are doing it in that Over-the-top-not-supposed-to-take-seriously Jim Sterling way and even then watch out for those who don't get the joke. I think that's a nice way to get retsupraed.

In general, be pleasurable and enjoyable to listen to, and if not, make it a silent walkthrough.

Oh, and know how to play the game you're LP-ing and know when to edit out several failures unless you make several funny jokes and angrish noises to up the schadenfreude or if the failures are spectacular enough

 

[Malfy]

Comedy. You simply have to be fun to watch/listen to, and it can make up for everything else, aside from a really grainy video or horrible sound. Knowledge of easter eggs, tips, and other trivia related to the game also interest me (ala Chip and Ironicus' LPs)

You don't have to be the master of a game to have it be a good LP. I like the crew at FFStv, even though they're average at playing and knowing about the games beforehand, some of the fun can come from watching people experience things for the first time on camera, and their legit reactions.

As someone else mentioned, Co-op LPS are a good way to go. More than one person doing the LPing sets up opportunities for good commentary.

 

[Pearwood]

I don't really like video LPs, I think screenshot ones are much easier reading so the first thing I'd say is if you're doing anything besides an action game where you can't really show off combos or tactics any other way than by screenshot to consider that instead.

As for the person doing it, just don't be a dick. Be enthusiastic, have fun doing it. If you're not having fun with it how is anyone else going to have fun watching it? And make sure you showcase some of the less used parts of the game; using Pokemon as an example no one wants to see a LP where you use all legendaries but using stuff like venomoth and raticate that usually get ignored makes it better.

If you'd like to see my first Let's Play, you can message me.

Sure, send it me.

 

[omicron1]

In a Let's Play, I look for Shamus, Rutskarn, Mumbles, and Josh.

...No, really. They're the only group that's managed to hold my attention. It's amazing.

 

[The Pinray]

I prefer a non-grating voice that doesn't try too hard to be funny and is decent at the game. I also have to be interested in the game, but that's a no-brainer.

 

[Dr. Cakey]

One thing I simply cannot stand - and I think I'm in the minority on this - but in games without dubbing, please for the love of all that is good do not read the dialog.

 

[DoPo]

I'm looking for comedy. I'll go over the other options as to why not:

Experienced Players - well experienced in the game itself is not essential but at least they should know how to play games. I don't want them getting stuck somewhere for too long.

Information on game - I already have the whole internet for that. I may watch a brief part of a LP to see the gameplay (as the trailers are seriously lacking there) but not more than 1-2 minutes. And I'll be skipping through the clip.

Review-like play - Again, I already have the whole Internet. Reviews are a non-issue for me. And I don't feel like sitting through a really long one that has a game as background and is losing focus all the time (let's face it - the game will be distracting). However, I will be fine if the review had a large dose of humour in it. I would still watch it for the humour, though, the review will not be a deciding factor.

A good game - Not important. A bad game (or one I don't like) can be just as enjoyable to watch as a good one. Maybe even more so, if because the bad parts give more opportunities to say funny stuff.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

I'm pretty judgmental when it comes to Let's Plays. Having seen it done by the guys who started the whole thing really makes you see the flaws in the bad ones. If someone is just spouting memes or catchphrases, spends a whole video making zero progress, treats his Let's Play like a goddamn blog, or does a Blind Let's Play (which I absolutely hate), then that person has failed at that Let's Play.

I say you had better know what you're talking about. You should be informative and know the game you're playing. I'm not saying you have to have been on the Dev team of the game, but you better know that game in and out BEFORE you start recording. Nothing irritates me more in a Let's Play when I see some asshole spend 10 minutes talking to his computer and asking what their supposed to do. If you want to see the "rules" of Let's Plays, look no farther than the Retsupurae guys, Slowbeef INVENTED Let's Plays, so I hold everyone else to THAT bar. And almost everyone decides to limbo under it instead of trying to surpass it.

 

[Snotnarok]

Good voice, good mic, not saying spoilers constantly or bad jokes.