TotalBiscuit's very strange behavior in this Vlog video....

[theultimateend]

How long have you been watching TB for? This is his personality. He's a prickly guy. He takes criticism...or perceived criticism...to heart, and tends to lash out in response.

I do too.

I usually apologize once I've distanced myself from the incident but I get very passionate about what I do.

I feel like he's passionate about it and he found something he was proud of and nobody seemed to like it. That can be a tough pill to swallow.

TB complains about his subscriber's over zealous fanboy-ism yet whines when his videos don't get enough views. I really cannot stand him anymore, I used to be a fan, I really did, until his crusade on FOV. I tried getting back into his videos with his The War Z video, but of course 5 minutes in he complains about the FOV. In all honesty, this is how he always acts.

I only recently started watching but I really liked his PAX East stuff. He was very understanding and positive to these people. A lot of folks are hyper critical about games at every stage of development and it is nice to see people giving them a chance to show their work and try.

NOT for everyone I'm sure, but I was one of the few that was enjoying myself. Even gonna buy a few of the games (like the block co-op game).

 

[Xdeser2]

Whats my opinion on this? His money is being threatened.

He's always been pretty open with his fanbase, He's not pretending like the money dosen't matter to him. He's admitted that his channel is analytic based. And, while the money isnt the sole reason why he does this, he wants to get the most bang for his time spent. To me, he's just trying to understand what he did wrong.

 

[theultimateend]

Whats my opinion on this? His money is being threatened.

He's always been pretty open with his fanbase, He's not pretending like the money dosen't matter to him. He's admitted that his channel is analytic based. And, while the money isnt the sole reason why he does this, he wants to get the most bang for his time spent. To me, he's just trying to understand what he did wrong.

Yep. It was a bit too long but I watched the first 10 minutes of it and thought he was asking good questions.

He spoke to us like we ALWAYS MUST all his videos must have 100.000+ views to feel "secure", and if he don't see these high numbers, it is our fault for his low views and we must feel guilty about this!

I assume this came later than the 10 minute mark >.>.

 

[wulf3n]

it is our fault for his low views and we must feel guilty about this!

Now I haven't watched the entire video yet, however I've seen none of this. Most of his language is "what have I done wrong", "What could I do to make you more interested.

edit:
And his desire for not wanting to speculate as to what might be the cause and/or change things to what he thinks his viewers want, instead actually asking what his viewers want is respectable. The games industry could learn from this approach.

 

[alik44]

i will be honest if your new to watching (or listening) to TB he can be something of an acquired taste. his personality and mannerism can be off putting be cause he seems to think that he's always in the right and most of time his opinion are correct but then their are the cases his opinions are not as popular and he strongly takes offense to some people who go against them. but to be honest you get use to him.

 

[Loop Stricken]

...and if he don't see these high numbers, it is our fault for his low views ...

Well, it is. If we're not watching the videos, who will? Sentient trees?
As he himself said in that same video, this is his job. If people don't watch his videos, he doesn't get paid. Asking his viewers why these particular videos were so unsuccessful just seems to be practical business sense.

 

[00slash00]

he spent a ton of money bringing you (his viewers) convention content and didnt get much of it back. i dont get why youre taking it so personally. the vlog was simply "people havent been watching the new content and id like to know what i can do to prevent that from happening in the future." it seems perfectly reasonable to me and certainly not the middle finger to his fanbase that you seem to be making it out to be

 

[Loop Stricken]

... apart from the odd WTF I go there for his content patch and lately he has been too sporadic with that show so I stopped checking on his channel daily until he puts more. I have watched expos in the past but there was more content patches at the time to keep me visiting the channel.

He really should get a co star to help out presenting the channel that or clone himself .

I don't know if you watched the entire Vlog video, but he did explain that to cover all of PAX East, they brought along the guy who actually puts together the Content Patch videos, so he couldn't be at work making them because... he wasn't there.

If he's thinking of it like a job, hello, I didn't get any work done over easter 'cos all my clients are closed.

He is, because it is.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Strange behaviour? Dude, this is how he makes money. If people aren't watching the videos he doesn't make money. It's in his best interests to make a video about less than usual views to see what's up.

 

[deth2munkies]

"Hi, this is how my business works, but we're having a problem, what would you guys like us to do?"

That's pretty much exactly what the video said. If you felt like he was lashing out at you, get skin more than a micron thick then come back to the internet.

 

[GAunderrated]

What do I think?

Never seen one of this guy's videos before. Just got done watching the video you posted. Not going to start watching this guy any time soon.

This is why I hate it when people like OP intentionally miss the point of his video in order to spread hate and misinformation to gullible people such as yourself who base an entire person's worth off one little thing.

The guy did something that he thought his fans would really like, it ended up flopping, he asked for honest feedback (which is rare) because it is his job. However, because OP phrased it like he needs to be secure when it OP's reaction really feels insecure.

If I saw my paycheck drop in half during one week you would bet I would ask the same question. I would freely admit that I believe the video was in poor taste, but people's reaction to him just asking that simple question is the real disgusting part.

 

[axlryder]

I watched the first ten minutes and I saw nothing strange. OP sounds like he's horribly misconstruing what TB said. TB simply said it's a big investment to go to these and he wants to know why people aren't interested in them and if they should continue.
He seemed a little disappointed, but hardly how you made him sound OP. Maybe his tone shifts later in the video, but I don't feel like wasting that much time. I'm not even a big fan of TB either.

 

[IronMit]

I can't be bothered to watch that vlog...but what I do know is;

He made a massive video about not taking requests. Then he blocked a few people for making jokes about it. Then he disabled upvoting/downvoting comments.

I find a great thing about youtube & a lot of websites can be the upvoting of comments...you can immediately see what the general consensus and reaction is too the authors viewpoints. Take that away and you're left with a wall of text. So when all other channels provide this service and TB doesn't some people might not event click the link anymore.

He can do what he wants, it's his channel but maybe some viewers have been turned off? Felt his channel is no longer relevant to them. Or my understanding is people view his relevant videos during steam sales or a big release (that is also released on steam). Are Pax games on steam yet? No.

 

[Windcaler]

I didnt see anything off. Im not sure about others but with it being easter I wasnt really around. Easters a religious holiday for me so I always like to take that time to be with family and friends. We had a huge BBQ at my place and even the neighbors I dont know to well came by. I'll watch all the PAX stuff later but I was to busy to watch it when it came out

 

[SweetShark]

So TotalBiscuit loaded a new Vlog video talking about the new videos took from PAX2013. See it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbEzlKZZGZg

To be quick about this video, TotalBiscuit openly said he just created this video to just to say to the viewers he is very disappointed that don't have a lot of views in these specific videos about the PAX's Videogames like Battleblock Theater, Apotheon, Divekick,etc.

Totalbiscuit said many correct things in the video, but I must say he was very........"serious" and "aggressive" about this subject.
Even if TB told the reasons why he is disappointed and asked help to understand what kind of videos must make in the future to have more views, but the way he express himself about his problem made a little angry I must say....
He spoke to us like we ALWAYS MUST all his videos must have 100.000+ views to feel "secure", and if he don't see these high numbers, it is our fault for his low views and we must feel guilty about this!

I must say I am a big fan of TB, but this strange behavior just made me curious why he think like this...

What do you think about that?

I think you can take his question as an honest question rather than criticism. His job is to provide us with things we like watching and he's provided us with a load of stuff that he thought we'd like and for some reason it doesn't seem like that happened. So he's wondering if people don't like it and he should stop doing it and explaining why he wants to know

Indeed, that why I said I acknowledge his problem he have for the future. I understand that he needed a lot of money to go to PAx and much more if he want to go to E3 this year and he must make sure if he have views from his effort.

However the way he ask for help is for me....obscure. The way he said that we are just watching his videos so he can make more money, seems strange. And I know he need us to be more succesful and still have this job he doing, but did you ever see other reviewer like him to say that?

Of course maybe I overeacting about this whole thing [and yes, I believe I do], but this Vlog leave me a bad taste...

 

[Ickorus]

What do I think?

Never seen one of this guy's videos before. Just got done watching the video you posted. Not going to start watching this guy any time soon.

This is why I hate it when people like OP intentionally miss the point of his video in order to spread hate and misinformation to gullible people such as yourself who base an entire person's worth off one little thing.

Much like TB did with his little Defiance video?

That is, complaining like fuck about AI whilst in the tutorial, giving his viewers a false sense of the quality of the game because the devs intentionally made the enemies in that area braindead because they're hoping to entice the viewers of the TV series who may not be big time gamers to play and want to ease them into the game gently.

The game actually gets a lot tougher and the AI a lot better later on, the only valid complain in that whole video was that the options menu could be better for PC.

OT: Way back when I watched all of his videos and then he went into it full time and I was OK with that, and then he threw his first tantrum and I was a bit put off but recovered and then he started getting very elitist and threw more tantrums and I was put off and my interest in his videos dwindled rather sharply from there to the point that I'd only watch his videos if the game was one I wasn't totally sold on but liked the look of.

I won't deny it, his WTF videos are helpful but his personality is very grating to me.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Not sure we watched the same video but ok if that's your opinion on it.

 

[Ironside]

Never really understood Total Biscuit's appeal, or how he got so big in the first place. I mean, having seen his videos, he doesn't seem to offer any more or greater insight into gaming than your average Escapist user, his reviews don't tend to stand out all that much or seem to offer particular noteworthy critique... if he's complaining about not having hundreds of thousands of views, I'd respond by asking how did he get hundreds of thousands of views in the first place?

When did he start doing reviews? I' ve watched him for a while and i have yet to see him do one. I imagine people watch him, because he gives a good idea of whether a game is worth there time or not - especially for pc gamers. I like Yahtzee and Jim as well, but there videos on the escapist at least cant really be used to help you decide whether or not to buy a game.

As for the OP I am failing to understand why you find his behaviour strange in the video. Thats how he always acts and it is his job after all - you cant really blame him for trying to find out what people want to see on his channel especially since he just spent £10, 000 on new equipment to obtain the footage. I personally didnt bother watching the convention stuff, so if this video leads to him doing less in the future that would be fine with me.

 

[wolf thing]

this is his job, this is how he makes his money, not like other youtubers who do it as a hobbie this is all he does to earn a living. and he spent a lot of money on going to pax and with the low viewer count probably made a loss on it. so he has every right to be upset and he made that video to ask why there was so few viewers.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Maybe he could start doing requests? Oh wait, he doesn't want to pander to the desires of his fanbase or read their comments. That said, this video didn't seem to blame the viewers (or lack of them) at all so I'm not seeing where the OP is coming from.