Nintendo Creator's Program clarified why YouTubers worry me

Since high school, I have been reading/listening to/watching content from the constantly changing mix between enthusiast news outlet and occasional actual journalistic coverage of the video game industry, whether it's on the page or on a screen. Through it all I have known that it hasn't been around long enough to have the same prestige as something like a major newspaper, but it evolved from at least trying to gain some respect while the industry it covers grows alongside it.

Aside from the occasional bad choice on social media or overly reactionary opinion piece, I have always had a trust in the way that the major outlets keep to some form of basic news ethics. Not an unbreakable trust, but enough to know I'm not being taken advantage of as a reader. Reviews (aside from the period of time where AAA releases only ever got a 7-10) were something I knew would inform me that a game was well made and worth a purchase. The increased personal views that go into reviews now only helps me more to decide if the content of a game is up my alley. That may make their use as a "consumer tool" more complicated, but film reviews and criticism aren't really known to just be "consumer tools." I'm getting off topic though.

The rise of Let's Plays and YouTube streamers, who play and commentate on video games on the internet, who have sometimes hundreds of thousands of fans and subscribers, is still weird for me. I mean, I've been a member of Giant Bomb since it's creator worked for a different website, so I'm no stranger to being entertained by people commentate and play video games on camera. But the degree to which that specific aspect of this website took off alarms me a little as a fan of places like Gamespot, Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1up.com (before it exploded a few years ago). I trust that the people who work for those outlets have been in the trenches of large press events where they need to cover a game and the PR person won't give up anything, and that they have played a lot of video games good and bad, using that experience to judge a game for their review.

If it's sounding like I am just saying "WE SHOULD ALL BOW TO OUR VIDEOGAME JOURNALISM GODS," I am definitely not. I'm just trying to clearly acknowledge that ever since some teenagers were sneaking into CES to write about the tiny video games section, a foundation that has been built that, even if it's cracked and has been mended multiple times over the years. It's something that should be built onto and adjusted, instead of destroyed.

A good word that exemplifies where my trust comes from is something you know Jeff is looking for in the new News Editor for Giant Bomb: Credentials. Hopefully you know what that means but just so it's clear.

cre·den·tial

1. a qualification, achievement, personal quality, or aspect of a person's background, typically when used to indicate that they are suitable for something."recruitment is based mainly on academic credentials"

Right now the discussion about video games is very political, and everyone should be allowed to speak their mind. It's why the internet can be awesome. The potential problem I see developing is that single personalities like TotalBiscuit and PewDiePie, can basically form an army to fight for them when they come out with their opinion on an issue. They make their success and income as entertainers, but they aren't any kind of trained journalist or news reporter, just an internet personality who plays and talks about video games for an audience. They are perfectly allowed to have an opinion and speak it, I just don't trust their many fans to think enough for themselves before attacking any opposition like fire ants. If the two streamers I mentioned were it, then it would be no big deal, but there are A LOT of people making a job out of streaming their video game playing.

A cult of personality surrounding a celebrity is not a new thing, just look at twitter, but they are becoming so big within video games that large groups of people might be getting all their news filtered through one person. Being objective is a phrase that has a lot of baggage on gaming websites, but despite your opinion on it, I think we can all agree that most streamers have absolutely no obligation to stay objective in what they say. As we lose more news outlets and publications like Joystiq, the internet inches a little closer to being total anarchy with people just shouting at each other nonstop (we're mostly there already), but the increased impact that entertainers on YouTube have makes me fearful that the industry foundation that has been built up to this point will just erode into nothingness, and all we will have left is the writers we respect having to constantly ask us to "click here to subscribe to me on YouTube or Twitter" just before a Buzzfeed video about the top 10 boobs on reality TV autoplays.

P.S. I feel like I rambled a bit, what I was trying to get across was vague. I hope you get the gist of what I'm worried about. Also regardless of everything I just wrote, the Nintendo Creator's Program seems like a terrible idea nonetheless. It reminds me of how judiciously George Lucas shuts down fan content about Star Wars.

From what I can tell, your worry is that people are too stupid to not blindly follow the will of a person that they like. I can assure, that worry is very real and in many ways, what you are worried about is the cause of all bad things since the dawn of time.

Why do people attack these guys so much? Look sometimes they are dicks, but you know, I'm just jealous of PewDiePie. He loves his job and became his own boss on his own terms. As for his fans? Who cares, what are they supposed to do? Tell their fans to stop and think about what exactly?

Secondly, speaking as a (going to sound like a wanker here) university qualified journalist who has worked in the newspaper industry for over a decade a degree does not make you a good journalist and most old school reporters cut their teeth on doing news with zero qualifications. This idea that journalists are like doctors and they have to be qualified to work is bizarre.

Lastly, this is video games. I mean if it was a matter of reporting on the Iraq war or something yeah you want to know you can trust whoever's work you're reading. And truthfully I have a selection of gaming identities whose opinions I trust... I mean ethics in reporting should be expected from anyone reporting on any industry. But I think you're over-thinking this. It's just video games... it's not life and death stuff.

And Nintendo trying to control the message on YouTube is counter-productive for one thing (I mean it is free promotion after all) and won't work anyway. Fair use laws may be vague, but I think if they try and take this to court they'll lose. Or people just won't talk about Nintendo games as much and they can continue to enjoy third place.

I see your point about wanting better game coverage though. There's a lot of shit out there.

Dude, NOBODY does objective reviews. That's why reviews have bylines. Seriously, every review or stream is an opinion. News should be objective -- report the facts free from bullshit. But anything beyond that is subjective opinions. That's not just games writing -- that's movies, music, technology... you name it.

My advice is just follow the people's whose work you like, support them and let everyone else enjoy their chosen sources. The Internet is big enough for everyone surely, and with any luck the cream will rise to the top.

This is just my two cents of course...

I agree with you. I share your concerns. I await your command

All I can really say is: I know how you feel.

The foundations you speak of are built on the dessicated remains of Print Publications. What makes the current foundations so sacrosanct that they should be preserved?

Further, by what metric is credentials also not a loaded word in the context of games 'journalism'/writing? What credentials? Time? Popularity? Subjective Quality? How are any of GB's cohort more or less credentialed than Youtuber #6738775 to review Video Games, an entire artistic medium? Whose credentials are valid? Whose are invalid?

We're already there and have been there for years. The years of buying a random video game solely on your buddies recommendation because he bought it on a whim and thinks it's rad with no ulterior motives are mostly gone. The sheep mentality has been an a thing since the dawn of time like htr10 said and unfortunately too many folks become zealous believes far too easily.

Just worry about you and liking what you like. I got so much shit from my two best friends when I bought dying light at launch because they thought it sucked. One has put in about 20 hours and loves it while the other has accepted it's actually a good game.

I love Jeff but cool ranch Doritos are the best Doritos, pickles are fucking delicious, Yoshi's island games fucking blow, Waluigi is alright, MGS 1 and 3 are the good ones, Red Dead Redemption is incredible, Sunshine is the fourth best Mario game behind 64 , 3 and world being the best, and Destiny was the most disappointing game of 2014 but also one of the top three games of the year....

Just play whatever you find fun and enjoy your time, fuck whatever others think and ignore the bullshit. Oh and Hawk is the best Seiken Densetsu 3 character and don't let anyone tell you differently. :p

I'm well past the point where I'll ever buy a game based on any site or person's recommendation. Wasted too much money on perfect score games only to hate them.

This comment is depressing and funny.

@pandabear: @crembaw: I definitely understand what you are saying about a sliding scale for what is considered valid credentials, an ever changing medium based off print, and the fact that there's no such thing as an objective review. When I mentioned PewDiePie and TotalBiscuit I wasn't targeting my criticism specifically at those two individuals, I was talking about the ALL of them, all the people who are making or trying to start a career off reacting to video games on a livestream. I even looked around on youtube to see if there was any content that tried to inform its viewers of goings on in the industry, instead of nerve grating high pitched voices while they try to play P.T. There were a few that do actual video reviews in the way that Giant Bomb used to do them, so there was some decent production value there.

My main concern is that a lot of YouTube and Twitch streamers' content (and this is my opinion) hasn't risen above the level of Buzzfeed comedy sketches and Teens React videos, but some are trying to consider themselves journalists. TotalBiscuit is kind of an anomaly in this regard, in that he does do content about the game industry. I strongly disagree with his methods though.

I don't want to use the word because it's scorched earth at this point, but after YouKnowWhatGate (which is definitely not over, I think they are going to be the Darkspawn of the gaming parts of the internet), I feel like this type of video game coverage is trying to push its way to the front before it's had a chance to develop into the important thing it's devoted audience wants it to be.

And yes, I am aware this could not be more of a first world problem. I'm just trying to vent my concerns about the future.

One problem I have is that streamers and youtubers are making certain types of games popular on the sole basis that they play them and this is what has led to the burst of survival focused multiplayer games like DayZ, Rust, WarZ, H1Z1 and then single player focused survival games like 7 Days to Die, The Forest, Stranded Deep and other shit. It's made awful games like Five Nights at Freddies immensely popular, despite them being extremely basic, fairly shitty jump scare montages with no real game mechanics or interaction.

I definitely agree that the hive-mind bullshit is frightening, especially when it's something like the Xbox One's DRM thing, like every fuckin person on youtube who has a decent following was extremely vitriolic towards that whole thing and it would be stupid to say that it didn't play a large role in Microsoft reversing every damn decision they made and this really drove me nuts because any good thing that could have come of that stuff, better rights for digital content and things like that, are gone now because there was such immense and absurd backlash and all of that backlash was made worse by every popular youtube personality coming out and acting like it's the worst thing since Auschwitz.

Jeff himself does not have any journalistic education or background, he's 'just' a dude who loves videogames and have followed them pretty much since the beginning. In fact I think the only GB staff with anything resembling a academic background that can be useful as a writer is Brad and formerly Patrick.

Even in the case of Brad and Patrick their backgrounds do them little good in this specific field. Brad doesn't write very often because everything is going towards video and Patrick doesn't really do any journalism work because the way the industry works doesn't lend itself to free form writing - the news people at most gaming sites will for 95% of the time regurgitate press releases that are mailed to them by publishers/developers. In fact journalism itself is extremely useless in this industry because it's such a symbiotic relationship that you can't cross the lines that normal journalists do. You don't actually get "scoops" because you're usually under embargo. The idea that journalists are under embargo and won't break stories until they are neatly told when they can do so is ridiculous.

I agree with the sentiment that they are just guys. Almost everyone in the games coverage media is just a person that ended up there, likes games and talks about them. Some do it way better than others and some have better business practices than others. What really sets them apart from YouTubers is direct access to publishers and developers through the corporations they work for. Sony won't come to Angry Joe's apartment in order to personally demo their newest exclusives for him, but they will come to the GameSpot office and demo their games to someone not that much different. Also for better and worse YouTubers have no filter because there is no HR above them, or suits or people that make sure legalities are being met. So really it's the back-end that is the only differentiating factor between big news outlets and personal streamers.

As a fun example, I love Giantbomb and I've been a fan since day 1, but I don't play about 80% of the games they play and talk about. To me: I can't stand Destiny, Dota is uninteresting, CoD Whatever Warfare is not fun, Dying Light also boring, Far Cry 4 I couldn't play, Dragon Age 3: Nope, Shadow of Meh, and so on.

What I really hate about youtubers is how ridiculously annoying all of them are.

It's like a race to the bottom to have the shittiest personality.

And it only seems to get worse with time.

Either that, or I'm growing old.

@pandabear: I think Jim Sterling once did an objective review for a game as a way to point out how bad objective reviews are. The result was him telling people "there are graphics in this game. There is a way to control the character in this game" but not being able to expand on those statements because as soon as he would mention "the graphics are good" it's no longer objective.

@jesus_phish: Also, this: http://www.objectivegamereviews.com/category/reviews/

That's awesome. I hate this idea that reviews are anything other than the opinion of the person writing the review. It isn't a factual article, and like you said, if it was, it would say things like "the color blue is in this game." People throw around the term "objective review" when a game gets a score they don't agree with.

That's games media in general though and not just youtubers.

This is exactly what a quick look does as well. But hey, since it's GB, it's somehow an exception?

Also - written reviews are dying.

People need to accept that as a fact, and look for alternate resources accordingly. Now, YouTube playthroughs / Quick Looks serve pretty well in that aspect, but it's up to the audience to filter out the presenters' opinions and look at the game itself if they want to make a purchasing decision.

The whole "dude didn't like it, therefore he influences people who watch the game" is the audience's problem, not a concern for the guy who made the video.

@cmpltnoob: The enthusiasts don't give a shit about the youtubers; as I read recently, the editors who are shitting on them are probably just jealous that they didn't tap into that medium first.

Games "journalism" is a volatile business with outlets constantly shifting focuses or closing altogether (RIP Joystiq) with no real foundation. Hell, there aren't too many Jeff Gerstmann's in the world, who started hitting trade shows at 16 and has been around since. There aren't a whole lot of time tested and tenured video game editors, and there's a reason for that;

The medium isn't constant. Shit changes every day. Pewdiepie and TotalBiscuit probably won't be as relevant in a couple years' time. The ones that survive are the ones that can push the bar further forward, not rest comfortably and play catch-up.

As for your comments on influence, so what? You're mad that people are sheep and listen to whatever's being spoonfed to them? Cause that's been happening since the beginning of time, mate; a couple dudes on YouTube aren't to blame for that. Unless, of course, you're implying their opinions should be silenced so they can turn to more "reputable" outlets to tell them what to do?

Idk man, this whole rant seems petty and "they're taking away the things i love whyyyyy" and less "these guys are doing serious damage to the industry"

This hatred towards youtubers is idiotic in my opinion ... I much prefer to see soemone who actually enjoys a game and see his point as to why or really say why they hate the thing instead of the jaded boring "journalistic" opinions of the "established media". and no it is not an age thing , im 32 and I prefer youtubers than normal media (even more than giantbomb´s quick looks , Im sorry but Im tired of their lack in reading the instructions on screen , then to proceed to bash the game because they didnt saw the prompt.)

Also Giant Bomb only sees the big stuff in reality , not the smaller niche games unless it is a terrible train wreck like the the latest horror games Drew and Dan play. They need to cover more type of games their excuse of "its a dry season" no longer cuts it.

If people think reviews should be objective I think they need to go read the definition of the word "review". I can't tell you my opinion about something without being subjective, by definition a review is someones opinion and an opinion is subjective from the get go.

As for what you people call "youtubers" uh no. Most of you are wrong because you are judging as a group. I post videos on youtube. I would not be caught dead in the same room as Pewdiwhatever his name is. He is a kid who got lucky and is cashing in on people being really stupid. Youtube is not a job. Making videos of you playing "Happy Wheels" is not work. I am firmly of the opinion that in 20 years most of the people giving him hits and as a result money will one day look back at him and people like the lady who does unboxings of disney toys and think "Why the F*** did I watch this crap?". Just like people today look back at the 80's and think "Holy shit, did I really have that as a hair style?"

There are people in this world who deserve to be hated... loathed with every fibre of your being. Youtubers aren't them.

In fact, I would suggest that anyone who has a problem with, for example, PewDiePie should simply not view his content. This strategy has served me well for years, and I imagine will continue to serve far into the post-cyberpocalypse that will hopefully consume us all shortly.

Edit: just to clarify, I'm saying that while I would rather stab myself in the face repeatedly than watch any kind of video game-related YouTube content, I just don't put myself in the situation of having to choose.

That's pretty well put, I tend to agree with your worries, YouTube comments may be the vocal minority in most cases but I certainly does make me wonder if the average YouTube viewer is capable of rational thought.

I watch a fair bit of bodybuilding channels and have actually unsubscribed from channels who are veering in the direction of calling out other people because it rubs me the wrong way. It's often not only immature, it's also scary to see how many dipshits will hop onto the bandwagon of attacking someone else without actually talking the time to come to an informed opinion.

I think it should always be the responsibility of any of these "personalities" to make sure that they consider the ramifications of their words, especially if they're appealing to a younger more easily influenced crowd.

I know this is not necessarily in relation to video games directly but I feel like it's still valid.

I'm 22 (that seems old as fuck to a lot of people on the Internet now I guess) and I agree. None of the ones I have come across are remotely engaging or anything. It extra sucks when you just want footage with little to no talking at all just to see what happens in a game.

Thought it is true there are plenty of things going on in video games that Giant Bomb certainly never touches, which is too bad, but any Youtubers I have come across are not the way I like to experience that stuff.

The Giant Bomb duders are basically youtubers. They just have higher production quality and are less annoying. And even being annoying is not a requirement to be a popular youtuber, it's just strongly encouraged.

I don't watch any youtube gaming personalities myself, but I think it's neat that they exist. Tons and tons of different personalities to follow, many choices when it comes to how you want to get your gaming coverage. Different channels that focus on different genres / styles / delivery, retro channels, channels focused on politics, game mechanics, hardware, etc. Maybe a weak sentiment, since I don't watch any, but I think it's awesome that they exist.

I have no problem with YouTubers having the clout to hold huge influence in video games coverage. To be honest, many of them have about as much experience as today's batch of video game journalists/bloggers. I mean, have you read some of the opinions on a lot of gaming blogs? Some of those guys/gals have a writing skill that is nowhere even near acceptable for any kind of writing job. It seems like there aren't many people at all like the GiantBomb crew still covering games. For a lot of us, we don't even need GiantBomb or any other site covering games. All we need is to see press releases, trailers, events like E3 and gameplay demo's. I can pretty much tell exactly how good 95% of games are going to be before they comes out. The only role they seem to fill that you couldn't get anywhere else are getting inside stories on the industry or covering smaller studios and events.

I come to GiantBomb now to be entertained and following these guys since the Gamespot days is why I come here over YouTube personalities, but for the most part, I can get similar content from YouTubers if I wanted to. They don't have the experience of working at a gaming news site or a gaming section of a paper, but they also don't deliver content in a way that it would benefit them very much. I value some of their opinions more than traditional games media because you can see their experience on what they're covering for yourself.

As for the commenter army thing, I don't know exactly what point you're trying to make. A lot of gaming communities become a hive mind. Many YouTube personalities don't even allow comments anymore because of how awful the YouTube user base can be, but it's certainly not exclusive to YouTube. I don't think the cult of personality issue is a problem on their end either.

One thing I think we all need to realize as well is that gaming has expanded exponentially and not all consumers seeking video game coverage want or need the same thing anymore. A site like Gamespot and IGN are completely useless to some. Some people only care about one aspect of gaming. Just look at the PC market. YouTube provides the best coverage of PC games by far. There are some people now who only want PC coverage or who only want coverage of competitive games or who only want coverage of popular F2P games. Some of them don't even play AAA games anymore. The only place to get content exactly to their liking is YouTube because you can find the exact kind of coverage from a personality that you're looking for. And for whatever reason, there's a massive audience that can watch games being played in place of actually playing them. I don't understand it at all, but it's not really my business. It's another market catered to on YouTube.

So the problem is that celebrities have fans? Why do you care what some fan does? If some company wants to make a buck off of catering that kind of fandom, why should that bother you?

Because he wants to rant whether or not he actually has a point.

Giant bomb does exactly the same thing. They're just a team of guys who like games. Yeah, they have a history with reviews and stuff, but if you think they don't have an influence on their audience, you're straight up wrong.

And like I said before, the users are the ones who need to make decisions for themselves. Blaming this on the content creators is bullshit.

Totalbiscuit is more "professional" than virtually every game website out there, doesn't mean you have to like him or agree with him for it (though the army thing is definitely true).

@duncankeller: If I read the OP correctly, I do not think their concern is that such youtubers exist, but rather that viewers are not taking advantage of the many different channels that have different takes on different things. I think what they are expressing concern over is that people may just follow one personality, and therefor potentially not make fully informed decisions.

This exact feeling can also apply to Giant Bomb. They often have an opinion and then you'll see people on here, mimic them almost word for word.

They don't give out qualifications for opinions on games and that is all a review is. For every irritating asshole you see on youtube theres probably one on there you'd like and can relate to. I think a 'let's play' is the most creatively bankrupt form of game coverage, many would agree, except maybe the younger crowd. Thats all an ER is though.

I think they should push transparancy on youtube and give a heads up on marketing deals etc. But you could click on something like IGN and be told by one of their editorial team to "believe the hype". There are no credentials, just find a group/someone you trust, like we have with GB. Plus I think we're getting to a point where instead of the youtubers trying to compete with the big sites, but rather the other way around. GB and Jeff in particular are super smart and saw this a long time ago, hence the evolution of the quicklook and personality based stuff. They are already their own youtube.