As of now I have made 15 episodes of my let's play and I have found it very helpful in helping me finish games. But as I have been ask by a few people how do you talk and not be self-conscious. Now for me that is easy I no self control and I don't care what people think about me. But I must admit that not all people are like me so here are 3 steps to try to help you over come your Stage fright. 
  
 Step 1: Just get your self talking 
Now for some this might be the hardest step just start by saying what ever comes in to your mind. Like I think this dude is going to try to kill me to this car is really handles poorly. Literary I mean anything a song a bad joke it dose not mater as long as you are talking  
 
Step 2: Just be your self 
One of the worst things you could do is try to adopat a persona that is not you or very unconvincing. Don't worry about what people will think just be you self and most importantly, have fun. 
 
Step 3: Take it slow  
Start of small with some thing simple and show it to people that will give you good helpful advice. Don't jump in head first you might just smash you head open. 
   
Step 4: Don't let you psych your self out  
Remember that video games are supposed to be fun you can record any thing if you are always worrying about weather people will like it. Remember it is the internet no mater what you will always fined some one who thinks you are the best thing since sliced bread. 
 
Step 5: Have fun 
Now this might sound like the easiest step but it is harder than you think. You have to try to have fun even when you have died for the 15th time. Remember that if you are not having fun nether will the people watching it.
 
Hopefully this will help some one overcome there Stage fright. This bears repeating HAVE FUN!  
 
  If you are interested  My Youtube Channel
 
P.S. I am going to one of these every couple days what would you like me to talk about next. 

Alright, sure. It's fairly obvious that if one wants to do a let's play, one has to not be totally self conscious. Nonetheless, I have an idea for your next installment of these: How do I make my Let's Play not totally boring? It's easy to give aimless commentary or be a self-indulgent prick. It's much harder to make the act of watching a game interesting or informative. There are lots of bad LPs out there, and while I haven't watched yours, I suggest you ask yourself "Is mine boring?"

I'd recommend doing a game you know a lot about, since that means you'll have a lot to talk about. Also, I'd say that some of this is easier said than done, since it's easy to psych the shit out of yourself, blanking your mind of everything you wanted to say. Besides, even if you say everything you want to say, there's a good chance that you won't fill ten minutes with "this is like that one episode of Adventure Time, only with more anime characters" or "these people are leaping twenty feet in the air."

You make a lot of valid points, man. The first thing I learned about making LPs is that there will be people on the internet who think anything is funny. I considered myself to be absolutely awful at Let's Plays and made super lame jokes consistently but still ended up with ~150 subscribers just for doing one series on The Path.

Great idea for a thread. 
 
Check out my list to see what let's plays I like.

" How do I make my Let's Play not totally boring?"

Personally I think it's silly to make these things, doubly so if you talk over them since then people can't just use it as a means to watch a game they wanted to play but for whatever reason never will, but I understand the appeal in doing them as a hobby.  
 
The way I would get over the afraid of talking bit is to imagine you are talking to someone sitting in front of you. Try to think about the kind of things someone might ask you and talk about that as things happen. Or find a partner to play off of when possible.

I hate taking to myself, but hell, I try anyway, I don't care if they suck. If I keep doing it, I'll get better.

" I hate taking to myself, but hell, I try anyway, I don't care if they suck. If I keep doing it, I'll get better. "

" @CL60 said:

" I hate taking to myself, but hell, I try anyway, I don't care if they suck. If I keep doing it, I'll get better. "

You actually record Let's Plays? I just fantasize about it while saying random shit while I play a game. I can't help it; I know that nobody's listening, but I still say random shit. "

" I hate taking to myself, but hell, I try anyway, I don't care if they suck. If I keep doing it, I'll get better. "

 "I feel like I would run out of things to say in a Let's Play, or I'd just procrastinate recording them so much that I'd never end up beating the game. "

" @CL60 said:

" I hate taking to myself, but hell, I try anyway, I don't care if they suck. If I keep doing it, I'll get better. "

That is exactly what I was trying to do with this post. Get people to try just try and the do and keep doing and eventually becoming great at it. Also let me know when you make your first video I will be your first sub. "

" @CL60: Quit beings so hard on your self you will never get any thing done if all you do is think every thing you do sucks. "

• What equipment to use to get started and also how/when to video edit your footage? A lot of youtube let's plays fail instantly on these two things and even if they're good at talking it can't save their LP from being close to unwatchable.
• Give an example of a good and bad let's play and give points why. 
• Give advice on deciding whether to do a LP blind or not.
• Give a few examples of the different approaches and styles LPers can use to keep the viewer interested.    
• Show people that it takes practice to become a good LPer. Maybe pick a LPer's first and latest LP and talk about how they've improved.

Some more thoughts from an LP watcher:
 

• Don't be annoying, loud, obnoxious, or overtly obscene.
• NEVER talk over cutscenes/voice acting. Game dialogue is more important than your commentary.
• Play at a normal pace. Don't speedrun or go super-slowly. It's nice watching how other people realistically play games, solving puzzles instantaneously (because you already know the solution) isn't fun to watch. It is fun to watch someone work their way through a puzzle.
• Give an idea of what's going on in your mind - what are you thinking? why are you doing what you're doing? how do you feel? etc...
• Play blind - if possible. Canned reactions are cringe-worthy. Also, playing blind is especially important in a horror or comedy game. It's interesting to see genuine reactions of others, and horror/comedy cannot elicit the same response if you've already played the game beforehand.
• Linear games are often a good choice. Large open world games can take ages and a lot of time can be spent performing dull/menial tasks.
• You don't need to be constantly funny, but you should be interesting.
• Don't upload hours and hours of gameplay at a time. Upload small chunks over time.
  
  
• OPTIONAL - Be British. Once again, this is optional.
  

" @CL60: Man you got a great voice you just don't use it very much. "

Just helping the OP out with a note. 
 
No one is as good at Let's Plays as Slowbeef and Diabetus from Somethingawful.com fame. If you're new to this whole thing and want to know more about it watch some of their older stuff  
 
I really enjoy the SNATCHER video lp they did.

" Some more thoughts from an LP watcher: 

• NEVER talk over cutscenes/voice acting. Game dialogue is more important than your commentary.

"

" @Video_Game_King: First youtube annotations fucking suck and everyone thinks they are all spam. Second I don't mind talking over the cut scenes for two reasons 1. There are subtitles 2. Most of my fans like the jokes I make during cut scenes. So I think it is a style thing more then any thing else. "

" @CL60: 
 
I'm watching one of your videos, and I have to say that they're quiet as shit. I'm guessing it's because you haven't previously played the games you're playing, so you don't really have as much material. For comparison. here's my anime blog. "

I think it helps being more than one person, between you (if you have a good chemistry) it means you can crack jokes no matter how bad they are, and always have someone there to play along, hopefully making it better. Obviously this too requires some form of skill but it's easier. 
 
For example, I frequently watch the videos Chip Cheezum and General Ironicus put out and having seen them progress from their "Beyond Good and Evil" let's play to their current MGS4 let's play is amazing to say the least. You can't expect to be a rock star in your first video, but it will get easier as you do it. Just like a lot of other things, it's all a matter of growing used to it, and shaping it around who you are, rather than the opposite.

I've watched a couple LP videos on Youtube to get the feel of game mechanics or get past a part that makes me want to throw my controller out the window.  When I view them, I like listening to a calm voice. Improvised and personal material sometimes gets a bit much on certain ones.
 
A lot of the suggestions that were made would really improve an  LP video.

Play with someone else if you can.

Develop your speaking skills.

Give the people some quality footage.

Know the games you're committing to playing.

Don't rush the process.

Cultivate your audience.

Be interesting and/or funny but don't force it.

Associate yourself with other GOOD channels.

Do it live and in the same room if you can.

" @Video_Game_King: Well, yeah. I sure as hell don't care about someone playing through a game that everyone and their mom has played at some point in their lives. But the games that truly benefit from LPs are RPGs and Strategy Games, which are also the ones that are more likely to not have something interesting happening every 5 seconds (or really, every 5 minutes). Thus, it takes good commentary to compensate for the games' lack of visceral appeal. Like what this guy that I subscribe to does, although it might just be the accent.
  

"

Playing with someone else = that's a problem. I can't set up minecraft servers. I will be getting Skype, and a laptop of my own. There are people like the yogscast that I envy as they always play multiplayer on minecraft. But, I was thinking, should I interact with my fans / subscribers by playing with them on their servers?

I'd love to know how else to connect to subscribers / VIEWERS. Btw, I still love the yogscast