Off-Week Update (10-11-2012)
Ten, eleven, twelve. Heh.
Ok, let’s go back down the line and talk about what’s been going on.
Yeah I talked about this in the last OWU but I had more time to revisit and reflect. They really REALLY need to hop on getting some sort of tutorial or help mode. I was showing MegaGWolf around the game and again getting completely frustrated by the lack of any… logic in the game. I’ve never played an FPS based game that felt it was a good idea to have hotkeys on the right half of the keyboard, but that’s Firefall for you. It also loves to give you tasks without any direction and often leads me into profanity laced tirades you might have seen on MegaGWolf’s Youtube channel. (This reaction might have also been fueled by alcohol and a marathon of “Bro Team” videos.) In essence, I want to like this but they need to get to work on it.
Man, this one isn’t performing at all. Like right now, it’s a record holder for least-viewed episode. Not sure if I can attribute that to bad timing, low-interest in the game, or the fact some BT people don’t understand it’s kind of jerkish to post several of your own videos on the slider in a row. General reaction seems ok, otherwise, although it seems to have brought out a lot of “Well, this game isn’t fast! You should play (insert 90’s era PC FPS here) because THAT’S fast!”
No… no not really. You’re still inside a building and everyone moves at the relative same speed. Call me back when you’re playing CTF on a map and blink only to notice the flag has been snatched away and the person holding it is now flying off into the horizon over halfway across the map. If you mean “fast” as in, you aim at everything really quickly… turn down your mouse sensitivity. Idiots.
Yep! THIS game again! I figured making this my first Backtrack, and seriously, I’m looking for feedback on the formula. I don’t want it to look like Sidequest. Should I add more text in places? Should I do the credits differently? Should I bother posting these on BT? Upcoming Backtracks are Champions Online and Doctor Who: Worlds in Time. Seriously, let me know how you think they should be done. As for this Backtrack? Did I sound unenthusiastic? 5 guesses as to why. Also I had a sore throat. That’s why I sounded so deep in this compared to other videos I do.
I was expecting another Firefall from the way people were… well bringing this game up when I looked at Firefall. It’s not. The ONLY thing this game has in common with Firefall is that it’s an FPS. These games are VASTLY different in playstyle, and are completely unique experiences. The Borderlands/Firefall comparison is much more accurate. Firefall has an overarching story, quests to perform, worlds to explore, with enemy encounters everywhere. Planetside 2 has PvP. That’s IT. I was very off-put initially playing P2, just because people had led me to beleive it was another Firefall. Once I figured out WHAT it is… well, let’s just say right now, I like Planetside 2 better than Firefall, but I really want to see what Firefall will BECOME, while Planetside 2 is pretty much going to be what it is. Two separate experiences. Don’t let someone try to compare them against each other as if they offer the same experience.
As for personal news, I’m mildly concerned I won’t make the next episode in time. Side-job and all take away a LOT of my work time, but I’m going to try as hard as I can.
Also, viewer Lai-Lai pointed out to me, there’s a contest going on over at the infamous MMOHUT Youtube channel looking for a new content producer. I have a few concerns with this:
1. They want submissions on Youtube, and are basing the winner on number of likes received.
2. They want a Top 5 video, and it to be under 15 minutes.
3. They want the submitter to use their intro in the video.
4. It’s MMOHUT. (Look up what they did to get so many people angry at them.)
I’ve had a Top Whatever video idea for a LONG time (originally it was my intention to do THAT as my “pilot” for MMO Grinder. I could probably toss something together before the deadline, but do any of you think this is a good idea. In all honesty, I wouldn’t WANT to win. I like what I do here, and what I have going now. If anything, I can use this as some “advertisement” for the site and show itself.
What do you think?
Posted on October 11, 2012, in News and Updates and tagged firefall, gaming, pc fps, youtube. Bookmark the permalink. 21 Comments.
MMO Grinder 
Personally I thought the backtrack was well made, it covered the new content in a logical order, explained the updates well in enough detail and provided some thoughts on the quality of each part of update. It also serves two purposes as it provides shorter videos that allow you to produce more content, and it is a simple way to update older videos to make them more accurate so they remain informative.
I think they’re fine as they are right now and I’m glad you already have more planned.
@MMOHUT contest:
Let me first state that i’ve been subscribed to the MMOHUT TY channel for quite a while, in fact at the time of subbing they didn’t have a lot of content and were trying something new (for them at least) content wise by offering first looks of F2P MMOs. At that point there were only 2 people working on that project. The main guy Omer and his brother Altaier (sp?). The videos by the brother were dull and hard to watch, but the ones by Omer were actually very engaging. From that point on the channel rocketed up with fame over the hyperactive guy who told people about F2P MMOs when little if any attention was given to them at least by YouTube standards.
A year or more ago Omer started to distance him self from the workload and gave the reigns to Spunkify and overall the videos lost a lot of their charm. Overall it didn’t work out amazingly well and then shit hit the fan, spunkify “left”, and now they are looking to bring on new people — though the person who is running the contest seems to be new himself.
So why say all this? Well i just wanted you to understand the audience in terms of what they are expecting, and how it really doesn’t fit your style. The best bet for MMOHUT would be to find a person energetic and eager to try new games and communicate with the community on a frequent basis. This isn’t you, and it shouldn’t be — your videos are what i watch to gain an interest in staying in an mmo for longer then a night or two OR a video i give to a skeptical friend who knows you won’t over or undersell a game without some reason.
Both styles have their place, but i still feel the audience may not respond very well and by the looks of the contest and time frame they are probably expecting something similar to what i explained before.
TL;DR: I wouldn’t bother with the contest, the content you make and the content that made them popular may not mesh too well.
Yup. Omar’s are dull because he always turns what should be a review into an hour long Let’s Play. That’s why I came here in the first place. The MMO index & info are useful though.
If you don’t want to win, don’t enter.
It’s not about winning, it’s about publicity. Don’t you think he deserves to have more than 13 people checking out his videos every week?
Oh! Almost forgot. I’ve got a question for you, John. I’m pretty sure your name is John, right?
Have you ever played with the Broteam guy? Is it really a team? I’m pretty sure it’s just one dude. What’s he like?
It’s Jon because my full name is Jonathan, but semantics.
I’m pretty sure Bro Team is a group of people, considering there’s definately more than one person playing during any of their “Fate of…” videos. (Though it’s only one guy doing the regular videos.)
No, I haven’t played alongside any of them, but I found out about them when someone linked “Fate of Voyage Century Online” to me when they thought one of my clues was a game shown briefly in that video. I thought it was hilarious, and watched the rest out of boredom. It’s like a wonderful mix of an angry review parody and a Youtube poop. There’s some serious cleverness behind all the profanity and shouting.
“Here’s a guy that’s not even hard! Thank you, all of you, for finding places to put his bullets!”
Haha, Is that from their Ghost Recon:Future Soldier video? I’m not entirely sure..
One of my favorite one is the “Cricket Revolution”. Seeing him going from a Tourette syndrome diagnosed rage-o-holic to the monotonous narrator was made more hilarious by the nonsensical remarks on the game, and at the end, it’s like he’s fighting to control his urges to say “TITS!” or something. :P
Too bad the ingenuity ends in the comment section..
PS: just read your reply to Lai Lai; What a major fail, those guys are. But, I really don’t think it’s shameless to go and make yourself known and broaden your viewership. That is, unless you’re selling your soul and MMOhut is run by passive-aggressive morons that don’t really care for their commentators or their viewers, just the views. In any case, they’re somewhere to look, but there are better places.
On the Firefall thing: If I could run it on my laptop, I’d give an opinion, but since I don’t, I’ll say: Play Crossfire! There’s no better MMOFPS for newbies. Trust me.
On the deadline issue: It isn’t. Don’t worry about it, man! 1 week, 2 weeks..3..weeks..( ._.)
Personally, I won’t mind the wait. It’ll give me time to think of what to cook or order so I can have something to eat while watching the review, lol.
On the MMOHut contest: My objective opinion is that you should give it a try. They could prove an invaluable resource as your simple participation could help you boost your views.
My subjective opinion is that regardless of the Spunkify&Simon ordeal, it is obvious that MMO hut is not a good place to work at. Most of their reviewers are fucking idiots, they have no idea what they’re doing and honestly, the writing isn’t that good(read Lai Lai’s comment)and it means squat if the review/video has no substance. Yours do. Plus, they’re sellouts.
Firefall sounds like the worst MMO you could introduce an FPS noob to. I don;t recall ever playing a PC game where used right keys by default. I’m assuming WASD becomes 8456?
I’ve noticed lately that most of my favorites have simply stopped posting on BT & gone back to Youtube, like the New Boots guys (Jon Tron, Peanutbutter Gamer) & Rinry Gamegame (though she did have a baby). Wouldn’t hurt to try to get on The Escapist, Screwattack, or GameTrailers either.
If you entered that MMOHut thing & lost, you’d still rake in new viewers who saw your entry. It’s not a staying place, just a good place for a year of exposure. There are tons of other MMO places like Massively & MMOBomb. Picking a site with a narrower interest in game type could work to your advantage. Most of Channel Awesome is pretty much comic actors performing scripted skit reviews told by characters that don’t necessarily reflect the actual opinion of the actor.
About the MMOHUT thing, while any advertising would be good, if you feel in any way uncertain about it, I would suggest airing on the side of caution. Plus, if they are as hated as some are making it seem like they are, it might be more beneficial to not be associated with them at all.
As for your backtrack show, it seems fine to me. Didn’t find it the most enjoyable of your videos, but that was mostly do to it being a game you’ve done 3 times, rather then the format being bad.
Trust me, they’re not hated. They have about 181,000 subscribers, not counting the people who only visit their website. Their real problem is their boring-ass video reviews. Their strong point is the written stuff.
If you look at their website, they don’t actually grade MMOs at all. The star votes are placed by readers. The few complaints about ads are from people who haven’t figured out how to install aps on their browser, because I sure as hell don’t see any ads. & the ranks users give the games coincide with other sites, so the “MMOHut conspiracy was either a one-time fluke. It seems to mostly be a personal spat between Spunkify & Simon. The part about ads overtaking content on the front page is a massive lie, even with adblock disabled.
You know what my problem is with them… beside all the other things..? It’s right here. http://mmohuts.com/videos/new-video-producer-contest-entries-week-1
Look at the only comments. Particularly the reply from the (admin? I don’t know.)
“Hey Dan, You’ve got a good point. Making a top 5 list is not mandatory, its a suggestion we gave to have some consistency to the videos. If you can come up with something else and it is popular, by all means do that.”
Now let’s go back and look at the contest rules:
“Create a top five list video ( top 5 mmorpg of all time, top 5 mmo characters of all time/this year…etc. get creative)”
OBJECTION! That’s a demand, not a “suggestion”. That’s written as a clear RULE, but now he’s backpedaling saying it doesn’t have to be a Top 5 list? How unprofessional is that?! And how hard is it to go in there and edit that to say the Top 5 is a suggestion?! But nope, he’s hopping on every comment complaining about the Top 5 rule claiming it’s a suggestion. (When they’re not complaining about the lack of someone named “Omer”) It’s like he knows nobody really cares.
Not to mention all the other “Well, what I REALLY meant was this!” going on in the replies.
“Hey Yuri, Producer probably wasn’t the best word to use, but we are looking for commentators as you put it. but there is no reason not to collaborate with a buddy that is the commentating type.”
Oh, so it’s commentators they want. The exact kind of thing I DON’T want to do, and am trying to steer clear of? Now I have no reason to submit beyond shameless self-promotion.
In the grand scheme of youtube, 180k subscribers isn’t entirely impressive. Angry Joe is a one-man show and has nearly a 100k lead on that.
I half expect them to scrap the top 5 idea, because the first guy who mentioned that if you put it on Youtube, it will turn into a popularity thing was totally right. (I never claimed they were competent, they’re just not the sellout one dropped employee would have us believe).
I’d still go through with it for exposure. Try thinking of it as a commercial instead of an entry. Maybe you’ll even steal fans away from them. It can’t hurt to try.
in regards to the MMOHUT thing, advertising is never a bad thing.
and you should definitely do more backtracks. as to the format, I didn’t really notice anything wrong with it.
I don’t know what MMOHUT did, but for all I care, I would just look at it if I wanted to play other mmo’s. And even then, most of the free ones are so samey it’s not funny. Still, I’d love to hear what they did wrong.
But if you want to enter their contest, you should just decide for yourself. But if you want to hear my opinion, don’t do it. I love that you are thorough at least with these videos you have going on right now and I don’t want you to compromise time because of some arbitrary rule imposed upon you. It can quite help with the decision of whether or not I will try the game out.
For the most part, I wanted him to try MMOHut in hopes that his style would rub off on their other video reviewers, making them less like Let’s Plays of the first few levels & actually telling potential players what they need to know.
I’m.. not entirely sure about the MMOHUT thing. I would actually say that you should stick to this site (and I guess Blistered Thumbs, haven’t checked yet if you are there). I would say you have a fairly decent community going, so it would probably be better if you stay out any “shady” mmo site. I guess more people would get to know your name, however if you’d win (which I quite believe you would) wouldn’t there be any consequences of refusing to work for them?
We pretty much love your show as it is, it’s well constructed, tries to be pretty objectional, and there is far less stress on you because of deadlines (I assume), while if you’d be making videos for that site, I would assume that the deadlines would be much less forgiving. Is it right, or I still need to gather some more info?
The Spunkify stuff I’m guessing? I guess it couldn’t hurt to try….? Dunno..
It’s nice that there’s the aversion to them though.
No matter how much myself or others might poke at you when reviews seem like the very the basics or the like, it’s still far better then sites like MMOhut or MMORPG that give out good reviews/promotion based on what advertisers pay them sadly..
Anyways, if it helps? Not like there’s some “BETRAYAL!!!!” reaction or something either way, heh.
In regards to the MMOHUT thing, I haven’t looked up the debacle yet, but I like just following your blog here. Feels more… personal? Even though I know it really isn’t.
I just read it too, I’d never heard about it before this. You know, it’s like a cut-&-paste story of what happened to a reviewer at Gamespot. But Gamespot is a legitimate sell-out.