YouTube : Trying out games and sharing them. Questions.

[DrazharLn]

Some feedback on the AoW3 video:

You pronounce "Cavalry" as "Calvary" and also "Halberdier" as "Halberder", which is unusual.

(They're usually pronounced something like cav-al-ree and hal-burr-dare. Try sticking

Code: [Select]

<phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˌhæl bərˈdɪər"> </phoneme> into this and having a listen. You can get IPA representations of pretty much any word from various online dictionaries.)

You don't seem to lead with something really interesting. You use the first few minutes to tell me stuff I already know (you're playing AoW3) and stuff I don't care about (patch version, map configuration). I don't watch a lot of Let's Plays, maybe that's par for the course, but I feel like the videos would be stronger if you had a better idea of what you wanted to say and worked out how to say it faster.

Shut up and sit down did an excellent and very humorous series of board game reviews that you might take some inspiration from in terms of pacing and what people might want to know.

(Or maybe the review format isn't what you're going for? I really don't know Let's plays.)

[Buster's Uncle]

Jotting down a rough-but organized outline in advance to extemporize from might help...

[Green1]

Some feedback on the AoW3 video:

You pronounce "Cavalry" as "Calvary" and also "Halberdier" as "Halberder", which is unusual.

(They're usually pronounced something like cav-al-ree and hal-burr-dare. Try sticking

Code: [Select]

<phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˌhæl bərˈdɪər"> </phoneme> into this and having a listen. You can get IPA representations of pretty much any word from various online dictionaries.)

You don't seem to lead with something really interesting. You use the first few minutes to tell me stuff I already know (you're playing AoW3) and stuff I don't care about (patch version, map configuration). I don't watch a lot of Let's Plays, maybe that's par for the course, but I feel like the videos would be stronger if you had a better idea of what you wanted to say and worked out how to say it faster.

Shut up and sit down did an excellent and very humorous series of board game reviews that you might take some inspiration from in terms of pacing and what people might want to know.

(Or maybe the review format isn't what you're going for? I really don't know Let's plays.)

As far as map configuration, etc. , some do, some do not. Then again at this point after release, I should probably just say what setting I have briefly and jump right in. Most LP watchers do want to know version/mod (if used)/ settings and I have seen it on 80 percent of the ones I watch. I have seen other LPers use an annotation that lets people skip ahead to gameplay which is what I should do in the future.

Mispronunciations is peculiar and where the New Orleans/ Mississippi dialect comes in. I was VERY worried about that. A NOLA/ Jackson/ Biloxi accent is a city accent and not a Chalmation (lots of drawls and Jersey style 'yats - think Cajun/ River parishes) nor a country accent (many drawls, lots of 'ins) You are right, I do need to be mindful of it. We have a lot of weird pronunciations. It is natural to us, but weird to others. Hell, when I did a war game in Biloxi a few years back, I heard halberdier mentioned that way there, so I always assumed I was pronouncing it right . The Gulf South accent is also much slower speech than the rest of the US. Much slower than EU countries or the rest of the world. So, I must be mindful to speed up.

BU, I considered trying to measure what I would say first, but it is hard to pre plan dynamic content such as a sandbox 4x. Still, some catchy phrases may be cool.

I will work on all the feedback, thanks.

After this, I will probably hit up Doom2/ Brutal Doom/ Oblige level Maker. I think a random level FPS is just too cool and the fact you can do it at least with an ancient FPS is just too cool in an era of "green arrow, go here" linear SP FPS games.
Parts 2,3, and 4 will uploaded within the next day or so. 2 and 3 are on the hard drive. It will be a 1 episode thing. These 4x ones, folks watch like TV shows and they are long, long. I have seen some Civ 5 LPs last 24 episodes at 1 hr apiece!!!!

Thanks for the feedback.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'd observe that everyone in my (southern) experience pronounces Cavalry like the place Jesus was crucified, probably conflating that exact thing.  In other words, it's a correct pronunciation in the dialect you speak, Green, leaving aside pragmatic considerations of how the audience will react.


The point of the outline would be to organize your thoughts for a more organized and effective improvisation - jotting down zingers thought up in advance to work in at the right spots is a great idea.  Doesn't need to be formatted meticulously like the ones they made you do in high school - just a list in a rough order on one sheet you can glance at as you go...

Maybe a second for good lines to use, depending on how much space it takes up.  Keep it as flash-card simple as you can so it speeds you up not slows you down.  Have a pencil and mark off topics covered if you need to to make finding your place as you go easier/faster.  May take practice to make it work in a  smooth and truly effective way.

[Green1]

I'd observe that everyone in my (southern) experience pronounces Cavalry like the place Jesus was crucified, probably conflating that exact thing.  In other words, it's a correct pronunciation in the dialect you speak, Green, leaving aside pragmatic considerations of how the audience will react.

Lol.... next thing you know I will say the word "Biloxi, MS". They will go after me for saying "Bil luxee" instead of "Bil loxee". You can always tell the outsiders by asking that question. Also, the word New Orleans is pronounced differently. The Chalmations say "N'awlins" but true New Orleanins say "Noorlins" like one word. Both southern, but notice the lack of "aw". Sadly, the Chalmation dialect is dying. When Chalmette was leveled by Katrina, many were spread around the US and folks made fun of the way they talked. When they returned to rebuild, many were very self conscious about the way they talked afterwards. It took a lot of the color out of region if you ask me.

BTW... how many folks can pronounce tchoupitoulas ? You are not from LA if you can not

[Buster's Uncle]

New Orlins or N'orlins - it's their city, so theirs is absolutely the correct pronunciation...

I'm from Valdese - it's not a city in Alaska, and people as close as the next town over five minutes' drive away never ever accent the right syllable for some reason - it's VALdeez.  Irritates the heck outta me.

[DrazharLn]

If your pronunciations are common to your dialect and not just a mistake, I'd say to keep them. Linguistic prescriptivists are the worst.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hitler was the worst.

Now I've godwined an innocent thread.  I should make a bad BU smilie, shouldn't I?

[Green1]

If your pronunciations are common to your dialect and not just a mistake, I'd say to keep them. Linguistic prescriptivists are the worst.

lol... You had me going all over work today with a sheet of paper with the word "Cavalry" on it asking them to say the word. Everybody except the transplants from places like Chicago, Phoenix, and other places pronounced it as I did. Man, I did not realize how much my world has been saturated with such dialect that has rubbed off on me. I actually appreciate you pointing it out.

I watched the video you linked on presentation. It shows a lot of good tips, but an LP is not a review. A review should probably be no more than 15 to 30 minutes long (longer for certain games like MMOs or SP RPGs, shorter for FPS or action games) and is an evaluation of the game's merit. Now, while an LP CAN show flaws in a game and the LPer can trash it, this is not what most LPs are.

An LP is merely an evolution of a forum After Action Report. Think they are too long? I agree. I actually prefer to read forum AARs over videos because I can read and get the point much faster than watching. I also watch and keep tabs on a few LPers, but even I do not watch every single thing they do. Some of the LPs by the good ones that have been doing it forever are up to 20 one hour episodes for a 4x like Civ V!!!! But, someone like you is not the target audience for that. People that watch LPs watch them like soap operas. They search then if they see someone who explains the game the way they like and are halfway competent, they watch it like TV. They also wind and rewind a lot, particularly to see battles or tactics they believe the LPer messed up on or a trick they could use in their game. You can see this as spikes on Google Youtube Analytics.

Most professional LPers make the majority of money beating everyone to release of a game and putting up videos. Once there, they get carry over from viewers that stick with them. LPs never really go viral. For niche games and small audience, the average is about 100 to 500 views. A YouTube star may hit 5000 to 1000 with the perfect storm of a late closed non-NDA beta release and tons of subs, but that is like chasing a unicorn for most mere mortals. Someone like me will get 75 to 100 after 30 days. Since the target audience watches these like soap operas, you have to churn these things out. That is one of the reason the internet dropping I have been having lately is even more worrisome than dialect issues or even the occasional ums or ahhs. You HAVE to pump out according to every source I have read. Not saying I want to be a professional. But this is a cool experiment for me and I decided this forum would be cool to share my mad experiments with.

Long post, but hope that compares what I have seen with LPs that differ from other videos, though there is cross over.

[DrazharLn]

I'm glad you seem to know what you want to do and I hope you have fun with it.

I wouldn't worry about me thinking your videos are too slow too much. I think almost all video is too slow (especially typical American TV shows, so much filler).

[Green1]

I'm glad you seem to know what you want to do and I hope you have fun with it.

I wouldn't worry about me thinking your videos are too slow too much. I think almost all video is too slow (especially typical American TV shows, so much filler).

"Knowing what I am doing" is a relative term. I read more stuff than is healthy online and can communicate (somewhat) this well in text. Spoken media, though is a new frontier for me.

I hear you on American shows and even US talk radio. 15 mins of fluff with some content that could have been written in 4 sentences and  15 minutes of folks trying to sell something may be profitable, but is not good entertainment nor a good way to get information.

BTW, the connection did stay up long enough for me to annotate a skip button in the first video to skip past set up. The cable company is coming next week, so I am thinking about spending a day at the public library and using their wifi probably Saturday. I am off Friday, but have twenty tons of running around and obligations to do and will be out of the house most of the day. Say what you want about Baton Rouge, but the folks at the library get stuff done. That connection is lightning fast. The main library when it reopens is also not only larger than the one in New Orleans, but is relaxing - more a coffee house than a library.

[Green1]

Also, patch 1.14 is out. I want to finish this up so I can go to GoG and patch at some point. Not sure if I patch now it will break saved games.

Last time, I had to reinstall because the universal patcher did not work and I lost a lot of stuff. Can not have that happening.

[Green1]

Future updates are put on hold while I work extra hours to move to a REALLY, REALLY nice bachelor pad in the Spanish Towne area in Baton Rouge near 3rd Street.

I found that the crack heads next door have been splicing my cable and stealing power. This along with a non caring landlord has forced my hand.

From there I will cut hours a bit and begin gaming a bit more along with bending Downtown chicks to my evil will (hopefully).

[Geo]

I found that the crack heads next door have been splicing my cable and stealing power. This along with a non caring landlord has forced my hand.

Ouch.
How did you figure it out it was them?
Plan to warn the next tenant?

[Green1]

I found that the crack heads next door have been splicing my cable and stealing power. This along with a non caring landlord has forced my hand.

Ouch.
How did you figure it out it was them?
Plan to warn the next tenant?

No, I am just getting out of here and will not meet the next tenant. This apartment I live in was a cheap apartment because when I moved cities to find work, I did not have a lot of cash. It is utilities paid for power and water. I had noticed internet dropping and an enraged landlord coming up wondering why the power bill was 600 dollars if it was just me and was threatening to make me pay it!

When the cable people came out and the landlord's lackies arrived, they found my cable spliced and an extension cord running from an outside outlet on the apartment to the next house!

Weird thing is, after that was fixed, I started having cable issues again! This time it was spliced going to yet another house!

Add to that, my air conditioning is going out and it is 95 degrees outside and my landlord told me I would have to buy a window unit myself!!!!

While I realize I had to cheap out on an apartment for a bit, I am now making quite a bit more money now and can afford better. Yeah, I could fight, but it just is not worth it when I do not really need to stay in this area anymore.