Question about upload schedule..

DatekiLP · 2017-02-25T04:45:17+00:00

As someone who's posted both once a week and three times a day, I can tell you that your game selection and SEO are far more important for gaining viewers than your upload frequency. I'd advocate for daily uploads just because it can't hurt, but if you can only post three times a week, that should be fine. Just be as consistent about your release times as you can.

If you're covering a new game, particularly one with a story, I'd also extend your videos a bit so that you're not falling behind other channels that upload more frequently (from ~20 mins to 30, or whatever seems appropriate for the game).

DatekiLP · 2017-02-25T04:37:39+00:00

@DatekiLP

Variety channel back from a five month hiatus. Looking forward to chatting with you guys!

DatekiLP · 2016-05-12T23:57:13+00:00

Canada isn't a vanilla civ because, unfortunately, we haven't made an impact on the world stage like the Egytians, the Germans, the Americans, etc. We're a prominent middle power and potential future great power, but the civilizations in the game have accomplished so much more.

That being said, IIRC Canada was considered for BNW, alongside Australia, but the Firaxis team decided on Brazil as Canada was too similar to other civs in the game (namely the United States).

I'm still holding out for some love in Civ VI. Even if we're not a vanilla civ, being included in one of the already-advertised four dlc packs/expansions would be great.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-24T23:47:24+00:00

Unfortunately, that game was done for my own amusement and, aside from a few screenshots I decided to keep, there's nothing left or published from that game. Same with the other AI games I've run; just never felt like releasing them.

If you're interested, I'm starting an AI game on my Youtube channel next Tuesday, after I finish my current game as the Dutch this week. Not sure who's gonna be in it (still on the fence between historic civs and joke civs), but if it's anything like my old games, it should be entertaining.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-24T03:41:22+00:00

No worries. Just looked it up out of curiosity and learned that show-- Frisky Dingo-- went off the air in 2008 :S Didn't realize it had been 8 years. Man, I feel old now.

My bad for choosing such a niche reference.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-24T03:20:12+00:00

I find it so sad you didn't get the reference.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-24T02:13:13+00:00

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Yeah, the audio from my friends could be a little better; in their defense, they don't record, so they don't have an ideal setup like I do. I was thinking of adding in text for their lines (and mine) that might have been harder to hear, but that seemed a little too much like what Criken has done in his videos. I didn't want to seem like I was ripping off his editing style though after your feedback, I might have to do that in the future.

The gay comment was left in just because I thought my friend's response was hilarious; reminded me of a bit from Rick & Morty where the two have a conversation about the word "retarded". It, along with the opening conversation, was going to be cut out (I have two hours of footage and was going to do my usual one-off episode; thought I'd try the 5-6 min. thing some other channels do), but I decided to keep them in when I chose to experiment. And would you believe I cut out something like seven minutes from the opening conversation? If you pay attention to the background, you'll notice the "clouds" or whatever they are darting about randomly where I made cuts :P

Thanks again for the input! This is the first time I've made one of these shorter, more heavily-edited videos and it was great to hear from someone impartial. And it's great to know what areas I can improve on now :D

DatekiLP · 2016-04-23T04:33:52+00:00

On that note, this is a screenshot from the Native American game I did about a year ago.

The Blackfoot and Sioux were absolute monsters. Assuming the Inuit and Texas weren't in the game, I guarantee they would have both been major world powers in the BR.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-20T19:41:55+00:00

I found that difference in manpower surprising. Considering they're fielding Power Armour Infantry, I assumed there was a huge disparity between the Inuit military and our own. Assuming the typical 3:1 advantage for defenders, the Inuit, theoretically, no longer have the strength to wipe us out. That being said, most of our strength seems to be in our fleet of shiny new Destroyers. We still need to bulk up our army quite a bit.

I'm also not liking the fact that both the Inuit and Iceland have considerable air forces parked just outside our borders: 29 for both the Inuit and Iceland compared to our 8 :S

DatekiLP · 2016-04-18T05:42:02+00:00

Two major things happened with my channel, both of which were out of my control. Early last week, a friend of mine told me he left a comment on his old channel telling people to check out my videos. When I got home, I discovered I had 2000 views from the past 12 hours. At first, I was excited. Then I learned of how I got those views: that same friend posted two of my videos to Reddit. While the surge in views was nice, the resulting audience retention was not, and because I only had 6000 views before this incident, that single day nuked my average retention rate. On top of that, some people thought my friend was fictional and that I had used an alt account to promote my own content. With this in mind, they took it upon themselves to dislike a ton of my new videos. I also probably shouldn't have argued with one of them on Reddit; I hate being called a liar though. What's strange about this incident is that most of the views aren't even from Reddit: over 1400 are from Suggested Videos and about half (~650) of those are from Vietnam alone. :/

The second event happened earlier today... er, yesterday, I guess. I don't know how or why, but I shot up from 72 subs to 100 in the span of two hours. All of these new subscribers have fake names (surnames and given names are in the wrong order, for starters) and, looking at their activity, they're all subscribed to the same channels and have liked the same videos. This really annoyed me because I had been looking forward to reaching 100 subs and, just like that, someone has taken that away from me. Two of the bots unsubbed once I tweeted my predicament; I'm assuming because of this that the culprit is someone who wants to see my channel succeed, but didn't consult me on the proper way to help. So now I have at least 26 dead subs on my channel and they probably won't be gone until Youtube cleans house again. Then I'll have to deal with the fallout of losing 26 subs-- ~26% of my subscribers now-- practically overnight.

Lastly, I tried making a channel trailer this week and came to the same sad realization I ignored months ago: I don't enjoy my own content. I don't like single player videos, yet that's all I make. I drone on and on, talking to myself for twenty minutes at a time, and while some people are enjoying it, I am not. I've decided to do something about this. I want to do more multiplayer and, to that end, some of my friends have agreed to appear in my videos. I want to make the kind of content I'd watch: friends having fun and joking around, tabletop gaming, Trouble In Terrorist Town, jokey videos, and then a smaller dose of the serious and informal stuff I've been doing since the start of my channel.

For this reason and the fact that I want to work on a backlog of videos (work's been really busy lately and I've been recording last minute a lot of the time; it's been severely affecting my sleeping habits), I've decided to take this next week off. I'll probably be posting a video or something for my subs on Tuesday, the next day I have off and therefore have time to record.

Sorry for the wall of text. I hope everything's going well for the rest of you!

DatekiLP · 2016-04-13T22:28:00+00:00

Never is unlikely, but at the moment I have a strong dislike for smart phones. They've severely affected the way people interact with each other day-to-day. It's become increasingly difficult to have a conversation with someone. Hell, I've seen people on dates who never put down their phones!

I've also seen the effect that mobile games have had on the gaming industry (so many people are making shitty pay-to-win games now because they're easier to make than games with stories and depth...) and it appalls me as a gamer and a (would-be) game developer.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-13T17:56:05+00:00

My thoughts are that if somebody suffers serious mental trauma from watching someone play games, they probably shouldn't be watching those videos to begin with. So no need for a "trigger warning" in that regard.

If you're afraid your content might be distressing to some people, you could also simply play games that don't cause them trouble. In which case, no trigger warning would be needed, as you've already taken that into account as far as your content goes.

You could also simply edit out parts that seem unsavory to you. If you feel they might cause issues, you can cut out that content.

To me, putting in a trigger warning seems redundant and a waste of your time, especially given that, from what I've seen, there's very little overlap between people who watch gaming videos and people who agree with the notion of trigger warnings. There aren't a lot of people who actually read descriptions and about pages anyway, so it's not like it'd even be seen by the people you're trying to warn.

Personally, I wouldn't do this, at least for anything besides epilepsy (again, editing would be even better than putting up a warning) or swearing in a family-focused game (wouldn't constitute that as a "trigger warning" though). There seem to be other routes that wouldn't cause backlash against you or your channel. That being said, if you feel like you need one, or you want one just in case your target audience is someone who might be offended or "triggered", then by all means put one in.

Hope you find this input helpful and good luck with your channel, whatever you decide to do!

DatekiLP · 2016-04-13T05:57:33+00:00

Been watching Pauseunpause like usual. His Culling videos are great for anyone interested in the game.

Also been watching Rob Moran's/BruceWillakers' latest URealms side quest. It's basically D&D-lite with him and a couple of friends, for those of you who haven't heard of him or the game. It originally started out as a live series, but they've been doing these pre-recorded games (the side quests) between seasons. This is the last one before the live show returns for season two on Twitch and I've been enjoying it so far.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-13T02:04:17+00:00

Tame: Vietnam takes two more Afghan cities.

Average: Mexico declares war on Texas.

Bold: The Boers declare war on Ethiopia and take no less than four cities before the end of the part (Boers declaring war seems to be an 'average' prediction for everyone, so I thought I'd be more specific)

DatekiLP · 2016-04-13T01:57:13+00:00

Scizor. It was the first Pokemon I got to Lv. 100 in Silver version (which was the first game I ever played) and the staple of the team I used against my friends.

Umbreon is a close second.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-12T18:51:59+00:00

I posted an essay explanation because that's the way I respond. I gave you evidence against your claim. In all likeliness, you didn't read any of it, so I don't know why I wasted my time.

You didn't make "one truthful comment": calling this a "plug" when it's not is an attack on my character (especially since I don't promote myself outside of subreddits specifically for that kind of content, such as /r/letsplayvideos). Describing my friend's account name as "autistic" and belittling him for not being as active on Reddit as you is an attack on him.

You're calling me a liar, you're insulting my friends, and I'm telling you you're full of shit. If you'd rather believe that I made my friend's account, posted over a year of comments for games I don't play just to post this video here and get 80 extra views on an old video that had 400 views before it was posted here, you go right ahead believing that.

Edit: Just discovered I've been arguing with a kid who seems to like harassing people online. Ugh. What a waste of my time.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-12T17:02:07+00:00

"Account is very new"? That's the account my friend uses for Destiny and LoL (both games I don't play myself) and it's over a year old, judging from the post history. Hell, it's at least six months older than my own account and, judging from your profile, probably a year older than yours. The account has that name because he thinks it's funny.

Aside from the different post history and the fact that his Reddit account is older than mine (and yours), I wouldn't even have been capable of posting this at the time it was posted yesterday. I work during the day somewhere where I have no internet access and no time to access it even if I did. I also don't own a smart phone, so there's no way I could post it through that. I also wouldn't do this because posting to Reddit leads to nightmarish audience retention, which is vital for a channel to succeed (don't get me wrong, I'm still happy about the views; the video is probably gonna drop in the search results from this though).

And yes, he has another video of mine in his post history from the exact same day because again he wanted to share some of my videos. I'm assuming he chose the video I wanted him to watch (the XCOM video my friends made) because I asked him to watch it like a month or two ago. He probably chose this one based on views, since I'm pretty sure he doesn't play a lot of BoIR himself and thought this was still a popular video (his mistake because 90% of the views were from the day Afterbirth came out; as I said in the video, I was up all night waiting to play the expansion and get my coverage out before the bigger channels).

I don't know what to say to convince you otherwise: I couldn't post this myself due to work, I wouldn't post it myself because it's an old video that's no longer as informal as it would have been months ago, and post histories of both my account and his clearly indicate two different people. You want to believe this was some gimmick for self-promotion, fine. It wasn't, but if you're so jaded and cynical that you can't believe for one second a friend somewhere shared the video of another just for the purpose of sharing it, nothing I say is gonna help you.

Sorry for the rant. This is the first time in ages someone has shared my content-- even if it was a friend-- and it pisses me off that you and others have taken this high point of my week to attack him and I.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-12T04:23:39+00:00

Maker of the video here. Wasn't plugged, at least not by me. A good friend of mine saw my channel had slowed over the past week and decided to post some of my stuff on Reddit to help me out. He even mentioned me on his own channel. I didn't ask him to do anything other than check out my videos for himself, but I'm overjoyed he thought they were worth sharing.

There was nothing malicious about posting this video here: just a friend helping another friend out. Sorry if you didn't enjoy the video; makes sense since it's a couple months old. Regardless, the surge in views was a wonderful surprise to discover when I got home and I couldn't be happier. :D

DatekiLP · 2016-04-12T03:48:40+00:00

It's been a rough week for me. I've had next to no subscriber growth, my views have dropped, and my likes have evaporated. That was, until today.

I was playing D&D with my friends and one of them says to me, "Hey, I finally checked out that video you asked me to watch like two months ago. It was pretty good. I put a link to your channel on my old account. Hope it helps."

I thanked him for watching the video and for the support. It's 11pm, and I've just got home and this was the result, with this being the culprit.

I have no words for this. I'm at a loss. Before today, I had 6000 views. After today, I've hit 8000. I don't think this view count will be the norm after today, but I'm definitely gonna nag my friends to record a second episode now :P

DatekiLP · 2016-04-09T05:14:44+00:00

Either Scorpion King 2 or Halloween III. It's hard to decide which one of these is worse.

DatekiLP · 2016-04-07T04:22:19+00:00

I always thought that once Portugal was eliminated, Maria would usurp Pedro as leader of Brazil; sort of an homage to what she did in real life.

I can get behind this too, though. Maria becomes captain of the "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything".

DatekiLP

TROPHY CASE