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YouTube

QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
Like any other "new frontier," YouTube was once a place where anybody, and I mean anybody, could publish their stuff and try their luck at fame and glory. Indeed, it was especially helpful for musicians, and quite a few "YouTube personalities" popped up at the time. A lot of teenagers especially flocked to it, and as a result, there was a lot of inspired, if unprofessional videos.

As the years passed on though, it inevitably got big enough to the point where big companies became interested in YouTube, and in just a year's time, the website went from being a haven for the amateur to yet another front for companies and their professionals. Now the truth is, it's not quite right for me to blame Google; Google bought it from the folks who made YouTube because those folks had no clue how to make their increasingly massive website profitable, but Google knew how to do just that. They added lots of ads, and that's to be expected honestly. Furthermore, a simple look through history reveals it is true of all new mediums that it goes from being an amateur playground to a serious-face professional front.

Really where Google has gone wrong is trying to force Google Plus down everyone's (unwilling) throats. Google tried to buy Facebook, Facebook said no (God bless them). Google then made Google Plus, and, realizing no one gave a damn, began integrating Google Plus with YouTube. An especially unpopular move was when they made it so only those with Google Plus could comment on YouTube videos. It's only a matter of time before they go further and further with this, but I do believe they are digging their own grave; YouTube has declined in popularity as of late, and Facebook has pretty much won the "biggest social media website" competition. They wrestled it from MySpace and they're here to stay.

After YouTube's millions of video game "let's play" videos were cut down upon, big time, by Google. A lot of video game companies were angry about this, because while Google claims that it "hurts the gaming companies," this is anything but the truth; the gaming companies figure that people will watch others play a video game, and be inspired to buy it themselves. Meanwhile Google argues that many "let's play" videos reveal so much of the gameplay, often literally front-to-back, that there is no need for a consumer to buy a game after having watched it start to finish.

Rumor has it that Google is now trying to acquire Twitch. Twitch is a streaming service wherein people typically stream their video game playing and people enjoy watching the streamer play and commentate. Twitch has been on the (rather dramatic and impressive) rise for the past year.

Discuss.

@meagloth
CrevsDaakJuliusBorisovjackjackTressetbooinyoureyesNonnahswriter

Comments

  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited May 2014
    On a personal level I will say this;

    Nintendo is pretty much the one gaming company to agree with Google about taking down Let's Play videos. Last I heard, Nintendo was looking to "work with their fans" by allowing let's play videos and receiving a tithe. I've already taken a dislike for Nintendo in rather recent years, so this just solidifies my low opinion of Nintendo that they are a bunch of entitled juicebags who still think it's 1998, when they were on top of the world.

    YouTube also integrated an algorithm, I want to say a couple years back, that made it so you can only load so much of a video without pressing the play button. I understand this is to save them bandwidth, but as I have slow internet, this annoys me greatly.

    I miss videos like this:
    CrevsDaakJuliusBorisovAristillius
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    Gotta agree that using YT for profit is lawfully evil, and much more taking down let's play videos.
    Facebook is another thing I hate, they only care about making money and getting your pics in the hands of the FBI.
    Hence my love for websites like G3, this forums, SHS, PPG and the liking, no ads, no need to profit and BG related.
    Also, silly videos are my favs from YT!! Besides live shows that were recorded before I was born :P
    Quartzjackjack
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    Ok, I see. I didn't realize they took videos down, just cause they didn't like them, that no good. Also, google plus is annoying. Maybe it would have been good if they had bought Facebook, then Facebook would have gotten (even more) sucky, and people would stop using it, and we wouldn't have to deal with google plus:P
    Quartz
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    It's been never amazing to begin with but at least before it was for people who wanted to get their films and projects out to the public and get feedback on that.

    The changes have made it suck more and now when there're tons of ads in the videos I might watch them on another website with a better format.

    Now it's just vloggers in some shape or form and tonnes of big companies' products

    Good luck getting any shred of decent feedback on a video too. Most comments fall under the category of "This sucks", "It doesnt suck youre wrong", "This is cool" or "I know that guy"

    Also, ratings system has changed, that means you can't get a view of the quality of the video. Instead of the 5 star system, they went to a yay or nay system, and you cannot see the ratings before you click to watch the video. Which means you may stumble into a vid that was complete and utter poo and never know it because of the changes.

    The Recommended For You section is also a bit odd, since the recommendations usually have nothing to do with the video it relates itself to.

    Youtube was better before Google bought it. If only there was an alternative.
    DungeonnoobQuartzCrevsDaak
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    @bengoshi Most of my feedback has been "wow get proactiv you acne-ridden @#$%"
    JuliusBorisovbooinyoureyesDungeonnoobCrevsDaak
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    Noooo! You monsters! Leave Twitch alone, for all that is good and right in the world!
    QuartzDungeonnoobNonnahswriterCrevsDaak
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    YouTube isn't special. If they keep making it less and less attractive, another service will come and take its place. Worry not, child.
    QuartzDungeonnoobCrevsDaak
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    I hate how they keep making ridiculous rules and taking down harmless videos. It is one thing if a company doesn't want their material on youtube and asks youtube to take it down, but when youtube removes videos for their own warped reasons it is just stupid.
    jackjackQuartzCrevsDaakelminster
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