What’s the appeal of youtubers? [split topic]

[Icehaven]

There's a potential Truman Show remake in all this, although the big reveal would maybe lack impact now. ''My whole life is a Youtube channel? Oh. Cool.''

[touchingcloth]

There's a potential Truman Show remake in all this, although the big reveal would maybe lack impact now. ''My whole life is a Youtube channel? Oh. Cool.''

It doesn't even need a remake. A few pickup shots here and there and you could change the original film. Deepfake Jim Carey's face so he doesn't look too raddled.

[Sin Agog]

It doesn't even need a remake. A few pickup shots here and there and you could change the original film. Deepfake Jim Carey's face so he doesn't look too raddled.

You'd also have to add a cut-away to a Pokemon pulling a face every three seconds in case the target audience gets bored/needs an emotion explained to them.

[touchingcloth]

You'd also have to add a cut-away to a Pokemon pulling a face every three seconds in case the target audience gets bored/needs an emotion explained to them.

Or do that fuck awful thing of jump cutting by half a second in every 5 seconds.

"Good morning CUT and in case I don't see ya CUT Good afternoon CUT good evening CUT and goodnight CUT *gurn & squee*"

[SavageHedgehog]

Probably unjustified and cranky paranoia, but I do wonder what the impact all this will have on the creative arts when the current 5-16 year olds are running the show. So many kids whose main entertainment seems to come from watching other people play or review something that already exists. Couple that with the increasing importance of pre-existing properties in mainstream movies. There have been some fantastically imaginative kids shows in the last 10 years, but for most of them I suspect viewings pale in comparison to Let's Plays, or for that matter this year's Lion King redux. I also suspect that fewer and fewer kids (and adults) ever watch entertainment from before their time in the streaming era, for better or worse.

[Icehaven]

Probably unjustified and cranky paranoia, but I do wonder what the impact all this will have on the creative arts when the current 5-16 year olds are running the show. So many kids whose main entertainment seems to come from watching other people play or review something that already exists. Couple that with the increasing importance of pre-existing properties in mainstream movies. There have been some fantastically imaginative kids shows in the last 10 years, but for most of them I suspect viewings pale in comparison to Let's Plays, or for that matter this year's Lion King redux. I also suspect that fewer and fewer kids (and adults) ever watch entertainment from before their time in the streaming era, for better or worse.

Yeah I have similar concerns. Couple this with the whole ''bubble'' effect of not having to see or even be aware of something not pre-selected to suit your established tastes, and the likely outcome is accidental remakes of existing things with the creators not even realising they're remaking something because they're completely unaware of the original and it didn't even occur to them that someone might have had the idea already. Like that bit in Family Guy where Brian's telling Lois the plot of his novel and she's pissing herself laughing because it's the exact plot of a classic film.

[Better Midlands]

Probably unjustified and cranky paranoia, but I do wonder what the impact all this will have on the creative arts when the current 5-16 year olds are running the show. So many kids whose main entertainment seems to come from watching other people play or review something that already exists. Couple that with the increasing importance of pre-existing properties in mainstream movies. There have been some fantastically imaginative kids shows in the last 10 years, but for most of them I suspect viewings pale in comparison to Let's Plays, or for that matter this year's Lion King redux. I also suspect that fewer and fewer kids (and adults) ever watch entertainment from before their time in the streaming era, for better or worse.

I think it's going to work out fine, the majority of people have always only consumed art/sports/entertainment anyway.
There's always going to be creatives and with the access that this generation have to technology they'll be able to make shows/films completely unbridled, statistically some of this will be fantastic.

[imitationleather]

Like that bit in Family Guy where Brian's telling Lois the plot of his novel and she's pissing herself laughing because it's the exact plot of a classic film.

Ah, yes. Billy and the Cloneasarus!

[BritishHobo]

As with any kind of media that's fairly new, it'll be interesting to see how things look in thirty to forty years. I've been watching YouTube from my teenage years, and there's no YouTuber I've regularly watched for more than a couple of years. YouTubers produce so much fucking content that eventually it gets too much and I move on. I'd be interested to see which major YouTube stars are still pulling in the views in a few decades, when their audiences tastes and priorities have changed.

And this isn't sneery, or a slight on new media. It goes for everything. I was really into Moderm Family and The Big Bang Theory for years starting in my teens, but after seven or eight years I didn't have the motivation to stream an episode every week, especially once I started work and had much less free time. Gradually I'd fall further and further behind until I just stopped watching. How I Met Your Mother was fucking pushing it, I'd have dropped that if it hadn't ended. I've gone through the same thing with comedy. I used to listen to Gervais on Xfm every single night and browse Pilkipedia every day, but eventually I had to find new things - first Russell Brand, then Brian Gittins, then Peacock and Gamble. I can't imagine all the kids now who love PewDiePie or Jacksepticeye will still be invested in the same way over time. Will they even still be making the same kind of content, or will they move on themselves? Replaced by new, younger stars. One day a sixty-year-old PewDiePie will say something grouchy about a young YouTuber and everyone will shake their heads at how out-of-touch he became. And we'll all be dead.

[mothman]

This seems to be the main one: https://www.autcraft.com/ The creator quit his job to make and maintain a safe and friendly space for autistic kids to play. It's free but accepts donations. Hopefully she plays the PC version (rather than Xbox or mobile) coz it's the only one they support.

You need to sign up for an account on the site then send a "Whitelist Application" to get your daughter's minecraft account allowed on the server. The site probably has all the info you need but PM me if you get stuck and I may be able to help.

Thanks bd. Unfortunately she plays on iPad. I wonder though, would a Surface tablet work if it's basically Windows?

[Twit 2]

My friend's daughter in her early twenties is a (moderate) star on one of the East Asian music / chat livestreaming services, so I've seen the side viewers don't. She makes I think about £8K a year off it, which has paid for university.

Personally, the somewhat exploitative nature of these services rather worries me. Hosts have to do a minimum number of hours each month, with bonuses if they broadcast a certain number every single day. There are regular competitions for best music performer which unlock additional prizes. There are also arbitrary fines for content quality - one month most of what she earned was withheld for not interacting enough with viewers. You can see this causing her stress, not helped by the service's talent managers calling up and giving hosts pressure when they see their revenue numbers declining. The combination of gamification and social pressure for hosts is particularly insidious.

Although her audience is about a third female and there are some viewers her age, most of those who send non-trivial 'gifts' are men who are rather older, so those are the ones that hosts are encouraged to spend their time on. Occasionally this causes problems with guys who think because they've been spending lots of money on someone that they are then owed something. The nature of the service perhaps encourages the view amongst both hosts and viewers that relationships are a purely transactional thing.

The demand for any content that will attract viewers to their channel encourages hosts to take risks. So from the earlier concept of a service akin to busking for tips it's moved to hosts taking it into every part of their life and outside the home too. For someone in the same city to work out where she lives or where she's currently broadcasting from would be pretty easy. If we go out to eat in a restaurant she's streaming eating her meal, or if we're on an ordinary day out then instead of being involved in what's happening her focus is often on her viewers.

Because the camera is always on, conversations that shouldn't be shared end up doing so because you forget and it encourages the view that you're just sharing with friends. I find this particularly worrying when younger members of her extended family join in on camera as they don't have the ability to distinguish between what is private and what is not, or that there are people watching who might not have their best interests at heart. Some regular hosts are still in school as there's no age limit on the services.

It's such a relief when she hits her hours and can relax and be a normal person again. To be honest, I'd rather she was doing a part-time job in a shop and going out and spending time with people her age but times move on I guess.

Totally grim dystopian horror.

[Catalogue Trousers]

The appeal of some YouTubers, for me, lies in the subjects that they tackle and how well they deal with them: extra points for a sense of humour as opposed to zaniness, enthusiasm for the subject(s) involved, some intelligence and some insight. That's really all that's needed. Despite what some say, a good YouTuber doesn''t have to be good-looking, in fact some of the best such as Alex of I Hate Everything and Shaun hide behind artwork avatars, granted this may be as much down to a fondness for anonymity as to being pug-ugly. Then again, PewDiePie is hardly an oil painting (and also a pain in the dong, but that's by the by).

For example, Applemask/Bob The Fish Productions is great for pop cultural ephemera, especially regarding advertising (and also hides behind an animated avatar or voice-over only): Brandon Tenold and Brad 'Cinema Snob' Jones are the two best old film reviewers on YouTube; HBomberGuy can get a little wacky at times, but his intelligence and passion on matters of more global import is refreshing. And, of course, there are all of those YouTubers who don't want to become media darlings or cult figures, but who simply set up channels to disseminate archive films and television. All of these appeal to me. Just like the World in general, though, you may often have to wade through a swamp of wannabe digital celebrities to find the good stuff.

[Icehaven]

Despite what some say, a good YouTuber doesn''t have to be good-looking, in fact some of the best such as Alex of I Hate Everything and Shaun hide behind artwork avatars, granted this may be as much down to a fondness for anonymity as to being pug-ugly. Then again, PewDiePie is hardly an oil painting (and also a pain in the dong, but that's by the by).

Didn't some youtuber who appeared to be a young attractive woman recently get 'exposed' as a much older and less attractive woman who was using a snapchat-esque filter that accidentally vanished half way through a live broadcast? 

Edit; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-49151042  Yes this was it. I had no idea filters that move with your face even existed.

[Flatulent Fox]

Didn't some youtuber who appeared to be a young attractive woman recently get 'exposed' as a much older and less attractive woman who was using a snapchat-esque filter that accidentally vanished half way through a live broadcast? 

Edit; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-49151042  Yes this was it. I had no idea filters that move with your face even existed.

A glitch in the matrix

[backdrifter]

Thanks bd. Unfortunately she plays on iPad. I wonder though, would a Surface tablet work if it's basically Windows?

Yeah I'd expect that'd work fine. Can't be sure though.

[touchingcloth]

Didn't some youtuber who appeared to be a young attractive woman recently get 'exposed' as a much older and less attractive woman who was using a snapchat-esque filter that accidentally vanished half way through a live broadcast? 

Edit; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-49151042  Yes this was it. I had no idea filters that move with your face even existed.

So did people used to think the deep fake was real? This bit makes it sound like they knew she was fake, and all that actually happened was her real self was revealed prematurely:

The Global Times reports that all was as normal and that her fans urged her to show her face and remove her filter but she refused, instead apparently saying: "I can't show my face until I receive gifts worth 100,000 yuan ($11,950). After all, I'm a good-looking host."

[Icehaven]

So did people used to think the deep fake was real? This bit makes it sound like they knew she was fake, and all that actually happened was her real self was revealed prematurely:

They might have known it was a filter, but the natural assumption still seemed to be that she'd be young and pretty. Not to be too mean or anything but it's hard to imagine hundreds (thousands?) of people sending money and gifts to someone in anticipation of them revealing their real face expecting them to turn out to be regular looking and middle aged. More fool them I suppose. 

Vaguely related, I got a new phone a few days ago and in the photo function, alongside the usual brightness and exposure symbols there's a symbol in the selfie setting that looks like a chin, and sure enough when you use it a little sliding scale appears which adjusts the size of your chin in the picture, the lowest being actual size. It defaults to the middle though so unless you manually adjust it, selfies are automatically taken with a bit of chin shaved off, wether you want it or not. I'd say ''I'm not making this up' but I'm sure most of you are way ahead of me on this and it's been a common feature for years but fuck me what the hell is going on?!!? I mean yes I could stand to lose a bit of chin like a lot of folks but I don't need my phone to take doctored pictures of me without even being asked first. I don't look like that!! Aaaagh!!

[touchingcloth]

That function only appears if the AI detects you've got a massive disgusting chin. Like just off the charts horrendous of a chin. Jimmy Hill times a million.

[imitationleather]

Be careful. The Duke of Kent lost his chin in a selfie accident.

[Icehaven]

That function only appears if the AI detects you've got a massive disgusting chin. Like just off the charts horrendous of a chin. Jimmy Hill times a million.

:-( ))))))))))

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Jimmy Hill times a million.

Jimmy Mountain?

[bgmnts]

Jimmy Hillion.