New lets players. Any advice?

[AmishSamurai]

If you're talking make sure you're interesting and have a decent speaking voice; if it's a lot of um's and uh's I'm just going to be annoyed. Interesting means either funny or informative; a good example of informative might be describing some part of the mechanics that aren't necessarily obvious.

In other words, be like Total Biscuit, only a little less obsessed with start menus.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TotalHalibut

TB's start menu obsession is one of his most endearing points. I hope his recovery goes smoothly and he can go back to his full schedule.

[Damm64]

If you're talking make sure you're interesting and have a decent speaking voice; if it's a lot of um's and uh's I'm just going to be annoyed. Interesting means either funny or informative; a good example of informative might be describing some part of the mechanics that aren't necessarily obvious.

In other words, be like Total Biscuit, only a little less obsessed with start menus.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TotalHalibut

TB's start menu obsession is one of his most endearing points. I hope his recovery goes smoothly and he can go back to his full schedule.

That and FOV sliders

i can't believe someone actually make this

Hope his recovery goes well.

[MrEco]

Ironically I'm going to give you practically the exact opposite advice as everyone else.

Personally I find it most fun when the person doing an LP is barely talking about the game at all. Channels like SSoHPKC who regularly go off on tangents talking about whatever random thing is on their mind are very entertaining, and I feel like I get to know the person more when that happens.

The happy middle ground is to be like TheSwitcher. They usually talk "about" the game, but not in an informative way. They usually make jokes, or wax nostalgic about the game they're playing, and they're genuinely funny because everything feels natural since there is always at least two of them playing at the same time and they just bounce their commentary off one another. I think that's the most important thing, personally, is that your commentary sounds natural. Strictly reading off a script is the worse thing you can do.

There is one Let's Player that I watch because he's informative though, and that's EpicNameBro. The thing is, I don't watch his video's to help me beat a game, or give me tips. Again, contrasting with most of the peoples posts so far, I hate watching an LP to tell me how to play/beat a game. I can figure that out on my own, and watching someone else tell me some amazing strategy to win usually takes the fun out of it. The reason I enjoy ENB is because of his lore discussion. In every game he plays he talks about the story in a very deep way, often looking at facts that the developers themselves likely never intended for anyone to dwell on for long, and introducing his viewers to entirely new ways of looking at a games story. I don't usually have the sharp eye to make out details in lore like he does, so I'm grateful to watch some of his videos and have him point out interesting facts, hear his theory on them, and then try to come up with my own thoughts.


All in all, if you take anything away from all the replies in this thread, there is one thing I hope you'll realize. No matter what you do, you will not appeal to everyone. If you do commentary, someone will tell you that you should make silent videos. If you do silent videos, someone will tell you that you should do commentary. If you try to be funny, someone will say that your humor sucks or that you talk too much over the game. If you try to be serious and informative someone will tell you to lighten up and have more fun with the game. Just do what you are comfortable with. If you're good at it (and a little lucky) then you will find an audience who wants to see what you're doing, you won't have to create an audience by being what everyone wants you to be.

[dunpeal2064]

Don't try to do everything, just focus on what you like about your LP and expand on it. If you do Super Mario World, don't feel the need to tell us its release date, its prequels and sequels, etc, unless that is what excites you. Maybe you like the various hidden levels, maybe you like finding glitches or weird things in the game, maybe you have speedrunning knowledge, etc. If you passion is just knowing every single thing about the game, then go all out... just don't feel like you HAVE to cover every single little detail.

The main turnoff for me is when someone falls into a formula, and just gives me barely enough information on each subject. Get passionate, and really dig into what it is that YOU like about the game. I don't want someone to read Wiki to me.

If you are just playing games on the spot, and haven't played em before, aren't researching them, and don't have any attachment to them... then, I guess try to be really awesome on your own merits.

Good luck with your channel, I'll happily check it out once you get it going

[Exhuminator]

I hate to have the lovely music and sound of video games destroyed by listening to jackasses rant and "joke" through the whole damn thing.

This. Every "let's play" I've ever tried to watch was full of this shit and it's why I can't stand watching them.

My advice for a "let's play" is to just shut the hell up and play the game.