JosephAnderson
patreon
15 - Some Policy Things and Updates
🕑 Added 2016-07-16 13:58:13 +0000 UTC The next (and final, hurrah!) Uncharted video will be out on Monday. I'm on the video part right now. It's going to be about 80 minutes long. I have a lot of work left to do but this is the part that I can sink a lot of hours in a row into.I want to talk a little about that. The original idea in my head for Uncharted 4 was to do the opposite of what I did for Uncharted 1, 2, and 3. That was one long, giant video to see how people responded to that. And how it would be received by new viewers.
Uncharted 4 was meant to be split into 2 videos of about 15-20 minutes each--one for gameplay. One for story. To see if long-time viewers would still enjoy it, and how new watchers might be more inclined to check it out.
Of course the gameplay video went over that. And now the story one is a lot bigger too. I have a lot of trouble estimating exactly how much I'll have to talk about in a game until I'm done writing. As much as I try to structure parts of the videos, I put a lot of emphasis on flow--how the script moves from one topic to the next. Even with Part One/Part Two/Part Three breaks, I don't feel satisfied with what I'm writing if it doesn't move smoothly from topic to topic. I'm actually really happy with how the Uncharted 4 gameplay critique turned out in that respect. I think I did it better than ever in that video.
The problem is that it's making me stressed to rush like crazy to finish projects, because I'm an idiot and give a date that I think the video will be done--because the video is only going to 20 minutes long right!--and then it's 4 times that and I still want to make the date. The audio in this next video isn't quite where I'd like it to be because I didn't want to be too far behind my first estimate.
So it took me 11 months to finally accept this, but I think I need to stop giving estimates. The videos will be done when they're done, and I won't give a rough date until I'm on the final part--putting the video to the audio. Which I think will work out better for everyone.
There are a few more things I want to talk about though. The quick one is that I'm thinking about starting a written blog so I can talk about some games without devoting a big video to it. I could also use it as a place to spitball some rough discussion ideas on future videos. I think a separate place for that, and not this Patreon blog post, would be the better choice, right? Something like wordpress? I've never had an official blog before.
The big topic I want to get to is about future videos. Mostly way in the future. Dark Souls 3 and INSIDE are up next, but the channel has gotten large enough now that I'm getting semi-regular emails for promotions. A few have been advertising. Most have been press keys to review a game--essentially a free game.
I tweeted about this the other week and I've thought about it a lot since then. The conclusion that I've come to is that, until I post about it again here on Patreon, that my policy is to not take any of these offers. I'll continue to read and consider each one, but I currently do not feel comfortable accepting anything that might compromise my integrity as a reviewer. I'm not saying that anyone that DOES accept these types of offers is automatically untrustworthy--I'm only talking about myself and how I know that I might not be able to remain unbiased if I know the game was free or anything like that.
Many review sites make this work. But I think the layer of separation there--it's not the REVIEWER that's getting the press key, it's the SITE that then chooses the reviewer--is a significant factor in reconciling special treatment. You could also argue that the developer is getting exposure out of it and therefore just as much, or more, out of their game being shown... I've considered that too.
Someday there might be an offer that I think is too interesting to pass up. If an early key for No Man's Sky came to me (which it won't) then I'd have to weigh the reality that my review being published on the same day that the game comes out might really be worth it to some people when it comes to deciding on making a purchase.
If something like that happens, then my current plan is that: I post about it here beforehand. I tweet about it. I say clearly at the beginning of the video that I received the key or whatever else. And I will talk to whoever contacted me and ask them if it's acceptable that I screen capture all of our correspondence and link it in the description. I think that might be enough.
Hopefully that makes sense. Thank you for your support--both to new pledgers and those who have maintained a pledge for a while. Some of you have been here for months and months. It means a lot.
- Joe
Comments
Thanks! Transparency is important, especially on issues like disclosing free games and stuff, but I also know that people want to watch videos, not listen to me talk about making them... if that makes sense.
Yep it was a gigantic mistake to do so much on the Naughty Dog games like I did. I thought I could get the Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 video out in a tenth of the time that it took me. So it would be a quick look back then a long video on Uncharted 4. And here we are too many months later. Not only was it draining on me (and you're right, I did get sick of it), but I think my viewers are tired of it too. Another lesson learned I guess. So it's not a total loss.
Thanks so much! It means a lot--it's quite literally keeping the channel alive since the videos take so many hours to make. I want to remain close to my current level of output but some of the deadlines that I gave poor estimates on stressed me out like crazy these past few months. From Bloodborne onward really. I think it'll be better for everyone from now on.
Hey I didn't see the edits here. The email I got on this comment wasn't updated for them. If an NDA or promotion deal ever has restrictions on what I can say then I wouldn't even consider it. I'm not a salesman. My channel isn't about promoting products. It's not even a good fit and would be disingenuous. Totalbiscuit takes this stuff very seriously and I agree with him about a lot of it. It's surprisingly tough for me to nail down where to draw the line, so thank you for the response. I think communicating with viewers as things go on is the best way.
I wouldn't mind if you did reviews on games that you got for free. Everything you listed would definitely be enough of a disclaimer and I think you're a smart enough person to not have it effect your review too much. It would probably help the validity of the channel as a job too if you no longer had to spend any money on games (which wouldn't be the case for a while obviously but that'd probably be really nice!) I really like the idea of a blog. I think my biggest issue with the channel is the last few months haven't had much game diversity, (the darkest dungeon - dragon's dogma was probably my favorite month for your videos) But your views are looking good so maybe I am alone on that. A blog would help break that up though and could add some game diversity, even if you just spent 20 minutes writing about some random game. It could also help if you felt burnout from playing Uncharted 1-4 several times. Love the channel, still think it's the best thing on Youtube. Have a good one man.
Ossian Olausson
Hey just started pledging, love your work and your videos man! I think it's good that you don't schedule and put dates on stuff because it creates a lot of unnecessary pressure, the story video of uncharted 4 was pretty good btw keep it up
I would be OK with promoted reviews given a few assumptions, like your No Mans Sky for example. You mention transparency, which is good, but secondly, a score would obviously be biased, so maybe say "due to this being a gifted key, I wont give a score?".. The only "bad" case I see is if the NDA mentions you can't say anything bad about it, that is the only case I'd object to a review/retrospective/analysis. EDIT: TotalBiscuit has talked a lot about transparency, while I think he takes it a bit far sometimes, he does so for reasons that, in his eyes, are very fair, which overlaps with your own observations. EDIT2: Glad you ditched schedules, as long as there is something once in a while, and you're good at communication. I believed The Wheel of Time would never end, but it was resurrected from the mothers' embrace and completed, and was well worth the wait.
GiantPurplePen15
You are one of the most transparent Youtubers around and the steps you take to avoid compromising your integrity as a reviewer is very admirable. I hope you know that your work is top notch and that your fans probably don't want you to feel stressed by deadlines. Thank you for providing all the amazing content!
