Video Blogging: The Death of the Hobby

There was a nice article on the front page "So Sick of Words" that touches on the subject of how videos are taking over the hobby in terms of reviews. While attending BGG Con I saw tons of video blogging/reviewing going on including Tom Vasel all in "Steven Spielberg" mode acting like directors on a movie set.

It was an amazing thing to see as I gazed up from playing a game to see these people engrossed in making a video when there were so many great games to be played. Thinking back I had many great opportunities for photos at the Con, like my discussion with Aldie or playing some hot new game but the fact is I was to absorbed in the moment to think about taking a photo or making a video.

I think the "selfie" generation is partly to blame for this explosion of video blogging/reviewing. Have you ever seen the selfie of the girl receiving a kiss from her boyfriend? She's all smiles while taking a photo of herself receiving a kiss. Wouldn't you hate to be that guy? Obviously your passionate kiss had no effect on her since she was more interested in taking a photo. In the same vein, the video bloggers at the Con seemed more interested in being a self created celebrity than actually being involved in the hobby of board gaming that was all around them!

There are generally two schools of thought on this phenom of video blogging and reviews. The first thinks that ANY publicity is good publicity. The thought is that this video will reach viewers who will see the game and hopefully go out and buy it. But I ask you what if a video was filmed of the session that Michael Barnes described in his session from hell while playing Cash n Guns? The timid pointing of guns and lackluster play would sell this game? I think not!

Who am I to talk? Didn't I do a podcast and make videos at one point? Yes that is true but with me there is a big difference. I had no interest in financial gains from my projects. I thought the idea was to share freely ideas with the hobby community, it was not my intention to make a living from these videos. If I had wanted to do that I would have not lighted them with a table lamp and would have powdered my nose like Wheaton does in Tabletop.

I did actually take some film classes in college and when we would sit around thinking about ideas for interesting films we would joke what about filming someone playing Monopoly? Today that joke has become a reality.

Today almost no gamebox is opened without being filmed. Every inch of cellophane removed from the box is captured on film. There is no surprise.

Also you can find a session of almost any game being played captured on glorious HD video! If I was a game publisher I would cringe at the thought of this fact. Games are so group dependent. What if the group captured on video playing my game was a bunch of fun murderers? This is not exactly casting my masterpiece that I worked so hard on in the best light is it? Will this increase sales? Will this hurt sales? Interesting questions.

You're worrying too much.

I'm not sure where you're going with this?
Everyone's going to switch to blogging/videos?
The videos are so poor quality that they'll irrevocably damage games?

I don't see the death of any hobby, but rather the birth of another. There's something that tells me that if these people were involved in other hobbies - Knitting, Model Railroads, Origami...They'd find some way to put their mug in front of a camera and share their opinions. Go to YouTube and you can find reviews on all those (though you have to get specific by adding "book" on origami).

In other words, people are leaving the boardgame hobby but picking up blogging as their hobby with a focus on boardgames.

I started using twitter a few months ago to help gain contacts and get my name out there as a designer and to a lesser extent reviewer (I tweet links to my reviews when they're posted). I use it 100% for the industry, not personal stuff, so I'm following like 120 industry people from companies to reviewers to whoever. The point is that video reviewers and even podcasters are certainly regarded as celebrities and fawned over. There's almost like this large clique of cool kids that pat each other on the back and celebrate that they "made it".

As an anecdote kind of proving this, a guy I've conversed with on BGG runs a relatively new podcast and he does a good job. Him and his team produce decent content and they fill a niche. In just a few months time he's already got a band of followers who follow him on his BGG guild. They had a BGG Con meetup with around 40 people.

There are a decent number of quality reviewers who stick to writing that have been around for years. They don't have the popularity or presence to have 40 people want to show up and hang out with them at a con.

It's just strange. Maybe this comes off as bitter and jealous, which is probably partially true. But I don't get it at all. It makes me wonder what things will be like in 5 years.

All I can think of is "Roger and Ebert: The death of film criticism?"

Death of the hobby?

Number of years I've been a "hobbyist": >30
Number of Blogs I follow: 0
Number of Podcasts I follow: 0
Number of VBlogs I follow: 0
Number of blogs I've created and neglected over the years: well, a few.

Blogs hasn't changed my hobby at all. I still buy games, I still play games, I still enjoy games, and I have no idea nor care what vanity blogs are popular today. They are mostly transient anyway. Games are forever!

What is it with people and Tom Vasel? "Oh, he seemed more interested in talking to people than playing games," Oh, he seemed more interested in recording videos than playing games."

It's his fucking job.

I have no idea nor care what vanity blogs are popular today.

Vanity blogs. I like that name, really says it all

The point is that video reviewers and even podcasters are certainly regarded as celebrities and fawned over. There's almost like this large clique of cool kids that pat each other on the back and celebrate that they "made it".

Very true. Same thing can be seen in Karaoke with their "fans" Amazing stuff

What is it with people and Tom Vasel? "Oh, he seemed more interested in talking to people than playing games," Oh, he seemed more interested in recording videos than playing games."

It's his fucking job.

I do watch his videos but only on occassion to see what the bits look like in a game as he dumps them out.
I'm glad someone is willing to do this low end job of the hobby. Kind of like we need people to play prototypes. But I don't consider him a celebrity. I don't need his opinion because trumping Chapel I have been in the hobby greater than 40 years.

Very few people have the charisma and character to appear on screen and not bore me to tears. I like print much, much better.

The problem with video is the problem I have with live music shows too. There are too many external factors involved. A show can be negatively effected by some jack ass standing too close to me talking, people filming shit, audience noises, how the band looks, how the audience looks... when it's me and an album... there is a zero to one relationship with the audience. That's how I like it. I especially hate when the band plays their album exactly as is but with some mistakes. If I'm going to see you live... play differently.

With games I want the rule book. I don't like the video's at all because if a person is distracting me or pissing me off in some way that ends up effecting my opinion of the game, unintentionally I'm sure, but it's still there. Maybe it's a beautiful woman, maybe it's an irritating hipster or some anti-social nerd with no charisma. Everything you see and hear will effect you in some way, whether you like it or not, and that in turn effects how you see the game. That's how stimuli works. With print there is far less to be effected by and with a boring old rule book.. even less than in traditional print... unless we're talking Vlaada rule books where he does put a ton of personality in that I suppose could piss people off or distract them.

It's not just things that piss me off either, positive visuals are distracting as well.

I think... and hope, that there are enough people like me out there that I will continue to enjoy the hobby the way I am used to and won't need to change too much.

I watch almost none of the Dice Tower videos either. Why does anyone even care how he makes his living? Much less hold him up as an example of how the sky is falling in on a niche hobby.

What constitutes being "in the hobby"? Because I'm pretty sure I played a boardgame when I was eight, which puts me at forty years, younglings.

Is Tom Vasel reviewing games full time? That sounds like a great way to ruin a great hobby--doing it for money. I used to send little links about various musicians to a friend of mine who plays saxophone for one of the military bands. He finally exploded, telling me that music has become for him like painting houses, and the last thing he wants to do is read about paint when he gets home. We don't talk much anymore.

So far as I'm aware, TDT is Tom's full time business, yes. Whether that makes the "hobby" suck for him is his problem, or not given the enthusiasm he seems to still have for games. Really, who here is the gatekeeper that gets to decide who can or can't make a video or 100?

This whole topic feels like it needs a vaguely racially insensitive "HATERS GONNA HATE" jpeg in it.

My article wasn't really meant to be a diatribe against video stuff, though I've written those in the past. It was more meant as a lament that the written piece, which used to be the main deal in talking about board games, is much more niche. Such a transition is definitely in line with everything else in popular culture. The difference is that while the tradition of written criticism is strong enough in, say, film that it allows at least some kind of written work to survive, board game writing had very little heritage to begin with. That doesn't mean there wasn't quality, but there's nothing really keeping it there.

I got a lot of comments on that article saying, "I prefer written pieces." That's great to hear, but it must be said that F:AT's focus on written articles is incredibly anachronistic now. There's definitely a sampling bias at work there.

Also, if the question is one of finances, then from all I can tell video reviews are a lot better for the companies. It gives people a better idea of how a game looks and what people can expect, without a really strong opinion that might lose a sale. I'm not sure this is very ambiguous at all.