Let's Players originating from Something Awful - ft. VoidBurger, General Ironicus, Bob Kamoc

[BlueSpark]

It would make my day if DSP made a response to Slowbeef's autistic anti-DSP videos where he mocked Slowbeef's shilling and Polygon article.

 

[A Ghost]

It would make my day if DSP made a response to Slowbeef's autistic anti-DSP videos where he mocked Slowbeef's shilling and Polygon article.

i don't think DSP is smart enough to make a parody
also have some comments and tweets

 

[Tonberry]

You know a video is gonna be good when the uploader needs to add "This is not a joke" to the description.

Wondering if this is why some people just don't disclose that they're being paid for promotion in the first place

Honestly, paid ads aren't necessarily bad. Some streamers I like watching do that shit on youtube all the time, and I don't really mind. The main problem here, at least for me, is how hypocritical the entire thing is when a guy who spent years making fun of bad games and people who try to make easy money on youtube decides to make an ad for the exact kind of game he and the RP gang used to make fun of. I spent the entire video expecting Beef and Betus to break into laughter and say 'just kidding', especially when Beef decided to *ironically* use his baby during the ad.

how quickly some people will turn on you

Honestly, that wasn't quick at all. Beef has been shilling for a while now, the best example being that time he spent an entire stream making fun of DSP while *ironically* begging people to give him more e-cash. But a small part of his fanbase seems to draw the line when he starts getting this blatant.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

The main problem here, at least for me, is how hypocritical the entire thing is when a guy who spent years making fun of bad games and people who try to make easy money on youtube decides to make an ad for the exact kind of game he and the RP gang used to make fun of.

Doesn't this reflect that whole community, not just him? For years and years the SA LP crew were deadset against people who "sold out" by trying to monetize their videos, not least because they recognized it was a completely impractical career path. Within the last couple years they all switched over and now you're the odd one out if you're not begging for patreon donations.

 

[Meowthkip]

Doesn't this reflect that whole community, not just him? For years and years the SA LP crew were deadset against people who "sold out" by trying to monetize their videos, not least because they recognized it was a completely impractical career path. Within the last couple years they all switched over and now you're the odd one out if you're not begging for patreon donations.

It's because those dang, dirty outsiders made money off of it and never gave a shit about SA.

 

[proteus4994]

So I was one of the biggest ones who was anti-"making money off of LPs". My philosophy was that you should be doing LPs because you have something fun/entertaining/informative/whatever about a specific game that you really like or hate. It should be something you do for fun. If you're cranking out LPs of every piece of shit game that comes out for that sweet sweet Youtube ad revenue, it's not gonna be funny or entertaining and it's going to be really obvious that you're not having fun.

That being said, times have changed. If you want to make money off of LPs, I don't really care anymore. It is what it is. However, I still firmly believe that you should be having fun and enjoying creating LPs, and playing the games. This latest slowbeef video is a blatant cash-in of a shit game that you know slowbeef wouldn't have played if he hadn't been paid, and THAT'S why I make fun of it. If slowbeef was getting paid by Konami to LP Policenauts, I'd be like "Hell yeah, boy, you're living the dream!" But not this.

 

[RJ MacReady]

I think slowbeef just doesn't give a shit anymore and wants money to pay his bills. That's not unreasonable per se, but paid sponsorships only work if you've got viewership and credibility and cash grab shovelware like that isn't conducive to either. Major streamers/youtubers get away with it because they get sponsored to play AAA titles and other games which aren't offensively bad.

 

[proteus4994]

I think slowbeef just doesn't give a shit anymore and wants money to pay his bills.

Oh yeah, that's definitely what this is about. But the thing is, slowbeef wasn't some NEET living in his mom's basement. At least when I was talking to him, he had a really good job. Better than mine, and we're in the same field more or less. So he doesn't really need this (unless something has happened that I don't know about).

 

[Aquinas]

Well you know, A certain void does need constant filling...

 

[RJ MacReady]

Oh yeah, that's definitely what this is about. But the thing is, slowbeef wasn't some NEET living in his mom's basement. At least when I was talking to him, he had a really good job. Better than mine, and we're in the same field more or less. So he doesn't really need this (unless something has happened that I don't know about).

Plenty of people with full-time jobs make money on the side, though. I doubt slowbeef is making enough that having a side hustle isn't sensible, especially if he has a mortgage and two kids.

He seems to spend a lot of time on this shit, though. He must work from home.

 

[proteus4994]

Plenty of people with full-time jobs make money on the side, though. I doubt slowbeef is making enough that having a side hustle isn't sensible, especially if he has a mortgage and two kids.

He seems to spend a lot of time on this shit, though. He must work from home.

Oh, absolutely, I agree. I'm just saying, it's odd to fuck with your "brand" by shilling some piece of shit Minecraft ripoff for money you don't really need. If he was desperate for money, I'd maybe understand a bit more.

 

[sgetti]

That being said, times have changed. If you want to make money off of LPs, I don't really care anymore. It is what it is. However, I still firmly believe that you should be having fun and enjoying creating LPs, and playing the games. This latest slowbeef video is a blatant cash-in of a shit game that you know slowbeef wouldn't have played if he hadn't been paid, and THAT'S why I make fun of it. If slowbeef was getting paid by Konami to LP Policenauts, I'd be like "Hell yeah, boy, you're living the dream!" But not this.

I don't bother much with LPs anymore, but I've found a pretty solid rule for them is that if the person doing the LP isn't enjoying themselves, the viewer won't either. I'm not saying "you should only be LPing good games", because there's plenty of shit games out there that you can still have fun with, even if you're just having fun mocking it or picking apart all the dumb problems with it. Some of my favorite LPs are of terrible games, and even though they were slogs, you could tell the LPer enjoyed what they were doing on some level. But if you're genuinely not enjoying yourself while playing the game, it shows.

 

[RJ MacReady]

Oh, absolutely, I agree. I'm just saying, it's odd to fuck with your "brand" by shilling some piece of shit Minecraft ripoff for money you don't really need. If he was desperate for money, I'd maybe understand a bit more.

Definitely true, but I don't think the slowbeef brand is worth enough to attract any prestigious sponsorships. Garbage like this is all someone on his level is gonna get because major companies reserve their money for the big dogs who reach millions of viewers.

It feels like slowbeef got one of those spam emails in broken English and decided to take their money instead of telling them to fuck off like everybody else.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

So I was one of the biggest ones who was anti-"making money off of LPs". My philosophy was that you should be doing LPs because you have something fun/entertaining/informative/whatever about a specific game that you really like or hate. It should be something you do for fun. If you're cranking out LPs of every piece of shit game that comes out for that sweet sweet Youtube ad revenue, it's not gonna be funny or entertaining and it's going to be really obvious that you're not having fun.

I remember Chip and Ironicus's Uncharted 2 LP had a segment where they mocked the whole monetization thing by advertising fake energy drink brands and then talking about how their sponsors ditched them because the ads were shitty and unfunny. I doubt you'll ever see one of these LPers make that kind of joke today.

I think you're absolutely right about LPs not being good if it's not obvious the LPer has a passion for doing it. I think this is a problem that rears its ugly head in any kind of entertainment medium when money starts to become a serious consideration - in Hollywood, for every Tom Hanks (pewdiepie) you have a thousand people who never quite made it but think they deserve to, and they can't accept the fact that they can't coast without getting a day job and not being able to choose whatever gig they want and get paid mad bucks for it, because if Tom Hanks gets to then why can't I? You end up with a culture full of desperate, resentful people who will nonetheless present their "industry" to the outside as a wonderful playground to work in, because if they don't toe the line then absolutely nobody will pay them instead of mostly nobody.

 

[proteus4994]

I think you're absolutely right about LPs not being good if it's not obvious the LPer has a passion for doing it.

This is legit why I stopped making LPs. I wasn't having fun anymore, it was stressful (GOTTA BE FUNNY!) and more trouble than it was worth. I suspect if I was getting paid to make LPs, I'd just end up being even more bitter about making LPs than I already was.

 

[BlueSpark]

I think I've mentioned this before in this thread, but Slowbeef has been working towards some sort of business degree (I think a master's or something). He might already have it by now, he was talking about his classes years ago on the Retsutalk podcast. He's also talked about making software apps with his wife and starting his own business one day.

Because of these things I'd always assumed that Slowbeef's hate towards people like Pewdiepie and DSP (and to a lesser extent, his "Kickstarter nonstarter" videos) was coming from his resentment that people he considered less intelligent and worthy than himself were successfully making money (and making money in let's play no less, something that he was an early adopter of).
Just my opinion, though.

Slowbeef has actually talked at length about the drop in quality for let's play content and people only being interested in making money and how that has made him feel down on let's play on a Retsutalk podcast.
I'm not sure how interested people here are in spending an hour listening to a podcast, but the entire thing is relevant if you want some insight into Slowbeef's opinions.
I'll link to a part of the podcast that I feel is most relevant and people can watch the whole thing if they want.
The context for the part I'm linking to is that Slowbeef just finished talking about recording a let's play with Diabetus (their "Room Break" stream that was cut-up into a series of videos and put on Slowbeef''s channel). He says that he wasn't happy with the video quality but that he put it up anyway because he feels that people have low standards for LP content these days.

For anyone that doesn't want to watch at all, some of the key things Slowbeef says:
In response to Diabetus asking Slowbeef if Slowbeef complaining about the quality of let's play videos then uploading low-quality videos makes him a hypocrite:

SLOWBEEF: "No, but I'm feeling that way, lately. It's just, like, what do I really care anymore? I've been doing this let's play shit for like, fucking, god, what, eight years?"

A little later in the video (said cynically as commentary on the behaviour of other let's players):

SLOWBEEF: "It's all about making money nowadays. Here's what you do - every videogame you ever play just upload it, put ads on it and hope for the best"

Later they talk about attracting viewers and quality.

DIABETUS: "So that's how you get people to watch your stuff? Is to class it up?"

SLOWBEEF: "No, no, no. You get- you have to get all the people to class themselves up. The people who are actually fucking watching"

DIABETUS: "So you want the viewers to have better standards than they have?"

SLOWBEEF: "Right. Exactly. And the thing is that all the people that are kinda like 'well, why aren't people watching my let's play?' It's because, right now, the fucking barrier to entry is really fucking low because anyone will accept fucking anything!"

Anyway, as for this latest, sponsored, wacky money-making scheme, my feelings on the matter are that people should be able to make money any legal way they like, I'm not against it or anything.

But, at the same time, talking about Slowbeef's hypocrisy and the irony of him using let's play to shill a Minecraft knock-off when he would have ripped into anyone doing the same even just two years back is kind of a given. And it's pretty shitty that he's exploiting his children for money and also exploiting his fanbase by advertising a shitty Minecraft clone of all things.

Here's Slowbeef and Diabetus mocking a rip-off of Minecraft and Pokemon:

On a purely selfish level I'm disappointed that Slowbeef is focusing his efforts on making money from his streams because it means less and less content with Diabetus (and more with painfully unfunny morons).
His content is seriously garbage as well, like god damn: this guy had the nerve to rag on Pewdiepie for years.

The last two big video series he did with Diabetus were both on Slowbeef's channel (his Bloodborne LP which he did ages ago and his recent Nioh LP, and he had a third guy on the Nioh LP that I felt really dragged it down).

But whatever, I guess, it's not like they owe anyone anything.
They've essentially been entertaining us for free for years. I always feel a little guilty criticizing Slowbeef, even though I don't like him very much on a personal level. because he and Diabetus have made literally hundreds of hours of content that I love.

 

[Terror Rism]

But whatever, I guess, it's not like they owe anyone anything.
They've essentially been entertaining us for free for years. I always feel a little guilty criticizing Slowbeef, even though I don't like him very much on a personal level. because he and Diabetus have made literally hundreds of hours of content that I love.

while i agree to an extent, this is the same line of logic that leads to dipshits like Pullahoko thinking we should eat up their shitty minecraft ripoff videos and 2+ hour unedited streams with unfunny internet "friends" instead of actually interesting people

in the end, they don't owe us anything, but no one has to enjoy their content if it's garbage, poorly done, and incredibly hypocritical; i'm just not sure any of them can grasp this through their e-go i'm a faggot jesus christ

 

[Manah]

No fucking way slowbeef and diabetus would sell out to a minecraft clone right? I'm sure it's just some dry humor that didn't land quite right...

Unfortunately it's not a joke.

Spoiler: Promo Code / Large

I'm one of the people that have kept watching and I've honestly lost a lot of respect for the dude. I wouldn't even care if he did paid content for a shmup or some shit (times change) but doing this for a minecraft clone that no one gives a shit about, is just so god damn hypocritical.

Yeah, I actually still like some of what slowbeef's uploaded (like the Final Fight Streetwise playthough from awhile back was pretty entertaining) but between the obnoxious popups on his streams and shilling for shovelware pretty much screams 'washed up'.

Which is actually kinda funny in it's own way, now that I think about it.

 

[BlueSpark]

VoidBurger not doing much interesting, lately, just sperging about how she had to read Grapes of Wrath for school as a teenager and didn't understand it.

Also, she and a disturbing number of fellow retards defending the Bill Nye gender propaganda cartoon:

And, getting a little off-topic here, but VoidBurger retweets story about Muslims killing gays, apparently unaware of the irony of having tweeted support for allowing Muslim refugees into western countries in the past who likely also support killing gays:

And I thought that it's funny that the New York Post is so eager to avoid mentioning Islam that they use laughably outdated terminology, calling the Islamist leader of Chechnya a "violent ruffian":

 

[CharlesBarkley]

"Not all Muslims" I said, as I pushed a flaming queer off a building.