The Bazaar #96: Why I’ve Not Become a ‘YouTuber’

GENERAL

Scholarly Adventures started out as a bit of a COVID adventure, a way to “create a hobby” and help keep my mind occupied on something other than work-related emergencies and urgent tasks during that initial outbreak season. This hobby turned into a long-term venture that has become much grander than I expected. Blogging, once a “thing,” has become something of a niche social media platform. It is still very relevant for certain topics, perhaps not so much for TTRPGs, which has largely shifted over to YouTube and TikTok.

It’s been asked several times whether or not I’d ever consider moving over to YouTube and channel my interest in Palladium Books and their RPGs to that medium. Well, I could provide a one-word answer, but what fun would that be? So instead, let’s examine a few of the issues that led us to the current environment, factors to consider before becoming a “Dungeon-Tuber,” and some justification for why the answer to that question posed would ultimately lean towards a very contingent “maybe.”

DUNGEON-TUBER CONTEXT

General. For context, the 'Dungeon-Tuber' scene largely took of in the Covid-era as a response to the closed-off nature of the response to the pandemic. To be fair, this blog was a project very much in that same vein. The Dungeon-Tuber space has recently become fraught with issues, mostly beyond the YouTubers' control. As described in the videos linked below, a growing number of Dungeon-Tubers are experiencing a systematic 'attack' on their ability to express and monetize their work. And to be clear, it's more about pushing videos to subscribers who click their links to create views that generates the revenue. Add in demonetization for a variety of issues under a 'guilty until proven innocent model' (with any monetization held by YouTube), and things get dire, quick. For some, it's burnout and unwillingness to adapt to the grind; fair enough. The Professor DM video below describes it best, and does a great job summarizing the technical aspects of video creation I am unwilling to tackle; Dungeons & Discourse provides some irish whimsy and a (very) heavy dose of dark humour to the issue.

Professor DM: MORE DungeonTubers Disappear

Dungeons & Discourse: The Biggest D&D YouTubers Quit

Open Game License (OGL). This really was the spark that lit the fuse. It allowed a multitude of gaming enthusiasts to enter into the market and create for themselves. For the lucky ones, this led to market success and launched further products that created a market brand and a following among the d20 community. I recall back in that time I was actually on the precipice of launching my own content creation company along with some partners and investors. I was very much ready to join the d20 hype train! Over the years, some of those more successful companies would become major players in the TTRPG community, helping make D&D a household name for RPGs across North America, something that holds to this day. This explosion of content also gave equal escalation to the attention for online content. In the early 2000s, this was very much a niche market, something that was very much going to change.

Built on Former IP. While the former, classic version of AD&D gave us some great, memorable settings, it was largely founded on the events and goings-on of the Forgotten Realms. These were developed with alternate settings, some with greater financial success than others: Krynn (Dragonlance), Greyhawk, Athas (Dark Sun), it also supported a plethora of others and media products that enabled them. The Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman Dragonlance trilogies, R.A. Salvatore Drizzt series, and other popular characters/settings gave enthusiasts dozens of books and video games to satisfy our appetites when we weren’t rolling dice. The post-OGL world would do nothing to stop this gravy-train, and in fact supported some of the problems the market faced.

Technology Platforms

• The Ancient Times. With the advent of the internet, the opportunity to speak with and engage with others that share in our gaming interests exploded. Internet message boards and chat rooms developed to personal web spaces (e.g. GeoCities, MySpace), which then developed into social media spaces like Facebook and into a video form that ultimately got us to the current form of YouTube.

• Modern Media. At least in North America, YouTube and TikTok are the two largest interactive mechanisms for newer, younger GMs and Players expressing interest in the RPG hobby. YouTube is by far the more popular of the two in terms of produced videos. While video technology was in its infancy compared to modern standards, webcams and modern vid-cams were the standard; the former were standard on computers but low-definition, the latter much higher resolution but came at a price. So, the majority of the first generations of TTRPG channels were talking heads with bad resolution, little editing, certainly no B-roll or crazy zoom/sound/post-production effects. What they accomplished though, was laying the groundwork for the future D&D phenomenon that would sweep the gaming sphere.

• Moving Forward. Smartphones are almost completely capable of recording all the footage. Dependent on the software and how expansive they wish to go, nearly any computer could be used to edit and publish the final video. Technology will make these devices smaller and more powerful, cheaper and more readily available. Unlike myself, the kids growing up these days can work them like magic.

Then There Were Influencers. As YouTube became the platform of choice, a competitor came along. TikTok offered something to the newer generation in the form of more easily digestible clips, and YouTube answered with YouTube Shorts as a competitive service. Oddly enough, this service and several other structural changes YouTube would make ended up with an oversized impact on how many Dungeon Tubers interacted with their audiences. The production value for the videos also displayed a dramatic increase in production value, which in turn increased audience expectations. Professional equipment, software, expertise in video and audio manipulation, costly programs for streaming services, editing software and audio/image libraries for B-Roll and background imagery.

Stale Topics. A friction point became the eventual problem most content creators face – the relative stale selection of topics to find from Dungeon-Tubers. There is only so many videos one can watch in terms of GM advise on ‘subject A,’ ‘subject B,’ or ‘subject C.’  A new book drops, or a new setting is announced, and all the Dungeon-Tubers are making similar videos to satiate the appetite of the algorithms. Honestly, it’s one of the reasons I don’t bother with some of the topics I had initially brainstormed, unless I somehow find a Rifts/PB-specific angle to present.

Societal Influence. We certainly can’t ignore the effects that certain events and media properties have had on the popularity of D&D and the RPG industry as a whole. When certain fantasy or fantasy-adjacent products become part of popular culture, there is simply a bow wave of popularity to the RPG industry that Dungeon-Tubers inevitably tap into. When reinforced by other events that propel us to the internet to seek out connection and like-minded interests, things snow-ball from there.

• Stranger Things. It’s quite impossible to connect much of the success of D&D and Dungeon-Tubers with the influence of the Stranger Things series. Main characters playing the game, and having the game reflected in the series plot normalized much of the stigma the RPG industry had.

• COVID Effect. Given social distancing requirements, people turned to the internet to stay connected. Listening to Dungeon-Tubers and that community was no small things for a lot of people. It also propelled industry to normalize video-teleconference technology to the point it is now an expectation.

• Critical Roll. One of the biggest success stories of the Dungeon-Tubers were the successful blend of voice actor acting out their game-play sessions for their audience. While not my cup of tea, they filled stadiums when they took their show on the road; no small feat, regardless of your opinions.

Oh, the Scandals. With the relative explosion of Dungeon-Tubers facing a wall of stale, tried and recycled topics, several issues occurred that breathed fresh live into the streams.

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  The OGL Scandal. Discussed in some length over in The Bazaar #80: A TTRPG Industry Perspective, the OGL scandal was a huge, self-inflicted wound for Wizards of the Coast (WotC). Basically, all the secondary publishers adding to the d20 landscape and making it the dominant namesake gaming community for RPGs had the legal authority allowing them to publish D&D material for the d20 system pulled from under them. In addition, getting back into the “walled garden” of d20 publishing WotC tried to impose came with a slew of overbearing financial and far-reaching IP-grabbing measures. Basically, they would do all the work, pay WotC a fee for the pleasure of doing business, and WotC had the option to grab the IP for themselves.

• The Pinkertons. Discussed in some length in The Bazaar #41: Gaming Company / Consumer Interactions. Not D&D-specific, WotC also owns the Magic the Gathering TTCCG. They have influences for that game as well. One such individual was sent the wrong box for a yet-unreleased set. The error, entirely on WotC, was compounded by sending Pinkerton goons in to collect on the product.

• WotC Management Issues. A number of other issues gave fodder for the Dungeon-Tubers:

o   Scores of employees laid off at Christmas due to Quarterly losses

o   Quality control issues in MtG product

o   Investor and financial criticism on MtG overproduction

o   The Hadozee Incident

Minor Celebrity Status. In addition to the increased production value, there has been a swatch of serious business power behind marketing Dungeon-Tubers. No doubt, some of the more profitable/well-known channels make use of these kinds of services. As begets channels that rack up hundreds of thousands of clicks/views, with tens- to hundreds of thousands of subscribers, the YouTube algorithm did its fair share in boosting their success. This led to cross-channel promotion, convention invitations, you name it. They held a certain sway over the community.

Publishers in Influencers Clothing. So after some time, several of these more successful Dungeon-Tubers took to publishing products, leveraging their popularity. Critical Roll launched their own RPG, Matt Collville did the same, Professor DM has his own product. There are for sure others out there. It seems this was the natural extension of the Dungeon-Tuber “career path,” that of the publisher of gaming materials or full-fledged RPG systems. For some, it's also created a part of the controversy in the "field" of Dungeon-Tubers that has led to the current bleeding out of viewers and commitment to content creation. From my perspective, if they find the commercial success, all the best to them.

Systems of Control. Something that has always been a risk to YouTubers has been the algorithm and the slavish requirement to ‘feed the beast.’ This is further complicated by recent developments whereby YouTube has changed how the algorithm promotes channels, so even if subscribed, it may not necessarily show on your feed. Add to this the somewhat nefarious moves YouTube has done of late for malicious content thought to be AI-driven. Dungeon-Tubers have reported several of their videos targeted for unexplained reasons, advertisement revenue withheld until corrected. Attempts for explanation are either brushed aside or ignored, yet revenues that would have been collected are retained by YouTube in the interim.

WHY NOT A YOUTUBE CHANNEL?

Go It Alone. After all the previous statements and the general upsides for the Dungeon-Tubers that make it, one could easily imagine this an easy field for someone to get into and make a name for themselves, to create a platform, and to derive some of the benefits that come from that. Well, that first impression quickly finds itself hitting the brick wall of reality. Certainly, in my personal case, the following reasons apply to how and why I will never launch a YouTube channel in the TTRPG space:

• Time. Easily the first and foremost issue. Still a serving senior officer in the Army, work, and family time take priority. No surprise there. The following points expand on this. I could participate in the discussion part of a channel, have done a few times in the past. But I would never be the one to carry the water for the production side of the house.

• Technical Tradecraft. Quite frankly I’m not in a position to take the time and learn the technical tradecraft of scripting the video, filming multiple takes, B-roll, use of streaming and/or editing software, the list goes on. I get by with what I know and can leverage for the blog. Outside of that, I know enough of what I don’t know to cut my losses, so to speak.

• Costs. As described before, the equipment to make a professionally worthwhile series of videos to conduct reviews, speak to RPG topics and other things, comes with a cost. Microphones and sound system/software, streaming software, lights, video equipment, possibly still photography equipment, access to B-roll audio/visual libraries for effects. While the blog incurs some expenses, they are nothing compared to a full-fledged YouTube effort.

• YouTube Algorithm. If not already picked up, the algorithm has done a slam-dunk on Dungeon-Tubers and their visibility. Given this has affected all RPG channels, even those for lesser-known RPGs, one can only imagine how much it has impacted any that were specifically Rifts-oriented? Based off the Wix platform, this blog leverages Google and SEO through social media platforms and spreads the word just fine; it also isn’t beholden to the outside agency over any revenue stream and the dire impact that could have. Since I consciously restrict ANY advertisements from my blog, revenue impacts are a non-factor; but influence over how/when anyone could be directed to my channel? That’s another story.

• No OGL. Palladium Books is vehement about not developing an OGL. That’s fine, I have no intentions of publishing material outside IP restrictions. Anything I do have in development I’ve already discussed with Sean in the background (no, nothing official), or at least my intent for anything would be to continue in that vein. But this limitation does affect the amount of third-party content creation that spurs content discussion.

• Palladium Books Limitations. While I understand the nature of defending an IP to ensure that it isn’t abused or control is retained, the nature of the language that PB currently allows myself and others to manage their content creation is fairly restrictive in terms of “revenue generation.”  Whereas things like online donations via Ko-Fi, Super Chats, or YouTube subscription purchases for donation to viewers would be outside the scope, use of ads on YouTube videos is clearly cited as a  violation of their Limited License.

Partnership. While this is also an option, it also faces several of its own problem-spaces that meed to be addressed. I think this is also one of the reasons you find most Dungeon-Tubers are single individuals speaking in front of the camera; there are the odd exceptions where a pair are speaking. Some friction points to address:

• Time. If I’m just there to ‘perform’ for the camera and only provide minor input before and after, this is an option. It sets a partnership a little off-kilter as one is going to be expected to conduct the majority of the heavy lifting in terms of editing and after-effects.

• Technical Tradecraft. Like I’ve said, I’m not bringing much to the table, LOL. I know the IP and the rules, I know writing, I know some of the industry. Just, for the love of whatever you hold holy, don’t ask me to do A/V editing. I’d rather jump on a d4. IYKYK.

• Cost. We’d still need to buy a lot of equipment. Sure, divided by half is a thing, but it’s still money.

• Algorithm. Let’s set this clear, the algorithm is still a thing. I think YouTube is overplaying their hand, big-time. But any partner(s) and I would have to deal with it.

• Chemistry. Without putting too fine a point on it, some RPG personalities don’t mesh well with others. That’s fair. There are reasons. Some matter, others really shouldn’t, but they impact things. This is actually a bigger thing than most likely realize. If there is no chemistry, no banter and nothing of interest, it will make it that much harder to succeed.

The Medium is the Message. I once had a chat with Kevin Siembieda about this regarding the launch of TMNT & OS. He was trying to develop outlets for interviews and spread the word for the Kickstarter, and build the hype. We had an awesome chat that lasted the better part of 90 minutes. I laid out many of the issues mentioned herein as limitations and explained that, unfortunately, a written blog isn’t a vector that translates an interview very well; too much of the nuanced conversation would need to be summarized, and it lays both parties at risk of misquotes, lost messaging, et cetera. I knew already that others with video capabilities were going to be much better at handling that aspect, whereas I had other capabilities to offer in support. While I’m sure it disappointed Kevin (it did me), I firmly believe that “the medium is the message” does hold true. It was a (very) hard thing for me to say no, but ultimately, I believe was the right decision. My talents lie elsewhere; creative writing, and as a result of my day-job, a bit of an autocrat for editing, layout and presentation.  YouTubers and streamers offer a more off-the-cuff approach, more conversational tone, which is ultimately what they needed for marketing TMNT. It can be structured, but also faces its own limitations.

CONCLUSION

So, there we have it. A setting of the scene to provide some context on the history to how Dungeon-Tubers came to be the influence they are on the RPG player base, and some of the highlights that helped push them above and beyond into the gestalt of D&D views on YouTube for both Players and Game Masters. There was a confluence of several things that built on each other, creating a critical mass that helped propel these individuals and their reach to hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions. People of all ages and social strata tuned in to consume the media that was being produced.

Like all good things, for many, it comes to an end. And for me, the amount time, effort, money and sacrifice it would add to my current schedule, the venture would be abortive; there just aren’t enough hours in the day. So, I happily retain my niche in the blogosphere, where researched articles hopefully provide readers with a different set of resources to consume and enjoy. Not everyone is a fan of listening to a 20-minute video, but an article that accomplished much the same with 5-10 minutes of reading seems like the sweet spot. Does that take a YouTube partnership off the table? No, but I also have to realize my day job doesn't reflect a normal 9-to-5 job.

Recognizing my own limitations, I’ve discovered that the Scholarly Adventures website/blog has been quite capable at accomplishing what I set out to do: promoting Palladium Books and providing guidance to new/returning GM/Players, and allowing me to express my love for the game in a variety of ways. I also believe I did that for TMNT & OS. In so doing, despite knowing I’m off the beaten path of the prime social media apps to reach new Players, I face little inclination to try to expand into creating a YouTube channel. We’ll just leverage my skills through current channels and through other venues.

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