I had originally intended to only have the one post today, including my ramblings from both of these however, as I was writing, I came to realise that it needed to be split in two, as they didn't really belong together.
As I'm sure you're all aware, there are large, world-wide wargaming communities that have sprung up online. Just spend some time poking around on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube to get a small taste of what's out there. There are also countless blogs, forums, podcasts, and individuals' web pages. It's safe to say that we gamers are passionate about our hobby, and there are a lot of good people out there who are more than happy to discuss it given the opportunity ... it is, after all, a social hobby.
What I like about the internet, is that it gives you the option to be as social as you want - you can happily just sit there reading, watching or listening to other people's exploits, you an tell the world of your own, or you can simply comment, chat, or whatever makes you happy. Like half of the world, I'm out there on Facebook, and can also be found kicking around on Twitter and Google+ - I don't go in for aliases, so should be relatively easy to find using my name. I also have a YouTube account, but don't produce videos - it's something that I currently have no interest in doing myself, even if I had the self confidence, resources and idea about where to start. Am I likely to change, and start producing videos? Who knows - never say never, right? Kudos to everyone who do choose use form of media. Interestingly, my channel currently has something like 25 subscribers ... not bad for never having put up a video, I guess!
There are a lot of people who use YouTube, who have little competitions when they reach various landmark numbers of subscribers, as a little thank you for their support. Where this is conceptually a good thing, there are one or two little bugbears that I have with it.
Firstly, it can put pressure on others to follow suit, and run their own giveaways, possibly where it may not be economically viable to do so.
Secondly, a lot of these competitions require video responses as an entry requirement. It's the prerogative of the person running the competition to lay down whatever competition rules they see fit, and hold no ill-will towards them personally for doing so, however, it can lead to a form of elitism (enough of which is fostered within the hobby, by various parties, as it is), potentially excluding a lot people who may have been supporting the channel from it's outset, simply due to the fact that they don't produce videos, for whatever reason.
Thirdly, it highlight a fundamental bug within YouTube's software. I find that there are quite a lot of channels that I follow, even which I get email updates about, that never show on my subscriptions list. If I go into the channel's main page, it usually says "subscribed", but if I play one of the videos, the subscrption doesn't register there, unless I click on the Subscribe button again ... then shows as unsubscribed again on the next video and, no matter how many times I click the Subscribe button, the channel will never show on my subscriptions list. Am I subscribed to the channel, or not? Who knows. Nobody I've asked to date has come back to me to say yeah or nay, and I've had no response from YouTube/Google after reporting the issue.
I wonder how many others have this issue.
Have fun.
-G.
I've had similar thoughts about youtube subscriber competitions, especially recently since my number of subscribers is getting closer to 100. Some people tend to go overboard with the prizes; buying boxes of armies and whatnot, to give away for free; something I couldn't afford to do. I think if I did a competition it would be to win something that I would make by hand, as I don't have the funds to buy gifts for a random answer. I think I'd have a 'correct' or 'best' answer that would have to win, and that way it's more about my choice of winner and people would have to put more effort into it, because they'll be getting something that I've put effort into making.
ReplyDeleteAs you've mentioned people asking for video responses being a problem for those who don't have the facilities or time to make one, I'd keep mine limited to a written answer so that everyone gets a go.
I've also come across that issue with the 'subscribed' button being marked as un-subscribed. It's just some bug on the website. If I see that it says I'm subscribed on their main page, that's all that counts to me. You can try clicking See All to see every subscribed channel you have, as I have found that the Subscriptions List on the left of the page doesn't show them all, which I think is because it just shows a list of channels that have recently uploaded videos.
That's my theory anyway. :D