I haven’t watched cable television consistently for about five years, instead, I get most of my entertainment from websites like YouTube. Whenever I started to make my switch from conventional media to YouTube, it was much smaller than it is today and throughout the years I’ve seen it grow up in different ways. First it allowed creators to monetize their content, then it started offering content that was on the level of television, now it is trying to offer even better content without ads in the way of YouTube Red . Being someone who spends hours on the site every day a service like YouTube Red should be a dream to me; however, I’m not super jazzed about it like I think I’m meant to be. I’m not saying I love to watch ads on YouTube but at this point I’ve accepted it as something that comes along with service and helps whoever I decide to watch. I also don’t love the fact that there will be exclusive programs for subscribers of the service. I feel that this could create a divide in the community on YouTube, which might hurt the website in the future. Let’s take a look at one of the most powerful nations the world had ever known, Rome. When Constantine became the emperor of Rome he declared that Christianity shall be the main religion and split the empire into western Rome and Constantinople. This led to weak leadership and the fall of western Rome, which eventually led to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks and turning into Istanbul. To relate this to YouTube, imagine that YouTube is Rome before Constantine and that YouTube Red is Constantine. YouTube Red will prompt creators to make content specifically for the service, likely because YouTube has paid them, which will leave viewers with the choice to either pay or not be able to see certain videos. After this happens a couple of times people will start to pick sides as to which YouTube they prefer and eventually YouTube will start to put forth more effort to accommodate which side nets them the most cash. As the divide between free and paid YouTube grows new websites will emerge that will try to poach whichever side is being neglected, and YouTube’s user base will spread to the different services, leaving only one side of YouTube left which could also be poached by websites offering a more focused service. YouTube is run by some pretty smart people though and is the main source of income for many of its users, so it will probably find new ways to strive as a platform, and as someone who watches it everyday I hope it can enjoy continued success without losing itself.
Twitch.tv and Game Design
Twitch.tv is an online video streaming application that allows users to live stream Video games, among other things, to people all around the world. The site distinguishes itself from similar services like YouTube by allowing watchers to subscribe to content producers for a monthly fee and even allows consumers to tip the streamer while they are live. Now that the service has been explained; How is it affecting the current space of game design? I thought of this question while playing the game Super Mario Maker with a friend who had designed some of his own levels. His levels were pretty top notch and could even be in one of the main Mario titles but not a lot of people were playing them, at this point I jokingly said that it was because “It’s all about stream-ability nowadays”. While at the time I was just making a topical quip, I later realized that I may have been on to something. What my level creating friend needed to do was make something ultra challenging and almost unfair, as those types are like candy to the loud over reacting streamers that people love to watch. The fun comes from crazy amount and deaths spent on the level and the eventual triumph of beating it that keeps the player and the watchers on the edge of their seats. This concept of a fast-paced challenging level doesn’t just apply to Super Mario Maker but to all games. If a game is featured on the channel of a famous streamer or is on the list of top streamed games it can mean big bucks for the games creators. With this in mind we can now examine a trend in games that have been released and will be released in the near future as well as game consoles,with both Sony and Microsoft offering the feature to directly stream games. We saw a similar thing happen when online gaming became prevalent, with almost all games now having some sort of online feature. Is this a good thing? Is this a bad thing? I’m not quite sure, but I do believe that it’s a trend that won’t be stopping soon, and I can only hope it motivates Game creators to make better products with the hope of being featured by someone.
NJF 