Allowing a gamer to shoot a Let's Play on my Indie game.

[MirusGaming]

I forgot to mention, if you are afraid what people have to say make sure you get people to play test your game in closed testing. Much safer than letting the public rip it apart.

And don't force people to ask for permission to make let's plays... That is guaranteed failure before you even begin.

 

[Franklin]

As a fellow developer, this is what I suggest. Don't put your game into the public eye without it being ready. If you are sending press copies out then it needs to be pretty damn close to finished. If it's not, then you need an area of the game that is. Such as maybe the first few levels or something. They should be as flawless as possible and if important features are missing, definitely don't be sending out copies yet. Never ever fight the community and what they have to say. If someone flames your game don't retaliate, they will make you regret that decision very quickly and your public image could get tarnished. I have seen it numerous times where developers stand up against YouTubers or community members because they said negative things and it always ends up the same. The developer sounds whiny, not confident and sounds like an idiot. Time will never heal these scars, ever. And never ever flag someone who's just trying to play your game, no matter what they say.

Having people play your game is one of the best forms of advertisement there is. When your game is ready, release some copies close to launch time to generate hype and let the fire spread. But remember, don't try and direct the flame, it will end up burning you.

I'm planning to release an hour or two hours long demo as it will cover the game's basics and story. Before its released I'm going to play test it multiple times to make sure there aren't any bugs or errors before the official demo's release.

A few years ago I released a demo of an earlier version of the game. The main complaint about the game was it being sexist. The players accused me of being sexist because the first town's women mostly talked about men, but the gamers failed to realized the nature of the conversations and setting. The town was having a post WWII effect with most of the men being killed during the war, and the women were either worried about their brothers, fathers, and husbands.

I forgot to mention, if you are afraid what people have to say make sure you get people to play test your game in closed testing. Much safer than letting the public rip it apart.

And don't force people to ask for permission to make let's plays... That is guaranteed failure before you even begin.

Why shouldn't I require people to ask for permission to make let's plays? I would almost never say no to anyone who asks me before starting their Let's Play series.

 

[MirusGaming]

My question is why would you want to force people to ask for permission? What is the benefit for you? If you want your game to be successful you need marketing. People that do LP videos are creating your advertising for you! This means free advertising and NO effort on your behalf. There is no reason in the world for you to ever want to limit this, especially as an indie company. Also make sure that you allow YouTubers to monetize their LP videos using your content. YouTubers are more likely to create content on your game because they are able to make money off of it. Everyone wins here. You win, free advertising; they win, money made from ads. It's a relationship that is perfect in both parties. What you want is as many videos as possible on your game, you want as many people as possible to find out about your game and play it.

Remember that people will always say negative things and try to bring you down, every developer that has ever launched anything (especially good games) has experienced this. It's sadly how the world is these days. You can't please everyone, but you choose your target market and please them. Everyone else who doesn't like your game doesn't matter to you and what they say doesn't matter either. Look at DayZ or The Forest. They have been ripped apart by thousands and thousands of people, but they are still extremely successful games. Imagine if everyone who makes DayZ videos had to ask for permission to make videos? A) They wouldn't. B) The game would not be nearly as popular as it is because YouTube is one of the best ways to get your game into people's hands. It is something that shouldn't be constrained, you would only be holding yourself and your game back.