Gaming Videos: Let's Play or Fact/Trivia

[shinyvictreebel]

Before you read: I have tried both Let's Play and Fact/Trivia videos, and I can't say one is better than the other, but I am going to discuss the pros and cons of each along with the required materials for each. I have never had huge success with either, but I am currently at just over 100 subscribers.

Let's Play:

Requirements

• For anyone trying to get into the let's play corner of YouTube, you are going to need 3 things.
• An engaging personality is a big requirement because if you are talking in a monotone voice through all your videos, nobody is going to want to keep watching. When you are expressive and talk about your personal life while playing the game, your viewers will most likely enjoy it more than someone talking solely on game play. Also, try to give your viewers some involvement in how your game develops. For example: if you are playing an RPG, look at the comments, and try to do what your viewers want to see. If you just ignore your viewers they won't want to watch you because you didn't pay attention to them.
• Quality recording equipment is another key to having success to creating good Let's Play videos. If you are just starting out, you are definitely going to want to invest in a capture device for whatever system you are using. If you are recording a computer screen, try to get a recorder that doesn't leave a watermark because that looks unprofessional. Microphones are another important factor in video quality. If you are going to add commentary to your videos, I suggest using either the Blue Snowball or Blue Yeti. If money is not a factor, the Blue Yeti is one of the best microphones out there, and it is a great deal. If you are tight on funds, I suggest the Blue Snowball because it's cheap and has great quality audio. A pop filter is also a good choice, but it isn't a necessity.
• Intros and Outros are a great way to give your fans a "call to action". A call to action is where you ask your viewers to subscribe, like, and whatever you want them to do to your videos. This may seem obvious, but your fans are more likely to subscribe and like your videos if you ask them to.

Pros

• Let's Play videos are easy to make, and don't take a lot of time to produce. It is pretty easy to sit down, play a game, and talk about it for 15 minutes.
• They don't require a lot of editing or post recording touch ups. After you record the video, you don't need any fancy editing software to make great videos. As long as you use the quality guidelines from above, you can get away with very little editing.
• They are fun to make. When you are making your video, you are pretty much just playing a video game. If you don't like video games, you might not want to continue reading this thread.
• You get to interact with your fans more easily. You can actually try to have a conversation with your fans while they are watching the video. If you respond to their comments, they can find out what kind of person you are.

Cons

• Let's Play videos are done A LOT! There are way too many Let's Plays out there that your's will probably not get discovered unless one of your videos gets a ton of views. Let's Play videos are probably the hardest type of gaming video to get noticed because there are so many of each game.
• Audience retention is low. Let's say a let's player has 100,000 subscribers. This person may get 100,000 views on episode 1 of the series, but if the game is longer than 10 episodes, people stop watching the videos after a while. By episode 15 he/she will probably be getting about 10,000 views per video.
• It's hard to branch out to other games once you have established yourself in a game series. If you start out with a Zelda game, and you want to try something new afterwards, you are going to see a drop in views as soon as you try a new game. Unless you somehow get lucky, and your video gets popular from SEO you are going to get some people who aren't going to bother watching your new series.

Fact/Trivia Videos:

Requirements

• These kind of videos require the same kind of quality equipment for recording except for a capture device unless you want to put game play in your videos. You can usually find game play from any game online for download though. Intros and Outros are pretty much the same as Let's Plays as well.
• Editing Software is probably the most important part of creating great content in this field of videos. If you are using Windows Movie Maker for a video like this, you are doing something wrong. I, personally, use Camtasia Studio 8, and I love it. There are definitely better programs out there, but from my personal experience, Camtasia is pretty darn good. Once you have the software, you need to learn how to use every function in the program. Make your videos as clean cut as possible.
• Script writing is another key to success in fact and trivia videos. If you aren't going off a script, you are definitely going to want to start using one. When writing a script, make sure not to write anything that seems unnatural because your viewers can tell if you are doing something unnatural. Split the script up into short sections so recording becomes easier, and you have less flub ups. I suggest 20 to 40 second sound bytes for the recordings which usually translates to 3 to 5 lines of text.
• Viewer engagement is the last requirement I am going to cover in this article. Viewer engagement in fact and trivia videos is usually asking your viewers for video suggestions or asking for their thoughts on the matter you are covering. If you are a small channel and can respond to all the comments people leave, try to respond to every comment in a relevant manner and thumbs up any compliment.

Pros

• They usually have higher audience retention. Fact and Trivia videos tend to be significantly shorter than let's play videos, and people are more likely to watch a shorter video all the way through. If your video is unique, people often watch the whole video rather than skipping through until something interesting happens.
• They are easier to get out there. Fact and Trivia videos are done a lot less than let's play videos, and getting noticed is a lot easier. If you have good SEO skills, you can get your video at the top of the search with as little as 500 views.
• It's easier to expand to new topics. People who watch your fact and trivia videos often accept expansion to new topics much more than let's play. If you make most of your videos about Metroid, and then make a video about Call of Duty, more people are going to be willing to watch one video about it. People are more willing to give a video a chance if it isn't going to be a series.

Cons

• Fact and Trivia videos require a lot of effort to produce. If you are making a truly good fact or trivia video, it will take at least 3 days to create. You need to do a lot of research, recording, and editing before you reach your final product.
• If you are making an opinion video, some people may get offended by your videos and may unsubscribe to your channel because of one thing you said. I recommend waiting until you build fan base of at least 50 loyal subscribers until you start putting your opinion into fact and trivia videos.
• There is only so many facts out there to cover. Eventually, you are going to hit a spot in your YouTube career when you run out of ideas. Hopefully, when you get to that point, you have fans giving you suggestions on new videos.

Thank you for everyone who read this article, and I hope it was informative. I, by no means, am saying that you can't be successful if you don't do what I say, but these things are things that I have noticed produce success in bigger YouTubers. If disagree with me, I would like to know what your opinion is because I respect what you think. I prefer fact and top 10 videos myself, but that is because I don't have the most expressive personality. Thanks again, and I hope you found this helpful.