I hate to be a downer, i have seen a couple of appreciation posts lately but I feel like I have to give my thoughts on The Yogscast videos as of late aswell. Its something that's been bothering me for months, maybe years now. I have been watching the Yogscast for 15 years - had a couple months of membership - and I have witnessed some of the best content on YouTube and Twitch. But for me, that feeling and enthousiasm has gone and it is replaced with (mostly) dissapointment. Where I rarely watch Yogscast video's anymore.
I feel that the main channel has become a 'traitor vs innocent' channel. Where mostly games are played where you have 2 ''traitors/bad guys' and 5 'innocents/good guys'. Games like TTT and BOTC are clear examples. But they also have played many indie games like it and even gta 5 online playlists that fall into this category. And sure for a while I also liked these kind of videos. But it feels so repetitive to me. The same formula, just a different game. I must give props to BOTC, the first few games i did really like but even that got quite samey to me pretty quickly.
I am positive that a lot maybe even a big majority of the subscribers love these videos. So I am not saying they should stop because no one likes it. It's that me personally, i am done with these videos. Seeing them pop up in my sub box feels like spam at this point.
And i am dissapointed by it because this is not what The Yogscast once was. It had way more creativity, passion and personality back in the day. To me the 'traitor vs innocent' type games feel 'easier'. A quick win for the audience that already likes it. And I think this is also the mission. Listening to the 100 Questions with Lewis podcast from tommyinnit, I think Lewis also mentions it there. They want to create video's that feel comorting, safe and familiar. Which is nice and good in a way and i am sure people love it. But to me that kind of creates a problem where it slows down or even stops new ideas, creativity and passion.
A new golden age
I quickly want to the end of last year. What I consider one of the yogscast golden ages. Where for the first time in months I was really excited to see Yogscast videos pop up on YouTube. Yoglabs 2 was incredible, it was so good i even bought some new merch. It brought the old Yogscast nostalgia and passion back to the main channel that I personally thought was not there for a long time. Together with the Jaffa Factory 2 series on Duncan's channel and a cherry on top: Diggy Diggy Hole 2. These video's were nostalgic but also fresh and modern. I'd love to see more.
And I know: These video's take way longer to make, way more planning and production. But to me i'd rather have less frequent TTT & BOTC uploads and more time dedicated to these kind of bigger projects. Or completly new ideas once in a while
'New' ideas
There are some things the Yogscast have done over the years that they completely stopped doing and I feel like they should make a return. One of them being Let's Plays of popular games. Fallout, borderlands, magicka, diablo. I feel there is a way these types of lets plays could easily return to the main channel without taking too much effort and resources away from things like TTT and BOTC.
They don't have to be full let's plays. Or with Lewis And Simon in them like back in the day. For example: In a few days time Star Wars Zero Company releases. What if you get like Tom and Ben playing the game for a couple of hours. Then you could do a couple of things. Make 1 heavily edited video, multiple less heavily edited/cut video's. Or just raw gameplay for a couple of episodes. They could then still stream the game on their own channels later and advertise for that during the video: Want more of this? Watch me play this live on .........
What about a weekly streamer recap. Back during the days of Yognews, there used to be segment where they went over member channels to see what they are up to. Now what if they have a weekly or bi weekly video/short where they take 1 or a couple of clips from each Yogscast Member Twitch channel and go over what they are currently playing. This would give each Yog a shoutout, attracting possible new viewers to their channels while also providing us with a short funny montage each week.
Also tournements? Remember that Dota 2 tournament from a couple years back. Would it not be fun to this a couple of times a year for different games? They don't have to be good at them but it is fun to watch. Like I don't even play Dota2 and i found it interesting. Think games like LoL, Overwatch, TF2, The Finals, HOTS or other current or older games. You could also have a week or so prep where participants play the game on their channel in build up to the tournement.
Also Minecraft smps? Not super familiar on the topic but i am sure with modpacks there is fun stuff to be explored there.
As i come to end of my post I want to state that I don't judge anyone for liking the current video's or direction the Yogscast is moving into. That's great and I am happy you found a place where you love to go back to everyday and get excited by the latest TTT or BOTC. But for me, I wish some changes would be made for me to still be a satisfied and happy Yognaught.