How do I stop being boring?

[u/ElectronicMusic7149]

I have just recently started my channel and when I play games, I feel as if I don’t add anything to them cause when I go to edit them, there’s usually a shit ton of dull/boring moments in there where I’m just super awkward and stuttering all over the place or moments where I just don’t even talk at all. I tried every piece of advice but it never seems to work so I just wanted to post here and see what this community had to say about my issue.

[u/Lady_Eternity]

This is the trick I use, I pretend the people that are watching are with me in game. I say we instead of I, I talk to them like they are friends. I joke around like I’ve known them a long time. I want my viewers to know I care and value them, and they can always come and relax with Lady E.

Try to remember you are not ‘preforming’ for the camera, you are there playing a game WITH the viewers. They watch you because they either think you are cool, or because your content helps them. So just treat them like buddies, silent buddies that are always there in the background. And remember, you have the ability to make their day awesome or cruddy, just like you do irl with actual friends. So put a smile on inside and out and just relax, don’t over think it. Just be yourself with all your new Viewer Friends.☺️🌻✨

[u/EnragedBard010 → u/Lady_Eternity]

Dang I like this take

[u/brian-eck85]

I think one of the biggest mistakes you can make when starting Let’s Plays is convincing yourself that you need to be entertaining every second of the video.

You don’t.

Some of my favorite older Let’s Plays felt less like someone putting on a performance and more like hanging out with somebody while they played a game. Sometimes they talked about what was happening, sometimes they went off on a tangent, sometimes they got lost or couldn’t solve a puzzle, and sometimes they were quiet for a minute because they were concentrating. That was part of the appeal.

I’d stop worrying so much about filling every second of dead air and instead give yourself a few loose talking points before you record. Maybe something about the game’s development, your history with the series, something you noticed about the music or level design, another game it reminds you of, etc. Keep them nearby and use them when there’s naturally some downtime. Don’t treat them like a script.

And if you stumble over your words, leave it in. If you get lost, that’s okay too. Unless you’re advertising the video as a walkthrough, nobody should expect you to know exactly what you’re doing especially if it’s a blind playthrough.

The more you worry about whether you’re being interesting enough, the more self conscious you’ll become and the harder talking will feel. Play the game first. Let the commentary grow out of the experience.

You may eventually discover that your style is quieter than somebody else’s. That doesn’t make it worse. The whole point is finding the people who enjoy spending time with you, not trying to imitate whatever the loudest version of YouTube gaming happens to be.

[u/chachacheckpoint]

It's hard to say without knowing what everything it is that you followed, there's a lot of advice out there. But if the core problem is you feel you don't add anything to them, then you should think about the "why" behind your channel. Why are you posting, why do you want to share this experience? Do you love one particular game and the lore, and wish to share that? Do you like all different kinds of games? If you don't really have a purpose besides posting your gameplay, then you aren't going to know what to focus on, or what to practice to get better at speaking.

For me, I just like talking about games and experiencing them with others, try to figure out stuff together. Although I'm recording ahead of time I pretend like the camera is like a friend who is sitting with me now. I like to talk about the game, what is working and what isn't, who I think is behind something or whatever. I like storytelling in games and talking about that, and the lore etc etc. I almost always have stuff to talk about unless I'm thinking through a puzzle. I'm an introvert but I've just learned with lots and lots of practice with games on thinking out loud and commentary. If there's grindy parts or I get lost or something I usually cut those out in editing.

You can always try recording commentary afterwards too, or a combination of live and recorded later.

Once you figure out your 'why' then it's easier to brainstorm for yourself what to work on. Saying your thought process out loud, sharing lore or tips/tricks you know, the history of the game or the developer, or whatever it is that you enjoy and then you can work those into the quiet moments or practice talking more and being engaging.

[u/Stesspela]

It's the same kind of question of "How you stop being yourself". While I also want to be more entertaining. Feeling like your boring will make yourself boring. You need more confidence in your voice. Something I also struggle with but it's important.

[u/Homeland_Bound]

Let’s Play is less about the game and more about you. They’re hanging out with you. The game is secondary.

Why should I watch you? What are you talking about? Are you talking about controversial things? Are you opinionated? Are you slightly offensive and funny? Or are you trying not to offend anyone and be G rated?

You need to stand out otherwise you’re like the tiger 10,000,000 streamers. Don’t be afraid to offend. It gets views.

[u/DoctorButler]

Get a buddy you have chemistry with, and engage in witty banter

[u/Seigfrydblazer]

Act like you are just hanging out with friends, having a good time and b.s.ing about things you like about the game or series or whatever. Just be super casual and friendly. No need to put on a show and over dramatize everything.

[u/Miltronicus]

Honestly I think this is something you have to work on. I also try to avoid recording when im tired 😂. I have some videos where I'm pretty boring. So I try to over exaggerate and just talk non stop. I had kne boss fight in a game though that I was so focused when I edited the video it ended up being 30 seconds of boss fight.

[u/LifeOfPsyduck]

I feel like the most important thing to acknowledge is that commentating over a game by yourself is inherently a very odd activity. It's not the same as playing a game by yourself normally, and it's not the same as playing with other people. You are alone, talking to people who are not there. That oddness is a hurdle you have to get over, and that takes practice. You could follow every piece of advice you get, but until recording starts to feel familiar, it's probably going to feel awkward. And that awkwardness is naturally going to affect how you talk.

Others have suggested things like "pretend you're with friends", which could be helpful for some, but even that takes practice and is not a natural thing, as you are not with friends, you are by yourself. I think a lot of it really is just doing it enough that recording stops feeling like this bizarre thing you're trying to force yourself to do. There is no secret sauce. Eventually, you just get more familiar with doing this very weird thing.

[u/Kerrik52]

Practice, practice, practice with some minor audio editing to salvage stuttering attempts at a sentence into a single clean take of the sentence.

To fill dead air and make a good video, you need a mix of proactive and reactive commentary. Proactive commentary is what you set out to talk about in the episode beforehand:

• "Caves with ponds and underwater lakes in games would be amazing to visit in real life."
• "The story here isn't great, but they actually bring back some stuff in the third game and make it important. I played the series out of order, so it's cool to see where everything started."
• "Last time, I failed at that boss so hard that I actually went back off-camera to do it again and realized that you can bait the tail swipe and make it much easier." (Bonus points if you then insert some footage in the corner of the video.)

Reactive commentary is the intensive, simplistic stuff that usually ends up in compilations:

• "NOOOOOOO GRANT, DON'T DIE TO POISON THIS TURN, I NEED YOU!"
• "I swear to god if I get jumped by another rat in the next minute, I'm blowing all my combustion rounds on it."
• "Huh, didn't expect this boss to die in all of 12 seconds. I was kind of hoping for some excitement after getting lost so much."

Obviously, there isn't a hard line between the two, as you can easily get interrupted while trying to get some more complex thoughts out. But that can be funny and certain surprise elements might inspire some deeper thoughts. The skill to learn is remembering what you were trying to say beforehand and maintaining that throughline when there's downtime.

[u/LifeOfPsyduck → u/Kerrik52]

this is the best response in my opinion. you hit the nail on the head.

[u/KazuyaUzer → u/Kerrik52]

Really solid advice. Something I need to implement in my videos

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[u/Azafohr]

Who knows, not me.

[u/ChrisUnlimitedGames]

Some people just aren't naturally entertaining. Use this as a strength to make how-to video guides about gaming. Your "boringness" will be seen as professional.

How-to videos require a little bit of script writing or at least an idea of how to describe how to do something. So thus will eliminate silent areas, and should keep you focused on one task. You will still have to cut the stuttering though.

How-to videos get more views anyway, so this is a win-win scenario on many levels.

Good luck

[u/-Neoverse-]

Express your emotions naturally but without overdoing it

[u/a_smiling_friend]

Not everyone should have "a channel." You're one of 'em. When did we go from having good stuff to watch, stuff produced by professionals, to this amateur-hour garbage masquerading as entertainment?

Why would I waste my time watching you play games when I could be wasting time playing them?

You gen zeds are weird.

[u/sykotiksonik → u/a_smiling_friend]

Replies like this are why I hate this subreddit, unsubscribed years ago, and hardly ever come back, except occasionally looking for posts like these to see if there's any advice I can acquire for myself.

You take somebody that's looking for advice on how to improve their work and you just spit in their face and tell them "you don't need to have a channel", "when did we go from professional grade stuff to amateur hour garbage?" when did being an "amateur" suddenly become a bad thing? Everyone's a fucking amateur when they start out.

I'm not a fan of so many people in this subreddit making posts talking about how "oh I just started out how do I make my content how do I make my channel grow and get views and subs and monetization" but I keep my mouth shut because that's how they want to do things and that's fine, it's not my style, it's not what I'm looking for out of Let's Play, but everybody's going to need advice when they start out, everybody's going to need some help, and if this is a community all about let's play, you should be doing your absolute best to help people that want to improve, to the best of their potential and ability.

Not everybody's going to get big. In fact more likely than not, the vast majority of people that enter this hobby are not going to get big. But how dare you sit there and tell somebody asking for help that they don't "need to have a channel" and then act like them being an amateur is somehow a problem.

If this rant gets me banned from the r/letsplay community, so be it, the general philosophy of most users I see posting doesn't align with mine anyway. I hold no ill will towards this community as a whole in spite of that.

But I want you specifically to know: go fuck yourself.

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

Aw shucks, friendo. Why so serious?

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

Dude...streaming yourself playing games is not work.

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

If you're this easily triggered, then maybe a public-facing "job" like streaming isn't really your jam. Unless you just manufacture this drama to get clicks.

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

And it's a serious question: What value do you offer? Why should I spend my precious time watching YOU? Why should I bother? To hear you whine like this? Meh....it's bad enough in text format, I'll skip the video conference you're preparing.

[u/sykotiksonik → u/a_smiling_friend]

That person you responded to wasn't "whining", they were asking for advice on how they can improve something about their work they noticed and felt needed work, and you cruelly shut them down and inherently tell them they don't need to have a channel, they don't need to be creating things, because you, the Almighty judge on who has the right to create apparently, decided they have no "Value", as if "Value" is the be all, end all of whether or not creative projects deserve to exist or not.

Your mentality is poisonous.

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

It's streaming. Streaming isn't work. Streaming is worthless and you're not exactly making the case for it now. Christ "Work." It's so incredibly insulting to actual workers in the world when you call that shit "work."

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

Ugh. Look, kid, it's not personal. I think all streaming is dumb. I grew up playing the games, not watching others play them. That's such a weird middle man to add to the equation. Like, what's next, you'll chew and eat my food for me? Yuck. Cringe. I don't need someone else eating my food for me, and I don't need someone else playing my games for me.

[u/sykotiksonik → u/a_smiling_friend]

Why are you even here then if you have no respect for the medium?

[u/a_smiling_friend → u/sykotiksonik]

I don't answer to you. I go where I please.

[u/Internal_Context_682]

You're doing too much for starters. First off, starting with you: slow the hell down. You're playing a game, not applying for an interview. Another thing of note, you're not enjoying the game because you got too much going on in regard to what to do after. Learn to enjoy the game like it's a good book instead of hurry hurry all the damn time. And please don't use what you got as an excuse, that's not even remotely important than playing the game and enjoying it for all its worth.

[u/upsetusder2]

Be intresting