D&D General Weird "DnD Is Dead" Youtube Trend??

[mearls]

For anyone wondering how D&D and TTRPGs are doing, I track crowdfunding as part of my job. We're up 20% year over year, and have a good shot at setting a funding record. 5e-based campaigns did dip a bit the past two years, but they now look they are rebounding as some of the big publishers bring projects on line.

 

[bedir than]

For anyone wondering how D&D and TTRPGs are doing, I track crowdfunding as part of my job. We're up 20% year over year, and have a good shot at setting a funding record. 5e-based campaigns did dip a bit the past two years, but they now look they are rebounding as some of the big publishers bring projects on line.

yep!
And one of the "D&D is dying" people has a multi million dollar Kickstarter. They believed their statements so much they'll be massively successful riding the dead RPG.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

The quality of YouTube content for TTRPG is quite bad. There's many very small creators that have good content, but I found a strong correlation between "trying to make a living out of it" and a lower quality of the content. Those that clearly have a posting schedule and need to find something to talk about have nothing to say.

And concerning 5E, I'm the first one to say to hell with WotC following the past few years and to not be interested in the game anymore. But the unhealthy urge people having to compare everything to 5E and bash it is repulsive. Please, you made a stupid thumbnails with your surprised face, a red arrow and a clickbaity title every week since 2016 about the game, you can't jump on the other side of the fence.

There's a reviewer which I used to love who now can't help but dunk on 5E on every other video, while also having a footnote that says that he didn't play but simply read the system. Your credibility just sublimed at this point.

 

[Autumnal]

So when does the "D&D is Undead" trend start?

1. Very soon.
2. Brains. Or depending on subclass, lymph andr bile.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

While I think Professer DM almost always has great content he does tend towards click-bait titles, his protests to the contrary notwithstanding.

This used to annoy me until Professor DM did a great rebuttal video, walking through details on how Youtube algorithms force click-bait titles/thumbnails if you want your videos to show up in peoples' feeds. Watching that video made me angry but not at him.

I respect the player even though I hate the game he's playing. If you give him a pass on using clickbait titles and mouth-agape video thumbnails as part of "what it takes to survive on Youtube", then his actual video content will generally be reasonable and nuanced.

 

[Sulicius]

This used to annoy me until Professor DM did a great rebuttal video, walking through details on how Youtube algorithms force click-bait titles/thumbnails if you want your videos to show up in peoples' feeds. Watching that video made me angry but not at him.

I respect the player even though I hate the game he's playing. If you give him a pass on using clickbait titles and mouth-agape video thumbnails as part of "what it takes to survive on Youtube", then his actual video content will generally be reasonable and nuanced.

I won't ever give that kind of behavior a pass because of the damage it does to our community. We all know anger gets clicks, because outrage makes us stupid. Making videos to make people stupid, hateful and distrustful is one of the most toxic things you can do in our community, ESPECIALLY if it is to make money.

And maybe if you can't make money doing something, you should do something else?

 

[MichaelSomething]

The quality of YouTube content for TTRPG is quite bad.

If you want some high quality TTRPG Youtube content, turn to EN World Live! The best TTRPG community on the planet also produces great Youtube on the regular!

EN World Live | D&D & TTRPG News

EN World is the leading tabletop role-playing game news and reviews website. We make content about D&D and other TTRPGs, game news, and actual play shows of the games we create at EN Publishing. EN Publishing is the indie tabletop RPG publisher behind W.O.I.N, Level Up: A5E, EN5ider, Awfully...

www.youtube.com

 

[nyvinter]

The quality of YouTube content for TTRPG is quite bad. There's many very small creators that have good content, but I found a strong correlation between "trying to make a living out of it" and a lower quality of the content. Those that clearly have a posting schedule and need to find something to talk about have nothing to say.

There's a big difference between channels focused on making things for ttrpgs or running games and the ones with reviews and ttrpg news. I find the later drift towards clickbait far more often, possibly becaus it's easier to notice the spikes.in the statistics.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

I won't ever give that kind of behavior a pass because of the damage it does to our community. We all know anger gets clicks, because outrage makes us stupid. Making videos to make people stupid, hateful and distrustful is one of the most toxic things you can do in our community, ESPECIALLY if it is to make money.

There's a big difference between:
A) Title: "DnD is dying!!!", Video: unhinged diatribe about how WotC sucks, DnD sucks, you should be outraged about everything, etc
B) Title: "Is DnD Dying?!?", Video: No it's actually not, but WotC did do something recently that wasn't great, here's what I like about it, what I dislike about it, and what I wish they would do differently next time

I'm fine with category B if they're just using the title/thumbnail to get you to click on a video with reasonable content

 

[Sulicius]

There's a big difference between:
A) Title: "DnD is dying!!!", Video: unhinged diatribe about how WotC sucks, DnD sucks, you should be outraged about everything, etc
B) Title: "Is DnD Dying?!?", Video: No it's actually not, but WotC did do something recently that wasn't great, here's what I like about it, what I dislike about it, and what I wish they would do differently next time

I'm fine with category B if they're just using the title/thumbnail to get you to click on a video with reasonable content

Category B still makes people think about D&D as if it is dying. Fueling disinformation just to draw clicks to a take that doesn't help anyone. He doesn't make the video because he feels strongly about the subject, he's making the video because he wants to make money.

The difference is in motivation and result.

You know what, I'm gonna watch one of his videos just to prove myself wrong.