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

[Ralif Redhammer]

It seems to me like it's a pretty bleak existence long-term in the D&D YouTuber sphere. You basically have to make D&D your whole life to keep up, and it still doesn't work because even someone playing TTRPGs around the clock doesn't generate enough thoughts and experiences about them worth turning into videos on a regular enough basis to support a channel forever. Eventually you use up your stockpile of good stories, ideas, whatever and are running on empty, and probably ramping up how many games and campaigns you're involved in to try to make up for it, and these games are massive time commitments. If you try to actually participate in the hobby enough to have relevant things to say and also make videos you are probably on the way towards burnout before too long, even under perfect circumstances.

And the circumstances aren't perfect. YouTube is always rejiggering things algorithmically, such that what works great to rack up views for a time doesn't work forever. So soon the D&D YouTuber is in a situation that would probably make them a little miserable even if it was lucrative, but lo, it ceases to be so or never quite becomes so. This is true of all sorts of other YouTubers, but I think because the underlying game and culture they are covering is already occupying so much of their available mental bandwidth (espeically by time they have matured as a channel and used up all their best video ideas) D&D youtubers are probably one of the niches less nimble in adapting. They see the channel they've cultivated dying, and the response is rarely "well, it was probably a fluke to begin with that my particular views on Dungeons and Dragons, of all things, found an audience of many thousands", nor is it usually "ah well, to everything its season", it seems to typically be "YouTube/WotC/Politics/AI/Bugaboo-of-the-Day has ruined D&D YouTubing because of X, and but for X those halcyon days of my success would have surely gone on until the end of time". And contained in this line of thought is also often the subidea that maybe D&D itself is "dying" in some way (and hey, it's probably always dying in some way).

Thus I think D&D youtubers are a lot likely to see (highly exagerated) signs of death and ruin by nature. And that is even before some of them find thumbnails full of ragebait and alarmist nonsense is a good way to get those views they're hooked on.

Look at the numbers for D&D YouTubers and frequently you'll see that the ones that rely most on clickbait might have short-term gains around a particular controversy (like the OGL mess), but it rarely translates to long-term engagement.

Having listened to some D&D YouTubers talk about how much grind there is to it makes it sound like more misery than anything else.

 

[Parmandur]

Look at the numbers for D&D YouTubers and frequently you'll see that the ones that rely most on clickbait might have short-term gains around a particular controversy (like the OGL mess), but it rarely translates to long-term engagement.

Having listened to some D&D YouTubers talk about how much grind there is to it makes it sound like more misery than anything else.

Hoenstly, I am really glad that my living is not tied to something deeply personal to me, as while I am sure it is rewarding when it is firing on all cylinders...the burnout potential is not attractive. How could I decompress from my work with my hobby if it is also the work thst is stressing me out??

 

[jayoungr]

For content creators tracking D&D's popularity by the metrics of their own content, of course that looks like the game is dying. But the game is doing just fine. It's the artificial high of online virtual play and content catering to that playstyle that's going away.

If that was the issue, I'd expect to see more channels that started out with D&D advice and switched to "D&D is Dying" content. But the ones that I've seen running the "D&D is Dying" headline recently are ones that have been anti-D&D at least since the OGL debacle if not longer.

 

[djotaku]

You know how hollywood will suddenly focus on the same thing from all studios? I think it's the same thing, but YT and D&D. I think couple that with the legit surprise overnight hit of Daggerheart and it's people being opportunistic. To avoid most of that nonsense I recommend Ginny Di, Pointy Hat, D&D Shorts, Zee Bashew, and Bob World Builder. While I think Professer DM almost always has great content he does tend towards click-bait titles, his protests to the contrary notwithstanding.

Also, as everyone said on p5 of this thread - if this is your job and you constantly have to come up with new content, it's hard if you've not found a niche. Ginny does cosplay, music and advice; Pointy Hat does long-form examination of species/classes, and so on. If you're just generic D&D content - it's a hard world out there. WoTC just isn't doing enough often enough to make money making content. And newbie content is only needed for so long.

99% of the stuff I post to YT is video game LPs in an attempt to raise money for Extra Life. It's not my job; it's not even my side hustle! (5 or more years ago YT changed their conditions for getting paid and I don't have enough subscribers and/or minutes viewed per .... some time period) I remember when I was learning OBS and Twitch seeing constant complaints by people who had playing video game on Twitch as their day job. They got an audience by playing Game X. WIll that audience follow them to Game Y? Because they are SOOOO bored of this. It made me happy I wasn't doing this for a living.

The other 1% of stuff I post is TTRPG related. For a simple 20-30 minute video it takes me 3 to 5 times as much time to write up an outline (I prefer to adlib vs script), film it, edit it, add any graphics, add subtitles, and get it uploaded. And I'm just talking. I don't have all the props that Ginny does or the insane amount of meme clips that Point Hat does. I could never enjoy doing this as a job. (Not unless my wife was supporting me)

And this doesn't even get into the frustrating aspect of the constantly changing YT algorithm. There are tons of channels I subscribed to (and even clicked the bell) that YT doesn't notify me about. It's much more about what I've been recently watching - which could be nuts if I was using YT to learn how to fix something in my house (and now it thinks I only want repair stuff) or was trying to catch up on some news.

 

[Greg Benage]

It just seems to be lots of channels landing on the same clickbait title to “report” the official adoption of “5.5” branding.

 

[mearls]

I think this is the general media trend. If you wait for actual news to happen, you end up with a lot of dead air. You can always speculate, and negative speculation drives views.

Most “news” sources these days are like this, lots of commentary and pondering theoreticals. The more lurid, the more viewers.