This is a "ramble" blog post, it's sort of like a public journal with less structured and more experimental (read: bad) writing. Don't take it too seriously.

Video game Youtube people like Joseph Anderson and Noah Caldwell-Gervais (and many others) have been encouraged by the algorithm (and the way Youtube is monetized) to create longer and longer videos.

It’s gotten completely out of hand buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut some people seem to be really into it.

I don’t see the appeal myself but the numbers don’t lie.

Noah Caldwell-Gervais’ video on the Resident Evil series has a 7h28min long runtime…

Joseph Anderson’s video on the first Witcher game has a 4h18min runtime and his video on the Witcher 2 has a 5h runtime…

The view counts on these videos are easily 10x or more than the rest of their work.

These videos seem to serve a purpose for some people. Few people are actively staring at the screen watching an almost 8h video about Resident Evil games. They’re putting it on in the background, letting the noise (and ads) wash over them in an attempt to drown out the loneliness of pandemics, lockdowns and the solitary life most people of my generation have been nudged into.

I’m happy that these people have found a niche and are sticking to it to make as much money as possible while the going is good. I can’t blame them for providing a service that people want.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I don’t like it.

What do I like?

Not much.

Well, I like Jacob Geller. His videos are reasonably long and are worth actively watching.

He writes actual essays that really make you think about the art he talks about in new and interesting ways.

He’s someone who has read a book, seen a movie and lived a life outside of video games, and so he can look into back into the video game world with a different perspective than most gamers, revealing aspects of the video games he plays that you’ve never thought about.

He’s creating art on top of art. I can’t say the same for many people making videos about video games on Youtube.

I can’t help but wonder what kind of art the Andersons and Gervaises of the world would create if the people following them weren’t starving for noise to drown out the silence of it all.

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