Let's Plays Are a Vehicle, Not an End Goal

As I am sure many of you know, lot's of gamers who make videos or livestreams make the let's ply form of content. A bare bones let's play is someone playing through a game, and the audience watches. Sometimes there is commentary and edits, but that's the general format of a let's play.

The problem for many gamers arise not within let's plays themselves, but with what the gamers do with them. Many people decide they want to make a let's play channel and that's it. This will not make them a big creator, nor will it add anything to the gaming space. All they are doing is trying to copy the early gaming YouTubers.

What many gamers do is they do not try to improve their content. Little things like "was the pacing right," or "did I put that video together right," are both things, along with other skills, that need to be improved upon every time. Not only that, but let's players need to have some sort of value beyond just being themselves. There should be a goal in a let's play, just like every other video or livestream would normally have. By the way, doing let's plays like this, with analysis, takes hours a day.

Is it still possible to be a good creator with let's plays? Yes. Can you do it the simple way with just gameplay and commentary? No. A lot of people look at Markiplier and Jacksepcticeye and say they have it easy. They do not, as they improve their let's plays, as well as their overall improvisation skills. They also make other types of videos too, which add to their YouTube channels' value.

Let's plays offer a place to practice skills too. If you want to learn basic video editing skills, these videos are some of the easiest to make. If you want to learn the basics of livestreaming, they are pretty easy to make into streams. I prefer to use them for skill building, and not as my end goal, and that is how I think let's plays should fit into the last half of the 2010's.