The War Room LIVE - Are Content Creators a good thing for Wargaming?

Do KZbinrs benefit Wargaming? Join IDJester, Nate and myself and air your views!
Do they bring more people into the hobby?
Do publishers take notice and if they do, it is just free advertising for them?
Do people enjoy them?
Do they influence your buying habits?
Are their videos helpful in learning games?
Etc.

[@e-4airman124]

just got back from family reunion hours from here will follow on catchup!

[@edwardlasso3092]

Very good show this week, with plenty of lively discussion and comments!

[@przemekbozek]

Thanks for the great discussion gents, as always! I think content creators are excellent for Wargaming - you get to know people with the similar interests and can get more immersed participating in other's games, too😀 One downside is that there's little criticism on the part of most wargame content creators, which is understandable (it's a small hobby and most people know each other). Saying that, I tend to watch the games played mostly to get a feel for a game to know if I like it😁

[@e-4airman124]

ID is simply the best!😘

[@jonathondyer7395]

There's one KZbinr I can think of who actually has a close working relationship with a game company; Maurice from Mo's Game Table has been doing a series of how-to-play videos for Compass Games, the latest being for Air & Armor: Würzburg (which, incidentally, looks pretty amazing). Also AgilitySnips Gaming Table does GMT game playthroughs pretty much exclusively. Both are pretty good.

[@jonathondyer7395]

Sorry I can never make the show live, but it's just a tad early for me. Great show and an interesting topic. For my money, wargame content providers are generally a good thing. There are a lot of news and games that I wouldn't otherwise hear about if it wasn't for (mostly) KZbinrs turning me on to them. But Jester was right, I think it's important to find creators you can trust. I regularly watch you guys, Ardwulf, Meandering Mike and the gentlemen from The Player's Aid, and al for slightly different reasons.

[@b17marko]

Yes creators are great for the community, I wouldn’t buy a game unless I had seen someone who is quite established on you tube review it.

[@born2bwildne744]

If I was a business thinking about choosing one or more content creators with which to develop a relationship, what criteria would I use? How would those “partners” reflect upon my business? How well do they present key info to viewers? What sorts of info would I prefer be presented? What sort of character would I like them to have? How do they communicate and is it reliably professional and positive? IMO, content creators can often be good for the hobby - what’s in the box, play throughs, learning aids and tutorials (I.e. Harsh Rules), conventions reviews and promotion, etc. But as a business, I would avoid creators prone to go off on rants, swear superfluously and gratuitously, and attack people based upon emotions. It is why some businesses removed their ads from Twitter - they did not want to be associated with some content by having their ads presented alongside some content they considered as harmful to their image and/or market in its totality. This doesn’t mean “never be critical” - but imo, it does mean “be critical in constructive ways and with positive intent”. …. And be critical based upon actual knowledge and not just “what I think I know”…. As a user, I enjoy lots of wargaming content on YT. I think lots of - but not all - content creators contribute to the hobby. Will dive into your first Skies Over Britain vid soon! Take care!

[@boblorimor]

Some constructive criticism for Nate, I need help finding your Facebook page; even if I did, I couldn't tell if I did. The one I did find had Euro games. I wanted to find your playthrough of the Normandy game. There should be links in the description to help with that, too. I love the show.

[@RoughSwordsmanWargamer]

Hi Robert and thanks for the comment. Nate's Facebook page doesn't have much gaming content on it. His KZbin channel is called 'Board Game Bunker' and at the moment only has 5 videos (this, Nate tells me, will change in the near future). The live Normandy playthrough was actually Tony's Board Life (the third host before Nate) and IDJester and can be found on Tony's channel. Glad you like the show - our Facebook page is called Tac UP Wargaming in case you're not aware. 👍

[@gudkarmagames]

Is the word "content creator" a thing? that's the question. :) Anyone promoting gaming is a positive.

[@jonathondyer7395]

[Sorry, I had some other thoughts but didn't want to cram them into a single comment.] I DO get a little annoyed when creators in the KZbin bubble talk about content creation like you Tube is the only place you can find material on a given subject. I write a wargaming blog. I'm not equipped for video production, and my mother always said I have a face for radio, so I write. That limits the reach, because nobody reads anymore, but I make a contribution and have had some positive feedback from designers. And there are a bunch of other folks doing really interesting stuff, like Rocky Mountain Navy, Clio's Board Games, Michal's Boardgames Chronicle, Space Biff, and Brian Train's design blog are all worth your time.

[@RoughSwordsmanWargamer]

Great point - blogs are often forgotten.

[@JaegerWML]

Commenting on IDJesters part of gamecompanies not using youtubers, i do not agre, the major gamecompanies do send out information, games and more to the youtubers that have a large enough following, sometimes months in advance before the public even know about the games.