The Sinister World of Sponsored Gaming Videos

[@TheSilentgiant100]

Ethical engagement matters more than fake hype.

[@Versatilty]

This is one of the reasons I continue to support you and watch your content even though I stopped playing CoD this year for the first time since the original. I agree with the ethical stances you take and I appreciate your openness with your community. Thank you for the hard and often thankless work you do for us your community.

[@Madjock56]

The fact a content creator does this and then takes ur sub monies without disclosing itis rather under hand and have noticed that some content creators are getting to greedy

[@GeekyPastimes]

Hope I'm not getting too greedy!

[@Madjock56]

@ nope as ur honest and say what u mean hence u made this video i feel some of the younger ones are just out to get as much as they can ,

[@jamesfilek4574]

Understanding someone's motivation is a huge part of how you interpret what they're telling you. And bias, real or perceived, affects the truth in their statements. Great content, Tom. Happy to support your work.

[@jamesfilek4574]

Thanks!

[@GeekyPastimes]

Thank you so much!

[@flippakitten]

They should 100% acknowledge when they got a key and if it's actually a hidden ad, i.e. Trying to sell NFT Crypto game... cough cough... Off the grid. Lost a lot of respect for quite a lot of streamers during that mess. And where is that game now?

[@GeekyPastimes]

I'd forgotten about Off the Grid, crazy that it's down to 200 viewer on Twitch now. What happened to all the people saying that was the next big thing?

[@SHQuiz]

Does all sound a bit dodgy...certainly feels like they're adverts with all the requirements. Super interesting though, thanks for discussing!

[@cartermaynard8996]

Definitely adverts. I wonder if this is something Google could clear up on their end before people post the video, like if they know the required hashtags they could just add an ad hashtag if it’s not already on there.

[@GeekyPastimes]

That's a good idea!

[@MarkKidsley1989]

Super weird…. Defo agree they are adverts

[@iJobama]

Respect for being transparent with your "inside" information. It's just business really, eyes on the game = more downloads = more potential buyers for in game items, battle passes etc. "Gotta spend money to make money" Although it's weird Delta Force trying to make a bit of a competition out of it

[@stephenmitchell5315]

Delta have Got Nadia who used cheats and then pretended to peeing/pooing herself in a pool . They must have been scraping the barrel with that payment . Ninja sold himself to off the grid . Which has failed

[@TheShannimal]

Off The Grid was one of the worst games I’ve played in some time yet a lot of big creators were saying it’s the best thing since sliced bread 😂

[@0uttaS1TE]

It reminds me of Off The Grid. It's the same language, too. "It's taking over! It's the next big thing! This'll be my main game!" Then it's back to their actual main game, while the game they were advertising disappears like a fart in the wind, until you see it shut down in about 6 months

[@GeekyPastimes]

It's crazy how fast people dropped off the grid when they stopped paying creators

[@jaz97]

Off The Grid was another one. Not naming guys but seeing them "OMG this game is taking over blah blah..." streams was annoying, then all the sudden they never play the game again SMH lol

[@GeekyPastimes]

I know! That game has so few viewers now, after a bunch of creators made videos saying it was going to be their main game

[@dskillzhtown]

Off the Grid must have had a huge budget for bribes. Creators were acting like it was the next big thing for a month and you don't hear a peep about it. If EVERY creator is saying a game is great and repeating the same talking points, I usually think the game actually sucks.

[@GeekyPastimes]

I made a video saying Off the Grid sucked :D

[@Doctordynomite]

Once human did the same thing, giving away money, consoles etc from videos

[@GeekyPastimes]

Yeah I remember this! It's very common with some publishers at the moment

[@dslrunner]

Interesting, think it comes down to the perception of the individual. If you create the video with the original purpose of giving your honest thoughts, I don’t think that’s advertising. It’s when the intent is hoping to be paid that it becomes advertising.

[@ninjawpb]

interessting, a huge warzone french streamer was playing it and it felt strange, now i understand. When it's money related, it isn't normal, especially when it's the law. Trust is not really the issue, the issue is that law doesnt want this.

[@dolophonic]

Enjoyed the video.

[@alderoth01]

I disagree. If you are getting anything from ANYONE, that provides a bias. Doesn't matter how honest you think you are, you will always be nice-er, to the company that gives you stuff for free. We all have that bugs. That's why it needs to be disclosed no matter what.

[@GeekyPastimes]

I think you are agreeing, I agree we should disclose, but does that mean every video should start with me saying 'hi I'm playing call of duty, they gave me this game for free along with cod points on these 7 dates and the battle pass and I'm using a microphone, webcam, XLR interface and capture card provided by Elgato, headphones from Beyer, peripherals from Corsair. It would get ridiculous fast, I think there just needs to be common sense, like if you're hyping something up that you got for free, say that.

[@stephenmitchell5315]

Movie companies have been doing this to critics for years . Paying critics to write reviews of there movies

[@GeekyPastimes]

Is that definite or just what people assume is happening? Because that would be a pretty huge scandal. Sometimes they will pay someone to do a mock review, so they can get an idea of what the critical response will be before the release, but paying for a public review would be a huge problem

[@JamesJohnson-o3s]

So are the developers classing it as a prize then? Achieve X amount of views you win Y amount of money?

[@GeekyPastimes]

For Delta Force that's the language they're using, not for Marvel Rivals

[@Big_pancake73]

yeah my ? is do they just come to you or you email them....I mean at sometime you have to know someone.....would be nice to hear how a person gets sponsers not just oh they contacted me and we signed....yeah that happens but not most of the time....thanks for vids....

[@GeekyPastimes]

There's three ways, and I'd say for me they happen equally: 1) I want access to a game so I find out who is doing the PR for them and e-mail them, introduce myself and ask (normally for a key or beta code or whatever) 2) I have asked them for something before and now they're working on another game, so have my details and reach out to me asking if I'm interested - once you've been doing this for a while, this is where most of my contact comes from 3) They message me out of the blue, normally because they've seen one of my KZbin videos, someone else has recommended me, or they saw me mention similar games on something like Twitter - this is pretty common too, they'll be searching for keywords and looking for people who fit what they're looking for in terms of audience demographic/region etc

[@Big_pancake73]

@@GeekyPastimes thank you for the replay

[@JeffMooredotcom]

Ethics needs to be taught from grammar school on moving forward. What a friggin minefield you all try to navigate. Glad I work for the sate as by law I just simply can't take anything. It's certainly is the easiest way to live. And I have found all sales people to be supremely cool as long as I state up front and early in our relationship that I can't take a gift of any kind. Fact is that everything even little gifts will shade your view of a company or a person. The psychological effects of receiving gifts is an interesting thing indeed. I'm sure if you look for one you can probably even find a sponsored KZbin video about it.. ;)

[@gEEL0VER]

No different than some creators getting free cod points and using them to advertise the store shit by wearing them in game, free advertising for activision, but then next video is complaining about how bad the game is 😅

[@GeekyPastimes]

To me, it is really different. Getting paid specifically for a video by the developer is different to a developer giving in-game items to someone who makes content. I get there's some similarity but I can't imagine anyone making positive content just to get some in-game items. Nobody cares enough

[@surpriseblueviana3803]

Your videos have "sponors,advertize"

[@GeekyPastimes]

Are you saying I do videos that are sponsored or have adverts in? Yes, I talk about it in this video. Being up front about it is important.

[@riisky2411]

Bay - t - a

[@GeekyPastimes]

Americans pronounce it differently to the rest of the world, but I'm not American, I'm English. So I pronounce it the English way

[@riisky2411]

@@GeekyPastimesI follow plenty of uk KZbinrs and none but you say beeta. I think it’s just a trick to drive engagement. You sneaky biscuit