Oh God DAMN it Nintendo

Yeah, most of it is my opinion, but the thing about Let's Plays being a flawed way of presenting games can only be true or false. It's the same thing as this:

It begins with what sounds like the same guitar over and over with sounds like a bass and some drums in the background for about 15 seconds. After that, the music gets quieter and a the tempo decreases a bit. The Japanese accented singer begins singing with what I guess could be described as her "neutral" singing voice, not really high but not super low either. The first line goes, "In the dusty basement where we met." The drums start to pick up into a fast-ish beat where they're struck twice, pause for what sounds like half a beat, and then go twice, then maybe a quarter beat pause and then twice again before repeating. The guitar and bass can't be heard very well here, if at all, and the singer sings a bit slower with the second line, "May you surprised me so much because you're talking now." She especially draws out the second syllable of "surprised" and the first syllable of "talking." The beat from where the drums started picking up is still going and the guitar is starting to come back into focus. The third and fourth lines run together as, "I gotta find the truth from many fights but I'm all alone/You're the only one who can help me out. We'll be as one," and the "as" in that last sentence sounds like it has an extra "uh" syllable because of the singer's accent. The base is starting to pick up now too when the fifth line goes, "We're ready to fight, look over there," and the trend continues with the sixth line, "They try to kill us for stars. Our bond has got much stronger than before." In that line, "stars," and the second syllable in "before" are drawn out while "much" isn't very pronounced and really just sounds like a pause to keep with the beat. This is also where the singer starts to get into to that loud "belty" voice like in some parts of "Let It Go."

All the instruments pause until the middle of the first line of the refrain, "Don't lose your way in your mind" where they come in really loudly all at once. The line itself is loud and belty like I said before and "way" is drawn out for several beats before half-beat a pause in the singing (but not the intruments) followed by the rest of the line. The instruments continue as they are throughout the rest of the refrain. The second line of the refrain goes, "We have to be as one. Don't be afraid my sweetheart," where "be" is drawn out really long, "as" still has that extra "uh" syllable, the second syllable of "afraid" is drawn out before a barely noticeable pause, and the second syllable of "sweetheart" is drawn out really long. The next line goes, "This is the way to be more strong. Harbour my deep secret," where "deep" and the second syllable of "secret" are both drawn out for a few beats each. In the next line, "It makes me so blue. Run through this game before my body is dry," "makes" is split into two syllables to sound like "make-ess," "so" and "blue" are drawn out a bit. The same "drawn out-ness" applies to "game," the second syllable of "before," and "dry."

After the refrain there's a short instrumental break of about ten seconds where the music stays how it is in the refrain but slightly slowed down and with more emphasis on the guitar. After that there's a rap verse where there's some kind of traditional Asian sounding synthesizer music and what I assume is the drummer clicking his sticks together. I don't really know how to describe rap, so just imagine the following lyrics rapped instead of sung:
So it seems there’s no other choice
But to go all out
Stay with me and let’s stand out
and outshine those trying to get our stars now
All we have to do is figure out how strong we are
and what it takes to stay alive
Sync and learn what we can do to take ‘em down
It’s revenge and survive
For now, we know in part
And you can feel my heart
So help me to stay focused so I don’t fall apart
I wanna be complete
It’s not in me to retreat
I could lose on my own so I really need you with me

After that the synthesizer music changes up to something a little more modern sounding to lead into the bridge (which is sung), the first line of which goes, "I gotta find out who killed my dad," which is a little bit higher more quiet and subdued than the refrain. The next line goes, "I hear the voice of you in my mind," in pretty much the same way. Then those two lines are repeated except a long and drawn out "so" is at the end this time. There's more rap that goes like this:
My blood is pumping
I’m ready to fight when you are
Let’s let no one break the bond that is ours
Show them what it means to be a shining star
You have my body
Let’s fight as one

After that last bit of rap there's another bridge that's sung to tune of the refrain, but quiet and subdued like the other bridge. It goes:
Can’t move my feet in the dark
I don’t wanna be all alone
Can’t feel the heat in my blood
Do you remember what he said

After that, it goes to the refrain one last time. It's exactly as I described it before, but this time there's some rap under it that goes like this:
I really need you with me
Help me to stay focused
I wanna be complete
Fight as one with me
Let’s take ‘em down
Be a shining star
You have my body
I’m ready to fight when you are

After that the singing and rapping both stop and the instruments do a short outro while the singer vocalizes some ohs, ahs, and yeahs before the music stops abruptly.

Was reading all of that really a valid way of experiencing this song, which you could probably have listened to several times while reading all of what I just wrote once? I should hope that anyone who is not hearing impaired gives a hearty "Absolutely not!"

You can probably also see all the effort I put into describing that song and, just like you with your Let's Plays, I actually really enjoyed doing it. It was also pretty time consuming to write, which should be obvious from the huge time gap between your post and this one. But do I really deserve to be paid for all that time and effort I put into that? At this point you should be laughing at me for even suggesting such a thing.

And I'd love to see you get paid to make videos just as long as they aren't just playthroughs of games. Try doing video reviews of games with tidbits of your own gameplay in little sidebars. Reviews actually serve a useful purpose and are more likely to get people to buy games that deserve to be bought rather than think "Hey, I already watched this sexy-voiced girl's playthrough. I don't need to buy this game!"

As for anxiety keeping you from holding down a job, I think you'll need to go a little more in depth. When I have a job, I'm always anxious about whether or not I'm doing well enough and that only pushes me to try harder and when I don't (like now) I'm constantly anxious about the fact that I don't have a job, which pushes me to find a new job faster. Maybe I don't have proper anxiety like you were diagnosed with (or maybe I do and I react better to it?), but I feel like it should be the same principle. If it's a social thing, I can't think of anything besides finding a job where social skills take a backseat to good, honest, hard work. You're young and live in the Eastern US, so there should be logistics centers all around. I'm not claiming to truly understand anything, though, so correct me as brutally as you see fit here.

(By the way keep that teaching job as long as you can. If you can get up to a full time position someday it'll really save your bones. I swear I've got the knees of someone twice my age.)

 

You're right, it's not the same as listening to the song. Because a person who is looking for a script to a song is looking for something different than a person who wants to just hear a song. You're literally saying Let's Plays are flawed because they're the wrong way to play a video game, and you're right... that's why people BUY video games and play them. You watch a Let's Play for different reasons than you play the game in question. Usually to hear the in depth opinions of someone, and if not that, then you probably don't care what game is being played and are instead interested in the person's personality, humour or whatever

People do get paid for transcribing songs, by the way. When you google the lyrics to a song, there are many websites (with ads) dedicated to this. Even then you're comparing a literal transcription of someone else's work to a person's transformative work in an inherently transformative medium. A song's lyrics will be the same every time you hear them, but a game will have a completely unique combination of actions every time.

Let's Plays can and often are basically extended reviews. Implying that Let's Plays serve no useful purpose because you don't enjoy them is preposterous, and telling a person they should make an entirely different type of video in order to make something 'worthwhile' is quite frankly insulting.
And again you continue with the logic that somehow Let's Plays are significantly lowering sales. If a person is satisfied with just listening to Fearless talk over it, then there's a good chance they wouldn't have bought the game in the first place. And it's a good thing they didn't, if there's NOTHING of value that they think they could have gained from actually playing it.

 

I get that it's subjective. I don't look down on people who enjoy Let's Plays. I just put my opinion about all others because from my perspective I am the center of the universe. Unless you have some serious self esteem issues, you should put your opinion about all others because from your perspective you should be the center of the universe.

I was going to do a big thing on this post, but then I realized that it would come off as stubborn and pigheaded, so I'll just say what you're all thinking.

I'm too stubborn to be convinced of anything other than my opinion. If I doublethink anything hard enough, I can stay in my cozy cocoon of hate for all things that I don't fully understand.

No, I'm saying that they aren't playing the video a video game at all, which completely ruins the purpose of there being a game in the first place. However, there are lots of people who think that they are getting the same experience as if they had played the game themselves.

Also, I didn't ask if it was the same as listening to the song. I asked if it was a valid way of experiencing the song and it isn't, especially when actual sheet music for it is probably available by now.

I'm not saying it isn't worthwhile. Obviously the uploader has a sense of accomplishment from making the video, and that by itself is worthwhile to him or her or them or xer. I think my Let's Listen of Before My Body Is Dry was worthwhile because I had fun doing it and am proud of it. That doesn't make it good, though. Anyway, I'm just saying it's not worth money. Actually, I lie. It's worth money in the same way that a pet rock is worth money. People "buy" it (by dealing with ads), so of course the company is going try and sell it (by putting up ads). And I suppose that making as many pet rocks as were sold when they were popular took as much effort as making a halfway decent Let's Play series. Then there was the marketing and shipping to stores and all that, but it was worth it because the guy became a millionaire off them. Or something like that anyway. Congratulations, you've changed my viewpoint.

 

It's not so much esteem (well it is a little) but I try to keep in mind that I'm not the centre of the universe. Every single human being, of the billions that exist, is every bit as complicated as me, with as many memories, feelings, motives, irrational fears, hatreds and whatnot. While I love arguments and will defend my points to the nail, I never assume I'm right, because the right words could come floating by at any minute and completely change my view, or just slightly modify it.

Eh. A person who calls themselves really stubborn is probably one of the less stubborn people in the world. Anyways, I do understand where your views come from. I shared a lot of them earlier in my life, and lots of people I know have or had similar views. Having a broader understanding of something is generally a good idea before you go off decrying it.

But there are different reasons to watch a Let's Play. You can experience a game you have no actual interest in playing. You can use it as a walkthrough. You cna play along with the LPer. You can watch an LP of a game you've already played and hear what other people think of it. You might just like what the commentators say, and not actually care about the game.
Again, if a person just cares about experiencing the game, they'd find something WITHOUT commentary.

It's not worth money to you, but your rock analogy shows how value works. The fact that people BUY something is what makes it worth money. If people pay money for something, then they deserve it, and that's that. They're supplying a service for a demand that exists, and clearly there's a huge demand for Let's Plays if people are still asking for more when there are dozens of multi-million subscriber channels out there already.

 

But you are the centre of the universe. Everyone is. Your life is your story and everyone else is just the supporting cast, side characters, and extras. The same goes for literally everybody else whether they realize it or not.

No you can't. You can experience watching someone else play it.

Dude, I already said that you've convinced me. What more do you want?

 

If everybody is the centre of the universe

Nobody is

Yes, which is still experiencing it, it's like watching my friend play Call of Duty, I'm getting the experience of Call of Duty, just a different one. With the parts I don't like removed. Like aiming with an analog stick.

Super conviction

 

What the fuck happened to this thread

 

Not much really, why, what do you think happened?

 

Jumping in to some comments not specifically to do with the OP.

Rooster Teeth Let's Plays have really lagged in quality to me. They've been so focused on continuing series like Minecraft and GTA that what made them fun has been run down to nothing fun. It's like three young cocks harassing each other whilst the older guys keep up or tolerate it. They don't feel like friends any more but work colleagues who are friendly. It's the issue traditional TV has when they don't change. Jokes get old, chemistry is lost and effort seems to decrease in some departments, and is generally just repetitive. I'm still subscribe, and I only watch for Ryan and Lindsay these days.

Nintendo are a conservative and old company, they don't do change and act like rocks. This little shift is exactly that, it's bull in the grand scheme of things, and won't change the YouTube content. A few might think it'll be alright to play a few Nintendo games but that still isn't worth a lot. This is an obvious ploy to market the WiiU, and it'd be laughable if it made a difference to the system. Sony are the only ones not backtracking on their stuff so far or trying to make changes to their marketability, it seems.

Problems I have with most Let's Players is the problem I have with most gamers on the internet. They dislike something about a game and think they're views are godly and prattle about it the whole video. And they complain why reviewers gave the game a good or bad score, like reviewers words are law. And many are misinformed or generally just not informed about a game, its dev or publisher, anything like that and then make a comment about it as if it's fact. At least journalists are accountable, YouTubers aren't.

 

Just wanted to add some recent new information.
Jirard the Completionist, a fairly big youtuber, is a part of this program, apparently it has been around for a while, and apparently Nintendo sends him free games as part of it
So with that in mind, them taking money makes a bit more sense. I don't particularly like it, but at least they're providing a service. Even if that service exists to get the person to advertise their game