*DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece.
Content creation is an undeniably crucial necessity to any competitive game’s development. Fans dedicate countless hours to watching pro matches and once that is over, many will continue to dedicate even more time watching other competitive content that orbits around the scene itself. This has been a proven method for individuals to make a living off of the game they love, and at the same time, provide content for their fans to enjoy. This trade-off has never had any direct problems with the fans and the content creators themselves, but in recent years, I am noticing a growth in content that I fear may eventually hurt us.
Recently, I have been noticing an increase in a certain type of content among multiple YouTube channels. The popular live cam style video has become notorious recently for allowing content creators to create a video in a much shorter amount of time compared to a typical, more creative video. As many of the top content creators in competitive communities continue to make these types of videos, several younger channels have followed this trend and as these younger channels grow, I fear they will continue to use this style of videos for their simplicity.
Although I am in no place to critique others for their content and act as an “officer” in this area, I do feel a sense of responsibility as a content creator to point out what I believe is a major flaw in multiple competitive communities, as I feel it has the potential to get out of control and become something that will ultimately plague us with a multitude of lackluster, nonsensical and cringe worthy videos. As someone who values hard work and commitment to any form of content, it irritates me when bigger names receive more credit for their lower quality videos that took minimal editing compared to a smaller name who invested more time into creating a higher quality video. In many situations, this makes me believe that a lot of the top content creators within our communities are in it solely for the money and don’t value hard work as much as others.
In this day and age of massive organizations taking over several competitive communities and boosting the popularity of their players to help give them a jumpstart to make a career in content creation, it has never been easier for a pro player to make a living off of the competitive game they love. As long as you maintain a positive personality and constantly upload, fans will follow you like mindless sheep and you will enjoy the riches that come with being a paid content creator who also has sponsors backing you as well.
This financial bubble that protects these content creators makes it very easy to fall under this realm of lackluster content. Almost like uncreative trap rappers where the rapper barely says a single word but still manages to make a living off of their music because of the popularity of the genre itself, it’s an easy path to take in content creation as long as you play by the rules.
Content creators, in my opinion, play a very significant role as ambassadors to the community. Since these individuals have the most amount of popularity compared to anyone else, content creators can reach out to more people compared to anyone else, making everything they say and do very impactful and influential. Right now, we are seeing a trend in what I believe is “garbage content” and the only people we can blame for this trend are the top content creators who continue to make these kinds of videos with little to no worry about how it may influence others.
For me, content is more about impacting the community over anything else. I believe that as a content creator, it is your job to do something that provokes the competitive community, whether it’s in a positive or negative manner. You want to make your viewers think about what you said and spend the entire day thinking about it, until they can come to a conclusion.
Content creation isn’t about playing the role of “Mr. Nice Guy” and avoiding any of the confrontational topics that could potentially cause people to disagree with you. Instead, face these problems heads on and leave the opinions of others behind so that way you can truly express yourself and impact others. Content is about impacting your viewers and making them think, not to constantly talk about pointless topics in a 10 minute long video just so you can make extra ad revenue.
Thinking about it now, this concept is very upsetting, but that’s because it is sickening and I fear it will only get worse if we continue to let some of the top content creators create more “garbage content.”
What do you think about content creators creating lackluster content? Let me know in the comments section below or tweet us @GAMURScom.
Zachery Chevere can be contacted on Twitter @PmL_Zarhaz
Image credits go to RedBull, YouTube, QZ and TechTimes
