"not interested"
"Tell us why"
"I am not interested in this channel"
Don't know if it outright blocks the channel or just makes it less likely, but I never came upon a channel i had to block twice
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
[Jim Sterling] - "Youtubes algorithm absolutely pushes negative content. Negativity will always be popular."
- Thread starter lowhighkang_LHK
- Start date
"Tell us why"
"I am not interested in this channel"
Don't know if it outright blocks the channel or just makes it less likely, but I never came upon a channel i had to block twice
I feel like that, as a baseline, most people are generally positive or at the very least neutral when talking about something. So when you want to stand out and do something different and/or interesting, one of the easiest way to achieve this is to jump to negativity.
But there are other ways for people to stand out with something different and interesting... I've come to realize that I love deep dives into something I enjoy. I love Mark Brown's videos for taking a very close look at video game mechanics and Legend of Zelda levels. I love Captain Disillusion for his thorough analyses of 3D effects used in fake viral videos. Tim Rogers of Kotaku makes amazingly thorough and deep reviews of games every so often, often bringing his insight and personal experiences as a Japanese game dev into it. I will watch pretty much anything from those guys, even if I'm not interested in the subject they're talking about. The problem is that these videos take a lot of time to make due to research, they require a level of talent that not everyone has, AND they're also very niche.
Basically, I can see how it can be very hard to stand out from the crowd when you're doing daily or very frequent videos, and how negativity is a very easy way for anyone to gain visibility. I can see how for those starting out on YouTube, building up their talent, and/or trying to find their voice would jump to that in order to find an audience, and then sticking with it because that's just what works.
Not to speak any ill of Sterling, though... I really like his videos and appreciate his opinions on a lot of things, but I find myself carefully picking and choosing which of his videos to watch. I just can't personally watch everything of his, because it can get way too overwhelming for me. (I also neglect to enter a lot of threads here for similar reasons, to be honest.)
But there are other ways for people to stand out with something different and interesting... I've come to realize that I love deep dives into something I enjoy. I love Mark Brown's videos for taking a very close look at video game mechanics and Legend of Zelda levels. I love Captain Disillusion for his thorough analyses of 3D effects used in fake viral videos. Tim Rogers of Kotaku makes amazingly thorough and deep reviews of games every so often, often bringing his insight and personal experiences as a Japanese game dev into it. I will watch pretty much anything from those guys, even if I'm not interested in the subject they're talking about. The problem is that these videos take a lot of time to make due to research, they require a level of talent that not everyone has, AND they're also very niche.
Basically, I can see how it can be very hard to stand out from the crowd when you're doing daily or very frequent videos, and how negativity is a very easy way for anyone to gain visibility. I can see how for those starting out on YouTube, building up their talent, and/or trying to find their voice would jump to that in order to find an audience, and then sticking with it because that's just what works.
Not to speak any ill of Sterling, though... I really like his videos and appreciate his opinions on a lot of things, but I find myself carefully picking and choosing which of his videos to watch. I just can't personally watch everything of his, because it can get way too overwhelming for me. (I also neglect to enter a lot of threads here for similar reasons, to be honest.)
I've blocked channels and they still show up in my feed. It's so bloody stupid.
Sterling has no idea whatsoever on how YT algorythm works, just like everybody else. Pure FUD.
Also one could argue that people tend to prefer saucy videos where things get trashed, this is not youtube, it's human behavior 101.
Also one could argue that people tend to prefer saucy videos where things get trashed, this is not youtube, it's human behavior 101.
Probably a self fulfilling prophecy?
The algorithm reacts to input and responds to input.
I never clicked a Crowder video for instance, but because some of the videos I've watched are debunking his shit his videos do tend to pop up in the recommendations.
And Jim's hallmark is his critique of the gaming industry, so not entirely unexpected they'd prefer the negative videos.
It is harder to be positive then negative.
Like for example if something is good in a videogame, its harder to point down, why something just works. You actually have to dige into the subject and explore, how it turned out being good. You can write while books about those topics and still may not come to a true verdict.
Critic is easier. If something is bad, you can properly narrow it down faster, since it will stick out. So there is much less work to do, you don't need a bigger understand of the theory behind it and it's easier to explain to others (and you still can go into more details).
Overall positivity is a better teacher, since we learn better by example and can work off them. Critice helps us to avoid problems, but are less helpful in creating solutions. They can also devoid people of motivation and give an overall bad outlook over time.
I pretty much are exhausted about critice and negativity. There are just so much bad stuff in the world, that i enjoy people talk about stuff they like and actually deep exploration of topics much more. I actually unsubscribed Jim and others, because of it.
Like for example if something is good in a videogame, its harder to point down, why something just works. You actually have to dige into the subject and explore, how it turned out being good. You can write while books about those topics and still may not come to a true verdict.
Critic is easier. If something is bad, you can properly narrow it down faster, since it will stick out. So there is much less work to do, you don't need a bigger understand of the theory behind it and it's easier to explain to others (and you still can go into more details).
Overall positivity is a better teacher, since we learn better by example and can work off them. Critice helps us to avoid problems, but are less helpful in creating solutions. They can also devoid people of motivation and give an overall bad outlook over time.
I pretty much are exhausted about critice and negativity. There are just so much bad stuff in the world, that i enjoy people talk about stuff they like and actually deep exploration of topics much more. I actually unsubscribed Jim and others, because of it.
Human nature. Our brains dwell on the negative, even if we come at this optimistically by default.
The most interesting thing here is how many posters seems to hate/dislike Sterling because of his stance against MTX and greedy publishers.
Don't fear! Your MTX ridden games will life, despite Sterlings rightful complains. You must just accept that you have a shit job and must make shit games that exploit people, than you must not be angry with Sterling anymore.
Don't fear! Your MTX ridden games will life, despite Sterlings rightful complains. You must just accept that you have a shit job and must make shit games that exploit people, than you must not be angry with Sterling anymore.
Nonsense. Is this some kind of joke? Far-right hate Sterling, obviously.
I'm not convinced that his right-wing audience is anything but negligible, honestly. His invitations not to harass anyone are few and far between (can't remember the last time he did that), and I always get the impression that he does that just in case because he knows how shitty people can be on the internet.
Especially now that he's been shouting "trans rights" every other video, talking about workers' rights and shitting on capitalism at every possible occasion, his audience must be left-leaning by and large, or at least center-left liberal. You'd have to be pretty blind to like Jim Sterling of all people if you're a conservative, let alone a neo-nazi.
The only part of his audience that must be far-right is people who come specifically to hate on him. i.e. not his audience at all, just trolls whose brains he lives in rent-free.
Pushing controversy for clicks and revenue is basically corporate news media in a nutshell. considering how close google is to the other corporations like this, its not all that surprising
Why should he care about his view counts? He has stated very clearly that he de-monitizes all of his videos and only makes money off of Patreon.
Unless he's just stating a fact about those who DO have their videos monetized, in which case, yeah, agreed. It's one of the main reasons why far-right and alt-right content does so well. There's no jokes or humor, it's just harsh rhetoric and yelling about how much SJWs are ruining the world. People don't want to be entertained, they want to be angered.
Unless he's just stating a fact about those who DO have their videos monetized, in which case, yeah, agreed. It's one of the main reasons why far-right and alt-right content does so well. There's no jokes or humor, it's just harsh rhetoric and yelling about how much SJWs are ruining the world. People don't want to be entertained, they want to be angered.
Jim just does "The Jimquisition" show ad-free, all of his other videos on the channel are monetized.
You just have to "love" their selective outrage. Let's stick it against game companies for treating consumers like garbage, fuck yeah. But, what's this? Companies are treating developers like trash and accusations of harassment? Gamers don't engage with developers like normal human beings? Never heard of them.
Not only that, but the idea that Jim wouldn't care about views of his content is demonetised always struck me as odd, to say the least.
How much reach and visibility his vids are getting directly relates to visibility and reach for his Patreon. That seems really obvious to me at least.
It's funny because I'm turned off by negativity and prefer to watch positive (or at least constructively critical) content.
I guess I am special like my mum told me.
I guess I am special like my mum told me.
Yeah the obsession for negativity and cynicism is exactly why I can't stand most youtubers. Though, ironically, this is exactly why I dislike Jim Sterling. Being aware of the problem doesn't mean you can just shake off the fact that you're a part of it.
As others have already mentioned, i dont think this has too much to do with Youtube in specific. Negative stuff usually gets more exposure because its usually more to talk about in those cases.
This is a fantastic post, thank you. It always amazes how much Jim gets shat on here, a left leaning forum. After reading your post I was trying to think of other lefty gaming YouTubers and drew a complete blank.
You'd think YouTube would be throwing them at me in my recommends given I'm subscribed to a ton of bread tube but nothing.
To those of you asking how to get rid of recommends:
Click the the circles by the video (right side, next to the title)
Click "Not interested"
Click "Tell us why"
Click "I'm not interested in this channel"
The last step is really important, if you don't do that you'll start seeing those videos in your recommends again at some point.
Finally, check out Jim's video on Children of Morta. Spoiler, it's very positive.
I don't think you understand the concept of irony if you think this is an example of it.
I hate to tell you this, but people with left-wing political views do sometimes harass people.
Well said.
I'm glad we have someone like Jim and I hope somewhere he knows he is appreciated.
He has a twitter account with 500,000 followers and rakes in over $50k a year on his patreon.
I'm sure he'll be okay.
