LurkerJ said:
How old are you? Search "Youtube Academy" by Ali Abdaal. I am sure it will change your approach to Youtube videos and open your eyes to how you can improve and increase your chances of success. I can give you detailed feedback but I am no expert, I am sure you'll learn a lot more joining the academy, take it from someone who failed at what they wanted to do for twice as long as you did, don't stop but it's probably do things differently which I hope something like the Youtube Academy can help. Few things to consider, the visual set up really needs a shake up, so does the sound. My dude, those gunshot effects aren't appealing and distressing in my opinion. I just watched your Ghost review, I think your original sound in the infamous review is a lot better and very commercial actually (didn't realise it was 4 years old!). I am not sure your cowboy persona should be the face of the channel, I get that you like it, it doesn't have to disappear, but maybe cameos or brief appearances instead? In any case, no expert here, but the world is full of media to consume, devices to use, and operating systems to choose from. Chase the "Apple model", go for taste, go for what people perceive as "beautiful presentation". You got the original content excellently already, but you need to work on your presentation, starting with the setup. Marques Brownlee is one of the most popular tech youtubers, yet his content is mostly flat, superficial and just not informative enough compared to someone like Dave2D. Both, however, work very hard on how they present their content. Even someone as tasteless as Linus (from Linus tech tips) work incredibly hard to present their content more tastefully. Maybe this is helpful? |
I'll keep my age a secret, I like that it's highly inaccurate all over the internet and I get an evil chuckle out of it 
Oh I've had a lot of critique over the years about setup, and I've always said the same thing: there's cost and time involved. I've always had shitty setups (never once have I been proud of the background, and only a handful of people know that lol), but there's a lot less I can do about that than people are recognizing. As you've seen my older version of the channel, then I can readily discuss a few tidbits with you that are analytically showing up:
- Yes, the gunshot sound was purposely picked for both shock value and thematics. Even though a lot of it is gone or VERY old, I used to have many bits/cameos with the cowboy and a prop gun. For some reason, people remember the prop gun antics the most. I also recognize that "guns" aren't exactly as you say, commercially appealing. Some of these were purposeful decisions to go against the grain because I was more commercially "viable" in season one than I am now, and still reached an analytical point that says, "hey bud, you aren't going to make it in gaming".
- That leads to the second thing: I decided to just shake it all up and toss every bit of conventional wisdom out the window. A "fuck it all" mode if you will. Some of the most unusual things making it on the internet are things I and many people would consider odd: vtubers (people who use a virtual character), complete and utterly unappealing visual getups, completely odd humor, etc. The funny part is that I do know what you're saying, but I relaunched my channel purposely ignoring and deciding, "hell with it, I'm going to do what people here remember the most, and just do it however I can". If there's one thing I've learned, I recognize so many channels "network" (read: kiss ass) with bigger channels to try and get visibility. Between barely having the time (I've been on this forum for an HOUR now reading and typing replies, and thus I'm missing my lunch!) and recognizing that doing things people like doesn't equate to success, I've headed into my relaunch bull-headedly.
In summary, my setups have always sucked, especially in regards to my background. But some of the other things are intended shock value because going with the grain before did not lead to a growing path, it led to a stagnating one. And as the saying goes, "doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity". Yes, there are many improvements I could be making, and in truth, I could spend more money and make it as "top tier" YouTuber as possible... And I'm going to be honest with you, the data says that's just not going to cut it. As long as I don't appeal to the majority of "gamers" with the way I play just about every genre, every platform, any game, and embrace gaming as an enjoyment, and exude values of independent reviewing and non-bias, then I am the enemy of every fanbase. At this point, I know my time in gaming will come to an end, I don't belong here and have been always aware of it. But call it the youth in me, I sometimes keep hoping to be wrong!
For the record, I appreciate the effort you're taking to critique me and give advice. It seems like I'm pushing back, but it's more that I've sat for hours trying to understand what nearly 4 years of doing gaming on YouTube is showing me through data, and the biggest issue is that I don't take sides and that I only appeal to the good people in gaming, and good people are hard to find as it is, imagine just trying to find the ones in gaming!
