Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5270762-20140718160747/@comment-123.136.107.105-20140724100742

From what I've read you definitely seem mature enough to not take my comments to heart or as a personal attack on you, so here goes!

I recognise how the issues you listed may be big concerns for many, but I feel that there have been big misunderstandings about the way that YogDiscovery operates which should be cleared up. Firstly, in regards to the Payola issue and worries about the Yogscast faking positive reactions to videos. From what I've seen/heard, the majority of fans do not stick around for a single game. While Minecraft is popular, most would agree that the reason they watch videos is not for the game itself, it's for the personalities of Yogscast members involved and their chemistry. When people watch Sjin's farm, it's not just to see how forestry works - they watch to see how he designs buldings and explains what's going on. When people watch Nilesy play TF2, it's not just to see him get rekt/rek othrs - they watch to hear about his day and what his thoughts are on certain things. People watch for the personality and it's easy to tell when positive reactions have been faked. I'm a huge fan of the Yogscast and I don't like badmouthing them, but even I can tell and admit that during Moonquest some of them get frustrated with setbacks or that Simon gets bored during some Yoglabs videos. It will be very difficult to fake positive reviews if the main reason that people watch their videos is for their personalities - forced reactions become obvious.

The second issue is that people do not understand that the developer makes a decision to have the Yogscast play the game through YogDiscovery. Right after a game has been released, TB will release a video, Dan will release a video, the Yogscast will release a video, The Creatures might release a video. Simply playing a game does not entitle the Yogscast to a portion of sales. The Yogscast may play whatever games they like, but they just won't get the additional money generated from it if it's not on YogsDiscovery. If a developer offers the Yogscast part of his sales in exchange for a video right after the games release, it's a mistake made by the developer. There will be a large amount of coverage already and the developer shouldn't have given up his revenue. Even Turps said on reddit that they would not intentionally release videos at a time where they could ride off of hype generated by others and they wouldn't take advantage of developers (http://www.reddit.com/r/Yogscast/comments/2afpqz/an_open_letter_about_yogdiscovery/civcrb2). Developers would instead approach the Yogscast about YogDiscovery when the game is not doing well in sales.

Now that it can be understood that the Yogscast will not be intentionally taking credit for the hype created by one-off video makers like TB, the next concern I would like to address is in regards to people feeling that the Yogscast will be taking credit for hype created by ongoing series. If a series has been going on for six months and the Yogscast create one video, the Yogscast will not be stealing from the other youtuber making the series. The Yogscast will receive money generated by the additional sales. This means that the series which has been going on for six months may be creating 1,000 sales a month, the Yogcast will not be paid for those 1,000 sales. They will be paid for any sales made that do not fall under the 1,000. This means that one-off video makers as well as ongoing series will not have their hype stolen from them. If a youtuber releases a video after the Yogscast, the Yogscast should not be responsible for this. They will avoid making videos at the same time as other youtubers, but they cannot take responsibility for other youtubers uploading videos at the same time as them.

In short, the Yogscast will be unlikely to agree to a YogDiscovery video when they do not expect that the developer will benefit from the deal (Said by Turps in the above link), they will not intentionally steal hype caused by major youtubers, and they will not receive money for ongoing series already being posted. There are obviously a few exceptions to this rule, but this is simply because nothing is absolute. The ongoing series may have a particularly spectacular episode made during the YogDiscovery week, and another youtuber may create a video shortly after the Yogscast. Different youtuber groups are seperate entities, and we cannot expect everything to be perfectly organised. If there is a recurring pattern in the Yogscast "unintentionally" taking credit for the sales generated by others, people will notice.

The most likely times that two major youtubers will create videos on the same game is right after a release. YogDiscovery videos will not be made during this time as Turps has said that they want developers not to feel cheated. The videos will be made at times where there is low hype and little incentive for youtubers to spontenously release a video - if this does happen, it's an unfortunate coincidence. Youtubers with an upload schedule that coincides with the Yogscast YogDiscovery video should already have their sales accounted for as the Yogscast are paid for additional sales, not all sales. The chances of the Yogscast being able to steal hype from others without immediately being called out on it are actually incredibly low. The Yogscast have made a very good decision in making this public, it's just that many people do not want to understand and would instead like to assume the worst (Not aimed at TB or Dan, I haven't had the time to watch their videos myself, but I don't feel that it's necessary as I'm replying to the arguments you put forward (Which I've read) and I've seen the reddit thread about YogDiscovery)

Apologies for the wall of text, I just wanted to make sure that I was being clear. Feel free to ask me about any unclear areas of my arguments. Again, I hope you've taken none of this personally (As do so many people on the internet...sigh :c).