Ceave
patreon
August Update
🕑 Added 2024-08-26 14:07:08 +0000 UTCHello you exceptionally exceptional Patreon People!
I hope that all of you are doing wonderful, that a lot of good things will happen to you next week and that all traffic lights will immediately turn green as soon as you get close to them for the rest of your life!
The “The Thousand Year Door” video is out and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
The third chapter of the video had me a bit nervous but apparently we managed to discuss those topics without making anyone extremely mad which is good! Unexpected but good!
The views on the video however, have been pretty slow, which has me worried.
The last couple of videos on the channel all have been reaching less and less people which is especially worrisome since the videos were about Zelda or Mario and not some little known Indie games.
The channel just hasn’t seen any kind of significant growth for months now - if anything I’m losing reach.
The way I’m currently approaching those videos just isn’t working for the algorithm and I have to react to this in some way.
Basically if what I’m doing isn’t working I have to change my approach!
So as I see it the major problem that the channel faces on YouTube is that it takes me too long to produce those videos.
The channel just regularly goes for too long without a new video, which means every bit of momentum that a good performing video may build is already lost by the time the next video comes out.
To make matters even worse a single bad performing video can completely kill all momentum the channel has and basically set me back to zero.
I really need to get more content out there to feed the all devouring big algorithmical maw.
Here’s the problem - I just can’t produce videos of this quality and length any quicker.
I do however also not want to completely abandon the current format, because I really like it and I think there are certain things that can only be discussed by taking the time and by taking a look at a game in its entirety.
So how to solve this little mess?
Well, the answer is kind of obvious isn’t it.
It is to do smaller videos in between the big ones.
I think the long videos focusing on a single game work best when we are mainly exploring what a game is thematically about but when discussing game design or other trends in games it’s probably possible to switch to a smaller format without losing anything.
So here’s roughly what I intend on doing.
Going forward I plan on doing one or two smaller videos in between the big videos we’ve been doing so far.
The large videos will be reserved for games that are either thematically or for another reason really interesting.
In between those videos we will do one of two things.
We will either do smaller videos about newer games that discuss a couple of interesting aspects of the game without dissecting the game in its entirety. (Something like: “Three thoughts on Princess Peach Showtime.”)
Or we will discuss more abstract trends that are going on in the wild world of gaming and maybe even a bit beyond.
Here’s an incomplete list of some of the things that I’d like to tackle in no particular order - just to give you an idea on what to expect.
a meta-analysis of why every big game release is overshadowed by some drama,
a meta-analysis of the academization of game design and how it may actually be hurting triple A games,
a big analysis of the state of the gaming industry as a whole,
a deep dive in how the gaming industry historically evolved in comparison to the movie industry,
a deep dive into the YouTube algorithm and how algorithms and by extension AI are shaping our discourses in the gaming space (and beyond).
I should be able to produce such videos in roughly three weeks which should allow me to get more videos out while still being able to do long form analysis for the most interesting games.
Switching to a smaller format every once in a while also allows me to circumvent a couple of other problems that the current format has.
First, people are much more likely to check out a twenty minute video by a channel they are not familiar with than a video the length of a feature film.
Second, those long retrospectives are notoriously difficult to package into a nice and clickable thumbnail and title. You know, it’s much easier to find an interesting angle for a video that asks a single question than for “Paper Mario in its entirety.”
Third, the long form content also has the problem of spoiling the entire game, something that we don’t have to do if we just discuss a single question.
Fourth and final - it also makes a lot of sense for some topics to be their own videos.
You know, the third chapter of the Paper Mario video is essentially its own thing hidden within a Paper Mario video. Just imagine someone wants to share this part of the video with someone else. They somehow have to explain why a discussion about feminist media critique that leads to a point about how the age rating boards got more conservative is hidden in a crime case within a Paper Mario video.
Which, while admittedly hilarious, isn’t optimal.
With all of this being said it’s not all doom and gloom.
The good news is that the long videos tend to have really long legs even if they may not have been that successful at release.
The Outer Wilds and the Elden Ring video both recovered somewhat and will probably crack the 100k view mark at some point in the future, the Majora’s Mask video and the Wind Waker video are still pulling a good amount of traffic and the Bloodborne video somehow sneakily became one of my more successful videos by just continuously getting a bit of traffic.
I think what had happened with those videos is that the communities of those games just picked the videos up after a while - which is great and certainly reason enough not to completely drop the format.
Finally: the sidequest videos and patreon only content.
I sadly have to hit the pause button on the sidequest videos for a bit.
Getting this whole YouTube mess sorted out is priority number one until all of this is sustainable - for the moment I just need to focus my time and energy on getting as much content out there as possible.
With that being said I still plan to let you wonderful people vote on which topics we are going to discuss - the videos will just be on the perspective channel instead of exclusively on patreon (and they’ll have significantly better editing).
I do however hope to return back to the format as soon as things have settled a bit. For the time being I have some different form of patreon only content planned - more information on that soon!
Finally - while things may be a bit frustrating at times I’m honestly still pretty optimistic.
The videos themselves are great (in my totally unbiased onion) and I’m sure there is a broader audience out there that would be interested in them.
It’s just a matter of showing up every week and putting in the hours - eventually the algorithm will pick them up.
I just have to grind it out.
Awesome!
The next video will be about Celeste and I’m cautiously optimistic that the wait for it will be shorter than for the Paper Mario video (that is if I don’t break my switch in desperation trying to make it past 7C-3) and afterwards we will give the new format a try.
Finally-finally, a huge and gigantic thank you for your generous support.
Your support is unironically the main thing that is currently keeping the candle burning.
A gigantic thank you for this!
Comments
Stefan Maier
Nebula is a great platform and a great way for creators to thrive! It is however (to the best of my knowledge) invite-only, so I actually couldn't even put my vids there if I wanted.
Dingle Dee
Just dumping some ideas out? You mentioned that aspect of wanting to share chapter 3 of a video to people. Have you considered the idea of breaking these up into multiple videos as a playlist? I don't think it's insanely easy to do but it may be feasible. You could also take some of the insights and maybe have a try at shorts? again not as trivial as it sounds but maybe. I'm not sure what to say about the popularity of new videos is. It's nice to get your perspective on things but I am more likely to click a video when its a new oddity or a new twist on something. But obviously if that is true for everyone the polls would have voted similarly
CubicMathTime (check out my channel)
Celeste is my favorite game of all time and I currently have 190 strawberries and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon (202 here I come lol)! And you’re also my favorite YouTuber so a Celeste video from you is quite possibly the easiest way to get me to click anything. However I personally never really related to the story of Celeste much, so therefore the video didn’t resonate with me as much as the Twilight Princess or Subnautica ones but that’s more of a me problem. I would’ve appreciated a little more discussion on the gameplay structure, design, etc. (like your TotK video) but I know that’s already been discussed to death. It never ceases to amaze me how much work went into every little nook and cranny of Celeste, from the sound effects to the pixel art to the little shake effects and dynamic music, it’s just such a beautiful little package and the modding community will make sure it lives on forever. Finally I am so flabbergasted as to why the algorithm hates you. What you said about someone being more likely to click on a video from a new channel if it’s shorter may be true for the average viewer but it’s the opposite for me. I doubt I could count the amount of 4+ hour videos I’ve watched on one hand lol, normally from channels with 15K subs that I previously new nothing about, and they’re almost always masterpieces. I also once watched a one and a half hour long Steamed Hams edit in one sitting so maybe I’m just crazy. Anyways I hope the algorithm starts treating you well and I loved the fuzzy rating system reference. I have yet to watch the Paper Mario video but I hope to get to that soon. And I bet I’ll enjoy your content no matter what length or type it is so I’m looking forward to it! Bye!
Jonas
Your ideas for the shorter analysis-videos sound hype! I'm all for it. I had already commented on YT that the goomba bros chapter was amazing. It's always these special chapters in your videos that stand out and are aspirational. Could be really nice to have this kind of content in smaller sizes, I'm curious and looking forward to it.
Jehan
Also I doubt something like this would be possible but I wonder if your videos would thrive on a platform like Nebula which is more oriented around quality over quantity unlike YouTube
DraCoral
I think Ceave intentionally cut it out because... Vivian was always trans in Japanese, but it got cut out in localization. That is kinda off-topic to the vid, maybe he thought. But, I totally agree with you. It would be better it got mentioned, but I cautiosly think that maybe Ceave felt so overwhelming to cover transgender study.
Jehan
I agree with some other comments that you should promote the Perspective channel more on the Gaming channel (through videos, the community tab, twitter, etc.) The videos are just too good to not be seen by as many people as possible
Oliver Twine
Oooh I can’t wait for the Celeste video! I just recently got the game so it’ll be nice to watch once I’ve beaten it
Abram Allen
Your analysises are very consistently some of the the best on YouTube and your videos are great. I’m excited to see what direction you go in the future! If anything I’m surprised you didn’t go farther with chapter three because most of the “wokeness” outrage that I saw was regarding Vivian getting her trans-ness restored in the remake lol, I never saw anything about the goomba stuff you talked about
RPG Hacker
Sucks to hear the YouTube algorithm problems are an ongoing pain for you. I really wonder if just increasing the amount of videos on the channel is going to be the actual solution here. From my outside perspective, I always had the impression that channels with lots of uploads tend to do worse and be more likely to see diminishing returns (unless they're from like a billion dollar company, like a TV station). Whereas I know a lot of channels that seem to be doing really well despite sparse uploads (h.bomberguy, Scott the Woz, Super Eyepatch Wolf, just to spotaneously name a few). Then again, I don't have any access to their metrics, so maybe these videos only appear to be doing fine from the outside. All of that being said, the plans you laid out seem absolutely well thought through and solid. Releasing "just" one or two more videos between your main ones shouldn't be so much that it starts feeling like you were just churning these out, and the kind of videos you're planning to make also does sound interesting and high-quality enough to where I could see the plan working out - I'm certainly interested in seeing them. In any case, I'm definitely drücking my Daumen that this will finally turn the tides in your favor! Out of curiosity, have you ever looked into YouTube shorts? I have no idea how they work monetization-wise, but I've seen a lot of large channels lately pumping them out, and usually what they do is just take small, interesting bits of previous videos they made and repackage them into a short that you can consume within a minute or so. If every single large channel on YouTube is suddenly doing this, I feel there must be a financial incentive to it. Maybe that could be a way to draw in new audiences?
Elias
I've come across a lot of similar comments like that when sorting the comments by new underneath the most recent Ceave Gaming videos. You might have a point
Noob Jr
It's purely anecdotal, but I did recently come across a comment somewhere saying you don't make videos anymore, so maybe a good chunk of your audience is still unaware of the new channel. Perhaps something like a brief meta-analysis about the state of level builders in the old channel could direct stragglers to the new one? While watching your long-form videos, I have often felt that certain segments could really be cut out and re-packaged as a standalone video. I think that could help not only with the algorithm, but also preventing burnout.
Mordechai Buxner
I did see that video, so I had an inkling of what your answer might be (they don't want players to be thinking about rewards rather than moment-to-moment gameplay), but given that it's a different channel and you posed the question at the beginning of the video, I was surprised not to get some kind of expansion of the idea by the end of the video. 🤷
DraCoral
Little suggestion, what about seperated playlist for Big vids & small vids? I think that will organize your vids better for audiences, hopefully make more accesible to your older vids too!
DraCoral
As someone who've been followed you since Ceave Gaming era, I'm really excited with short videos with 20-min length that you planned! I still very love your old videos like "Why Paper Mario had to die" or Nintendo's Glitch Policy video. Also, I really appreciated your latest PM video as Gentleperson-in-general. The only problem is, I always get alarmed with those gun sounds in your videos ;(
Xanathar865
Even before getting too far in this I was thinking of suggesting that you just make sidequest videos but make them public. You are absolutely one of my favourite content creators on the platform and I really do want to see you succeed and so I really hope this new plan of action goes well. Side note but I left a comment on your TTYD video talking about why I really liked that third chapter, specifically I think that the lighthearted sort of murder-mystery style was a very effective way at keeping a relatively awkward topic for a video easy to digest without any discomforts, and I genuinely think you did a very good job. I'm always looking forward to seeing what you do next, Celeste is a great game and I'm very excite to hear your thoughts on it, and getting a lot of smaller perspectives as well will be great!
Stefan Maier
I'm super sorry to the person who asked why I didn't answer the question why Nintendo never made a follow up to TTYD in the comments. I wanted to delete my own answer and deleted the wrong comment. The reason why I didn't cover this, is because we already explored this question in depth in an old video! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EQrZX1lEKnc&pp=ygUZV2ggcGFwZXIgbWFyaW8gaGFkIHRvIGRpZQ%3D%3D
Shiver407
I think that all of your videos are very good, especially your Subnautica one. It's probably the best take I have ever heard on the game, and I cannot believe it didn't get more attention. Just because a video doesn't get more views doesn't determine its quality is what i'm trying to say.
Redblowup
I'm glad you mentioned the spoiler thing cuz pretty much the only reason I ever skip a video is because I have yet to play it but plan to (I never will)
ChiroKatze07
For me, the Paper Mario Video was honestly one of the best Videos I've ever seen, especially the 3rd Chapter blew my mind. Not only because you basically "remade" my favourite chapter, but also because it was linked to other parts of the video, in which you never would've thought it had such an important part later in the Video.
Illyon
I'm glad to see you're optimistic, and I think you're on the right path here. I know I happily set aside non-existent plans for the sake of watching your videos because I know I'll enjoy them and learn interesting lessons from them, but someone who doesn't know you yet will of course be more cautious. As always, all the best. I'll be here.
Benji The Procrastinator
It particularly sucks that the Paper Mario video is getting views so slowly, I absolutely loved that one as it had such a Ceave charm which complemented everything just so well. Part 3 was just incredibly well done, the whole train-detective set-up just made it so enjoyable, you can pat yourself on the back for that one. I'm all up for shorter videos on the perspective channel, I do really hope they boost your performance. The only suggestion I would give is to perhaps announce the perspective channel more on the main channel: some subscribers who may really enjoy your long form style content may have missed the announcement of the perspective channel in the mario wonder and mario maker video. Maybe a community post, short video, or even a dreaded youtube short (as much as I personally hate them) on the main channel might be worth trying, however of course there is also the danger of gaining passive subscribers who ruin the algorithm. Whatever you choose, I really hope things work out for you Ceave! You're honestly my favourite channel on the platform, and I'm rooting for you with every video.
rawsome1234
Hi Ceave, been here a bit but haven't commented much, and I thought I'd give some outsider thoughts. Over the past decade-ish I've been really fascinated by the youtube algorithm and what does/doesn't work. Videos being spaced actually can work for the algorithm, but I think you correctly pinned the problem as video length and consistency. My more interesting thought for you, which you can overthink or add to your detective board as you wish, is that the video has not appeared in my recommendation even once, despite having watched a substantial amount of videos on the perspective channel. Anyway, thank you for your time, and for being awesome
Luna
Many creators I follow and support here have joined Nebula as a way to partially solve the algorithm problem. I don’t know what the procedure is there, but from what I’ve heard from them, they’re all happy there. I think your content would make a great addition to the platform. You take your topics seriously while having fun. In a lot of ways I see your style as similar to PhilosophyTube. Humor and education are a good mix and are popular on the platform.
