Hey, I think it’s about time we had a talk about what I’m really trying to achieve with this channel. I think we’ve sort of needed to talk about this for a while, but it was WilsonTech1’s recent video that sort of inspired me to come out with this. Because a lot of the points he made in regard to his own channel, hold true for my own channel as well.
I started this channel in mid-2006 with no intent or aspirations for the future of this website at all. It was a new video site and I wanted to share what I made and watch videos. So, the first few videos on this channel are really crappy short films I made in middle school or rough cuts of films. Then, I decided to use the channel as an extension of my late iTunes podcast, GamersCast. But the channel, ultimately really had no sense of direction and was all over the place. I did incredibly random gameplay capture and I even made chiptunes for a while (which have since been all marked as unlisted) and there were over 100 of those videos! So, the user base I started building, came from all walks of life. They were everywhere and because there were so many people subscribed for so many different things, every video I put out had an entirely different audience and my view count suffered for it.
I would say the YouTube channel didn’t start to take form into what it is today until about two years ago, that’s four years after content first started being uploaded to this channel! So, after a while, my channel went from being an unorganized mess to a massive Let’s Play and walkthrough hub that sort of buried the old content by way of sheer volume!
And so this year because of all the confusion in the early days of my channel, once the sub-purging started, my channel went absolutely haywire! I was gaining subs just as quickly as I was losing them, so my day-to-day sub count looked the same, but in reality it was massive audience shift. And in the end, I think I may have lost more than 10,000 subscribers in that process. But I’m glad it happened because it allowed me to move forward with my channel without dwelling on the past.
Now, though right now my channel me seem like a simple Let’s Play channel. I don’t really want to be known as just a Let’s Player. Now don’t get me wrong, I love doing Let’s Plays, and I know you guys enjoy watching them for the most part, but sometimes I feel like I’m putting out a sheer volume of videos rather than doing less videos with a lot more deeper quality content. In other words, quantity over quality.
So, instead of just doing Let’s Plays, as I’ve said and hopefully have made clear previously I am also going to be doing game reviews. And top of that, I plan on making “Top 5” videos. And honestly, just gaming videos. Overall this is a gaming channel, so every bit of content that I produce that has anything to do with gaming goes here. Everything else will go to my second channel, MattWatchesChalk which will be producing weekly real-life content, such as opinions, rants, short films, skits, anything. As long as it doesn’t have to do with gaming. Because this channel is my home for gaming content.
So, in the past if you wanted to catch-up on what I’ve uploaded for the day, you could go to my channel and right underneath the featured video would be a list of my recent uploads. Thing is, I don’t like that. The quantity of videos that results from being an LPer covers up some of the quality content that I want to be seen and viewed more. An LP you record once, skim through and make a couple edits, but ultimately you’re not working on one single LP part for more than 20 minutes at the most. When it comes to making a review, it takes hours and hours on end, usually a full day of work or more, capturing, editing, sifting through footage, writing a script, etc. And then when it comes time to upload that review, it gets just as many views as the LP that took 20 minutes to make. Sorry, but to me that just seems really wrong. This is why after I upload a review, you usually don’t see any uploads from me for about or two after.
So, to best adapt, I’ve decided that the videos displayed under my featured tab won’t be the videos that were just uploaded, but the content that I spent hours on. The work I put that’s worth seeing, the stuff I’m truly proud of making. LPs are fun and I love making them, but I don’t want them to be what defines this channel and what defines me.
So, to the people asking if I’m ever going to make any new 8-bit remixes on this channel. The answer is no. That’s why I unlisted those videos in the first place. The playlist is still up because people enjoyed them, but I didn’t want them to define this channel. I may make some for background music of a video that needs it or something like that, but not in the standalone format they have taken in the past.
So, from here on out, I plan on doing a game review of every major release, but not an LP. I’m only going to LP games that I am truly excited for and can see having the lasting power to hold everyone’s attention over the course of a whole series. My Pokemon Red walkthrough is the perfect example, I have over 10,000 subscribers but those new videos are barely hitting 100 views. This is an issue. I’m still going to finish that project, but moving forward I’m hoping these changes will improve my channel for the better. So, if you didn’t like or agree with what I had to say, then leave. I’d rather my subcount reflect a more accurate viewerbase than having a false number making me wonder why I’m not getting the view counts I should be getting. And the same goes for the reverse, if you know people who would enjoy what I’m doing here, share it, spread the word, and I’ll greatly appreciate it forever. The best way I can grow is through word-of-mouth.
I know this was a very long video, even for my standards, but thanks so much for watching it and hearing me out. It’s you guys watching that keep me motivated and me love doing what I do here. So, from the bottom of my heart... thank you.
I’ve been Matt Goldzman. I’ll catch you next time.
