What do you love/hate about the LP hype?

[Tanthias]

Honestly I don't really care about watching people play through games (whether it's a LP where people are trying to be funny or an actual walkthrough where they talk about the game/strategies/etc.) unless they're a pal. And when I do post my own vids (haven't done that (Witch's House not included ) in what, 1-2 years? ) it'll usually be because I haven't played something and thought pals here would be interested in watching.

As for the process... Well, honestly I don't really like it. I just do it in case my friends here really are interested

[treos]

i like some people who do LP videos on youtube but some...ugh, pewdiepie no, not watching his, sounds too dumb all the time

[Drageuth]

I dislike LPs that are forced into episodic content, focusing on humour. Most of the popular LPers at the moment are people who try to be overly funny with their commentary, which usually just disintegrates into screaming, cursing, and laughing loudly into a microphone. Sometimes it can be kind of funny, but most of the time it's just absolute drivel.

There's also a lack of diversity within the LP community. Like someone said earlier, there are only so many Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Minecraft LPs that can inhabit a single space. Same with all of the Dark Souls LPs -- watching someone fail over and over isn't very entertaining. I watched one yesterday when it was linked in a Reddit thread, and it was basically just 30 minutes of someone attempting to kill Orenstein and Slough, dying a bunch, failing, cursing at O&S, and failing again. No progress was made. It was frustrating.

I've mentioned this in another thread (Retro, I think), that the one exception I would make would be Awesome Games Done Quick, or people who stream pure speedruns (ie., not tool-assisted runs). I enjoy watching videos of people at the height of their craft -- no-death runs of games, beating personal records, showing off certain glitches, beating extremely difficult games, etc. If commentary is there, that's awesome, although it isn't always necessary.

Basically, if it's an informative video and the gameplay is actually entertaining to watch, than I'm interested. If it's someone yelling into a microphone while attempting to stumble their way through a game, I lose interest fairly quickly. FAQ or how-to videos are a whole different species that occupy their own space away from LPs, and I don't consider them in this discussion, since they're accomplishing a different purpose. For example, any video by Trophy/Achievement Hunters on how to earn certain trophies don't factor into this discussion in my opinion.

[Cyberxion]

I've been recording footage of each of the available tables in the PS4 version of The Pinball Arcade and uploading them to Youtube. However, I don't include commentary or the like, because not only am I almost painfully self-conscious about my voice, but also because I'm not doing it to get noticed. I upload them for the purpose of demonstrating the game's lighting engine for anyone who might be interested in it, which at this point in time is unique to the PS4 version. It's also pretty fucking awesome, so I figured that since nobody else had bothered to show it off, I may as well do it myself.

As far as LP videos in general go, I watch Sage's, and also Game Grumps. Besides them, I can't stand most LPs. I don't like watching gameplay footage with commentary running over it, and it's made all the worse by how little most LPers know about when to just shut the fuck up. Worse, they don't typically have anything particularly interesting or amusing to say, and just ramble on seemingly for the sake of it. And maybe it's just my luck, but most of the LPs I've watched feature commentary by folks who sound like their balls have yet to drop, and their obnoxiously high-pitched voices coupled with their irritating commentary is enough to drive a dude crazy.

EDIT: WTF? Did someone really refer to Pewdiepie as "Pewds" earlier in the thread?

[Aeolus Aeneas]

I've mentioned this in another thread (Retro, I think), that the one exception I would make would be Awesome Games Done Quick, or people who stream pure speedruns (ie., not tool-assisted runs). I enjoy watching videos of people at the height of their craft -- no-death runs of games, beating personal records, showing off certain glitches, beating extremely difficult games, etc. If commentary is there, that's awesome, although it isn't always necessary.

Basically, if it's an informative video and the gameplay is actually entertaining to watch, than I'm interested.

You ever seen any of the Mega Man X videos by HideofBeast? X1-3 are done almost completely ignoring and finding ways around using the dash, doing weaponless, no damage (unless there is literally no way around it), no upgrade (unless forced, like the buster in X1 being needed to damage final Sigma) runs of the games. He runs you through every issue he had, explaining the mechanics and their quirks that allowed him to do as much as he could. X4, being the first game he did was more speedrun, while X5 and X6 were more in the lines of the first three games... only, well, X6 being X6, he had to bend a lot of rules because that game forces you to play it the way they wanted you to.

Plus, most amazing voice ever.

[HateKore]

There are good Let's Play recordings, a separate niche called Homemade Sextapes.

As for the serious answer, if I use a LP is because I'm stuck on some part of a game as I lack patience on a game I'm not hugely interested in or I am just that blind to not see a spot or solve a puzzle.

[Gare]

I do think LPs have their place, but there is most definitely an oversaturation right now. Some LPs are definitely bad, and some LPers are definitely boring and not worth watching. It's a fad now so everyone's doing it. I don't think you necessarily have to be too mean to these people and say "no one wants to watch you play so gtfo", even if it's true in many cases. When I started my first LP I think only Milady was watching, but I had fun creating the videos so I kept going, despite the low view count. I can imagine someone doing their videos for a select few friends and not caring about fame. Hell, I've been streaming on Twitch lately and it's just for Tassadar and Corey, mostly, but it's still fun.

I think LPs without a commentary can be useful, if there's a game I don't necessarily have the console for and don't see myself getting said console anytime soon, I sometimes watch a walkthrough to enjoy the storyline and characters. I almost watched a Japanese playthrough of the new Ace Attorney a few months back, and I would've been fine with that, but then I got a 3DS of my own so that plan got cancelled.

"Games are meant to be played so fuck LPs" isn't always true IMO. I can get enjoyment out of certain games where I just want to know the storyline and the characters. LPs also helped me greatly when I was translating a game: I could skip ahead to the relevant parts without having to play through the game myself (again, it's a game that requires multiple playthrougs, sorta) and could translate the cutscenes in question without wasting my own time with random battles.

Also, I hate the likes of Pewdiepie, Tobuscus and so on. I cannot understand how people that scream and make stupid noises and below average comedy while making silly faces (complete with sillyface thumbnail pictures!) have so many followers. I used to watch GameGrumps because I like JonTron quite a lot, but stopped watching once he left the show.The only LPs I do watch nowadays are from this guy, and he really does deserve more views. He's an honest, down-to-earth and genuinely funny Yorkshireman who never fails to crack me up, and I really wish more LPs were like his. And he never tries to be funny, it just comes naturally. Overall I have the same feeling with him that Milady mentioned before, it feels like you're in the living room with the guy watching him play, but that's probably because I've been watching him since 2008-9 so I feel like I got to know him really well over the years.

[Milady]

I'd never even heard of Twitch until I backread Skype and saw the SCP chat. Best videos I've watched in forever~

[Gypsy]

Twitch is awesome if you know what you are looking for. Random browsing of channels could prove disastrous I'm sure.

Edit: @Gare: It's because people are stupid. Same reason all kinds of stupid content has tons of views. Of course you knew that. Enjoyed your post, was really on point.