Recently, I've been considering my webcam. You know, that little box in almost all my videos that show quite the dashing man? Yeah, that's a webcam. It's been brought up to me, by friends and fans alike, that my webcam isn't great. It's honestly, pretty meh. And I wouldn't say the reasoning it's bad is because of how I use it, but rather, because it's low quality in comparison. So it got me thinking, do I even NEED a webcam?
Take, for example, a Youtuber like Markiplier. His kind of content practically begs for a webcam. It's centered around over the top reactions that are both hilarious and entertaining. Taking away the webcam for this kind of content would be detrimental. YOu'd lose half the experience. Most subscribers to these kinds of channels aren't there for thwta the channel is doing, but rather HOW they are doing it.
Now take my channel. While I'm not boring, as evidenced by the fact that people actually watch my videos and I have relatively good retention, my content isn't nearly as reactionary as that of Markiplier. My initial goal for my channel was to become an informative channel for Pokemon. Someone people could go to to learn more and get better. I think I do a pretty good job of this. I may not be a top notch player, but I'd like to think that people do learn things from my videos. When I was playing in tournaments, I was doing well, so I definitely know what I'm talking about. I've furthered this model into the current games I'm playing, such as League of Legends and Overwatch. Now, I'm nowhere near as good at those games as I am with Pokemon, but the whole learning process is still there. And that's what I like. In real life, I'm really quiet unless I know what I'm talking about. Even then, I'm still pretty laid back. I've attempted the reactionary style, and not only did it feel forced, but I simply didn't enjoy doing it. It's one of the reasons LPs don't do well on my channel. I don't enjoy doing them, and you, the viewers, can easily tell. Hell, I've gotten comments on that matter before.
So, back to the webcam. Do I need it? And honestly, I don't think so. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please, please let me know. But let me give you my thoughts on why. For starters, the quality is bad. There's no skating around it. The lighting in my room is awful, and the quality of the webcam is downright blurry-ish at times. I pride myself on the quality of my channel. I've comissioned templates and thumbnails that not only look crisp, but promote a brand. When you see my thumbnails, especially the ones I'm currently using, you not only know what the video is about, but you know who made the video. And that's great! In addition, I've worked hard on making sure my audio is good. It still has some issues, but most of that is out of my hands until I purchase a specific item. Which will happen since it's an item that effects more than just my channel! So when the quality of a video is brought down because of a webcam, it makes me question the purpose.
In addition to pure quality, what does a webcam even add to my channel? Do you really need to see my face as I'm describing my thought process in a League game? Watching my original few Overwatch videos compared to the ones where I have facecam, I don't notice much of a difference. Sure, there are some videos I have uploaded where I make use of the facecam (most notably the first League video that I "over-edited"), but I'm sure there are other ways to get that to work.
So all in all, I want to know what you guys think. I'm going to try out a few videos without webcam and see how it goes. Of course, League and Overwatch is easy. But figuring out how to edit the templates for Pokemon will be interesting haha. Definitely bottom screen for wifi, but what about showdown?!
Take, for example, a Youtuber like Markiplier. His kind of content practically begs for a webcam. It's centered around over the top reactions that are both hilarious and entertaining. Taking away the webcam for this kind of content would be detrimental. YOu'd lose half the experience. Most subscribers to these kinds of channels aren't there for thwta the channel is doing, but rather HOW they are doing it.
Now take my channel. While I'm not boring, as evidenced by the fact that people actually watch my videos and I have relatively good retention, my content isn't nearly as reactionary as that of Markiplier. My initial goal for my channel was to become an informative channel for Pokemon. Someone people could go to to learn more and get better. I think I do a pretty good job of this. I may not be a top notch player, but I'd like to think that people do learn things from my videos. When I was playing in tournaments, I was doing well, so I definitely know what I'm talking about. I've furthered this model into the current games I'm playing, such as League of Legends and Overwatch. Now, I'm nowhere near as good at those games as I am with Pokemon, but the whole learning process is still there. And that's what I like. In real life, I'm really quiet unless I know what I'm talking about. Even then, I'm still pretty laid back. I've attempted the reactionary style, and not only did it feel forced, but I simply didn't enjoy doing it. It's one of the reasons LPs don't do well on my channel. I don't enjoy doing them, and you, the viewers, can easily tell. Hell, I've gotten comments on that matter before.
So, back to the webcam. Do I need it? And honestly, I don't think so. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please, please let me know. But let me give you my thoughts on why. For starters, the quality is bad. There's no skating around it. The lighting in my room is awful, and the quality of the webcam is downright blurry-ish at times. I pride myself on the quality of my channel. I've comissioned templates and thumbnails that not only look crisp, but promote a brand. When you see my thumbnails, especially the ones I'm currently using, you not only know what the video is about, but you know who made the video. And that's great! In addition, I've worked hard on making sure my audio is good. It still has some issues, but most of that is out of my hands until I purchase a specific item. Which will happen since it's an item that effects more than just my channel! So when the quality of a video is brought down because of a webcam, it makes me question the purpose.
In addition to pure quality, what does a webcam even add to my channel? Do you really need to see my face as I'm describing my thought process in a League game? Watching my original few Overwatch videos compared to the ones where I have facecam, I don't notice much of a difference. Sure, there are some videos I have uploaded where I make use of the facecam (most notably the first League video that I "over-edited"), but I'm sure there are other ways to get that to work.
So all in all, I want to know what you guys think. I'm going to try out a few videos without webcam and see how it goes. Of course, League and Overwatch is easy. But figuring out how to edit the templates for Pokemon will be interesting haha. Definitely bottom screen for wifi, but what about showdown?!