I've canceled by $25 a month tier to the JRWI website, and I left a message explaining the reason for my leaving, and thought I would share it here. It's a brutal message, I will admit, but it's something that has been building up for months, and I thought it might be worth sharing here. Maybe to put words to some of your frustrations, maybe because I want to know someone actually read it, in case no one on the team reads the reason for people reading when they leave one. Here goes:
Your lack of communication and inability to stick to an upload schedule, alongside with the lack of paid content you teased months ago has just been... so fucking frustrating. The only reason worth being a $25 tier supporter is the pins, but those are only worth it with the content to back it. I'm not paying you $350 a year for less content than I recieved when you were audio only. The videos are cool, I like them a lot, but clearly something in your editing style or number of editors is just making your ability to stick to your promises (you wouldn't call them that, but that's what you've made, believe it or not) impossible. And then when you find you can't stick to those promises, you wait so fucking long to tell people, "Hey, we fucked up," and that's if you even do it because the only reason you did it last time was the fact you had a number of fans of your show pressuring you to do it after several cases where not a word was said about the late uploads. It's so clear as well that the cast members aren't involved in their own show past the recording (or very minimally), because I've literally witnessed someone who has worked with you in the past confirm upon people beginning to get upset at your lack of communication, that indeed, you don't even communicate to the people you hire when THEY have questions or concerns, and I fear that's the core of this fucking mess. The bosses don't have much involvement past merch and the video shoot, and it results in the team being less capable than they should be, thusly resulting in horrible product (not in quality, but in quantity). You're a business now, not just a few people trying to run a show. You need to conduct yourselves like it, or admit you're not ready for this next step like you thought you would be.
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I havent had the time to sit down and watch any Bannerfall streams today, but from what I've been vaguely reading about, I really just have to give Martyn a handshake for shaking up the current vibe of the SMP and story, and being a (at the very least) bad guy as the Red King.
I think people who play in public SMPs usually have the instinct to be more kind regardless of the character they play, but Martyn always takes on the role in SMPs of being generally mean and stirs the pot so well. The guy builds tension when given the opportunity, and I love him for it.
Probably better ways to put it, but this is just my mindless mind lmao.
YOU CAN ANNOUNCE THAT RIPTIDE (or any of your campaigns/oneshots) IS GOING TO BE DELAYED BEFORE THE NORMAL TIME YOU RELEASE IT WE CAN CLEARLY FUCKING WAIT JUST TELL US GOD DAMN
I LITERALLY PAY YOU $25 USD A MONTH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD-
I'm so content to wait, I just want to know if I have to 😭
I don't use Instagram or discord, so the only places I can get updates from them are their YouTube or website, which realistically should be enough, but apparently not 💀
They actually need a marketing team or pr team or a whatever team to get this shit sorted, none of them can do such basic shit outside of role-playing for the podcast at alllll.
I've tried so hard to understand what the critics are talking about in their reviews of iron lung and i just.... don't get it.
PLEASE NOTE !! i come off pretty strong in my rant below, and its aimed at the people who claim that iron lung is one of the worst movies they've watched and that they don't understand it at all. it is NOT directed at people who may not have understood some bits of it but enjoyed the movie anyway, or can still appreciate the effort that the team put in
Pacing: this is probably the most common gripe i've come across. The movie is slow; there's nothing happening in the first half an hour; simon is just hitting the picture button over and over. But the whole point of the movie is that you're slowly submerged into the narrative, much like the vessel being submerged into the blood ocean. The boredom is immersive— it's there to give the viewer a sense of the isolation and nothingness when you're welded shut into an iron tank and thrown into a void. Nothing happens because you're supposed to sit with yourself and endure.
Acting: I'm a little in the gray area here, because I also found it hard to see Mark as simon and not markiplier in the first 20 minutes of the movie. but a little further into the movie, i feel like mark did a good job of getting into the role. Was it the best acting ever oscar-worthy cincher of the year? no. but it was decent, and doesn't deserve the flak it's getting, imo
Themes: i heard quite a bit that people didn't understand what was going on and that there was no point to the movie. to them, i ask: WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU WATCH
okay okay i may be biased, but genuinely, how did the entirety of the movie go over your head? How did you miss EVERYTHING ABOUT THE MOVIE. isolation, loss of identity, loneliness, desperation, (re)claiming power in a hopeless situation, making your own purpose— all of these are so enmeshed throughout the movie (and maybe more! im not the best at media analysis). The fact that despite being the last few humans left alive, there are still those deemed expendable, so cast-out of society that even their names are not worth learning. Just deemed Convict. The horror of the unknown permeates the whole movie. Simon is constantly demanding to know more— why he was chosen, what is he searching for, what do the controllers hope to achieve, and each time, he is refused, all his questions unanswered, each chipping away at his sense of purpose. There's such a poignant parallel between the loneliness of being the last few humans facing their inevitable extinction, and the loneliness of being the only human going into certain death. You know there's no coming back, and yet you make meaning of it anyway. The most human thing to do is attach purpose to actions , and that's what Simon ends up doing — his last act was taking back the narrative and deciding to float the black box up anyway, despite the betrayal he just went through.
I genuinely feel like people have just gotten too used to being spoonfed shit by movies that theyre unable to extrapolate even the most basic things that aren't explicitly spelled out for them. And as for the horror, not everything is meant to be loud and jumpscare-y man. the whole point of this movie was existentialism and cosmic dread, which you cannot conceivably package in a jumpscare. stop putting your preconceived tropes onto a movie and blaming it when it doesn't match up. it's a completely different playground.
the only criticism i fully agree with is the dialogues and lack of lore expansion. the dialogues were a bit basic, and did rely too much on swearing. but then, there's not that much you can do with dialogues/monologues in a film like this, so i do applaud the effort. and there could have been more exposition/exploration into the lore and backstory.
Hey, banger episode, guys I propose something we could do that is insanely simple to rebel against the Riptide clickbait.
Leave a dislike (or thumbs down) the clickbaited videos, leave a comment saying you did so on the newest video and that you won't leave a like until every episode is changed back to the original format. Also say the episode was great, but that you're against that one issue in particular. Don't let them get it twisted that people don't like the video because they don't like Riptide, because we do.
Very simple, interrupts what they're trying to achieve with the clickbait, and something we can all take back later. Frankly, I don't know how it didn't cross my mind sooner. Do as you will, that is what I'm doing and what I recommend to you all.
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Something cool about The Silt Verses is that, it’s definitely a story about religious oppression: there are official religions, and there are illegal religions, and Carpenter and Faulkner’s religion is super illegal to practice. But their religion is neither a depraved weird horrible thing set against a loving, just, peaceful, merciful, ~ normal ~ official religion; nor is it loving, just, peaceful, and merciful in contrast to the depraved and evil official religions. The worship of the Trawler-Man has a lot of body horror and human sacrifice… but all the official, legal, normalized religions also involve a lot of body horror and human sacrifice. It’s human sacrifice all the way down in this world!
Vaughn, I think, states the theme outright: at least you get to choose the thing that eats you. What I’m starting to get is the thing that makes the Trawler-Man illegal is that he’s regional, specific, and unmarketable. The legal and official gods like the Saint Electric, the Petropater, and the Slag King are the ones connected to industry, ones that money and control can be wielded through. Sweet Jolly Crunch-Tooth as a god of farming and harvest was canonically deliberately invented to usurp the thousand different harvest gods and unify all the farmers under a single god to be more profitable and commercialized. These popular gods still demand sacrifices, of course, but it’s in the name of industry, or modernity, or convenience, or products. The military has a god to assuage and give courage to soldiers; the police invented The Cloak, a god of police to do the same for cops, and it was signed off on as an official god when higher-ups realized they could send officers out with The Cloak as their ride-along and thus have to pay fewer people. And yet these cynically-created gods aren’t fake, either. They are very real.
What’s especially interesting is that local and regional and personal unmarketable illegal gods aren’t any better than the official ones. The Trawler-Man, god of a specific river, still demands drowned sacrifices. The Elk of Birch and Bone seems to be a very local god of a specific forest, of wilderness and hunting, and it also requires deeply disturbing body-horror sacrifices. There are gods like the Hollow or the little boy’s god of thunder that are accidentally called into being and given power and form through just a few individuals wanting something and naming something and nobody actually wants that god to exist and nobody actually wants that god to do what it does. Being afraid of or fascinated a thing is enough to call a god into being. And that god then immediately starts eating people.
It’s fascinating. I’ve heard that The Silt Verses gets really into critiques of extractive capitalism, and I’m starting to see that take shape. That this form of human sacrifice is good and necessary, but that form is tragic, and that form is evil. That the official, licensed, universal gods of capital and progress and industry and markets are what you’re encouraged to sacrifice your life to, and the small, weird gods of your local woods or your local river are weird and scary and also a distraction from what you should be worshipping and therefore banned. That even so, you can accidentally—or even intentionally—invent something that consumes you.
And in this world, something will end up consuming you. If you’re lucky, you get to choose what it is.
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
Edit 2: Wait guys I clearly missed a joke about not being able to clickbait people with my title how did I let this happen.
Let me try it.
Ahem
Yeah. Having problems naming this. Guess I'm just can't clickbait...
Yup. Also, an additional point I completely missed in my original post, as said by someone on Twitter by the username @/andynthestars (credit where credit is due!), they just don't advertise JRWI ANYWHERE. Rarely even with the JRWI account.
We all know how successful Charlie and Bizly are with their own personal channels. So, you would think they'd have been using those videos to, in some ways, promote JRWI. No! They really aren't. That alone would do WONDERS. Let alone if they were more consistent with the JRWI Instagram, YouTube Posts tab (they never even teased that Riptide was coming back the week it came back on there), and idk if they even use the Twitter anymore. Frankly I don't care if they do or not, that site is hell (all sites are hell now).
But if you want to see the thread (on twitter) that inspired this small tangent, here's the link to the original post:
They say this much better than I do and are much more qualified than me to criticize JRWI! Check that out!!
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
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JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
JRWI Riptide: And the Case of Clickbait to Generate More Views
This is a very dramatic opener, I know. I genuienly just can't come up with a good title for it (it sounds like a children's book title). Regardless, I want to talk about the clickbait titles for the newest Riptide episode, why they're bad, and the solution (in my own opinion of course.) Hiding the rest of the text to avoid clogging up tags and pages, feel free to read if you wish. This is mostly to vent out my frustrations, but in a more refined fashion.
Edit: This ended up being so long lmao. I'm sure someone could sum it up to be a lot shorter, but I wanted to dedicate the time and mental energy into it to make it much more sound.
I have one point I'd like to make before delving into my opinions and thoughts on this subject, I'd like to clarify a couple of things about myself just so people don't say it's not my problem (doubt anyone will, we're all pretty united on this lmao). I have been watching JRWI for the better part of 2 1/2 years, and I've paid a considerable amount of money to them between Patreon, Merch, and the site (changed to the site from Patreon a while after it came up). I've been paying $25 dollars a month, I support them thouroughly and regularly. There should be no reason to say that I or anyone else who has directly supported them should have no say in this decsion, as we are the people who quite literally fund their work.
Now! Onto what I want to talk about.
Let's start out with why they are using clickbait in the first place.
It's quite clear with their recent videos titled I Forced My Friends to play D&D's Worst-Rated Adventure and I Forced D&D Players to Try the Scariest Horror RPG that the reason for this shift in style is due to trying to attract more views and clicks to the channel (these two videos recieving 642k views and 336k views respectively at the time of writing this), a significant increase of traction compared to the last year of videos (they have not broken 100k views on a single video for a little over a year now (outside of the two videos I just refrenced). It's clear they're hurting for exposure, and that these moves are an attempt to bring more people to the channel (and as they should! they deserve the traction!!)
This is beyond fine to me, and in fact (imo) a very welcome change to the channel. I can understand wanting to be more successful, and feeling so stagnant in terms of the Youtube channel (their main way of making money) could be devestating long term. I want to see them succeed, and if that means playing the algorithm like this, then so be it! But the problem comes with the use of this strategy with Riptide in particular.
If Riptide hadn't been running for as long as it has, and if it didn't have such a dedicated fanbase behind it, I would understand the change (but would still be dissapointed). But that's exactly where the problems start. Their longest running (publicly listed) campaign and oldest to the channel is Riptide. It stands as the backbone of JRWI, and the starting point for many old and new viewers (myself included), it has a set presedent for it's titles and thumbnails alike.
This, for example, being the last thumbnail before ep 116, titled The Last Chapter | Just Roll With It #115
We have a set standard the audience is comfortable with and expects. We have art as the thumbnail, and we title it with the name of the session (or ep) and label it Just Roll With It ep # (they could likely benefit to changing it from JRWI ep to Riptide ep for ease of browsing).
Regardless of us who already love and are dedicated to this series, so much so that we post about it on other platforms than YouTube, there exist another important part of their viewers that we do not represent. The people who are subscribed to the channel (potentially have notifications on still), and still love Riptide, while not interacting with it anywhere other than YouTube. It's portant to make new episodes recognizable for that part of your audience who may still be interested in Riptide, but may not be a part of the more dedicated space of the fandom.
Especially considering these are the viewers that, outiside of us, are most likely to watch this video upon release and engage with it most deeply and profoundly. So, you would expect with that in mind, they'd stick to the original way of formatting episodes in order to draw back any old subscribers from their channel. But alas;
We get this instead. A video of them in a hole in what seemingly looks like a golf course between a man's legs with dice surrounding the hole. With the title saying Our Dungeon Master Put Us in the Hole.
I'll be so real. When this came out I was so confused I refreshed the page because I thought they had accidentally released the wrong video. I knew what time the new episode was coming out. I was waiting purposfully for it. And I, an somewhat older viewer and supporter of this channel, got confused. I could piece together that MAYBE the hole was a refrence to the hole in the sea, but this thumbnail doesn't even show the damn sea. It shows grass. IN THE SEA CAMPAIGN. WHERE THERE IS NO GRASS BECAUSE THE BLACK SEA IS DYING.
It just felt like a punch in the face. Everyone was so excited for the new art, and I was too! (Shan does absolutely stunning pieces so regularly I cannot understand, props to him, truly!!) Hell, I was just excited for any art period. And then that thumbnail hit and it was just... meh. Especially in comparison of how good the episode was!! It's genuienly one of my favorites now, and it has a place in my heart.
And I would understand and accept it, if I hadn't thought about how horrible of an idea this is for BOTH the short term and long term of the channel.
Because here's the thing. Generating more views is fine, I would absolutley love new people to come in by the minute. But Riptide is just not the vessel for obtaining that. It's just so long. 116 episodes to be exact (117 eps if you're subbed to patreon on the site), and to clickbait the absolute culmination of the entire campaign in a way where new viewers would have zero clue that it was a part of a pre-existing and long running campaign is just NOT IT.
They come into the episode so confused expecting a oneshot, or a small campaign. They get hit with episode 116, not titled correctly so that they can know that. They get baited, and likely click off the video, avoiding the rest of the channel due to the bait being so misguiding it just feels (and is!) predatory in nature.
Viewer retention begins to fall short term, and their longterm ability to be recommended to others falls with it, even with the click bait. The people who are still subscribed and only interested in Riptide can't recognize the videos due to it seeming like a oneshot, so they don't click on it (especially when it initially comes out due to notifications being so important for views). Viewers who are active in the community get thrown off by the change, and rightfully so dislike it and call that out.
It's just an insanely bad idea. But, like I said before, I'm not against them gaming the system! It's just that Riptide is not the vessel for it! But what is?
They've already figured it out. Short term content (aka one shots, mini campaigns, and tiktoks/youtube shorts)! These past couple of videos have popped off, and they've recieved a lot of views due to it. It's invited new people to the channel, and it appeals to a wider audience due to that.
Now, before I go on, I will say I DO NOT (BY GOD I DO NOT) want them to turn exclusively to short term content. What I believe is the solution is to put some importance on oneshots and mini campaigns in order to attract new viewers to the channel, and bring them over to the more long term content, like Riptide and Wonderlust. Because it's exposure to their personalities, talent, and production that's going to be the thing to reel in new viewers.
That's the backbone of pretty much every D&D show in existence! A stable audience! You can have loads of views on these short term videos, but what really matters is pulling viewers to your older content. We who pay for the website and patreon are the backbone! We are the most direct line of support they have, and that's insanely important.
You use these things to draw in new viewers, and while most won't end up being a dedicated fan to your overall work, they'll be enough to finacially support you AND draw in a more dedicated fanbase.
And to bring up an example of this (probably THE example actually), I will bring up Legends of Avantris!
You likely know of them in some respect if you are in the D&D space and TikTok. They frequently upload funny clips of their live-streamed campaigns, and sometimes make them animated. The most important part of their structure is their short term content, because otherwise their discoverability would be absolutely abysmal.
Their most notable campaign is Once Upon a Witchlight, which generates the most clips and views (outside of maybe Uprooted). They farm the absolute shit out of these clips, and it pays off well for them. They keep some revenue to their channel, and attract newer viewers to it.
Now, you can probably go and ask them about how they blew up, and the answer will be TikTok and the fact that despite it, they still don't feel totally known (due to most of those viewers not looking to interact with anything outside of Witchlight, Uprooted, and most especially the TikToks themselves). But to give it the credit it deserves, I was brought into LoA (Legends of Avantris) by the TikToks, as were most of their dedicated fanbase.
And the funny part about that was I never really got into Witchlight or Uprooted, I got into their other campaigns, such as Icebound, Edge of Midnight, and Curse of Strahdanya. They're much more serious campaigns (with funny moments because it's d&d and improv), and I much prefer them to what they constantly showcase on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
But the thing is, I'd have it no other way. It helps them reach out to new viewers, and has cultivated a dedicated audience (though it's much smaller than the actual TikToks would suggest). If they didn't do it, they might begin to really struggle, and that's the last thing I'd want from them! Let them clip farm on their more lighthearted campaigns (even though they genuinely are just that funny of people, so not really clipfarming).
Something notable about them as well, despite all the work they do for the shorts and TikTok videos, they still don't clickbait. They have similar views to JRWI on each of their videos, but that hasn't stopped them ever. They still feature artwork of the characters and titles and episode numbers despite how well it does in the algorithm because these videos aren't supposed to confuse people. They certainly have the opprotunity to bring in new viewers if they believe it looks interesting, but they don't obscure what they're providing.
They simply work to retain the audience that is already dedicated to them and to bring in new viewers with the shorts and the like! Because, realistically, that's how in a space like D&D shows and podcasts, you do it. Odds of anyone blowing up overnight and keeping so many viewers in spite of it outside of Critical Role are slim to none, and it's not worth trying to do that.
What is worth it is what I've described before. Pander to new viewers with clickbait and oneshots. Pander to your core audience with what they already expect to see. There's no quick way to success here.
But I truly believe if they begin to dedicate time to the shorts, mini campaigns/oneshots, and keep it out of their more serious content, they will truly have a winning strategy. Hell, they could ultimately do better with the videos like the Worst D&D campaign bringing in new viewers than LoA has had with the shorts. But there's no way to make Riptide of all things farmable at this point in it's lifespan without (potentially) horrible consequences.
Shit that was so much longer than I anticipated. But I'm happy I got it out. Just to lay it down as gracefully as I can and dip out. Anyway.
TLDR; Short term content for everything else other than Riptide if they want new viewers lmao
(also i'm purposefully not tagging LoA just because this is primarily a JRWI post and I don't feel it's fair to clog up their feed with something about another D&D show in it's near totality)
Edit 2: Wait guys I clearly missed a joke about not being able to clickbait people with my title how did I let this happen.
Let me try it.
Ahem
Yeah. Having problems naming this. Guess I'm just can't clickbait...
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Just watched Martyn’s finale and I just. The note in response to Pearl saying she’s the only one left who can make holy water so it HAS to be her to stay behind that says something like “I can also make holy water but I ain’t volunteering”
Just thinking about the fact that the only way Martyn was ever making it out of Oakhurst alive was if he volunteered to sacrifice himself and then Apo specifically was the one to turn him after. His own self-preservation is what led to his death. Was there ever a world where he chose to make the sacrifice instead of Pearl? Was there ever a world where Pearl let him? Was there ever a world where Apo was the one to turn him in the end? I dunno just. Thoughts.
The humans this episode have really got a "fuck it, we ball" vibe going on and I'm just so here for it. Yeah, grab like every beacon despite our plan definitely being leaked. Kill Avid on sight and worry about it later. Apo is our enemy, but fuck it.
Oh yeah, we think Avid was killed by Owen, so what? We keep on going. And let's grab some iron and take the castle while we're at it.
Just insane energy for people I thought were so screwed just like 8 hours ago. And they're owning it man. I'm rooting for these last girls so hard rn lmao. They had their time trying to gasp for air, let them fuck some shit the hell up now that they've got their bearings. Fuck yeah.
