Does everyone just think they can make a living playing games? Trying to search for Diablo 4 info gets you nothing but mountains of useless clickbait youtube videos. Gotta waste my time jumping thru the video just to find out the guy is dumber about the game than I am.
Like I get it, YouTube is the only place you can monetize your “game knowledge”, but still… Why are there are only like two sites with build guides and info? And those two sites don’t even have community builds, its just a couple guides written by some l33t dude we are suppose to trust. Why is there no useful discussion forums, discords, or at least something not in video format? If people care about becoming gaming influencers so much why can’t we at least come out with a new monetization platform that doesn’t suck and has a dislike button.
Anyone else sharing my rage?
Feels like intermediate content is what’s missing. I find tons of “beginner” videos that aren’t useful to me, just explain the basic mechanics as anyone can plainly see them. A lot of these were made during the game preview and are highly ranked even though they are full of expired info.
And then there’s the extreme other end of people who use build names they assume you already know inside and out and are obsessing over spreadsheets and drop rates, making their life entirely about farming one particular unique - and they always play in a party as experienced as them on the absolute hardest endgame content and they hate everything Blizzard does.
Wish there were something in the middle. Like “how to lean in to a crit build” or “overview of popular Druid builds that are viable at level 70.”
Totally agree with you but somehow i got arround this by use negative searchterms like “-youtube” “-video” and limiting the timeframe for newer topics. So or so, the newist info are community forums or discord servers. About the whole clickbait on google and youtube. they both go hand in hand, this “suggestions” wont go awy unless you stop interact with them. If i missclick on youtube i have to battle the algorithm by clicking “not interessted” for days until google stops trying to shovel this kind of content into my throat…
I wouldn’t lump this in with the whole “enshitification” issue.
This is the end result of gamers not placing any value on the content they consume. People want free content, regardless of quality, over anything else.
So, as you would expect, what you are seeing is free content, regardless of quality, being created en masse.
It seems to be the combination of two things: Diablo is now truly a mass market product, not just a gamer’s delight. Games now make more money than movies. The audience to be reached is enormous and attracts the eye of infotainment professionals, and no longer just people who are really into the game and decide to maybe try a guide. These people start with the cheap content machine first and Diablo is just the topic du jour. after a while they will be on to something else.
All this points at the second topic, which is the way paid creator video platforms have evolved. There’s now significant commercial opportunity and competition is fierce. No longer does the deeper guide win but rather the one that games the algo most, appeals to the broadest audience most, and has the most production value (money) behind it.
I suspect there is actually more high quality game guide content than ever, but you aren’t going to find it with just a “Diablo” search because there is an enormous pile of cheap crap on top of it.
It really is though. Remember back when we just had gamefaqs guides? Or actual game wikis that weren’t plastered with ads?
It’s especially apparent in the japanese gamersphere. There used to be great (grassroots) wikis for basically every Japanese game, now they’re all run by e.g. game8 and their clones.
Enshittification really does mean something quite specific and is not just a word meaning “things aren’t very good anymore.”
If you haven’t read Cory Doctorow’s essay that coined the term, definitely do. It’s a modern classic.
Pretty sure the gaming community is where enshittification started. It’s an incredibly toxic community.
Gamergate
I’m tired of the " look at all this dps!" Then it is someone with max gear at lvl 99.
Yes, crappy advice on websites like gamesvideodiablo.com are at the top of search results somehow. Luckily established sites like maxroll and icy-veins are out there. You still have to watch who submitted stuff. Feel sorry for anyone that has to wade through the gamesgamerhintsnews.com sites.
You Won’t Believe These Top 10 Reasons Why Diablo IV Content Consumers Perpetuate Clickbait, Especially Number 9
😉
I just kick all clickbaity channels off of my YouTube feed. If this ends up in YouTube not showing me any Diablo IV stuff on my feed, so be it.
yea its pretty nuts how EVERYDAY there is a new BEST MOST BROKEN build guide. Even when the same content creator made a similar one for the same class like a day or two ago lol
Yes and no in sharing the rage. I can understand the how and why, but I also decide not to consume it for the most part. If I look for info, builds etc in games I always go to discord communities where I can get info bite-sized and written instead.
The videos themselves are so strange, why spend 15 minutes talking about something that could be written in 1-2 A4 pages. Builds in games especially are something that just is so much better written, rather than spoken.
Cause you gotta get dem “views”. Don’t forget to smash that subscribe button.
The format makes no sense for the information being consumed, it’s like this for their benefit not the viewers.
Even the Maxroll build guides are like, oh yea go view our youtube video to get all the info.
