YouTube Payola (Poor Grammar Alert)

No, this isn't a blog post about the Canadian rock band that were big (biggish)back in the 80's. This is about an odd trend that I first noticed about a month or so ago involving some of the giant sized gamer channels on Youtube. I won't mention them, but they are not hard to find.

It seems that most everyone in the gaming community wants to be a Youtube Partner. A lot of us will come right out and say it, others will be more coy about it. There are a few however that genuinely just put up videos for the fun of it. Maximum RD, Troubl8353 and Xfile2708 are among my favorites on Youtube. These cats just put up videos and really don't seem to care about potential $$$$ from Youtube. I like to think I fall in the same category as they do. I started out gung ho about making a stink load of $$ from the Tube, then after a little while I basically said screw that and release videos now for the fun of it. If Youtube wants to give me money eventually, great. Until then, screw them.

With everyone gone willy over YouTube Partnerships, it seems that people are willing to toss a little payola around to the big guys in order to get a shout out. A shout out from a 4000+sub Youtube Partner could mean what? An extra 100subs in a week? Probably more. I subbed one guy after he was shouted out by one of the BIGS. He went from 5subs to about 150 in a week. The guy had made 3 videos with a webcam circa 1998. In one video, the poor guy proudly showed off his collection (4 items) of Star Wars crap. He had a few Happy meal toys or something. What I'm getting at is that this guy got made by that one shout out. His videos blew and it didn't matter.

What is this payola all about you ask? I've seen some of the big Youtubers do package videos that contained up to 200$ worth of free swag. Not trades, not sales, FREE SWAG. The swag of course is in the form of video games and systems. I can't wrap my head around why you would pay to send people free stuff from your collection unless you fully comprehend that you are paying for a shout out and a sub from the elite of the gaming community. I find this beyond odd and can only shake my head when I see what some people are sending out.

Now don't get me wrong, I fully know that many people make great friends on YouTube and they they exchange gifts. I think that is great, but that isn't what I am talking about. I'm fully aware that trades go down on YouTube. Not talking about that either. Also, I'm not crapping on anyone for taking the free stuff. More power to you all. I'm not really even crapping on the senders, as long as they know that they are buying a shout out and don't expect anything more in return...and for the record, I've never seen a video by anyone asking for free stuff in return for a shout out...so what am I complaining about then...not sure anymore.

Youtube Payola seems to of taken on a life of its own within the gaming community. It's now just part of the way it works; part of unwritten rules or the code of conduct. Are we better off for it? In my opinion definitely not. Are we worse off? I haven't seen a problem or fight caused by it yet. You know one is coming though if someone doesn't get his shout out or unpackaging video. You really know what I would love to see once? One of the big guys in the community, I mean really big, set up a Paypal account and promise a shout out video for everyone who donates to some charity through that account. That would be pretty kick ass. Sadly, with my 57subs the children would go hungry and the whales would all die. You've got the eeeyyyyyyyyyyyeees of a strange-ah!