I mean the fact that half of GD can readily list off the streamers they hate and why they hate them should show that.
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I don’t think I’ve ever given a crap about youtubers/streamers/etc.
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Influencer is a garbage term thrown around by places like buzzfeed. It has little bearing on reality. I watch streamers because I like the content. It’s something to have on in the background that is relevant when I am playing a game. It’s also a community to be a part of when the game today is itself lacking community the way it used to have. They also generate real in game content for players. I don’t see what the problem is. Anyone is free to abstain, why do you care if others watch or participate?
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Yeah, influence doesn’t always fall into a positive direction. Influence can shift between Positive and Negative.
Or an Asmogold and his ilk are a bunch of tools post. Which isn’t wrong.
Because sheep want to be lead. I watch a fair amount of WoW channels on YouTube, sometimes I agree and other times disagree. But I feel no need to post about them. On occasion, the subject they discuss may be worth talking about on here.
The flaw is that some mistakenly believe if “streamer X” said it must be true, because he/she said so therefore it is so because their opinion cares some kind of imagined weight/authority.
Which is the flaw in the logic. An argument or opinion should be considered purely on its own merits.
Either that, or they just want to stir up drama.
There’s different reasons people might follow someone;
- They agree with what they say/like their perspective
- They like their personality
- They like their content
Its fine not to personally like something, but as a concept its the same reason why someone would like to tune into a late night host, or follow an athlete’s career, or get excited when you hear about an actor you like coming out in a new movie. Simple enough to understand, regardless of buying into it all or not.
It’s also important to not fall into the circle jerk that these people are ‘influencing people’s opinions’, but rather people naturally latch onto outlets they agree with or want to agree with. I saw a few ‘sheep’ related posts that come off as “I am very smart” type posts, where people take pride in not following. I think anyone who thinks that should actually look at the comment section or glance at the live chat, as there is usually plenty of disagreement (it is the internet after all)
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Naturally. People especially undervalue the impact that a negative influence can have.
How often have we seen someone rocket to fame simply because people just can’t stop hating them? Hell, someone even got elected to one of the highest offices in the world purely because of that.
Like it doesn’t matter how badly people in this thread hate streamers (lets be real, GD has gone far beyond the 2 minutes of hate for Asmongold), the fact that people know their name and care enough to comment in a thread about them means that they’re winning.
The reality of the world today is that no attention is bad attention.
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Wanna weigh in on this thought-- Bad publicity is just as good as positive publicity. People can’t see how it influences others to check out if this person is as bad as everyone says they are.
We as humans are influenced by the things we enjoy, like, or agree with. We’re also influenced by the things we dislike, don’t enjoy, and don’t agree with.
We’re all sheep, so to speak.
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I think what the OP is referring to is celebrity based on merit, talent and accomplishments, as opposed to the Warhol theorem that everyone is famous for 15 minutes regardless.
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Sometimes I don’t quite understand particular cultural happenings and “listening” to others discuss it teaches me more about things. The things you all have said in this thread have helped me see this topic in new ways, which I SUPER appreciate.
For reals. I like learning stuff. I’m endlessly curious. I really enjoy hearing all your takes on this. Thank you!
(The idea of any attention is good attention is odd to me. I don’t get a big charge out of being the center of attention unless it’s, like, puppies. I love being mobbed by puppies. But I have had jobs where I talk at people and am the center of attention and I am good at it but I don’t have any craving for it.)
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I’ve seen a lot of “social influencers” call up companies, demanding free product and if they don’t get it they will give bad reviews. Is that the new thing now?
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if you let someone influence your decision, then that means you cant make you own. cant think of anything else really. its like hey daddy come show me what to do.
If OP thinks that, then the problem is that their narrow thinking doesn’t apply the concepts of merit, talent or accomplishment to anything unless that area is within their interests.
It’s the same blind spot that allows people to know why professional athletes, comedians or singers are famous, but question why people like Ninja or PewDiePie have gigantic audiences.
Though credit to the OP in that they actually recognize that blind spot and are trying to correct it.
I mean, I guess they’d fall under the same umbrella. But only in the same sense that some kid playing sport in his backyard falls under the same umbrella as a professional athlete.
There’s a pretty big spectrum of “influencers”, from those who are among the most famous people on earth, to people with a couple hundred followers on Instagram trying to score some free stuff.
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I think we are all influenced somewhat by others, I just wonder about who we allow to influence us.
In the coffee ad commercial story I told in the original post, I was absolutely aware that the cool ad made me want to drink coffee. But my parents also drank coffee all my life. And coffee was free where I worked and I was a broke college student. So I was influenced by multiple factors.
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I think this needs to be pointed out as well-- It’s rarely a single factor that creates influence.
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I think Blizz should adopt the policy of this ice cream man. “Influencers pay double”
He’s my new hero.
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Anthem, same can be said for apex legends also… I’m sure there are others but i don’t follow games like i used to.
I can’t say how Rife it is in the video game industry but influencers want to go to a hotel and they want everything for free because they say it gives exposure.
The last video of his I watched was one where he was taking a quiz. He got a really basic PvP question wrong and it was pretty sad. Then he argued that he knew a better answer to the next question… then he decided to just be a giant d***head to his participating audience.
I do get that it’s an act… because I watched another video a while ago that was him being (what I believe was) his real self, trying to help other streamers that showed a really nice person is probably underneath it all.
I just don’t like the really derogatory nature he has with his audience at times. I go from enjoying what I’m watching to being like wow he’s a p***k.
Overall I just don’t understand the whole influencers phenomenon though. It does seem like a large majority of the population are quite easily swayed with out even realizing that it’s happening.
I distrust/question a lot of the information I read/watch on the internet now a days… I encourage everyone else to do the same.
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