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YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

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Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#101

Post by dpkonofa »

velcrovan wrote: post #3

Does YouTube have any incentive to “preserve” anything once it costs them more money than it brings in? If not, maybe it's a little early to say they are actually preserving anything. (The article does kind of acknowledge this.) Maybe its real role is as a link in a chain that leads to /r/datahoarders

I was going to say something similar. I actually think YouTube (as a hosting/sharing platform) is a net-negative for the internet because there are already millions of videos that were embedded in pages that are no longer working because YouTube removed them, the account was deleted, or any number of things. If the internet worked the way it was intended, these videos would have been hosted on the site rather than embedded and would be still working. If the video wasn't there anymore, that usually means the content isn't there anymore. It's almost worse than dead hyperlinks because it's almost always supplemental content that references a video that can't be accessed anymore. :(

That being said, it's a net-positive when it comes to content created. The internet wouldn't be as crazy without YouTube, so thanks for that.

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#102

Post by jandrese »

netsharc wrote: post #32
zegl wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For low-traffic videos they likely only keep a copy in a single region.

Interestingly they could also just keep the best resolution version of rare videos, and have really powerful encoders if anyone suddenly asked for a lowres version. Then they can deliver as well as cache the lowres version in case someone else wants to look at it an hour later, but maybe drop it after a week of no access.

They don't even have to be all that powerful. GPU transcoding is fast as heck. You really just need to decide where the line is between the storage tradeoff and needing a bigger GPU farm to handle more frequent transcoding requests. I'm betting you could get away with having just one copy for 90-95% of Youtube's content. There is an ocean of video on Youtube that is accessed less than once a month or even once a year.

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#103

Post by kevingadd »

Kiro wrote: post #90
Noos wrote: post #34

I don't know if they are. Emulating games is not really preserving them in a sense, because it can't reproduce the hardware or experience as it actually was very well. Like you can play Ridge Racer type 4 in emulation, but part of that game's history was the special controller it was bundled with, which let you twist the middle of it to enable analog steering wheel control. Like you can't emulate Boktai without the s…

I've been a gamer for 30 years and I don't remember a single game where the controller or hardware matter so much that a "Let's Play" wouldn't do it justice.

I can think of maybe 2 or 3 games total with a meaningful gimmick that needed specific hardware or control schemes to really "work". Losing it diminishes the game but doesn't completely invalidate it, so it's sad but it's not really the case for the thousands of other games I've played. Better to have the original game archived as an LP, perhaps even an LP that tries to capture the essence of the gimmick for people who can't experience it. I think we're entering a space now where this is a concern for more games though - an LP or emulated gameplay for experimental VR games or games with custom controllers may not live up to the experience at all, which is unfortunate, but not really avoidable.

The most easily understood example is 999, a game for the Nintendo DS that utilized the two-screens quirk of the system for narrative purposes. It was later ported to mobile and those versions had to drop the twist since there was no way to express it on other platforms. (To briefly summarize, the two screens represented separate timelines and the DS's constraint of only allowing touch input on one screen meant that whatever you saw on that screen was the only thing you could actively participate in)

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#104

Post by jandrese »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #83
cobookman wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-10tb-external-usb-...

The bizarre thing is I can't find bare drives cheaper than that on Amazon - how are they making a profit on these?

Maybe it's one of those drives that comes with a demo of the backup software and they're hoping you'll buy the full version?

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#105

Post by pdpi »

orcdork wrote: post #47
chillacy wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Museums don’t own all of their collections though, and they too make decisions on what to display at any moment. Not all objects are worthy of display, some get rotated out back into some rich person’s attic.

I'd be very interested to hear about any respectable museum that sends off items that are not displayed to be stored into some rich person's attic (or for display at a private residence as I assume you are implying).

It’s kind of the opposite — lots of museum pieces are privately owned and loaned to museums.

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#106

Post by criley2 »

dpkonofa wrote: post #101
velcrovan wrote: post #3

Does YouTube have any incentive to “preserve” anything once it costs them more money than it brings in? If not, maybe it's a little early to say they are actually preserving anything. (The article does kind of acknowledge this.) Maybe its real role is as a link in a chain that leads to /r/datahoarders

I was going to say something similar. I actually think YouTube (as a hosting/sharing platform) is a net-negative for the internet because there are already millions of videos that were embedded in pages that are no longer working because YouTube removed them, the account was deleted, or any number of things. If the internet worked the way it was intended, these videos would have been hosted on the site rather than em…

In nearly all of those cases, the content was removed because either the uploader wanted it removed, or the owner of the intellectual property in the video wanted it removed.

In both of those cases, I don't see how this is Youtube's fault or decentralized hosting would be better.

In the first case (uploader wants it gone) you have a sticky situation where loosely managed websites refuse (or can't) respond to requests to remove, which can start interfering with various laws in various places.

In the second case, where IP has been violated, those same loosely managed sites run significant legal risk of lawsuit by not responding.

From the perspective of a content owner or video creator, why would you want your work decentrally stored in places that you can't control it?

The other angles here have to do with monetization, too. When you use youtube, you can serve user aware ads and track who is watching your video as it spreads. If it is self-hosted, your content has been stolen and is enriching someone else illegally.

From a creators perspective I can't see how decentrally stored videos would be good.

Perhaps what we need is a Library of Congress type organization to begin a serious long-term archive of significant portions of this type of media.

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#107

Post by neetodavid »

Noos wrote: post #34

I don't know if they are. Emulating games is not really preserving them in a sense, because it can't reproduce the hardware or experience as it actually was very well. Like you can play Ridge Racer type 4 in emulation, but part of that game's history was the special controller it was bundled with, which let you twist the middle of it to enable analog steering wheel control. Like you can't emulate Boktai without the s…

The article is about the value of youtube lets play videos as secondary documentation. There is no mention of emulation. Some lets play videos feature emulated games but some others capture from original hardware.

The article also raises a good point (that I think echos your sentiment) about how lets play videos include some amount of the context that the game was played in. Even with the exact artifact, something is lost when it is transplanted to Now.

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#108

Post by TAForObvReasons »

pmarreck wrote: post #91

https://archive.org/ is preserving it by letting you play them right in the browser via emulators compiled to Emscripten. For example here is the Macintosh version of Dark Castle, which I spent some number of hours winning at the time (circa 1986, digitized sound was still a brand-new thing) https://archive.org/details/mac_DarkCastle_1_2 If you hit "Options" you'll notice the familiar WASD keyboard control layout. We…

Emulators don't tell the whole story. Sometimes features depend on the physical game, as in the case of mario tennis and the n64 transfer pak https://youtu.be/QbRkBTMRxZQ?t=653

Re: YouTube “Let's Play”s are preserving video game history

#110

Post by pmarreck »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #108
pmarreck wrote: post #91

https://archive.org/ is preserving it by letting you play them right in the browser via emulators compiled to Emscripten. For example here is the Macintosh version of Dark Castle, which I spent some number of hours winning at the time (circa 1986, digitized sound was still a brand-new thing) https://archive.org/details/mac_DarkCastle_1_2 If you hit "Options" you'll notice the familiar WASD keyboard control layout. We…

Emulators don't tell the whole story. Sometimes features depend on the physical game, as in the case of mario tennis and the n64 transfer pak https://youtu.be/QbRkBTMRxZQ?t=653

I know. But I don't see how watching a "Let's Play" is going to get you much closer to those experiences
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