End Times 2023: Come Watch with Us

I never used to watch videos. Not for music (I looked up the videos when I wanted to share something, but personally I only listened to songs on my stereo), not for learning board games (rulebook person here), not for reviews (I've got my own opinions, thank you very much), not for funny cats. All that changed this year, when I became what we shall call couchridden. I spent a few hours a day on YouTube. I watched everything.

Okay, except for cats.

So I thought we'd end 2023 with a nod to our favourite content creators. And thank them for all their effort. The year wouldn't have been the same without you all.

🦉 Athena

I don't have a 'favourite' YouTuber, I'm rather opportunistic when I need to watch a playthrough video: whoever does the job. I quite like One Stop Co-op Shop, but I won't say no if a smaller channel offers the same content and explains rules well. Since I have to pick, I'll go with Marcus at jPlay. He is trustworthy (meaning he doesn't make rules goofs) and pleasant to watch. I just saw he put out a playthrough of In the Heart of Darkness, and it immediately made me eager to check it out.

As for a YouTuber I follow in general, I'll go with Catomancy Tarot. This is a channel about tarot collecting. Janaki is endearing and has a wonderful deck collection. She is great for tarot nerds like me.

🐲 Hana

One Stop Co-op Shop is a channel focused only on the coop and solo side of the boardgaming world. The reviews they produce are short and to the point, they accompany those usually with a playthrough to get the feel for the game. Since we're at the end of the year, let me share:

As for a non-board game related YouTube content creator, I could put a lot in here, but let me share an educational channel from aviation perspective. Mentour Pilot. Here's the most recent video.

🐒 JW

I'm a subscribed to many, many channels. Good picks for the spotlight would be The Players Aid (but to tell you the truth I still prefer the written blog) or ThinkerThemer (a real good channel). But I'll go with Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules! I prefer his game explanations when I want to learn something complex, and even became a Patreon supporter to watch more content, basically just him playing games. Here's one I'm going to start watching tomorrow, as it's about a game I want to play in January:

As for other content creators, ehm, so, I got addicted to watching "reaction videos". This is an extremely stupid genre of videos where you watch people watching videos. In my case music videos mostly, but also comedy, films and documentaries. Watch them watching videos - and watch them reacting to them, obviously. Some reactors just pull faces, some just sit there and afterwards say something like "wow, she's talented", some don't have a clue. I mostly watched people that didn't have a clue. And then asked myself why on earth I had bothered. And checked another stupid one immediately. Anyway, I won't link to one of them, I'll link to one I really enjoy: The Fairy Voice Mother. Here's a random pick.

🦇 Zerbique

I enjoy the videos by Alex Radcliffe from BoardGame Co. He's one of the rare content creators who combines two interesting qualities: a) he is very popular and sought out by the industry players, so he covers most new games on Kickstarter; b) he always offers real negatives about any game he advertises, that reveal a keen insight into the design of these games. I cannot think of any other content creator that turned me off from so many games, and to me, that's the whole point of wasting time listening to their ramblings: to save you money and the trouble of getting through a game you end up not liking. I also enjoy his analyses of the crowdfunding world, I find them accurate and sharp.

I don't really listen to any "content creator", but I follow two channels: Lesics (a channel about engineering stuff that I watch with my son who is obsessed with it; very interesting and didactic videos) and The Kiffness (a guy who remixes cat meowings and the like into songs; I found out I am working efficiently when listening to them and I am always curious what new weirdness he will turn into a song).