Minecraft on YouTube

         Minecraft has become a great part of YouTube, the Minecraft videos started around 2008 and quickly gained a great amount of audience in 2010, and, by 2012, more than 4 million Minecraft related videos have been uploaded. Most Minecraft channels do not add new and interesting content to YouTube, they simply repeat what other people had already done in the past. Nowadays, there are hundreds of thousands of Minecraft YouTube channels, obviously, they are not all as famous as Sky Does Minecraft, with 11,795,844 subscribers, but almost all of the channels are relatively the same. The YouTubers have as their main objectives entertain people that watch and subscribe to their channels and, sometimes, teach new players how to use some features of this quite difficult game. However, there are very few cases in which the Minecraft YouTubers innovate and create something completely new and interesting with the game.

  First of all, it's fair to say that the way that 90% of the Minecraft videos are edited is the same: a huge part of the screen showing the game screen and a small part showing the person's reactions while playing. There is an important characteristic of this particular types of videos that is the screaming, most people who play Minecraft to post on YouTube have exaggerated reactions that include a lot of screaming and laughter. It is simply idiotic to think that people are not entertained by this style of videos, because if they weren't, the channels wouldn't have more than 1 Million visits a month. However, even though, people have fun, those videos do not bring anything new that can contribute to the business of entertainment. This has come to a point where people might say that depending on who you are watching the video is different. Of course, the mode in which each YouTuber plays might change, the person's personality will also be different, but the idea is always the same. Other really remarkable differences are the editing and sound quality which will surely vary depending on how famous the channel is and how much effort the YouTuber wants to put into the channel. If every YouTuber that has a Minecraft channel had its own original idea, YouTube would be far more interesting.

There is one more type of Minecraft video that is really famous amongst YouTubers which is the tutorial. In this case, the video is not developed thinking about how much fun the spectator will have, but thinking about how much he/she can learn from the video. Those tutorials can be directed for a great variety of people, from beginners to people who want to know how to kill The Ender Dragon. Anyone can make a tutorial as well as anyone can make a video of them playing the Minecraft. The people who watch others play are usually the ones who already play and want new ideas of what to make in their own worlds while the tutorials are more directed to the people who don't have as much experience playing. There are people who have a channel where there are only tutorials for beginners in which the new player learns how to use every and each specific feature of the game. This is a great idea for learning, but if everyone starts to do the same thing as they did with the traditional Minecraft videos, YouTube will be flooded with tutorials that will make you learn the same thing over and over again.

Finally, there are the exceptions, the people who can make something new out of Minecraft. Sky Does Minecraft and CaptainSparklez are one the most famous YouTubers that play Minecraft each of the did something really innovating with the game which are the videoclips and the Minecraft series. Of course, they are not the only ones that produce this type of content, and might not have been the ones who invented it, but it is still something different from the ordinary Minecraft videos. One of the most interesting things about this alternative videos that they post on YouTube is that the number of views is more than twice the usual number of view they get. This is physical, well, virtual evidence that new ideas may improve views in 100%.

In conclusion, most of the Minecraft videos are indeed the same, and when they are not similar, the channel's audience will probably grow. The message for you that watches YouTube or that wants to start a channel is: If you are starting a channel, don't do the same as other people, try to come up with your own ideas. Youtube is a place to express yourself. You are an original piece, show that and create something different.