Matt Chat Thread

[Severian Silk]

Matt Chat was cool to watch in the beginning. Now, watching Matt do the same thing over and over again is getting painful. Matt is also painful to watch in general, even if he is a bro.

 

[Kane]

Matt Chat was cool to watch in the beginning. Now, watching Matt do the same thing over and over again is getting painful. Matt is also painful to watch in general, even if he is a bro.

I agree, he needs to spice it up by casting naked.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Nothing. But that's not what the paragraph you quoted is about. The videos are symbols for high level debate (upper) and the core audience of computer games (lower). As is immediately obvious, there isn't much overlap between the two. And this is our problem.

I'd argue is that there's a lot of overlap between the two. That kid looks more like someone who would care a lot about games. People who don't are the problem.

I am not aware of e.g. the Nobel price in literature being handed out to the "most common denominator", quite the opposite.

It's because in literature "critically acclaimed" doesn't mean something like Baldur's Gate and Fallout 3.

Matt Chat was cool to watch in the beginning. Now, watching Matt do the same thing over and over again is getting painful. Matt is also painful to watch in general, even if he is a bro.

Not for me.

 

[J_C]

nobody stopping him from interviewing people about Skyrim, New Vegas, Nu XCOM

And ask what? Why are your games suck? Because he told several times that he doesn't like most modern RPGs.

So he can't interview people that made a game he doesn't like? He's a butthurt fanboy that will just shout "YOUR GAME SUCKS!" if Jake Solomon wants to talk with him about Nu XCOM?

Not saying that, but I doubt that modern game developers who make shitty games want to partake in interviews where the interviewer asks difficult questions about shit gameplay and story.

 

[felipepepe]

Go interview Jeff Vogel, instead of saying "OMG, EXILE 3 AND GENEFORGE 1 ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE SHIT YOU DO NOW, YOU WANNABE BIOWARE FAG!", ask him how he thinks his games changed during the years, ask about clever design choices from his games, what worked and what not, what are his plans for the future, etc.

Same for other designers. Not that hard, really.

Or does he also goes "Hey Richard Garriot, Ultima 6 has a shitty UI, what the fuck happened bro? And why are you scamming people with your MMO?"

 

[Sceptic]

Agreed on #1. As for #2: fuck you. The ONLY reason I watch Matt's interviews is that he lets his interviewees ramble on and doesn't try to take center stage by constantly making the interview about himself, like shitty interviewers always do (not only in gaming). Shitty 5-minute interviews with Garriott where he says the same thing over and over and over again are a dime a dozen. Long 30-minute interview/monologue where Garriott rambles on about random stuff that even diehard fans didn't know about and where he goes over the inspiration of teletype in the tile graphics system he programmed for Ultima 1 and compares it to Wizardry's graphic system? Yeah, that's the kind of shit I'm interested in. What the hell do you consider to be not "random and uninteresting stuff that doesn't have to do with the things you want to hear"? More marketing shit for Shroud of the Avatar?

Felipepepe's post is a succint, if unintended, point-by-point analysis of the decline (as far as the interviews are concerned anyway - the "LPs" are shit, but I called this out years ago). It's pretty impressive.

 

[Alchemist]

Re: the mystery guest, he says on Facebook:

So far, nobody has gotten even close.

So, it's not Woz, not Bushnell (which were guessed in facebook comments).

Other stuff:

• His editing is bad (the pace and the length, too much of him/interviewed, too little gameplay),
• Episodes with him playing are boring, watching 30-40 minutes of it is unbearable.
• Only die-hard fans will watch 50 minutes of Richard Garriot on a webcam (although it was very cool),
• He doesn't have the support of any major channel, like The Escapist or Gamesutra (sorry, Armchair Arcade ain't gonna get you far),
  
• He's dorky. Sorry, I have nothing against it, but is not something that will help when getting new viewers.

Now, I'm a graduated 9th level demon marketing guy, so my class description says I have to say marketing stuff:

• Redesign the art of the show (it was good 4 years ago, today no). Also, add a cover picture to the videos. Just anything more interesting and nice-looking than a bald fat designer on a webcam.
  
• Be more of a actual archivist/historian/researcher and less of a happy nerd with the drinking horn and t-shirts. Make this the "thing" of your channel, "Matt Chatt: The Weekly Class of Game History" or something like that. Make people realize these are informative for new players & designers, not just a bunch of old people talking about the good old days.
• Go after new stuff as well. Seriously, there's nothing besides prejudice stopping him from interviewing people about Skyrim, New Vegas, Nu XCOM, AoD, KOTOR, Blackguards, Shadowrun Returns, Mount & Blade, etc... that would definitely bring up a new audience.
• Feature less of himself on screen and more of the games. If the interviewer is speaking for a long time, show the game and him on a small window, not both of you. Spoony sucked as a host for his Richard Garriot interview, but he had him showing stuff and walking around. Since Matt only does webcam interviews, he has to make it interesting to watch.
  
• Don't EVER do a short let's play again, like the Wizardry 8 or Dungeon Master one. If he just read what he wrote on his Dungeons & Desktops book (which I own, all the way here in Brazil, so he already achieved something) and used gameplay footage to complement the review, it would be a billion times better.
• Consider making a pilot of a 3-8 minute, heavily edited interview for the mass audience (but release full interviews as well),
• Consider making round-tables, people love those. Get Jullian Gollop and Jake Solomon to talk and discuss why turn-based is NOT a hardware limitation.
  
• Make a awesome 5 min potpourri trailer of your channel, with only the absolute best lines from the most famous interviews, spread it through the internet and leave it on the home screen of your channel.
  
• Go to a big network and try to get support for your channel.

He could also transcript his interviews into a awesome Matt Chatt book, like "Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play". I would buy that. And if all fails, make a Patreon campaign for money. Small and faithful audience should shine at this point. As HiddenX likes to swipe on our face, they have the money to burn.

Now excuse me while I take a bath to purify myself.

Some good points, but a few I disagree with.

• New art / production values / better editing might be good, yes.
• On the "nerd with drinking horn" aspect - I actually like that part. It shows his personality instead of being a formal, dry academic, or a fake entertainer persona. He does this show for fun in his free time, and he should have fun doing it. If sharing a beer with his viewers is part of the fun for him, I'm all for it. And I like hearing about different beers.
• New stuff: Actually he has covered a fair amount of "newer" games like Tales of Illyria, Grimrock, Frayed Knights and Kingdoms of Amalur. The AAA stuff is well covered by other venues - I actually prefer that he brings obscure games to light. No one else is doing it, and that's one of his strengths.
• I've seen a lot of the interviews already have interspersed game footage or humorous images, but perhaps he could do a little more of that.
• Disagree about his "let's plays" - they serve a decent "first impression" purpose and I'm not looking for an extended playthrough. I'll play the game for that.
• Round-tables - absolutely! That is an awesome idea and I would love to see that. Let's dig into the details and debates about game design. If he doesn't do it - maybe the Codex could start up something like this?

And yeah, in general he seems to need help in marketing himself (by the way, his association with Armchair Arcade was ended, I think). But I don't think he should drastically change what he's doing to chase a mass audience. I mostly enjoy what he does. Really - who else is covering these kind of games, like LORD or Albion? I have huge respect for him for that.

 

[felipepepe]

Felipepepe's post is a succint, if unintended, point-by-point analysis of the decline (as far as the interviews are concerned anyway - the "LPs" are shit, but I called this out years ago). It's pretty impressive.

Thanks, It took me 4 years of study and 8 of working in the area to get this far. You should see the videos I do for banks.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Matt doesn't need to change, in fact I think he doesn't want to change. He said he makes these videos to entertain himself. He doesn't have to try to copy Yahtzee or Total Biscuit or whatever the name of the latest trendy insufferable YouTube "personality" with ADD is. I actually like hearing the designers sound off about how they lived for a while, it shows a more human side to people we don't know almost anything about.

Matt, if you're reading this, ignore those who want you to sell out, you don't have to sell out, compromise, or answer to anybody.

 

[Infinitron]

felipepepe http://mattchat.us/?p=521

What’s wrong with Matt Chat?



Since my last post, I’ve been thinking more and more about what I’ve been doing “wrong” with Matt Chat, at least in terms of building an audience. Many folks have pointed out, and I think correctly, that with the caliber of guests I have on the show–and I’ve been maintaining that for years now–the show should be doing much better. There are countless guys out there doing simple reviews and let’s play type videos who are simply obliterating my views and subscriber lists.

This whole situation reminds me distinctly of my days in a rock band in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After a certain point, we felt we had a very good setlist, good performance skills, and enjoying plenty of opportunities to “break out.” We even had a newspaper reporter show up at a show and write a very flattering review of our set–with three different photos of the band.

Yet acts who were apparently “sucky” compared to us were getting ten times the people showing up to support them. Any wannabe band playing Green Day covers would kick our ass ten ways to one. We tried to put a brave face on it, but inside, it hurt like hell.

Our fans were endlessly dedicated, always there, talking up the show, trying to get their friends to come, etc. But there were just never enough of them to keep us going–we literally couldn’t get gigs because we simply couldn’t get enough people there to justify our slot. Eventually, we just had to give it all up.

Of course, there were plenty of excuses. The most common one was, “Well, this is stupid ol’ Louisiana, and the people here just don’t appreciate what you’re doing. If you were in California, Seattle, or ____, things would be totally different.” Whatever. The only place we would’ve been successful is in our dreams.

On several occasions, I’d ask folks what they thought of the band, and what they thought could make it better. I was surprised how many times someone would say–right to my face–”Well, the band is fine, but you need a new singer.” Only problem with that was…I was the singer. I figured a few of these folks might just be assholes, but I heard that enough to finally start coming to grips with it. There are some things that sincerity and hard work just can’t get for you, and being some kick ass front man was just not in the cards for me. At that point, I had two options–either find a replacement and content myself with just playing guitar, or quit. I moved on.

It’s perhaps inevitable that so many years later, I’d find myself in a similar situation. Here I am, still that same awkward, dorky nerd, trying to delude myself into thinking I’m some kind of videogame Johnny Carson. And I’m hearing the same kind of arguments from good hearted people who (for whatever reason) are able to see beyond my limitations and actually enjoy and appreciate what I’m doing. I hate to disappoint these folks. I can’t help but be reminded of the awesome guys and gals who’d show up at our gigs, buying us beers and talking us up to the patrons there, and doing whatever they could to keep us going. I guess it must be how shitty sports teams feel; no matter how crummy you are, there are always loyal fans out there who seem to enjoy supporting the underdog.

I remember one night playing a song that required chorus. I’d occasionally reach back to push the button on my amp to turn it off and on. After the set, some old guy comes up to me and asks what I was doing. “I’ll be right back,” he said.


The chorus pedal. Thank you, sir. I hope you are still at that redneck bar, giving some other nerd that little bit of encouragement to hold on just a little bit longer.

He comes back later and gives me his old chorus pedal. “I want you to have this,” he said. He didn’t look rich. He didn’t look drunk. If anything, he looked like he saw me as some younger version of himself, some kid who hadn’t given up yet. I thanked him. I still have the pedal. I gave up.

Here’s the facts. My videos struggle to get a thousand views. And it’s not like I’m just throwing this stuff together in a couple hours. I spend all weekend gathering material, editing, rendering, and often re-shooting scenes or commentary for upward of 12 hours or more. If a guest mentions a game, I do whatever it takes to find it, install it, get it working, and show gameplay footage at high quality. It kills me when I have to give up and just show a lame screenshot. I imagine most people watching my videos have no idea that I may have spent all day locating some obscure Mac or Atari 8-bit game, getting it running in a horrendously undocumented emulator, capturing footage on my wheezing old PC, just to show thirty seconds of footage.

Meanwhile, Mr. Popular is doing Green Day covers–oops, doing an unboxing video of shitty NES games he bought at Goodwill, and he gets 40,000 views in a day. It’s the Green Day cover band all over again.

I guess people have enough sense not to tell me “Matt Chat would be great if you had a different host.” After all, it’s a one-man operation, and without me, there is no Matt Chat. Would I be willing to do all of the work I’m currently doing–producing the show, and find someone else to replace me as the “face” of Matt Chat? The cynical side of me would love to find some babe to do the show for awhile.

In reality, though, it all comes down to one thing: popularity. Those Green Day cover bands weren’t packing clubs because people really wanted to hear Green Day covers. They came because those guys were popular, and the folks showed up because they liked them, probably wanted to be like them, or at least wanted some of that aura to rub off on them. Even if, for the sake of argument, you claim we had far more talent, it wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference. Not one damn bit.

If it’s a popularity contest, the real nerd loses. Every f**** time. Story of my life.

I’ve received lots of good suggestions about ways to improve the channel. My favorite in the “Why didn’t I think of that?” category comes from Felipe. Even though I’m pretty sure Felipe is in the “your show would be awesome some f**** nerd like you in it” camp, his idea of making a 5-minute “potpourri” video with clips of awesome quotes from interviews and such seems like solid gold to me. I’ll definitely start working on that and hopefully have it ready soon. To that end, if you can think of any awesome quotes (either from guests or hilarious moments from my retrospectives) that you think I should put in, let me know.

In the meantime, though, I’ve come to a few decisions about the show. For one, I’m going to stop whining, bitching, and moaning here about the lack of views that I or anyone else feels I “ought” to have. Instead, I’m going to focus on pleasing the fans and friends I do have, and trying to do the best for them that I possibly can. And I honestly think the best way to do that is just to keep doing what I’m doing, not let myself get discouraged, and keep the drinking horn flowing.

Given the choice between brothers or a horde of fickle, “me too!” fans, I know who I want at my back. I never have been nor will I ever be popular. But for those half-dozen folks out there in the club, brace yourself…We’re about to rock.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Give Felipepepepepepe a denigrating tag for convincing Matt to embrace decline. DarkUnderlord get to it.

 

[Stompa]

He just needs to get a haircut.

 

[felipepepe]

Even though I’m pretty sure Felipe is in the “your show would be awesome without you in it” camp

Is not like that... I like Matt, is the bounded soul fragment of Philip Kotler inside me that keeps thinking on ways to... minimize him.

 

[Infinitron]

Felipe had a little exchange with Matt in his blog comments: http://mattchat.us/?p=512#comment-953

Felipe Pepe January 15, 2014 at 10:28 am
“It’s interesting that you think I should be less jovial and more dry (scholarly), though. Wouldn’t that make the channel even more limited in terms of audience?”

I’m not really saying it in the actual scholar way; it isn’t supposed to sound like a lecture or a class.

Take Extra Credits, for example. I find their content HORRIBLE, full of bad ideas and concepts that are killing the industry, BUT they present themselves in such a way that people want to watch, to “learn” and think they are smarter and more understandable of gaming after watching. They have a relaxed tone, but also add some authority to it.

And really, you have two books on the subject and countless interviews with legends of gaming design. You are certainly more qualified than a couple of game designers that never designed anything good, yet preach the world about how it should be done. Just show youtube that you’re not yet another nerd talking about games (but don’t be arrogant about it).

For example, parts of your Dungeons & Desktops book are freely available on Gamasutra, why not make a video series with the same content, about the ages and all that? Make one 10-15 min video per era, gloss over the main games and characteristics and add embedded links to the in-depth videos that you did about them. That way not only you try something new and add some authority to your videos, but also gives a entry point for new fans into your backlog and may even give you some spotlight on big gaming websites, if the series is good.

 

[felipepepe]

^I had that idea of the RPG Era video while typing the answer, and I think it's a really great thing for Matt to try out. He has a massive backlog of 200 videos that no one will casually stroll in and start watching, so making a chronological video explaining his views of "cRPG Eras", and use it as index for his entire backlog seems quite productive.

 

[Sranchammer]

“Well, this is stupid ol’ Louisiana, and the people here just don’t appreciate what you’re doing. If you were in California, Seattle, or ____, things would be totally different.”

Confirmed for jacobinism. Everyone knows the best music America has ever produced has come from the South.

West Coast is just plain awful in terms of music.

 

[J_C]

for felipepepe for sharing his ideas with Matt on the blog. Although at first I though the Matt read the Codex and saw them there.

 

[:Flash:]

1 - Definitely, change RIGHT NOW the format on those mini let's play episodes. I'd even go so far as to say that they are the #1 reason why this show isn't getting a bigger audience. Matt's videos on games have literally no purpose other than gather some people to circlejerk the game on the comments, because as a content in itself the video is beyond terrible and doesn't have any substance. People that want to watch a let's play of that game won't be satisfied because, well, it isn't one. People that just want to give a quick look on a classic they've missed or something would prefer to watch much more segments of the game instead of Matt playing through the first 30 mins without editing, while also not saying that many revelant things about it. People that want to see a review of the game won't also be satisfied because, again, it isn't one too. Like, what are these videos aiming at? They are as random as you can possibly get, and you're hearing it from a guy that has actually watched many of them (really, what am I doing with my life?).

I totally agree. He just plays the beginning of the game, but he isn't very informed about the game. Sometimes he says "I have heard about this game" with a 50/50 chance of the information being correct.
Take for example Matt's Daggerfall retrospective and compare it to ADG's Daggerfall episode (interesting part starts at the 5 minute point). Matt's retrospective starts with the claim that it was unusual for a 1996 game to be a dos game (which is ridiculous, everything except some stupid Sierra 3D Ultra games ran on Dos in 1996), the other one is jam-packed with information about the game. And Matt is supposed to be the RPG specialist, while the ADG dude normally doesn't even review RPGs, it's mostly 2D shooters.
I'm a fan of RPGs yet I haven't watched a single Matt Chat retrospective to the end. On the other hand I have watched many ADG episodes of obscure games in a genre that doesn't even interest me, just because the info you get is so interesting.

The interviews I'm perfectly happy with, though. And I definitely don't think that the front man has to change. IMO Matt is perfect for the show.

 

[Stabwound]

The show is interesting; I'm not a frequent watcher but I check out the interviews once in a while when they interest me. That's probably the biggest reason why the show isn't very popular: the pool of people interested in a long, low quality (in terms of video) interview with an obscure programmer from 1991 probably isn't very large. They're pretty cool if you're into that kind of thing, though.

As for the game videos, I don't care much for them for the same reasons most other people posted. You can't really expect him to play every game to completion for the sake of the show, but it would work much better in a "review" format. If I want to get an idea of what a game is like, I check out any number of random LP videos that exist for most every CRPG there is.

 

[Alchemist]

In the meantime, though, I’ve come to a few decisions about the show. For one, I’m going to stop whining, bitching, and moaning here about the lack of views that I or anyone else feels I “ought” to have. Instead, I’m going to focus on pleasing the fans and friends I do have, and trying to do the best for them that I possibly can. And I honestly think the best way to do that is just to keep doing what I’m doing, not let myself get discouraged, and keep the drinking horn flowing.

Given the choice between brothers or a horde of fickle, “me too!” fans, I know who I want at my back. I never have been nor will I ever be popular. But for those half-dozen folks out there in the club, brace yourself…We’re about to rock.

Rock on - that's what I like to hear. Stay true to yourself Matt, don't sell out!

Some people may find Matt to be annoying or "dorky nerd" as he puts it but I actually think he's fine, I like him, he's the kind of guy you'd want to have as a personal friend and I think this kind of approach is so much better than the likes of Totalbiscuit, that you'd never think "hey this guy would make a good friend to talk and laugh about random stuff".

I agree with this 100%. Matt is a bro I'd love to hang out with, drink some beers and ramble on about CRPGs, game history and other stuff. Maybe because I'm a long-haired game nerd (and musician) who grew up in the 80's too... (We're roughly the same age - I'm about 3 years older).

 

[Infinitron]

http://mattchat.us/?p=521#comment-957

Felipe Pepe January 15, 2014 at 11:27 am
Even though I’m pretty sure Felipe is in the “your show would be awesome without you in it” camp

More popular yes, more awesome no.

But seriously, I replied to you on the other post; is not that you get in the way of the show, but that your presence doesn’t add much. If we got Totalbiscuit to do your show, it would be the same thing, just with a more popular host.

But you are a guy with lots of experience, books published on the subject, tons of interviews with legends of game design. That authority, that “weight” is something that you have and other people don’t. That is what you should explore. If Matt Barton, cRPG historian, tells you that Pool of Radiance is a must play, that HAS to have more value than random internet nerd doing a “Top 50 cRPGs”.

To place it in the Rock band comparison, imagine yourself back on the road, against the popular guys. But this time you have a bunch of released albums on you back and toured with Mettalica, Iron Maiden and Motorhead. You’re not just a nerd now, so don’t limit yourself to being one.

 

[J_C]

Felipe is such a bro in those posts. I hope Matt will listen to some of his advices.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

He's just trying to convince him to embrace decline in indirect ways.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Huehuehuehuehue...

 

[DarkUnderlord]

His problem is content. Who the fuck wants to watch interviews with obscure game developers?