Pre-recorded vs Live LPs

[NoDragonsPlz]

Hey all! So when you're a gamer wanting to do a Let's Play, you might be wondering, should I do pre-recorded or live let's play formats? Well as someone who dabbles with both, let me explain advantages and disadvantages to both!

Pre-Recorded Advantages:
1. Simple to record
2. Can always "redo" certain parts of the LP.
3. Covers many more days than a live LP
4. Can go into a bit more detail as not distracted by chat.

Pre-Recorded Disadvantages:
1. Viewers "fall" off (or become disinterested)
2. May require external editing, and upload time
3. In general, a lot slower paced than live

Live advantages:
1. Real time interaction with viewers
2. More engaging/longer watch time overall
3. Get more of the game done per episode
4. Smaller amount of episodes

Live Disadvantages:
1. Fewer clicks after stream is over
2. A lot more for a viewer who comes in after stream is over to watch
3. Can't easily "Redo" certain sections that might need it

My personal Recommendation: Do Live LPs.

While yes, live LPs after they are finished generally are large videos, sometimes 2-6 hours in my experience, they overall seem to work better for most viewers as streaming is easy, convenient, and very engaging for both the streamer, and the stream viewers. In addition, stream viewers sometimes tend to respond in chat which Youtube reads as comments of sorts, and therefore, the stream itself gets more and more recommended as more and more engagement occurs. Overall, it is generally better to get more engagement per video as it overall recommends your channel to newer people.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

It depends on the game for me but I've been experimenting with both since December after being just pre-recorded only before that. I really do like doing it live and would love to do it more often than I already do.

 

[ItsGoingSkitzo]

When i was prerecording videos, I almost gave up bothering as there response was negligible. However, Live streaming was effectively the catalyst that started my channel growing...The ADV/DISADV comments are bang on accurate btw!

 

[Kratos Aurion]

I think another advantage to doing "live" that wasn't covered is that it can also get you a nice subscriber boost too depending on the situation.

Generally I'm gaining a few every stream at least but I just got done with a long 12 hour stream and ended up gaining about 40 subscribers during the duration of that stream which is by far my biggest takeaway yet from a single video/stream.

 

[zeke morgan]

I've always fancied doing a live LP series but think for now at least I shall stick to what I know

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

It depends on the game for me but I've been experimenting with both since December after being just pre-recorded only before that. I really do like doing it live and would love to do it more often than I already do.

Yeah! I just notice better viewer engagement through my love streams[DOUBLEPOST=1520761444][/DOUBLEPOST]

When i was prerecording videos, I almost gave up bothering as there response was negligible. However, Live streaming was effectively the catalyst that started my channel growing...The ADV/DISADV comments are bang on accurate btw!

Also with live chat replay being rolled out, you get to keep your comments now![DOUBLEPOST=1520761483][/DOUBLEPOST]

I think another advantage to doing "live" that wasn't covered is that it can also get you a nice subscriber boost too depending on the situation.

Generally I'm gaining a few every stream at least but I just got done with a long 12 hour stream and ended up gaining about 40 subscribers during the duration of that stream which is by far my biggest takeaway yet from a single video/stream.

This is true. Generally I gain at least 1 during streams, but sometimes more.[DOUBLEPOST=1520761508][/DOUBLEPOST]

I've always fancied doing a live LP series but think for now at least I shall stick to what I know

Do it! It's so much fun!

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

In my opinon, I find doing post commentary to be the best. Specially with my series coming up

I've just never been a fan of post commentary unless it's a how to guide.

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

I'm doing it for the warfare series so it would be blind and everyone can see all screens instead of just thier own, the commentaty would work out better

It might work in that case then. who knows!

 

[TheRAMPAGE]

I assume you mean "Live = Streaming", it seems to be a lot harder to get people to stay and watch you unless you conform to what everyone else is doing so webcam, silly overlay and a chat window when people show up. Ehhh not really a fan of that style just yet.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

I assume you mean "Live = Streaming", it seems to be a lot harder to get people to stay and watch you unless you conform to what everyone else is doing so webcam, silly overlay and a chat window when people show up. Ehhh not really a fan of that style just yet.

You don't really have to do that at all. Sure it looks nice but it isn't really necessary. The best way in my opinion to get people to stay is just be yourself and interact with the people in the chat if/when they show up. All I put up on my streams aside from the gameplay is just a box showing the chat as I see it.

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

I assume you mean "Live = Streaming", it seems to be a lot harder to get people to stay and watch you unless you conform to what everyone else is doing so webcam, silly overlay and a chat window when people show up. Ehhh not really a fan of that style just yet.

As Kratos said. You don't have to do that. I've barely every used webcam on my videos, and my streams still do fairly well. In fact, people seem to enjoy my voice.[DOUBLEPOST=1523258012][/DOUBLEPOST]

You don't really have to do that at all. Sure it looks nice but it isn't really necessary. The best way in my opinion to get people to stay is just be yourself and interact with the people in the chat if/when they show up. All I put up on my streams aside from the gameplay is just a box showing the chat as I see it.

Which, now if you use Youtube gaming for streaming, I think Live Chat Replay is rolled out for almost everyone now.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

As Kratos said. You don't have to do that. I've barely every used webcam on my videos, and my streams still do fairly well. In fact, people seem to enjoy my voice.[DOUBLEPOST=1523258012][/DOUBLEPOST]
Which, now if you use Youtube gaming for streaming, I think Live Chat Replay is rolled out for almost everyone now.

Yeah they did roll out live chat replay which is nice. I still like to overlay a chat window on streams though so people know exactly when I see their messages pop up. Because stream delay can be a bit annoying sometimes if you as the viewer doesn't know how much there is.

 

[It's The Kid]

Hey all! So when you're a gamer wanting to do a Let's Play, you might be wondering, should I do pre-recorded or live let's play formats? Well as someone who dabbles with both, let me explain advantages and disadvantages to both!

Pre-Recorded Advantages:
1. Simple to record
2. Can always "redo" certain parts of the LP.
3. Covers many more days than a live LP
4. Can go into a bit more detail as not distracted by chat.

Pre-Recorded Disadvantages:
1. Viewers "fall" off (or become disinterested)
2. May require external editing, and upload time
3. In general, a lot slower paced than live

Live advantages:
1. Real time interaction with viewers
2. More engaging/longer watch time overall
3. Get more of the game done per episode
4. Smaller amount of episodes

Live Disadvantages:
1. Fewer clicks after stream is over
2. A lot more for a viewer who comes in after stream is over to watch
3. Can't easily "Redo" certain sections that might need it

My personal Recommendation: Do Live LPs.

While yes, live LPs after they are finished generally are large videos, sometimes 2-6 hours in my experience, they overall seem to work better for most viewers as streaming is easy, convenient, and very engaging for both the streamer, and the stream viewers. In addition, stream viewers sometimes tend to respond in chat which Youtube reads as comments of sorts, and therefore, the stream itself gets more and more recommended as more and more engagement occurs. Overall, it is generally better to get more engagement per video as it overall recommends your channel to newer people.

In my opinion Live Lps are the better choice of the two(unless of certain circumstances) and the only time i would suggest using pre-recorded commentary is if a) the live audio is corrupted and b) is you have information that useful to the viewers. But generally, LIVE Lps are the best bet better it gives the audiance something to really enjoy and feel the exact emotions at the same time as you do.

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

In my opinion Live Lps are the better choice of the two(unless of certain circumstances) and the only time i would suggest using pre-recorded commentary is if a) the live audio is corrupted and b) is you have information that useful to the viewers. But generally, LIVE Lps are the best bet better it gives the audiance something to really enjoy and feel the exact emotions at the same time as you do.

Well, they are certainly easier. That's for sure!

 

[NinjaZombieGaming]

honestly depends on my mood, I used to upload 2 vids and live stream every day, for a long time i had more followers on twitch than youtube, however making videos is my passion when it comes down to it, I've been making videos since 2008. been making videos on youtube since 2010 and have been making videos on this channel since 2014. I love making videos so I gravitate towards doing videos. I do enjoy streaming though, it's fun and I enjoy being able to talk to chat while i stream but I do have a few issues with streaming that has made me do it less over the years.

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

honestly depends on my mood, I used to upload 2 vids and live stream every day, for a long time i had more followers on twitch than youtube, however making videos is my passion when it comes down to it, I've been making videos since 2008. been making videos on youtube since 2010 and have been making videos on this channel since 2014. I love making videos so I gravitate towards doing videos. I do enjoy streaming though, it's fun and I enjoy being able to talk to chat while i stream but I do have a few issues with streaming that has made me do it less over the years.

I have more subs than followers on twitch. I end up live streaming through restream in order to cover multiple platforms.

 

[Oversoul]

Definitely prefer pre-recorded stuff because of the editing. Half of the entertainment in Let's Plays is editing. I record my FaceCam separately from the gameplay and microphone audio so that I have separate control of the FaceCam in editing so I can do things like zoom in and move it around for comedic purposes. That kind of fast-paced stuff is more appealing to people with short attention spans vs someone just sitting there and talking. Let's Plays are supposed to be at least somewhat comedic in my mind because commentary is improv and improv is comedy.

Live streams are good for some kind of games like Telltale stuff or multiplayer games like fortnite but if you are playing something like Outlast doing a livestream you can easily get lost and take forever to figure out what to do and everyone's time is precious these days so I hate the idea of wasting people's time making them watch me trip over my own feet when I could just easily edit that out instead and move on to the good bits.

Besides, all the people I draw inspiration from, like Markiplier, does mostly pre-recorded stuff. My style of comedy and editing doesn't really work with live streams because the editing is half the comedy

 

[NinjaZombieGaming]

Definitely prefer pre-recorded stuff because of the editing. Half of the entertainment in Let's Plays is editing. I record my FaceCam separately from the gameplay and microphone audio so that I have separate control of the FaceCam in editing so I can do things like zoom in and move it around for comedic purposes. That kind of fast-paced stuff is more appealing to people with short attention spans vs someone just sitting there and talking. Let's Plays are supposed to be at least somewhat comedic in my mind because commentary is improv and improv is comedy.

Live streams are good for some kind of games like Telltale stuff or multiplayer games like fortnite but if you are playing something like Outlast doing a livestream you can easily get lost and take forever to figure out what to do and everyone's time is precious these days so I hate the idea of wasting people's time making them watch me trip over my own feet when I could just easily edit that out instead and move on to the good bits.

Besides, all the people I draw inspiration from, like Markiplier, does mostly pre-recorded stuff. My style of comedy and editing doesn't really work with live streams because the editing is half the comedy

I 100% agree

 

[NoDragonsPlz]

Definitely prefer pre-recorded stuff because of the editing. Half of the entertainment in Let's Plays is editing. I record my FaceCam separately from the gameplay and microphone audio so that I have separate control of the FaceCam in editing so I can do things like zoom in and move it around for comedic purposes. That kind of fast-paced stuff is more appealing to people with short attention spans vs someone just sitting there and talking. Let's Plays are supposed to be at least somewhat comedic in my mind because commentary is improv and improv is comedy.

Live streams are good for some kind of games like Telltale stuff or multiplayer games like fortnite but if you are playing something like Outlast doing a livestream you can easily get lost and take forever to figure out what to do and everyone's time is precious these days so I hate the idea of wasting people's time making them watch me trip over my own feet when I could just easily edit that out instead and move on to the good bits.

Besides, all the people I draw inspiration from, like Markiplier, does mostly pre-recorded stuff. My style of comedy and editing doesn't really work with live streams because the editing is half the comedy

Really? I find far more success even doing live streams on stuff like "outlast". People seem to actually like watching those mistakes, or times getting lost as they see people make faults too.

 

[Oversoul]

Really? I find far more success even doing live streams on stuff like "outlast". People seem to actually like watching those mistakes, or times getting lost as they see people make faults too.

It really depends on your audience. What works for one let's play or may not work for another and so on. I pay attention to the feedback I get and the things people like and don't like and I make changes and adjustments accordingly.

In my case people seem to prefer that I cut out all of the nonsensical crap to save time and focus primarily on The Narrative of the game and the comedy of my commentary. It's what they like about me so it's what I keep doing. Live streams are more like a rare treat now.

To be fair my audience is also made up of a lot of people who are extremely short on free time so they prefer the shorter videos with less fluff and more narrative. I do keep in the occasional screw up but if it's taking me like 20 minutes to figure out how to solve 1 puzzle that needs to be trimmed down significantly. I don't do videos longer than 40 minutes because ain't nobody got time for that LOL.

To add to that though I will say one of the main draw ins for my channel is my comedic style of editing and I simply just cannot do that with live streams. I do stuff like zoom in on the face came to put emphasis on certain words or insert funny text and pictures to go along with a joke. In a recent episode of past cure I had a blonde moment where I forgot I could use astral projection and I spent like 5 minutes trying to figure out how to climb in a vent and once I finally figured out what I was supposed to do I had a duh moment so in editing I added the Ode to Joy chorus to make fun of myself and I've already gotten positive feedback about that being a good choice because it was funny.

Live streams are also harder to keep up with for me. Because I'm also short on time. If I can't watch the stream when it's live if it's longer than an hour I probably won't watch it at all. I prefer a playlist of pre-recorded Let's Plays that I can binge-watch like a TV show.