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Comment by noobermin | Hacker News Reader

Small thing but I hate how a lot of the modding community (and retro gaming) has turned to videos and youtube, I just don't have time to watch a 20 minute video on these things. I'm often searching high and low for basic documentation and descriptions of things and google always recommends some 20 minute video, it's infuriating.

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- Speeding up the video saves you time

- Listen to the audio only, occasionally take a peek, don't tell me you are being productive 16 hours a day

- VideoGames are visual so it's a natural to present them with video, hardly a blame for the authors

He's not presenting a video game -- he's presenting the technical details of speeding up a video game.

90% of the video is just stock footage in the background while he talks about the technical details. A better approach would be a written article supported by a video demonstrating the speed up.

The good thing is that a platform like YouTube can support creators like him spending so much time on thing that wouldn't otherwise perhaps be financially feasible, even if his contributions to the modding community aren't as easily digestible.

At least for Super Mario 64, Ukikipedia is a good text-based resource: https://ukikipedia.net/wiki/Main_Page

Just a note, these wiki's are great. nesdev really saved me for example. I am thankful for people who put things out there like this.

Just the modding and retro communities? YouTube has done that to practically every other community, as was to be expected whenever you suddenly introduce the dangling carrot of money.

I really hate the type of guy who is lurking around enthusiast forums looking for topics to "cover" on his next YouTube stream. Yes, these guys exist and yes they do that.

It's not really an improvement in quality, but it is a degradation in wasted time and also in cooperation, since communication becomes mostly one-sided again.

>I really hate the type of guy who is lurking around enthusiast forums looking for topics to "cover" on his next YouTube stream. Yes, these guys exist.

Actually that sounds like a decent idea. You lose nothing by not watching the video and instead focusing on the forums and others who would not otherwise spend time on the forums can be made aware of exciting developments.

You get infuriated that talented modders and hackers perform research and entertain you for free?

Given how much competition there is in "the scene" for clout alone, there is no need to dismiss any criticism with "but its free". consumers/end users/spectators can absolutely complain and don't have to put up with anything and the production value increases.

Idk, for content that doesn't teach me anything important I prefer video over text, as I can play it on the side while doing something else (that doesn't require too much focusing) and if something sounds interesting/important I might pay attention for a while.

This is a generic complaint about any information nowadays. I suppose you could read the transcript of the YouTube video! That's available.

Yeah, being to the point is crucial in these days of abundant content. Sometimes I wish they reinstated the 10-minute limit.

What I do is skip relentlessly through videos (using left/right keys on PC or tap-tap on mobile) and adjust the playback speed to be as fast as can be intelligible, I can get the gist of a 20 minute video in 2-3 minutes this way. Then, if something catches my attention, I go back and watch that at normal speed.

I agree. So often I'm looking for something like how to do something in photoshop and the video is 10 minutes or more when the answer is just "use this tool"

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