Machinima, bastion of 360 no-scope headshots and other YouTube memes was just outed for offering a monetary incentive to their YouTube partners who created positive videos about Microsoft’s new Xbox One console and it’s games. (PredictedCyborg's original blog about it here)
While I would like to claim I am surprised by this, the sad truth is...I’m not.
(Full disclosure: I am a YouTube Content Creator myself. In fact, I happen to be partnered with the Fullscreen network.)
Here’s the facts about being a YouTube creator.
1) Its Hard - Making videos is hard work. Its even harder to get noticed. making quality content doesn’t guarantee exposure.
2) Its Hard To Make Money - Once you get exposure, making money is hard. You need a lot of views, yes. But you also need to be able to monetize your content in the first place. And if you’ve been following the recent Content ID kerfluffle, you know that easier said than done these days.
3) People Like Money - Ok, maybe I’m cheating this one. But yeah, people like money. Its a rule of life basically.
With this in mind lets move on.
What Machinima is doing, with either explicit or tacit approval from Microsoft (I’ve seen sources reporting both ways - Microsoft is actually behind the idea, or that they are smiling and nodding at Machinima’s bright idea that's getting the Xbox One good press), is appealing to the base nature of the human animal. Most creators who are part of a network want to make money. My own network, Fullscreen, runs campaigns for us all the time. And yes, they get us extra money. The difference here is that a Fullscreen campaign is usually something silly. As an example, we ran one over Thanksgiving where we could make a video with a silly way to say “turkey stuffing”. They then gave us extra money on those views. What's the difference between that and what Machinima is doing you ask? Simple:
Machinima is asking it’s own members to state positive things about a product. In fact, the agreement even explicitly states that you may not say anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One or any of its games in said video. This engenders in me a feeling of deep distrust towards ANY video that I see on Machinima about the Xbox One. And it calls into question many of their other videos. For better or worse, many gamers these day tun to YouTube “celebrities” for news, reviews and other gaming related content.
An uproar is sure to break out over the next few days about this. So let’s all remember a few things. Machinima is a business. Machinima and it’s partners are in this game to make money. Microsoft is also a business out to make money. Furthermore, the shining image of YouTube creators as paragons of journalistic integrity that so many people are crying foul over is ludicrous. People out to make money aren’t going to have that type of journalistic integrity. Especially when almost none of them were trained as journalists to begin with.
Do I find what Machinima is up to shady? Hell yes.
Am I surprised by it? Hell no.
Should we cry foul at YouTubers over their journalistic scruples? Maybe. Maybe not. Each YouTube has their own goals and morals. Its up to them to establish what they are and aren’t willing to do for money. Be that making videos of CoD headshots, giant dicks they built in Minecraft, taking money from Microsoft/Machinima to pimp the Xbox One, or shaving a goat while wearing a speedo (maybe that last one is just me), they are going to do what they are going to do.
In the end, its up to the viewer to make their own judgement about the creator’s intentions.
(For our XBox One review, look here)
