Strange Youtube Observation

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You know how if you watch one video on YouTube, it will then bring up a recommendation on similar videos? Well I watched a video of someone ranking the top planes in MSFS. And then I got lists of more top plane videos, or buy/dont buy videos for plane addons in MSFS.

And the weird thing is, in many of these videos, the planes in the video that people tended to rave about were the more complex planes. Not surprising. BUT… then in many of these videos, the presenter would say something like “I still have to learn how to fly it yet”. What makes a presenter on YouTube rave about a plane that they can’t even fly yet???

And I think a clue to that comes that some of the presenters, if they said they like one of the more simple planes, they felt like they had to on video apologize and explain it. And that comes from the fact that some of the core simmers, they get very vocal about planes that don’t meet their criteria, and berate others if they say they like one of the more simple planes.

Everyone has to start from somewhere. If you want to be a military jet pilot in real life, they don’t start you in one of the multi-million dollar jets. You start in a GA or trainer, and work your way up. I know in DCS (I’ve bought it but I haven’t really got into flying in it yet, but I have read up) it sometimes for some of the planes a month before you become really proficient with some of the planes. Its the same concept here. Some of these folks really love flight simming, but they are learning. If they like a simpler aircraft, as they get more proficient with their flying skills, they will progress. I worry that those who have a high proficiency already and are quite particular in their level of study aircraft, if they berate others who are still learning, may actually be stunting their learning curve, or perhaps encouraging people to leave the simulation totally.

Its ok to be particular in the level of detail aircraft you aaccept. Its understandable. But we want interest in aviation simming to grow as a community. We want peoples skills to progress. We should be encouraging peoples growth, not berating them for not being at the same standards as the criticizer.

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Youtube is like a huge cest pool lately, youtubers scamming xbox simmers by pretending to play on xbox while they play on oc causing people to buy products that dont really work right on xbox at all. And things happening like you said. One of the manyreasons I hardly ever stream on youtube or even twitch anymore.

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The flightsim youtuber/twitch scene is … interesting.

There’s certainly a range of different approaches to reviewing content, that’s for sure.

I think I’m down to about two who’s comments I’d take at face value without fact checking.

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If you notice most of these “reviewers” are trying to make a living doing videos. So they put out as many as possible with little regard to quality. I don’t really like them generally. Being a pilot and retired air traffic controller, there are some videos I just cannot watch without a major cringe factor.

Some reviewers cannot even takeoff or land the plane they are reviewing.

One of the things that will make me click out of a video right away is that stupid automated ATC. I cannot stand to listen to even one clearance from it. Sorry. It’s what I did for a living.

Another thing that will make me click out is a pilot saying “tree” for “three”. The ICAO standard for aviation is English. The English word for the number three is “three”. The “tree” pronunciation aid listed in FAA documents is meant as a guide for non-English speakers. If a German says “tree” it sounds fine. If an American says it, it sounds stupid. We encountered this in ATC back when the FAA published that ridiculous guide. None of our controllers and no professional pilots ever said “tree” for three during my 25-year career.

That being said, I plan on making my own videos in the future. So I guess others can ridicule me then.

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In my experience you have Youtube, Hustletube and Griftertube.

While saying all that, the biggest flight sim Youtubers aren’t even techy/study level simmers.
They are simply likable content creators who add a dash of bright energy and humor to their commentaries.These top content creators don’t necessarily need to be doing anything important nor study level in a flight sim. Their subscriber bases are much broader in age range also.
Having such a strong genuine fanbase their subs are gonna eat up anything they drop.

So depending on what you see as “Youtube Success” certain content creators don’t need to know how to fly these aircraft in detail depending on what other attributes you bring to the content table.
Serious simmers are only a small percentage of Youtube viewership, getting the most viewership from non subscribers is pretty much the nature of Youtube.
If you can grow a big enough subscriber base of folks who actively and consistently comment and click the like button. With a percentage from all viewer age groups, I’d say you are gonna be more successful when it comes to making Youtube an actual living, if money is that much of a goal.
It’s common for some study level content creators to be confined to a much more narrow age range.

If your flight sim content is grabbing attention from all age groups, I’d say you are doing something special as a content creator on that much of a broader scale.

The algorithm is going to either favor you or not until you produce a viral video, and Youtube can be one heck of a roller coaster for flight sim content creators. Non tutorial/commentary VR flight sim content doesn’t do well at all. Flight sim videos without commentary or not in the english language especially don’t do as well either. Your Adsense values also depend on the country/locational region your viewership comes from, most countries outside of US or UK are even lower $$$ per X views after the latest world conflict. If you can network and get flight sim hardware/software promotional partnerships that’s one of the better ways to go as well.

Myself personally I only click and briefly view specific addon plane cold & dark startup flight sim content in clear English and I’ll find myself revisiting the video for operation clarity. Other than that I find most flight sim content completely dry and boring while the content creator drags on verbally with bland small talk while staring and clicking at the same panel section of a cockpit for 2+ hours.

Other than that, if it were strictly about money I would completely skip over one of the lowest adsense ROIs which is non tutorial gaming content (as viewers only click and watch once and move on forever per video) and pursue other content genres for a Youtube career.

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Yes, I understand that these YouTubers are trying to fain viewership for pay. That is probably why they have purchased aircraft that they don’t know how to fly as they are on the more complex side. And yes, they are raving about these planes because if they don’t, in the comments core simmers are going to lambast them, so of course to build viewership, they won’t say anything bad, and in fact rave about planes they can’t even fly.

My point is though, if they actually do try to fly anything less complex, it appears as if core simmers are still lambasting them over their choice of plane to do a video. I understand, for core simmers, that video has no appeal to them. Just skip making comments or don’t watch the video at all. Let the YouTuber fly whatever plane they are comfortable with, and try and build viewership with that, and over time, their skills with planes will get better. And while those videos are not useful to core simmers, they can at least be of help to the true beginners. Growing the community is what will make this franchise go on for years to come. A person relatively new to flight simming just can’t immediately as the first plane jump into a PMDG 737 without getting the grasp of the basics. Even more established YouTubers like Overkill, he likes one of the Carenado planes, but everytime he gets in it, he is apologizing and explaining why he likes the plane.

Jorg said there were 12 million MSFS users. About 1/4 are core simmers. 1/4 are gamers. So they get on initially to discover the cool things about MSFS, but then lose interest. I imagine when there are the local legends or crossover give aways, they might come back to try those out. But these folks are pretty transient (although there is always the chance to capture them for good). The other 1/2 are what Jorg said were casual simmers. They fly pretty routinely. They might like GA or bush trips, they might like airliners but don’t go to full standards or fly often, they are more accepting of the faults of the sim, etc. It’s these folks that over time some will gravitate to the core simmer. So having content for them is a good thing. I understand core simmers are the most passionate, and the most vocal. And they want content for them. But they shouldn’t be aiming to get that by being overly critical of content that is aimed at the casual simmer. Today’s casual simmer is next years core simmer.

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Do NOT watch Youtube flight sim reviews by people who are NOT real life pilots (either GA or especially airline pilots). That’s all. That’s what I do.

The videos made by real life pilots always stand out.

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Just like any computer game, some folks have their sense of dignity and self-worth wrapped up in getting the high score or pushing all the right buttons in the cockpit. I feel a sense of pity for them because this is all just little flashing lights on the screen. But, it fills a gap in their lives, and they cling to it with both hands. Help the ones you can, and for the rest hope for the best.

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I wish I had the time to abstract all the useful points you made and comment on them, but it would rapidly become a War And Peace wannabe.

The points you made are dead-ringers on target.

====================

In my case, I am one of the “1/2 are wannabe punters” simmers.

Part of the problem is how wonderful everyone else is.

They fly so well, their technique is so flawless, they do letter-perfect ILS approaches into Heathrow airport during a blinding blizzard or a Category 5 hurricane, calmly taxi to the gate with their pinky-finger on the tiller, line up right on the numbers, and then go to the Sky Lounge for their after-flight martini, looking down at all the losers who will never reach the rarified heights of skill and technique that they have.

I read about all the wonderful flights on the “What did you do in MSFS today?” thread, or see the cockpits that I cannot even hope to dream of, let alone have, in the “Show Off Your Home-built Cockpit” forum, and I die a little bit inside.

I read the posts where everyone is talking about this or that escoteric aspect of flight, and I just sit there slack-jawed.

What I would like to see is a place where there are more “punters”, and fewer “experts”.

People like me who struggle with landing in one piece like I do.  Those folks like me who turn down their realism settings so that they have even the ghost of a chance of controlling the aircraft.

I would like to have a place where I can be among those of us who have had it thoroughly hammered into them that they are not a part of the illuminati; that they’re not, nor will they ever be, one of those legendary pilots who make Flight Sim history, and where I won’t feel so out of place.

In other words, people like me, who spend their time in the shade of those greats who fly wacking-great airliners perfectly, all the time, and then complete bush-trip and landing challenges without breaking a sweat.

It’s really intimidating.

How can I hope to compete with this level of excellence?  I putter around Podolsk with my great achievement being “finding the Globus Hypermarket in Klimovsk without crashing or getting lost too badly”, while others do all these great and wonderful things.

It’s depressing.  I go sit in front of my MSFS system, reach for the controls, (starting by spawning directly on the runway with engines running, instead of cold-and-dark like I’m SUPPOSED to do), and then I hear in my mind all the criticism that’s been directed toward all those punters, (like me), who don’t fly “realistically”, and I just stop.  There’s no longer any will to fly so I stop the sim, shut down the system, and go to bed - hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.

It’s been weeks since I’ve really started up my sim and gone flying as it’s just too emotionally exhausting, and there really seems to be little use in trying to compete.

(Emoji: “Head banging on wall”)

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Whilst I agree with all you say I take a slight issue with your statement here.

As an Irishman I have awful difficulty in saying “three”, and not “tree”. Especially in times of stress when I haven’t time to “tink”!

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Wow Jim, what you wrote really touched me.

Don’t let anyone criticise you for doing what you enjoy as a hobby in your own way to your own abilities.

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And niner for nine.

“Excavating for a mine. Dwelt a minor, 49er, and his daughter Clementine.”

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There’s a large dose of survivorship bias going on in the content space. The reality, like most things, is that “the greats” are a small % and the rest are at varying stages of learning based on time and interest levels. Also, “the greats” (in anything) are only great because they put the work in, typically via some disciplined process.

Switch your mind up. You’re not competing with anyone but yourself.
Every flight just aim to do 1 thing better. It’s as simple (and complex!) as that.
Finish flight, evaluate your 1 thing, rinse, repeat.

Use whatever tools you can to practice effectively, which I actually just wrote about here: The Power of Repetition and Interleaved Learning in MSFS - Sonicviz

That’s not just a shameless plug for my tools, I have a long standing interest (obsession may be a better word) with focused practice and skill development methods in different domains, from sport parachuting (competed in multiple world championships) to music education tools (https://harpninja.com/).

Boldmethod.com is a great site for bite sized learning on the whole spectrum of aviation topics, which you can directly apply to MSFS via a range of tools and scenarios to practice them.
Here’s some recent ones I’ve been using to practice:

Remember, the only person you’re competing with is yourself.
Adopt a learning & evaluation process, use it, and you’ll improve every flight you take.
DM me if you want some guidance on doing that.
See also: https://www.sportys.com/blog/scenarios-to-try-in-microsoft-flight-simulator/

On the video front, I’m working on some short videos now, playing with some ideas.
Not aiming to be a youtuber, it’s more just to exercise my artophied video skills a bit, but I do think there’s room for some different content. Depends who you’re targeting I guess. I think I might just go for fun first though!

@ImmersiveVR I liked your analysis. It sounds like you’ve poked at it a bit yourself?

Great thread!

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It’s okay to spawn on the runway! I just hate it when I do it accidentally. :slight_smile: If cold/dark and taxi starts are a challenge the first few training session in the sim help with that.

If I’m not mistaken, I do think the first MSFS sim started on the runway at Meigs.

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Hmm, I hear it frequently over the radio. Is there controversy over niner?

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Same. Also tree. And fife. Maybe it depends on where you fly. Most of my RW flying is east coast (ZDC/ZNY and lots of approach/tower/ground etc. freqs under those) … dunno. I personally don’t use that phraseology on the radio, but I hear controllers say it all the time and never thought twice of it. Much less thought about it to the point where I was irritated even slightly by it.

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I just hear niner on listening in on US ATC frequencies. But now I’m wondering if I have been imagining it?

I recall hearing transmissions on YouTube outside the US and it sounded like they just said 9. I forget where it was.

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AFAIK, it was common in the Navy during/post WWII, as a way of distinguishing “nine” (nine-ER) and “five” (FI-fe) over noisy radio channels, especially in the equatorial oceans where static was strong and FM was seldom, (ever?) used.

It should be noted that, in some cases extremely low frequency, (long wavelength), radio was used with frequencies approaching audible ranges, (20khz or so), where static and other kinds of intefearance were especially problematic.[1]

  1. I used to own a WWII naval radio taken from a USN sub-chaser that had a special sliding-bank TRF band-switching tuning arrangement that tuned from appx. 20khz to over 30mhz in several bands.
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You have to reach certain maturity to be able to not bothered by these observations.

Another advice for MSFS newbie who are interested: attend real life gatherings. Seeing real airline pilots fighting over flying a Cessna C172 is refreshing. There are folks who love their Cessna 402 to death. You will eventually learn that “not all pilots” are aviation enthusiasts - they simply don’t have the passion to learn about the difference between Boeing 707 and Douglas Dc-8, or like those guys writing for this famous aviation website, who thinks Airbus A340 is the only single-floor passenger quadjet in history, despite the first passenger jet in history being in the same category.

Social media influencers are weird bunch, some are our kind of folks, many are not. Fame is the aim, rarely anything else. I am slowly getting innoculated from the toxic or elitist bunch, but I still get worked up by those analyst-wannabe types, especially the ones trying to “simulate accidents” or used their FS social media fame to surmise or speculate about the cause of aviation accidents.

It took me almost 15 years to finally “get serious” (e.g. cold and dark, hardcore, etc) stuff. But a lot of the times, I never even bothered. Why would I start a jetliner “cold and dark” in the middle of the day or at the end of a day’s shift?

What I often tell other people is simply:
You don’t need other people’s approval to do what you want to do in private.

Do you fly online? In VATSIM? Why bother with all these “experts” comments?

There is no need to compare yourself. I fail to understand, how people with this mindset live through their daily lives knowing that there are people out there, being much more successful, wealthier, living a more fulfilled life than them? Why delve in jealousy?

As an older millenial, I am pretty much offline person, and does online stuff by request only.

I happen to have a very good memory, and all the embarassing moments in my early days of simming. I did it for 5 years without a proper joystick. I never even used rudder input until the past 6 years. So much for being “veteran” or “expert”, no?

As for what I did: I feel like, I am at that age, where I don’t feel the need to impress or show other people about me flying big time airliner like the behemoth A380. Part of me suspect that people wanting this airline so bad, is simply because of the notoriety they get, when they showed off themselves flying this thing to their impressionable friends. This is also why some folks like XP fans, love to downplay MSFS realism to curb the hype, and since it is also very accessible to clout chasers. I love airliners, but A380 is not the kind that you can enjoy hand-flying. I tend to role-play and imagine myself being a passenger while doing A350 or A330 flights than actually being in the cockpit pushing all buttons and flicking switches, then “buttering” every touch down. I switched way too often to passenger view after doing every checklist item.

No need to be impressed.

Seriously, you better off doing it in “real planes” like Curtiss Jenny or Piper Cub derivatives. Yeah, tail-dragger is far more “stick & rudder” challenge than doing Boeing 787-9 Kangaroo hop from Perth to London.

Don’t fill your mind with the noise of the elites putting you down. Yes, you may need to humble yourself, but you shouldn’t feel bad about it.

MSFS challenges was never realistic anyway - Asobo’s airliners are always wrongly configured for landing in the challenge mode. Who bother? I just play it for fun. I paid for my copy, I enjoy it the way I want, laughs and giggles.

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My issue with starting cold-and-dark is, (gasp!), it’s boring.

I fly in the sim to fly, not to spend an hour or so motoring around trying to find the blasted runway!  This way I get right to the “meat”, i.e. practicing takeoffs or going somewhere.

Sometimes I try landing and taxiing to a parking position, but I seldom fly “gate to gate”, (or parking position to parking position), as I’d rather concentrate on the part I’m interested in.

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