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If your only critique of the article is why FNF got popular, then that seems like a really minor critique overall. But honestly, comparing it to Among Us makes

by jchw 5y ago

If your only critique of the article is why FNF got popular, then that seems like a really minor critique overall. But honestly, comparing it to Among Us makes me doubt you on this. First of all, simply pointing to Twitch streamers is giving them too much credit. Twitch streamers may be early to trends, but seldom do they start them alone. Secondly, Among Us is particularly good for streaming because it pushed a lot of streamers with pre-existing relationships to stream the game with eachother, and lead to interesting content for that reason alone. I will gladly agree that Twitch streamers may have helped boost Among Us out of its slump. I also agree that it helped FNF too. But you know what else helped Among Us and FNF? Millions of views on YouTube, Tiktok, fanart on Twitter/NG/elsewhere, mods across the entire Internet, etc. and where it’s fair to say that Twitch could’ve been the catalyst for Among Us, saying that it is the catalyst for FNF without further evidence seems patently unfair. Big platforms like TikTok and YouTube are more than capable of driving viral sensations that are bigger than the entire audiences of “a couple dozen highly interconnected Twitch streamers.” (For clarification I regularly watch a couple of the Twitch streamers you are likely grouping into this category so yes I do know how large their audiences are.)

danShumway 5y ago
> mods across the entire Internet I think Among Us's mod support is underrated for a multi-player game, and I think it did a lot to improve the game's longevity. I'm hesitant to make broad sweeping claims about the game, but I agree that looking purely at streamers is probably underselling its success, even though streamers did obviously play a big role in bringing it to more people's attention.
- jchw 5y ago
  Agreed. I have only checked out a handful, but even just Town of Us and Crewlink completely transform the experience, not to mention countless neat aesthetic and other misc mods. (I remember a Korean user went fairly viral when they posted a full Sanrio-themed reskin of the game.) Having a game that can be modded is a real win/win. What’s so weird is it feels like this lesson should’ve already been learned. Several prominent franchises were born as mods to other games, and TF2 even went as far as simply making mods part of the actual game and compensating modders in the process... Yet it feels like a lot of this is left on the table in the walled garden world of gaming.

by jchw 5y ago

danShumway 5y ago

> mods across the entire Internet I think Among Us's mod support is underrated for a multi-player game, and I think it did a lot to improve the game's longevity. I'm hesitant to make broad sweeping claims about the game, but I agree that looking purely at streamers is probably underselling its success, even though streamers did obviously play a big role in bringing it to more people's attention.

jchw 5y ago
Agreed. I have only checked out a handful, but even just Town of Us and Crewlink completely transform the experience, not to mention countless neat aesthetic and other misc mods. (I remember a Korean user went fairly viral when they posted a full Sanrio-themed reskin of the game.) Having a game that can be modded is a real win/win. What’s so weird is it feels like this lesson should’ve already been learned. Several prominent franchises were born as mods to other games, and TF2 even went as far as simply making mods part of the actual game and compensating modders in the process... Yet it feels like a lot of this is left on the table in the walled garden world of gaming.