Sometimes the stars align in ways I can’t ignore. Last week I heard a lot of people praising that we sent advanced copies of Red Rising to a number of smaller content creators. At the same time, I happened to read the description of a video from Luke at The Broken Meeple in which he discussed his #SupportSmallCreators initiative.
Luke’s philosophy for using his platform to elevate others really resonated with me, so I reached out to see if he wanted to share more about the concept in a guest post. The guest post below is from Luke, and I’ve added my thoughts at the end (after the video).
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A lot of what I enjoy in life follows the phrase “variety is the spice”. It’s why my favourite meals out are curry, tapas and sushi, I get to pick out of a selection of tasty dishes. When it comes to board games I certainly like to see variety within the games mechanics, but most of all I want to meet a variety of people within the hobby.
When I first started the hobby in a big way, I was opened up to a huge world of different games to explore and people to see. I always thought both from the online world and from local clubs that there was a sense of camaraderie from everybody, honor amongst gamers . . . . . I feel that in recent years though, we’ve lost that sense and we need to get it back.
Nowadays I feel that it’s all about what’s trending, what’s popular, box-ticking, etc and the focus is all on large and/or popular channels with the budget, contacts and free time to dominate the industry. Rather than feeling like camaraderie amongst board gamers, the world of social media particularly in the last two years feels like a warzone. We’ve forgotten what was fun about board gaming and what got us into the hobby to begin with. And don’t get me wrong, I watch some large channels. The Dice Tower was my ticket to the board gaming world and I still love their content for the variety it offers as well as personalities who are entertaining to watch, without the use of cringy jokes (I’m a fan of humour and wit that comes naturally). And I still love the infectious passion of Rahdo when he gets stuck on a tangent in his videos.
But in many cases it’s like a VIP club, where if you’re not on the invite list, getting any kind of support online is an impossibility. I tend to watch and enjoy the content given by many other channels who I would consider “small” and because of their status are generally free from professional bias. Small being defined as not simply by “subscriber count”, but also by viewership and engagement. Just because you have 25K+ subscribers, doesn’t mean you get many views or comments on your content and on other social platforms like Twitter and Facebook, you may be barely mentioned in passing. Gaming Rules for example has 30K+ subscribers but the views don’t justify it despite the regular frequency of high quality content Paul puts out. I only have 12K+ subscribers myself and I find it worthy of a celebration whenever any video of mine gets past 1,000 views, yet the larger channels could post a video about blowing their nose and generate that in minutes. I am however very lucky to have a fanbase that actively comments and engages with me on videos and live streams and I love them to bits.
But I feel bad for many channels that have less than 5K, sometimes less than 1K subscribers, yet put in as much passion into the board game hobby as any other channel. Why should one channel get all the focus at the expense of others? If I open my Twitter or Facebook feeds, all I see is the same few channels mentioned over and over again, grouping together, acquiring each other “Asmodee” style, sticking with each other in cliques. Credit to The Dice Tower for their variety breakfast shows where they invite small channel contributors to prepare segments. It’s a great feature and I hope it continues on. But whether it’s reviews, playthroughs or tutorials, there are many channels that produce that content, yet we seem to focus only on one at a time? I even decided recently to make more of a splash into Instagram, where I’ve discovered people go just to talk about board games. No fighting, no popularity contests, no agendas……just people and games.
The #SupportSmallCreators Initiative
So at one point during the early stages of Covid lockdown last summer, I started putting promo videos supplied to me by small creators at the end of my reviews and top ten lists and it was great to receive feedback from those creators about how new subscribers had noticed them and enjoyed their content. But the promos were clearly not enough and I needed to do more to help. I’m a small creator myself so it’s like a hitting a triangle within a full scale orchestra, it’s going to go unnoticed.
Therefore during February I woke up after a month where my day job as a tax accountant had driven me to madness and just said “enough is enough”. If I want to support small creators I need to do it properly. So now I have three plans in motion
- I give a channel a shout-out on every new video podcast episode (The Broken Meeple Show) to mirror my past promos.
- My Twitter profile now puts in an effort on a regular schedule to share content by small creators.
- The main focus is on a new series of collaboration videos which so far have been highly enjoyable, where I bring on a small creator to discuss a topic with me. It can be a Top Ten list or a general discussion or rapid fire reviews, anything. Whatever they want. I will suggest ideas based on the focus of their channel, but also offer them the chance to put something to the table they’ve always wanted to do.
I’ve already released content with Board Gaming Ramblings, Ryan & Bethany Board Game Reviews and Board Game Perspective, but have plans/intentions to work with the likes of One Pip Wonder, Gaming Rules, The Nerd Shelves, Not Bored Gaming, and more. Not only do I get to meet face to face with channels I’ve never met before (America is a far away place), but I hope that in doing so I get to provide more exposure to board game channels that deserve a larger audience. And at the same time, these live streams have been some of the most fun I’ve had when producing YouTube content in years. It’s hard to make videos interesting when it’s just yourself in the seat, so having that extra person there makes all the difference.
Will it be enough? Maybe not. The sad truth to social media in the board game hobby is that those with the biggest microphone will be heard over anyone else. But that won’t stop me from doing my part and exposing the hobby to more channels. #SupportSmallCreators, because they love board games too.
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Thank you so much, Luke! I love this endeavor, and I have a few thoughts to add, mostly from the perspective of a publisher:
- The Exposure Paradigm: When Stonemaier Games became a company during the Viticulture Kickstarter campaign in 2012–and in the first few projects that followed–exposure was really important because only a very small group of people knew we existed. So when I looked for content creators to showcase our games, their audience reach was really important. But thanks to our growth, the paradigm has shifted–instead of relying on content creators to provide exposure for us, we can elevate smaller creators while providing consumers with a wide array of unbiased reviews to help them decide if they’ll enjoy our products. Of course, we still send products to any big channel that is willing to review our games, but most of the content creators to whom we send advance review copies have only a few subscribers.
- The Growth Paradox: As much as I love supporting small creators, I also love seeing those small creators grow and continuing to support them while they do. When we featured Tantrum House (among others) in our 2017 charity auction, they only had a few thousand subscribers. Now they’re pushing 30k on YouTube. I love Tantrum House now for the same reasons I loved them in 2017, so do I continue to send them advance review copies or not? That’s the paradox of supporting small creators–someday they’re no longer going to be small, but the roots of your relationship make it tough to relegate those precious advance review copies to another creator. I have no doubt that ThinkerThemer, for example, will have tens of thousands of subscribers in the future, and I’ll still want to send them our products regardless of their size.
- Channel Consolidations: Luke mentions that he sees a negative in channels “acquiring each other “Asmodee” style,” and I think this is the one area in which I slightly disagree with him. This isn’t a universal statement, but in many cases, a bigger channel that brings in a smaller channel (like what Watch It Played recently did with Before You Play) is very direct way of supporting a small content creator.
What do you think about these thoughts? What are a few smaller content creators you love?
If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content!
14 Comments on “Do You Support Small Content Creators?”
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I really appreciate your support! I organize a very passionate group of gamers in Oakland and I’ve debated creating content but am daunted by all the content out there…at the same time, I don’t see as much representation for gamers like me: woman of color in her 40s. :) I’ve thought about it and will make the leap this year.
Thanks for your comment! I look forward to you making that leap.
[…] instead). While I sometimes choose a few well-established reviewers for advance review copies, I try to focus on growing and underrepresented content creators. I provide a date for those reviewers when they can start sharing their primary content about the […]
Hello Jamie, I’m a total fan of yours, I love your articles, I’m a small content creator in Venezuela, if you like to take a look visit us at http://wargarage.org I make reviews, translate interesting posts about the industry (I’ve translated a couple of yours), post news, and more.
I would love if you are want to support us.
Thank you for sharing! I’ll definitely go visit your site now.
Nice, I hope you like it
I’m a very small content creator – I write because I enjoy it and it helps me to process how I feel about a game. I think through writing I’ve realised what I enjoy, particularly with regards to mechanisms. Though I still remember the excitement I felt when I was quoted on a Kickstarter campaign (for Dale of Merchants 2 which was several years ago)!
Thank you Luke and Jamey for raising this important topic. I run one of the channels (Not Bored Gaming) who will be shortly collaborating with Luke shortly and it’s great to see larger creators like Luke actively seeking out ways to collaborate with smaller creators. Sometimes peer recognition is the shot in the arm that we need as content creators.
A key thing to remember for content creators is that for most of us (and I would posit 100% of the smaller creators) this is a hobby that is wedged in around our real life roles and responsibilities (family, work, life in general etc.) and whilst the subscriber/reader numbers etc. are an output of what we do they are a validation that what we are doing is speaking to people or confirmation that what we are doing needs more work.
In general, the only way to get access to this kind of data is to publish something relevant and pertinent and, unfortunately that means it has to be a new release from a relatively large publisher which is the current zeitgeist. Only when smaller creators get access to the same opportunities as the more established channels will we provide a way for creativity and positivity to flourish.
I speak to quite a few larger creators, some with stratospheric subscribes/readers/listeners etc. and a default position for them to say is “I don’t even look at my numbers.” which feels like both:
Great Advice – focussing on the numbers is sure fire way to help you lose momentum and focus because, if the piece of content you just spent hours/days on hasn’t had any engagement then why are you doing it.
Looking from a Privileged Position – it must be great that you have so many subscribers that each one doesn’t matter to you. The only reason you are saying this is because you’ve reached a level of growth that is better than mine and that you are relatively happy with.
Now, does this mean that every content creator should have loads of subs/readers/listeners etc. instantly – of course not. It’s bloody hard work and well over 90% of the burden of moving out of the micro/small creator category and into the the mid/large is down to them and only them. However, is more done in the industry to support them achieve this…..no.
Stonemaier and some others are great in helping smaller creators get access to review copies (either in the pre release format or along with retail releases) and that has to be applauded. Should all publishers just use smaller creators to promote their games – of course not. Publishers run a business and want as much reach as possible for their upcoming games, so will need an SUSD, Dice Tower, NPI, Rahdo, Quackalope etc.
A more worrying trend is that publishers will sometimes only send review copies to larger creators and not even respond to smaller creators enquiring about the possibility of a review.
More worryingly is the fact that if a smaller creator is lucky enough to get a review copy of a game that is also being covered by the A-List creators – publishers will actively promote the review from SUSD etc. but do nothing to push the review from an up and coming creator. This is disheartening and disingenuous as the time it takes to create and push a couple of tweets, FB posts, Instagram posts about the review is disproportionately low compared to the hours of toil that the reviewer has put in to creating something – which is very disappointing.
Finally, sorry for the long post, picking up on Glenn’s post above about supporting smaller publishers from the content creation community – I absolutely agree with this. Smaller publishers get covered by smaller creators and therefore impact is lessened for both the publisher and creator and a almost becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. I will say that smaller publishers are generally more active in promoting any content created for them than larger publishers.
To finish – the work that Luke is doing at The Broken Meeple is outstanding and, unlike when I’ve seen similar incentives from other larger creators, it’s not a flash in the pan initiative which is centred around the same few within their circle. Luke’s incentive is wide ranging and covers creators who he has had little or no interaction with – it’s a hugely giving endeavour that deserves the recognition it’s getting and something that is either a fleeting consideration or totally ignored by other larger creators and most publishers.
Bravo Luke and Bravo Jamey for picking up on the hard work that Luke has been doing.
This is an excellent analysis, Mark–thank you. I agree that it’s super easy to share the content created by small reviewers, and to me it just feels good to share a smaller creator I love with people who probably haven’t heard of them.
I’d like to thank Luke and Jamey for their support of small content creators like myself. Luke featured my promo on his channel when he started his initiative, and Jamey recently provided a review copy of Euphoria for me (I plan to post my review next weekend). It means a lot when other people like yourselves notice us and show that kind of appreciation. There are a lot of great content creators that I enjoy who have around1000 or fewer subs: AllAboard Gamer, BlackboardGaming, Board Game Gumbo, Board Game Perspective, Core 4 Games, eNVy Board Gaming, All You Can Board, The Lobby of Hobbies, Shear Boardom Table Talk, and Ruel Gaviola just to name a few. Daniel from Punchboard Party and I recently connected, and he and I are preparing our first collaboration videos (a Fantasy Realms review on his channel, since we both recently purchased that game in our excitement about Red Rising, and Cartographers on mine thinking ahead to the Heroes and Roll Player Adventures Kickstarters delivering this summer). I also enjoyed playtesting Now or Never online with Better Half Reviews. There are so many great people in this hobby, and that is one of the many blessings I have experienced since diving in just over a year ago.
Thanks for sharing all of these wonderful creators, Bill! There are a few here I haven’t heard of–I’m going to go subscribe now. :)
I think that one of the things that makes the boardgame industry so great is the drive of creators to help out other people who are a step behind them on the creative ladder. I’m only a tiny producer, but I spend time on BGG and putting out blogs to try to help people who are few steps behind me, and in turn I’ve had help by people who are a little, or the case of this blog and your content Jamey, a lot ahead of me.
I guess one of the questions is about that Exposure Paradigm and how it feeds back and forth from game creators and content creators. So when Stonemaier games was just starting out it was getting more from its relationship with content creators than maybe they were getting, but now that same relationship probably results in some of the biggest videos for those same content creators when they get an exclusive pre-release review copy of the biggest game each year. As such I’d suggest that aside from larger content creators supporting smaller content creators that also content creators look across at what they can do to support smaller game creators. I constantly talk to first time creators desperate to get exposure for their new Kickstarter while at the same time see content creators all chasing the same big game reviews that everyone else is putting out there. It could be that part of the answer for smaller content creators is to take more time out to help out game creators that aren’t a big name and aren’t making what will be the next big thing, yet, because some of those game creators will be making the next big thing next year or the year after and building those relationships early could well pay dividends.
In short, its great that a project is being put up to support small creators, but how is it supporting small non-content creators?
That’s a great point about smaller creators/publishers who are looking for anyone to talk about their games. That need presents a mutually beneficial opportunity for those creators and the smaller content creators to elevate each other.
I think that’s also an opportunity for larger content creators to prioritize the smaller, newer product creators. If you’ve built a huge following, you have a wonderful opportunity to give newer creators a huge amount of exposure (especially if you love their game).
Absolutely. Its a real chance for a virtuous circle where for a company like Stonemaier games to send out an early preview copy of a game to a small content creator means a huge amount to the small content creator and in turn for a large content creator to cover a game for a small publisher means just as much in return. I seem to remember that Viticulture benefited by being championed by a large content creator in its early days. The issue becomes where the big content creators only want to cover the next big game and big publishers only want to be covered by big content creators. Stonemaier games is, as is so often the case, a real leader in this, but I think it would benefit everyone if there was more effort by both large content creators to accept smaller projects and other large publishers to offer big games to small content creators.
Its great for larger content creators to champion small content creators, but I think that reaching across the content creator/game creator gap in both directions would be a more significant step.