""How to...."" Topic

I've used You-tube tutorials on rule mechanisms in the past & was wondering why we don't have more – lots more- available.
It seems such a superior way to explain complicated mechanisms & is far superior to the best text & lavishly illustrated rule book.
There's a few that support the Field of Glory rules ( a moderately dense rule book) that I've found invaluable.

Too Fat Lardies have done several excellent Youtube rules tutorials.

That's an interesting question. I've used some Youtube tutorials to help with my scratch building. I've found them helpful.

@Major Bumsore
The Lardies are good people & I'm not surprised at what you write. Unfortunately I don't use any of their rulesets so this doesnt help me specifically. Step in the right direction though.

@ Robbyrobot
Indeed, I've used some to sharpen my painting techniques. Looking at my figures you mightn't think I'd learned much though.

If your gaming environment includes direct contact with many people with various skills, You-tube videos are fairly unimportant but they can make a difference to those working at their hobby in some isolation.

I think commercial rule writers could even make this a business proposition by charging for access to Youtube 'How to" videos they produce. A legitimate way to make money IMO.

"was wondering why we don't have more – lots more- available."

Because they take time and effort to do?

I barely have the energy to update my blog, let alone make videos. Hats off the people who do.

Because you can read rules much faster than you can watch a video and because they s--- as references?

I hate it when tutorials are only available as videos. Usually there's 1-2 minutes of key information but the videos are always longer than that. If it was written down I could skim ahead to the paragraph I'm interested in.

I can see where videos are helpful for painting or terrain-making; sometimes there are in between steps shown that make everything more clear.

For rules though, I can't speak to a particular rule set but usually if I have a question about game mechanics, I want to refer to the actual rule. I can figure out the demonstration myself. A video demonstration would only be helpful if I'm in a location where I also have the rulebook available.

I should also mention I'm not always in a location where it's practical to play a video. I might be using a mobile device, or taking a break at work, or in a room with other people and not have headphones handy.

I agree with CeruLucifus.
I am a very fast reader and find written text (with optional pictures) superior to videos. It moves at my pace and I can skim the text to find the relevant parts, something which is hard to do with videos.

I think video tutorials for explaining rules can be a good thing if executed properly. I have watched the videos prepared by Beasts of War for "Infinity" and I found they were helpful. The main critisism I have though is that if they dropped the banter and fluffy extended still shots intros etc it would more than halve the length of time having to watch. Just 5 seconds for intro, edit out fluff, nicely painted figures, simple and tidy terrain, use a script, reherse the scene/ section several times to make sure its right, keep it concise and work to keep it short within the attention span of a person with autism or A.D.D. (Takes a deep breath)

How about "how to …"

Someone who has already posted such videos, explain the basic steps for posting them.

Are wargaming rules so complicated that they need video's?

Although it might be nice asset for some gamers, I think it's mostly overkill. Instead of making a video, people should either write their rulebooks better or design simpler rules that don't get people confused.

I personally think they can be quite handy.. especially as a way of demonstrating to a potential cusotmer how a ruleset flows before they commit to buying. Also a way of showing what the intention was of the developer when he made the rules.

They do take a lot of effort to make/produce however.. not to mention the expense of equipment and software.

We had a huge game of JRIII and I don't have the rules and have only played once. I looked high and low for a video tutorial for how to play but couldn't find one. I think it would have helped tremendously and would have made me less of a bother during our game. With that being said, I was especially looking for videos that were broken into parts of about 5 – 10 minutes each instead of one big long one.

Thanks for the responses.

Clearly video tutorials aren't for everyone: there are all sorts of "learners": visual, audio, kinesthetic etc.

I just think it would be a nice -added- element to learning a new rule set, particularly if you don't have someone skilled in the rules at hand.

I do acknowledge the "fluff" on some tutorials but as I'm being helped by the makers of such, I'm not sure a complaint is wholly valid.

Surely a video is just one way a rule writer can help his customers to learn the rules or to get an appreciation of them before they make a purchase. Nothing more, nothing less.

Some of the comments here are really quite astoundingly negative.

Some of the comments here are really quite astoundingly negative.

I have nothing against video's if some rules designer wants to spend time and effort making them – but I certainly don't expect them to do so, and I hope the market does not evolve in a direction that video's become an expected feature of any ruleset.

Wargamers are an intelligent bunch that should be able to read a rule, understand it, and apply it in the game. Honestly, I cannot see what added value a video can bring to the table, but perhaps I am overlooking something here … ?

@ Phil

Yes, you are missing something. Learning styles do not equate with intelligence.
For example, a dyslexic is often a highly intelligent person even though they read with difficulty.

Some people simply prefer visual information. You, & many others, don't. Fine.
I was just expressing an opinion that a range of methods is preferable.

I have something against video's – there shouldn't be an apostrophe in there. It's a plural, not a possessive.
Videos. See how easy it is?

I have watched a few in the last 12 months, including some of the 'Lost Battles'. Some clearly need scripting or the script to be followed better. Each was instructive despite all that.

A good midpoint between text and videos might be Powerpoint presentations. You can control the flow of the presentation and move forwards and backwards as necessary. Personally I find a presentation much clearer at least for movement rules than text, even if the text is backed up with illustrations. Combining them with a written ruleset is the ideal way to go.