has made a decision that all articles in the Let's Play namespace (list of pages in that namespace) should be moved to other namespaces.
Since let's plays are usually video-based, the target namespace is usually WebVideo/. However, some are text-based, and the consensus was to handle the namspacing of those on a case-by-case basis, with Blog/, Fanfic/, and Literature/ brought up as potential targets.
Before any given article is transplanted, we should confirm that it meets the standards for being a TV Tropes work article. Note that these often serve as hybrid articles for their creators in much the same way as the Music namespace. If there is insufficient content, the articles end up becoming about the creators, violating our "no troping real people" policy.
The crucial question is whether the article has any tropable, creative content. This means that it's more than just "Alisha plays games and makes faces." What counts as tropable, creative content? Here are some examples.
- Creating a fictional/roleplaying narrative that is distinct from the game being played or the real person doing the LP.
- Using the game as a medium to craft original content: songs, videos, machinima, and so on.
- "MST'ing" or creatively riffing on the game's content, as long as it's sufficiently transformative.
What are not criteria for a tropable Let's Play by themselves?
- Adopting a quirky personality, cracking jokes, making funny faces, or overreacting to jump scares.
- Cosplaying, playing with toys, unboxing merchandise, etc.
- Having a "gimmick" that makes them stand out, such as a repeated Catchphrase, eating loudly on microphone, or calling their viewers "Doggo fam".
- Playing games in a particular way (speedrunning, evil runs, no-kill runs, etc.) that fall within what it is possible to do in the game itself, with or without mods.
- Modding the game.
- Being very popular.
- Having lots of memes arise in their fandom.
Note that the same general principles apply to any Web Video creator, especially those whose main work is in news, reviews, vlogging, and/or reaction videos.
There are a few outliers that will need to be handled on a case-by-case basis.
- After-Action Report: I would move it to literature, although it could be considered fanfic.
- Liveblogs, which are probably not tropable.
Web Video cleanup sandbox
This project has several purposes related to all things Web Video:
- Cleaning up the WebVideo index
- Cleaning up the WebVideo/ namespace to move pages that belong elsewhere
- Cleaning up individual Web Video pages that have massive issues
Overview
The easy-seeming part when I started on Web Video (the index) was just removing things not even located in the namespace— found in Creator, Film, Web Animation, etc. Then I started noticing there were many things put in Web Video (the namespace) that were basically Creator pages, lots of Let's Play, other video game streaming that doesn't currently have an index, other misuses in index and/or namespace placement...
- original live action, meaning not animated or reusing existing footage;
- narrative/creative, a bit unclear, but it's not someone simply reviewing another work/reacting to other works/playing through another work;
- a work, which is... a work, not a creator.
) is much more broad:
"Live-action videos and video-based Lets Plays originally or only released online. Covers both YouTube videos and web-exclusive series, but does not include those that belong in the WebAnimation/ namespace. For big-budget series exclusive to streaming services such as Netflix, use Series/ or the appropriate animation namespace instead." — Not limited to original or live action footage, narrative works, etc. However, people have mistakenly created Web Animation pages in this namespace, made what are essentially creator pages, typed it as "Webvideo", etc.
:
Reaction channels tend to straddle a line here, but are not generally tropable unless they create some sort of distinct creative endeavor rather than stare at a video and laugh a bit. Also it helps if they are reacting to fiction, not to real life. The latter may be entertaining but falls into the same general category as gossip. We can trope these only for their use of production and artistic tropes, not for their topics.
-
No Analysis Channel index— corrected! - No index for non-Let's Play video game streaming unless they're on Twitch. If they don't fall into the Let's Play format and aren't on Twitch, where do they go?
- No
Gag Dub orGag Sub index - Where should we put channels based on prank calls, scam-baiting, other audio-based things where the video is incidental?
Pages identified for cleanup:
- A Dose of Buckley — see this ATT for more info
- The Mysterious Mr. Enter and subpages — issues include troping the creator and not the works
- The Nostalgia Critic and subpages — see this project thread
- Smosh and subpages — Smosh is a channel, and the pages have multiple works (may need a hard split)
- Thomas Sanders — Creator, lots of biographical details, previously hard split for Sanders Sides but may need another
See also:
- Cleanup: Review/Let's Play YMMV Tropes
- TLP: Actual Play genre/index
Just the index cleanup itself is a considerable project, figuring out what stays and what needs a different index, but there are also many pages with significant issues to clean. This is a very big project, but I've seen other people notice these issues, too. I hope we can at least get the index under control.
(![[nja]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/user_ninja_2074.png "[nja]"){kind=small}
For clarity and re: review stuff. Continue to edit as things occur that are useful to keep at the top of the thread.)
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 2nd 2023 at 9:02:00 AM
the Retromancer
"sit down and actually decide set-in-stone standards for what to keep and what to delete"
We already had them for a decade but the latest hashing out is ongoing here.
Edited by Amonimus on Jul 24th 2023 at 10:13:28 PM
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
he/him
WebVideo.Post 10 was just created, and having watched this channel myself I don't think there's any tropable content. It's just a guy going around and unclogging drainages with no narrative. The examples so far are:
Relationship status: you make my xp5_giligz36asgv04a4 xp2_8e1t2kgz0c452
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Agreed. In its current state at the very least, it's not tropable.
The Draftsman of Doom
I'm currently constructing a subpage for A Tankard of Moose Urine at Sandbox.Moose Urine Cultmoo for Cultmoo. How many examples do I need for a subpage?
Keep in mind that Cultmoo is a review channel which incorporates slightly exaggerated stage personas and banter.
Edited by SkyCat32 on Jul 24th 2023 at 6:17:44 AM
Feels good, don't it?
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
So I wanted to bring up one I made. Alexander Avila who makes videos discussing queer media. Now I made this months ago but now knowing much more about what is tropeable. I don't know if he is or not occasionally he discusses tropes but for the most part he is just giving his opinion and analysis on things. He has some skits but he stop doing those last year after he rebranded his channel.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
He/Him
So…reposting my Short Fat Otaku question? Should we keep him or cut him?
Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Jul 26th 2023 at 6:15:24 PM
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
Yeah, by the looks of the description and trope list, that's not tropable.
Anyone familiar with Press Heart To Continue? Described as a vlogger and streamer on the page. All of the trope list looks like real life troping.
Edited by Tabs on Jul 26th 2023 at 11:26:34 AM
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
I'm curious if Overlord DVD is a tropeable Youtuber, since while he is a "character", the content itself is mainly just reporting on (fake) rumors, not even really a "review". There are characters that the page does mention in the videos (Harvey Cthulhu and the Skull of Calderón). Youtubers that are similar content wise (like The Quartering or Geeks & Gamers) are not considered tropeworthy and do not have pages (nor should they, I agree that they aren't tropeworthy)
Angry babby
I took a brief break but re: Enter having skits: he has a recurring "old man" character he talks to in earlier videos, and I know some later videos he made after I dropped off have bits like Patrick Star harassing him or him interacting with his kid self. I do think a lot of his actual opinions probably get troped in tandem if not moreso tho. We should clean before we cut.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Decker Shado seems to be just a reviewer and most of the examples are troping his opinions / reviews
One-Track Mind (he/him)
So despite the Let's Play namespace being deprecated last year (as proven in this edit) there are still a sizeable amount of pages under that namespace. I think we should discuss what to do with these pages - if they should be moved to more appropriate namespaces such as Web Video and Blog, or if a different action is needed.
Edited by JHD0919 on Aug 28th 2023 at 3:27:00 PM
This is Idol Tap. (My Troper Wall)
(she/her)
You only made the post on the cleanup thread yesterday and the pinned OP states that all pages in the LetsPlay/ namespace need to be evaluated before they are to be moved. That's why people were processing the pages on a case by case basis.
Edited by MacronNotes on Aug 29th 2023 at 12:30:13 PM
Macron's notes
One-Track Mind (he/him)
That's understandable. I wasn't present for the discussion that led to the "case-by-case basis" decision, that's on me for missing out.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Also understandable.
Edited by JHD0919 on Aug 29th 2023 at 5:53:37 AM
This is Idol Tap. (My Troper Wall)
the Retromancer
Since "list, move to Web Video, then evaluate" doesn't work, we need people to read every page in the namespace to see if there's creative content or it's treating gamers as characters.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
He/Him
Is The Take tropeworthy? Similar to the Drinker, they’re also a Books on Trope type channel, in that their videos consist of discussing tropes in media. None of the presenters seem to put on a character or persona so in that sense they’re similar to the now cut Watchmojo in that they have little personality in how they present their videos, so they have less character than even The Drinker.
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
Looks like it could be, depending on how the conversation on how to handle Books on Trope turns out. See here and here.
Ok I need to bring this up because while I love the series massively... The Kill Count (and by extension, Dead Meat) is not trope-worthy according to some of the standards mentioned previously that led to the removal of works such as The Critical Drinker.
James doesn't play a character, most of the stuff that's shown on the videos is a review interspersed with his personal opinions and the only narrative that exists is on the skits that not only are a very recent development, but also are only used as a creative way to put ads in the videos. He merely discuss tropes, which was agreed in some other threads to not be trope-worthy enough for this site.
I'm personally leaning into "cut", but what do you guys think?
So LetsPlay.Eight Bit Ryan was created today. I was wary about it when I saw the ATT asking about it and it seems I was right to worry. The page is 99% troping Ryan as a real person or his reactions and it appears there is no narrative present in his videos (just he plays games and occasionally vlogs about his life). There is one mention of him having a Cloud Cuckoolander persona for his videos but I don't know how present this persona actually is (I don't watch his videos) and none of the examples currently on the page trope this persona either.
It appears to be just your typical "YouTuber plays games" page.
CSP Cleanup Thread | All that I ask for ... is diamonds and dance floors
the Retromancer
Yes, I believe he's a gamer and not a creator, and the page has several violations.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
He/Him
Seconding
he/him
We've just had a cut request for LetsPlay.The SB Wproductions.
It's come in from the creator, so would normally run into The Fic May Be Yours, but the Trope Page Is Ours considerations, but in this case the page would need a lot of work and may not be tropeable (it was also blanked for years before anyone noticed and restored it).
Anyone here got a view on whether it's salvageable or should go straight back to the cutlist?
Lost in Space
In my quick reading of the article, it reads like an obsessive fan troping their favorite 'tuber, practically to the point of doxxing. It relies exclusively on examples about the creator and has few or no examples of tropes utilized in their work.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
the Retromancer
I'm not to have opinions on the troper, the page simply doesn't have valid examples and the channel isn't tropable.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Maybe you should move this convos to Wiki Talk so that we can get back to discussing these pages tropabilities.
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project