Lets play...

I know POETV inexplicably hates LPs, but the only thing worse then a bad LP is a person trying to make fun of a bad LP.

Games like this are the dominant trend in LPs, because LPers increasingly have no desire to actually put any effort into games. Anything that requires concentration is especially to be despised, hence the falling off of the FPS montages, RTS commentaries and WOW raids that were dominant up to 2011. The popularity of League of Legends may have made Riotgames one of the highest subscribed channels on Youtube, but you hardly see anyone except kiddies seriously showing it off on Youtube.

The game has simply become a backdrop to provide convenient cues, occasionally to conversation but more frequently to poor humor. This is obviously Minecraft's fault. LPers quickly started using Minecraft as visual wallpaper to what were essentially substandard and masturbatory podcasts that you could look at, the only real exception being the Yogscast who use it (intermittently) to play D&D. As Minecraft tires (although there's no real sign of decline), LPers are casting about for something else to ramble about. The early part of 2012 belonged entirely to the ridiculous "rage video" trend centering around Happy Wheels. This bled over a bit into DayZ, which got a decent amount of play because it's buggy and you die a lot, and there are frequent opportunities provided for sudden panicking. But I'm not seeing anything dominant at the moment, although I may just have been working too hard to pay attention. Every piece of crap silliness is having its moment, with only occasional relief provided by decent flavors-of-the-week like FTL. Farming Simulator is getting a lot of play, if play you can call it, although mostly on the lower tiers. Garry's Mod and its minigames are getting a some good ongoing attention, which has been surprisingly entertaining. One especially weird trend is the revival of 2008's Bully, a game clearly ahead of its time. Not sure what spurred it (was there a sale? it might be Nerdcubed's fault, but don't quote me) but its been working its way up for months, and now PewDiePie himself has decided to mumble and squeak his way through it. I'll say this about PewDiePie... he has some nice sweaters. I will say no more about PewDiePie.

Thank you, Old Zircon, for drawing attention to the state of this corner of internet culture here in the 14th Baktun. Namaste!

giantbomb did it better