Looking through all the reports and making
use of the filters can provide some interesting insights. One of the things I
have noticed is the prevalence of video battle reports over written ones. Of
the well over 1000 reports that are now linked from the site, only around 1 in
every 7 is a written report. All of the rest have been presented as video
reports, generally hosted YouTube. When you consider that I am responsible
for more than a third of the written reports, it becomes clear how few people
are actually linking them.
Are written battle reports a dying art? Calling
them an art form might be a little grandiose, but you know what I mean. It
seems that where people might in the past have written about their games, nowadays
most people prefer to post a video. Why is this? Is it easier to produce a
video report, or is it just the medium that people prefer (or think that others
prefer)? The convenience of YouTube as a centralised place for gamers to load
up their videos is doubtless a contributing factor here, but I have often seen
and heard people talking about how they like video reports because they can have
them playing in the background whilst they’re doing their modelling. Presumably
this is not what everyone does; I have to assume that just as many people sit
and watch the video, and could just as easily be reading a written account.
For my part, I think I am something of a
product of the past. When I think of a battle report, I am still swept up in
the nostalgia of the reports from White Dwarf in the late 90s, with their
beautiful photos and colourful descriptions. These old reports inspire me, and
I've been known to go back and read them again, despite their being from an
edition of Warhammer that is long since gone. Old as it makes me feel to admit
it though, there’s probably a whole generation of gamers that have come along
since then, who have never even seen one of these reports. Even if they did see
them now, they probably wouldn't see the appeal – the nostalgia is doubtless a
major factor for me.
 |
| The old reports from White Dwarf remain a particular inspiration for me. |
Do you have any thoughts on this? Do you prefer videos or written reports, and why?
Having recently started making bat reps on youtube, for me at least, it's just convenience and the growing community of video battle reporters. I much prefer the still picture/voice over style so it some what it harks back to the old days of the written battle report. In a way...
ReplyDeleteYeah, still pictures and a voice-over seems to be the way to go. So in the end it's not dissimilar in terms of the elements required. It's just a different medium used to present it. Does that make it harder or easier than publishing it as text? I guess it probably depends on whether you're actually writing out what you're going to say in advance...
DeleteI prefer written reports. This is because it is easier for me to navigate the contents, I can easily go back to earlier paragraphs if I missed some details. Video reports on the other hand is quite troublesome when you have to rewind just to re-catch something that you missed earlier.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's amazing how bad those sliding bars can be when you just want to go back a few seconds.
DeleteMuch prefer written reports both to read myself and to create. That and I wouldn't have a clue how to do a video. Best reports are those that tell a story rather than just day "and then I rolled a 6 and then I moved...." I try and write these as much as possible
ReplyDeleteHow hard can making videos be? I say this having never done it myself, so I don't really know what I'm talking about. But a lot of people are doing it. Can't be that hard.
DeleteI prefer the written reports. They allow you read them between doing other things, and are much more friendly to a stop-start approach. Also because they are not download intensive, they are much more suitable for viewing on portable devices while in transit.
ReplyDeleteThe problems with streaming video over a mobile connection are something I hadn't considered. Although you'd want a tablet or notebook. I can't imagine any format of battle report being terribly coherent on a phone.
DeleteI do listen to video reports as I paint, though I find very few of them good enough to sit through without doing something. Written battle reports are always a good read, and like you I also like those old 90's ones. Its that added narrative that's quite difficult to convey in a video report (you would almost need a script to read by).
ReplyDeleteThat said I do enjoy your written narrative reports, though by far my favourite is the Battle for the Bacon. Brilliant on so many levels.
I do think a read-through using a scripted narrative (and maybe some terrible background sound effects) would be quite the thing. Like the world's worst dramatized audio book.
DeleteWritten til we die, yo. I can't see myself working out how to do a video whilst playing the game, let alone remembering it well enough to talk coherently through it afterwards. Or get to grips with Blogger's video mechanics.
ReplyDeleteActing it all out in some horrific cosplay, though, that's a different story.
Does Blogger even have video mechanics? I don't think doing a video report would radically change the game itself - most of the effort would be post-game like any report involving photos and the like. Horrific cosplay sounds like a plan, though...
DeleteAs Old Man Morin as it sounds, "Back in my day ..."
ReplyDeleteWritten reports, 'tis an ancient and well practiced art that tells a better story than a video of a game. A videoed game reeks to me of getting the other teams season on tape so that we can exploit some weakness they may have.
I don't think I would ever video a game unless there was some particularly cunning plan involving both parties. That level of video editing (ie the amount required to make the thing slightly better than the worst, dullest video ever made) sounds very intimidating, if nothing else.
DeleteFor consuming, my preference is written reports: easier to access, skim through, browse the images and maps - and yes, much more like the old WD battle reports of yore. Some of the videos I've seen are solid, but in an 'informative' way, whereas a good written report is more like 'entertainment'.
ReplyDeleteFor creating, written reports are also my choice. It would take me just as long to cut together a decent video, so it's not a quicker method - and a written report gives you the chance to weave in a narrative - editing the events for maximum drama. That would seem harder to pull off in a video, which would seem to be more strictly linear.
I agree that a video report (properly done) would probably be no easier or quicker than a written report.
DeleteStarting to wonder if we should try this narrative video report, though. Has anyone even tried anything so silly?
Im also a fan of the old WD reports and im sad enough to remember some of them quite fondly, if there was a compilation I would buy it. Never got into video reports but never really tried. I read written ones now and again but not often as the quality is not great I need pics more than a map. That being said I stumbled onto your site last year and i've read nearly everything on it, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteCheers. I even amongst the people who prefer written reports, there is probably a divide in terms of whether they feel the photos or the maps are more important. It can be hard to tell what is going on without the maps, but then the photos add a lot more interest (in my opinion).
DeleteAlso a huge fan of the old WD sort of fluff reports that where written in a story style while still linking up to what was happening in the game.
ReplyDeleteIt's a damn shame GW stopped doing them as they where one of my most enjoyed things in the old school White Dwarves.. Also yes, I reckon a lot of kids would miss out on those excellent reports considering they died out a fair while ago..
It's funny - we all remember them fondly, but they didn't really make reports like that for all that long. A few years maybe, but it wasn't long before the focus shifted and they never went back to that style of presentation.
DeleteI suppose it makes us look back through those rose-tinted glasses at those halcyon days.
ReplyDeleteI remember loving White Dwarf through most of my teen years, like say 12-16 (Girls hiccup/warhammer uncool etc), when I started buying them again (18) they'd moved a fair bit toward the whole adds adds adds... so that would be say 2001-2006 I bought them a lot and they where fantastic haha...
One that sticks with me was a 40k one with the Night Lords fighting an imperial guard army, it was when cityfight was released, I actually think the report was in the cityfight codex :)... ah memories....
Written is the best, I would say. Primarily for the spirit of the battle that is created through a tapestry of words, and very importantly because for me, reading a battle report, is a whole action in its own. I don't watch battle reports while doing something else, I rather set time for reading a good one; and with your site for example, look forward to every new bit of info that you conjure forth.
ReplyDeleteI can see the benefits of video reports, but for me, I would say nothing beats a well-written battle report.
I guess it's to be expected that people who are coming to this site and commenting are probably those that like to read battle reports, given that's what they expect to find here.
DeleteTrue. It's mostly people who actively search after written battle reports (or conversions or thoughts on armies, how I find this place) who actually comment
DeleteOK, ok, after a long an hard road the page seems to accept that i'm me and hopefully this 3rd attempt att an answer will actually be published.
ReplyDeleteNow, i had a rather long rant about how we seem to love the same stuff and surely must be about the same age, anyway it's way to much to repeat, but what i will say is: I LOVE YOUR BATTLE REP'S!! Keep upp the good work.
LOL, I'm sorry the page was resisting your advances. It's rather shy, you know. Likes to get to know you before doing things in your name...
DeleteWritten reports are the reason I have your page bookmarked )) Seriously, your reports read like a good action story, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteWritten reports all the way. For a static model based game, animating the inanimate seems strange. Doesn't help if the reporter has a voice that irritates. The first report I saw contained a hand shaking a model while it trash talked another model, seemed too much like an 8 year old's game.
ReplyDeleteSounds far more engaging than some of the reports I have seen... :P
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