YouTube disenchantment

[collensr]

I have watched two pretty depressing videos in recent days from two YouTube content providers whom I respect and have followed since the very early days - Into the Blue and Simhanger Flight Simulations. Their theme was similar - declining interest in their channels and a wearyness with trying to work on a daily basis with the challenges of MSFS2024. IMHO these guys are not from the usual "click bait / like-chasing" content breed - they take their time on producing high quality, well researched, informative and professionally presented videos. Hopefully both chaps will get their respective "mo-jo's" back and carry on but I do think that the flawed launch and subsequent failure by Microsoft / ASOBO to sort out MSFS2024 has had a much wider and deeper impact on the hobby than we could possible have imagined when the 2024 sim was first mooted.

 

[tiger1962]

I've never watched any of those content providers videos, I just don't see the point. On the few occasions I've tried to watch one I found it too long-winded and irritating to finally tell me something I already knew, because I get all my info on the sim from forums like this one.
I'm quite happy with MSFS2024, I'll be even happier when AI Traffic and ATC have had a radical overhaul or two. I hope SU3 fixes compatibility for all VR and peripherals such as control panels etc., which should have been there from day one.

 

[modelr]

I've never watched any of those content providers videos, I just don't see the point. On the few occasions I've tried to watch one I found it too long-winded and irritating to finally tell me something I already knew, because I get all my info on the sim from forums like this one.
I'm quite happy with MSFS2024, I'll be even happier when AI Traffic and ATC have had a radical overhaul or two. I hope SU3 fixes compatibility for all VR and peripherals such as control panels etc., which should have been there from day one.

I agree with you for the most part tiger. I've tried to watch some of the videos, however I can rarely keep up with them because in most cases, they talk to fast and go through instructions as if they are in a race with time. This forum is the only one participate in any more, where I get mst of the necessary info. Most of the others spend to much time running down things and developers they don't like, rather than saying anything positive. I usually just won't post if I disagree.
I, myself, am extremely disappointed with MSFS2024, mainly because of the constant crashes and required uninstalls/reinstalls just to enjoy a simple sightseeing flight around my neighborhood. If I do not install anything not in the initial download, it works. If I install one item that I own from the marketplace, the sim refuses to complete loading, crashing within 15 second with the seemingly most common error code, which the fix has not been found for, yet. Sorry, I don't have it written down in front of me.
Like you, the money I spent before hand on peripherals that no longer work, and this rig specifically built for MSFS2024, have all but totally killed my desire to even fly the sim anymore.

 

[collensr]

I think the point you make at the end there Don is a good one and chimes with what the two YouTube gentlemen I mentioned are saying.

Yes for sure there are many users out there that seem to be having a good experience with 2024. However, there is no doubt that many folk (including some in my sphere of friends around the World) who like me just cannot make it work properly.

However, I didn't pop over from the excellent SOH 2020 forum to get into the 2020 v 2024 discussion or to bash 2024. The original post was merely to alert people on here to a phenomenon that I am seeing in Social Media. Now it may be that members on here have no interest or ascribe no value to the Flight Sim You-Tube content which is fine but it is nevertheless a meaningful barometer of what is happening in the hobby. After all Into-the-Blue has 62,000 subscribers and SimHanger 72,000 subscribers which I believe would represent roughly $27m in sales to Jorge assuming they all owned a full copy of the sim?

I very much value the SOH forum and it certainly provides heaps of rapid response answers and ideas! However, I do like the ability to watch the detailed reviews of new aircraft done by these guys and others. Yes you can argue that they are too detailed, too long or the presenters have an annoying style of delivery but it's pretty easy to sort through to the specific aspect that one wants to learn about. For example, Jonathan Beckett's crisp tutorials on subjects like avionics and navigation are also excellent for those of us that just don't have the knowledge or the time to plough through manuals.

The massive build up to the launch of 2024 created a huge wave of excitement and expectation in the hobby all of which I think even Jorge has acknowledged remains largely unfulfilled even 9 months later. This has resulted, as Don says, in a killing of the desire of many to fire up the sim of an evening. Hence the fact that these specialist channels are seeing a huge fall off in interest and they themselves are struggling to actually use the 2024 sim in their content making, particularly in areas like live streaming.

 

[Priller]

I think the point you make at the end there Don is a good one and chimes with what the two YouTube gentlemen I mentioned are saying.

Yes for sure there are many users out there that seem to be having a good experience with 2024. However, there is no doubt that many folk (including some in my sphere of friends around the World) who like me just cannot make it work properly.

However, I didn't pop over from the excellent SOH 2020 forum to get into the 2020 v 2024 discussion or to bash 2024. The original post was merely to alert people on here to a phenomenon that I am seeing in Social Media. Now it may be that members on here have no interest or ascribe no value to the Flight Sim You-Tube content which is fine but it is nevertheless a meaningful barometer of what is happening in the hobby. After all Into-the-Blue has 62,000 subscribers and SimHanger 72,000 subscribers which I believe would represent roughly $27m in sales to Jorge assuming they all owned a full copy of the sim?

I very much value the SOH forum and it certainly provides heaps of rapid response answers and ideas! However, I do like the ability to watch the detailed reviews of new aircraft done by these guys and others. Yes you can argue that they are too detailed, too long or the presenters have an annoying style of delivery but it's pretty easy to sort through to the specific aspect that one wants to learn about. For example, Jonathan Beckett's crisp tutorials on subjects like avionics and navigation are also excellent for those of us that just don't have the knowledge or the time to plough through manuals.

The massive build up to the launch of 2024 created a huge wave of excitement and expectation in the hobby all of which I think even Jorge has acknowledged remains largely unfulfilled even 9 months later. This has resulted, as Don says, in a killing of the desire of many to fire up the sim of an evening. Hence the fact that these specialist channels are seeing a huge fall off in interest and they themselves are struggling to actually use the 2024 sim in their content making, particularly in areas like live streaming.

Allow me to summarize: M$ succeeded in destroying something that started out so nice. 2020 was not without issues, but they should have updated it with the new technology and kept their mits of the controls assignments. The streaming also was such a bad idea.

Just MHO.

Priller

 

[modelr]

I think the point you make at the end there Don is a good one and chimes with what the two YouTube gentlemen I mentioned are saying.

Yes for sure there are many users out there that seem to be having a good experience with 2024. However, there is no doubt that many folk (including some in my sphere of friends around the World) who like me just cannot make it work properly.

However, I didn't pop over from the excellent SOH 2020 forum to get into the 2020 v 2024 discussion or to bash 2024. The original post was merely to alert people on here to a phenomenon that I am seeing in Social Media. Now it may be that members on here have no interest or ascribe no value to the Flight Sim You-Tube content which is fine but it is nevertheless a meaningful barometer of what is happening in the hobby. After all Into-the-Blue has 62,000 subscribers and SimHanger 72,000 subscribers which I believe would represent roughly $27m in sales to Jorge assuming they all owned a full copy of the sim?

I very much value the SOH forum and it certainly provides heaps of rapid response answers and ideas! However, I do like the ability to watch the detailed reviews of new aircraft done by these guys and others. Yes you can argue that they are too detailed, too long or the presenters have an annoying style of delivery but it's pretty easy to sort through to the specific aspect that one wants to learn about. For example, Jonathan Beckett's crisp tutorials on subjects like avionics and navigation are also excellent for those of us that just don't have the knowledge or the time to plough through manuals.

The massive build up to the launch of 2024 created a huge wave of excitement and expectation in the hobby all of which I think even Jorge has acknowledged remains largely unfulfilled even 9 months later. This has resulted, as Don says, in a killing of the desire of many to fire up the sim of an evening. Hence the fact that these specialist channels are seeing a huge fall off in interest and they themselves are struggling to actually use the 2024 sim in their content making, particularly in areas like live streaming.

Collensr, sorry if I sounded like I was downtalking any of the reviewers on YouTube. I had no intention of doing so. I was more agreeing with tiger1962 abot not using them to a great degree "myself" for the reasons given, not as a down mark but as a personal choice. I do marvel at what most of them are able to get to work, and show off. I just meant that because of the language/accent differences, I can not keep up with most of them, which is NOT their fault, it is mine. I do like to watch some of them when introducing new aircraft, and scenery, etc.

I could go back to 2020, as I still have all my purchases and free items on a storage HDD connected to my system, which keeps everything up-to-date. However, once I flew in 2024, even with it's problems, I somehow did not enjoy 2020. Not running anyone down who does still enjoy it! I still have FSX and all the P3D versions, and all planes and sceneries, but they seem like toys or cartoons to me now. Just the way my mind works, nothing against anyone. I did thoroughly enjoy them before each new version came out, but I just never enjoyed going backwards, it's just the way my mind works. I guess it's because by nature I'm a "jack of all trades, master of none."


Priller, excellent summarization.

 

[jmig]

Maybe I am lucky, I have had very little trouble with 2024...that is since the massive SU2 update. Things have been going so well (knock on wood) that I deleted 2020 last week. Like Don, to me 2024 visually is head and shoulders above 2020. Now, I only use Free Flight. So, if there are issues with other parts of 2024, I am not aware.

I prefer written text over videos. I am not much of a YouTube or TV watcher. On somethings I have to watch a YouTube vid because it isn't in a written form. On those occasions, I use a downloader program that strips the ads and saves the video to my computer where I can peruse it at my leisure.

Like Collensr, I value SOH. It is the one flight sim forum I visit daily. However, I sense a drop in member participation that concerns me. Maybe it is just the issues with MSFS, but I remember when it was far more vibrant.