Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Rhystic Cast #19 - Fuck "Content" (Patreon)

Published:
2024-08-03 17:05:34
Edited:
2024-12-16 18:50:31
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Downloads

Content

Fuck "content." Be specific!

Further reading and viewing:World of Warcraft Documentary (2006)The Need For Game Critique by Richard Garfield - Duelist #7 (pp.74-75)

Music in this episode:Comin' Thru - Chali 2na

Files

Comments

evil_andy

I'm a software engineer. I really appreciate how this episode and your argument in general really fit our profession. There are so many times where we are asked to produce 'content': "we need you to do this and we have one week to do it". I can't count the times when I have pushed back that we didn't have the resources to do it properly in that time, yet management doesn't want to hear it. They see us as content creators. You've given me a new way to look at the situation and I think I can use it to craft better arguments. Edit: It was a very interesting parallel that I had not expected to find. Thank you!

Sam K.

So insightful and true. Im a chef and a lot of the work we do is about "reducing things to their most basic elements" our job is all about reduction. But when we begin to reduce ourselves we lose what makes us unique we become automatons, copy and pasted husks of human beings.

Pete Paul

This is gonna get a lot of hate, I don't give a shit. This patreon is an echo chamber anyways. You're a media personality now, a few podcasts ago you were complaining about this yet it's one week in Italy, Albuquerque the next, Barcelona the following. Speaking on stages about your hobbies and playing guitar. Millions of people would kill to be in your position. Check yourself brother, your work and labor are still valid but there's people scraping to survive and will toss a dollar your way just to get a tiny video every 6 months and a "podcast" where you whine for 30min. Be grateful for the position you're in.

Pete Paul

No hate, just a different opinion on here for once.

rhysticstudies

I've expressed endless gratitude for my position (and that has nothing to do with the topic of this podcast). you can feel however you want about me, but I'd rather you keep it to yourself than indirectly express your disdain in backhanded comments. also, I haven't been to albuquerque since i was a kid.

Allen

I’ve been thinking about what makes the word “content” so derogatory beyond its lack of description and intent of the work, if you’ll humor me. I agree that some entertainment and enjoyment is more cerebral and intellectual, while others are visceral and emotional. A piece of media can be both, or be neither; it’s a bit subjective here. A progression I see in creative work the message and intent of the creator, the way they deliver this in the form they choose, who this form reaches, and how this audience receives it. In today’s internet-driven, information-overloaded capitalist landscape, attention has become a resource that has (IMO) tainted how many creators measure their success. I see many (not all) focusing more on how to connect with more people and less on building deeper connections. I see focusing on the the message and execution of the delivery (i.e. the work of art) becoming secondary as a result. Businesses have befouled this bias and weaponized our visceral and emotional enjoyment into an easy and (again IMO) toxic way of getting our attention in the name of engagement a subsequent revenue. “Content” has become the pervasive term that blankets this trend, where a lot of entertainment is contrived, visceral, and can be less intellectually stimulating (relatively speaking). The lack of precision when using the word speaks to the unifying underlying goal of all the different forms of weaponized media, which is to capitalize on your attention. I think when a creator focuses on their messaging, form, and execution of their creative work, having that work being labelled as “content” not only generalizes the form factor, but is seemingly dismissive of that thought and care they focused on. I think Sam’s videos show a lot of care with the message, storytelling, and fidelity of execution to make a compelling work (this is also why I understand how long it can take to research, iterate, and craft a video). They remind of me why I love Magic, and how there can be depth and meaning to any card, or how there are stories behind them that are very personal to you. I have a pair of Scrublands that a classmate bought me for my birthday when I was a loner in elementary school (I guess that hints at how old I am now, heh). I didn’t realize how much it meant to me back then, but I’m glad I’ve been able to hold on to them to this day. I also see Sam’s videos on YouTube, where there are a sea of other video-based work, some that share a similar care to the artform and some that are more manufactured to abduct my attention. It’s reductive for folks who see creators on the platform as a single category of entertainment, and for them to label them “content creators”, but I can also understand how much easier it is to do so. I caught myself using the word “content” unironically in a message describing someone's work, and this podcast reminded me to think about how intentionally I’m spending my time on entertainment. I think I’m guilty of letting my consumption consume me in a way, and I find it important to occasionally take a step back and make sure that what I’m doing aligns with what I believe in. I think that's enough overthinking for today.

Will Butler

Laser accurate as always, Sam. In the media field, there's a big push and pull about the influence platform studies has on defining what content is. Namely, how have we landed on one word to encapsulate the whole of 'cultural production'? When I'm writing about games, I use the word culture. Not art or content or products. Culture, because that's what we make. The auras and contexts and the damn thing itself - it's all culture.

rhysticstudies

really love "culture" as a pushback against all this, both as a term and as an idea. "culture" may be just as hard to define, but it carries the human element and warmth and energy that "content" deeply lacks. culture is a byproduct of art intersecting with the lives of people.

PrintableHeroes

I share your frustration that our world has so fully embraced consumption as the end-all-be-all of creation; the beast is always hungry so we must feed it. I appreciate Cal Newport's distinction between "Shallow work" and "Deep work" and I think it applies well to "Content" in this context. Content is the shallow work, it's the filler, the empty calories, the white noise, it's the shit we wade through to get to the deep work, the water we can dive into and lose ourselves in. And, yeah, we can't swim forever in the deep end, sometimes we need to come out and roll around in the shallows for a bit. What is interesting to me is how do we navigate this world of constant consumption and not let our work be watered down. How do we maintain relevance without giving ourselves over to shallow work. Is it even necessary? Can we permit ourselves the freedom to only do the deep work and not play the "content" game at all? Are there opportunities in this expanse of shallow content to make the deep work more accessible? Anyways, amen to the tangible and tactile, not enough of it in this world of screens we live in. I hope things settle down for you and you're able to get back to the joy of it all. Cheers.

Will Butler

That's exactly it. 'Encoding, Decoding' by the late, great Stuart Hall is my North Star when it comes to unpacking how culture and art functions. (But I'm extremely biased as a cultural studies post-grad in the UK lol)

rhysticstudies

thanks for this. that's an apt metaphor – i haven't heard of cal newport but i'll look him up. appreciate your response.

Ludwig Knoche

Relating to the last few minutes and the significance of physical media: I never liked to play MTG:Arena, I never liked eBooks and eBook-devices and I simply like going up to my bookshelves to look at all those worlds and ideas they contain. Having physical books, mostly playing physical MTG etc. feels way more deliberate to me. I have to think "what do I want to read on my trip", "which deck do I want to play", "what can I bring with me to show my friends and get them all exited about". It kind of feels like an antithesis to the "content-problem" you talked about here, because you have to actively choose the stuff you want to engage with, limit yourself and I think that this is really necessary to get lost in and actively, deeply engage with something. When you take that time to engage you can get away from simply "consuming" and begin to internalize and think what you liked about that piece of music or that movie you just saw and apreciate all the effort that went into creating it. Plus, all those physical things I take with me get bend out of shape, knicked, scratched, etc. and so I can always look at e.g. a really yellow, sunburned book and think back to that summer spend in the garden, reading in the baking hot sun.

Kyle J Javelli

Have you heard about Quinn's Quest? It's a recent YouTube channel about TTRPG reviews that is the exact thing you are asking for. It's about what a game means and it trying to say with its rules and presentation.

iateallthepasta

Loved the episode. A colleague of mine at Uni once said that we should be content creators as academics in the field of popular culture and I got so mad inside. 😡 Together against "content" and for culture-creation!

Adrian

This episode has reminded me of a lot of the steps for creating "content" and how much is involved. I think that it's really interesting the idea of how this timeframe may be viewed in history in a similar respect to the great Renaissance artists of the past. It truly takes such a multifaceted skillset to make what is under appreciated as some kind of daily bread. We consume media once and throw it away. Rarely to repeat or find new darlings within. As ai and other creative mediums become streamlined, we'll see almost like a mass production period for art supplies. "Anyone can paint" now. The means is easier to obtain. Instead of way back when you had to have a knowledge of how to make paints, how to utilize them. Thank you for your art. It is thought provoking and passionate. I appreciate that you go through the steps to elevate what could be a mundane opinion piece 6/10. Into a deeply personal exploration that drives us to reflect on our own shared experiences.

Jommy Salami

Leaving the word content creator on your desk: “sorry Mr.Wonka”

Alex Smith

I know this is from 2 years ago, but this. I fucking love this. Embracing and having some pride about your passions and what you create is such an important and beautiful thing. Also coheed is the fucking best

Nigel Kurtz

I come back to this episode a lot. I get frustrated with how boring and repetitive the entire Magic realm has become with “content creators.” I always appreciate your work and how different it is in the space and encourages me when I write articles for the game for CoolStuff.