I don't normally watch much youtube, maybe around 4 short videos a day, (not shorts, I mean like 16:9 2 minute long skit comedy video), but this video really catched my eye as it seemed to be about a concept I had thought a lot before, and to my surprise, I was right. Full disclousure, this video didn't change my mind or anything, it's just confirming biases and ideas I already had beforehand, so your definition of "good" may change, but yeah, this is it



The general talking point of the videos are as follow. Currently in any artistic medium, be it books, mangas, movies, etc, there is this thing that he calls literary inbreeding, an example of this would be the following. You've only read fanfics your whole life, and then you do a fanfic of your own, your only inspiration and general knowledge from literature comes from fanfics, you publish your fanfic, and then some other person who only read fanfics makes a fanfic inspired by your fanfic that was again only purely inspired by other fanfics

He argues that due to how the internet works nowadays, most people are growing segregated into their own bubbles. A personal example would be in manhwa, where i've seen people looking for overly specific things like "a power fantasy dungeon climbing manhwa with regression mechanics", also happens with music with nanogenres.

He recommends that everyone, be it a artist or just a casual reader or watcher, should strive to consume variety, because that gives you a better perspective of the world, you don't even have to like the movies you're watching, but just by having seen them and having thought about them, you gain understanding, which is a positive. It helps you better communicate with other people and if you're an artist it also makes your own work better.

This was kind of my underlying philosophy for my review thread, I just wanted to experience more, be it bad or good, or why I read the whole manga top 50, there may be stuff that I wouldn't like sure, but sometimes you're surprised or just in general makes it easier to understand others

what do y'all think of it?, I think he has hit the nail in the head IMO

Based.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15649499

I think the discussion here on Hacker News is relevant to the OP's discussion. It's good to explore things you've never known before without using personalized services. I want to be that kind of person.

ynzoqn wrote:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15649499

I think the discussion here on Hacker News is relevant to the OP's discussion. It's good to explore things you've never known before without using personalized services. I want to be that kind of person.

I don't think this is necessarily that sort of problem, I don't think this something you can solve by using anonymous searching engine and avoiding marketing, it's internet culture that's the real culprit, people do stuff like this and fall into bubble like that out of their own willingness, they themselves seek this stuff. The problem comes from trying to find stuff that is EXACTLY the same as what you just watched or read

This video is spot on. The ease of access to finding a never ending number of books with the same plot/tropes is a real problem. I also think that at least with books and Manga it is now easier than ever to write one. Whilst in the past only extremely committed people who usually studied under someone or hand formal education in writing would write books now everyone can go on Watt-pad and write a novel or in the world of Manga, it's significantly easier to draw panels than before. The need for a publisher has also diminished as you can distribute your stories online further adding to the issue. I agree with what the video is saying variety is good but I fear that overall the world is becoming a less varied place.

Now I wonder to what extent is this not just fault of bad writers? Since the skill threshold for becoming a "author" is much lower could this just be a symptom of that?

hyperastro wrote:

This video is spot on. The ease of access to finding a never ending number of books with the same plot/tropes is a real problem. I also think that at least with books and Manga it is now easier than ever to write one. Whilst in the past only extremely committed people who usually studied under someone or hand formal education in writing would write books now everyone can go on Watt-pad and write a novel or in the world of Manga, it's significantly easier to draw panels than before. The need for a publisher has also diminished as you can distribute your stories online further adding to the issue. I agree with what the video is saying variety is good but I fear that overall the world is becoming a less varied place.

Now I wonder to what extent is this not just fault of bad writers? Since the skill threshold for becoming a "author" is much lower could this just be a symptom of that?

I would argue that more accessibility is good, I would argue that the fact that the barrier of entry is "low" is good, I would argue that there is much more variety now than ever before, you just got to have the desire to seek it out. So yeah, don't agree with you at all, I don't think having the barrier of entry be lower is bad, sure that it creates this phenomenon, but I would argue that gatekeeping the publishing industry like it happened before was way worse. Also there are better solutions to this problem than to gatekeep.

Patatitta wrote:

I would argue that more accessibility is good, I would argue that the fact that the barrier of entry is "low" is good, I would argue that there is much more variety now than ever before, you just got to have the desire to seek it out. So yeah, don't agree with you at all, I don't think having the barrier of entry be lower is bad, sure that it creates this phenomenon, but I would argue that gatekeeping the publishing industry like it happened before was way worse. Also there are better solutions to this problem than to gatekeep.

I am not saying to gate-keep publishers. I was just giving my opinion on why this decline occurred. Although I disagree with you on the matter of variety. Sure there is more variety. maybe even as a percentage there is more variety. But the sheer volume of slop books that exist now a days makes it increasingly harder to find good books. Personally at least with Manga I can't be bothered to put effort into researching for a good story. I have already read the Top 100 entries on MAL and even within the Top 100 there is slop inside. That is definitely a me issue tho. but as things progress it might get harder and harder to find good material to read among the sea of slop.

hyperastro wrote:

Patatitta wrote:

I would argue that more accessibility is good, I would argue that the fact that the barrier of entry is "low" is good, I would argue that there is much more variety now than ever before, you just got to have the desire to seek it out. So yeah, don't agree with you at all, I don't think having the barrier of entry be lower is bad, sure that it creates this phenomenon, but I would argue that gatekeeping the publishing industry like it happened before was way worse. Also there are better solutions to this problem than to gatekeep.

I am not saying to gate-keep publishers. I was just giving my opinion on why this decline occurred. Although I disagree with you on the matter of variety. Sure there is more variety. maybe even as a percentage there is more variety. But the sheer volume of slop books that exist now a days makes it increasingly harder to find good books. Personally at least with Manga I can't be bothered to put effort into researching for a good story. I have already read the Top 100 entries on MAL and even within the Top 100 there is slop inside. That is definitely a me issue tho. but as things progress it might get harder and harder to find good material to read among the sea of slop.

TL;DR

hyperastro wrote:

Patatitta wrote:

I would argue that more accessibility is good, I would argue that the fact that the barrier of entry is "low" is good, I would argue that there is much more variety now than ever before, you just got to have the desire to seek it out. So yeah, don't agree with you at all, I don't think having the barrier of entry be lower is bad, sure that it creates this phenomenon, but I would argue that gatekeeping the publishing industry like it happened before was way worse. Also there are better solutions to this problem than to gatekeep.

I am not saying to gate-keep publishers. I was just giving my opinion on why this decline occurred. Although I disagree with you on the matter of variety. Sure there is more variety. maybe even as a percentage there is more variety. But the sheer volume of slop books that exist now a days makes it increasingly harder to find good books. Personally at least with Manga I can't be bothered to put effort into researching for a good story. I have already read the Top 100 entries on MAL and even within the Top 100 there is slop inside. That is definitely a me issue tho. but as things progress it might get harder and harder to find good material to read among the sea of slop.

I don't think discoverability is that bad nowadays, people use that arugment for steam games, I would argue that's the reason publishers exist, that's the reason marketing exists, there may be hundreds of daily releases, that's why we have MAL, that's why we have goodreads, that's why we ask each other for recommendations. There may be a lot of releases you don't hear about 99% of them. Now, about the top 100 including slop, you may consider it slop, having said that, if it's in the top 100, I would warrant you watch it even if you don't think you're going to like it, just to understand why other people like it and get better perspective, that's what the video was talking about