the_dunk_tank

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It's the dunk tank.

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Mr. Beast sucks but also apparently lives in a hell of his own making (www.polygon.com)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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If viewers don’t really see him having fun, that’s by design. Donaldson has outright said he sees “personality” as a limitation for growth, once noting in a podcast that hinging your content on who you are as a person means risking not being liked. And if someone doesn’t like a creator as a person, they may not give the videos a chance.

McLoughlin’s comments hit at another bleak possibility: Viewers may hardly see MrBeast having fun in his videos because he’s not actually having a good time. In podcasts, Donaldson tells hosts that he goes so hard, he won’t stop working until he burns out and isn’t able to do anything at all. With a laugh, he admits that he has a mental breakdown “every other week.” If he ever stops for a breather, he says, he gets depressed. MrBeast is so laser-focused on generating content on YouTube that he describes his personality as “YouTube.” He acknowledges that this brutal approach to videos, which has cratered many creators over the years, is not healthy. “People shouldn’t be like me. I don’t have a life, I don’t have a personality”

While his free time seems minuscule, the rare times he does pull away from work are for dates with his girlfriend that center around activities that could enrich his videos, because he considers a single hour of a date to be worth $100K had it been dedicated to work instead.

Absolutely brutal indictment of algorithmic capitalism.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

If viewers don’t really see him having fun, that’s by design. Donaldson has outright said he sees “personality” as a limitation for growth, once noting in a podcast that hinging your content on who you are as a person means risking not being liked. And if someone doesn’t like a creator as a person, they may not give the videos a chance.

I know this isn't really the point but I think he's straight-up wrong on this. Personality is integral if you want people to get attached to your brand or emotionally invested in you as a public figure. A lot of multi-millionaire streamers get by just by watching other people's videos ( hasan-smash <3) without blowing up a walmart every week because they know that viewers what them for them, something which MrBeast is purposely denying himself, it seems. "Parasocial relationship" is the online buzzword of the week for a reason, and you can't have that without displaying your personality.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Sure, that's true if you're in the hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, single digit millions of followers. Hasan has 1.3 million youtube subscribers.

Mr Beast has 244 million youtube subscribers.

At that scale, it's a whole different game. I think he might be right in the idea that at that point, the amount of followers you would gain through parasocial relationships is outnumbered by the amount of followers you would lose through people just not liking the persona you put on. If you have as little personality as possible, basically no one can be alienated by your personality.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

"I want to be the McDonalds of internet personalities"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Pewdiepie was the first youtuber to break the 100M mark and he definitely relied greatly on his personality.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Viva la Psycho

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: