Board Thread:Consensus Track/@comment-4787430-20131028221550/@comment-3186827-20131029110411

The only videos i'm comfortable with is official Bethesda or Zenimax videos - and perhaps videos from big gaming sites - like we have been doing for the latest ESO news. There are several problems with allowing videos:

1) While Wikia's video library is available, browsing through the videos shows me that it's existance is in no way a gauge for quality of content. Literally half of the videos are official IGN videos and the rest seem to be copied over from YouTube with an intro of the YouTuber advertising his channel. Sure, they may be fully licenced content - but that's not the main reason we didn't want videos in the first place.

2) Looking at the contents of the video tab on this wiki right now is worrying. Almost no quality to speak of - we have Lydia in a bra doing you know what, a non-game song called "Nord Mead", and a Family Guy clip. These are appearing mostly because people are linking then from their blogs, but the fact remains that these are all viewable with one click from the homepage. It's poor. Yes, the top few official Zenimax videos for ESO have many views, but this is only because they were on the main page. The rest of the page is a few hundred and past page two is a handful of views. It's not evidence that people watch videos.

3) Wikia said "Wikia recently got access to someone who can create completely customized video. They could basically produce any sort of video from you games you wanted, from quest lines, to cinematics, etc." - That's all well and good, but the question remains - why? This is not about being stuck in the past and not moving with the times or crippling the wiki - that's absurd. We are not comparable to the Tardis wiki, or many other wikis that allow videos. A well written walkthrough of a quest is far superior to a video because

This sounds silly - but the only time I have preferred a video over text is if I want to actually see something - such as the ending of a game, or a cutscene or how to beat a particular boss. In these cases - particularly cinematics - a video is better than text.
 * You can read faster than watching a person showing you what to do.
 * It's much easier to go back and re-read text you might have missed rather than rewind a 30 miniute video looking for that 5 second section you overlooked.

The other point is, I like to image fans of the Elder Scrolls Series are not the type to be against reading. I'm certain our users have no problem and don't mind in the slightest when reading a long, detailed page. Personally, I have never, when reading a page on ANY wiki, thought to myself: "Damn, I wish they had a video for this page". Yes, videos can be great if they serve a purpose. Having a video for the sake of having a video (especially when there is a text equivalent) is pointless.

4) What will be the process for vetting videos to ensure quality content? Because it's clear that the default selection in the Wikia video library is not a guarantee. Commentary or not? Bad language or not? Scope of content? Relevance? Encyclopedic? There are a hundred questions that need to be discussed before a policy can even be codified.

In closing, this is the 3rd or 4th time Wikia has inquired about our video policy and to me this feels forced - but there is a reason why Wikia are pushing us for videos. We all need to remember that wikia is a business - and as a business they are required to make money. Period. Like all businesses - everything wikia does in the interests of making a return on investment. It's not a charity. All updates to the site are so its more user friendly, which will attract more people to the wiki, which ultimately makes them more money. I don't blame them in any way for this, it's just a fact.

The videos on the Wikia Library begin with ads, so I assume Wikia makes money from these. We are one of the biggest video game wikis that wikia owns, and this site will be very busy when ESO is out. It's only natural that Wikia wishes to monetize this. People never click the ads you see on articles - but you can't skip the video ads.

Like I said - I have no problems if that's their goal - this is wikia's house and we play by their rules - but I will ask the community to truly ask themselves if this push for videos is really in our best interests.