The Digimon TCG has been out for a few years now, and the content space for the game has evolved in a lot of different stages since the game’s inception. The game has seen the emergence and passage of lots of content creators from TrueChampionSteven, Rustmarrow, DigiPanda, KNTElixar, and the list goes on.
The crux of the conversation happening right now revolving around content creators, is that it feels like the content for the game is still missing something. Lots of creators do deck profiles, general news, market watches, and match footage, but it all feels very same-y, or the level of content is not very good. On the other side, the content that is up to snuff is technically already being done, and people may not feel the want or desire to re-do that kind of content, because again it can make the space just feel boring.
I’ve been in this game for a long time, not only making content for card games, but fighting games as well, and over the course of that time, I’ve refined a process I think is really useful and effective to create at least a somewhat successful channel. In this post I want to cover the broad topics of “Deciding what to make”, “The act of making content”, and also touch on points regarding personality and persona and how to be intentional about each of these when creating content.
Deciding What to Make
I was really intentional when I started making content. It stemmed from the question “What do I enjoy about the game, and how can I share that with other people?” Once I could answer that question, the next item I needed to tackle was, how can I differentiate my content from other people so that I’m remembered and stand out. I thought about my strengths there and decided that sharing what I could from the area I lived in, Asia, was something that I could leverage, and as someone who is really organized and likes collating data, I didn’t mind the process of combing through twitter posts to find the information I needed to do so. I also had a passion for teaching and informing others, so the process of taking all that data and transforming it into something short, simple, and easily digestible was a strength I felt I had.
At the time not a lot of people were doing what I wanted to do, but some folks were still doing similar things. HoangZero is one such example, but I didn’t care that someone else was doing something like that. I think we did it different enough ways that I could stand out, and honestly you should apply that kind of thinking to your own content. It’s great if you’re doing something that no one else is doing, but if you are doubling up, focus on what makes your content different. Take for example Avault and BBDudes. They both make deck profiles, but if you’ve seen their videos, when you watch them, you’re going to get RADICALLY different experiences. It’s no secret that Avault has some of the best looking videos with the highest production quality which makes for a really easy watch and gives a great presentation to anyone just getting into the game to understand what’s going on. Meanwhile, when you watch a BBDudes video, you know you’re about to laugh at his quick wit and perfectly delivered punchlines. They’re both deck profile videos at the end of the day, but the full value proposition from each of them is quite different.
Consider what your strengths are, what you can leverage, and most importantly what will make you stand out when creating your own content.
The Act of Making Content
I originally wrote down a lot of notes in my book, but for the sake of brevity, I just want to stress a few points (maybe I’ll include the rest in a different post). If your process is to turn on the camera and wing it, quit now. Unless you are an improv master, that ain’t it big dawg. Good content takes effort. Plan and write scripts or at least bullet point the major things you want to get across. A viewer will know when you’re rambling and if you say something in 1 minute that you could have said in 10 seconds, you’ve wasted 50 seconds of someone’s time.
Record, rewatch, re-record. Taking away for a moment that fact that if you’ve never made content and had to listen to yourself in playback, you’re going to hate the sound of your own voice, but look past that to all the things you didn’t like about the take and that the viewer will catch. Then go back and re-record. Yes, this is gonna take longer. Yes, it’s more time consuming. Yes, I know you don’t have a lot of time, but cut out all of the wasted time. All the stammering, uhs, ums, flubbed lines, bad intonation, talking too fast, and slurred words have got to go. I can personally say that for each video I make, I have an entire graveyard of bad takes that will never see the light of day. My average 8-11 minute meta report video has about 150-200 bad takes. I’m sure if you ask any content creator worth their salt, they’ll tell you something similar.
If you are also your own editor, take the time to learn about something new during the editing process. These little +1s will compound very quickly over time and really enhance your videos. For example, I used to get really sick of those white borders on cards, so I learned about masks and how I could use a mask to remove them and get the true shape of the card with only a few clicks. To give a bit of a starter advice here, if you don’t where to start to try to improve, let it be your thumbnail. A good thumbnail will see you have the biggest return for your time invested in the beginning. There’s mountains of good tutorials on what make a good thumbnail, I recommend you watch and write down the points you like as you go.
Timeliness. You don’t have to upload every day, but something you need to keep in mind is that the bigger that gap is between upload times, the harder your shit has to land or people will just forget about you. And in a world where you’re trying to be remembered, forgotten is tantamount to death.
Find your message. I thought a lot about what I wanted to accomplish with my content. I landed on trying to become someone that made people want to pick up and play the game or got excited about playing the game by watching my videos. I thought if I was a first-time viewer deciding to pick up the game and I had to watch a video where someone just complains about things, why would I EVER choose to play it myself? My ten second takeaway is that either the game sucks, the community sucks or both. This is one of the reasons you will hardly ever hear me say something negative about the Digimon TCG (which has nothing to do with any work I’ve done in an official capacity, despite what the crazies may think).
This is my hobby, and at any point if it isn’t fun anymore, I have no problem with just walking away. That being said, that is just my message and you don’t need to be like me. Some folks make a habit of being critical of what they make content about, and that works for them, but you should definitely consider what your message will be and even more careful about how it lands.
Finding Your Personality
My last point regarding message blends right into this, but you should think about who you want to be in front of the camera. A lot of people will tell you that you need to just be yourself, and blah blah blah, but honestly, I don’t think that needs to be inherently true. It’s okay to play a character, but you need to be really sure that you are good at playing them. It’s certainly easier if you’re just yourself, cause there aren’t as many adjustments you need to make. I myself just decided to be myself, and it’s worked out. I think it’s been helpful in letting viewers connect more easily with me through videos. But again, it’s actually okay to play a character.
Part of your planning here should also to be who you think you want to be thought of as in your space. No matter who you want to be on camera though, you shouldn’t be like anybody else. You need to stand out, and if I can’t remember you from a bunch of other people, then its back to the drawing board.
TLDR & Wrap-Up
Okay so this is getting a little long. So I’ll leave a few final thoughts here. Content creation is A LOT of effort and work, but the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to really plan it. I talked a lot about everything up above in more detail, but a lot of it comes down to really conscious planning. You don’t need to figure out everything all at once or before you begin, but you should be mindful about the process as you go through it. Also, you don’t need to re-invent the wheel. You can do something that other people are doing, as long as you find a way to make it your own. Play to your strengths, play to what you enjoy, and make a concerted effort to make it better every time. Being a content creator is creating a community of people you can connect with, and bring joy to, but it’s also sitting in front of a computer recording the same damn line you’ve flubbed up 7 times already. You’ve gotta enjoy the process to enjoy the success.
TLDR- Tiktok has ruined you. Sit down and read something for a change. Not a summary of this post, I just like the bait lol
If you liked this post and want to support me as a content creator, feel free to become an official Youtube member on my channel https://www.youtube.com/@East_ML I’m assuming you’re a Digimon TCG fan, and you’ll also get some other cool perks and bonuses like early access to my content, as well as voting on the kinds of content you’ll see in my videos.
