Whenever I’m interested in learning more about a new MMO on the market or an older one I’ve yet to try there are three YouTube channels I frequent the most to get that information. With how many new games I’ve been playing as of late, I’ve been watching a lot of videos and thought, hey, maybe others would benefit from these channels as well. A quick disclaimer though before getting started; if you’re a kindergarten teacher looking to introduce your class to the world of MMOs well good for you but I wouldn’t recommend playing any of these videos for your class. While the content creators are all very funny, they definitely use language that is not suitable for the kiddos.
The HiveLeader
If you’re looking for a quick overview of an MMO with hilarious commentary, this is where you want to start. The HiveLeader reviews MMOs in about a 5-8 minute video which is perfect if you want the general feel of a game without investing a lot of time into a more thorough video. However don’t let the short video length and focus on humor fool you, there’s a lot to be gleaned about an MMO from these reviews. Of the three listed here, I’ve been watching The HiveLeader the longest and have even gone back and watched through his entire backlog of videos as well. This channel is entertaining to watch whether you care about the games being reviewed or not.
MMO Grinder
If you want a thorough review of a game from someone who has spent more than a couple of hours with the title, I would highly recommend the MMO Grinder. This channel primarily takes a look at free to play games and spends a good 20-40 minutes going over the graphics, sound, gameplay, community, and cash shop of every game featured. Each game reviewed has been played for a couple of weeks by the host and a few of his guildmates so there is plenty of first hand research. The MMO Grinder is probably the number one source I rely on for gathering information before trying a new game.
The Lazy Peon
This is a new one that I only recently discovered however what I like about The Lazy Peon is that you get a very real experience of what your first 5-6 hours of gameplay will feel like but in a condensed 18-25 minute video. Unlike the MMO Grinder, what you’ll find here is video footage and commentary taken during those exploratory hours of gameplay. What I like about this channel is that it gives you a really good sense of what your own experience will be like. If a game’s tutorial is confusing, the optimization is poor, or a feature is bugged you’ll see firsthand how those things affect the new player experience. There’s overlap here with what the other channels offer but it nevertheless stands out as a useful source. Be forewarned though, of the three The Lazy Peon is by far the biggest potty mouth of them all. This channel is definitely not safe for work or around young kids.
Waiting For Rez 
TheHiveLeader is hilarious. I linked his Guide to Healing in MMOs on my guild forums when it came out and people like to quote it back to me to this day. 😀
Peon used to be a WoW YouTuber and I think is a prime example of someone who’s managed to successfully emancipate himself from that game; his first impressions videos are really fun. He also has very clear preferences – which are quite contrary to my own in many respects – but once you’ve watched a couple of his videos you’ll soon get a good idea of what to expect of a new game based on what he thinks of it.
Will have to check out the MMO Grinder… (though you accidentally linked him to TheHiveLeader’s channel)!
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Yes, Peon does have very specific tastes. I almost took him off my list of channels when after writing this I watched his unfavorable review of The Secret World. They were fighting words in my book. 😉
And thank you for letting me know a about the link. I’ve since corrected it and you should definitely check it out. They are the best reviews of MMOs I’ve found on YouTube. They are fair, thorough, and entertaining. His channel was my main motivation for writing this, I really wanted to support his work.
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Yeah, the TSW review was actually where I thought his preferences really started to show clearly: he wants the gameplay to not be too cerebral, but as flashy as possible, preferably allowing him to mow down enemies by the dozen. A lot of commenters told him he was doing it wrong. 😛 But he’s very entertaining in his own way.
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I find the list interesting, but I would only recommend the first two.
The Hive Leader for me is just how you describe it. Short, nicely made, amusing.
For the MMO Grinder, I think you even give him too little credit. The quality of his reviews usually is very good and for me very much spot on. While he for a while gave the impression to do all the testing himself, he by now sometimes mention that his guild and team are doing the testing and he is presenting what they came up with together. Being done by a team, the reviews are more fair and balanced, or at least give that impression. For sure the presentation is more calm, without all the hate and bile you find with many other reviewers. While the creator mentions that he has preferences, I never noticed them to turn into predjudice or toxicity.
This and the fact that he sticks to a good format, giving a good introduction and overview of the tested game and at all full reviews listing up the good, bad and some specialities, just makes it fun to watch.
The third, I personally avoid like the plague. He is on the absolute opposite end of the scale. Where the MMO grinder is fair and moderate, he is fully toxic.
Anything which requires brain, he shoots down. Anything which requires any level of dedication or learing to be able to play, he shoots down. I have to force myself to even call his products to be “reviews”, but I have watched a few of his works and I found that absolutely everything he finds to be not absolutely to his taste, he not only points out, but he tends to go nuclear about everything. Even the smallest perceived flaws, which other people actually consider unique and positive quirks, he not only criticizes, but he always has to open the big barrel of toxicity.
I am sorry, but I think he represents that part of the gaming community which we should not support. I still believe that manners do matter, and that we gamers are also able to use them. I might not be able to teach this to people like him, but as there are also positive examples around (see: MMO grinder), I rather send people only there.
Not advertising him might not be the “big deal”, but it might still mean lessclicks, so he doesn’t turn up at the first page of a search right away. In the example of TSW, which was mentioned already, I think that his review might have cost the game some players who considered the game but were turned off by his deeply flawed, biased and toxic presentation of the game.
While this is just one example, I also think that this is true for some other games he puked upon for no apparent reason. He himself might thrive on what he does, but he does so on the back and at the cost of the genre we enjoy. I consider this not worthy to be supported.
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Thanks for this post! I’ve been following a few of these types of channels and I hadn’t seen TheHiveLeader yet.
FG3000 is another YouTuber doing these with his “MMO Hopper” series. His EQ2 review is spot on and I never noticed it before!
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Love HiveLeader. 😀 Nice guy, too. MMO Grinder I need to watch more of, and shall inspect FG3000. Woo! (The Lazy Peon grates on me)
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MMO Grinder is amazing. He does such a fantastic job, I’ve been slowly but surely going through the entire backlog of his reviews.
As for The Lazy Peon, I understand why he can be grating, and I certainly do not agree with all of his opinions but what I like about his first impressions series is that they provide a pretty accurate picture of what the first 6 or so hours will be like for a brand new player with little to no research. I think they are telling of a game’s stengths and weaknesses in providing instruction and capturing a player’s interest.
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