I have a confession to make: I haven’t watched hbomberguy’s new video yet. Not in full. I made it to the 26-minute mark, and then I had to stop. I only had enough time and energy this weekend to watch the video while I ate dinner. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to take in three hours and 51 minutes’ worth of discussion around plagiarism on YouTube in one night, and I was right to make that assessment. After I finished my chicken nuggets, I fell asleep an hour later. Thanks Lexapro for making me so sleepy all the time!
This isn’t to take a swing at hbomberguy, of course. I’m immensely excited to watch his new video in full. I have a personal stake in the plagiarism discussion too. My work has been stolen and republished on countless AI spam sites across the internet, and the video goes into excruciating detail regarding plagiarism of queer writers and creators by YouTuber James Somerton. It’s entirely plausible that I, myself, am a victim of plagiarism here.
More importantly, plagiarism is a serious offense to our industry, and part of my job as an editorial strategist is to help managing editors create policies and procedures to prevent plagiarism. So, you know, I should really watch hbomberguy’s video for work.
But alas, I just didn’t have four hours to spare to sit and watch a YouTube video on a Sunday. I’m fine with that, though. And I think we all should be.
Damn, hbomberguy’s “Plagiarism and You(Tube)” is long
For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, hbomberguy released his new YouTube video “Plagiarism and You(Tube)” on Dec. 2. “What is plagiarism?” the video’s description says. “Where did plagiarism come from? Who made plagiarism? Where am I, plagiarism? Can you help me?” His video is an in-depth examination of plagiarism, why it happens, and case studies in the wild.
While hbomberguy’s video is just a few minutes shy of four hours, this isn’t his first time releasing an incredibly long analysis on his channel. His Deus Ex: Human Revolution video was three hours and 33 minutes long. His RWBY examination was two hours and 27 minutes, and his Pathologic review clocked in around two hours and 10 minutes.
These aren’t YouTube videos, hbomberguy. These are feature-length productions! You could play them at my local theater.
I could see him doing just that, actually. And if he came to Brooklyn and premiered one of his YouTube videos, I hope he would show his “ROBLOX_OOF.mp3” deep dive. The video starts with the YouTuber looking at the history behind the “Oof” noise Roblox characters make when they die, and how it originated from a mediocre cult classic video game named Messiah from 2000.
However, just a half hour into the video, hbomberguy realizes there’s an odd case of misattribution being carried out by video game musician Tommy Tallarico. Sound designer Joey Kuras created the “Oof” sound, but Tallarico seems to want in on the credit. Gradually, hbomberguy discovers that Tallarico hasn’t been fully honest about a wide assortment of facts across his career, from the number of video games he’s worked on to whether MTV Cribs visited his house in the 2000s. Things get truly nuts in the Roblox video, and most of the long-form analysis has nothing to do with Roblox or the “Oof” sound. Instead, it becomes a longer look at stolen credit and reputation-building on the backs of others, and how prolific this is in the video game industry.
It makes sense, then, that hbomberguy would turn from Tallarico to Somerton and other plagiarists for his next video.
But also, I don’t mind that it’s long
After putting off watching the Roblox video for a full year, I finally watched the entire thing over Thanksgiving weekend. And wow. What a trip. Yes, of course, the video was long. It demanded my attention to follow the story. But it was worth my time and energy to understand the full picture of what, exactly, was going on with Tallarico and Roblox. The video was nothing short of an experience, something that made me far more conscious of proper attribution in my own work as both a journalist and a game developer.
I felt similarly emotional about another YouTuber over the Thanksgiving break: Fredrik Knudsen of Down the Rabbit Hole. Knudsen literally just put out a five-hour and 55-minute video on EVE Online, although he’s long embraced the long-form YouTube video format. His two-hour dive into YouTuber WingsOfRedemption was an eye-opening examination of fame, ego, and mental illness left untreated—something that hit home for me as I, like Wings, recently started taking Lexapro for my own anxiety and depression.
These videos are not light, entertaining little skits to watch over breakfast. They are deep, meaningful, and thought-provoking.
The YouTube content creation sphere is changing. While some creators still seek out clickbait and simple attention-grabbing headlines, others are doubling down on quality over quantity. They’re seeking out mature and researched answers to life’s questions—”a measured response,” to quote hbomberguy himself. Their videos are also getting longer. ContraPoints’ Natalie Wynn has increasingly leaned toward nuance and length ever since she crossed the one-hour, 30-minutes mark with “Canceling” in 2020, and Philosophy Tube’s Abigail Thorn nearly hit the same runtime with her “Crisis in the British Healthcare System” video from Nov. 11, 2022. For the record, the “ROBOLOX_OOF.mp3” video, “Canceling,” and Thorn’s healthcare system examination have all done incredibly well: 8.9 million, 5.4 million, and 2.1 million views each, respectively.
Sure, these YouTubers are enormous, established creators known for their in-depth analysis. But they also show that if you build it, they will come. If you embrace rigorous research and analysis, an eager audience will hang on your every word. So yes, hbomberguy, I didn’t watch your plagiarism video yet. But I will very soon, because I like what you have to say, and I respect what you do with your platform. No matter how long your video is, I’ll watch it.
And then I’ll play your video again while I fall asleep, just like I did with your Roblox video.
(featured image: hbomberguy)
