AMV Editing: A dying hobby (?)

[Animated]

Some days ago, while super-searching for a video, I saw this:



And then, looking back at the forum... the numbers were indeed telling the truth: The glory days of editing are over. What do I see every single day? Some random posts here and there, new members trying to promote their videos, only 3 dozens of videos on the top 10% list... No one gives opinions anymore - not even comments, no one cares about the org contests (except for the contestants), all the great old editors are gone... What happened? Is this really a dying hobby?

Also, what can be done to save what can be saved? Would the org's redesign help at all? Would a big international contest (AMV Olympics) change anything?

Discuss.

[Otohiko]

One suggestion: don't look at the .org as definitive evidence of anything. AMVing is alive and well. The .org is not; it's not entirely youtube's fault, but I think to suggest that AMVing is dying is premature. In particular, if you ever go to a major convention AMV event, you'll see plenty of evidence otherwise. While .org activity has dropped, you'll see that as far as contest and event participation, or as far as even actual videos released, AMVs are alive and well. It's just that the .org has not kept up with the times. There is no lack of either AMVs or fan interest, just that it's moved elsewhere.

[sakuraslight]

I am sure its not dying but people are uploading to other areas or don't think the videos are good to be put on the org. I know i need to upload a fair few of my videos from that past year i have put them on YT but not on the org. I think what might put people off now id the complexity of putting the information in while uploading like the FTP and all the pages you have to go through.

[Eake4]

In my view, people are becoming lazier, even the ones who just recent began this hobby. The idea of 'beta' tracks and never completing them is not foreign on youtube, whereas on the org, full videos are to be uploaded, thus a rise of AMVs in other video sharing sites such as youtube and decline in the org. Also, most new editors probably originate from youtube anyways, so they may never even come close in contact with the org, a drop in videos is also possibly due to older editors stopping at around this time.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

Pretty much now there are TONS of places to place a video.. in the so called glory days, the golden doughnut (hosting here) was a HUGE advantage for editors as it was one of the only places to put up your video for pretty much free (next to a donation of course )

the other aspect is, there might be a bit less editors now editing, but the AMV contest and con presence has mushroomed so it looks like there is a LOT less AMVs just do to the shear demand at cons..

Vlad

[AceD]

As a worldwide thing AMV editing seems pretty darn alive to me, and there is probably more people watching AMVs than ever before.

[Ileia]

Yes, it's just the Org that's dead.

[Animated]

So, to sum up: The only thing that's dying is the org itself, and not the hobby? It just seems weird to see a forum with 800.000+ members that once was a living community, being now totally forgotten. Feels bad man.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, most of those 800,000 accounts are 1-off things people were forced to make after a con to download 1 or 2 videos and then never used again... And spambots.

As to the org being dead, I'll put it in perspective. I just matched my 9-year total view count on all the videos I've ever made here on YouTube... In 60 days... With a single video. The only thing the org had going for it was feedback, but that pretty much stopped years ago... Right now, its pretty much just a place where you can upload certain things and be fairly sure they won't get hit with DMCA takedowns because we're too obscure and off the radar for anyone to notice.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

Well.. technically to say we are dead or dying is a bit over the top. It's pretty much like anything else. Take TV for example, the market shares of networks has dropped dramatically over the years due to the shear number of independent stations and thus options the viewer has..

At one point the ORG was the only place for AMVs.. Now there are a LOT of places and communities... Again, a lot of options so I would say we are not DYING in that respect, just the market share has shrunk just like pretty much everything else out there...

Vlad