Is it wrong to prefer video tutorials?

Ladi_Pix3l

Member
I'm a visual learner and I like to see things work in action rather than going off the manual and using the code completely wrong. There's nothing wrong with reading instructions and getting the gist of the information before the attempting the process yourself. I just like to see an example of the code or function working.

Yes I know the manual has examples of the code, but I'd like to see maybe an image showing it in action...
 

poliver

Member
you gonna learn at a snails pace if you only use video tuts. read, try and you'll see it in action if that's what your looking for.
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
If you're reading off the Manual and you keep using functions wrong by acting against its advice, that goes well below what it means to be a visual learner.

"Visual learning" is quickly becoming an euphemism for functional illiteracy, much the same way "alternative facts" is becoming an euphemism for lies.
 

Mike

nobody important
GMC Elder
Well, we disagree here - which is why we've added in video to ours. I personally think a combination of both is by far the best way to learn. The video will quickly clear up any minor issues you have when reading text, where you'll think "What do you mean by that?" You can just watch them do it, and you'll know exactly what they mean.

Text is good for going over things again and picking up snippets over time - or quickly reminding yourself how something is done, but video is the ultimate in clarity if you watching someone do something. You can see every button, every menu, every line of code - and can pause to catch up and mimic things.

We added the ability for a good reason. So use what ever works for you.
 

Ladi_Pix3l

Member
"Visual learning" is quickly becoming an euphemism for functional illiteracy
What do you mean by that? I agree with continuing using functions wrong against it's advice, but in the sense of trying the function out but still not understanding it's use is what I'm referring too.

I mean to be fair, I guess that's what this forum is for. Asking questions about code that you're having issues with.
If anything, I'm think I'm just looking for more understanding
 
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Rattlejaw

Guest
There is absolutely nothing wrong learning from a video tutorial. As long as it's a quality video that is teaching a concept properly, it's really the best way learn imo. A well done video tut is basically a virtual classroom.

I don't get the hate directed towards learning by video. If that's the case, why even go to school or college? Just hand everyone a textbook. Why bother paying school teachers?

Again, this is assuming the video tut is properly done.
 
I don't get the hate directed towards learning by video. If that's the case, why even go to school or college? Just hand everyone a textbook. Why bother paying school teachers?
At school or college you can ask questions during the presentation of information. During a video you cannot ask the question to have a part better explained. You can pause the video and ask the question in the comments, but are then reliant upon the person involved to: 1) notice your question, 2) answer your question, 3) or be bothered to explain it better. If it takes a long time for any response to come back, will people have hung around not progressing with the video further until they get the response, or will they just steam ahead doing what else is in the video regardless of whether they understand it all or not.

That seems to be where the problem comes from for a lot of people. The presenter of the video with gloss over the majority of their code without actually explaining things properly. I have seen many where they have said something like "just use <blah> and <blah> here, trust me it works." and that is the extent of the explanation of why it is being done that way.

I agree that watching videos can help you - I still do it even though I have >25 years of software development under my belt - but back it up through "learning by doing" as well.
 

csanyk

Member
I'm a visual learner and I like to see things work in action rather than going off the manual and using the code completely wrong. There's nothing wrong with reading instructions and getting the gist of the information before the attempting the process yourself. I just like to see an example of the code or function working.

Yes I know the manual has examples of the code, but I'd like to see maybe an image showing it in action...
There's no wrong way to learn. Whatever works for you, whatever works best, do it. There's a ton of youtubers who post tutorials for gamemaker, so have at it.

Personally I find video based learning to be good for certain things, not for others. It depends a lot on the quality of the material in the presentation and how well it's being presented.

The downside to video content is it's not really accessible to search engines, meaning it's hard to find stuff if it's not titled and tagged well enough to match what you're searching on, and in a long video you may have to sit through a lot of extraneous stuff while you wait for the good part.

Also, it can be faster to skim a book, or index, or table of contents, or search engine results page to find an answer to a simple question. But when you want to understand how to do something complex, a step by step video watching someone do it, and going through the steps is fantastic.

What I would really like to see more of is online books (eg, a website) that uses video the way traditional printed books used illustrations. Imagine reading a book on how to program with NO photos showing what the tools look like, and so you have to learn the correct names that the book uses for all the different features in the IDE, the different UI controls, etc. Still images with a few arrows and labels can make all of that way clearer than paragraphs of text by itself ever could. Well, a gif animation or short video can do even better, and web sites can do that! I would like more :30-2:00 videos, where the bulk of the learning is covered by text, and the videos serve as illustrations, and fewer 20-60 minute videos where it's more like an episode of TV where you have to go through a long explanation where you spend a lot of the time watching the narrator type.
 
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Ladi_Pix3l

Member
There's no wrong way to learn. Whatever works for you, whatever works best, do it. There's a ton of youtubers who post tutorials for gamemaker, so have at it.

Personally I find video based learning to be good for certain things, not for others. It depends a lot on the quality of the material in the presentation and how well it's being presented.

The downside to video content is it's not really accessible to search engines, meaning it's hard to find stuff if it's not titled and tagged well enough to match what you're searching on, and in a long video you may have to sit through a lot of extraneous stuff while you wait for the good part.

Also, it can be faster to skim a book, or index, or table of contents, or search engine results page to find an answer to a simple question. But when you want to understand how to do something complex, a step by step video watching someone do it, and going through the steps is fantastic.

What I would really like to see more of is online books (eg, a website) that uses video the way traditional printed books used illustrations. Imagine reading a book on how to program with NO photos showing what the tools look like, and so you have to learn the correct names that the book uses for all the different features in the IDE, the different UI controls, etc. Still images with a few arrows and labels can make all of that way clearer than paragraphs of text by itself ever could. Well, a gif animation or short video can do even better, and web sites can do that! I would like more :30-2:00 videos, where the bulk of the learning is covered by text, and the videos serve as illustrations, and fewer 20-60 minute videos where it's more like an episode of TV where you have to go through a long explanation where you spend a lot of the time watching the narrator type.
That's actually what I would like to see too.
What I personally do when watching a video tutorial, is do my best to understand the key points to the topic and note down what I don't understand and do my best to read about them in the manual.

To be honest though. 7 times out of 10 I'll be so brain fried that basic knowledge and common sense of game maker will slip through my brain :confused: (like my recent post about pausing path and timelines)
 
Yeah whatever works for you. Just make sure the tutorials are worth your time. Some people out there have 2 tutorials for the same thing and both still result in issues. Other times, microphone issues or difficult accents to understand have gotten in the way of their educational value.

As for me, after falling into video tutorial traps, I learned more from Google searching the manual.
 
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FROGANUS

Guest
Video tutorials were what led me to Gamemaker, so I think they're great..
but if you're saying you don't like using the manual at all? i'd advise you to give it another try.
the long list of commands and info is daunting at first but its actually broken into pretty logical and readable chunks for the most part..
does your middle click shortcut work?
 

ThePC007

Member
Personally, it depends entirely on what kind of tutorial it is. Learning to use a new GUI is probably easier by watching a video tutorial whereas learning something specific about code (like, how to make a shader or something) would probably be easier in a text tutorial, since you could skim through it much faster and it would also have the added benefit of being able to copy the code examples, which you cannot do in a video.
 

Hyomoto

Member
There are a large number of absolutely useless videos out there, and many that are on the cusp of usefulness but ultimately either lack a vital piece of their own puzzle, or simply won't address the specific angle at which you are trying to address. But, the same goes for programming manuals. These materials aren't tailored to you specifically, so finding one that helps you out in more than just a cursory way is a treat and should be enjoyed.

But is it wrong to prefer videos? Well, you are certainly doing yourself a disservice by omitting large volumes of alternate instruction. Beware skipping valuable tools simply because they lack moving pictures and sound. As someone who works in a highly technical job: you have to read the manual. There aren't videos on every topic, and not every video can cover every aspect, and most videos are distracting by their very nature. When you need to see an example in motion they are perfect, but I'd caution against making them your primary reference.
 
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devbyskc

Guest
A good discussion and I'd like to add my 2-cents. I live overseas and the problem I have with video learning is that they don't really work well for me. The problem is that it seems all the vendors and others making videos assume everyone has a direct broadband connection. Well in my case I don't. So when I watch a video to learn a new program or technique, I experience the proverbial buffering issue. As I watch a video I have to wait for the buffering before I can continue. If I pause to try something, then restart, the buffering often times jumps ahead of where I left off. When I "rewind" the buffering kicks in again and I lose continuity. I am also of the old school fashion and prefer my initial learning from reading and typing in the code examples in the text/illustrations. The videos have been useful after I have completed a book or book section. In this fashion the video is a reinforcement of what I have read and practiced. The comment about being able to answer questions is important and relevant, and I agree with the statement that you are often left at the mercy of the presenter to respond. The analogy of a classroom is a good one, but as one commenter made, in a classroom you can ask a question and get immediate feedback from the instructor. It would be nice to have vendors, GameMaker included, offer a text version of their videos that can be downloaded, worked, and then followed up with watching the video.
 
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Music_By_Rob

Guest
I'm a visual learner and I like to see things work in action rather than going off the manual and using the code completely wrong. There's nothing wrong with reading instructions and getting the gist of the information before the attempting the process yourself. I just like to see an example of the code or function working.

Yes I know the manual has examples of the code, but I'd like to see maybe an image showing it in action...
It's all down to how you learn better!
 
0

0.Bytes

Guest
I'd rather use a video than a book or whatever, to learn something quick and get an idea of what to do, but I always like to have a book or whatever to go deeper on what I want to learn
 

klys

Member
Videos are good when something use a interface not very good documented.

Documentation very well done is better than any video tutorial, more explaintory, use less world energy, use more your brain.
 
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NAN_ Games

Guest
I'm a visual learner and I like to see things work in action rather than going off the manual and using the code completely wrong. There's nothing wrong with reading instructions and getting the gist of the information before the attempting the process yourself. I just like to see an example of the code or function working.

Yes I know the manual has examples of the code, but I'd like to see maybe an image showing it in action...
It's fine! Video's is what got me into Game Maker: Studio!
 

BMatjasic

Member
I try to provide both of them. The written ones on my website and the video ones on my youtube channel. I think some people find it really easier to read via tutorials and some via videos to actually see the prototype of the mechanism so by that they can decide whether it's good or not to look at the tutorial (My personal opinion).
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
Video tutorials were what led me to Gamemaker, so I think they're great..
It's fine! Video's is what got me into Game Maker: Studio!
Simply being led to game development by videos doesn't mean it's the right preference. It only means it's a feel-good, attractive preference.

Video tutorials have led to some of the most ridiculous topics and trends I've seen on Q&A. HeartBeast's RPG tutorial is one that I have an ongoing vendetta against for teaching bad use of the physics system and conflating all movement with physics. In this topic, the video's author posted unedited, unrehearsed work with obvious flaws that were patched in a whack-a-mole manner. Many of these authors didn't know the difference between a tutorial and a live stream, and actually pertinent skills were poorly taught or not at all.

Here's the golden rule as for whether your preference is right: If you learn to do your own work and see where things go without help, your preference is working and you should keep at it. If you're still asking for further bailouts online, your preference is wrong and deserves to be questioned.
 
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Blakkid489

Guest
HeartBeast's RPG tutorial is one that I have an ongoing vendetta against for teaching bad use of the physics system and conflating all movement with physics.
Not that I wanna start a hate raid on HeartBeast but I have to agree. His tutorials feel. . . . just-do-this-and-it-will-work thing and it kinda bugs me a bit. Maybe I'm just looking at it from a different perspective but I don't think the tutorials are benefiting the developer.

my opinion
 
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TimothyAbelovski

Guest
I think that while learning anything, you need to be able to do something wrong deliberately, then get the feedback that tells you what you did is wrong, to reinforce your boundaries. I dunno - I need interactive learning.
 

Electros

Member
I think that video tutorials can be a great way to start out, in particular for familiarising where things are within the IDE, menu options etc which may not be immediately apparent (where it is easier to see visually than in a text description).

With regard to code, I think most video coding tutorials should be regarded with a view that you are seeing one way of achieving something, but it is usually much more beneficial to try and work out the approaches you would use (and hit the forums if you really get stuck!).

I think video tutorials for art, design, animation hold out better, again because you are probably learning a lot about the IDE / package, as well as the actual tutorial content.
 

nesrocks

Member
You're set because every time I search for "how do I do this" on google the only result is a 10 minutes unedited video when a simple phrase or image showing where the option is would work. It's kind of infuriating, but it's the trend.
 

NazGhuL

NazTaiL
I like good old plain text web page that can be easily printed. Tutos, examples, references, etc... (I printed a couple of techblog as a bedside book!)
But here we are, in 2017 and i'm 100% sure that cool good looking Youtube tutorials will bring more people into the game making. It's easy, attractive and sometime entertaining! As soon as they get to the point that they want more complexity in their project, they'll find out that those tutorial are simply not enough. Experience is the way. (But unfortunately, it takes time....) ;)
 

Niels

Member
I use a mix of videotutorials, blogs and reading the manual...
Usually in this order:
-first i read the manual, if its not really clear:
- look up on forums for people with a similair question
- then i watch a video about the subject
 
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