I'm going to be the first to say it: I am a Geometry Dash YouTuber. Whether or not you think that makes me knowledgeable or bias is up to you. All I ask is that you hear me out.

In the early days, Geometry Dash YouTube consisted of EveryPlay replays. Seeing a big YouTuber actually play the game with live reactions was a luxury and seeing someone give detailed commentary on the game was impossible.

But as time went on, some dedicated Geometry Dash players started uploading to their YouTube channels. It started with replays of their completions but soon enough some would begin to go beyond that.

As time went on, content would get bigger. YouTubers like EVW focused his content solely on Geometry Dash while players like Sea1997 introduced detailed commentary to the game.

But what stayed constant was that those who made videos on the game would not make a career out of it. While popular, the game did not have a big enough viewerbase on YouTube. Those who wanted to make real money would pursue traditional careers or at the very least had a part time job.

With this, those making content mostly did it out of passion. While getting some ad revenue on the side was nice, making a living off of Geometry Dash was never going to happen.

But for the first time ever: that is changing.

With the community constantly reaching new peak player peaks and being the most alive it'a ever been, a Geometry Dsh YouTube revolution went underway. Many Geometry Dash channels, of all different kinds, popped up in 2021 and blew up in 2022.

With this, YouTubers began to notice that this passive revenue started to become a lot. It started to become enough to pay for rent and food. Then it started to become enough to buy luxuries. Perhaps, for the first time ever, it was possible to make a sizeable income off of Geometry Dsh YouTube.

Making a living off of YouTube was nothing new. But making a living off of Geometry Dash YouTube was unheard of.

With the combination of countless new YouTubers joining the scene and the rising potential ad revenue possible, Geometry Dash YouTube started to become competitive. Wherever money is to be made, there will always be competition. This was no different.

Views started to mean a lot. YouTubers, behind the scenes, began fixating on how to optimize their content perfectly.

The days of uploading monologues with random level replays in the background were over. Now, hundreds were doing that.

Views. Retention. CTR. Impressions. CPM. It all started to be optimized.

But with this, the old aura of Geometry Dash YouTube was gone. No longer would you get genuine commentary; everything was to be MrBeast-ified. Optimization was crucial.

And some people don't like that.

I can see why. We all have nostalgia for those old Minecraft letsplays—before all the light-speed editing and shouting commentary took over. I can see why some players don't want that to happen to Geometry Dash.

But as they say, the train has already left the station.

The Geometry Dash community have continuously criticized (mostly on Twitter) "newgen" YouTubers. They criticize unresearched videos, clickbait, and over-optimized content.

I do not support misinformation, misrepresentation, and cash-grab content. I will not lie when I say there is now some of that on Geometry Dash YouTube.

But what I have thus far failed to mention is that despite this new type of content—despite all the optimization and MrBeast-ification: there is still passion.

At the end of the day, there are much better audiences on YouTube for instant cash. There are bigger communities to make a career on. Those who stick to Geometry Dash YouTube do so out of passion.

There is nothing wrong with optimizing content for views or wanting to get more ad revenue. In fact, most people doing this are only doing so to continue making excellent Geometry Dash content: because it's what they enjoy.

I make my full-time living off of my 80,000 subscriber Geometry Dash YouTube channel. I optimize for retention, CTR, CPM, and all the other metrics. But I do so because I want to make Geometry Dash content, and getting the views and revenue is what allows me to do so.

I genuinely want to make my living, for the rest of my life, making Geometry Dash videos.

Call me crazy: but it's what I enjoy. I want to pursue what I enjoy and that's doing YouTube on the game and for the community I love.

But the distaste I see from the community is something I must protest against. Just because a few make that instant cash kind of content doesn't mean all "newgen" (or even YouTubers who make the same type of content) do so as well.

Understand that when people optimize, it's not always because they’re evil, heartless, money-hungry scorpions. It’s for the opportunity to continue doing what they love by making money doing it.

Do you pursue your University degree because it pays more, or because you genuinely enjoy it? For most, it's because it's what they're passionate about. But they still wish to make as much money possible doing it as they could. That's the dream: being able to make money doing what you love, so that your job doesn't feel like a job, but a hobby.

I'm not saying you should quit your education to pursue Geometry Dash YouTube. YouTube in general is a risky career, let alone the small subset that is Geometry Dash YouTube.

But making passive income off of something you love is a gift.

So to answer the question I posed earlier: is Geometry Dash YouTube really that bad?

Where money can be made, evil money-hungries will be found. But that doesn't mean all YouTubers have evil intentions just because they want to optimize their content for the algorithm.

So, while the scorpions surely exist, their intentions should not be generalized to everyone. Don't assume someone bad before you hear their side of the story.

I don't like effortless content, because it puts a bad reputation on Geometry Dash YouTube. So here I am telling you to avoid a few bad apples, but try and find the passion that goes into content. Because there is always passion.

Call my thumbnails clickbait or my editing too optimized, but appreciate the fact that I made 10 different decorated levels each with unique gimmicks for a single, eight minute video. Appreciate the fact that I broke from the norm and came up with a new idea for a challenge instead of doing a traditional letplay. Appreciate the fact that I spent a night, or many, editing that one video. Appreciate the fact that I spent time of my life uploading a Geometry Dash video to YouTube.

I don't want to sound egotistical by using myself as an example. But I know myself better than I know others, and maybe the thing I said about myself at the start is at play here. The first thing, hopefully.