Friday, February 24, 2012

FAQ: Just When I Have the Answers, They Change the Questions

I was originally going to make a video for this, but after realizing everything I kept forgetting to say after a couple takes and needing to sleep for my midnight shift at my second job, I decided to just make a blog about it.  Basically, I'm going to address a few things that I've either been asked recently, or have been asked repeatedly.

That kind of feeling.

#1. "Why aren't you on TGWTG?"

It doesn't happen that often, but every time I see someone ask this I get the urge to wave my hands frantically in front of me and babble incoherently about why I should never be there like a cartoon character.  The answer to this is pretty simple, though, and it goes something like this:

-I haven't made any attempt to apply as a contributor, nor plan to because
-They aren't accepting anyone for talent pick-up, nor have they for quite some time, and
-Part of being a contributor to the site is the ability to submit content on a regular basis, e.g. one article/video/podcast/whatever every two weeks.  Considering I first hinted at the next part of the Bloody Roar 3 Retrospective more than five months ago and have since failed to meet a personal deadline for it, I wouldn't last very long there.  Oh, and
-I'm not that good.  Then again, neither is Bennett the Sage.

You heard me.

#2. "You made fun of my fanfiction in that one video.  Please take it down."

This is a specific request that was posted after I put up all the video segments from the Bloody Roar Marathon.  The author of Blue Moon (Is that what it was called?  I can't remember.) said it was made for a friend and that they'd appreciate if I took it down.

Not to get into semantics, but I wasn't the one who made fun of it.  Blondeguygamer was.  I just quietly raged about the content of it and how wrong most of it was.

There are many reasons that I haven't taken down that video or edited the fanfiction portion out of it, which include the following.  For one, that would be a bit unfair to Blondeguygamer, who took the time to script out, film, and edit the video he contributed.  Second, I was and still am utterly baffled by the fancition itself: the misportrayed characters, the botched backstories, etc.  

Third, I have no sympathy for people who get upset when something they posted on the Internet, publicly, where anyone who might love it or hate it can see it, gets made fun of.  The author said this was written for a friend, in which case there were so many other ways this could have been handled.  Print it out and give it to them.  Put it on a disc or flash drive and give it to them.  Post it somewhere that has privacy settings or will otherwise only make it viewable to specific people.  E-mail it to them, either as an attachment or just in the body of the message.  There are tons of other options!

And to compound that point, instead of sending me a private message about it, the author requested this and said they wrote that fanfic in my public channel comments, which anyone and everyone has access to.  

Is she eating the laptop or vice versa?

However, the biggest sticking point here is that I've done the same damn thing.  I have my own terrible fanfiction on the Internet where anyone can/has see(n) it.  I knew the risks then and I still do now, which is why some of them have been up for over four years, and some that have been up for almost ten years.  I leave them up and don't get upset about the criticism they get because I can look back and acknowledge their shortcomings, and use that to mature as a writer.  It's the same reason I leave almost all of my crappy videos up on my YouTube channel (Shenmue, THPS3, the list goes on).

There are also certain things that prevent me, a citizen of the Internet for over a decade and YouTube for over 6 years, from showing sympathy.  Such things include having a username with "emo" and/or a number higher than 100 in it, listing "ghetto high" under School, listing Paramore AND Panic at the Disco under Music, and a complete and utter disregard for the English language.  

In summation, no.

#3. "Where is <insert video here>?"

I hear this a lot, particularly for 5 Dollar Gaming.  I'm going to try and explain this as thoroughly as possible so that, hopefully, I'll stop getting this as often.

The original plan, which is still the current plan, was to release videos in the following pattern:

Bloody Roar Retrospective --> 5 Dollar Gaming --> BRR --> SC On... --> BRR --> 5DG --> and so on.

Looking back at the release order of these particular videos shows this pattern.  That being said, I've been stuck on the "BRR" part, specifically Bloody Roar 3, for quite some time now.  Since starting the retrospective and 5 Dollar Gaming a lot has changed for me.  I've moved to a new place (still haven't finished unpacking yet) and don't have the PS2 set up yet.  I've been having issues with my capture equipment and may need to replace it entirely, which is why I haven't streamed or recorded any console games for awhile.  I've taken on a second job which includes a midnight to 8am shift, which I'm typing this part of the blog from right now.  I'm still in college and have switched majors to Japanese which, while I enjoy it a lot more than Journalism, moves at breakneck speed from lesson to lesson and requires (for me at least) a lot more time to devote to studying.

Also, there's that convention I staff which is coming up in March--A&G OHIO A&G OHIO A&G OHIO--for which I again will be stepping in the wrestling ring.  I won't say as who, but I will post this picture to completely give it away and make the beginning of this sentence utterly pointless.

IN AMERI-whatever.

#4. "<Generic 'Get More Subscribers' Message>"

<Generic 'Fuck Off' Message>

#5. "Can You Do X-Men Legends 2?"

Sorry, but no.  I liked the game, I played through the game, but that was a long time ago and I've since forgotten everything about it.  Maybe some time in the future, but right now I have no desire to go through another 99-part odyssey.

#6. Actual comment on one of the X-Men Legends videos: "wat game is this"

... I quit.