The Immediate, Gratifying Beauty of YouTube

So Dwarf Fortress just got updated...

I won't be writing a long schpeel about how much I have grown to love Dwarf Fortress over the years since I first discovered it while reading the Minecraft Wikipedia page. No, this post will be short, as it has been four days since Dwarf Fortress got its first update in over two years. I was anticipating this, of course, being someone who makes gaming videos on YouTube, you try and keep your ear out for things like this. I know DF has a big following, but not large enough to have much competition on the YouTube scene. While there are many videos already about DF, some of them being particularly good, and/or informative, I thought this would be the perfect time to start making videos on DF, as I really had been wanting too for a long time, but never felt compelled enough to do so. When I checked the Dwarf Fortress subreddit for the first time in months, actually close to a year, I found out Toady (the one and only developer) was coming close to releasing an update. As things got closer to update time, I thought making a day one video on the update as soon as it came out would be a really good idea. Hopefully, I thought, with the increase of traffic the update will create, the video traffic would increase as well, makes sense right? So when Toady did finally release 0.40.01, I knew the faster I got a video up on youtube, the better. I checked youtube to see if anyone had already got something up, and other than the famous, and awesome CaptnDuck livestreaming it, nothing had happened yet. I still had some time.

Unfortunately, I happen to be at a friends house with my PC and everything hooked up playing some Fistful of Frags (which is amazing by the way, and completely free). So after a couple of games, I packed up, drove to my house, quickly re-setup, and loaded up the fresh build of Dwarf Fortress. Not making much progress, as I seem to do most of the time, I stopped recording, edited it up (which took a decent amount of time), put the video on my phone, drove down the freeway a few exits, and finally uploaded the video underneath a strong cell tower at 4 in the morning.

Again, I expected to get a few views from the increase in interest for the game, but by the time I got back on my PC, it had 8 views. Granted, 8 might not seem like a lot, but getting a day's worth of views in under 10 minutes feels amazing. I'm not looking for pity or anything, I'm just saying it's amazing to get people watching a video you just made, as soon as you uploaded it. I guess the even crazier thing is that most, if not all the people that watched the video weren't subscribers, which means I got those 8 views from people searching YouTube for Dwarf Fortress videos. And before even a day had gone by, the video sat at over 300 views, and tonight, just over 700 views. I've put up 4 more videos as of now, with the 4th still being sent out to my subscribers. The first video has 700 views, with 40 comments, the second, 140 views, with 16 comments, the third having 57 views (in just over 24 hours) and 12 comments.

This, I must say, is amazing. Making a video for yourself, and your viewers, uploading it, and immediately getting views and feedback, is astonishing. I have never enjoyed YouTube more than these last few days, and all I can do is hope this lasts, even if only for a little while. It's a really crazy feeling, when I'm recording an episode now, I truly feel like I'm talking to my viewers, not to myself. And while I must admit these aren't the best videos I have ever produced, I really feel like making daily videos is the best way to nurture people that are newly subscribed. Consistency is key, and honestly, knowing people are going to watch my video as soon as it's up really makes me feel like recording all the time. It's just so damn compelling, to have an effect like that on people, even if it's just them typing a few words in the comments, or seeing the video get some likes, it has a profound affect on me.

I can see how people really get addicted to this kind of thing. I've heard YouTubing described as an immediate gratification type of thing before, but I've never experienced it like that, like I am now. And it is amazing.

So I just want to say thank you for all the poeple that have supported my video making endevours so far, as it really means the world to me, and I hope it shines through in the videos. Thanks for reading.

WTF Mate?

Seriously, why the syrupy french toast does this damn blog always default the damn font everytime I make a damn post? C'mon guys, this is rediculous. Also, yeah, those weekly reviews of my videos. Not gonna happen.

XCOM Monthly - Every Week

So they say ideas are like assholes, everyone's got one. I totally agree with that, so it makes me wonder, how many assholes do I have after talking about so many different ideas I have for my channel (most of them not actually seeing the light of day at that)? Anywho, here is a post about an Idea of mine. But first, it's inspiration.

Beagle aka Beaglerush aka Beags Bobby, a prominent YouTuber and ShackTactical player (a hardcore online Arma group) has been making a series called Ironman Impossible for a game called XCOM: Enemy Unknown. (Please, check it out, for your pleasure.) He has recently started Season 3 of the series adding the DLC "Enemy Within', and the popular "Long War" overhaul mod. He makes these videos by playing the game on the hardest difficulty, and without the ability to save scum (hence the title "Ironman Impossible"). Without stopping at playing an incredibly hard game at an astonishingly unforgiving difficulty, he then lays over post commentary in each episode showing you how, and why he made every decision that could possibly end the defense against the worst alien threat to humanity since the invention of...uh, asbestos.

Anyway, what Beagle manages to create is an amazing informative walkthrough of really tough game, and jams enough hilarity into each episode to keep you coming back, for me, It's my most anticipated series I've ever watched on YouTube. (Seriously, check out his series if you haven't already.) The only that could top it is when Davidr64yt was making his "X's Adventures in Minecraft" series. That will forever remain as my most loved thing on YouTube, and David was and continues to be a huge inspiration for my channel. But enough about those awesome guys, here is my idea for an XCOM Series:

The way the game works, is every month you spend being commander of the XCOM..uh, I guess we can call it the XCOM Initiative, you spend money on various things to help you win the war against the alien threat to humanity. Each country in the world funds your Initiative, and as the alien menace grows increasingly powerful, each country will start to panic. Once the panic levels of each country reaches a certain point, they will give up on your Initiative, and that means less cash flow going into investments against the alien threat. To lower panic levels, you must use your soldiers to take on various missions around the world against the aliens. I really not explaining these systems all that well, but the main idea here, is that the "Council" of countries meets with you every month, grades your performance with a letter grade (which is hilarious), and pays you for the next coming month.

The Idea here is to make a 20ish minute video of me playing the game on probably classic difficulty, as I'm really terrible (only playing on normal right now, but I can see it becoming a bit too easy), and going month by month with each episode. So Ep 1 will be the first month of the game, probably 3-4 ground battles (which can easily take up to an hour if you're really careful like me), and cut up everything to make it fit into a bite sized chunk of fun, and presumably fail, as again, I'm terrible. I think this would be fun for veterans to watch, as I will need lots of advice going forward with each month, and for new people, it will be fun to see the game go by quickly, so as to keep the attention of someone possibly not interested at first glance.

These will take a good amount of time to not only record, as again, each mission can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, but will also take a while to edit, as compiling that much footage and making a cohesive yet quick video will take some magic. So a weekly series should work, although I'm terrible at the whole consistency thing, and once college starts, I'm pretty sure everything is going to come to complete halt. *Just kidding hahahaha, subscribe to see more perfectly consistent daily videos from me for all of my series hahahaha, I'm not lying, don't...don't look over at my uploads tab...no...wait, wait!* I think thats the first time I've ever uttered the word subscribe in regard to my channel. I'm sure "calls to action" work, but I think I'll keep my begging to myself, thank you. That is until I start getting a regular flow of traffic. Then it's all "selling out" hands on this damn deck.

Anywho, thats just one of my new ideas I'm feeling passionate about with regards to my channel,  I also REALLY want to create an Overview/Installation Guide for the insanely popular "Long War" mod for XCOM: EW, but I feel like I won't sound like I know what I'm talking about If I've never completed Xcom before. IMA A SUPER NEWB, OK :/

So yeah, there is my long winded post about the ol' XCOM, hope that series gets made as I'm pretty sure it would make for some hilariousness, while still being barely informative enough to pass off as a Beagerush "Ironman Impossible" clone. Oh how I adore your XCOM videos. Really dude. The're a little too good. If you havent already watched the first episode by now...