Hello, everyone and anyone, Aaron the Webguy here with my own post of musings on a subject close to my heart - which I will get into later. I am filling in for Alexie who is currently wrestling with the tax demons and asking me questions like, “Did you spend X amount at the computer store and label it ‘WebGuy stuff?’” and “I don’t believe The Red Pen’s wardrobe is a business expense.”
Now for my favorite topic: which is me and my adventures.
My Channel art banner. Click thru to reach the channel and say hello if you like.
I recently started up my own YouTube Gaming channel, where I provide commentary over the footage of games I’m playing. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped me by subscribing to the channel. It’s been a little over three months since I started, and business is good and growing. Because there are a lot of creative folks reading this blog, I thought I would share some of my experiences with you and possibly get a little feedback on what it’s like to be your own boss.
There are many positives of having a creative job. Being able to summon up something on your own terms and give it shape with your choices is one. While I’m playing and providing my voice to my actions, I allow myself to go off on tangents on all sorts of topics. In fact, the tangents tend to lead to the best material, since it is just me talking about how much I dislike the new Transformers movies or whatever. It allows me to get excited and not just narrate what I am doing in a game.
I wonder if Alexie finds a wealth of ideas when she goes off on tangents too?
YouTube is a site filled with people, and I have had lots of folks reach out to me, either to get to know me better or just to reach out to someone. Oh man, I could be having a dark day where I’m just broken-down tired or emotionally low, but when I see that comment that says, “Thanks for doing what you do! You’re great!” it turns my gray skies blue. I get to interact with the viewers and have them steer the direction of what I am doing within the game. The term “Let’s Play” is often tossed out as meaning a walkthrough or game guide. What people forget is that I’m asking the people watching for feedback and taking their advice on what to do and where to go. It’s an awesome experience when you have that give and take with your fans. It’s a collaborative effort.
There are more positive aspects, but I wanted to focus, for a moment, on the reverse side: the negatives of a creative job and struggles of being your own taskmaster. The ability to summon up creative material may seem to be easy for Alexie, but sometimes it just isn’t flowing for me. I fall back on bad habits like repeating myself or just blindly stating my thoughts on the game like it’s a review or something like that. There is the excitement factor and joy when things are going well, but what about when things aren’t going well? The near-miss swearing, the outright swearing, the jagged edge to my voice, knowing that I’m not doing well in the game.
This is a cute farming life sim game I am trying out and I still manage to lose my cool playing the soccer mini game lol.
I sit back and reflect on both sides of the creative process I undergo each day and wonder whether it’s worth it. As of right now? Absolutely! I love what I’m currently doing, and the fact that I might be able to make a career of it fills me full of excitement. There are the downtimes, sure, but the good far outweighs the bad, and at the end of the day, I actually get to play some good games and provide some fun voiceover work that I hope makes people smile. In a nutshell, what it’s all about for me are the times I get feedback from viewers with laughter and enjoyment for what I’ve created. And I do my best to reach back out to them and get a dialogue started. Being good to your fans is by far the best model for success after all.
So, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings on my new YouTube Gaming Channel experience and the creative process. Here are the links for anyone interested in helping out or just wanting to watch something fun. I would love to hear back from you all about the struggles and rewards of creative work. Alexie will be back next week, and thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a wonderful day.
NSFW Animated Violent Images, but reason I am posting is the first two minutes on my take on the folk song, "Oh, My Darling Clementine." One of my favorite montages. ^ ^