2 Year YouTube Anniversary Blog Post! Sort Of...

On February 14th I celebrated my 2 year YouTube anniversary as a creator so to honour this, (and the fact I'm currently battling a virus and feel absolutely rubbish right now) I thought I would release the original script to the first ever video I uploaded discussing love in games and my love for gaming in general. Although as I look back on it the editing is rather basic and I'm not completely happy with the way it turned out, (that's the perfectionist in me sadly!) it's always interesting to see where you've come from in any creative format. At least I'd like to think there is an improvement in my work... but I guess you'll be the judge of that! My favourite part of the creative process is definitely the editing side, with being able to splice videos and pictures in to the script I've written to further accentuate the point I'm trying to get across being a most enjoyable endeavour, and the actual tangents I've been lead off on whilst trying to hunt down the perfect meme or video clip has opened up whole new avenues of thought I'd never even considered before... and websites no normal human being should view! (At least on purpose anyway.)

My only real regret when it comes to this first video is the fact I haven't been able to make more of them. The amount of time it took to even put together this relatively simple recording was ridiculous but since making it I do have a new found respect for anyone who does this on a regular basis; Ahoy and Jim Sterling being two of the people who I'm sure I've taken inspiration from and have two completely distinct ways in how to present their thoughts on screen. As a little YouTuber there is a fine line you need to balance upon between quality and quantity and it's fair to say I was bummed out big time after putting a lot of time and love in to that video and it having hardly any views, even today. (313 views as I write this!) To work so hard on something and not get the recognition you think it deserves can be a very frustrating/humbling experience and it was at this moment where I needed to decide on whether I was going to do this for the views and potential money making aspect of YouTube or because it's what I actually enjoy doing, and I think it's fair to say that after two years on the grind this has become my full time hobby and my passion for creating in any respect keeps me motivated to do what I do.

 I do however have this itch which needs some serious scratching right now.

As much as I like to showcase old and new games on the channel I feel the creative side of what I wanted to do on YouTube has taken a back seat from trying to keep up a regular schedule of content and although I won't go in to specifics right here right now, (VLOG incoming soon!!) I can see myself shaking up my routine soon with regards to the length of videos I upload and also what I actually choose to bring to the channel in order to free up some time for me to be able to put more creative works on to YouTube because let's face it, this isn't going to be a career defining moment for me; I'm not suddenly going to be earning a wage off doing this so I might as well be happy with what I choose to upload.

But I digress.

Below you will find the original script I wrote for that first video. If I have some witty remark to say about anything within the script or from that point in the accompanying video I will pop it in to brackets and italics to make it stand out. And let's face it, this is me so no doubt there will be some sarcastic remark earmarked in there somewhere!

And if you haven't seen my video you can check it out here:

                                                                               Thoughts of a 30-Something Gamer: Love in Games and for Gaming

Well, here you are:

So I've been thinking.... (The intro seemed to make sense at the time although it was filmed on a terrible phone camera... and yes, that has been dubbed over!)

About a week ago I found myself browsing through the Nintendo e-shop looking at all the old games available on the virtual console when I came across Super Mario Land, the very first game I owned for the original Gameboy I had as a kid, (well, apart from Tetris... EVERYONE owned Tetris) and I felt a pang of nostalgia I'd not felt in a very long time. As I sat there looking at the monochrome screenshots of those tiny sprites it suddenly dawned on me that Mario has been rescuing the same girl for a long time. (O.K. So in Super Mario Land it was a girl called Daisy... what can I say, the guy is a bit of a player when it comes to the ladies!) (So why include a pitcure A.C. Slater from Saved By The Bell? His name's Mario for Christ's sake! Sometimes I marvel at my own serendipitous luck when it comes to visual gags.. another reason why I want to do more of them.)

And that got me wondering... from a real life perspective what was his motivation? What could the reason be to give this little plumber the drive to continuously put himself and his brother in peril? At first I thought about the financial gains. There he is, running around the mushroom kingdom picking up coins carelessly left all over the place, unclaimed by anyone, who wouldn't pick them up? He collects A LOT of gold throughout each game, surely enough to be able to hang up the tool belt and live at a comfortable level? And then it hit me, it couldn't be about the money. You see, the thing about being motivated by material gain is you eventually get to the point where the accumulation of those materials outweigh the effort needed in order to accumulate them. In other words, when you have enough cash to see you good for the rest of your 3 lives why bother carrying on? He could slap that gold into a high interest account and live off the interest from his mansion in the Bahamas. (I did think about maybe going down the route that some girls just like to be chased and love to live a life of drama but I couldn't think of a good way to wrap up that thought process.)

So what else? Could it be his sense of justice? After all, Princess Peach is the head of State, the leader on the Mushroom Kingdom, surely it would be the right thing to do? The fact of the matter is the “right thing” is purely subjective here; when you break it down can you really justify the hundreds, if not thousands of creatures killed by Mario just to get to Peach? Note I say creatures, not enemies, these are the natural inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom. Take a look at almost any level in the Super Mario series and you will see that the majority of dangers featured are animals and vegetation just going about their day. They're not actively seeking Mario out to cause him harm, they're just out doing their own thing when an unknown presence enters their personal space and they react accordingly. Now from a real world perspective if you noticed a snake in the garden and it saw you it wouldn't automatically head in your direction to mess up your day, but if you go within a foot of it and start pogo-ing around like a lunatic there's a good chance it's going to try to fuck you up. And that's even before you start tackling Bowser's minions and traps in each castle who are after all, only trying to protect their boss on his property from an intruder. And then once Mario has been identified as a threat after that first level, (he has been breaking and entering after all, or at a very minimum level trespassing on private property with a pinch of vandalism to boot) they will go to any means to stop him... or at least what they are ordered to do by their employer.

So if cold hard cash and a sense of justice at any cost are just by-products of Mario's motivation to keep rescuing Peach over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... well you get the picture, this leaves as far as I'm concerned one feasible possibility: LOVE.

And that got me thinking: A lot of narrative-driven games that I've enjoyed over the years that have stuck with me because of the story have had the subject of love as their driving force for the protagonists. In The Secret of Monkey Island (one of my favourite games ever) Guybrush Threepwood is initially driven to become a mighty pirate but soon his priorities change when he meets the governor of Melee Island, Elaine Marley and falls madly in love with her. Sadly for him the ghost pirate LeChuck is also enamoured with the governess and decides to kidnap her, at which point Guybrush decides to try to rescue his beloved. Double Dragon also follows the same narrative with the player becoming Billy Lee, out to release his girlfriend Marian from the possession of the Black Warriors gang and their leader, Willy, with more than a little help from his twin brother Jimmy. Well, in 2 player anyway. A more modern take on the same tale can be found in Super Meat Boy, where Meat Boy is trying to avoid all sorts of dangerous obstacles in order to try and save his squeeze Bandage Girl from the evil clutches of Doctor Fetus.

These three examples recycle the original principle of the brave knight attempting to rescue the stricken maiden from the grasp of whichever evil person suites the ebb and flow of the story, though there are some games that have put an interesting spin on the classic formula concerning family rather than for an opted loved one. (that Lego clip was one of many I could have chosen from but to fit it in to the section I had to do a very subtle but extreme trim of several scenes in order to show what I wanted) In Fallout 3 the main drive behind your character is to find your father, who one day leaves the underground vault you have grown up in for the outside world and you, the player, ventures into the unknown of the capital wasteland in order to find him. In Fallout 4 the tables are turned as you are now the parent, and after being witness to a personal tragedy at the start of the game you vow to avenge for your loss and find your missing son, Shaun. In the same ilk Sid Meier's Pirates! (possibly my favourite game ever by the way!) has the hero scouring the Caribbean for his lost relatives, who were sold into slavery to pay off a family debt owed to the ominous Marquis De La Montalban when he was still a child. That and to make a ton of money... and maybe bag himself a governor’s daughter in the process. For a further twist on this aspect of family you could look at Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 1, where although the central character Lee isn't directly related to Clementine at the start of the game they soon form a co-dependant relationship which benefits them both throughout the story, and by the very sad but predictable ending the connection between them is so absolute it hits you right in the feels. Even a game like Altered Beast has love as it's driving force, and not from the player character. He is just a pawn being used by the God Zeus, who resurrects a fallen Roman Centurion and bestows bestial powers onto him in order to rescue his daughter Athena, kidknapped by a demon god called Neff. (As long as he collects 3 power orbs within each level, no free rides from the King of the Gods, you have to earn that shit.) (All the above examples are a pretty standard affair but I was mighty proud of that Altered Beast reference as I don't think it's as obvious a point as the others... I had to do a bit of research on that one believe it or not! Well, consult Wikipedia to conform my thoughts anyway.)

These are all in essence based around the same influence, the recovery of something that is lost. There are some games however, that have a unique view on the subject of love and how to interpret it in an interactive form. The Sims series lets you kiss, date, marry and “woohoo” (the sigh was real) anyone you like, young or old, male or female, and it seems with each iteration the options for gender, sexual orientation and sexual freedom keep getting bigger, and rather than it being restricted by the technical side of the software I think it's more to do with what is widely accepted as “the norm” which in itself grows larger with every generation. (or even since I made this video one could argue)

This brings me to one of my most favourite gaming characters of all time... Larry Laffer. (Last of the true men I tell you!) The Leisure Suit Larry series are the gaming equivalents to those sexual coming of age films you grow up with as a child; American Pie, Revenge of the Nerds and Porky's to name but a few. This 40 year old disco suit wearing, cheesy talking schmoozer has a heart that's bigger than his brain and although he always seems to end up in bizarre sexual escapades all he's really looking for is that perfect partner, that one true love.

The subject of love can span all genres of gaming, from platformers to puzzlers, first person shooters to beat-em-ups, and although unoriginal in premise the subject never gets old.

So why do I bring this up? Well, despite it being Valentines Day, (which seemed like an appropriate time to do this) seeing all those retro games available for the virtual console on the e-shop had me contemplating what gaming has meant to me throughout my life. (I'm getting old... I'm allowed to be retrospective!)

This year I am celebrating 25 years of being a gamer. (27 years now if anyone is keeping count) Schools, friends, jobs and even other hobbies have come and gone but gaming has been my one constant. (I typed "jobs" on a Google image search and Steve popped up and although it can be construed as bad taste it did give me a chuckle so I decided to keep it in) I have been privileged throughout this time to witness this leisure activity grow from a secretive, seemingly unhealthy, misunderstood pastime stereotyped by spotty nerds and middle aged men in their parents basement to a mass media outlet, enjoyed by everyone, young and old, male and female, sometimes together, and other times by yourself, but through gaming forums and websites, Youtube and Twitch, you're never alone. An outlet which today rivals the behemoths of television and film, both in money invested into the industry and money spent by the end user on the hardware, software and accessories required in order to enjoy this hobby to it's fullest.

Don't get me wrong, like any child growing up gaming has had it's teething problems, and some would say over the last few years gaming has been going through a very rough period; from software companies and distributors bleeding us dry with full games being sliced into pieces and distributed through DLC, season passes or as episodic content (and now loot boxes... *sigh*) to the actual content of the games themselves being certificated and vilified by people unable to grasp the very essence of gaming as an interactive experience and see it as a threat to the traditional forms of media and so criticise it at every available opportunity. And we don't do ourselves any favours. Over the past few years we've had fellow gamers turning on each other through the acts of “swatting”, (the act of getting armed police beating down the doors of popular streamers while they're streaming live on Twitch) for no reason other than jealousy to gaming “purists” outright verbally attacking people who are trying to shake off the stigma of what it means to be a gamer in some sort of twisted irony which seems to be lost on the attackers themselves.

These dark times can't last forever, and I know with the fullest of hearts that these problems will work themselves out eventually. It feels to me that the very concept of what makes us gamers as a society is evolving at such a pace it's forcing all of us to adapt quickly or be left behind, and it's the people who think kicking and screaming the loudest will stem the flow of change on the horizon. But things have to change. They have to evolve. Evolution in it's truest form is done by an entity to develop itself, to improve oneself, and this can only lead to a purer, more fulfilling pastime for us all.

To conclude, I love gaming, and I love being a gamer, and I love that my favourite hobby has grown into something which is widely acknowledged, widely accepted and worth fighting for. (most of the time...)

Hang on. Maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. Maybe love is the wrong way to describe why Mario is continuously putting himself and those closest around him in mortal danger. Maybe it's because of OBSESSION. Let's just spin this on it's head for a second. Princess Peach is Royalty. Royalty tend to have security guards protecting them at the very least, maybe an army at their beck and call 24 hours a day. How could Bowser continually kidnap a member of the Royal family without the guards around her getting wise to his dastardly plot? And why aren't they storming Bowser's castle and rescuing her? Maybe it's because she doesn't need to be rescued!

Maybe that's why she's never in any of the castles in the first few levels, it's not that she's never been in there, she's just high-tailed it as soon as she's heard Mario kicking at the front door. And then by the end of each game she realises the only way to get this deluded guy to leave her alone is to play along with his damsel in distress fantasy before getting back with her true love, Bowser. Think about it. Peach, this eligible bachelorette could hook up with any guy she wanted in the Mushroom Kingdom. Does she go with Bowser, this muscular, independent, powerful guy who has plenty of money lying around and a very large property portfolio or does she settle for Mario, a middle aged, roly-poly plumber who still lives with his brother? I know who I'd put my money on.... (I was SO HAPPY to find that Playboy sketch summing up my thoughts so well and it's definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it! Don't worry, I was only on the website because of the articles...)

Well, that's my childhood ruined.

--END--

 So there you have it. Now I know technically this is a cheat week when it comes to original content, (and it's late!) but I hope you'll forgive me considering I'm not very well at the moment. The past week has been a real struggle and now I don't even have a video buffer for the YouTube channel which means I can't even drip feed you a new upload every couple of days to tide everyone over. Rest assured as soon as I'm up to recording a coherent video without coughs and sneezes throughout I'll do my best to get back up to speed as soon as I can.

Thanks once again for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll see you next time!

Scott.


Check Out My Youtube Channel: www.YouTube.com/PalicoPadge