The End....?

The end?....The END?

Yes, as the title implies, this blog entry is a farewell to the formal entries I have been posting since the beginning. Over the course of running this blog, I have attempted to give validation to the art of Let's Plays because I view them as something truly special and important to the World of the internet. I have argued my stance of how Let's Play channels are a new form of improv comedy, have recommended and advertised content creators and have given insights to the production of Let's Play channels. I can only hope that I was able to give those uninformed a new style of comedy to enjoy.

This entire blog was actually a giant assignment from one of my classes in college. Professor Herndl tasked us to blog about something we are interested in. To start a conversation on the world wide web that has yet to be started. It was with this, that I decided to talk about one of my passions that I love being a part of, and I hope you enjoyed me sharing that passion with you. This blog while an assignment, was truly a lot of fun to work on and put together and I hope you all enjoyed it to the very end. Thank you all so much for reading.

The End....

....Or is it?

Yeah, I'm sorry. That's cliche I know, But this technically is the end - for the formal posts at least. From this point I'm going to allow you all to decide whether Let's Plays are truly a form of comedy or not on your own. My point has been argued and that part is over

This post is a transitional period. I'm switching gears! If you recall, I've made mentions here and there of my own project. Originally, my project was supposed to be launched in the fall and accompany my formal posts by giving insight from my own experiences. But as with many independent productions, there are delays. This ranged from sorting out technical issues, to getting assets from third parties to just being a college kid having to focus on college things.

But now, as we're getting closer to launch, I feel this is the best time to officially unveil my project that I have been working closely with a friend on for over two years.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is our new show!

Snazzy logo isn't it? Welcome to Alternate Buttons! If you haven't noticed, this has been the title of the blog all along! So I guess I leaked it early then eh? 

This show is a collaboration between my friend Anand Rehsi and myself. This is a duo team Let's Play channel that takes inspiration from the silly antics of Game Grumps and combines it with the the completion, formal style of Chuggaaconroy. The goal is to essentially combine the aforementioned Old and New styles! 

We still don't have firm launch date but we're confident we'll be able to launch by the end of the year. Early 2015 at the absolute worst. 

The blog will be on temporary hiatus until the launch of the project though you can bet once we're ready, we'll start posting again with news of our show, commentary as well as our own episodes.

We've both been working on this project for a long time, so we're excited to finally launch it soon! 

Oh and if you have time, please check out Jasleen Rehsi! She's the supremely talented artist responsible for our logo. Her work is absolutely incredible, so give her site a look! You won't be disappointed. 

Thank you all again and please stay tuned!

A List of Recommended Let's Players!

Throughout he time I have spent writing this blog, I have argued my points by citing many popular Let's Players on YouTube. These people have inspired many and have helped shape the Let's Play community as a whole. So as we come to the end of my overall argument, I figured it's time to go in depth with these people by formally establishing who they are, what they do and what sets them apart from the rest. The last point is something I really hope to emphasize with this post because up until now, I have told you about them, but I feel as if I haven't properly distinguished them and so now, I hope to firmly establish their individuality.

1.Chuggaaconroy

Emiliano Rodolfo Rosales-Birou or better know as Chuggaaconroy, is arguably the most popular "classic" Let's Player. As I have stated before, his style revolves around the games he plays, Seldom does he dive into his personal life when commentating and only does so when necessary. His focus and goal is to show you his favorite games and what's special about them. He is known for being very organized with his series', usually creating a list of things to do in a specific order before recording and publishing videos. A lot of planning and editing is involved in his projects. His current series Xenoblade Chronicles, is a series that he has been planning and working on for over a year. The game at hand is a Japanese RPG that is immense in its structure, clocking in over one hundred hours of gameplay. It is with this that I should mention that Chuggaaconroy also does his best to compelte his games one hundred percent, meaning that not only does he complete the main story, but he also completes all side missions, obtains all weapons, getting all collectibles etc. To do this with Xenoblade, he had to play through this one hundred plus hour game multiple times. And as I said, his videos are also heavily edited, usually cutting our mundane parts, sometimes doing multiple takes for a segment to get it right. Another thing that's really special to him is that he immerses himself in the game, usually treating the characters like real people and attempts to justify their actions as the game progresses. It's aspects like this that really make Chuggaaconroys channel truly special and is the reason why he is regarded as one of the best Let's Players out there. 

2. Game Grumps

Originally started by internet comedian Jon Jafari aka JonTron and animator Arin Hanson aka Egoraptor in early 2012, this is a show that has gone through a lot of change within its short life thus far. The original duo of JonTron and Egoraptor is what sky rocketed the show to fame. For this team, it's the dynamic of their conflicting 

personalities that made them so great. Jon was the goofy, bombastic Not-So Grump while Egoraptor was the serious, Grump. They were very different people that shared a love for video games and each other's individual work. They would often argue over aspects of game design, how to play the game and just casual topics in general. Their most popular series, Sonic '06 is hailed as one of their best work for its spontaneous jokes and consistent hilarity. Almost a year later, JonTron left Game Grumps to continue working on his own show as he felt Game Grumps had taken over his own work. Following this, Dan Avidan aka Danny Sexbang of the comedy band, Ninja Sex Party, took over Jon's role of Not-So Grump. With this host change, the dynamic of the duo changed as well. Danny, being a calm, mellow person, put him in the role of the straight man while Egoraptor became the bombastic goofy man. A new side series called Steam Train also launched the same day, and is headed by Danny and animator Ross O'Donovan aka Rubber Ross. This side series focuses on PC games rather than the console games seen on Game Grumps. The style of this duo channel is pretty much the antithesis of Chuggaaconroy. Throughout the time that its been active, the channel has focused on the people running the show rather that the games they play. In fact, Game Grumps rarely finish games and usually quit them once they get bored. The show also isn't heavily edited and it's much more casual. For many, this is the preferred style of Let's Play and it has proven to be a very successful formula for the show. 

3. Markiplier

Mark Edward Fischbach aka Markiplier is a solo Let's Player that seems to fall between the styles presented by Chuggaaconroy and the Game Grumps. Starting in 2012, Markiplier is one of the fastest growing Let's Play channels on YouTube, amassing a whopping four million subscribers in just two years. Iconic for his smooth, deep voice and humble, energetic personality, Markiplier is a Let's Player that likes to enjoy the game he's playing but also act goofy and joke around while he's at it. He doesn't complete games usually, but he finishes them and tries to work his way through the problems at hand while also trying to entertain the audience. He also utilizes Facecam in almost all of his videos. This sets him of the middle of the spectrum, and is successful because he appeals to both classic and modern Lets Play fans. Markiplier plays PC games almost exclusively but will play console games on occasion. Like Pewdipie, he'll sometimes play little internet flash games for fun but will also play story and gameplay heavy games such as Alien Isolation and The Evil Within. He also has a great love for Indie developers as well and plays several obscure games to give them exposure. All of these aspects allows for a great blend of old and new styles and is driven by his incredibly kind and energetic personality. He is a Let's Player that truly offers something special for everyone. 

Tips for Beginners! Episode 2

They say "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" but really, nothing can be further from the truth. When it comes to creating anything, paintings, models, shows or music, imitation only leads to the deterioration of ones image in the face of others. To be clear, I'm not referring to plagiarism, which is a much worse offense. I'm talking about taking an artists idea, and basically doing the same thing but with a different coat of paint. For instance, say I wanted to become a film maker and really loved the work of James Cameron. I loved his new film Avatar for its stunning visuals, amazing script and overall message. Inspired by this, I decided to create a film similar to his, only my film used all of the same camera shots, has similar sweeping moments and had a different overall message. It's not against the law to do this because my film is entirely different from his but it's also nothing new. So why should people care? If you were to see the same kind of film with the same motifs and camera techniques, wouldn't you get bored of it? By adding nothing new to the style, you are essentially just cashing in on a formula that's already been proven to be successful and creating nothing of substance. This is why the tip for beginners this time is to strive to be more than your inspirations. Give the public a reason to watch you over someone else. Try to be innovative with your content by introducing new segments or elements that isn't common in the sea of similar creators like yourself. This is imperative to do with Let's Plays being that it's the most popular genre of videos on YouTube so trying to get noticed is not an easy task. You can do what everyone else is doing and be fine but it's best to throw in a few things to spice it up! Maybe include comedy sketches in your video from time to time. Game Grumps does this from time to time and while not too common, it's certainly a breath of fresh air compared to a standard Let's Play video. It makes itself different and sets it apart from most things out there because of it. Though it's also important to keep in mind that you should also never stray too far from the standard formula. You can try to be different all you want and include new things that haven't been seen before, but if you change too much, you might end up diluting the art form and confusing viewers, taking away what was good about it in the first place. That's why it's very important that you never forget what works and what doesn't. As a content creator, you must be able to gauge the staples of what art form your taking on and leave them be for its very risky and dangerous to tamper with those. Instead, seek out what's considered boring or mundane in the art form such as facecam per say. For example, try giving Facecam a reason to be there, such as only including it in your horror game let's plays to show your scared reactions or showing yourself acting goofy while playing Dance, Dance Revolution. It's things like that you can try to change and in turn, be unique with. In the sea of never ending Let's Plays, it's important that you try to be unique in your approach.

YouTube now supports 60 FPS!

In a surprise update, YouTube announced that its platform now allows for 60 FPS playback! Now you might be thinking to yourself  "Well what the heck does that mean and why does it matter?". Trust me on this, it's a huge deal because internet videos look absolutely incredible thanks to this update. For those who aren't familiar with technical terms, FPS stands for frames per second which is essentially how many frames of movement there are in a video or movie. The higher the frames per second, the better quality is for the animation. Before this update, YouTube was unfortunately locked into 30 FPS. This is because YouTube is the biggest video streaming website in the world with many users online a a time so, in order to prevent massive slow down and extended loading time for users with slower internet, they locked all of the videos into a safe and conservative 30 FPS. It's pretty good for web video standards but doesn't show the capabilities of full high definition. In professional animation, you can have a resolution as high as 4K (A resolution that goes beyond the current highest standard, 1080p) but if the FPS is say a mere 15 FPS, it's not going to look that great in movement. It's one thing to look at a still image at 1080p but fluid movement is needed to have a solid animation. This means that FPS is essentially more important than resolution when it comes to animation. If you still can't visualize this whole concept in your head, check out GameXplains recent comparison video.

Now it must be mentioned that in order to see the highest quality, you must be browsing on Google chrome and have the 1080p 60FPS option selected in the video's time bar. Once equipped you can clearly see the difference. It's so buttery smooth and is very easy on the eyes. To some, this might not seem like much, but I believe this is revolutionary for YouTube and internet video websites as a whole. Upgrading from 30 to 60 FPS allows us to watch YouTube in true HD for the first time. It's like watching an actual television! This is especially good for Let's Play channels because they are the ones who will probably use this feature the most. Before the upgrade, the quality of the games visuals were unfortunately forcibly downgraded and could never show the true potential of the visuals. Now, content creators can create deep and meaningful content while also having gorgeous looking quality. This can definitely help out some creators because now their content will look more professional and will be able to attract a bigger audience. The 60 FPS feature used to only be exclusive to game news media websites such as IGN who don't have as heavy traffic as YouTube does video wise. With this new feature, content creators can now have the quality of a corporations video and that's a nice advantage to have for an independent content creator. It's safe to say that Let's Plays never looked so good.

Let's Plays Save Lives

It's a fact of life that sometimes, it can be hard, stressful and depressing. We all go through rough patches at some point or another, some of which are rougher than others. It's at times like this that we attempt to cope with the tough times by finding as escape. Some listen to music full blast, some paint or draw and some play video games. We all have different coping mechanisms that allow us to get through the tough times and move to a better place. For some, Let's Plays do exactly that; providing comfort and hope for those in need.

As I've said many times in past posts, Let's Plays are essentially improv comedy shows, The hosts need to think on their feet to be able to provide solid laughs from their audience. And laughing is good. They say laughter is the best medicine and quite frankly it's true. Laughter can indeed help cure depression. When you laugh, your body releases endorphins which are natural pain killers. They also help lower anxiety and give you a more positive outlook on your problems. A lot of comedic mediums such as stand up, sitcoms and films have been credited with this fact so why not Let's Play shows? After all, Pewdipie has over 30 million subscribers, Markiplier just broke 4 million and the Game Grumps are near 2 million so you can't say they don't have an audience. The sheer numbers represented by these channels alone can speak volumes for the lives they've affected.

But it's not just the numbers that tell the tale. The content creators themselves realize the impact of their work everyday. Game Grumps are well known for how they help people with depression. In fact, at one point on the show, Danny shared a story that really hit home for a lot of people. He discussed his personal struggle with depression, and how he fought against OCD without even knowing it. He decided to tell the story because many people receive comfort from Game Grumps and wanted to share his own experience so the audience had something to relate to. The episode garnered a very positive response and is still beloved by many fans today. Even if you look at the comments section below the video, people are still being inspired by this episode and even come back to it whenever they feel helpless. Though it must be said, his decisions during that time weren't perfect, as throwing away your prescribed medication without consulting your Doctor is definitely a very risky thing to do and doesn't work out as cleanly as it did for him. In another video in the series, he acknowledges this and also thanks the fans for all of the support and thank you emails he received after the episode aired. That alone proves how the Game Grumps are always watching, listening and interacting with their fans.

Markiplier too is well aware of the impact he has on people and in fact thanks his audience on a constant basis. One thing that makes me enjoy Markiplier so much personally is how humble he is. He's very relatable and he has shared his own story as well. He too has dealt with tough times and depression and has been in situations that were seemingly hopeless. After his Father died his life took a downward spiral and at one pint while in the hospital, he felt trapped and angry. He managed to summon the strength and willpower to get through it, but for some they aren't so strong willed. And that's why videos like this are important because they inspire people to do better and to let them know that it gets better. I myself turn to his thank you video from time to time when I feel like things are hopeless and I instantly feel not as bad, where I feel like the bad situation I was in is escapable and lo and behold I've made it this far.

Aside from helping people kick depression, these channels have also donated a lot of money to charity over the course of their existence. Markiplier especially does a lot of charity live streams. I can't even begin to list how many streams for charity he's done. And as stated in the thank you video, he's always encouraging his viewers to donate and do better for the World. Game Grumps has done some charity work as well and raised seven thousand dollars during that one event. The ex-Grump JonTron did did a livestream charity recently and raised over twenty-five thousand dollars during the stream.

Whether you find Let's Play channels funny to watch or not, there's no denying that they do make a difference. They touch so many peoples lives and inspire them to do great things. They not only bring people up when they're down but they inspire them as well to make art of their own. I for one got the inspiration to do my Let's Play channel straight from Game Grumps because they have brought joy to so many people and I really want do the same when my show eventually launches. (It is coming soon, I promise.) This something not just all comedians but artists in general should do. They should aim to make happiness and love from the talents they posses. They should inspire those with a dream and encourage them to spread that inspiration to others who want to create something meaningful and so on. Over the course of this blog so far, I've attempted to convey how Let's Play channels are not some stupid internet fad that just consist of people playing over video games while talking but are something much deeper and worthwhile. To me, this is the core reason why these shows and YouTube as a creative platform for that matter, is something legitimate and robust that should be taken seriously. Of course for some, their perception will never change and while unfortunate, I can accept it because it doesn't change the fact that Let's Plays save lives.

Tips for Beginners! Episode 1

If you may recall, when I first made this blog, I mentioned how I would like to give tips to fellow beginner Let's Players, so that they could improve and become better. Unfortunately, I've had a tough time writing these tips into the main blog topics I've been posting so, to alleviate that, I'm going to make them separate individual posts from now on!

For this first week, my tip to you is to just relax. Sounds cliche, I know, but really work on this. Let's Play channels are supposed to be casual commentary shows and they're supposed to entertain their viewers with a casual, laid back approach. If you spend all your time worrying over everything you say, or about how well you're playing the game, you're going to flop comedically. If you're tense, it's not going to allow for much humor and your game play can possibly suffer because you're you're over thinking it. For example, with public speaking, nervousness will lead to stuttering, If you're too frazzled, you will end up forgetting your words, your place in your speech and the quality of it will dip dramatically. Naturally, you fix this by just taking a breather and relaxing. Same goes with Let's Plays. Back in our first few Let's Plays, I tried to watch everything I was doing when recording so that I didn't sound stupid but it came off as forced and not genuine at all. So the best tip I can give for those just starting out is to just relax and try your best. If your first effort flops, it's okay. There's always room for improvement.

Does Game Choice Matter?

As I mentioned in my post "Old vs. New", recent Let's Plays channels, especially with Pewdipie and Dan & Phil Plays, the show becomes less abut the game and more about the people playing the game. The audience is more thrilled about seeing the person playing the game rather than the game itself. So the question relevance here is, does game choice matter? If the person is popular enough, who cares what they play, right? Well, allow me to answer the question with a question of my own: Say you're a lover of rock music. Would you like to go a Van Halen concert to see them cover Nicki Minaj songs? Same concept applies here.

Of course game choice matters. Despite the games themselves fading into the background in recent years, they are still the core of what makes up Let's Plays. People come to watch their favorite content creators play games, they don't come to watch them view a movie or eat lunch. They still come for the games, but just in a different way. They want to see the person they love beat their favorite game because they want to share that love with them and all of the people watching. It's essentially what Let's Play channels are about.

Secondly, for some people, the type of game being played can affect whether they actually watch the videos or not. I was having a conversation the other day with a friend about Markiplier, and how we love his videos. He mentioned to me how hesitant he was to watch his Let's Plays of Five Night's at Freddy's because he's easily scared by horror games.  This conversation is what essentially inspired me to write this blog entry because I too have let games affect my viewership of some of my favorite Let's Play Channels. I have skipped quite a bit of Game Grumps because I just simply wasnt interested in what they were playing. For instance, I skipped their entire Sims 4 series because I'm just not engaged in what's going on screen. Sims is a game I love playing, not watching and I find it boring to look at. Another angle I can take from this is watching them play a game that doesn't quite fit their comedic strengths. I found one of their recent series, Pac Man, very boring for two reasons. Firstly, Pac Man is a game that just consists of one continuous screen. The layout never changes and there's not much to say other than it's classic, and "darn the Ghost got me again!". This in my opinion. led to a very bland commentary as they didn't really talk about the game but more so about their daily lives. Which, don't get me wrong, is very endearing and interesting but, I enjoy Game Grumps because of its wacky improv based off the games, not a discussion about what they had for lunch the other day. And to reiterate, this is a Let's Play channel about the people playing, not the game being played. If game choice didn't matter, then I wouldn't have turned off the episode.

Lastly, you should never pick a game you're not passionate about or don't enjoy. Randomly picked games can be hit or miss, it really depends on the games content that determines whether or not the episode will be funny so it's quite a risk. I know this fact from experience. On my own project, my friend and I attempted to play Ghostbusters the video game. I never really got far in it so I really didn't know what it had in store. Additionally, my friend has never seen the Ghostbusters movie so he didn't get any of the inside jokes I was laughing at. We were mostly talking about things on screen but nothing was clicking humor. In the end, we decided to stop within the first three levels and just cut the the series altogether. We don't regret it one bit and we both feel it led to some good quality episodes after.

The rule of thumb is, if you''re not invested in what you're playing, the audience won't be either. If you choose to cut a series because it's not turning out as good as you hoped, that's perfectly fine. Artists, musicians and comedians cut their own work all the time because they want to give their audience the very best. If you're starting out, you're allowed to make mistakes because it's necessary to learn from them in order to progress and become better. So when you go to choose your first game, keep all of this in mind  but also don't over think it. Just choose what you love, and quality will follow.

Why is Rage Funny?

When I first established this blog, I insisted that Let's Plays are a form of comedy and can be compared to the likes of stand up and other famous genres of comedy. Of course, like I said, comedy is an objective art form and what one can find funny about a certain joke, may not be what another thinks. Though one aspect that fans of Let's Plays can universally agree on is rage gaming. I mentioned in my last post with the iconic Game Grumps moment how rage can be funny because in this particular instance, it's so over the top and dramatic that it's gut bustingly hilarious. But how else rage be funny? And why is it funny as a whole?

Well to dive into that, let's talk about gamers and the gaming community. Gamers as a whole, are a family of sorts. We play games because we get pleasure and joy out of them. They're fun and they take us out of the World and put us into another whenever we turn on the power button. Most of the time anyway. With good movies and good stand up comedy, there is an equal and opposite bad. Routines that just aren't funny no matter how you look at it and are universally panned by critics. The Room here, is considered one of the worst films of all time, and has a distinct cult following because of its poor acting, poor production, and generally weird plot. Same with video games, as there are bad games out there that are considered universally bad. Games like Sonic '06, Drake and the 99 Dragons and E.T on Atari are notorious for there terribleness. These are flawed games that suffer from poor design choices which hold the game back from being enjoyable. Imagine you're a kid in the 90's, with no internet, and only know about video games through word of mouth. Imagine you get say, Bubsy 3D as a birthday gift for your Playstation One and curiously try to play it to see what its like only to discover that the controls are terrible, the puns are too painful and the graphics look like windows 95 barfed on your television screen. Wouldn't that anger you? Wouldn't it piss you off that the game is so poorly designed ? Wouldn't you be seething with jealousy knowing that your friends got to play Super Mario 64, an infinitely superior 3D exploration game? That's the rage that kids in the 90's and even before then, felt when they stumbled upon a terrible video game.

Fast forward to over a decade later, where the internet is firmly established and a website called YouTube was just born. Browsing through the videos, you see a guy called JonTron reviewing this very game. He makes fun of the poor controls, the terrible graphics the puns and just the ridiculousness of the entire game, even pointing out how Super Mario 64 came out a little before it. This is what you call being relatable. People find pleasure in pain by finding others that they can identify with. In the video, Jontron is essentially reacting to the game as anybody else would and its funny because you know exactly what its like. You take pleasure in his pain because you felt it too. This is why The Angry Video Game Nerd is so popular, because gamers identify with his pain of playing terrible games. He's working your nostalgia and representing your emotions.

Let's Players do the exact same thing, though in a natural and unscripted environment. Game Grumps here illustrates this concept perfectly. As a kid, I dreaded this specific level in Super Mario Sunshine every time I played it. If you've ever played it, you'll know that there's this invisible wall that follows you as you move right across the board, preventing you from going backwards, even if the slot is inches away from you. On top of that, the slope detection, (or the angles that dictate whether Mario can walk on or slide down because it's too steep) is terrible in this game and you will slip and slide even on the most flattest of inclines. This level has it BAD and as you cans see, both contributed to the Game Grump's death in the clip. Seeing this moment made me bust my gut laughing because I've experienced it so I relate to their misfortune. Sure some people can laugh at something over the top, but isn't the moment that much funnier when you know exactly what it's like? The answer is a resounding yes of course.

Now you might be asking yourself, how is this humor in the same field as say Jim Carreys stand up? Or how is it as funny as say the sitcom, Friends? Well, allow me to answer that question with a question of my own. Don't both Jim Carrey and Friends use the same technique? Don't they present something that people can relate to, albeit in a more humorous fashion? Comedians, actors and television shows alike use relatable situations to their advantage when creating their routines or episodes. The only difference here is that one of these forms uses everyday life as humor while the other uses video games. Just because the medium changes doesn't mean the impact is any less effective. Both Let's Play Channels such as Game Grumps and Markiplier and review shows such as The Angry Video Game Nerd and JonTron for that matter reach out to a specific niche audience and have gathered the success they have because they represent them. Fans live vicariously through these internet celebrities and have satisfaction in being represented in a medium that both reminds them why they're gamers and why they love video games. When you plug in that disk or cartridge into your system for the first time, you never know what to truly expect, good or bad. The experience you have with it is something that stays with you for the rest of your life and to have those feelings represented in humor, is something that I think certainly deserves some respect.