Pivot

Hey there. I’m writing this post to share some big news about the future of this website. I’ve decided to make a pretty major pivot with the direction of my content. Last year, my original plan was to focus solely on board games and create content around that. It started off okay, and I had good intentions, but I began to stagnate relatively quickly. It was extremely difficult to keep that energy going, which was probably a huge sign that my heart wasn’t truly in it. While I still enjoy playing board games and may return to them in the future, for now, I don’t have the desire to continue forcing myself down that particular road. This is why I’m pivoting to another form of gaming content: video games!

 

There’s a saying, and I’m paraphrasing, “you become what you surround yourself with,” or something to that effect.

A year ago, I found myself watching all the board game content on the internet in my spare time, which explains my initial focus on the board gaming genre. Alongside all the board game playthroughs, though, I was already watching various Minecraft content. This began primarily during the first lockdown of the pandemic, as I consumed a lot more Minecraft YouTubers’ Let’s Plays and SMPs for entertainment. This was in stark contrast to my viewing behaviour prior to the lockdown, when the only Minecraft content I watched were Redstone tutorials (like JC_Playz) or videos for inspiration for my terrible builds.

 

(I still don’t know what SMP stands for… I should look it up*)

 

Nowadays, my YouTube habits have shifted to pretty much exclusively watching Minecraft content. I’ve always thought that if I had the means, I would love to create Minecraft content myself. This wasn’t an option at the time because my laptop was old and slow, and it couldn’t support editing software or the games themselves. My old laptop also had zero storage space; my only form of digital storage was in the cloud. At that time, I was only playing Minecraft Bedrock on my Xbox and had zero experience with Java Edition. I never thought it would be possible to create the content I aspired to. That’s why I chose board games early on.

 

This whole situation has drastically changed in recent months. Unfortunately, it began with me sustaining a bad back injury at work, which has resulted in being signed off work for an undisclosed period of time. Knowing that I was about to spend a lot of time bed-bound at home, one of the first things I decided to do was purchase a new gaming laptop! I bought it to survive the abundance of spare time I was about to have and to teach myself some new skills while I was stuck at home. Knowing that I wanted to learn video editing, I decided a great way to do this might be to record myself gaming. So alongside my laptop purchase, I also bought an Elgato HD60 Capture device so that I could record my gaming exploits from my Xbox.

 

Once I figured out how to record myself gaming using OBS Studios, and later messed around with the PC version of CapCut video editing software, I bit the bullet and started creating gaming content then uploading it to my YouTube channel. I made a couple of awful Minecraft Bedrock videos before discovering that my laptop came with a three-month subscription to Microsoft Game Pass, which includes, *cue harmonic angel song*, Minecraft Java Edition!

 

I instantly focused my attention on PC gaming instead and wanted to use Minecraft Java as my primary game, and create a second channel to play other games. This was because I had recently discovered a variety YouTube gaming channel called Charlie Prior. I thought what he was doing was really smart, and naively thought it looked really easy too (I later found out I was completely wrong and it’s WAY harder than it looks). So I wanted to try my hand at making variety gaming content like he was making. This was all a very steep learning curve. I had to learn how to reconfigure the OBS recording software to record games being played directly on the laptop, which took a LOT of trial and error. I had to overcome my fear of speaking into the microphone. And I later discovered, in the process of trying to make this style of variety gaming content, that I knew NOTHING about the games I was playing. Trying to record myself narrate over the top of a game I was simultaneously having to learn was extremely difficult and I knew it would be terrible to watch! So I pivoted back to a game I knew inside out—Minecraft!

 

I noticed that I could extinguish my fear of recording my voice by instead creating Minecraft longplays, with zero commentary. I did a lot of research on different longplay channels and their content before knuckling down and starting my very own Minecraft Longplay videos, which turned into Series 1 of my Relaxing Minecraft Survival Longplays. This series was specifically made as a self-experiment, where I could teach myself how to play Minecraft Java Edition and figure out its different game mechanics.

 

I have since started Series 2 of my Relaxing Minecraft Survival Longplay, which at the time of writing this post has 8 episodes (plus 3 pre-recorded and scheduled for release) and is actually doing much better than I expected in terms of the number of views they have accumulated on YouTube. I have gone from zero subscribers to just over 80 in a few short weeks, which I think is great. And in the background I am still working on overcoming my fear of the microphone which is why I started a Hardcore Lets Play Series too.

 

I have so many ideas for future content, my brain literally hasn’t stopped churning out inspirations for new builds, new farms, new expeditions to explore my world, and new stories and lore. I would like to create a new channel or series for ambient Minecraft background videos. I also want to create a new, shorter edited Let’s Play, this time with commentary to accompany and provide an alternative viewing experience for my longplay series. I have ambitions to try live streaming and all that good stuff too. But I also have to be realistic and remember that I will eventually be returning to my full time job at some point, and I will no longer be able to work on this YouTube stuff full time, but I will cross that bridge when it comes to it. 

 

Let’s see where this journey takes me. I wonder where I’ll be in a years time. I will make sure to touch base and write another blog of this nature again this time next year and provide an update.

 

Who knows, perhaps I will have pivoted again… this time into pottery or wood whittling knowing me.

 

Take Care

Michael @ Castaway Games

 

*Definition of SMP: Survival Multi-Player