So, entertainment, I will be honest and say I don’t really play a lot of games, except for the ones on our YouTube channel. It’s not because I don’t like gaming, it’s more because I enjoy writing more (strange, I know) I think this is because I’ve played games most of my life; from Nintendo 64 through to Playstation one, two, three and I’ve played a little on the PS4 (as you may of seen) so why have I fallen out with gaming? I think for me gaming was something interesting, something new, new worlds to explore, interesting stories to follow and unique characters. I think the issue for me is that gaming, in my mind, has become, dare I say, boring. I mean by this its stagnant. It is just rehashing of old games and the novelty has worn off for me. It’s the same with film too. I have alluded to this in a recent ‘The Week’ – everything is a bit too similar, a bit too predictable, a bit too easy. Take Call of duty ( where you’re some guy who will save the world from some other guy) and nobody really plays the story anymore anyway and that’s my issue, if there’s no story a game gets repetitive, boring and predictable. I’ve heard destiny is like this, repetitive. Perhaps the issue is that games have become so popular and therefore so overcrowded that it has become a toxic area.

What I mean by toxic, developers have to be safely commercial now, which makes going mad creatively a bit if a risk. They have to think about what next version do gamers want and that ends up with a Warcraft rip off or a first person shooter just re-skinned. Ironically gamers get more annoyed as they get bored of the same old stuff, and this is heated up nicely by Youtubers who play games and review them for a living . If you can see someone playing games as their job and not enjoying themselves then obviously viewers anger towards them is going to be extreme, they don’t want to hear moaning. On our YouTube channel we do some gaming videos – Why? because they’re easy and fast to do to put it simply and a bit of fun (plus I do have an amazing editor who bosses through them) but that’s beside the point. The point I am making is that the gaming culture is toxic because there is such a massive culture around it. Consider, if you take away YouTube from this for a second would gamers have areas to congregate so easy on and vent? I don’t know, it just something interesting to think about. My message to youtubers who do just play games, please don’t be such sour pusses that your getting a hard time, lighten up and realise that the angst is because you are doing something anyone can do yet your making a living of it – which is good for you so take it as it is – a group chatting can make ok gaming youtubers but once you become the face of gaming, as a youtube personality, then you have to brace yourself for some people envying your success and giving you a hard time. …..
Moving on from gaming sharply I thought I would talk about YouTube a bit more. As someone who doesn’t want to be a “youtuber” as such (I wouldnt say no to a few million subs), as my writing is the core of what I do, I think i can be fairly balanced here as youtube is not where I make my money, it’s just a side thing for you guys to mildly enjoy if you want. The advent of youtube as an idea is fantastic and it has been the most interesting phenomena to see how certain people have risen to the surface by the people which is awesome. Some youtubers are fantastic personal fav is ‘How it should have ended’ I think those guys are amazing and it something not many people can do. But the downside of youtube is that it can harbour the cruelty of mankind. Where people are going around actively looking to upset or attack people- not good. The other negative aspect is the industry of “hey I will sub you back” or “Can I get to 1000 sub by this time…” combined with people who spend their time actively annoying or attacking people for fun, then there is the young girl/boy who are looking for an identity, modelling themselves on what they see, older people who are lost or need attention- put all this together and you have got yourself a lovely melting pot of humanity with a heavy dose of egotistical problems. And so we look at the next phase, a new dawn as some people are saying that entertainment is sliding into this melting pot – a pot of minimum achievers who got lucky in the Youtube world now despising the very people who put them there, vlogers who haven’t got a personality to share but seek, nay crave attention. I do think technology has made us all a little crazy with people obsessed with their profile, their online persona – putting up the pictures to create an image that doesn’t really connect with reality. It is all pretty trite in comparison to what really matters. Let’s face it, youtube, our phones, twitter, instagram and all the rest are just area for us to advertise ourselves – and what are we advertising for, in the hope of a better life – but it should be just seen as a bit of fun, so take it as that – it is fun but really not important so keep it light. In reality people are sick and ill, scared and beaten so you having an opinion on Call of Duty really doesn’t matter and is never worth getting heat up about. Any Who! I hope you have a good day that you have a good week. I also hope that my little blog interests you, my book enthrals you and my daft videos make you smile – because that is really all we can do for each other.