Channel Update #27 (Jun) – souls, rings, and second channels

Good evening all,

Since the completion of the last video (here if you missed it https://youtu.be/Rx-Cfh3C8NQ) I have been doing nothing but playing Elden Ring, and through the 120 hours I have spent with that game I have decided that I’d honestly rather make a Dark Souls video than an Elden Ring one. So I played Dark Souls too, which I finished about one hour ago. I’m now going to spend a day each with Dark souls 2 and 3 just to get a little footage and refresh my memory of changes, and then maybe squeeze in a quick demon souls playthrough (3 more days?), and then get started properly on a Dark Souls video that will focus mainly on its legacy and impact on the industry. So that will be the next video and I’m hoping it will be done in less than three weeks from now (5 more days for gaming, 7 for script, 7 for editing).

After that I might make a second video focused on Elden Ring, maybe a direct comparison between it and dark souls 1 as I feel that might be the most interesting thing to talk about in a world where many Elden Ring videos already exist and many obvious things have already been said. The big advantage of making an Elden Ring video is I’ve already played and recorded it but I don’t want to force it so we’ll see. There’s also a very small chance I make a Bloodborne video… just because I like Bloodborne and if I’m talking about other From Software games too then why not Bloodborne? Of course that alone doesn’t seem like a very good reason so that’s why it’s only a small chance. Still I’m providing warning now as just as the ‘MMO arc’ lasted longer than expected, there’s always the possibility that it might happen for this current topic as well.

As for the previous video, I appreciate the positive response from people on here or youtube. Overall, it was something I enjoyed working on and I’m glad I made it. In a perfect world I would make whatever video I felt passionate about, and I would take as long as I needed for it to be as good as it can be, and I wouldn’t worry about the algorithm, or how a video is received, or where my future paychecks are coming from. That’s not how things really are however. The reality is that the better the main channel does, the more freedom it provides me, but the only way to make the main channel do well is to ‘worry about things’.

I think most people may not understand why I’m so frequently concerned about the channel/what I make/how videos will do and so on. But you need to consider that even though it might look like the channel is doing well, to achieve that I have spent years working long hours and covering topics that I think will perform well. So it is probably quite likely that the channel will continue to do well in the future…. but only if I make sure to keep working long hours and worrying about video performance, just like I always have. Basically I think I have a lot less ‘security’ on youtube than most other people think I have.

2nd channels are nice. You get to make content that can be different, you can relax more about video performance, and sometimes second channels can even be good additional revenue sources that actually make you less reliant on your main channel. A lot of youtubers, particularly successful youtubers, have second channels and I completely understand why that is. But I don’t have much extra time so a 2nd channel isn’t something I’m going to pursue. 

The ‘Ugly Truth’ video was a bit of a test to see what making something different would be like. And what I learnt was that making videos for the sake of making videos (as opposed to money) is still fun, and that non gaming videos still take a long time to create because even if you save time by not needing to playthrough a game, research still takes deceptive long and video editing is much more time consuming without something obvious to use as ‘A-roll’ (e.g. gameplay or just appearing on camera). So that’s why I’m not planning to make more videos like that anytime soon. I don’t have the extra time and I don’t feel like I can regularly afford to ignore the main channel for 3-4 weeks. But that’s okay. I like making videos. I will continue to make videos. And maybe through my hard work I’ll even create myself a little more freedom in the future. One day. Maybe.