GoNNER

Aug

2018

Solomon Plays GoNNER – Episode 11 (End)

The End of an Era

Prior to beginning this series, I worried recording would negatively impact my enjoyment of GoNNER. Recording stresses me, even if I’ve grown more comfortable since my first video. I reasoned this stress would heighten my saltiness and dull the immersion. Having since moved to Angels of Death, I know performing certainly detaches me from the video game somewhat, but it does not seem to make the experience worse. If anything, because I’m “on camera,” I feel like I have to be calmer, which ultimately makes me just that.

It may just be GoNNER, but I doubt I wouldn’t have liked the game any more or less if I had played it without an audience, however metaphysical that audience currently is. Immersion didn’t matter much for GoNNER, so I could monologue as I needed. Talking definitely made it more difficult to concentrate during intense segments, but judging by my incoherent commentary during these moments, it seems my brain helped me focus by shutting down my communication abilities.

If recording has changed anything, it was my pace. Based on the Switch’s incredibly accurate time log, I invested anywhere from 5-10 hours into GoNNER. Without a microphone shoved in my face, I probably would have blown through the game in two to three weeks. With my self-imposed rule to only play while recording, the game stretched over three months. Over this time, I neither savored GoNNER nor resented it. By the end, I was ready to move on, but that’s more on the game than on the recording process.

It’s been a journey, everyone, full of Elgato pains and ad-lib triumphs. Now, we move forward with Angels of Death. I may not do this Let’s Play stuff until the end of time, but I gotta farm this concept for a least another six videos.

Jul

2018

Solomon Plays GoNNER – Episode 7 (Progress)

Solomon and the Lost Videos

Not all videos are good. Not all bad videos can be salvaged, like my introduction and Namco Museum videos. Today I release Episode 7 of my GoNNER series, and sometime in the future, I will unleash Episode 10. Just like the age-old joke, 10 is afraid of 7 because 7 ate 8 and 9. Only 6 out of 10 of the play sessions will be uploaded to my YouTube channel because I have banished the bad ones.

Throughout Episode 1 and 2, I learned how to spew commentary while playing a wholly new game. It wasn’t pretty. Over the combined 40 minutes, I essentially did only the following:

Repeatedly asked, “What is this?”
Exclaimed, “Oh God,” during intense sections, followed by, “Okay”
Described exactly what was happening on-screen, as if my viewer base is entirely composed of blind people
Made wildly inappropriate jokes, worse than the one above
Made wildly bad jokes
Played in absolute silence

No one wants to watch this, including my mother. She doesn’t watch my videos in general, but I imagine she’d especially hate these two episodes. Even Editor One could not scrap together a “Best Moments” clip show from them. As for videos 8 and 9, the content was fine, but the audio suffered awful balancing. While I mumbled along, my would-be audience was treated to another 40 minutes of my scythe whooshing back and forth.

It sucks to lose content, but I think I’d regret uploading any of those attempts. I don’t expect perfection from myself, and I want to use my channel to showcase my development over time. We just don’t need to see all of my stumbles.

God, that sounds somber. To lighten things up, share your stories of your bad YouTube videos with me. That way, we can harp on ourselves together!

Jul

2018

Solomon Plays GoNNER – Episode 6 (Prelude to Progress)

The Journal About Journaling

Journaling has always had this sort of allure to me. A journal is essentially a work-and-progress autobiography, and writing about myself is my second favorite thing to do, behind dreaming about myself. Like dreaming, however, I can’t seem to write about myself with any consistency. With myself firmly in my mind ever since babyhood, I have attempted to journal at every major marker of my boyhood and manchildhood. I’d probably have a multi-volume saga by now if I continued with them all.

Apart from one diary in high school, none of my journaling attempts have had more entries than this video journal. Each petered out before I ever needed to sharpen a pencil. Handwriting made my hand cramp, and nothing I wrote really interested me. My days were either mundane or drenched in angst. I don’t need a journal to remember that I play video games just about every day. I have a website for that.

As with my other journals, this video journal won’t have introspective nuggets every time, and I don’t intend to force myself to make them. That causes hernias. Instead, I will unleash whatever I may have concocted on publication days, and if all that happens to be is a haiku, then you’ll get a haiku, damn it.

So, if you so wish,

Send me your thoughts and comments.

Floss regularly.

Jul

2018

Solomon Plays GoNNER – Episode 5 (Damnation)

The Slumpening

I launched my website with WordPress.com back in September 2017. Although the “.com” version of WordPress offered fewer customization options compared to its “.org” brother, it did feature WordPress Reader. Whenever you published an article, Reader would add it to a massive feed of all recent WordPress articles. For new bloggers, this feed was their only source of traffic. The Reader’s search function was also much more charitable than Google’s. Even my rinky-dink website would pop up if someone searched the Nintendo Switch.

I subscribed to several other blogs during that time—most as small as mine—in an attempt to draw readers. The “massage-my-feet-I’ll-massage-yours” mentality. With the exception of the exceptional Seafoam Gaming, I didn’t particularly keep up with any of them, but it helped me to see how other amateur writers maintained their sites. Due to my sadistic tendencies, I also gained a warped sense of pleasure when blogs stopped producing work. Petty as it was, “outliving” another site supposedly meant my determination was stronger.

Then I hit my slump. My eagle-eyed readers will notice this video has taken a little over two weeks to go live. I recorded it on 6/6/18. Any mathematician can deduce that this is a long time to publish a simple video, especially when I only need to write a few paragraphs to finish it. I blame the slump. For whatever reason, in this past month, writing has taken a little more motivation than I have been willing to excrete. I have no intention of retiring Solomon Rambling, but I now empathize with those who have allowed their websites to stagnant.

Many pests can suck away your motivation. Going into this, I knew I would largely be writing to myself, but then I had a taste of an audience with “the Girl in the Ground.” After two days of over 50 views (madness, I tell you!), my viewer count crashed back to 3-4 views a week. Losing these readers, I was bummed. I do recognize my limited attempts to market my material has led to this, but I’m not eager to sell myself on social media. Hell, I still have an unrealistic hope that some big-name internet person will find my website, love it, and transform me into the next teen heartthrob.

Apart from viewership, maintaining a website can suck the day away. Ignoring the small site edits, I usually need at least four hours of labor to create my reviews/blogitorials. Tweeting also drains my soul. Thus, when the likes of Fortnite, Arena of Valor, and my telenovelas beg for my time, my Solomon Rambling costume collects dust.

A hobby which requires hard work does not always remain a hobby. Some people don’t stick with their creative ventures, and that’s okay. For now, I will complain about my lethargy, but I won’t be dozing for long. When I make it past this hump, I’ll be better for it, ready for more humping in the future.

As always, if you have tips, stories, or suggestive comments, I’ll eat ‘em up.

Jun

2018

Solomon Plays GoNNER – Episode 4 (Salvation)

Short-Term Memory Loss

Sometimes I wake up suddenly, usually because the bathroom beckons for me. In that miasma between consciousness and coma, I recognize I had some sort of dream, but that’s it. If I focus hard enough and don’t fall asleep on the toilet, I can eventually piece together what I experienced. If I can’t, I’m left with the general emotion caused by the dream. Nightmares spawn unease mixed with morbid curiosity. Scene-by-scene replays of my previous day elicit annoyance, boredom, or anxiety. My fantastical adventures result in a confusing mixture of both glee and disappointment. All those dreams of me peeing myself just aggravate my bladder more.

These little dream anecdotes serve two purposes for this journal. For one, they bolster my word count. For two, my memories of my previous videos are similarly hazy. I recorded this “fourth” video on 6/6/19, and I’m writing this description nine days later. I remember that I had tried 13 times to record this damned video, and I faintly recall that I had originally intended to write this journal about how my failed attempts resulted in beneficial practice time. At this point, however, my mind doesn’t hold the right sentiment to make some thoughtful message about growing from failures. All I have are some vague emotions: frustration about the recording process and relief that I succeeded to completing a full run on video.

The logical thing to do here is to re-watch the video, but like a dream about losing my adult teeth spontaneously, I’m not eager to relive the moment, especially after I have seen it already. For today, sloth is my companion. However, if you have any thoughts, send them my way.

The End of an Era

Solomon and the Lost Videos

The Journal About Journaling

The Slumpening

Short-Term Memory Loss

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