#oneaday Day 112: You're The Inspiration

(After-the-fact note: This was written before the Great ProJared Controversy of 2019. I stand by what I said here, because it's how I felt at the time, and however one might feel about his alleged behaviour, I can't deny that his professional work inspired me to create.)

This is a topic I will doubtless revisit fairly often, but today I wanted to talk about a creator that has inspired me, and who has had quite an influence on at least certain aspects of my work — specifically, the video side of things.

I'm referring to a chap called ProJared, who is a gaming YouTuber that both my wife Andie and I very much enjoy watching. He used to have a channel where he did more "scripted" videos and is apparently most well-known for his "one minute review" series. I actually thought the latter was among the weakest of his scripted content, but then I generally prefer longer stuff anyway — hence the fact my own videos tend to err on the longer side. (People often say that they put Let's Plays on as "background noise" — the wife and I certainly do while we're falling asleep — so long videos are great for that.)

Anyway, Jared's main channel has been largely defunct for quite some time now. I'm not sure of the reasons behind this, but from what I understand it is down to personal and mental health issues that are no-one's business but his own. He has, however, been ramping up both his streaming and Let's Play efforts on his second channel, ProJared Plays, and over time I've actually found myself enjoying this content more than his scripted stuff. This surprised me, because when I first stumbled across his channel, I thought I'd prefer his more "produced" content, but actually the opposite has ended up being true.

Jared is an exemplary Let's Player, so far as I'm concerned. He's passionate, he's friendly, he reacts like a human being rather than a screeching teenager, and he manages to pull off that incredibly difficult balancing act between being progressive and inclusive and not being an incredibly obnoxious twat about it. His Let's Plays include the audience in what he's doing (he refers to things that are going on by saying "we" rather than "I", a habit that I've subconsciously picked up while recording Let's Plays, but am quite happy to keep) and he has a great sense of humour about everything he does.

I also greatly respect him for taking on a variety of games that are a bit off the beaten track rather than just going for either the popular games or "streamer bait". Some of the first videos I saw of his were his explorations of the old Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons games for PC, as well as an almost entirely forgotten Westwood D&D production for Turbografx, of all things, called Order of the Griffon. But it's not all old stuff; he often tries out newer indies and visual novels, and is a particular fan of both narrative-centric stuff and scary games.

You're probably building up something of a picture of why I like him, huh.

Anyway, Jared has been a big inspiration for me. When I was pondering what to do with YouTube that would be something unique rather than just rehashing other content in a different medium, his Let's Plays were extremely influential in me developing a style that I was comfortable and confident in, and that you've hopefully seen me grow into over the course of the series that I've been experimenting with.

I've tried to follow suit with his friendly, audience-inclusive style of presentation and I've received a few kind comments saying that my videos remind the viewers in question of good old days sitting around playing games with friends, which was exactly the sort of vibe I was going for, so I'm really happy about that.

I'm not trying to ape ProJared by any means — I can only dream of his viewer counts! — but I wanted to acknowledge that he has been a great inspiration and a strong influence on me. And perhaps encourage you to check out his work if you haven't enjoyed it for yourself! His recent playthrough of a cooperative Super Mario World ROMhack with his "Miss Editor" (who is as much a personality-packed part of his videos as he is at this point, despite only ever appearing as disembodied text during videos) has been a particular highlight, but there's a whole lot of goodness to be found among his past work, too. If you want a really good giggle, check out his "Mario Go Fish" drinking game and the following two absolutely hammered Minecraft videos. (All three are collected in one convenient playlist here.)

You're not reading this, Jared, but thanks. Not just for giving me some great ideas, but for continually entertaining me, even when I've had difficult days, weeks, months. There have been times where your videos have really helped me out of a dark place. So I'm proud to count you among the growing list of people who have influenced and inspired my work.