Video games are a relatively young medium, and the industry has exploded during the era of social media. YouTube first began as a video-sharing platform in 2005, and its parent company Alphabet reported YouTube made $15.15 billion in advertising revenue in 2019. Based on YouTube’s 2020 Culture and Trends Report, Minecraft content received over 201 billion views that year alone.
In 2011, Jirard “Dragon Rider” Khalil started making a YouTube show called The Completionist. As of this writing, his channel has over 1.4 million subscribers, and is celebrating its tenth anniversary. While he is known as a YouTuber to the world at large, he said to his company of 10+ employees he is a CEO, a leader, and a collaborator; the “head honcho” of a production company that also produces merchandise and additional projects. Game Rant spoke with Khalil about his experiences on YouTube over the last 10 years, and how they will celebrate with events like the Preserved Play charity livestream. Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: What is The Completionist, how did it get started, and how did it become a larger company?
A: The Completionist was formed out of a state of desperation. I had just graduated from Cal State Fullerton (CSUF), double majoring in Theatre and Film, and after five-and-a-half years of education I got burned out by the degrees I specialized in. I grew up in theatre, but by the time I got my degree I realized I wasn’t happy being an actor. I was seeing the long road ahead of starving paychecks and grueling performances, and in theatre it’s a cut-throat experience. You have to be someone who is incredibly talented and well-versed and always rehearsing, but you’re expected to earn nothing and give everything.
While I’m used to that workflow, that was how I always approached things, I wasn’t ready to do it in the theatrical sense anymore. I had been studying theatre for 10+ years by the time I was done, and it seemed like my journey was done there.
In college I really developed a passion for film, but I felt super bogged down by some of the film programs and staff that were at CSUF. A lot of the education I got, it felt like the staff was discouraging me from a career in film. After I graduated I was the PA on a film, and I was there for maybe two weeks. By the second week I had this flash-forward vision of, “Holy crap, this is going to be my life for the next 15+ years.” I’m going to be on someone else’s film set, bringing someone else their coffee, holding the light or driving the limo for the actor. I saw all of that and knew this was not how I was meant to carve my own path.
I worked full time at the Best Buy in Torrance on PCH and Hawthorne. That was my stomping ground, I lived at that Best Buy for five-and-a-half years, and I loved video games – they were a passion of mine. It wasn’t so much that I cared about selling video games, I just cared about making sure if someone came to my realm, they were getting a game they wanted, or one they were maybe concerned to have for their kid or whoever. I took it very seriously, but after I got passed on a promotion I felt like my time was up.
I didn’t really have any plans, I had nowhere to go. But my buddy from high school, Jon Jafari, he started a YouTube show called JonTron Show. He was trying to come up with new ideas and film stuff, and he’s such a brilliant guy – he’s so smart and funny, and that’s why he’s so successful today.
Starting out he didn’t have a camera or a crew to help him shoot, so me and a couple of my friends were his core crew. I wasn’t as involved, but I’m in a few episodes of JonTron, you can see me. It wasn’t until I met Arin Hansen from Game Grumps – I met him on the same day Jon did, the three of us had that meeting and were hanging out. I got to know Arin over a couple of weeks, but I didn’t know what Egoraptor was or anything about Newgrounds. It was genuinely like, “Hey what’s up, let’s talk about stuff.”
He was very encouraging in the early process. I didn’t know him very well, but he was like you just have to create something. I had been doing YouTube stuff for like six years and none of it took off, I didn’t understand why or how. I did sketch comedy, shot comedy… This was my third or fourth attempt at starting a YouTube show. I told myself this one was going to be different, about me and what I’m passionate about.
One of the core elements of myself as a person is I’m a completionist. I didn’t really tell anyone, it was something I did on my own. I’m the youngest of five, I grew up in relatively poor household. I didn’t get new games often, so a lot of my passion for new games came down to whatever my mom and dad let me rent from the local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. So, I didn’t realize how important that element was to me until I started making YouTube stuff.
I tried to make a channel called The Completionist and couldn’t because there was someone else who had the channel. I reached out to that gentleman, he’s a very nice guy who’s still making content to this day, and I asked him, “Would you be interested in selling your channel or giving it to me?” He said no, it was his channel and he liked what he’s done as his personal project. But he said, “Just because I’m The Completionist doesn’t mean you can’t be The Completionist, or they can’t be The Completionist.”
That positive outlook is what kind of stated my drive. This gentleman showed me some kindness, and I felt I should do the same by putting my best foot forward. So, that’s why I came up with the channel “That One Video Gamer,” because the idea was that anyone can be a gamer, a musician, a filmmaker. By being synonymous with everyone, it didn’t really matter who I was.
The show has changed a lot over the years, but the core concept is still the same: man versus game, man completes game. It has gone from a challenge of “will he or won’t he complete the game” to now knowing he completes the game, but how does that make him feel? What’s that journey like? Do the graphics or music make the journey easier or more difficult to complete? That kind of stuff. We try our best to tell a narrative of heart and empathy throughout every episode. You’re about to go on a journey with this guy, and you may either hate or love the experience, but he’s going to share it with you.
Q: As your perspective on the show changed, has your relationship with video games changed?
A: I think my relationship with video games has changed a lot since I became “YouTube famous,” if you will. I don’t consider it YouTube fame. As a performer I’ve always been humble about nobody watching my stuff, so even though I have a million subscribers the number doesn’t mean anything to me. What matters more to me is the people who watch and support the stuff.
The part about creating content and making videos, that’s the part that remains the same to me. I love the show, we’re 10 years in the making at this point, and I love the challenges I’ve come across with regards to, “How do we make this funny,” or, “How do we make this a heartfelt moment,” “How do we make it a good time?”
I think what has changed my perspective on video games is social media and the industry climate. I find if there’s a new trailer or presentation by a company, I’m less excited and enthusiastic because there’s this feeling that I have to share my opinion right away; that’s what the Internet demands. I have to post on Instagram because that’s what a YouTuber does. I have to share my feelings on Twitch because that’s what a streamer does. I feel an obligation to share what I think right away, and that’s exhausting because I already do that full-time as a YouTuber. There’s this underlying pressure that I always have to be “on,” and sometimes I want to enjoy things to myself.
For example, I still haven’t watched the February 2021 Pokemon Direct and it was all over the Internet. I didn’t want to watch it because I want to experience those games when they’re ready. I don’t want a nine-to-18 month hype train all the time, it can be dangerous. Back in my day we had magazines and AOL keywords, that’s how we found out about games and trailers. Nowadays it’s like if you don’t have a trailer or news right away, we’re all mad. People count down the days to the next Nintendo presentation.
That’s the part that has changed the most since I started doing this, and it’s the part that has changed me the most. While I love what I do, I find myself caring about my privacy, insight, and opinions more than anything.
Q: On the subject of “Internet Fame,” people like Angry Video Game Nerd or Game Grumps have inspired many to do this kind of work. Have fans said they take this kind of inspiration from you?
A: All the time. If I had to stop doing the show today, the thing I can walk away happy knowing is I have hopefully inspired a generation of people to create stuff online – be it about video games or just in general.
I started where there wasn’t a lot of content creators online, so to be one of the early generation of YouTubers who paved the way, who struggled through the copyright claims and strikes, who struggled with early drama in the YouTube space when there was no way to monetize, exploit, and hurt people with it… I think it feels good to know that there’s a large number of people who look up to me to this day, who trust me and still care about me, who feel inspired to keep going because I’m here doing that grind.
Q: You tend to be open about issues with YouTube, finances, and sometimes your mental health. How important is it to convey those struggles, especially to younger fans interested in this career path?
A: I think it’s so important to understand the scope of what you’re getting into. There’s this fake kind of dream: a study came out a few years ago that looked at what people’s dream jobs were, and one of the top-ranked jobs was being an assistant to an influencer or YouTuber. I found it fascinating, but I bring it up because I think people looking from the outside in don’t understand how YouTube works, and feel it’s just about playing video games and making money. If it was that easy, there would be millions of people doing it instead of the few thousand that do.
It’s a situation where there’s a level of desire to be YouTube famous and successful, but people don’t necessarily see all the bells and whistles that it takes to do it.
I wasn’t really comfortable talking about my mental, physical, and financial well beings until probably last year at the top of the pandemic. While I did feel great about the positivity I was spreading, all the support I got from YouTubers and creators, it opened up a level of criticism I wasn’t expecting.
I continued to see that criticism build over the last year or so. It doesn’t make me want to shut up and stop promoting mental health, financial awareness, and emotional or physical well being, but it definitely makes you realize that sometimes your audience can become the machine that wants you to produce. They don’t necessarily care about the person behind the product, they just want the product. They want the burger, they want to eat it, they don’t care about the chef making it.
That sounds more on the negative side, like I’m harping against those fans, but that’s not the case. I love what I do, I’m passionate about what I do, and I want to be able to support the next generation who comes along to redefine all this. But I don’t think we talk enough, as a YouTube community at large, about these true struggles. There are YouTubers who don’t know how to do their taxes or file for income tax or state tax or insurance policies. There’s no YouTube union. There’s nobody looking out for them.
That’s something that for 10 years is a part of the business I’ve dealt with more than anything. Making sure people get paid, making sure insurance is covered, making sure if something goes wrong I’m protected, making sure if something goes wrong for my team members they’re protected. There’s a lot of legal, financial, and extra things people don’t think about. You just think you make a YouTube video and become famous.
That was where I came at last year, saying we should talk about this. But the reality is, YouTube’s platform is designed to promote content all the time, and if you aren’t creating content that’s topical or in the interest of YouTube, nobody is going to watch.
I jokingly release an update video every quarter, and those get more and more cynical because I know they’ll do well since I’m being open and honest, but also making fun of YouTube as a platform because it’s not a safe place for creators to grow. Any creator will tell you they’ve had their own struggles with the platform. There are creators that show up, blow up in a night, and then disappear because YouTube changed its code. Or there are creators who never blew up but put in the work and grind.
You’re looking at one of them. That’s how I got here, I never gave up. I just put my head down and believed if I made great content people would show up and stay.
Q: Where do you draw the line of being so open that people think you’re a friend? How do you find that line?
A: It’s funny, I haven’t had any interactions online where I’ve felt uncomfortable with people. I’ve always been a personable, extroverted person, and I’m able to read people’s vibes. I take pride in that, being able to see if someone’s having a rough day and figuring out how to comfort them or welcome them to come speak with me.
I think where the line draws for me is when there’s this level of reciprocation from the audience member to the YouTuber. I create content, and hopefully you watch and like it. But when the fan starts to develop a parasocial relationship, they start to take everything I say with extreme certainty and criticize or scrutinize because of it.
It could be like saying “I like Mario” in 2019. Then, in 2022 I could say “Mario’s not my favorite anymore,” and people would go in 2019 you said it was.
Luckily for me I’m a straight, white dude – technically I’m Middle Eastern, but there’s not a box for that on the census, so it’s just ‘Caucasian.’ At large, I’m a straight, white dude who loves talking about games, and there are so many other important marginalized groups who are sharing their perspectives and stories that get beaten upon in the social climate. For me, it’s not that bad.
I take pride that my fans are respectful and willing to listen to me when I have something to say. The key element is I love connecting with people, but I don’t want them to think I’m taking advantage of them or making them feel uneasy.
Q: You’re coming up on 400 games completed. Are there still titles you’re excited to take on?
A: I feel like I’ve conquered every mountain, and I’ve reached every peak. What fuels me is the new stuff. Before my channel was based on a lot of retro games, but I’ve basically tackled 98 percent of my favorite games growing up. The nostalgia in my back pocket is dwindling pretty low, so I find myself completing a lot of games I’ve never played before; ones that have huge followings of fans, ones where I can focus on what the audience really wants.
There’s only so many Marios, Zeldas, and Sonics I can complete until I’ve done them all, and believe you me there’s probably less than a handful of each of those. I think the challenge and drive for me is being what I call “who’s on first?” When a game company sends me a game and says I have three weeks until the embargo drops, that’s three weeks of privacy where I get to form a wonderful relationship with a game and find myself – or don’t find myself in it.
When Final Fantasy 7 Remake came out I was one of the first influencers to get it, and I can’t begin to tell you how different that experience would have been if I played it day one. The fact that I got to enjoy it in this quiet, private bubble, to experience the game I really wanted made that so much more special. So, when I get to share it with everyone, it’s like I’m sharing a Christmas present.
That’s not always going to be the case with new titles, I don’t have a hookup with every company, but it’s a special event. When Mario Odyssey came out, when Breath of the Wild came out, I think all of us collectively said, “Wow. This is special, this is something we’ll all remember for the next eight-to-10 years.”
That part of the show is what drives me the most, the mystery of not knowing what’s to come in the future. However, that’s probably the hardest part about making the show nowadays is figuring out how to make a video on a title that’s 20, 30+ years old that people will want to look at versus making something on that new hotness that just hit shelves.
Q: Are there any titles you haven’t tackled that your audience is fervent about getting you to cover?
A: Recently we had a meeting about the future of The Completionist and how we see the direction of the show. Looking at the analytics and data and fan feedback, we always try to figure out what the fan wants from the show; what makes the most popular episode, the most engaged episode, the one everyone says is their favorite.
We’ve boiled it down to two things, and it’s kind of sad when you think about it because they’re both detrimental to me and nobody else: It’s time, or pain rather, and patience.
In pain, people love seeing me suffer. They love seeing me go through a really hard challenge for hours and reporting that. On the other hand, they love seeing me play a big RPG that takes hundreds of hours to complete. Both of those factors become important aspects to the show for a lot of people, they love seeing me suffer a bad game or a challenging game, or they love seeing me suffer in the form of spending way too much time on one task.
Nowadays, the most common thing fans really want me to do is JRPGs nobody has ever heard of. I think that’s the hardest pill to swallow, because I am a people pleaser and want to do the games people are begging for, but at the same time considering the cost ratio of my time investment to play and complete the game, then put that episode in production, we’re talking making cents to the hour for every time I complete one.
That’s the hardest part, picking games that will satiate people… But we don’t really know what they want. That’s the trick to all of this, we know they’re here for Mario, Zelda, and Sonic, but if not they’re here for the JRPGs and Dark Souls of the world. When those are gone, what’s left? What’s the core reason people come to see the show?
I’d like to think it’s because of me, my personality, my drive, and my commitment. But sometimes people don’t want to watch a video about “Chester Cheetah’s Big Day in Hollywood” for Super Nintendo. They don’t care about SSX Tricky for the PlayStation 2. Which is hard for me as a creator because I have a lot to say about these things, but the algorithm mixed with fan interests puts a damper on that kind of enthusiasm.
Q: At the same time, you do a lot of fan-driven content for things like Super Beard Bros. How important has that been for building your brand more generally?
A: Fans are the lifeblood of my business. Without them I’m nothing, and I don’t have the ability to accomplish my dreams. It sounds cheesy, like I’m accepting a community award online, but the truth is that the fans are why I keep going.
YouTubers and creators always talk about the negative feedback, and very rarely do they understand or recognize the positive parts of their community. I don’t necessarily talk about it enough, but I am always thinking about it from start to finish. I’ve probably changed my Patreon page seven times in the last two years, not because I’m looking to expand the Patreon and make it a bigger part of our business, but because I want to make everyone who’s dedicated to supporting me feel like they’re receiving something they care about. That they’re really getting their money and heart’s worth by supporting me.
I think a lot of that is lost when you’re making a video essay that’s 15-to-30 minutes and doesn’t talk about those things. One of the most common things said to me is, “I love your videos, but I love your Twitch streams even more because I get to talk to you, interact with you, and actually hear you speak unfiltered.” Obviously with Super Beard Bros. people can watch and get that same experience, but I think there’s this genuine connection I hope I have with fans that fuels me.
The reality is that fuel can’t put food on my table or take care of my family, and it can’t take care of my employees and business. But, at the very least, it’s the reason I keep going. I would be so happy if I only had 100,000 subscribers and made all the money equating to that success versus being a YouTuber with 10+ million subscribers and not being able to communicate to your audience. To just be a paparazzi hit-piece all the time.
Up until the separation of Greg and myself in 2015, one of the things I held onto was fan interactions. It was so important that for every fan who sent me mail or interacted with me, I either made a video or wrote back to them or gave them a sticker. They took the time to honor me, the very least I can do is take the time to honor them.
Q: That split led to New Game Plus alongside other projects and shows you have going. Have you picked up any insights into time management or maintaining your sanity doing so many things?
A: When the huge negative backlash happened, I felt very afraid of my audience and the future. I didn’t want to make anything anymore, I didn’t want to create, I didn’t want to communicate with anyone. I didn’t get cancelled by any means, but there was a large, vocal majority screaming at me as if I was the villain.
For two-and-a-half years I carried what was on my company and team, and it was hard because I had a lot of my personal space violated. People coming to my parents’ house, my phone number leaking online, incessant Reddit posts and Twitter threads about how awful a human being I was. That was the part that, in the beginning, made me miserable. I got really down on myself, and part of that is still there even though I’ve balanced with New Game Plus.
I had a personal channel for about nine months where I tried sharing my life more personally. I wanted to share the day-to-day of the show, we had a podcast, I had a workout show where I was trying to lose weight. That stuff was all great, but there was always a nagging thing at the back of my mind like, “Hey, you’re not a good person, and the people who watch you don’t like you.”
I think it wasn’t until I came up with New Game Plus where I finally said I don’t care what people think of me anymore. I want to do right by the people who support me, by the fans who have been around and continue to be around. If you think about the metrics, when Greg and I separated I was four years into making content and I had 200,000 subscribers. By the time I announced New Game Plus we were at 800,000 subscribers. I had tons more opportunities to work with different companies and corporations.
The audience knew about the backlog, but didn’t quite understand what was going on. So, I turned to the team and I said let’s shut down the personal channel and make New Game Plus. They were like you’re crazy, you’re nuts. Everyone in my family and close to me said you’re asking a lot, you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself and expecting nothing in return, because who knows if it will work. I told them all at least I’ll have peace of mind. At least that sanity you were talking about will be intact.
That was the most important thing to me, I wanted the ability to breathe again. That ability to breathe came back to life when I started completing the games again. I felt this familiarity, this wonderful rush of “I can do this all day,” very much I can handle anything. Looking back, it was the right call. It was the call that legitimized us as a true business, and it was a massive risk.
I’m so glad it’s almost over because it has been four years of this. It’ll be over next May in terms of the content schedule, I have eight games left to complete for New Game Plus.
The only true regret I have is kind of going back to time management. Before I would eat, sleep, and breathe one game a week, that would be the show and I’d have time to go to conventions, try to have a normal life with my partner and my family. When New Game Plus came along, the bandwidth was gone. I sacrificed my personal life, my relationships, and my health. That was the cost of doing business if you will, but that to me… I don’t know if it was worth it. I wouldn’t say it was worth it for me and for my health, well being, and relationship. But I hope it was worth it for the fans, because I did it for them.
I don’t want them to feel bad that they owe me anything, or that it’s guilt. I did it because they gave me my life, and I wanted to give back to them the only way I thought would work. Hopefully I succeeded in that.
Q: In your last update video you said you were taking a break before episode 400. Do you have any plans for what will change in the next arc of The Completionist?
A: With regards to New Game Plus, people always ask what the future is like. People think once I’m done I’ll shut my Twitch channel down, when in reality I’ve been streaming on Twitch as long as I’ve been doing YouTube – literally 10 years to the date. I have a lot of ideas for shows and segments I want to exist.
I’m a collector at heart. I have a lot of cool and rare memorabilia nobody has ever seen, and I plan to deep-dive and showcase some of their historical contexts and value. Things like rare arcade cabinets, or collectibles from events. I’d love to make content that’s more personable and digestible than just “complete it, see you next week!”
With regards to The Completionist, the big question is how do we keep changing the show, how do we improve, how do we reach for the stars. The reality is we’ve been in the stars for a long time. We’re very fortunate and blessed that the show is doing so well, and we’ve got a hardcore fanbase that shows up each week. The hardest part is how do we keep it from going stale for us as creators. We have a sizable team that makes this show, it’s a lot of moving parts and different elements clashing every week with an intense schedule – on top of shooting Beard Bros. and the Patreon content for that.
Do we have an idea of what the future looks like for The Completionist? We have an idea, but at this time it’s not fully fleshed-out, which is why we’re taking time to focus on it. We have been on a treadmill for some time and we’re too close to the product. We have to all get off and say no new content is being pushed out, we’ve got to settle down and create what we think is interesting and fun.
Q: Hopefully with more breaks for yourself.
A: I mean I have never taken a break like this. I took a one-month break when we hit 100 games, and that was just to output old episodes that got hit for copyright strikes. Content still is coming out, and that’s the thing: We’ll never stop the content. The content will always be coming, one or two videos a week no matter what.
The actual show, The Completionist, we’re putting the brakes on just so we can have that tough conversation of what it looks like in 2021 and beyond. Do we like what we’re making? Is it exciting? Are we trendsetters or are we adapting?
To me, the most important part of The Completionist is seeing where I sit in the show. Where my feelings are, what do I contribute, and do people care whether that contribution exists.
Q: Tell me more about what you’re doing with Preserved Play, your zine, and whatever else might be in the works.
A: The 10-year anniversary of the show is in September, but we’re also hitting 400 games. So I wanted to try and create, for lack of a better term, the “Year of Luigi” for us. It’s our year to sit back and celebrate. That’s not just me placing The Completionist on a golden pedestal. It’s about honoring the team that makes the show, my brother who has invested time and money, my producers, the people who have collaborated with me, the guys at Normal Boots and beyond, the friends I’ve made along the way.
This celebration, to me, is all about honoring them as much as it is honoring the community we’ve built. One of two things we’re focusing on this year is Preserved Play. It’s our second attempt at an annual charity for a good cause. Working with Frank Cifaldi and Kelsey Lewin [of the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF)], they’ve been in the industry for a long time. They’ve seen their ups and downs, and their unity to focus on preserving the future of video games is so important.
Not a lot of people know or honor that, and my goal is to honor them and their organization by using my community to give them the funds they need. They’re not struggling by any means, I’m not like trying to save them; I want to give them the spotlight they deserve. Without them, stuff would be lost to time, and they’re putting in so much effort with little-to-no resources. I want to help them, and if it means using the audience I’ve curated for the last 10 years to get them there, that’s what we’re aiming for.
Preserved Play takes place on March 27 and 28 on my Twitch channel. It’s not quite a 48-hour stream, but it’s two days from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. – though it’s going to really be like, “How much money have we raised? Can we keep the party going? Great, let’s raise some more money.” That’s just how I am, I love to keep the party train going, and that’s what I’m hoping to do. All the proceeds go straight to the VGHF.
We’re also doing a fan zine that I’ve asked some awesome people to work with me on. Zines, for those who don’t know, are common in the digital space. A lot show up to raise money for some cause, and they can revolve around a YouTuber, an influencer, a streamer, a character in a video game, etc.
Fans did one for the Super Beard Bros. We didn’t even do anything, they just slapped our name on it and we sat back and watched this thing take off. They donated the money to dementia research in honor of my mom, which meant the world to me. So, I knew when it came to doing this again, I want the fans at home to be able to celebrate with me.
Essentially artists, fans, enthusiasts are applying now – we just closed entries today or a couple days ago. We’re letting people pick a piece from Completionist history, whether it be NormalBoots, Super Beard Bros., Scary Games Squad, the live show, Big Bad Bosses, Frog in a Car… We’re letting them make something really cool, a beautiful piece of art. Then we’re taking that and raising money for the VGHF – all proceeds go straight to them.
Hopefully with this zine and the charity event we’re going to do some great stuff for the VGHF, and really make some waves.
Q: Are there any parts of Preserved Play you can confirm that you might want to use as a teaser?
A: I have some developers that will surprise people, and some who won’t because they’re always with me. I have the crew from Yacht Club Games coming by; a lot of the people who work there worked on video games before Shovel Knight. They worked at companies like WayForward, and have a lot of stories and historical insight on some of the for-hire projects they worked on.
You have brilliant minds like Jake Kaufman and Nick Wozniak who worked on Thor for the Nintendo DS. To think about that is fascinating, so we’re going to have people from Yacht Club come in and share their insights, share their stories.
We also have a pair of developers coming on by that I think everyone will be excited about. This is the 20th anniversary of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, so we have Chris Seavor, the director and voice of Conker; we have Shawn Pile, the lead developer and engineer on Conker; and we have Chris Marlow, the voice of The Great Mighty Poo who also did some development stuff. They’re going to be there, we’re going to play Conker’s Bad Fur Day, they’re going to share stories and emotional moments. They’re also going to share some possibly never-before-seen documents.
That’s the cool thing about this event. Kelsey and Frank have some cool, rare things nobody has ever seen before, or nobody really knows they exist. A lot of it being early game builds, or press releases for games we’d think about and know they’re nothing like the press thought it was in the 90s and 2000s. As much as we’re raising money, I think the cool thing is we’re showcasing what the VGHF is doing.
Then, we have a bunch of YouTubers and streamers and guests who will be joining me every hour along the way. We have a Crowd Control segment where fans can donate money to make my life a living hell. We also have a criss-cross randomized segment in which I’ll be working together with another YouTuber to beat a game in a synchronized way.
The event is going to be chaotic, it’s going to be fun. We have a matching charity event called IndieLand in the summer, and that’s our big drive for dementia research in honor of my mom and her life. We’re looking to hopefully have these events exist in their own bubbles, like our own versions of AGDQ and SGDQ. In March/April you have Preserved Play, and in the summertime you have IndieLand, which is designed not just to raise money for dementia, but to give insight into incredible indie developers.
Q: Are there any lessons from your previous work with IndieLand that you’ll be applying to this event?
A: The biggest lesson I’m trying to get to is that “less is more.” IndieLand 2020 was supposed to be a live event, we were going to rent out a hotel ballroom and have people fly in from all over the world. Then COVID happened and that stopped. We’re still going to do that, we have plans for 2022. But after having a skeleton crew on IndieLand last year, going into Preserved Play I’m emphasizing bare-bones resources and really applying the idea of having people be the driving force.
IndieLand is a little more difficult because when a developer is on, I need to ask them questions and I want to showcase their game, I want to make them look good. There’s a lot of pressure to perform. With Preserved Play it’s more like, “I’m here shooting the shit, I’ve got awesome people with me, and they’re all here raising money for a good cause.”
Q: Beyond supporting the VGHF, what do you hope people who tune in will take away from Preserved Play?
A: The thing I hope people take away from watching Preserved Play is really understanding how important gaming is to them and why they continue to do it. I think there’s this stigma that video games are bad for you, they can be negative or have to be regulated. I’m the complete opposite, I think video games can educate, inspire, tell stories, create things, destroy things. I’m hoping people who come by and watch the stream walk away with a sense of wonder in what could be.
If someone watches Preserved Play and says, “You know what, I’m going to make a game now,” or, “I’m going to make content,” I don’t care how much money I raised. That proves the passion which has been driving me for the last 10 years is so palpable that people want to join the party, join the push for positivity.
Q: How did you get connected with the VGHF?
A: I see myself, many years from now when I’m old and nobody cares about me, to be a historian or museum curator. I love collecting things, so I have quietly and slowly been collecting as much as I can to one day turn my collection into a museum of video games. That’s what I’ve secretly been working towards.
I’ve known Kelsey for years, and I’ve really been obsessed with Frank and the work he’s done from podcasts to the preservation work he did on Mega Man. To me, it’s like teaming up with a hero you really respect to hopefully build them up more.
I reached out to them on a whim going hey, maybe they need help, maybe there’s something I can do to drive their cause. That’s what started all of this, I’m really passionate about making sure video games are around for the next millennium. I think it’s important we start that work now, because in the 80s and 90s video games were a fad, and now they’re a lifestyle. Everyone’s playing games, and everyone is trying to get into games. That’s the drive they have, and if I can be a lightning rod that supercharges the organization, I’m more than happy to do so.
Q: You’ve done a lot over 10 years – hosted charity events, interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto, so on. Is there anything else on your bucket list going into the next 10?
A: The thing that I would love to do is cement my legacy more than anything. What that means to me is proving to the world I can do something bigger than be a guy who plays video games and makes YouTube videos. That means making a video game; making a publishing arm to support indie developers; selling a TV show; making a movie.
I didn’t start YouTube to become a businessman. I didn’t start it to become famous. I started YouTube for two things: One, I wanted a place where I could be me and express myself as much as I could. Two, I wanted to build my dreams and give myself the opportunity to create a dream machine that I could help others.
As far as my dreams are concerned, I’ve achieved so much in 10 years – more than most people will in a lifetime. I’m so honored and humbled to have done that. But I think in the next phase of my life, I want to build other people’s dreams. I want to see what my partner wants to do with her life, I want to see what my best friends and producer want to do with their lives. I want to be able to go and give them the financial and emotional stability and support to achieve those dreams.
That’s kind of where I have always been since the beginning, and that’s where I am now.
[END]
Preserved Play takes place March 27 and 28, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. PT to 6:00 p.m. PT on Twitch channel TheCompletionist.
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