Randomly Mine #1

Hey guys,

Today is the introduction of a new series, a change on this Patreon that hopefully, will stick. I've been struggling with the noted scripts for some time and I don't believe that people who are so generous as to help support my content financially, deserve to see works that I make out of desperation.

You deserve work that comes from a place of honesty and passion, and that's what I hope these new documents accomplish.

Anyone familiar with old-school Youtube will likely remember a channel called "The Wine Kone" - he's still making content - and a series he did that started with "Randomly Yours", or "Yours Randomly", I forget.

They were a collection of  thoughts put together with no cohesion or consistency, but as a result, led to entertainment.

Randomly Mine is inspired by it, though as in-sync with my channel, is related to gaming. It's possible that ideas brought up in a Randomly Mine document could lead to a video in the future, but as of now, it's a way to deliver content I ordinarily wouldn't turn into a full Youtube project, yet I still feel the need to voice.

Please leave your thoughts of this in the comments, and if its a satisfying replacement of the Noted Scripts that it'll be taking the place of.

I hope you enjoy, and thank you so much for your support.

Best wishes,
Lucas Raycevick 

Randomly Mine #1

#1: I Did What I Hate

Books are strange. I adore them, yet I can count all the books I genuinely loved on one hand. When I give up on a story, it’s always for the same reason, the writer sets up the story rather than telling it.

Here’s Joe, he’s a guy that does things. This is the facility, where he works. This is Jane, she likes Joe, but not like that… or does she? Well, only if something crazy were to happen. Hmmmmmm?

This will continue until page 50.

One of the benefits of comics is that because there’s an artist attached to the story, the writer can’t stroke his or her ego for a whole issue, obstructing their partner’s work with speech bubbles large enough to burst. That’s probably why I gravitate to them more than the written novel currently.

That doesn’t meant I can’t empathize with the writer’s intentions.

Instant Intensity in Inputs was a scramble, a video made out of fear, panic that my muse wasn’t cooperating after a weeklong break and doing a “So I’ve Finally Played…” like I planned.

When I found myself in this place, I reverted to the ancient advice “write what you know.”

In that moment, I knew Clustertruck was fucking awesome, and that its “cheap thrills” had me on the edge of my seat more immediately and consistently than what some argue to be Christopher Nolan’s best film. So what did I do? Open my script with exactly that!

While I was away for a week exploring my Hometown, I saw two recent Motion Pictures. The first was Valerian, a horrendously tedious film that uses its incredible budget to make a sleep aid. The second was Dunkirk, a wickedly suspenseful movie that’s as intelligently presented as it is gorgeous to watch.

And yet, when I came back home and went through my Steam library. The game that was more intense and thrilling than both, was Clustertruck.

I even kept this opening in my second draft of the video’s script, despite heavy alterations to its conclusion. It wasn’t until a third attempt that I implemented the introduction you’ve seen in the final product.

Those two paragraphs don’t tell anything. Nothing you - nor should - care about. It doesn’t comment on the industry, there’s no relation to the final subject, it’s all setup.

I accidently did exactly what I hate.

In writing, there’s so many decisions to make, consciously or not, that the metaphorical deck you build can quickly resemble the devils if not constantly evaluated.

Writing is not a linear path with a few choices, it’s a maze where you always have 50+ options, only dozens of them lead to a spike pit, and you can’t see it until you feel the pinch.

I did what I hate, and I will time and time again.

But you don’t need to know that.

#2: Population Numbers

Lawbreakers, one of the better games I’ve played this year, has a very low population on Steam. No, not low by YT comment standards, which at this point might’ve grown to a hundred thousand; they’re low by any standard. The headline for days was “Population Drops to 50 Players”.

I logged in despite my deadline constraints to see if it was true, and not just a repeat of the laughable Titanfall 2 articles that made it seem like software road kill.

Sadly, Lawbreakers’ western servers really did resemble that of ghost towns the west used to have. Thankfully, a match on the East Coast was found relatively quickly, so it’s not quite at the stage of Reflex, but it’s terrifyingly close.

However, it got me thinking.

I always remind myself that Youtube comments are 1% of the viewerbase, and rarely, do they accurately resemble the overall sentiment of the average person. They’re likely to be the most passionate, loving, angry, or annoyed.

When you’re browsing trailers, news, interviews, etc, there’s a comment I’m sure most are familiar with. Typically it’s attached to popular games, such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, PUBG, etc.

“Man, this game sucks. Why can’t we have things like X again? Those games were way better! Not this casual made for kiddies crap!”

Yet, when games of all sub-genres come out to be an alternative to what the mainstream is offering, there is a far smaller crowd than you’d believe. Because that one percent is just that.

I think it’s no secret based on the population numbers many obsess over, that for the majority of multiplayer gamers, the specific experience isn’t what matters, but instead, the platform that the game allows for their own experiences. What I mean is to most, Call of Duty doesn’t matter, but how well Call of Duty allows you to play with friends, consistently run and shoot, and support your own entertainment, does.

Portions of this crowd may complain about Ults in Overwatch, the hit-detection in Counter Strike, or the ease of aiming in Call of Duty, but these aren’t big enough problems for them to stop playing and hunt down something that fits their specific desires.

The small populations of games like Rising Storm, Lawbreakers, and Reflex, are the niche that go out of their way to play exactly what they want. It doesn’t matter if there aren’t filled servers at a specific time, or that they might need to sacrifice some ping, or organize play-sessions with the community, the enjoyment they get from the game is worth it to them.

For most, it isn’t, and it shows.

You’re not a better or worse person for playing Overwatch or Lawbreakers. Halo or Reflex. Battlefield or Rising Storm.

But what the populations do, is show how many are all talk, and no walk.

#3: Bungie’s KEK

All this Destiny 2 controversy of them removing a shader that resembles 4Chan’s fictional nation, does for me, is wonder which Destiny will accidently have Pepe the Frog for a helmet.

#4: Can God Buff Health?

Ubisoft has said on multiple occasions that there’s no reason to not eventually have one-hundred operators in Rainbow Six Siege.

I violently disagree.

Siege is like a child in their 14 year-old Atheist phase. I love it to death, but by god do I wish it’d grow out of this already.

Rainbow Six Siege has been a game with more bugs and issues than early access, but we put up with it for the intense experience. Siege is an amazing blueprint to build a foundation off of. However, due to the popularity of Multiplayer games, and wanting to squeeze as much money out of Siege as possible from for its two-game budget, Ubisoft keeps building and building and building on-top of it.

It’s gotten to the point where the game is so fragile that each patch brings in as many new problems as fixes. I’ve heard “Hit-detection is our number one priority” so many times, that I think Ubisoft have made Vaas’ insanity monologue their bible.

Siege is still great and I highly recommend it to people looking for a refreshing Multiplayer experience, but I just feel that Ubisoft would be better off producing a sequel and deliver a polished feature rich experience, rather than constantly adding to this beast that’s becoming the French Canadian Frankenstein.

#5: Clickbait

I’ve been told on a handful of occasions that a video of mine is “Clickbait.” In-fact, I’m not sure I know of a fellow Youtuber that has never gotten this accusation, which is rather telling.

From Buzzfeed to CNN, clickbait absolutely exists. Easy questions and triggers that beg for a response from us? Feel old yet? Remember this? Did you know this?

But whenever there’s an overreliance on a cheap trick, there needs to be an overreaction to it. People develop a makeshift guide that says “This is too far, do not click on videos like X.” But if X was a game review, you’re a trouble. Suddenly, a review with an appealing thumbnail – not boobs – is clickbait. A review with lots of attention, is clickbait. A review that differs in opinion, is clickbait.

Its small wonder with this much on someone’s mind, that there’s typically anger or resentment mixed in with the complaint that something is clickbait.

I find it’s much easier to see clickbait the same way you view bad writing. There’s no system, pattern, or qualifications. You don’t know what clickbait is, but you know it when you see it.

These documents are going to be different, in writing style and topics, but I believe they will result in something more elegant, and entertaining. Rather than one document entirely devoted to “I Did What I Hate”, it’s just one piece of my messed up brain that I put on a page.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

-Lucas Raycevick