I have never been a writer -- I prefer to talk. I've always found that given the chance to internalize, I do entirely too much of it. So I've learned to keep my mouth running for fear of it rusting shut. Just ask my girlfriend, @BlueTeddy... She could use the chance to vent about my verbal diarhhea. That being said, I think it's time I tackled a new trick.
I am the Ten Thousand Trick Pony, afterall.
My name may sound arrogant at first. And in some ways, it is. But the truth is, my name is intended to reflect a deep seeded need for understanding... And an even deeper belief in every person's ability to empower themselves, and the responsibility that entails. We'll touch more on that later.
My broad spectrum content direction is to always teach something new. Often times, this comes in the form of me personally learning something new in the public eye in an effort to first establish that it is okay to not excel at something, only to then show that one's own objectivity can often be the greatest asset on the road to mastery: As personal doubts and public mistakes are often painted in a negative light, instead of as one of the many steps on the road to mastery, the same intersection everyone began that same journey from.
An example being my recent fight with Blender as I struggled to make myself the following logo on a livestream where my internet cut out (twice):
And the stream where it all started.
However, you'll mostly see me hosting video game livestreams. I'm a very avid gamer, with a passion for games that introduce multiple layers of cascading complexity, but allow equal degrees of freedom in order to encourage active problem solving and analytical skills as the primary means of achieving one's own goals.
If a game does not challenge me mentally, then I may as well just be pulling on a slot machine or bouncing a rubber ball off my wall. I come here to exercise what is important to me. And what is important if not for the singular organ that makes me who I am? My eyes are up here, thank you...
As such, Ark is a word you'll more or less come to associate with me.
Whereas I'd like to think most streamers develop their reputation through high energy antics..
Or through consistent demonstrations of skill...
(Thanks to @BitFiend for this flattering article about the above piece and others!)
I have built my personality mostly on the exact opposite: I present difficult gameplay with a calm demeanor and detailed explanations while leaning on my deadpan humour to keep the ineitable daily viewer naptime at bay. Because that is what makes me who I am. I approach a stressful problem and my first reaction is to analyze it: I do not want to roll the dice. I know that I am intended to do so, but even a game of chance favors those who understand the possibilities and consider the consequences, not only the chances. Even in my real life, I find myself stopping to narrate why my car is exhausting steam from the hood. Because I could just shut the car off, and risk making the issue even worse... Or I can make an active attempt to recall related information, review the past few minutes, and by pondering for a few seconds come to a conclusion that will save me hours of work... And instead, just idle with the Air Conditioner off, allowing the cooling system to return my car to safe operating temperature much faster than if I had turned the engine off.
You're probably thinking "whoopdie do, you like to think before acting.. and?"
Well, that's where that whole "internalizing" thing comes back around: I am a devious bastard. In a very well-intended sense of the term, as I am often internally 15 steps ahead of my mouth, even with my practice of never closing the flaps. It's a lost art. Or one I should probably lose. I'm sure I'll decide which after a 15 hour livestream about it someday.
You see, I have a lot of very strong beliefs. But who would ever listen to some random person on the internet?
That question.. That is why I no longer pursue any of my former professional interests.
That question...Is why I stream.
I'm going to quote a conversation I had 3 years ago with a girl named Trinity. One of my oldest followers, and earliest moderators when I was on Twitch (aside from @BitFiend, who is one of my closest friends to this day):
"If I had told you that presumption of innocence is nonexistant, would you have listened to me? Would you have stayed long enough for me to even attempt an explanation? Or... Would you have simply walked out thinking I'm just another guy with an axe to grind reinforcing his own biases?"
"I'd have probably dismissed you as a conspiracy theorist."
"So when I tell you instead that I am going to do something considered to be impossible in a game you have several thousand hours in, something a professional says cannot be done.. Are you going to wait and see what happens?"
"Hell yeah, you're either going to deliver, or you're not. And I can see for myself if you're worth listening to."
"You see, that's how I got you hooked. You came in talking about Ark and how hard all these things were. I not only just up and did them, I handicapped myself, explained everything that could go wrong by intentionally causing it, and then worked out of each of them with a casual explanation to show that it not only could be done.. It was so easy I was rolling a smoke while explaining that if I got stuck, the wyvern could kill me off my mount in a single shot.. As I waited with my back to a wall for it to catch up to me.. Just to show how to counter getting stuck like that.
And the entire time, you never suspected.. That's my gimmick. I'm not here to do anything except get people listening. When you start to value my opinion, to trust my reasoning, I'm no longer just a random person on the internet.. Then I can affect change. When I do what cannot be done, and do so casually, I can convince you to question what you know.
And that really, is my end goal. That is where I find my worth in this world. In getting you to stop believing everything that anyone tells you. And to decide these things for yourself. So much damn harm comes to so many people because someone just like you, with voting power, spending power, and many other empowering factors.. Gets lied to, manipulated, or misled.. And never realizes it because they never learned to question."
The short and simple truth is.. I stream because I honestly believe that one day at a time, I can make the world a better place, by teaching the people who live in it to empower themselves. And I believe that because I already have. And I stream video games because I have been consistently able to excel at them enough to get people paying attention, in far shorter timeframes than my other pursuits.
I have my share of scars. Enough that more than a few authors have taken a stab at retelling my life story. But of every horrible thing I have ever witnessed.. Not a single event could not have been avoided if people had learned to take a step back and look at the problem they were so weary of trying to solve through a narrow scope.
I did say we'd get back to that deep belief in people. And so we did. If you have read this far, thank you. As a reward for putting up with my horrible authoring and long-winded explanations.. Here's some other things I occasionally like to do, as a shallower 'at-a-glance' of the type of content I enjoy producing:
Amateur Art:
Mah Foster Puppers:
And Adventures:
So if you want to see more of that, you know where to find me.
PS- I don't do this writing thing much. My posts are primarily live discussion of verbal narration. I am far too fragmented an individual to be allowed to type. Thankfully, STEEMit is decentralized. And not enough people have the free time to enforce me not being allowed to type.
Welcome to Steem Community @tenk.trickpony! As a gentle reminder, please keep your master password safe. The best practise is to use your private posting key to login to Steemit when posting; and the private active key for wallet related transactions.
In the New Steemians project, we help new members of steem by education and resteeeming their articles. Get your articles resteemed too for maximum exposure. You can learn more about it here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gaman/new-steemians-project-launch
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you for the tips. I will keep that in mind.
I will check out that link tomorrow. I am exhausted and on my way to bed for the night.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Welcome to Steem, @tenk.trickpony!
I am a bot coded by the SteemPlus team to help you make the best of your experience on the Steem Blockchain!
SteemPlus is a Chrome, Opera and Firefox extension that adds tons of features on Steemit.
It helps you see the real value of your account, who mentionned you, the value of the votes received, a filtered and sorted feed and much more! All of this in a fast and secure way.
To see why 2932 Steemians use SteemPlus, install our extension, read the documentation or the latest release : SteemPlus 2.17.4 : Two new features on Busy and bug fixes.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This is a great introduction to who you are and why you stream! And for the record I think you're a lovely writer :p
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I was going to say that makes one of us.. But since you're my better half, perhaps it doesn't. Then again, perhaps the better half is the overruling half, and thus it does make one. And still again, perhaps if you overrule me, that means I agree and that makes two of us.
Sorry. letting my sense of humor carry me away lol. Thanks, hun.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Nice intro welcome to steem community keep posting enjoy your self..
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you! And will do. Trying my best to push a continuous schedule lately.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Welcome to Steemit @tenk.trickpony I am very glad that you have joined! I've been preaching crypto for how many years? Now you have what I consider an extremely easy way to earn them!
I guess all that constant steemit-this and steemit-that in your discord really paid off! Steemit and dlive have gained an excellent content creator and I look forward to watching you grow! This is your time to shine!
What a great introduction post! I have shared it in a few steemit-related discord channels in hopes that you get some more upvotes! You definitely deserve them!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As always, thanks for looking out, Bit. I'll make sure to keep the series going while you're gone. Perhaps you should unlock your doors and troughs on the server so I can fill them for you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Didn't think of that! I'll get them unlocked tonight and hopefully I can stream some too.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit