The Anti-A.I. Movement

The written word.

It seems a lost art these days. In a world where content creation seems to be exclusively glorified in short form video, the days of blogs and written script seems to have gone the way of the dodo. That’s how I approached my creative ventures in recent years. I transitioned from my educated days of being a journalist and a reporter, where writing was my first love when it came to creative outlets.

The rise of YouTube made things different. Being able to step in front of a camera and use footage, often from captured video in the gaming realm, and telling stories in a broadcast format. It was becoming more and more mainstream, and today, user created content is probably the single biggest element of consumed media across the globe.

With the launch of A.I., it seems the written word is going extinct, and that’s too bad. I looked at my own ventures and how I’ve become so consumed with video as my medium of choice when it comes to creative creations. There’s nothing wrong with it, really. It’s the way. It’s how things are done now. But…I’ve also lamented the fact that I just don’t have as much time as I used to. To sit down, play a game, capture the necessary footage, write a script and then produce a video…that’s not easy when you work a full-time job, two part-time jobs, have three kids, and are trying to be a strong and attentive family man and husband.

But I’ve always had the desire to ‘create’. It’s part of who I am. I’m a creative person at heart; a trait that spills over into my professional career. That creative bug constantly nips at me and pushes me to want to do more. As I mentioned, over the years, I’ve been trying to create video as my choice of outlet but for the past decade I’ve not reached the heights of what I set out to do. No, the ‘heights’ don’t consist of wanting to become a ‘Tuber or gain monetary value from my content…I’ve never desired that. It’s more of having an outlet. So, I jumped on the video train, and have had wildly fluctuating contentment over those years.

In a handful of instances, I’ve harboured such feelings of discontent that I’ve tried walking away from the creative space altogether, knowing full well I would fail to do so, given how much I yearn to produce content of some sort. But how do you create when what you’re trying to do has become such a barrier in its execution?

The answer has been right in front of me this entire time.

You pivot. You change.

The definition of insanity is [paraphrased] “doing the same things over and over again and expecting a new result”. 

So, it’s time to change. Or at least shift for the time being. It’s time to return to an old friend. A familiar outlet.

The blog.

As a creative person (and many of you can relate), motivation and inspiration can come from a number of different sources. Recently, I’ve been motivated by a couple of different individuals and areas. Eric Bailey and Pete Skerritt are two fine folks that I’ve followed on socials for many, many years. 

Eric was a content creator long before most, and had a lot of exciting platforms and initiatives, including but not limited to his websites; Nintendo Legend, 1 More Castle, and Skirmish Frogs. He also enjoyed a journey with short form video, before shorts were a thing. He’s podcasted, he’s created, and is now an indie game developer. I’ve enjoyed watching his path over the years, but as life tends to do, his path took a different direction and his foray into video game content creation took a back seat to game development, and a growing family; the latter of which is the single greatest reason why anyone can make a detour.

As for Pete, he dabbled into the YouTube world for awhile, boasting a pair of small series that I enjoyed, including his ‘Unsealed’ series, purchasing sealed games for his collection and exploring them on camera. His ‘Retro Referee’ videos, where he focused on retro sports titles was another enjoyable leap into the hobby. I always enjoy Pete’s insight into the gaming industry as well. His commentary on sales figures, business dynamics and overall commentary are refreshing and I always enjoy his perspective on the industry.

These two gentlemen have also recently got back into the blogging scene, in different ways. Eric recently launched Cozyscroll, a blog platform to talk about…well, anything really.

I’ve always had a deep respect for Eric, and this was a simple reminder that I often get in my own way when it comes to my creative ventures. The mantra of “just do something” can easily be achieved through writing; a skill (or tact, at least) that comes naturally for me and something I can do without extensive effort and planning. Sometimes a random ‘dump’ of words is more than enough to satisfy that desire.

As for Pete, his venture is a little different, hosting a micro blog to share his collecting journey and other thoughts. I really like this approach as well; a centralized home to store and collect (no pun intended) his thoughts into an organized spot. Simple, easy, and to the point. Beautiful.

I’ve been struggling lately (nothing dire, but something I’ll post about later) with content creation, and have been for the better part of a couple of years. I’ve been trying to figure out how to satisfy that creative itch without having to invest time that I, frankly, don’t have. I didn’t know how to balance it all out and produce something that would bring me contentment.

Well, turns out I didn’t have to look far.

The answer was here the entire time.

Thanks, gents.