Hello! My name
is Joey and I make little videos on youtube about Wargaming. In my first video
I talk about the lack of easily available information for beginners and I
embark on a vlogging adventure as I try to clumsily decipher the jargon and
abbreviations with the help of the internet and begin to figure out my chosen
army; Wood Elves.
It’s
something I’ve had a lot of fun doing, and have received such positive feedback
from the community that I recently came to an epiphany:
I want to
make Wargaming my full time job. Well, there it is! I’ve said it now – it’s out
there! There are a couple of people out there who already do this, but I want
to take the hobby in a totally different direction. I still want to produce a
documentary of my experiences with the hobby, developing not only a series
about my Wood Elves but also branching out into other armies as well as the
grimdark 40k universe. Not only that but there are other gaming companies out
there producing fantastic games that don’t see nearly enough converge: Privateer
Press’s Warmachine and Hordes and Wyrd Minature’s Malifaux are games which I’ve
recently been exploring at my friendly local gaming club and am enjoying
greatly. I’d be covering this games and anything else that *YOU*, the views of
my channel want to see. That brings me onto my next point. I want to make these
YOUR shows. Your input, themes, ideas, models, battles reports – everything.
The
wargaming community is the single most friendly, helpful and supportive I’ve
ever encountered. People swap models, offer genuine opinions, suggestions and
advice; moddlers, collectors, painters and gamers all go out of their way to
help each other out. Recently I borrowed about 1600 points of elves to play in
a local tournament! – I can’t see that happening over video games somehow! “Hey
man! I really want to play Guild Wars 2... can I borrow your gaming rig?”
The
independent tournament scene is huge, from the European Team Championships
(with its altered rules balanced from input from the best player’s on the
scene) to one day tournaments at local gaming clubs there is so much going on
within the hobby I feel it’s time to take it all to the next level.
With the
complexity of wargaming and the rising stars with the hobby on both the
painting and gaming side of it, combined with rising popularity and public
awareness I see no reason why Wargaming can’t go the same way as E-sports have
in recent years and become an exciting spectator sport. Hell; people watch
snooker. I’ve been a fan of Starcraft
for many years and it’s emergence as the leading E-sport is an excellent
example of what a devoted and strong community can achieve. While I’m no Day[9]
(BY THE WAY SEAN I TOTALLY WOULD!) I want to achieve similar interest and buzz
around miniature wargaming and be a part of a team that takes the hobby new
places.
So what are
my big plans for the future of wargaming? - I want to travel to venues all
over, from local clubs to international tournaments and start filming. , professionally edited together to be
entertaining and condensed, visual breakdown of tactics, features and stats on
the players, interactive army lists and interviews, all rolled into one great
Battle Show.
Right now
I’m just someone on youtube producing little videos about what I’m doing. Yes,
I’m clearly super interesting and amazing with *great* fashion sense (LULZ) but
I really want to act as a hub for all the genuinely amazing talent out there
within the hobby, on and off the table. There are people out there that make
podcasts, videos, tacticians, expert painters, tournament winners and kids
playing in local afterschool clubs.
Whilst my
knowledge of the various games, tactics, painting techniques and everything
else is still in its infancy, I can envision where I want to take these shows
with the help of contacts I’ve made within the community – the real experts on
all subjects! I’m certainly not in a position to be analysing high-level play
yet, but I know people who are, and who are willing to contribute to the shows
– they will be the casters of games while I continue to develop. I still plan
to bring my quirky humour and whatnot through interviews and I develop new
shows in HD quality with much longer run times.
In summary
then, I want to be putting up multiple high quality videos a week, from each of
my regular series – perhaps Joey 40,000 as a documentary of my 40k army/ies,
other games, interviews, comedy, and battle reports of professional level games
like nothing you’ve ever seen before! And all remaining an educational
experience.
To do this
however, it takes money. And this is where you come in. I’ve toyed with the
idea generating money through my channel with sponsorship for my channel and
videos before; in fact I’ve even been propositioned by companies to advertise
for them. I nearly jumped at the offers a few times, but I’m aware that one of
my appeals within the community is my fresh-faced and completely unbiased views
on... well everything! (well apart from the conspiracy theorists! – news of a
shiny new sponsor would play right into their hands!) I didn’t want the integrity of what I
currently film and will continue to produce in the future, to be compromised by
having to follow what some sponsor said – as an independent person I have the
freedom to say things like “Good God that finecast model was a complete miscast
disaster” to “that model actually is well sculpted and put together like a
dream” without the wrath of a vicious overseer.
So crowd
funding has been suggested to me by a lot of
you on facebook and forums that crowd funding as an alternative to a
single dictating sponsor. Taking a massive leap like this to generate funds
conjures up images of Dragon’s Den and desperately trying to win over people
who really don’t care and just want to see a return on their money. But with
funding and support from the community who want to see you succeed lots of
little contributions go a long way. So that’s why I’m making this pledge video;
with your help I can raise the funds to realise my dream of making Wargaming
commentary my full-time job, without sacrificing my integrity and honesty.
So why do I
need money? As a minimum wage waitress I can only “do hobby stuff” in my spare
time, not to mention my total lack of equipment, in both the recording and
editing departments! With crowdfunding I will be able to cut back my hours
working in a chocolate cafe and dedicate more working hours to wargaming, along
with being able get some desperately needed equipment. A quick breakdown of
where the money will be going is available below...
So what do
you, the individual sponsor, get out of your donation? Apart from my eternal
love, gratitude and the knowledge that you personally helped me make a
life-altering career move and every single thing I produce from the date the campaign
ends is a direct result of your generosity? Well there all the unique and
awesome perks and rewards listed at the side! Have a little look through them
right now. Pause the video. Go on, go read them! Still not pausing it? I’ll
tell you what, I’ll pause it for you.
Pretty sweet
rewards eh? As an added bonus all participants will get their name immortalised
on a thank you page on the new site; with the size of the text being
proportional to amount given. Your donation doesn’t have to be one of the set
reward bands either; it can be any amount you can manage, all of which are
appreciated. If you wanted to make a donation but wanted an alternative or
specific reward feel free to contact me with your suggestions and I’d be more
than willing to discuss it with you.
Even if you
can’t make a donation you can really help out a lot by forwarding the campaign
on Facebook and Twitter and any forums you may be a part of to get the ball
rolling.
