And that's when i became a Machinima Partner

[Bells]

So, funny story... and long story too, i wanted to share this tale, so please bear with me... hope its a good read! Wall of text ahead!!!!!!

If anybody here ever made a video about playing games or follows any game shows on youtube and the like, let me share my tale with you guys, cause this is (for me ) very exciting. Also, i'm giving away some ideas that i'm not contractually prohibited of doing (which is a very weird sentence to write...) so, there you go...

I've always wantes to make web content for fun. Those of you who know me around here long enough know i triedto make an Abridge seriesfor the animeFinal Fantasy Unlimited when the whole abridgedstuff was just starting to burst. Youtube put a bad stop to that for me, but that's ok... i also did a very silly series of MAME roms that was pretty much for the forum-only and because i wanted to try the format.

i've tried acouple of things here and there. My shortcoming is that a lot of the good stuff on the web was Improv during game play and lenghty explanations. Something that is really hard to do when English is not your native language. Being funny or informative in another lanaguage is pretty hard. Specially when you have competition.

So, that stuff never really took off...

Then, Machinima (and TGS, now Polaris) started targetting the Brazilian gaming community and a few channels here started popping up. Now everybody and their dog have their lame ass Pirated Games show with COD and Minecraft.

I have a friend that likes most of the stuff i like, we go way back. Over 15 years as friends. For about 10, we wanted to create something together that was fun. Just fun. We used to do that stuff all the time in school. Our presentations to the class were always in video format with funny dialogue and sketchs... you wouldn't think someone would be able to talk about evolution while taking a shower with a camera there filming everything waist-up, but we did it... (it was to illustrate how evolution is a daily-life mundane occurance) we were 14 back then...

So, i was talking to him about this idea... of making video content about games for the web, here in Brazil. Not to make profit (we have decent jobs) or fame (no need really), but to reach as much people as possible with something WE find funny and entertaining. He said yeah, so i said i would set everything up (i'm the tech savvy of the two of us).

So we put some scrap together, purchased some gear (microphone, keyboard, mouse, adapters...) got some sofware and learned how to configure it (i already know how to use Fraps, Audacity and Sony Vegas) and the only thing missing were the games.

Initially we wanted to play EVERYTHING. as we both grew up with consoles... but that's very expensive. So we took the cheaper route. I have adecent PC, so we would play PC games. Steam games mostly.

We had a rule, only Legit games. Zero piracy. So i took that rule to it's core and started doing something i always wanted to do... digitilizing my game library. Any game i really loved that i played a pirated version off, i converted into a Steam purchase. Because it's really hard to consider picking up a pirated version of a game when i can buy the real thing for 10 bucks... instead of the 160 retail price we have in stores down here.

Another thing started to happen... because our focus was comedy and entertainement, we agreed that it would be funnier and more interesting if we played different games than everyone else. and that we played BAD games too.

That made me purchase some really bad games... and soon my Steam account jumped from 8 titles to the current 405. Plus all the MMO's and Betas i got into.

Now, when i buy a game on steam i have to ask myself... is it for me, or for the show? And sometimes is column A (Fallout new vegas) sometimes is column B (Dragons Lair).

The thing about us, as a duo, is that i'm the Big nerd. I know games and movies that are coming out years from now, i know the lore, i kno the basic gaming convetions, i know what a "Diablo Clone" and a "Metroidvania style" game is. My friend, does not. He enjoys a ton of stuff and is very enthusiastic, and whe we play he actually tries to do his best, but he is the kinda guy that sees Shadow the Hedgehog and goes "Hey! it's Black Sonic!" . So there is that.

This gives out for good chemistry, as we work with no script. its just exaggerated "ourselves" on screen, reacting to stuff naturally.

We felt that it was a good formula and that we could do it as a hobby. Maybe we would get a couple dozen subscribers. its fine.

Then, i started poking a little bit of monye from Adwords, Adsense, Youtube promotions and Facebook promotions.... in 3 months we got 3k views on 12 videos and 150 subscribers. Nothing major by any stretch of imagination, but consider this:

1- fanbase in Brazil is MUCH lower and with MUCH lower retention than in English speaking nations.
2- We work on the average of the medium. Our videos have average 8 minutes duration (which is the global average), and we average at 2 videos per week (against the average 6 Worldwide).
3- Usual view counts tally at around 20% of your subscribed base.

So, in average, we are Ok.

Then, Machinima Brasil noticed us. They are have some really aggressive expansion in Brazil. Fighting polaris headon. That leads to the acquiring of a LOT of baby channels (like mine) that are not major players but have some revenue potential to them.

Its a case of consuming the talent before your competitor gets to. At least that's how i see it.

And we got "recruited". i now have a signed machinima contract to my name for a period of years where content i produce must be on my channel and belongs to Machinima. If they make money on it, i make money on it.

Its nuts.

There are a lot of stuff that i'm now -contractually obligated- to not disclose, which is not something i've never though i would be saying, but there you go.

I have everything set up, and even go the special youtube page buttom that allows me to -end- my partnership with Youtube and become a Machinima partner. Now i'm just waiting for the process to go through and then all my future videos will receive the Machinima intro.

Feels great actually, i know i've been drafted with a sweep of other potential-talents, but hey... i'm in! Now its just work on quality and never missing a deadline. Which is easy for us, because our method of working allow us to record twice a month and each recording session generates 3 weeks of content.

So, this is me telling you guys... if you think there is an impenetrable barrier out there to get to this stuff, there is not. You need the schedule, you need the organization, you need the planning and you need the content (and some base investment cash) but it is totally doable.

The bittersweet part of this for me is that my "Plan B and C" will never come to be. Because now i can't actually produce content for anybody else. i'm not even sure if i can have a second venue for public content.

So, just to get these out of my head, i wanted to share what were my other 2 ideas in case this never came to be...

The first i was going to bring to these here forums... it would be very hard to do, and there is NO money to be made in this format, its for hobbyist and people trying to have fun. The "placeholder" name was "Nuklear Power Gamers" and the basic idea was to take the concept of a network and apply it to a single channel.

That means, a group fo internationally based gamers that would play a lot of multiplayer titles together for sheer fun, and during the week, each one would upload his own play videos, vlogs, podcasts and the like... high generation of mixed content, follwoign the same pattern and branding from players that are not physically close to one another. that's the novelty of it. Video sharing would be done via dropbox, as audio recording, and someone would be responsible for just editing and uploading all content and that person would more likely soak in the most cash out of any revenue, and the rest of it would be applied to buying games for all members to play together and investing in Advertising... so, no profit, just glamour.

The second was a Sketch comedy thing i wanted to do... i think it would be funny and novel. It was called "Gordolf Ramses : Cooking Magic" that would exist within a project called "The Gaming Cook". I like cooking, so i thought it would be fun to make Simple, very simple, but good looking and innovative dishes and drinks with an inspiration in gaming (so, think of Castlevania dish, or a Master Chief based burguer... that stuff). Gordolf Ramses would be a character that would focus on the more funny stuff... He is a spin off from Gordon Ramsey, of Hell's Kitchen fame. and i just thought that this old wizard with super hyped attitude and anger issues, cooking with magic, would make for funny videos ( "That stake is so overcooked it looks like it was beaten with a Balrog's whip!!" type of stuff ) that would require scripting, costumes, planning... stuff i can't do due to work.

Those two would be in English of course, because i can actually bounce off from other people way better than doing my own stuff... and making a sketch show is also something i can do, if i work hard enough on it... although, right now, it's just not possible.

So i had all these little ideas bouncing around, but now i gotta focus on this opportunity. Who knows? Maybe if i make Machinima some money they will invest more on my channel and things could evolve... now that i actually have a freaking contract with them, its worth the effort!!

I wanted to share this with you guys, cause maybe there is somebody out there who wants to have their own projects and ideas taking off... and if my 3 month old, 150 subscriber channel got the eye of an Machinima recruiter and got approved by their head of recruiting, i would imagine many of you guys here have even better chances of making your stuff happen.

Now i'm just waiting my Welcome packet to arrive by e-mail, while i scout the steam store and bundles all around for more games for the show... let me close of by saying this: i know a LOT of gaming humor online is global, and a lot of sense of comedy is local... so not everything that is funny in the US will be funny down here... but i would very much love to have some tips on what type of content is engaging to people, y'know... what YOU guys expect to see when you click a funny video about 2 jackasses playing good and bad games?

[Aldurin]

Did you look through their terms well? I mean REALLY well? This is the sponsor that faced court issues for trying to contractually bind people for life, and many people have left it due to dealbreakers in their changes. They do have an extreme presence in gaming, as they have pulled channels back from the underworld (such as TBFP's channel) and generally there are many people who seem to enjoy that partnership.

Basically they suffer from being a super big company, which means that minor neglect starts to grow, so they show less and less respect to anyone that isn't one of their top assets (Seananners, TBFP and others probably get the good end of this). They really want that expansion into Brazil, though, so you'll probably be on their good side for a while.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Kiss your shit goodbye, son.

'cause it ain't yours anymore.

[Bells]

Oh for sure. The contract is in English, but i can't say for certain if it's the same one for everyone. I looked that stuff up and down, and although i can't really talk what's in it, and stuff like that... it's very clear cut. They put in very clear words what are THEIR responsibilities and mine. It was an easy ready actually... some "legalize", but nothing impenetrable. And the profit share seemed pretty fair for me.

I heard of all the complaints and stories. i was actually worried for a bit, but mostly was due to lack of information. I feel confident and comfortable, or else i would simply not have signed it. Of course, they are not going to invest in me if i don't show growth, so there is work on both parts, but certainly the burden of proof of being a worthwhile investment is on my end.

[Aerozord]

Possible after all the complaints they retooled their contracts to avoid future issues. Its bad business to tick off your content makers.

[Bells]

I'm not going to claim i understand their business model right now... but i do know they check and verify each channel that submits an application. there is a LOT of content creators coming in, but i suppose not all continue growing... so when they do, Machinima has them from the start, i suppose it's easier to create a famous youtube than to cater to one that grew on his own.

[Krylo]

Man, they just let anyone have that splash page these days, huh?

[Bells]

Why you gonna go ahead like that and hurt my feelz man?!

Mah feeelz man!

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Machinima is kinda shit in all honesty (I mean, Two best friends? Come on!) But I'm happy for you to be able to maybe earn a little buck on the side with that. Hell I'd love to do that. Just not with Machinima (or any big partnership magnet, really) because I don't want to be associated with them. I'm also afraid it might make me stop doing things for fun over time.

[Aerozord]

I'd just make sure any contract has to be renewed after a time. As was said before lifetime contract is essentially slavery.