Ross Scott

Relax. It turned out that there was just a problem with the copy he submitted where there was no audio. It was an actually legitimate technical issue, nothing more.

The copy I sent was fine, I'm not sure why they couldn't play it. I'll be sure to test it out once things go through.

News update:

 

Blip replied, apparently they couldn't play the audio at all, so it was an automated message triggered. I encoded it to h.264 MP4 with 192kbps MP3 audio, but apparently that gave them issues, I asked what format they would prefer it in, waiting on a reply.

 

Maybe. Just Maybe. Blip.tv. are scared of posting your content because Machinima might sue them.

No.

 

On a side note, this is especially odd since some of the other FM videos are already on the site

Yeah, that came as I surprise to me actually, since Machinima.com never told me about this and these were never reported in my views, I'm currently contacting them about this (though this won't impact future episodes).

 

If you finally get settled and produce your videos again, would you consider making a video or otherwise help the other artists who also haven't been able to release new content?

I don't know how that would change anything. It's ALL about the contract signed. I don't think it matters what anyone else says unless they're his attorney. I am involved with a side project that might provide an outlet for stuff that's NOT locked down with Machinima, but that's further down the road.

 

Lets to bitch about this on the tgwtg forum

TGWTG people have only been helpful, this isn't their doing.

So um... why is there a delay, on blip.tv? I thought the reason there was a delay back in the day was because Machinima took their sweet time.

Yeah, this is really getting frustrating, although I think it's because I'm new on blip. I've updated the post to list what's happening. Apparently it's been reject from blip on the basis of "poor audio" and no other explanation. The volume balancing may not have been aggressive enough or they may just not like stock HL1 sounds, I have no idea. I'm trying to get an answer from them, their email said 24-48 hours for a response. Believe me when I'm saying I'm going as nuts as some of you are trying to get this out already.

My question is though, how about the first many episodes of FM? Are you going to upload them on Blib as well? Cause not everyone on TGWTG knows about FM and sending them to machinima to catch up seems silly.

I'd love to upload them elsewhere, but I probably won't have any legal grounds to do that unless Machinima.com takes their copies down.

 

I love Freeman's mind and the rest of the work that's followed it, and I love "ThatGuyWithTheGlasses" and think it's fantastic news that you'll be apart of his site! =)

 

But I don't understand, if Machinima was giving you so much trouble, why didn't you dump their asses from the start? You have Youtube, it's free, and the internet is the best way to get your ideas around by word of mouth/funny gifs; you never needed to even give Machinima a dime. Your material is strong/funny enough to stand on it's own two feet, the only reason you most likely saw a drop in viewers was due to infrequent updates.

 

If for what ever reason you have to leave TGWTG, please do not fret about which site to join next, just due your work off YouTube like the group "Yogscast" does.

I'm afraid you have to read more than the ADHD version of the post to answer your question.

 

I think you chose a good time to leave machinima/youtube, with the current direction they are heading in.

Yeah, I read another article recently too, the last page of it perhaps gives some more hints in the direction they're heading in:

 

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/02/ff-you-are-watching-machinima/3/

Are the videos still going to hosted on this site? I like to download them directly as my internet connection is kind of crappy at times and better quality.

Here's the situation on that. Yes, I will continue putting downloads up, but since I'm going to be more dependent on the view-based stuff, I was considering delaying releases on the downloadable copies from the streaming one so they'll have a chance to get a foothold first. Let me know what you guys think of this or what you think a good time period would be. Also episodes 43 and 44 are not part of that plan, I was waiting on Machinima for that, now I just need to make some time and process those copies. I'll try and get those up soon.

 

Great to hear Ross. Will you be as financially stable with this host as you were with Machinima?

I won't know for certain until I get videos up, but my guess is it will be like a time reversal on that Youtube graph from the last post. It's only going to be for newer videos, it's like having to start over. So for the short term, no, but I'm hoping I can build things back up over the next few months, I really do have a lot of things planned. Leaving Machinima has felt kind of like escaping from prison and now having hundreds of miles of forest to get through.

I am still quite curious if Rooster Teeth would be interested if you were to contact them.

Well they said they're not taking people right now on their site, but an email was sent anyway and got no reply.

 

I was hoping to have the next video up by now, but since that's taking a little longer than I planned, here's some more news of what's going on instead. One of the reasons I was hesitant about leaving Machinima.com before was because I wasn't sure where else to go, since the larger problem behind all the changes was Youtube itself. Thanks directly to people in the forums recommending other sites for me to check out, I've decided to join the "That Guy With The Glasses" network. Thatguywiththeglasses.com is the spawn of Doug Walker (pictured above), more famously known as "The Nostalgia Critic" where he is known for analyzing bad movies and ripping them apart piece by piece. I had seen some of his videos before, but never realized he had his own network. It turns out my videos qualify for this group, because Freeman also wears glasses, so we're all good. So far my contact with TGWTG has been quite positive. They're run by a small group of people (I'm told 7) that all have all known each other a long time. There's no sinister contract for me to sign, and they're not even taking a cut of my income (I'm assuming they make up the difference on their site). Most of all, they don't give me a heavy feeling in my stomach the way reading the new contract from Machinima.com did, which counts for a lot. I don't need ulcers.

 

The next episode of Freeman's Mind will be appearing on their network, which is essentially wherever I want to post the videos. It will be be appearing first on blip.tv, a competing network to Youtube (and about 1/1000th the size). This allows me to form an escape plan from some of the madness going on with Youtube. New episodes will also be appearing on my Youtube channel (I'll make a new post here as soon it's up), but in the long term, I may try and focus newer videos towards blip.tv. Right now the next episode has been uploaded to blip.tv and I am currently waiting to hear back when it will go up. I'll make an update here as soon as I know. More videos are coming!

 

ADHD version: Freeman's Mind is still coming, but will appear in new places! Check back here later for links to the next episode!

 

EDIT:

I've gotten a reply back from blip.tv. The next FM episode has been rejected by them on the following grounds:

 

"

Poor audio: We took a look at your show and concluded that improving the audio quality would really help you get to the next level. Consider taking some time to improve your sound setup and reapply. We're eager to hear from you again!

"

 

I spent hours volume balancing the tracks and it has custom sound effects. I don't know if they don't like my mix, don't like HL1 sounds or what. I'm currently trying to get a more specific answer.

As I was reading your latest post, I began to ruminate on the chart you listed with the activity of your videos. There was one section you circled which you listed as @ the time when Google tweaked their search algorithms. To me, it stands to reason that your traffic should actually go down during this time as well, since a more lean and accurate search engine should in theory lead to less clicks on your videos from unintended search results.

ALL my traffic went down however, not just Freeman's Mind, but Galaxy Gulp, Civil Protection, April Fool's Day videos, etc. My views only dropped in half because I was with a network. If I was independent, I could have lost maybe 90%. I really have to disagree with your implying this is a "more lean and accurate search engine" for multiple reasons. They're the result of my doing research and finding out as much as I can on this.

 

The engine has not been tweaked to just be more relevant, if that was the case, I wouldn't be against this. It's a mix of relevant results, versus people who paying more money to have their content shown on Youtube. If you want to know more about this, check out this video, starting around the 5 minute mark:

 

 

The part where he starts talking about ad words is especially relevant.

 

Also this is purely subjective, but using Youtube a couple years ago, if I searched for a video, the search results or "recommended" ones (based on what I was watching) would almost ALL be related to what I searched. Nowadays, the results tend to be 1/3 related to what I'm looking at, 1/3 sort-of related, and 1/3 not related, but popular, like the cleavage video in this post. I saw that everywhere when I was looking up footage from abandonware games or Doom song remixes. Not exactly related to cleavage videos in Spanish.

 

Now, mind you, the chart did take a dramatic nose-dive during this period. When did your postings of FM begin to slow down?

That was later on. Plus, even if I completely stopped putting out videos, that wouldn't account for non-series videos (like Galaxy Gulp) that had already been out for years dropping in half in the span of a month or two. I would only expect newer videos to take nosedives if it was from lost interest, not ones that have been out for 3 years or more.

 

 

Aaaaaand donated for a worthy cause. It's not much but I hope it helps at least.

Dude, this really sucks. I just sent $30 your way, hope it helps you staying alive until you get a more steady income. Sorry about your problems with machinima and youtube both.

Thanks a bunch people, more stuff IS coming, I'm also trying to thank everyone by email also.

 

 

Machinima itself isn't bad at all the people there are a friendly lot but as with every large organization come people that are manipulative cold and selfish machines who have only their own interests as something important and somehow those people are the leaders(you achieve that by kissing ass on a daily basis) and that screws ove the little people so dont hate Machinima hate people for being assholes!

My experience with Machinima.com is communication is not great. I'm not sure the leaders even know the full extent of what's happening on my level (they're more concerned with multi-million dollar deals and I don't blame them. All I can say is that while many people there are friendly, the contracts are the polar opposite of that vibe.

 

 

I bet some of the folks in their legal department are going to feel the heat from the more "positive folks" at the company.

I highly doubt that, but I'm cynical.

 

So can anyone create a .html file or something that will instantly open up every single Freeman's Mind episode? or at least 10-15episodes...

Don't worry about it. You can watch the new videos when they come out however.

 

About financing models. New site just launched, that aims at financing content creators

I could be wrong about this, but that's not the way I want to go about this. I want people to be able to watch these for free and not soley depend on donator income. I have a lot of stuff brewing that I think will help in the long term.

 

Furthermore, you could always go about doing reviews of stuff.

I'm borderline about this since I feel like maybe this is a saturated area to begin with, but I haven't written it off yet. Regardless, I do have some new things coming in addition to Freeman's Mind.

 

I am only saying I will support you until the day I die Ross

I plan to keep making lots of videos and isn't something I have any plans of "retiring" from even if I could afford to. Besides, I may outlive you anyway; I exercise daily, don't smoke or drink, and have 2 grandparents who made it to their 90s (one still around).

 

 

 

MORE NEWS:

 

I've uploaded the new FM episode to the new network, but I'm waiting to hear something back. If the video doesn't go up today, I'll make a new post soon on which network I'm going with and if hear anything, when the episode is due to be released.

The sound clips are recorded in the demo for a scientist saying a specific line. Sometimes I swap out the files of that line with another one (not always). The lip sync data for the line animation is contained in the WAV itself in the Source engine.

1. Their site says they're not taking new people

 

2. An email was sent to them anyway with no reply

 

3. No, I have received no offer from them, although a BUNCH of people have suggested I go with them.

 

 

Guys, unless I specifically say "I can't talk about it" you don't have to take a "because I said so" stance. I'm not trying to be a jerk about things. Best I can tell, they're simply not interested / aware.

It'd be naive to believe Google's mantra of not being evil (especially in light of them signing deals with certain shady organizations). They are in it for power & money just like everyone else in the corporate world and this is just their form of PR strategy, being a pretty effective one by the way.

Well I think once upon a time they were better. Ironically they got huge by rejecting the big advertiser method and fully embracing the long tail. They've provided free email, maps, streetview, mobile OS, and lots of R&D projects, but what's happening with Youtube I don't see how you can spin as anything good.

 

It is a technocratic neo-fеudаlism with lоrds, vаssаls and sегfs, controlled with masterfully crafted ргоpagаnda, fake орроsitiоn, applied psусhоlоgу.

Actually that's not even hyperbole, I read a few months ago that the wealth distribution ratio in the USA between the richest and poorest is more extreme than what it was during feudal times between lords and serfs.

 

So, what, Machinima still has the right to keep your videos hosted? Aren't they making money off that? That would piss me off, knowing something i made is earning someone else money while i don't get shit-all for it.

Surely you can ask they be taken down, and then reupload them yourself.

We're getting into territory I still can't talk about, all I'll say is it's not a worst-case scenario.

 

I had a thought. I know for a fact that Zero Punctuation's Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is a fan of FM, maybe he could help you get something with The Escapist?

I didn't know he was a fan, I tried contact The Escapist a few weeks back, but never got a reply.

 

Are you a Magic player, Ross?

I played some in high school, then again a year ago after some friends of mine turned into junkies. I'll play it, but only bumming decks off other people, no way I'm pouring money into that sinkhole, I've seen what it does to people. I am a junkie for a lot of the artwork from it though. Eventually I'd like to get a digital picture frame and queue up a bunch of art from the game on it.

 

Have you tried contacting The Game Station?

My understanding is this wouldn't fix The Youtube situation, just the video rights. While FM will continue on Youtube (for a while anyway), I'm going to try and focus new releases on a different network (more on this a little later)

 

It's probably not a realistic option but I would gladly PAY for Freeman's Mind if needed

While I'm happy for donations, I'll never charge people for the videos I make myself. I mean hell I WANT people to watch them. If things completely crashed for me, I'd still be willing to do this just for room and board if I found an arrangement like that.

 

Also, it's probably obvious, but will the CP collection also make the move?

Yes, all future videos will be either on a new network or else my own channel.

 

 

 

I have a lot to say and am finally at liberty to say most it, so here it is. First off, I have officially left Machinima.com for future videos. There are many reasons for this which I'll cover and I'll let you know what's happening in the future. This is a post I've been wanting to make for months, but didn't have all the info or legal grounds to do until now.

 

YOUTUBE TAKETH AWAY

 

Here's a chart some of you may find interesting. It's a record of the total views of all my videos (some 60+ or so) and the monetized views (views that advertisers on Youtube will pay for) for the past couple years (with my own commentary added):

 

 

 

 

As you can see, there's been quite a fall from grace. My views have been cut in half multiple times, despite adding more videos this whole time. While you could maybe blame this on the age of the show or not having more frequent updates, that would only account for a gradual decline looking like a wheelchair ramp, not the dive bomber maneuver that is this chart. So what's causing this? The short answer is Youtube. Their algorithm "tweak" in 2011 caused me to lose half my views. Not just in popular recent videos, in EVERYTHING from years back. I've read about many people losing up to 90% of their audience during this time. So are my old views going towards other machinima makers, giving lesser known people more exposure and a better chance of being seen? No, they're going towards videos like this:

 

Ri0N_ifn2iM

 

That video has 42 million views and will get recommended to you even if it has nothing to do with what you're searching for. Why? Because Google can profit more by steering you towards videos already getting a crapload of views and by companies paying money to advertise their videos on Youtube more than they can by sending you only the more relevant results. Youtube's "tweak" is making your search results worse than they used to be and it's making already huge videos bigger and everyone else smaller because they're less profitable. It's essentially killing the "long tail." The viewers lose because they won't find as many custom-tailored results. Most content creators lose because it means a large drop in views. Best I can tell, the only people benefiting from these changes are companies that were already very large to begin with. Google's motto has long been "don't be evil", well in my opinion, what they're doing now seems kind of evil. Maybe they're taking lessons from the music industry.

 

MONEY HUNGER

 

I can't reveal how much money I make or have made from Machinima due to contract reasons, however I can say at one point it was enough for me to live off of, so I did. In retrospect, this was maybe a bit foolish of me, but when you've worked as many minimum wage hell jobs as I have before, being paid to work full-time on something creative is like manna from heaven. Believe me, I realize how incredibly lucky I've been to be able to make a living just from creating videos from videogame engines. I certainly don't feel ENTITLED to live this way, but damn if I'm not going to try everything I can to try and make it work. To get geeky on you, I feel like Malcom McDowell from the movie "Star Trek: Generations"; a man who had a taste of a better existence only to be ripped out of it, leaving him obsessed on getting it back. In the movie he blows up some planets in the process, I'm not at that phase yet.

 

I actually don't really care how popular or profitable my videos are. I just try to make them as good as I can from my perspective. Some are more for fans, some are ideas I personally really like, but I want to keep making videos no matter what. However, I do care about being able to pay rent and buy groceries. Also, when I've had some excess, I've offered money to most "long haul" volunteers with the videos also. Looking at that chart, this isn't going to be possible staying with Machinima's channel on Youtube, so that's definitely a part of why I'm leaving.

 

PLEASE SIGN IN BLOOD

 

Around the time the views started dropping in 2012, (but before I was notified of it), Machinima.com tried to change its contract terms with me just as I was getting ready to release the next Freeman's Mind episode. Now I can't reveal anything that's in this contract (or my old one), but I will say that in my opinion this was NOT a good contract in terms of rights regarding my videos. It would have turned over so much control to Machinima.com that I don't think I could sign it even if I was just starting off today. Machinima.com's standard contract has changed a LOT since I first signed with them and I advise anyone considering signing up with them to read it thoroughly AND get some sort of legal advice. You might be amazed with what it says they can do. I've seen some leaked versions of their recent contract before online, and I can say there was a lot more added than what I've heard of anywhere else. Prior to this, I almost agreed on a new deal with Machinima.com, but after seeing their new contract, it made me rethink everything I was doing and was a big factor in my decision to leave.

 

NEGOTIATING MACHINIMA-STYLE

 

Perhaps the biggest reason I've decided to leave is how this mess all went down. There were so many things that went badly. I was only told of the new contract changes by ACCIDENT (I found out later I was supposed to have been informed in November). I didn't find out about much bigger changes to Youtube and monetization until January (which was also supposed to have been told to me in November). I had a deadline when I had to make a decision by on the videos, but couldn't get important replies from people prior to that. I had two meetings cut short and one almost cancelled where I needed to get critical information before the deadline. I got relayed to four different people during the process, having to update each new one on what was going on. I needed criticial information from Machinima, but it took MONTHS for them to get back to me on it, with me emailing them every few days. I was told contradicting information with weeks before I could verify anything. When I did receive an initial contract offer, it covered almost nothing of what was agreed upon with the representatives (or refuted it entirely).

 

Until this was finally resolved yesterday, this whole situation has been an ongoing nightmare for me. My income has crashed, I was stuck in limbo waiting on vital information from Machinima and it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. Meanwhile, fans have been pissed because there are no new videos and I've been gradually running out of money. I couldn't release new videos because the terms had changed and I didn't have a new offer yet. I couldn't leave and put videos elsewhere because I needed to hear what their offer was and if there wasn't proper communication with Machinima.com, they could come shut me down, thinking I was violating my contract, even though I was waiting on them! I don't think Machinima realized just how much duress this caused me. This should have been resolved in December, January at the latest. It's outrageous that it ended up going on this long and I think that in itself showed how lightly they took this whole situation. So what was obviously not a high priority for them has been one of the most extended stressful times in my life that I've had in years. To be fair, they did propose a decent offer towards the very end, but aside from it not being sustainable, this whole period has left a permanent negative impression on me that I can't forget. It's really undermined my trust in the whole organization if I know devastating changes like this can happen at the drop of a hat and I'm powerless to do anything about it for months on end.

 

LEAVING IN PEACE

 

While these past few months have left a big impression on me, I don't want to sound too ungrateful since Machinima.com has really helped me achieve as much popularity as I've had over the years. I've also personally met a lot of people who work there and most of them seem like good people, some have helped me out a lot. When I was there, only 2-3 people max struck me as possible sociopaths, which is really a low ratio for Los Angeles. I think a lot of what has happened is normal once corporations reach a certain size and I don't blame any individual that I know of for how this whole thing was handled. I'm really not a revenge-oriented person. Gandhi said he wanted to see the British Empire off as friends after they had been ruling India for decades. That's kind of the attitude I'm taking towards all this.

 

 

WHAT'S COOKING

 

So what's happening now? For the moment, existing videos will still remain on Machinima's channel. If they get taken down later, I'll be sure to put them back up somewhere else. I currently have a good lead on a new network to post future videos on, particularly Freeman's Mind. It depends on how fast everything moves, but it's my plan to have a new episode up next week. While I have a couple episodes done on Freeman's Mind, I'm ashamed to say I don't have a BUNCH ready, I hope you guys forgive me. Once I realized things were going to take a long time with Machinima.com, I started panicking, trying to earn money any way I could to make ends meet (and still am!). I've been spending most of my time lately job hunting and working on some side projects to help earn more money that you'll hear about in the near future. I AM STILL FOR HIRE if you need voice acting, writing, or something else I can do from online. I do hope to be resuming Freeman's Mind quite soon however and get more videos up as soon as I can. I still plan to make good on my promise of delivering a Freeman's Mind spree at some point. Sorry for such a long rant, but I'd lose it if I had to keep this all to myself.

 

More videos are coming soon!

 

 

ADHD VERSION:

 

Ross has left Machinima.com! Youtube is turning evil! Machinima.com knows not what it does! New Freeman's Mind will be coming soon!

Guys, this isn't final yet. I need a confirmation from TGWTG and make sure I can afford to do this.

Ugh, I might be revealing more than I should, but here's what's happening:

 

 

I've contacted guywiththeglasses and it sounds promising, but I'm still waiting back on some sort of confirmation from them before they can make an official offer. This has been happening about a week and a half now.

 

I've told Machinima.com I'm leaving because of the contract terms. They've decided to come back with one more offer which they haven't revealed yet.

 

I'm working on a side project that might be able to help earn money a few months down the road.

 

I've been applying for jobs, but haven't had any luck.

 

I'm still kind of desperate, still frustrated. If anyone has more ideas on what to do, you can keep posting.

Ross, I am sure people have already mentioned this but, have you considered Rooster Teeth? I imagine them being the best community to work with. What is your take on them for I am curious.

Best I can tell on their site, Rooster teeth isn't taking new people right now.

While I could discuss this in more depth, I think the thread is getting sidetracked, I'm not capturing anything anyway unless I get an idea of what people would want to see uploaded on a daily basis or else multiple times a week

Well, you shouldn't really need an SSD... Most decent video capture solutions should be putting it into RAM before writing to the HDD... Just getting a decent selection of high speed RAM in the 16-32GB range should remove 90% of stutter problems. (especially since RAM is about 1000x faster than an SSD, and is usually not very expensive)

Well first off, RAM isn't nearly 1000x faster to SSDs in real-world tests, take a look:

 

More RAM would reduce the number of dropped frames via a larger cache, but it wouldn't eliminate it. Hard drives really aren't an ideal solution for capturing. If you're to capture at 1920x1080 at 30fps uncompressed, that's about 178MB/S, more than what a lot of hard drives can handle. You can split the difference with a RAID 0 or dxtory to distribute it across drives, but they just can't handle those speeds alone. Second, that's if everything is working flawlessly. The dropped frames come from when the hard drive is stuttering from random data access, for which hard drives are pathetic compared to SSDs. You have to look at where the slowest points in the chain are, and that's the hard drive.

 

EDIT:

I should mention that I have kind of a perfectionist attitude towards recording video footage, since I really hate having dropped frames in playback. You can still have video at lower resolutions or with some tolerance for dropped frames with just a hard drive.

 

Did a quick search on both items mentioned. Looking at $150-250 or so it seems. While I can't afford to out right buy one of those and send it your way, I can give another $50 in donation.

I just got a notification, thanks a bunch.

Hello Mr.Ross why don't you do a vlog or a game commentary,somthing that don't need alot off work and time just until your problem is resolved to gain some new fans .because i find you a realy entertaining person.

I really was considering something like that, though my system is less than ideal for capturing without stutter (all the Half-Life stuff is exported frame-by-frame). I'd have to buy a SSD to be comfortable doing that, and right now I'm penny pinching everywhere I can. Still, if somebody has ideas for something you'd like to see that could be done on a daily basis or multiple times a week, I can consider it.

Well thanks for the links so far, although if anyone has any lesser-seen ones especially, feel free to post them here.

 

Also it's worth mentioning that not counting my own stuff (since I can't really compare it), Shelf-Life is my personal all-time favorite machinima that I've seen. I emailed the authors about it back when it came out. Hopefully they'll finish it. A source engine project taking years to finish is not that unheard of.

how would you describe the current situation now that the terrorists finally given you their demands?

Still getting snipers in position, we need to have a clear shot, it's no good if we miss.

"Pay Ross's Rent (so he can make Freeman's Mind)"

As much as I like the idea, I'm not sure how realistic that is. Total donation money received in 2012 was $1,120.72. That would cover my rent for about 2 months, but not food, utilities, taxes, and social security payments.

 

As for the rights, I plan to get that sorted out soon, I'll make an update when I do. All I can say is no one has made a post on here that accurately represents the situation, it's more complicated than that.

There has to be an alternative to Machinima.

 

I'm not sure how Blistered Thumbs (the video game branch of That Guy With the Glasses) pays, but I'm sure they'd be willing to pick up Freeman's Mind.

I emailed to see if they were interested, but haven't gotten a reply back yet. Is there other contact info I should use besides the email address on the blistered thumbs site?

Hey Ross, just out of curiosity, what level of education do you have? Maybe you could try getting a job at a video game company as an animator or a mapper?

My education history is basically the result of me going back and forth between doing school for a while and not being sure what I wanted to do, then working for a year, then going back to school, repeated a few times. This may sound outrageous (especially looking at me now), but I have a bachelor's in criminal justice (and a minor in psychology), with the idea at the time of going into law enforcement. The short version is I wanted to end up at a job where I wasn't bored, and that's something local law enforcement can deliver on. Around that time I made Civil Protection, won first place in a contest, which encouraged me to keep going with it, worked some temporary jobs at the same time until I ended up getting a contract later with Machinima later, only semi-recently making enough from it for me to survive from it, then Youtube changed the rules. As for mapping, I'm not a good designer for that, only basic experience, for in-game animation I probably would be qualified just from experience on CP and learning other engines. It's really not my first choice at all, but if I was made an offer I would have to consider it.

 

I know that animating is the very last thing Ross would prefer to do... This is why he usually looks for volunteers.

Well beggars can not be choosers. At this point I'll work at whatever I have to in order to survive, but I'm not going jeopardize losing Freeman's Mind permanently.

At any rate, frig, good luck. Maybe it will help if you try to get us to spread the word about FM and CP?

Also, if people use AdBlock, does that screw you out of money?

You can spread the word that the videos may end up in a new home and everything is in a state of flux. Plus there's other stuff I'm working on that I'll hope for help with publicity from you guys later on (it's all good stuff).

 

As for adblock, that's a dichotomy for me since I hate intrusive ads, but that's how I've depended on my income. Individual views mean less than ever in financial terms, especially with Youtube's changes. You could take the most avid fan of the show and it's unlikely he or she would watch the videos enough times over the course of a few years for it to add up to a dollar. I don't see any sane way I can tell people to leave adblock off when I have it installed myself. Even though I'm looking at financial trouble, I honestly feel that no viewer has any OBLIGATION to suffer through ads or to pay me, since I see that as kind of arrogant. I'm not curing cancer or inventing new alloys or something. I'm trying to make funny videos that people like and I really hope I can survive some way doing it, but I think it would be insane to put that burden on you.

 

Also I am reminded of this picture.

 

I hated the Doom Guy's Mind. Very crude unfunny "humor". You can do better Scott.

Not as good as episode 6 huh?

Hey, as part of an additional side project I'm doing (there's purpose to all this stuff believe it or not), I could use some help from people. While I remember a lot myself, I wanted everyone to list as many GOOD machinima videos that they know of here. I don't mean stuff necessarily from Machinima.com, just machinima as a medium. The age doesn't matter, although I'm particularly interested in ones that don't have an absolute ton of views and may have gone overlooked before. It can be from any game engine. Thanks.