This time round, to lighten the mood, I thought I would look on something positive. In many ways the internet is like looking at the real world, but under a microscope. The bad stuff is much bigger and bolder and quite often it really gets in your face, luckily so does the good stuff. It is this good stuff, especially the fan reaction to it which not only makes the internet worthwhile it also makes my life feel more positive.
Despite being a dinosaur (I might have mentioned feeling like a dinosaur before), more and more of my free time is spent on the internet these days. I still own a TV but it hasn’t been switched in over a year. I watch all my TV and movies online and not just the stuff coming out of the traditional outlets. YouTube and the like have some great stuff on it and I don’t just mean cat videos (though cat videos are obviously great). There are people producing some fantastic original shows on YouTube. These are shows that the traditional outlets would never produce, stuff that is kept alive by the fans.
For quite a while I was like most people, I watched the stuff I would even subscribe to certain channels (mostly because it made it easier to find the new videos), over time though I got dragged in. I was not simply watching this stuff, I was, in a very small way, helping to get it made. As soon as I made that leap I found this hidden layer of fandom awesomeness.
My first step into this new level was watching the International Tabletop Day 2014 live stream on YouTube. For those who don’t know (and shame on you if you don’t – only kidding), Tabletop is a show where Wil Wheaton invites his friends to play board games. While I don’t recognise everyone who guests on the show, there are enough I do and people from shows that I like, that the people playing the games are almost as much a draw as the games themselves.
Anyway each year they organise an International Table Day and it is truly international, they even get people in Antarctica taking part. Last year was the first one that I became aware of and due to poor planning on my part, I failed to take part in any local games. So instead I decided to watch the live stream. Since the live stream was taking place in Los Angeles and I live in Essex, I had intended only to watch part of it. Well that intention got thrown out of the window, especially when Wil made his big announcement. He announced that they were planning on doing a third season, but they needed the fans help to fund it. Possibly it was the fun I was having watching it, possibly it was the late hour, I am sure it had nothing to do with the whiskey, but I backed the third season immediately. I wasn’t the only one, people were throwing money at Wil and during the stream the total donated just went up and up. It might sound strange, but it was truly a glorious thing to watch. Not only did you get to see firsthand how much the fans loved the show, you also got to watch Wil’s surprised delight.
For the first time I felt truly connected to something that I was a fan of. It was just like being a Kickstarter backer of my current fave roleplaying game. I felt important, I was doing my bit to make sure something that brought me enjoyment continued to exist. There was also some added bonuses, somewhere on the set my name is written down, I am literally part of every show. Also because the fans supported campaign so much, we are going to get a Roleplaying spin off game. Wil Wheaton as a GM? Who could say no to that! I may not have helped much, but my small contribution made that happen.
Now Tabletop is part of the Geek & Sundry family, Geek & Sundry was a Youtube channel that (shockingly) put together a whole host of shows. Many of these shows were written specifically for G&S and a few they host for other people. I say was, not because it has stopped being a YouTube channel, but because it has expanded beyond that. I always knew that Geek & Sundry had a huge fan base, in small part due to it being headed by the lovely Felicia Day, it was not until they launched their Twitch channel that I (and I think they) realised how big and dedicated.
Twitch is a website where people playing games, including roleplaying and board games, but mostly computer games, get to stream these games. I only discovered Twitch from watching Felicia and her brother Ryon playing a computer roleplaying game. Something about watching two siblings argue with each other (and in Ryon’s case merciously trolling his sister) as they play a game which is surprisingly addictive.
So Geek & Sundry decided to launch a Twitch channel. To do this they decided to run a 48 hour marathon and not just a marathon but a charity run. For those who don’t know (and before this event I didn’t) Maurissa Tancharoen, co-producer of Marvel: Agents of Shield, and wife of Jed Whedon, suffers from Lupus. Lupus is a vicious auto immune disease, where the sufferers own body attacks them. The aim was to raise a modest $20,000 for a US Lupus charity. That target was broken within 12 hours, the next three targets $50k, $100k & $150k were all passed. There were people who were donating multiple times (I may have done that) and donating a lot of money (I may not have done that). Sure if you donated a modest amount you could make the presenters dance like your puppets, but you also got a rather unnerving computer voice reading out a message. Every message was positive and in the onscreen chat, people were praising not only the presenters and their guests but also the people giving money.
Unusually for the internet the community was almost universally positive and any of the normal trolls who try and wreck these things were quickly dispatched. While I was there to watch people play games and dance, I became as interested in being part of this awesome community. Part of that community, inspired by a throwaway line by Ryon, has taken this experience even further. Team Hooman is probably the best community of geeks, online or in real life that I have ever been part of. It is universally positive and supportive. It is just a nice place to hang out, which on the internet is such a rare thing.
For a lot of us being a geek has historically been a lonely thing. Also the online communities both geek and otherwise can be horribly judgemental and toxic. But my experiences over the last year shows me that this does not have to be the case. It reinforces what I already believed, we geeks can be awesome. Even better when we come together we can make great things happen, just with our positive good will. In a world that often seems dark and depressing just knowing this makes me smile a little every day.
Oh and on geeks being awesome, Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion (of Firefly fame) have partnered up to write and produce a comedy programme. It revolves around two friends who were on a science fiction show, cruelly cancelled by a network before its time (which sounds familiar). One is now a big star, the other not so much and the show is about conventions, the people who go to and run them and the stars who attend them. It is going to be called Con Man and as writing this has already raised $1.9 million with 25 days to go. This is a project that would never have happened without the geek fan base. If you are interest in doing your bit go to: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/con-man . And no I am not sponsored by Nathan Fillion, though if he offered I would probably accept!
The Cunning Geek 