Sub Newsletter (2015/10 || Oct #1 of 4)

▤▤▤▤▤▤ NEWSLETTER (October 2015, #1 of 4):

1st newsletter? Check the introductory pastebin before reading @ http://pastebin.com/A5cZmgy3

▤▤▤▤▤▤ PAST NEWSLETTERS:
• 2015-09 (September) - Huge reacrion to Super Mario Maker traffic blow-up & immediate changes @ http://pastebin.com/4fTGbYrj

▤▤▤ Foreword:
Wow, 10k character newslettter two weeks in a row. Big changes it seems! I always welcome feedback as I hope you enjoy these letters and all I try to accomplish with my stream.

Can always annonymously tell me on ask.fm w/ "#Newsletter", PM me on Twitch, or DM me on Twitter! :D

▤▤▤ Sub emote changes, FFZ overhaul
Having 20 emote slots total, I got a chance to consider and overhaul my selection to the best of my ability. When I originally commissioned @JisuArt (she's awesome btw), my ideas were complex and detailed. Not ideal for emote. I knew I'd need to edit after she finishes them. The source to what the emotes became was a complicated process, but I did what I could. For example:

source -- https://www.dropbox.com/s/yi5gi0lwuj0niv8/Screenshot%202015-10-02%2015.13.36.png?dl=0
final emote -- https://www.dropbox.com/s/m81f9dmtfql3qs0/Screenshot%202015-10-02%2015.13.17.png?dl=0

But ultimately, I need to get them re-drawn in simpler concept to make them perfect emotes. So eventually, I want to get these re-drawn to be super obvious at any size to make out the detail:

• GropeL, GropeR (and have them be independent, not cloned symmetrical drawings)
• URRP (Vomit is hard to make out. Looks like boogers at first glance, lol)
• Sugoi, Waifu & Lewd (they lack the detail & swagger of my newer emotes, I'd like to change that)

You'll also notice the trend of abandoning the attempt to fit full heads into emotes. I zoom in to show emotion further. I'll do the same for the remakes of the mentioned emotes. Sometime in late October/November I should have news about remaking them!

REMADE:
• Pantsu, Giggle, Gaze, UGH, & Wat.

RETITLED:
• "Trippy" to "DANK".

NEW EMOTES:
• Cheese, Dookie, GropeL, GropeR, & territory shitter series: USA, EU, & JPN.

▤▤▤ stream investments thanks to your support
I'm working on getting the banners redone to be enhanced with cleaner animation, resub support, and being a bit more subtle to not totally overpower the gameplay.

I ordered a SNES to WiiMote adapter from RaphNet to try out for SMM. I like the Pro Controller, but I wish I could use my favorite one! So expect unboxing + impressions on that once it arrives.

I ordered some Amiibo in prep for Wooly World too!

▤▤▤ chat changes (GOOD)
I realized last week, trying to control chat and bring back the original atmosphere before the 7k+ average by nazi'ing out with 120sec slow mode and testing sub only mode briefly, I am negating the chat culture.

While it is toxic, and chaotic, I've realized its less wise to censor it simply because of change. Sub only, slow mode, and censorship all go hand-in-hand. They promote a pay-to-communicate paywall that I've always opposed.

So now, I instead am testing 5-10sec slow mode, and will add various anti-spam bots that will timeout frequently. In most cases, only mods exercise perma bans. (I may tighten up on this if things don't get better)

This leads to my next point..

▤▤▤ Discord server coming next week
Instead of forcing the old culture onto a new environment (my standard chat since SMM), I will welcome it and keep it thriving via Discord. By next week, I'll have an Official Trihex Channel Discord everyone is welcomed to. I'll lurk there 24/7 and provide comfy and eager-to-deliver affection to anyone who watches and gets trampled in a chaotic chat room.

Adding a few extra clicks to interact with me will filter most of the idiots you probably dislike in chat.

Some point in November it'll get enhanced w/ sub permission room too. I'll also test weekly hangouts for voice chat, but I'll poll on that if people dig it.

▤▤▤ SMM progress
I should report on my continued desire to get better at playing Mario Maker overall, but its tough to quantify. I know I fall for less troll gimmicks as I grow familiar with them, but my largest barrier is from playing Yoshi's Island exclusively for so long.

I'm rooted in assumption of how Yoshi works and often can't separate how Mario on a large-scale works. I overcomplicate problems and am oblivious to intended solutions.

It's getting better, and I enjoy how every day I learn something new, or at least become less bad at one mechanic of one of the four engines. The dream is to be able to regularly defeat 100 Man Expert.

▤▤▤ Wooly World launch plans
I'm quite excited for Wooly World! I pre-ordered a digital copy on Nintendo eShop to have access at midnight. Imported a Yarn Yoshi Amiibo to have full access to all the features hours before Amazon would deliver my copy.

I'll probably do a legit SMM stream that bleeds into Wooly World for max hype.

I expect to dig Wooly for a few days hardcore, and then resume with combo SMM + Wooly streams. And then shortly after, with Yoshi being relevant, introduce Yoshi's Island to my new viewers and see how that fares.

▤▤▤ Future of Family Movie Night
I mentioned last week I'd have a FMN Farewell Tweet that detailed all my ideas for future movie nights. I've yet to do it because I find difficulty in letting go and admitting I'm done.

I look over my past archives and shed invisible tears of how many more memories I could make -- https://www.dropbox.com/s/st85www7rlnc0jr/Screenshot%202015-10-09%2000.51.41.png?dl=0

I've reviewed my options, and here's what I could do:
• Admit it's over, wrap up, reveal my entire list of ideas and lose all magic of FMN if I ever chose to revive it in the distant future
• Fuck the police and continue FMN in an uncomfortable realm of popularity and spotlight, likely doomed to have it taken down because its illegal and bad rep for twitch
• Let the channel hype calm down, and in a few months, do 1 final FMN. Do it in the acknowledgement that it's over, but we go out with a bang. Weeks of production go into it, reminence over how far it's come, show my blu-ray collection of movies, do FMN, and on-camera, explain each idea I had for the future one-at-a-time. Give respect to my intentions and share the vision outloud, versus you reading it in a pastebin in a isolated manner.

I think you know what I'm thinking. But tell me what you think. Can annonymously tell me on my ask.fm w/ "#FMN", or DM me on Twitter, or reply to this Twitch PM.

I will come up with a shortlist of my absolute best unused ideas for a top 5 that would get polled to gauge interest in a finale FMN. If people dig the finale idea, I tentatively want to do it around Thanksgiving or Christmas.

▤▤▤ Invalid accusations thrown at me
I don't normally welcome negativity into these newsletters. There's plenty of that on my twitter mentions via subtweets, or trash talk elsewhere. However, I do feel there's been some misconceptions about myself and the channel since SMM has blown me up.

Not that I accuse anyone reading this, but I feel as subs/viewers/support, you deserve to know how I convey myself, and what I'm -trying- to do versus what is perceived.

Here's some common ones and how I respond to them when I have the time to clarify:

▤Q: You abandoned Yoshi forever cuz SMM gets you tons of viewers
▤A: Not true. I mentioned in August getting burned-out/bored of Yoshi grinding since I've played it mainly for over 10 years officially (as of August). I love the game. And history has shown some big name streamers who grinded beyond warning and are either uninterested in ever returning or quit speedrunning altogether. I don't want this to happen to me, as I love Yoshi, so I take the fatigue as a warning to branch out and have healthy variety in what I stream and do.

If you check old newsletters, I mentioned wanting to chill with alternative games throughout September until Wooly World drops in October. It's coincidental that SMM is better than I expected, blew me up, and time flies for me!

On a miscellaneous note, I hate how being associated with speedrunning has a universal negative connotation if you do anything else besides SR. It's never "wow, he respects mental health and doesn't want to hate the game he's known for due to saturation", but instead "He's washed up" or "He QUIT speedrunning". It's ignoring context entirely and not true in most cases for most people. Transitions are human. No one speedruns right away, you enjoy the game casually first and it matures into a deep love that speedrunning expresses~

▤Q: You've changed due to your growth (chat culture)
▤A: I don't have speedrun audience in a dominant factor anymore. I have people used to the conduct of AAA streams. Things external to gameplay often capturing their interest, which is typically frowned upon in SR culture.

It is unwise to not have a lateral perspective in enabling and welcoming their culture while displaying your own. Going full isolated-sperglord-no-fun-please is fine, but don't expect a welcomed response or cooperation at the volume of viewers I have/had lately.

I've experimented and ultimately concluded re-creating the old atmosphere on Discord will be the best solution, and shaping this new chat environment over time as newer viewers learn more about me.

▤Q: " " (no more lewd posters, or fakku mentions)
▤A: If I wasn't already popped by multiple twitch admins for the nude Fujino DDR pad back in August when I had 700 viewers, I wouldn't act so precautious. But at 8k+, top 20 on twitch, and 10+ cops lurking regularly, it'd be foolish to show or mention any of that.

The smart/understanding OG viewers should be able to see I haven't changed, but need to adjust to what comes with being this visible at all times. I'll be able to loosen up a bit on the Discord servers once it's live!

▤Q: " " (nazi mods bopping what used to slide)
▤A: There's some insanely motivated shitters with this mass presence. I'm still adjusting to how to best handle the worst of it while keeping an upbeat chat without lockdown. I don't intend to have anyone t/o'd unfairly and am working on a bot solution for unban requests, probation mode (on thin ice after being unbopped) and stuff like that.

If you're salty about an unfair banning, just DM me and I'll look into it.

▤Q: You're a sellout for [x reason]
▤A: There's no way I could do 12-20hr streams of SMM regularly if I didn't enjoy it. It's a rare game that has intrigued me like so few do (Yoshi, anyone?).

I don't compromise any stream integrity to gain traffic or accelerate donations or support. I don't treat any donation with more eagerness than any other. I love, accept and am grateful for all support the same.

In fact, using [nosrl] in title lets me be myself more and feel less obligated to give less affection to those who enjoy my stream (versus being busy speedrunning always).

If you think I'm a sellout it's probable you disliked me beforehand, which is fine. But I'd remind you that streaming conduct is perspective-oriented and subjective. There isn't a wrong way, just reception from viewers based on their experiences and ability to relate -- whether that's how I stream, Werster streams, a Wobbler streams, or a camgirl streams. So, you can choose to view the context in a global streaming environment and admit there are people who like what you don't, or continue to isolate yourself to one perspective of speedrunning streams circa 2011 and fear change forever.

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▤ Sub Count = 1,245 (Reminder I state this more as a right-to-know for subs than bragging ever. Each of you makes a big difference and I pound in effort to ensure you feel valued and know that -- such as the prompt emote upgrades! <3)