New 2015 Review by someone who actually plays the game!

[ScarletBlaze]

No hey, I won't tell you that lol. I realized I swore a lot after I posted it. Made a joke about it.

And in this video I toned it down a lot I think

 

 

Mercenary Spotlight - http://youtu.be/nkcYaul4ruM

 

I watched the video on the mercenary/commando (though I don't have one as of yet) and I will give you credit. Your language was a lot better. I listen to the end even though as I said I don't have one of these yet (though my boyfriend and I have plans to play all classes eventually) so I will give you credit for toning down the language.

 

Thank you.

[MSchuyler]

The second vid is better--clearly. I see progress.

 

But I also see you continuing to react defensively to the criticism, particularly with the "I am who I am" motif to your defense. So let me try to break it down to you in a different way. My career is over, but I gave many presentations to audiences as big as 1,000. My crutch was fancy slide shows at first and Powerpoint with a bunch of add-ons by the end. I don't say that to brag how good I thought I was, but just to say I know how it feels to be in front of an audience and how scary that really is. I have heard that the fear is greater then the fear of death in many people.

 

But in any presentation you have two things going on:

 

1. You are presenting your material, and

2. You are presenting yourself.

 

Unless you have a ton of charisma which (cough) neither you nor I have, when #2 over-shadows #1 you know you are losing your audience. A lot of the early criticism here was about #2, and that should tell you something. You've made YOURSELF the issue and, whether or not you intended it, focused on yourself instead of your message. That's effectively why people have been telling you to clean up your language. It's not because anyone is really offended by words everyone has heard hundreds of times, it's just that they did not expect to hear them hundreds of times from you in a single short video. It DETRACTS from your message because there are more swear words than content words.

 

It's the same thing with appearance in general. When I was young I had hair to my waist and a long beard and mustache. I bristled when anyone suggested my appearance might be a detraction because I could not understand how people could be so judgmental. A Fortune 500 company put an ad in the university newspaper that was a picture of Einstein with the caption: "Hair, it's what's under it that counts." That was MY poster, man! I would not wear a coat and tie on principle, hated the very idea. In my old age I've cut my hair, mostly because there's not enough there anyway, and I gotta tell ya. It's a whole lot easier! I wish in hindsight that I had done it at 20. But, blush, I had to get over myself first.

 

Once an older "mentor" of mine (I hate that word, too) took me aside and explained something to me. He told me that a suit was not exactly a costume and concession to "The Man." It was instead a great equalizer. I puzzled at this: An "equalizer"???? Whatever could he mean, so he explained.

 

When you put on a suit and are well-groomed, you are equal to the man across from you. He doesn't know if you came from a rough ghetto life or just graduated from Harvard. You look the same as he does, more or less, and he's not going to 'pre-judge' you, at least until you open your mouth. Obviously, at that point accents, grammar, and your overall skills as an orator take over. But the longer even these things are common to your other party, the less likely you will be a distraction to your message. We've done a lot of work as a society to ensure things like accents, skin color, and sex do not interfere here either. Woe to the businessperson who expresses any sort of bigotry here!

 

And, the fact is we are born with our looks, and probably born with much of our intelligence and "wit," and some have more of all this than others that they can use to their advantage. Life isn't fair. But the point remains. The LESS you are a distraction to your message the LOUDER and clearer your message is.

 

THAT is the take-away here. You know what needs to be done. Your second vid is much better than the first. We don't stare at you the entire time. There's less profanity, less waving of the arms (but still too much, guy), and a clearer message. It was a better vid because the focus wasn't entirely on YOU.

Edited February 19, 2015 by MSchuyler

[FerreusSteelTip]

I watched the video on the mercenary/commando (though I don't have one as of yet) and I will give you credit. Your language was a lot better. I listen to the end even though as I said I don't have one of these yet (though my boyfriend and I have plans to play all classes eventually) so I will give you credit for toning down the language.

 

Thank you.

 

I'm starting to feel more comfortable talking into a camera lol. It's not as easy as people may think.

[FerreusSteelTip]

The second vid is better--clearly. I see progress.

 

But I also see you continuing to react defensively to the criticism, particularly with the "I am who I am" motif to your defense. So let me try to break it down to you in a different way. My career is over, but I gave many presentations to audiences as big as 1,000. My crutch was fancy slide shows at first and Powerpoint with a bunch of add-ons by the end. I don't say that to brag how good I thought I was, but just to say I know how it feels to be in front of an audience and how scary that really is. I have heard that the fear is greater then the fear of death in many people.

 

But in any presentation you have two things going on:

 

1. You are presenting your material, and

2. You are presenting yourself.

 

Unless you have a ton of charisma which (cough) neither you nor I have, when #2 over-shadows #1 you know you are losing your audience. A lot of the early criticism here was about #2, and that should tell you something. You've made YOURSELF the issue and, whether or not you intended it, focused on yourself instead of your message. That's effectively why people have been telling you to clean up your language. It's not because anyone is really offended by words everyone has heard hundreds of times, it's just that they did not expect to hear them hundreds of times from you in a single short video. It DETRACTS from your message because there are more swear words than content words.

 

It's the same thing with appearance in general. When I was young I had hair to my waist and a long beard and mustache. I bristled when anyone suggested my appearance might be a detraction because I could not understand how people could be so judgmental. A Fortune 500 company put an ad in the university newspaper that was a picture of Einstein with the caption: "Hair, it's what's under it that counts." That was MY poster, man! I would not wear a coat and tie on principle, hated the very idea. In my old age I've cut my hair, mostly because there's not enough there anyway, and I gotta tell ya. It's a whole lot easier! I wish in hindsight that I had done it at 20. But, blush, I had to get over myself first.

 

Once an older "mentor" of mine (I hate that word, too) took me aside and explained something to me. He told me that a suit was not exactly a costume and concession to "The Man." It was instead a great equalizer. I puzzled at this: An "equalizer"???? Whatever could he mean, so he explained.

 

When you put on a suit and are well-groomed, you are equal to the man across from you. He doesn't know if you came from a rough ghetto life or just graduated from Harvard. You look the same as he does, more or less, and he's not going to 'pre-judge' you, at least until you open your mouth. Obviously, at that point accents, grammar, and your overall skills as an orator take over. But the longer even these things are common to your other party, the less likely you will be a distraction to your message. We've done a lot of work as a society to ensure things like accents, skin color, and sex do not interfere here either. Woe to the businessperson who expresses any sort of bigotry here!

 

And, the fact is we are born with our looks, and probably born with much of our intelligence and "wit," and some have more of all this than others that they can use to their advantage. Life isn't fair. But the point remains. The LESS you are a distraction to your message the LOUDER and clearer your message is.

 

THAT is the take-away here. You know what needs to be done. Your second vid is much better than the first. We don't stare at you the entire time. There's less profanity, less waving of the arms (but still too much, guy), and a clearer message. It was a better vid because the focus wasn't entirely on YOU.

 

I'm not making it about me. Others are. If I come off at all defensive, it's because 'some' points of myself will never change. Not because they can't, not because I'm stubborn; it's because they shouldn't have to.

If people care so much about clothes, about style, then the world itself is really on the wrong track.

You know. There are some youtubers that NEVER show their face.

I thought about doing this. I've a decent capture card. Could have just showed footage. I chose instead to step out from behind the screen, so to speak, and talk to the world as myself.

I expected criticism. I know how the world is. "You're fat", "You're ugly", "You don't conform to our expectations"

It is what it is. But THAT will never change if people buckle under and try to please everyone.

YES, I want to be good at this.

YES, I want to get a message across without myself being a distraction.

and YES, I do keep wanting critique. It helps me. Even the negative.

 

but for me, it would be a shallow feeling to get a message across from behind a mask. Because the message isn't just about a game. Or a book. Or movie, whatever I end up reviewing or commenting on. It's about being yourself too. About not being afraid of the world's scrutiny, and being strong enough to handle it.

 

All that said, I appreciate your advice. I do. It was well thought out, and I can tell you meant to genuinely help me. That is a rare thing.

 

the arm flailing and hand gestures lol. I can't really control them. It's how I talk. Even typing this out, saying it in my head as I do, my one hand is doing little gestures over the keyboard haha.

[MSchuyler]

I'm not making it about me. Others are. If I come off at all defensive, it's because 'some' points of myself will never change. Not because they can't, not because I'm stubborn; it's because they shouldn't have to.

 

Sigh. After all that and you're still there. You don't get it. You ARE making it all about you. Your first sentence above denies it and your second sentence confirms it in spades. Trying to help you is a thankless task, it seems, a wasted effort. Your material really is not at all exceptional, so it's not worth wading through the rest to get to it. Good luck, but you're not going to be successful at this unless you change your attitude.

[FerreusSteelTip]

Sigh. After all that and you're still there. You don't get it. You ARE making it all about you. Your first sentence above denies it and your second sentence confirms it in spades. Trying to help you is a thankless task, it seems, a wasted effort. Your material really is not at all exceptional, so it's not worth wading through the rest to get to it. Good luck, but you're not going to be successful at this unless you change your attitude.

 

Well, you an I are at an impasse then. You are seriously mistaking what I'm saying, but I can't say it any different.

All I will say is - I will prove you wrong.