Today marks the 7th year of Paradigm Gaming!
As I look back to reflect on what Paradigm was and what it has become, I am extremely humbled. When Derptaku and I created this idea, this thing we now know called “Paradigm Gaming”, we had no idea what to expect. Honestly, we weren’t expecting anything. We weren’t out to ‘make it big’. We weren’t seeking fame, glory, or attention. We just wanted to create a place where we can share our love of video games, use it as an outlet to be creative, and hopefully interact with others who also share in our passions. If I look at the basis of that idea and analyze it today, I’d say we’ve accomplished that, and then some.
After 7 years, Paradigm Gaming is connected on multiple places across the internet. Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Discord, all updated on a regular basis. It has also become a big community of gamers who share in our passions of video games, movies/tv/pop culture, anime, and much much more. Not only that, but we’ve met some incredible, amazing, and talented people within the community. Many who we proudly call friends.
This crazy idea of Paradigm Gaming has evolved and turned into something beyond our imagination.
But it all started with Derptaku, the co-creator of PG. Derp is my bestest friend in the whole wide world. We’ve known each other for over 20+ years. He’s an amazing friend who’s always given me nothing but love and support in the best of times and the worst of times. I couldn’t ask for a better person to call my friend. And I would say that it is because of him that we have this place called Paradigm Gaming. He is the one who came up to me with the idea of starting a “project” together.
He was all like “Bro, we should totally do something”. My reaction was basically like Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic trying to connect to a virtual up-link saying “Dude, I’m in.” But in all seriousness, I looked at the idea of working on a project with Derptaku as a way to strengthen our friendship. We live in two different States and, unfortunately, I don’t get to see him very often. So this idea was very important and personal to me.
After going back and forth on multiple ideas on what we should do, next thing we know, Paradigm Gaming was born on January 15, 2012
Two years ago I wrote a piece on Facebook about our first 5 years as Paradigm Gaming. There’s some fun insight on our early workings when we used to be called “Paradigm Gaming 101”. The name was changed eventually to what it is today. But hey, gotta start somewhere right? We started with a YouTube and a Facebook page to keep things simple. YouTube was a total blast. We posted a variety of videos ranging from gaming cutscenes, favorite video game soundtracks, full gaming play-throughs, and much more. Facebook has a section to post videos, which we totally utilized. But YouTube has always been the centralized location for all Paradigm Gaming videos. We’ve made over 437 videos in the last 7 years and it continues to grow every week! Generally speaking, numbers are fun. But when I take a step back and let that actually sink in...whoa damn that’s a lot of videos.
I was also really into social media back then. Well, a lot more than I am now. I was always on the hunt for gaming news in various websites. Every day I was prowling though the internet trying to find the scoop on just about anything in the video game industry (I still do, actually. Call it a minor obsession). Eventually, gaming news started to get more centralized in places like Facebook and Twitter. So it’s a bit easier to find now. But at the time, because I was always on the hunt for an inside scoop, I thought it would be cool to have the Paradigm Gaming Facebook page be a centralized location for all kinds of gaming related news. If it’s gaming news you seek, you’ll still find it there as we update it on a daily basis.
Twitch was starting to gain traction back then too so we created a few accounts as well. But we really didn’t utilize it until about a few years ago. That’s when Derptaku moved from YouTube to Twitch. He ventured into the unknown and tested out the waters so-to-speak. He found that Twitch was an amazing experience that brought more to the table than YouTube did. The creative possibilities were virtually limitless. That’s when Derp eventually brought me into the fold. It took some convincing. But eventually I crossed over. And I’m glad I did too because Twitch, hands down, has given me some of the most amazing experiences I could ever have imagined. As we play games and share in our experiences with other streamers and viewers within the community, I find it to be extremely fulfilling and rewarding. The way Twitch allows people to connect with each other is absolutely amazing. Twitch has had such a huge impact on my life creatively, personally, and professionally. It’s brought me nothing but joy and I am eternally grateful for this experience.
But what about when the streams are over and we have to end our broadcasts? Does that experience have to end there? Absolutely not! Thanks to this fantastic and beautiful app known as Discord, the way we communicate beyond our streams is changing the face of gaming and social media forever. Paradigm Gaming is still active on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. But I’ve been finding myself spending more time connecting with people through Discord. The way it’s used as a communication hub, I have found myself having some amazing interactions, in-depth conversations, and much more. It’s been quite a refreshing experience as it has become a daily go-to in my day to day activities, something that I don’t usually get in other conventional social media sites. Discord takes Twitch interaction to the next level beyond our streams and becomes something even greater.
Having a centralized communication hub like Discord, I’ve found that our viewers have utilized the platform in a way that has pretty much made it their own. It's provided them with a place to share thoughts, ideas, things they love in many different categories, not only with us, but with each other. And overall, it has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. This platform has also helped us create some amazing things. We have a channel in our Discord called “Paradigm Clips” and it’s divided up between Derptaku, myself, and when we stream together. Anytime someone makes a clip watching us on Twitch, it gets posted in our clip channels. Because of our lovely viewers, they have captured, clipped, and shared some of our best moments. That turned into an idea that has become a fan favorite. Every month we compile all those clips and create a monthly compilation. It started in April 2018 as an experiment. In June, it became a thing and we’ve done one every month ever since. Below is one of those compilations for your viewing pleasure.
Looking back at some recent events we’ve experienced in Paradigm Gaming brings me great joy. We hit a huge milestone in September 2018. We’ve reached over 1,000 followers on our Twitch channel. That is absolutely amazing.
We are incredibly thankful and humbled that we have people out there that share in our passions and enjoy the content we provide
One of the biggest highlights of Paradigm Gaming that I am extremely proud of would have to be Extra Life. There is nothing more heart warming and fulfilling than doing something to help others. Especially when it comes to helping out kids in need. With Extra life, we set out to do just that: Play games and raising money to help kids. In 2017, we started an Extra Life event on our channel and we had a goal of raising $200. We collectively streamed for over 40 hours and, in the end, we exceeded our goal reaching a total of $305. The event went extremely well. Playing games and raising money to help kids was seriously the coolest thing ever. We had such a blast doing this, it felt good, and the overall experience was amazing. Needless to say, we wanted to do this event again in the future.
When Derptaku and I started talking about doing an Extra Life event in 2018, we wanted to go bigger. We talked about creating a bigger team and reaching a higher goal. Thanks to the connections and friends that we’ve made through Twitch, we did just that, and then some.
Team TMNT has to be, by far, the coolest collection of streamers this side of Twitch!
We joined forces with Omega_Apex128 and DreamWarrior, two streamers who share in our passions. These two have provide countless support to us and to the Twitch community. They were an amazing group of streamers to work with and I am proud to call them friends.
For this event, we weren’t streaming as Paradigm Gaming. This event was bigger than us and we were joining forces other very successful streamers. Collectively, we created a NEW team and became TEAM TMNT: TeaM N’ Together. Considering the success of 2017’s Extra Life event, we figured $500 would be an attainable goal between all four of us. But we had no idea how amazing this community would rally together to support us and the kids. For this event we had to raise our goal over four times! We went from $500 to $1000 to $1250 to $1500!! We surpassed our final goal of the event as we have collectively reached a total of $1525!! This was, hands down, an amazing event. Every stream had everyone’s unique talent, personality, and charm. We had lots of fun, played lots of games, and we made new friends. And most importantly, all of us and everyone within the community helped out kids who were need. Nothing has been more fulfilling than experiencing this event and I am eternally grateful to have been a part of it.
Looking back at where we started, as two life long friends with an idea, to see that idea become something and evolve into what it is today, it is beyond humbling. What a ride it’s been. We’ve met a lot of amazing people, made a lot of friends, helped others in need, and played a lot of games. Paradigm Gaming as an idea, as a group, and as a community, I feel it is part of something that is bigger than ourselves. And I look forward to the future with hope and excitement to see what else it will become. Not only for us, but for others as well. To all of you who are a part of the Paradigm Gaming experience and have supported us and our community, thank you. You are what makes this place the best thing I’ve ever been a part of.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone for this amazing journey
Sincerely,
BlueNile101
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