The Past
When Derptaku and I started this venture in creating content together, it’s started small. We created a YouTube channel and a Facebook page under the banner “Paradigm Gaming 101”. Like describing an entry course for college classes, “101” was kind of a symbol of our own introductory into content creation. Our purpose, our goal, was to share all the different kinds of things that we love about video games. Articles, cut scenes, gameplay, you name it. And while we were very new to this venture and really didn’t have any specific direction we were headed with our ideas, we just knew we wanted to do something together. And that's exactly what we did. We put all of our ideas on the table and ran with it. We wanted to see where it took us.
Fast forward five years later, you'll see that our ideas took us to some pretty awesome places! I took charge of the Facebook page, sharing gaming news, reviews, updates, and rumors that I found across multiple websites. My goal was to make the Facebook portion of Paradigm Gaming101 the main hub for all things gaming news related. But what really super charged my interest with this space overall, was in graphic design. I took charge with designing the overall look of The Paradigm. This venture got me to learn how to really use Photoshop. And through that, I went on designing so many fun things through posts, banners, profile pictures, cover pages, and much much more. Derptaku went from content creation, sharing all sorts of videos on YouTube, to streaming on Twitch full time. From there, we got heavily involved in the Twitch community, meeting people, making friends. It was wild, watching The Paradigm take off and lead us into uncharted territories. But we embraced it. I feel like we found our footing. And over the years our ideas gave our gaming project a unique identity. When things started to naturally fall into place, and we were enjoying where we were in our roles, contributing to this paradigm machine, we decided it was time to evolve. We took the training wheels off so-to-speak, and we dropped the “101”. We became just “Paradigm Gaming”. And from there, it's been one hell of a ride.
After our evolution, Paradigm Gaming got bigger and expanded across the web over the years. We could now be found on Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Discord. We built a website, first on Streamlabs and then rebuilt it from the ground up using Wix. We've also had our fair share of adventures through a variety of content and events. We’ve had anniversary streams, birthday streams, friendship streams, community streams, and annual summer gaming events on Twitch. We’ve made so many videos, clips, highlights, random moments, promos, and more. Something I'll never forget, I got a chance to attend the Los Angeles Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, in 2019! It was wild! And we also became a heavily involved with Extra Life, creating a special team full of friends, working together, to raise money for charity. Over the last five years, the team collectively raised over $35K for charity! Talk about amazing!
And most importantly, we’ve met some incredible, amazing, and talented people throughout the community over the years. Many have come and gone. Many still stream on Twitch and there are many who don't anymore. And you know what? That's totally okay. Life's funny that way sometimes. It has a way of altering trajectories with new paths to cross, new doors to open, and old ones close. It's a part of how you grow and evolve. Life goes on as much as it has a unique way of bringing us all together, even if it's for a short time. But overall, we're humbled by the experience of meeting so many people through Twitch, Discord, and beyond. So many of you have made such an impact on our lives that we are forever changed, as streamers, as friends, and as human beings.
And for those of you who we call friends to this day, we are thankful for having you in our lives.
The Present
Well, Paradigm Gaming turned ten years old this year and we celebrated in an epic way. We had a huge community stream on the day of our anniversary, played a ton of games throughout the year, and shared in some of our favorite memories through various posts and videos. I also made a new video segment showcasing a variety of fun things not found in our ‘Random Moments’ segment on YouTube. Things like Derptaku's and my first ever duo stream, rare moments, community compilations, and much much more.
The biggest thing I think we did this year, one that I am the extremely proud of, was the release our feature length documentary "Paradigm Gaming - 10 Years". This documentary was an ambitious undertaking. I had to scour through the archives of Paradigm Gaming and put all the pieces of our past together. It was like a puzzle. I needed all I could find, to paint a picture into the depths of our own personal experiences in Paradigm Gaming. Thankfully, I save just about everything that we've ever made in Paradigm Gaming on my hard drive. But you can imagine, ten years worth of content through pictures and videos, it's a lot to sift through. But it was well worth it as Deptaku and I laid it all out. Our thoughts, emotions, everything. We wanted to showcase our journey through Paradigm Gaming over the last ten years and the impact it’s had on the both of us, and on the community. And I feel we did just that.
I am very proud on how it turned out. I’m also thankful for the community and their support. Not only for the overwhelming support for this documentary, but just all of their support for us, and this place, over the last ten years. I am so humbled to be a part of this community, being among so many of you, who’ve helped shape and build Paradigm Gaming into what it is today.
The Future
That leaves us to to the ultimate question: "So what’s next?"
Well, when we started Paradigm Gaming, that was back in 2012. Derptaku and I were 28 years old. It’s now 2022, going into 2023, and we’re no longer spry chickens. After some lengthy discussions about what we want and where we want to go next, we have decided that it is time to end Paradigm Gaming…And evolve it into something different!
Paradigm Gaming is evolving into The Paradigm Society, with a bigger focus on community and a simpler focus on content for both Derptaku and myself. A lot has changed in ten years. Social media isn’t what it used to be. While we have both enjoyed creating different content on just every social platform out there over the years, it’s a lot of work and a lot of ground to cover. These past few years, it’s been challenging to keep up the momentum, the excitement, and to constantly create different kinds of content on each individual platform. So we decided to cut the fat, so-to-speak. Get rid of what doesn’t really work for us anymore and put all of our focus on what does work for us.
Sadly, we have deleted both the Paradigm Gaming Facebook and Twitter pages. The social media landscape has changed significantly. It feels less of a place where people can personally connect and more of a hive of scum, villainy, and toxicity on various levels. The excitement of what social media was, and was supposed to be, at least for us, has dwindled significantly. Meaningful interaction has become next-to-none these days. That, and it also feels like a land full of countless bots and ads. But all that has changed after we joined Discord. Here, we continue to connect with real people and have meaningful interactions and conversations in so many ways. Discord is absolutely amazing and honestly the one place we’d rather spend our time and energy in. So going forward, our primary place for news, updates, conversations, and more, will be in The Paradigm Society Discord.
The website has been revamped as well. It is no longer ParadigmGaming.net. With the new changes comes a new name and you can find us at TheParadigmSociety.com. At the moment, it’s an archive and headquarters for all things Paradigm. What it will evolve into going forward it something we’re excited to figure out. And Derptaku and I are looking to create more video content. Not just on Twitch but also on YouTube. We will still stream on Twitch like we always do. That will not change. In fact, since we want a bigger focus on community, we want to do more community streams. Plus, Derp and I want to do more duo streams and play more games with each other as well. We’re pretty excited about bringing the focus back to what it was when we started this venture. And I will continue to make fun "random moments" videos using all of the clips and highlights you guys make. That is a video segment that I absolutely enjoy making. But since we took the word “Gaming” out of “The Paradigm”, this new identity gives us an opportunity to create content beyond gaming. Gaming will continue to be a huge focus for us, for sure. But if you look at the variety of content found on our Discord server, it’s got channels for all sorts of things. Games, music, movies, tv shows, anime, food, and so much more. Derp and I want to take that and expand on it across YouTube and Twitch. Derp’s got video content in the works involving his forging, dashing, and more. I have ideas for new types of videos as well. I’m still working out the details. But the possibilities for new content is limitless and it’s very exciting.
But there you have it! Paradigm Gaming will always be a place, and an experience, that I'll always I hold dear. Thank you all for your support this past decade. It's been a rollercoaster of a ride. But it's been one of the best rides I've ever been on. I'm looking forward to the future of The Paradigm and I hope it brings in some new and exciting things. Until then, I hope you all have a happy new year. Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
BlueNile101
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