Interview Time! With Christopher Odd

Hey everyone, I had another little idea a while back about interviewing some of my favourite Let's Players and gamers, so naturally I went and emailed Mr. Odd as soon as I had things finalized in my head. And I was lucky enough that he responded and I was able to interview him on the weekend.

If you don't know who Christopher Odd is, he is a YouTube Let's Player with a love for games that give him the choices.He's been on YouTube for about a year now, and has 11k subscribers (but come on, he totally deserves more). He currently has Let's Plays going on of The Witcher 2, Amnesia, XCOM, and Saints Row 4, along with many others he's done in the past. If you're interested in checking out his channel, and I seriously think you should if you haven't already, he's probably one of the nicest YouTuber's out there, just click this link HERE.

So without any further ado, here's my interview with him. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for showing interest in the my channel! I hope I can answer all of your questions.

 I've been watching your YouTube videos for some time now (under a different account), though I'm one of those silent watchers who don't comment, I have always wondered how do you do it? It amazes me how many videos you put up not just in a day but all week, and you have a day job too right? And family? It's just incredible, so how do you manage to do it? Do you film everything all at once or is it very clever time management?

There is definitely some clever time management involved.  In addition to YouTube, I have a full time job and I'm married.   At first YouTube was just something I thought I would try out for fun.  Now that I've been able to see some success, it's developed into more than a hobby.  As such, I've had to put aside time to get the things done that I'd like to.  I'm recording almost every day, rendering over night, uploading before I go to work in the AM, responding to comments on my commute to and from work, etc etc.  That said, my wife is crazy supportive, and we make sure to spend time together each night doing things we both enjoy so everyone is happy.  I have a routine, it gets overwhelming at times, but I enjoy the whole process of making videos, so it doesn't feel like work at all.

I noticed that you put up an Amnesia video today, welcome to the club of scare your pants off. Are you planning on doing a Machine for Pigs Let's Play when it comes out?

Yes ma'am.

 And I know this is one of the more boring questions that I could ask but I'm going to ask it anyway :). Out of all the LP's you've done since the start of your channel which one do you think is your all time favourite? I love your Metro series. 

Tough one!  Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said Deus Ex Human Revolution.  That's still in my top 3 games of all time I'd say, but now, I'd have to lean towards The Witcher 2.  I love sitting down to play it every day, and I'm going to be really sad the day it ends!  Metro was really fun, but it felt a tad repetitive. Great atmosphere though!

It took me a while to decide on starting this blog because of some of the backlash you can get from reviewing games, though I have prior experience with reviewing books, but I know that Youtuber's suffer from the same thing. I have seen some awful comments on YouTube videos, though on yours I haven't noticed very many, but when you do it a bad comment how do you deal with that? Does it bother you? Or do you just brush it off?

 I feel extremely fortunate to have the viewers that I do.  I really feel proud of them.  It's like I've lucked out and attracted intelligent people with brains on YouTube! They do exist!  That said, I do get negative comments at times, and I'd be lying if I sad they don't bother me.  Funny thing right?  1000's of positive comments, and 1 or 2 negative ones really stand out.  Over the past year since I started, I've built up a thick skin.  If you can't deal with criticisms, you will fail.  It is important to note however, that criticisms and insults are two different things.  The way I handle this is as follows; I reflect on criticisms, I ignore insults.  If someone straight up insults me, they get ignored.  They don't come back.  If someone criticizes the way I play, I may respond and let them know what they can expect from my channel.  More often than not, they stay.

Alright, back to gaming, what would you say is your favourite genre of game? If you had to pick one.

I would say I enjoy the type of game that offers me meaningful choice.  I love being challenged to pick a lesser evil.  It pushes the narrative of games, and it's super engaging.  I know that's not really a "genre" so if I had to pick something general, I'd say stealth.  Any time I need to sneak around in a game, I get all kinds of excited.

What's your opinion on Ben Affleck as Batman? I'm not sure where I stand on the debate, personally. 

I feel that this is the most important question so far ;)  It's tough.  I'm not really able to picture him as Batman in my head. BUT, I couldn't picture Heath Ledger as Joker...and now I can't imagine anyone else doing it.  I'm excited to see how he pulls it off.  I'm mostly looking forward to seeing Matt Damon as Robin.

Mr. Odd how did you get your start on Youtube? What made you decide to start making Let's Plays and Let's Discuss videos? Where did your love of gaming come from?

I started in August of 2012.   I originally found out about Let's Plays approximately six months before that.  I started watching videos of people playing Civilization V and I was genuinely engaged in their approach.  I found it fascinating that I could watch and listen to someone play a video game.  I decided that I wanted to try it.  I looked at it as a way to encourage me to finish more games.  If I knew people were watching, I'd be more inclined to finish games.  Prior to my start on YouTube, I can count the number of games I've completed on one hand.  Maybe even just three fingers.  The idea for Let's Discuss came from the fact that I wasn't satisfied with the way that games just ended. I needed more resolution.  I realized that people were having very intelligent and well thought out discussions on the last video of each series, and I thought, "What better way to end a series than to get viewers involved and chat about it?"  I don't know of anyone else doing that on YouTube, and it's something I want to continue doing.  I've ALWAYS loved video games.  Super Mario, NHL 94, Final Fantasy VII, GoldenEye 007.  Those are the games I remember most from growing up.  Problem was, as I got older, I needed something more.  I needed a good story.  I'd find myself losing interest though.  Games couldn't keep my attention.  When I started making LP's, I realized that if I was sharing my thoughts out loud, it not only encouraged me to articulate them clearly, it helped me to retain more of the story happening around me.

Are there any other Let's Plays that we can look forward to in the near future?

I usually like to keep pretty tight lipped about LP's that I have planned because I don't want to let people down if my plans change.  That said, you can expect, at SOME point in the future to see the Mass Effect series, the Metal Gear Solid Series, and the Thief Series.  As of writing this, I have The Witcher 2, Amnesia, Saints Row IV, The Bureau XCOM Declassified, and my weekly XCOM Enemy Unknown video.  That's a lot of gaming! 

And that about sums it up. Thank you very much again, for taking the time to answer my questions and taking my emails. I hope I get to speak with you again, and maybe I'll stop by and leave a comment now and then and stop being so quiet :). Happy gaming!

Not a problem at all. I had a great time doing this, and I hope it's what you were looking for.  Thanks for writing me.

Thank you once again to Mr. Odd for taking some time away from his busy schedule to chat with me, and I hope the viewers on the blog liked this feature too.