As you guys may remember, a few weeks back I got in touch with my idol, Youtube-legend Ross Scott and asked him to do a little interview with us... which, being the awesome dude that he is, he promptly agreed to, despite being in the middle of making his (at the time) latest video.

Here's what Ross had to say to the questions we submitted on the appropriate thread:

Q: What advice would you give to somebody who was new to making videos on YouTube? (Asked by Kyng).

A: I really don't know, the landscape changes a lot and it's probably more competitive than ever. I have a huge advantage of being on Youtube relatively early. I doubt I could make it if I was starting today, although I never started with the idea of making this a career either. The Youtube machine wants you to release content with high viewer retention essentially daily. I try to focus on making my stuff watchable in the long term, but that's not a formula for success on Youtube for most people. Something I've been poor on in the past that I should probably do better is to have catchier titles and thumbnails, although that won't help you if your video is lackluster. What I did when I started Civil Protection (even before I was on Youtube) was go around to as many relevant forums as I could and essentially campaign my own video. I imagine the best avenues on social media are different now, but promoting your own videos certainly can't hurt.

Q: You once said that you "sort of fell on making videos for a living by accident" - what did you mean by that? Did you upload something independently and got unexpected recognition for it? Or perhaps a friend/colleague saw your talent and encouraged to try your hand at making machinima? (Asked by @"Rincewind").

A: I made Civil Protection as just wanting to make a video, I had zero expectations from it leading to anything profitable.  Soon after I submitted it to a machinima contest at the time, where it won best of show and $1000. That convinced me to maybe tread water career-wise and throw more time at this. A year later I was offered a contract by the company Machinima to release the videos for profit. Back that, then was pretty much the only way to make any money, through a larger network. In any event, I had actually given up on the prospect of making videos for profit years ago, since my perception was that was based more on network rather than your videos, and I never had confidence of my networking abilities enough to make a career out of it.

Q: Do you think we will see a revive of the Dead Games News? (Asked by Lurkerish Allsorts).

A: I hope not, I don't like covering this stuff for its own sake, I want the practice of destroying games to end. My original purpose of making DGN was to show that this was an ongoing problem and it might stir people into doing something. That hasn't really turned out how I hoped it would. That said, I have an idea for a future video that could maybe lead to a "secret weapon" against this practice. I'll be sure to make that very public and would even be the next video I'd release if I knew fans of my other series weren't ready to lynch me for lack of new stuff at the moment.

Q: Any idea on the future of Ross's Game Dungeon? (Asked by Lurkerish Allsorts).

A: It will probably continue being what it is. I doubt I'll be able to top rescuing a game and showing one no one has seen before, but I'm sure I can have more fun episodes ahead.

Q: Has there been any culture shock since you moved to Poland? (Asked by Lurkerish Allsorts).

A: Only very minor things. Probably the largest was reverse-culture shock once I realized that the radio and malls, etc. all seemed to be playing top American songs, I was expecting Polish or European. I noticed cashiers can be obsessed on having near-exact change, that took me off guard originally. I remember my then girlfriend casually opening a window with no screen and that alarming me, since I grew up mostly in Virginia which is technically a temperate rainforest. I've seen bugs she can't even imagine. I also remember having gone 2 weeks around the city and having not seen a police officer in that time, that basically never happened to me in the US. I came here relatively open-minded, it can take a lot to shock me.

Q: Is there any video of yours that you wish had gotten more attention? A lot of your non-serial ones, you really have to dig for, since they don't tend to show up as much on YouTube searches related to your channel (Stranger in Need being the most notable example of this). (Asked by @"Rincewind").

A: All my videos I feel like have problems, so not really, I don't try to force them on people for the most part. I'll likely promote the hell out of the movie once it's done though.

Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career as a YouTuber? (Asked by Kyng).

A: Probably the games corporate lawyers play during my later dispute with Machinima. I had protections written into my contract that they refused to honor. Multiple staff members lied to me, I was dismissed outright. I learned that reasoning with them was pointless. As the legal person helping me said "these are not reasonable people." The only winning move was to notify them of intent to take legal action against them through official channels. That's the only language they understand. I made the analogy of playing a chess tournament against someone, and no matter what strategy you have, that's not how you win the game. You win the game when you grab someone's hand who is trying to pickpocket your waller, the chess game was just a ruse.

Q: Are there any videogames that you would like to see remade or receive a sequel? (Asked by Shiny Star).

A: Probably, though I'm swimming in a sea of game options these days, it's really renaissance in that sense, there are hundreds of games out right now that I'm interested for me to worry about sequels or remakes too much. You can check out accursedfarms.com/games if you want to see the stuff I'm eyeing.

Q: Have you ever considered setting up an old rig specifically for playing retro games? I'm sure someone can have your ideal machine (completed with a capture card) up and running in no time. (Asked by @"Rincewind").

A: Not really, in addition to not missing much about old hardware (CRTs has some advantages or LCDs, but drawbacks too, I don't particularly miss them), it's actually a comfort factor for me knowing I can run an old game on modern hardware. I made a short video about this here as a cameo for Lazy Game Reviews:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOimYlt49iw

I plan to explore the concept of old games on modern-ish hardware much more in a future video though.  

Q: What has been the hardest aspect of your YouTube career? (Asked by Pyrite).

A: It's hard to say. I've pushed myself way too hard trying to make deadlines for some videos, but that's mostly my fault and something I'm aggressively trying to get away from. I guess there's the general fear that I don't know if I'll lose a critical mass of fans and be unable to sustain myself, so a lack of job security, although there seems to be a lot of that for most people these days. There's also a constant feeling like I'm not doing enough since ideally I'd have 10x the videos I do out, though I can only make them so fast, I don't know how some other Youtubers do it.

Q: If you could change only one thing about either of the Half-Life games, what would you change? (Asked by Kyng).

A: HL1: Not make me crawl repeatedly through that banging tentacle part, I never liked that.

HL2: HL1 felt more organic to me, 2 felt more gamey, though I don't know of what one change would change that. Alternately, I would change Breen's dialogue at the end. He came across like a more complex character through most of the game, like he believes what's he's selling as a collaborator and created a much more nuanced villain even reminiscent of some politicians. In the end he basically just goes bwa ha ha and tries to kill you, that felt kind of weak and one-dimensional as opposed to how they built him up.

BONUS TRACK:

"You said I could add something, I'd say watch for the "Ross's Dream Software" video I have planned coming up whenever I can get it made, especially if you're a programmer. It's an idea that I think could radically impact gaming and might not be the fantasy I once thought it was".

Please don't forget to check out Ross's site, where he keeps us updated on all his upcoming projects and to subscribe to his Youtube channel, where his videos can be watched.

We, at The Coffee House, would like to thank Ross Scott for the time provided and the answers given. You rock, man!