How has James Rolf (aka AVGN) influenced you as a gamer?

[Snatch1414]

Over time AVGN has lost it's A. There's only so many times you can drop the f bomb and shit on a game. But as to how he's influenced me...well I learned a thing or two about games from watching his videos and I've learned about consoles I didn't even knew existed. Because of him I started getting more interested in collecting games and finding others like me, which led me to this forum actually.

So he's greatly influenced me as a gamer.

I think a lot of people just get older and look at things differently. I, like a lot of gamers I'm sure, see similarities between myself and James. He's the same age as me I believe, and when I was 25 I was just much more of a goofball. Then things like paying bills, building a career, etc. start taking up space in your brain and it's harder to act like a crazed lunatic over a video game just so some people can get a laugh.

Might just be my imagination but it seems like right around the time when the picture quality became great on the videos was right around the time he started doing AVGN because it paid the bills and not because he was passionate about it, not that you can blame a person for something like that.

My only fear is that some of these guys are great at what they do and you want to see them do more, and then it just turns out they should've stuck to their niche. MikeJ's movie looks atrocious, Nostalgia Critic thought he could write sketch comedy with multiple actors and he was dead wrong, and personally I don't have high hopes for the Nerd movie. Unless the writing has a really specific tone to it that I'm just not getting from the trailer I just wasn't feeling it. I'll still buy a copy though. He's given me more than enough laughs to warrant a purchase after all the work he's done on it.

[3DSStrider]

The AVGN was one of the first things that got me into retro games. I started watching them around when I was in fifth grade. It inspired me to watch other retrogaming videos on Youtube like Talking Classics, CGR, and (ugh, I can't believe I'm admitting to ever liking this guy) the Irate Gamer, which in turn got me further and further into the hobby. If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't be on this forum.

[TheSegaSaturnGuy]

He definitely sparked my real interest in retro gaming. I had my Saturn and Genesis but hadnt touched them or even thought about them since I was a kid. I think I owe the quality of my collection to him. People complain about him, saying that all he does is swear and focus on negative aspects but every video of his that I watch I feel like he does such a great job at covering the game from start to finish. I just wish the Ninja Baseball Batman video was longer >.<.

[SuperDerek]

James hasn't really affected by gaming habits, since I don't tend to seek out bad games or anything. And I can't say he's really deterred me from buying games -- as a matter of fact, I own a couple NES games he reviewed (TMNT and Hydlide) and it hasn't really stopped me from enjoying them either.

But James has provided hours of entertainment, and taught me about some really bad games that I may never have heard of otherwise. He's also inspired a lot of other reviewers out there to make videos that I now get to enjoy, and they have in turn inspired me to start reviewing games. And reviewing games sparked my collection habits, so I think in a way I can trace a lot of where I am today back to James's reviews.

[Retrogamer0001]

Has anyone been watching James and Mike Mondays? They're actually pretty decent, even without the nerd character.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I HATE "some guys shoot the shit while playing a game" vids but James and Mike are certainly tolerable. Probably because they come across as so natural and relaxed. No scripts, no pretension, no annoying "radio voices." I love how Mike looks so stumped at the beginning of most episodes, like "what the hell is this we're playing?!"

Metal Slug episode is the best one.

[Luke]

Tried to watch PaperBoy 64 and turned if off.

Dudes playing a game, mispronouncing words, and just another "here's stuff" video. No reason to invest time watching that nonsense.

And I do like the AVGN character, but Christ...not shit on his site worth watching but mostly videos from 2009. And the straight to Internet Movie? Wayyy too much time invested in that when he could have been pumping out his regs.

But marriage, a kid (I think), has slowed him down to a snail's pace. If his recent videos of the past few years say anything, it's that the guy is fine with phoning it in and has given up trying to provide unique and quality content.

[Snatch1414]

Tried to watch PaperBoy 64 and turned if off.

Dudes playing a game, mispronouncing words, and just another "here's stuff" video. No reason to invest time watching that nonsense.

And I do like the AVGN character, but Christ...not shit on his site worth watching but mostly videos from 2009. And the straight to Internet Movie? Wayyy too much time invested in that when he could have been pumping out his regs.

But marriage, a kid (I think), has slowed him down to a snail's pace. If his recent videos of the past few years say anything, it's that the guy is fine with phoning it in and has given up trying to provide unique and quality content.

Well the thing is that as much as he loves retro gaming he loves movies more and always aspired to making movies over YouTube-style videos. The AVGN thing was a happy accident and he's parlayed it into enough capital and popularity to make a movie. Whether it'll be good or not I can't say, though I said above I don't have high hopes for it.

Regardless, you can't be everywhere at once. Picture being at the helm of a movie, your first real try at it by the way, and on top of all that, trying to pump out an AVGN episode every 2 weeks. The Mike & James stuff is just to placate people with something to watch while he finishes editing the movie because there literally isn't enough hours in the day for him to do everything that people want to see and have an actual life.

[Violent By Design]

Tried to watch PaperBoy 64 and turned if off.

Dudes playing a game, mispronouncing words, and just another "here's stuff" video. No reason to invest time watching that nonsense.

And I do like the AVGN character, but Christ...not shit on his site worth watching but mostly videos from 2009. And the straight to Internet Movie? Wayyy too much time invested in that when he could have been pumping out his regs.

But marriage, a kid (I think), has slowed him down to a snail's pace. If his recent videos of the past few years say anything, it's that the guy is fine with phoning it in and has given up trying to provide unique and quality content.

He's a film enthusiast, he's certainly going to prioritize making a feature film over his normal gig, which he is likely sick of by now.

[Exhuminator]

I guess I would consider myself a fan of AVGN, because I have actually seen every AVGN episode he's made so far (favorite episode was the glitch gremlin one). Started watching around 2008 or 2009, something like that. My favorite show of his is actually Board James though, where he and friends play non-electronic games... those are always hilarious (especially Bootsy). Sometimes I watch Mike & James Mondays, as I like Mike too, but I think those episodes are very hit and miss... more often miss as a byproduct of unscriptedness. I plan to buy the Nerd movie, as a way to support James for all the laughs over the years. I think the stress of being married and raising a kid while trying to make a living off internet videos is really starting to get to him though. I say that based on the last "Nerd movie" progress video he released. James looked like he was about to cry a few times during that, poor guy.

Anyway, so the original question was "How has AVGN influenced you as a gamer?" And to that, I would say not at all. My gaming habits and tastes have not changed an iota in regards to any video of his I've ever watched. Being old enough that I grew up during the era he reviews, it's more a nostalgia trip than one of discovery.