Welcome to the exciting conclusion of the test run of Unhinged, the series where I scream at the internet because it’s wrong using metaphors and comparisons that sound more like personal problems than anything else.

I recommend reading these in order, so if you haven’t, article one is here, and article two is here. However, calling these desperate suppressions of my homicidal urges towards the ARG community “articles” may be generous.

They’re more of written personifications of my loud sobbing at night as I realize nobody will ever love me as much as I need them to to erase all the years of pain because it’s simply not possible.

What was I talking about again? Oh, right.

Just like last time, this work is purely for entertainment and feedback. It’s not an attack piece, and I don’t want it to be viewed as one in any way, whether you agree with me or not.

The ARG community is pretty big bros with the youtube horror review scene. It’s even influenced the ARG community’s direction in some ways, focusing more on webseries projects than it probably would have otherwise.

It’s a good relationship, and I’m glad the bond exists, because it picks up for a lot of the holes in the community. It gives certain projects that meet the shared criteria between communities a spotlight and places of discussion. I do wish non-horror, non web serial style projects got the same exposure the YouTube horror community has given what fits their fancy, but that’s part of the reason I started this blog, to cover any and all types of immersive media, so I’m not going to complain about that. No need to anyway, it’s one of those “If you see a need, fill it” type problems, and I hope to try to do everything I can to do so.

But I feel there are some decisions that I see reviewers are making a lot, especially recently, that are really hurting themselves and both communities. I’m going to try to do this without listing any names or examples, as my goal isn’t to call anyone about. Please don’t try to deduce and theorize about who I’m talking about. Instead, just notice the gripes when you see them in action, wherever they may be, and assess the situation for yourself.

The first thing I want to bring up is a big one. For whatever reason, there is like an epidemic of times where one of these channels covers a topic they don’t really like for seemingly no reason. Not to critique it or anything, but to talk about it in their normal fashion. I really don’t understand why someone drags something on twitter for a day than decides give in a praise and a spotlight. If it’s something the fan’s heavily requested, maybe you can explain why you aren’t keen on it in a composed video. It’s not a “Screw you” to your fans to critique something they might like. It creates a platform of various different opinions, which is a good thing when handled respectively.

I also don’t understand why I’ve noticed a trend of getting frustrated when these bad projects get worse, or just stay the same level of bad and all of a sudden people hate it more now. I really don’t understand. Why praise and bring attention to something with an easily foreseeable dropoff? Sometimes this is a simple change of mind and “Oh yeah that sucks sorry”, but in other instances everything has been clear and someone clearly disliked the project that they were making a video on. I don’t get it.

There’s gotta be something I’m missing. If you’ve done something similar and can try to explain and clear things up for me, please do. I’m not gonna be stubborn about it, because I’m honestly just really lost.

As lost as I am in the sea of channels with questionable aesthetics that just seem oh too similar to big names in the community. It seems every new channel in the field has the same aesthetic. Not everything that deals with horror has to be dark and ominous and s0 sp00ky itself. There are other ways to to horror and mystery aesthetics. And standing out is just always a good thing. I encourage anyone who wants to make a YouTube horror analysis channel to be influenced by every part of their own aesthetic, not just the parts of their aesthetic that’s creepy. You can do it. One of the greatest keys to success is making something that people can’t get anywhere else. It’s not just a horror channel, it’s your horror channel. Don’t try to pull of a deep dark voice if you can’t. It’s okay if you can’t.

Sadly, it seems I have to talk about criticism over vitriol here too, because a lot of people approach these new uninspired channels with utter hatred and attempts at burning them to the ground. Remember guys, that’s not how you get someone to learn. That’s how you get someone to leave. I cringe just as hard at witch hunts as I do when I see a channel name like CreepypastaDarkestBoy_Nocturnal69 in my recommended videos.

And no, the word “Night” or “Dark” in someone’s handle doesn’t automatically make them one of these channels. Don’t judge a book by its cover, assess their entire aesthetic before making a judgment. And if you do decide you want to craft a letter of “What The Hell Dude” to someone, remember, there’s a line between strong feedback and hate mail. And while we all make mistakes and get emotional, I urge you not to cross it if you actually want them to learn.

And while I’m happy many true crime enthusiasts find and enjoy ARGs, ARGs obviously aren’t actually true crime, and it’s weird how many times that line is blurred. I love when a game makes you really emotionally invested, but when a reviewer tries the “I guess we’ll never knowwwwww” thing on a project that really isn’t hitting that level for them, it cheapens what the project does do well in excuse for trying really hard to make it seem like it excels in something it does not. Whenever something truly stellar in the immersion department comes along, and everybody is like “Oh my god is this real?” then that works. But when a project may not be the best at its immersive aspect, you’re cheapening it’s other aspects by trying to throw a round hole around a square peg and hoping you aimed it right. It’s okay to say you think something is a project when talking about it. That doesn’t break the immersion.

What does break the immersion however is the fact I still don’t segway in to endings very well.

That brings a close to the three part back to back to back test run of Unhinged. I’ve drank my feelings and said my piece, and I hope to hear from you in this poll:

Liked Unhinged? Hated it? Tell me here! The fate of the series rests in your hands.

As always, I’ll be at @Ekatclan on twitter. Next shebang coming soon.

I also somehow went this entire saga without noting we now also have a brand twitter, @PuzzlingMatters! I am dumb. Go there too.