Think back to the original reveal of the Xbox One. Many of you will remember some of the more negative aspects of that E3 presentation, and many of those promised features ended up being cut or rethought due to backlash. But there was one thing I remember about that day that I still thought was a good promise.

Microsoft promised to make achievements even better. I loved achievements then and now, so I was excited to see what that promise meant. As we know now, you can dissolve that promise into two easy categories. One was that all Xbox One games would have a base gamerscore of 1000, there would be no 200 gamerscore games just because they were arcade-only or the like. As of right now, the only way to have an Xbox One game with 200 gamerscore is if you're playing a backwards compatible Xbox 360 title.

The second was that apps would now have achievements as well.

And I really loved that idea.

After I finally bought my Xbox One in the later end of 2014, I found that the thing was a well-rounded home entertainment system. I don't mean like the Nintendo Entertainment System, I'm not so old timer or huge Nintendo fan who thinks "Entertainment System" is synonymous with "Video Game Console", I mean the things you usually call an entertainment system. Playing DVDs, streaming videos, and playing games all-in-one; and the focus was on making that feel more fluid and connected than ever before. It's funny how I was complaining about Microsoft talking about sports and video so much at that now infamous E3 conference, because now I see they were just trying to tell gamers that this time they wanted to focus on everything it did instead of just making it a games console that happens to play movies.

They also decided to have you earn achievements for doing so, and to me, this added an incentive to do so. Apps are free, the only payments are if the app is for a service you are paying for such as Netflix, so you could simply earn more achievements in things you probably would have downloaded anyway just to see what they were like or if you wanted the most out of the service you would be paying for even if you didn't download the free app. One of my favorite things was going on my Xbox account and looking at my App Achievements alongside my regular ones.

Sure, they offered no gamerscore, but they made me feel like I was actually doing something besides watching a YouTube video. Some of the Achievements were even in-depth, such as watching a combined total of a set amount of hours for a specific type of video. Let's also not forget that Xbox One Achievements are full-size pictures, and you can use them as background images if you want. I'll be honest, that is something I actually did with a few of my YouTube Achievements

And I'm legitimately happy to admit that just a day or so ago, I used my Xbox One to upload a YouTube video, and now have every single YouTube Achievement. I am not joking:

But a little over a year ago, I could no longer see those Achievements with my other Achievements on my online account. If I looked at my Achievements on my Xbox One itself, they weren't listed there either. The only way to see App Achievements was by doing the method you see above in the picture.

Related to that, recently I tried the free trail for Amazon Prime. I downloaded the app, and checked the Achievement list. I did a few things to pop an Achievement, but one never popped. As if they know the Achievements exist, but they no longer register when the correct action is done. That or I got an error, and by checking online and reading people's comments on Xbox forums, apparently either is just as likely.

And related to that, I am now paying for the streaming service VRV. It has no App Achievements, and from personal experience to before I had VRV, Crunchyroll has no Xbox App Achievements either.

App Achievements didn't catch on all that well, and you know, and if I look back I guess I can understand not everyone wanting them. I do slightly understand not programming any new ones in, however, I really wish I had the option to look at all of my achievements at once, including ones from Apps. I loved these, and I know I'm not alone from above stated forums. I know some hated them, so I think it would be cool to just have the option not to see or earn them if someone doesn't want them. Some people wanting to hate them should not completely override the people who really liked them, a compromise should be possible.

If you did hate them though, allow me to just ask you a few questions. Just to see something, and to get a full view of what you think:

- Do you sometimes look at your friends Achievement lists and go "Ugh, they really played Doritos Crash Course?" or maybe "Ugh, they really played Frozen Free Fall Snowball Fight?" Or any other free game you think they only played for the achievements?

- Do you think it's weird and/or stupid that mobile games on Windows Phones also have achievements?

- Do you think it's weird and/or stupid that Solitaire on Windows computers now also has Achievements?

- Have you ever played a game you thought was "just okay" but decided to get all of the achievements anyway? The same counts for PlayStation trophies.

If you have a problem with every single one of these questions and the App Achievements, I do have to ask what Achievements ever did to you. I mean, they're just fake rewards for video game players, let people have their fun if they're not hurting anyone. If you don't like them, fine, that's your business, I'm just asking if it's necessary to have a problem with every single thing I mentioned, and if so, if it's that big a thing to have a problem with.

If you don't like App Achievements, but at least a few of those questions were completely okay with you, let me know. It'd be interesting to hear your reasons. I do mean that. I am fine with all of the above questions, and I do find it interesting to hear other sides of the argument. Differences make us as a species more interesting after all, despite what the more close-minded may claim.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to download the Xbox Video App and see if the Achievements still work for it.

(And I may as well share the video I uploaded for the Achievement. Funny story, I also got an Achievement worth actual gamerscore because it's from SUPER HOT, and saving footage in that game gives you an Achievement.)

In July of 2012, I created a YouTube channel for the purpose of creating and uploading videos. The idea was never to make money off of this channel, from the very start the idea was to use the platform as a way to get my creative material out there for the world to see. When I first started it up, my views weren't necessarily bad for a brand new channel. Looking back at one of my first videos, it is just shy of five hundred views, and for an unknown channel that is not a bad number. It is not even my most viewed video, but, it is definitely up there in that regard. Said video was the first episode of my nine episode horror-comedy about an Apple fan who was also a serial killer, and if you'd like to see why so many people watched this first episode, which had no reference to the second half of the premise, you can simply watch it down below:

I'm proud of many videos I have made, and many of the ones I regret were erased from my channel (with a back-up copy in my possession should I ever change my mind), and when it comes to those videos I erased, if I had left them up I sincerely think they would get roughly the amount of views they do now in the form of non-existence.

I have learned how to do good videos by this point, and I am fully aware that my efforts are gaining no reward. I remember years ago, when I first started, when YouTube was more open to letting the unknown channels get attention. I am far from the first person to complain about the fact that this no longer seems to be the case.

I will play devil's advocate, however, for something I do believe is fair. As I do not monetize my videos, I understand why YouTube does not feel the need to give me more attention than a channel they do profit from. YouTube does not make Google any money, it's been stated as much several times, so I do understand why they don't need to bother too hard with someone who does not make them money.

On the other hand, YouTube breaks even for Google, according to the reports. They are not losing Google money, at least as far as I am aware. In that regard, I do think I'm gaining less attention than I and several other unknown channels deserve, and when it comes to myself I am not asking for much. As the thumbnail shows I currently have 26 subscribers, over the course of 4 years. While I would easily appreciate more, I am very proud of the fact that there are people who plan to watch content that I make.

But my views are not reflecting that. Out of my 26 subscribers, I cannot tell how many of them are watching my videos. My view count is terrible, and while I may not be the greatest creator on YouTube, I know I care way more about my quality than other creators who are getting much more attention. I have seen some of the completely hated videos that gain massive attention, and I am just as upset as everyone else who suffered through them while their uncreative makers profit. Be it from the monetizing meaning YouTube pushes their stuff out, or from all of the click-bait that they have in their titles, there is something wrong with certain people who are getting a good deal of views, and a few years ago, myself and other unknowns would have at least been given a little bit of that viewership.

As for my personal complaining, honestly, a lot of that is out of my system. There are a few things I would like to say, but they would be better covered in a post about everything that has been going on with YouTube. The frank reality is, right now I'm luck to get 10 views on a video, and a majority of my older videos got more than that in a week when I first uploaded them. I have gotten better, and I even receive less dislikes, but the algorithm doesn't wish to help me the way I would like it too, and this is true for not just the lesser-known channels, but some of the biggest channels have now started to find out that a good deal of their subscribers aren't even aware of their new videos on plenty of occasions. This is the very reason I now use this blog instead. I don't know how many people read this, as I don't get comments or likes just yet, but I do know that I pay Squarespace every year to have this website and they are helping me out, because I directly paid them. My chances of attention are far better here than there.

I don't dislike YouTube, but I did temporarily give it up.

The next few uploads I did, would be stuff like this:

Neither of these videos were made for YouTube. They are pieces I did for a class, and I recorded them because I simply felt like it. They did better than the stuff I recently made directly for YouTube, so until my channel gains any form of attention, they are all I am planning to do.

I miss doing stuff just for YouTube. At this point in time, I have the footage for a video I was working on for quite some time. When my last video bombed with only one view over the span of currently three months, I realized there wasn't enough reason to care about it. It is shelved until something can be done.

Maybe I'm just on a high horse. I'm complaining that my life isn't working out as well for me as I wish. Well, personally, I've been there before and this doesn't feel like that. After all, this is the only YouTube post I've made on this blog, and I have yet to rant against the system and even played fair. Honestly, I do care, just not enough to get all that mad. Ever since I was a child I have wanted to make other people happy. I wanted to entertain, to make people laugh. Like all artists and creative types, I do want to be well-known, as that means more people can hopefully enjoy what I am doing. YouTube was supposed to be the thing I could do before all of that happened, even help me achieve that, but that possibility is likely dead and I have to face the reality that my channel will only be successful if I'm successful first.

I think time will be on my side, but I needed to face the fact that the current system is technically against me and there wasn't really anything I could do other than go for another outlet as far as web videos. I chose blogging because it allows me to keep writing every week, and besides, there are no other successful forms of video for the internet. Blip crashed and burned, and to speak candidly for a second, I have no f#(*!ng idea how Vimeo works.

But I miss making videos like this:

And I miss being surprised at when a video of mine becomes a success:

But, I've moved on for now. I really do not believe I will ever be the kind of channel to rake in the remarkably big numbers, especially with the system that is currently in place. I'm taking a break from the platform because I know it's current state, but I look forward to a future where I can return and have some fun.

Anyway thanks for watching be sure to like and subscribe it totally helps me out! Share a comment below in the comments, I'll make a video where I read some of them or something everyone likes those! Tune in soon for when I edit parts of Bee Movie because that's a funny thing people are currently doing right now and I may as well completely steal from them for attention instead of watching the video and learning from their success on how to make good content! When I get a million or 2 subscribers maybe I'll even show you my pe-

I was going to say p#$&s because I censored this post and that's funny.