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The Oculus Rift is Freakin Me Out

2014-09-19 · announcement · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, punishment or challenge, community lore

Launching his daily Games with Hank channel with Oculus Rift horror play, Hank argues virtual reality could give online life the physical space humans need, predicting it will be a mixed bag that changes things; he also sets John's inkless-tattoo punishment and announces pre-roll grants to creators.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting: welcome to Games with Hank

00:00:02 — Games with Hank launch: HankGames history, praise for John Plays FIFA, a new channel with an episode every day

  • ★★ Hank says he started HankGames a few years ago because he likes games, and welcomed John joining to play video games there. — 00:00:02 · HankGames
  • ★★ Hank praises John Plays FIFA: fictional players both named John Green raise a child while raising real money for the real team, so Nerdfighteria's logos are now on its uniforms. — 00:00:11 · HankGames, AFC Wimbledon, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ Hank launches Games with Hank as a whole new channel, different from HankGames, aiming to upload an episode every day of the week forever. — 00:00:33 · Games With Hank, HankGames

00:00:44 — The Oculus Rift: a new world; clips from three days of a horror game

  • ★★ Hank says the Oculus Rift puts you in a new world: anyone who uses it comes out thinking everything will change; it is unlike any other media experience. — 00:00:47
  • ★★ Games with Hank starts with three days of Hank playing a horror game on the Oculus Rift. — 00:01:08 · Games With Hank
  • ★ Hank says it is hard to convey how scary the game is; taking off the Oculus he thinks 'Oh, right, I'm here!' — 00:01:31

00:01:31 — Virtual communities feel real but lack physical space; the internet's spaces change fast (YouTube's redesign as a moved bathroom)

  • ★★★ Hank says virtual communities have become very real to him, though not physical spaces; humans apply physical space to whatever occurs, but online we do it badly. — 00:01:39
  • ★★ Hank says virtual reality could do a great job of giving online occurrences physical space. (hedged) — 00:01:55
  • ★★ Hank says physical spaces change slowly but the internet does not: a YouTube redesign feels like someone redesigned his house and moved the bathroom. (playful) — 00:01:57 · YouTube

00:02:15 — Virtual reality's potential beyond games; prediction: neither civilization-destroying nor saving, a mixed bag like the internet

  • ★★ Hank says virtual reality's potential goes far beyond games, to the future of entertainment, sports, art, education, music, exploration, adventure, medicine and politics. — 00:02:19
  • ★ Hank admits he is extra excited after a weird new experience and tells viewers to take his enthusiasm with a grain of salt. (hedged) — 00:02:31
  • ★★ Hank expects many people to say virtual reality will destroy civilization and many to say it will save it. (hedged) — 00:02:38
  • ★★★ Hank predicts neither side will be right: like the internet, virtual reality will be a mixed bag, but it will change things. — 00:02:46
  • ★★ Hank makes no prediction about how it will be used, but says people will try many things, some extraordinarily amazing and resonant with being human. — 00:02:54

00:03:08 — John's punishment: an inkless tattoo

  • ★★★ Hank sets John's punishment: since John doesn't want a tattoo, he will get a tattoo with no ink in the gun, painful with nothing to show. — 00:03:09 · Punishment

00:03:22 — Vlogbrothers pre-roll money given to creators: Physics Girl and Kelly Kend

  • ★★★ Hank says vlogbrothers has run pre-roll ads for over a month, building a pile of cash the brothers are distributing to awesome creators. — 00:03:22 · Vlogbrothers, online advertising
  • ★★ The first recipients are YouTube's Physics Girl, who gets an equipment grant, and Kelly Kend, who is making a documentary about consent and sexual assault. — 00:03:29 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says Kelly Kend's documentary raised $10,000 on Kickstarter, all of which she has already spent working on the film. — 00:03:38 · Kickstarter
  • ★★ Hank says he found Kelly's work, reached out, and offered her some of Nerdfighteria's money; she is very excited. — 00:03:42 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank says he did a short interview with Kelly and will post it on hankschannel. — 00:03:46 · hankschannel

00:03:49 — Sign-off and a closing clip about remodelling 'this place'

Humor (significant)

  • Hank likens a YouTube redesign to someone redesigning his house overnight. — 00:02:09

    “WHERE DID YOU PUT THE BATHROOM?!”

  • Since John doesn't want a tattoo, Hank's punishment is a tattoo with no ink in the gun. — 00:03:18

    “It's just gonna hurt a lot, and you won't have anything to show for it.”

  • After the sign-off, Hank says remodelling 'this place' could make it quite nice. — 00:03:55

    “You might want to instead just wanna burn it to the ground”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Games With Hank · Oculus Rift · virtual reality

Also: People: Kelly Kend

Projects: HankGames · hankschannel

Works: FIFA (video game series) · Kelly Kend's documentary on consent and sexual assault · Physics Girl

Organizations: AFC Wimbledon · Kickstarter · YouTube

Rituals: Punishment

Concepts: digital dualism · online advertising · online community

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