Here to kick off October’s Community Spotlight is YouTuber 8BitMom! In a brief introduction below, Val gives readers a chance to learn a bit more about what she does. Take it away Val!
Hey guys, what’s up? I’m Valerie Anne aka 8BitMom – a French Canadian lady who isn’t scared of the ridicule and speaking her mind. Before I begin my story, I’d like to point out that I am very humbled to have been invited to be October’s community spotlight for SimsVIP! I perhaps am too humble and don’t feel worthy of a showcase but I would also be lying if I’d say I wasn’t psyched as hell! So, thank you Alexis for inviting me, and this is my warning to you guys that I rarely stay serious, so fear my rambling below!
It all started on a cold December morning, 1981… but for reals though – I have been gaming all my life. From the original Nintendo console to all the available machines now, I’ve always had a passion for gaming. So much so that I have met my husband in an MMO and, coincidentally, are celebrating our 6th year wedding anniversary this October! Needless to say, I love games, but one type of game that has always been my favorite is simulation games: Harvest Moon, SimCity, and quite evidently, The Sims, to name a few.
I didn’t think The Sims community would become a passion of mine until I met my now very close friend, Christina, aka ImaginingMystic. I loved The Sims, had played all base games, but it’s when she told me about the Legacy Challenge (her husband, Pinstar, is the Legacy Challenge creator!) that it took a turn for the best. I did challenges and had a blast. To a point where I HAD to have most expansion packs and wanted more of the game. Then, one day, I decided to do Let’s Plays on my YouTube channel, which at the time had basically two videos of another game called Typing of the Dead. And then I fell in love with The Sims community. The other simmers.
The creative minds of so many different people. I wanted to know more, I wanted to learn about other Simmers, about other Content Creators. Surely we shared an interest, but as I am a very curious person of nature (seriously, don’t tell me NOT to push the red button) I decided to do something: a YouTube series called “Let’s Simmer Down With…” where I would interview people from The Sims community. Whether they be Simmers, Content Creators, anything. As long as they provided The Sims content regularly, I felt like interviewing them would satisfy my curiosity hunger and be entertaining to the listeners.
I found that the community is very opened and welcoming! From xSimSugar to MaiSims or even WeeAlbet to name a few, everyone I interviewed so far were so psyched (and some even nervous! Say waaaa?) to be interviewed and talk a little bit about themselves and what they do within the community. I’ve made new friendships along the way, met very interesting people, and my love for The Sims just doesn’t stop growing. I love doing Let’s Plays. I have many series right now, some in development as well, and for now they all revolve around The Sims. But here’s the thing. A secret. Are you ready? Okay… Ahem. I don’t do it for the eventual numbers.
GASP! I know! Crazy, right?! I do it because I absolutely LOVE entertaining people. I love kidding around. I rarely am serious in my Let’s Plays and I love sharing my love for gaming, for my stories, for my Legacies. I even do a series called Sim Snippets where I put a few funny moments from my legacies together – I LOVE laughter. Laughter cures all. But one thing I love most out of it all is the community interaction. When people comment on the videos I make, when I reply, get into discussions on videos or Twitter – that’s MY prize at the end of the road. Because feeling appreciated and gaining more friendships – even if it’s internet-based – is just awesome to me and fills me with smiles every single day. Corny. I know. But it’s true!
Other than that, my website, 8bitmom.net, is really outdated. I need to refresh it. I want to put more recipes on there, crafts projects that I do… I’m not JUST a simmer! I’m a wife, a mother, A type 1 diabetic, I adopted one cat and one dog from my local shelter and so, between recording, editing, monitoring my blood sugar and all that jazz, I also have a hyper dog, a funny cat and a very energetic three year old boy to entertain and take care of on my own as my husband works away from home, weeks at a time. So I’m sorry if I cannot watch all of your videos or read all of your articles! I truly am! I wish there was more hours in one day so I could give my support to everyone. Sometimes I feel extremely bad for not being updated on everyone’s Let’s Plays but, really, I lack time and time lacks me.
If you have questions you can always reach me on Twitter! We can become friends! Yay! And don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel where you will be able to hear Alexis’ story as well and fall in love with her personality! Oh, and there’s my Let’s Plays there, too, if you want.
Thanks again for having me and thanks for reading my Sims story!
http://www.8bitmom.net/
