The (Updated) Many A True Nerd Patreon FAQ (Patreon)

Welcome to the newly updated Patroncast FAQ, now with more commonly asked questions added in, and a more sensible structure too. Thanks to the community members who have helped keep this up to date, in particular Amanda Wallace, who has been a huge help with this.

ABOUT JON

What/where did you study?

I studied Classics at Oxford University. I specialised in Hellenic literature and Roman Early Imperial history.

What do you do to relax in your free time?

I read a lot. I like reading non-fiction and news journals. My favourite news journal is called “Delayed Gratification”, which is a slow journalism magazine. Also, recently I’ve been reading a lot of Robin Hobb. Also, unlike quite a few YouTubers, I still enjoy watching other gaming YouTubers. Claire and I also occasionally binge-watch Netflix series.

What is your favourite book series?

The Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. Though my recent addiction to Robin Hobb’s Farseer and Liveship Traders books is giving them a run for their money. I've always been a fan of Margaret Atwood too.

What is your favourite TV series?

I’ll struggle to pick between some of my favourite dark British comedy. Maybe Chris Morris’ Brass Eye, or Monkey Dust. I also love The Thick of It. 

What is your favourite film?

Toy Story 3 always makes me cry. For comedy, I would say Hot Fuzz and the first Austin Powers. Also Mystery Men. As for trashy action movies, Resident Evil and Deep Blue Sea. I like trash. Sue me.

What is your favourite musical genre? 

I like playing some classical music. But I really love terrible pop music from the 90's and 2000's.

What is your favourite board game? 

I love Galaxy Trucker, as does Claire. We also both like Seven Wonders and Pandemic.

Who is your favourite Doctor? 

Matt Smith.

What do you think about Fallout 4 DLCs - how would you rank them?

Far Harbor is brilliant - right up there with the best of New Vegas’ DLC - but I hold that Nuka World is underrated by some people. Sure, the story is a little bit weak, but the level design is some of the best in Fallout 4, the aesthetics of the worlds are lovely, and the rewards are worth getting hold of. In fact, I’d say that I prefer Nuka World to literally all the Fallout 3 DLC other than The Pitt.

How do you think you would fare in the Fallout universe? 

Not well at all. I like things to be just so and I like my routine. I don't think I'd last long to be honest.

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

What is the origin of Many a True Nerd?

It was Claire’s idea, actually; she wanted to make a general-interest geek blog. I came up with the name though (it was either Many A True Nerd, or Nerd To The Wise). A couple of months later, I volunteered to do the associated YouTube channel. As time went on, the channel gained traction while the website itself didn’t as much, so ultimately MATN became just the channel.

As for the name itself, it’s a play on ‘many a true word is spoken in jest’, which I liked because of the implication that comedy gets to the truth of things, as that’s exactly the message that Aristophanes has in his ancient Greek comedies, which I love. I liked it as a pun and I like the inclusiveness of it, meaning there are many ways to be a nerd, not just one.

What are your thoughts/recommendations on how to set up and grow YouTube channel?

Never try to imitate somebody else. Find something that you are particularly qualified to do (whether that’s something you love, or hate, or just know a lot about), and focus on that. For more general and practical advice, I do plan to make a brief How To YouTube series at some point.

How many emails, comments, Twitter DMs do you generally get on monthly basis?

Emails and DMs aren’t so bad, but I get about 12,000 comments per month, and I do try to read all of them. That can take a while, but people seem to appreciate seeing me in the comments so often.

ABOUT THE VIDEOS

What hardware/software do you use for recording/editing?

It varies, but most often I use Shadowplay or my Elgato HD Pro 60 Capture Card. In rare cases, I use FRAPs, but the file sizes are truly ridiculous. For editing, everything is done with Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12, which is a rather old editing suite, but still works very well.

How far in advance do you record videos? 

It depends. The big series I only do maybe a week or two ahead of time in order to reflect on what everyone is saying in the comments. Smaller videos I do very far ahead of time. I do always make an effort to answer questions and read comments on videos I have done ahead of time.

Do you practice the “You only live once” runs? 

No. I do research on what tactics to use and what enemies I will face, but I don't practice. I like it to be spontaneous and suspenseful for both myself and the audience.

Have you ever done a video/playthrough that ended up not being uploaded?

There have been a few, but not many at all - the vast majority of games I record end up being uploaded. Risk of Rain refused to record properly, I just didn’t enjoy Robot Arena 3 enough to continue with it, Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball crashed repeatedly. But that’s about it over several years and over 1,000 videos.

Do you ever play games for yourself without recording a commentary?

Very rarely, but I don’t mean that in a bad way - I get a lot of enjoyment out of commentating, editing, and creating a video. I do sometimes play some of my old favourites just for me, though - things like Total War, Advance Wars 2 or Pokemon.

What's the series you'd like to do but probably won't?

While I hope I’ll cover it someday, I think Skies of Arcadia would be quite tricky. It’s one of my favourite games of all time, but it’s a huge game that would take months to play through, and I’m not even sure a huge number of people would be interested. It also has the issue that it’s narrative heavy, but it doesn’t have any voice-acting, so I’d need to do the voice-acting for a cast of about a hundred recurring characters, which is rather intimidating...

What is your favourite video you've ever made?

Fallout 3: Kill Everything - A Practical Guide to Parenting. It’s a little scruffy, but I love it because the entire episode was made up as I went along. I wasn’t even planning to visit Andale that episode...

Have you ever done a video that you regretted or thought wasn’t good? 

Yes, a lot of them, especially my older videos. I really don't think the New Vegas Kill Everything run stacks up, I think I could do much better with that series now. I've come a long way since then.

COMING UP NEXT ON MATN

Will you keep doing livestreams?

Yes! I’ve really enjoyed the recent Stellaris livestreams, so from now on, I am planning to stream pretty much every Saturday afternoon - alternating between Stellaris and Mass Effect Andromeda. 

Will you ever do community play days?

I would love to give that a try, it’s just a question of figuring out how it would work and who would be involved, but my initial idea is that Stellaris would be a great candidate for a community play day. When it does happen, I’ll give the first opportunity to sign up to Patreon supporters.

Will there be any merchandising?

Yes, very soon! It’ll be t-shirts and mugs to start with, but I would also like to do hoodies and coasters, things like that.

Will you ever do meet-ups at conventions?

I have met a few people in the past at EGX, so I may well organise something for the next big event I’m attending.

Will there ever be any videos of board games? 

I’d love to give it a try at some point. I really enjoy board games, we have a whole shelf full of them. It’s very difficult to film a board game being played though - you need to film the board, all the players, you need to edit together a good explanation of the rules. It would be a big project.

Will you do more Why not Wednesday?

Why not Wednesday was invented when one-off heavily-edited videos were a rarity that deserved their own special series. These days, those videos are a lot more common. So I suspect it’ll return whenever I happen to do an older game, but it’s mainly just a series that has outlived its purpose.

Why don't you do anything Nintendo or Konami related? 

In short, because Nintendo and Konami are dicks to YouTubers. 

OTHER PEOPLE

Who are your favourite You Tubers? 

NerdCubed is definitely one of my favourites. I first started watching Dan’s channel about 5 years ago and it inspired me to start making my own videos – which I did about a year later. It's surreal that I get to work with him now sometimes. I also really like Chuggaconroy, who does a lot of Let's Plays and Pokemon - I watch his videos before bed because I find them relaxing.

How did you meet Dan?

I’ve never actually met Dan in person, though I’ve met Matt a fair few times. He was looking for people to do the GTA Heists and he approached me. To this day, I’m not entirely sure how I came to his attention - nobody seems to remember.

How did you meet Matt (mattophobia)? 

I met him through a charity live stream hosted by Super M, before the Nerd Cubed Heists. And now we are good friends.

Will there be any more collaborations with Sam? 

No, probably not, because he now lives far away so it makes it much more difficult.

Will there be any more collaborations with Claire? 

Yes, when we both have the time, she will definitely be on the channel.

Who is Claire and what is the relationship between you and her?

Claire is a French person who I can’t seem to get rid of. She is our cat Tabby's main human and has been my girlfriend for around 8 years.

How did you meet Claire?

Before I started gaming as much, I used to do quite a bit of writing. Nothing that is anywhere near ready to publish, but I spend a lot of time on it. I met Claire at a National Novel Writing Month event a few months after we had both moved to London.

How old is Tabby and where did she come from?

Tabby is about 12 now, we adopted her from a shelter when she was about 10 or so. Her original owners lost her and she spent about 2 years on the streets. When she was brought to the shelter she was badly injured and her original owners weren’t able take her back. She was very shy, timid and traumatised by her time on the streets. When I saw her in the shelter I just knew I had to get her out of there, she looked so scared. It took some time, and she is still a little skittish, but she is better now.