[dropcap]M[/dropcap]any of you are probably not familiar with Jeremy Dooley, or even with Achievement Hunter — the video gaming online entertainment channel, and a division of Rooster Teeth Productions — though this may soon change. Some may be aware of Rooster Teeth, however, from their hit machinima (the use of real-time computer graphics engines, generally video games, to create a cinematic production) series Red vs Blue, a show which combines the Halo video game franchise and filmmaking into a fantastic blend of action and comedy, or RWBY, their animated series, or maybe one of the many other projects that they have produced.
For the layman: “gaming achievements” are a set of goals scattered throughout a game, for which the player is rewarded points. These can range from things the player would normally do to the difficult, the amusing, and the absurd. Achievement Hunter began in July 2008, when Rooster Teeth members Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo realised that there was no community-based website relating to gaming achievements, and proposed to Burnie Burns, then CEO of Rooster Teeth, the creation of a site based on showing how to obtain such achievements. Since then, they have become a gaming entertainment powerhouse, consisting of thirteen full-time employees and over two million subscribers to their YouTube channel, LetsPlay, which, among other things, posts videos of gameplay edited together with commentary from the gamer(s).
Dooley himself grew up in Massachusetts, and got into video editing at a very young age. After coming across Achievement Hunter and realizing that combining comedy and careful editing could create such a potent form of entertainment, he took to it like a duck to water, and became a frequent feature on Achievement Hunter’s sister channel, AHCommunityVids, which allows fans to submit videos for the company to upload.
The ability to play a game is something many people have, Jeremy Dooley believes, but the ability to play a game, to create content from it that people will actually enjoy watching and laugh along with, is a very rare skill.
Building an online presence wasn’t easy for him, and success certainly didn’t appear overnight, having spent a long time working on both his own channel and the videos he submitted to the AHCommunityVids. “It’s very easy to see the quality of the videos go up as time goes on. The videos are different from normal AH videos — more like the highly edited Play Pals show they have,” and he acknowledges that his work here definitely played a huge role in his getting the job.
When asked about whether he still had moments of disbelief at achieving his dream, the answer isn’t all that surprising: “I still have moments like that all the time. I’ll be riding to lunch with Joel [voice of Caboose in Red vs Blue, and Professor Oobleck in RWBY] and I stop and think ‘I can’t believe I’m in a car shooting the breeze with Joel Heyman.’ Or I’ll feel that way after recording a video with Geoff and Jack, or, more recently, playing Far Cry 4 and riding off a cliff on fire with Gavin [Free, creator of the Slow-Mo Guys channel, and has worked on films like Dredd, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, and Snow White and the Huntsman]. It’s an amazing feeling. Like working with movie-stars […] And it hasn’t really set in yet that I’m technically one of them now.”
He wasn’t the only thing that Achievement Hunter picked up when they hired him – his own series Imaginary Achievements — in which Dooley and others pursue achievements which they themselves make up, and are not recognised within the game — has since become an established show on their channel. “It’s great to know I have full control over some Achievement Hunter content. Something that I actually own and contributed to this company.”
It’s like asking someone what makes a comedian so appealing! Looking at Let’s Players as people ‘just’ playing games is what makes them so confusing to people.
Obviously, the success of this kind of entertainment begs the question: what makes the Let’s Play industry so appealing and entertaining to viewers — in particular, in Achievement Hunter’s own work? Dooley shakes this question off, “It’s like asking someone what makes a comedian so appealing! Looking at Let’s Players as people ‘just’ playing games is what makes them so confusing to people. Let’s Players are not just ordinary people playing games, but are actually entertainers and comedians, who use video games to generate the material they work off of.” The ability to play a game is something many people have, Dooley believes, but the ability to play a game, to create content from it that people will actually enjoy watching and laugh along with, is a very rare skill.
It’s no surprise that they have a long-running series of Let’s Plays in both Minecraft and the Grand Theft Auto series, both massive open-world games whose mechanics give plenty of opportunity for random and unpredictable events to occur, and have led to some of the best moments of entertainment on their channel. From the breathtaking moment of mass destruction in their “Things to do in GTA V — Achievement Knievel” video, to something as mundane being flipped into the air and spawning a new catchphrase, every one of their videos brings something new and unique to the table, and that is where the heart of their success lies. Their Let’s Plays, and several of their other series, rarely focus on the actual story missions of a game, but instead focus on pushing the games mechanics in new ways. From trying to land a plane on the side of a mountain, or a busy street, to trapping animals in Minecraft and spawning an internet campaign for their safe release, they thrive in playing games in ways that they were never intended to be played.
As to what the future holds, Dooley is cautiously optimistic, revealing that his participation in the company will only increase. “I’ve already appeared on several livestreams, as well as the RT Recap, and will be on On The Spot (Rooster Teeth’s Mock the Week-style panel show) very soon. I’ve also been approached and asked about my interest in helping with RT Shorts, X-Ray and Vav (RT’s latest animated series).” As long they continue to think up new ideas, he believes, they will continue to grow. “I’ve even talked with Matt (Hullum, the current CEO of Rooster Teeth) about some brand new projects coming soon in the future. With all the new content Rooster Teeth has been churning out lately, you can count on seeing me in a lot more productions in the future.”
Illustration by Alice Wilson.
