Almost 3000 followers and how steemit (and the IFC) has helped change my life.

in #steem6 years ago (edited)

Hey again steemit peoples.. It's been a while since I've posted one of these.. And..I'm only 2 followers from 3k might as well post now..
I think the last was at 2000 followers? And that was a couple months ago I think.

Starts to speed up more when you get more followers, those other 2000 took me over a year, but I know a lot of these accounts must be old inactive accounts and bots and something isn't quite right.

Despite having this many followers and starting a pretty successful contest here on steemit, a lot of my posts still don't make much steem or get nearly as many comments compared to people with much smaller followings.

It can get frustrating at times, and I know it can be even more frustrating when you're just starting out and you're only making pennies or less..

There were definitely some discouraging times! And one time I had the attention of a whale and lost it because I was so focused on finishing a movie I still haven't released cause I got so overwhelmed and busy with things and YouTube is a jerk as well and did some stuff that handicapped me.

I've also spent a lot on this contest and I'm not really making much back and what is made pretty much goes back into the IFC, but I believe in the idea so much that it's a passion project for me and more important than the money..

And.. I also believe that in time if it does become more popular, that that money and steem will come back in one form or another. I'm a big believer in working hard even if you don't see much results right away, and that over a long period of time.. You can really do amazing things if you put in the work and effort and believe in things.

A lot of people say steemit has changed their life, and in a sense it's changed a lot of lives to more or lesser extents.
Though I can finally say that it's helped to change my life and I look at it a lot differently now.

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Artwork done by @yeszuzia here on steemit and instagram.

It's not all good, there is some bad and I will get to that. But.. It is mostly good and positive. :)

So.. After posting for over a year like I had posted on other social media for years.
Mostly just as an outlet to my opinion on political matters, or other issues about the world.
From history to philosophy to photography to basically whatever was on my mind.

I started making money for doing that and also have enjoyed the lack of censorship and the great community as well.
All of those things were major to me which pulled me over here. And I still don't know why so many use other social media like Facebook still.. I only use it to keep in touch with friends who haven't moved over here to steemit.

With all these new ideas coming to the block chain and people coming up with ideas for their own coins and utilities and infrastructure and all the various tech associated with this blooming industry.. I wanted to sort of create my own unique idea..

And I thought about it for a long time.. For a couple months. I wanted it to apply to as many people as possible.. And since I believe "everything" is information.. That was a main aspect of this new adventure into an almost sort of.. Alternate dimension and virtual world.

I also saw a number of big names doing contests on steemit and doing well.. Which made me think I should do something similar as well..

And I had done a photography contest on Facebook for a long time.. I think years.. So I had experience already with this, the photography contest did well, it was decently popular and had a good community.

In addition to that I've been trying to get into making movies, and after watching a video on YouTube about helping people in that niche they were talking about how each video on YouTube is sort of like a digital property.. People come into your property and check it out, sometimes they leave good feedback sometimes it's not so good. But.. It's a social exchange and dynamic.

And I had a favorite game I played growing up called Suikoden where you had a castle and were joined by a group of heroes to create your own sort of free society and eventually you get confronted by the "evil empire" so to speak. Heh.

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Artwork by @yeszuzia on steemit and instagram

I started looking at my social media pages as a digital castle in the virtual internet world. And all the people who visit my pages are like.. People who are coming through the castle, some are friends, some are not, some are just neutral and perhaps interested in trading or doing business or whatever.

Then I sort of combined all those ideas into a contest game with a digital castle and an amazing community of heroes and unique and interesting people have sprung up!

I had been and still do deal with a good amount of darkness and depression at times, and I had seen some clips on YouTube as well from a video game designer lady who helped use video games to heal her from an injury she had.. She started to look at life sort of like a game.. And I'm trying to do that more too. It's been helping me a lot.

It's almost like I get to relive that game I loved so much as a kid, but.. It's real life now, with real people.. All around the world.. And we're like going on quests together and trying to help others.. It's truly mind blowing to me and at times I question how this could even really be happening?

There's tons of high quality high resolution video games out there with amazing realistic graphics and so much..
And here I am somehow.. With an idea so simple.. There are no graphics.. It's just.. People sharing information in various forms like text and pictures and videos and stuff on the internet..

But.. This simple idea, thanks to steemit and the new technology with this social media allowing us to pay people and exchange wealth to interact in such ways.. It's like.. Even a simple idea like this, can be so powerful.. There's a whole community that has sprung up organically that is having a lot of fun and it just blows me away sometimes that this is all happening from such a simple idea I had combined with the new technology of steemit, and then.. The absolutely amazing community that has sprung up.

Not to mention the artwork from yeszuzia which blurs all of this together so well, I feel like the people in this community are like real heroes. It's such an awesome feeling to be able to belong to such a group of people.

I feel like it's been healing and therapeutic. It's made me a lot less depressed and a lot more positive and active in life. I'm exercising again and going out in the sun a lot and I generally wake up excited every single day to see what's new in this IFC world. Almost every day we have something surprising and positive and neat and interesting..

And.. Even if steemit does fall some day, or when it does.. I think the IFC can adapt and move to new media. I don't think it's limited to steemit, but.. I am incredibly grateful to steemit for allowing this idea to come into fruition.. Without this social media, this idea never would have come into place. Will always have much love for steemit because of that.

I mean if you think about it.. It's pretty amazing and revolutionary that you can now get paid to play games.. I think that's awesome..
And our game is sort of like a classical MUD RPG, you can level up and gain artifacts and relics.. And the players get artwork drawn up of their characters in the virtual worlds..

To get paid to play a fun game! That's super cool.. And.. I think most if not all of us have been learning a lot too! It's been so rewarding in so many more ways than just monetarily! But that is a strong point, and a big reason why a lot of people even use steemit in the first place.. It's for the money. For me and some others it's more than just that, like the lack of censorship and great community.. But for some it's just about the money.. I acknowledge that.

I just had some steem saved up from posting for a bit over a year.. And I set aside some time to think it through and hire some judges and then have continually asked the community for guidance and help in creating and sharing all of this..
That's truly fascinating to me.. That Someone like myself who is rather poor in reality, could post for a bit over a year and have enough money to start a contest/game that pays people to play.. I mean.. Wow... pinches self

A major part of this is the sponsors we've been fortunate enough to be helped by. And after having some health stuff recently and being overworked by all this, a number of the members of the community came together to help take the burden off me and help keep all this going..

That tells me there's something special here, and that simple idea on this new social media platform, and meeting this amazing group of people that gives me more hope back in humanity.. Has changed my life and made me a lot less depressed.

Sorry if I repeat myself sometimes. It's a good and bad habit.

The bad parts of steemit and the concern are mostly the people exploiting the rewards. And people at the top not giving enough back to the community and those who we need to help this all grow.
many people are turned off my too much consolidated power and wealth and that's what is happening here. It makes a lot of people not wanna be a part of it.

I'm not the only one who thinks its a major problem, there's been another whole game created by people on steemit to help combat it which I think is amazing and sort of similar to our game.. In fact.. I want to make a quest to ask the people try to come up with more solutions for that problem.

I really hope they don't ruin it for all of us, this could be an amazing platform and we could all help each other grow in many ways..
But, if some are too greedy they could destroy it for everyone.. That is a major concern.

I'm not sure if there's much we can do.. It's part of "freedom".. It happens in the real physical world economies too.
And I think if things ever do get really bad, that steemit will sort of be like Iraq in a military sense in the sense that.. A vacuum will be created.. If people mass sell and it goes too low, I think others will buy it up for themselves and try to make it their own.. I think steemit may be around for a long time to come! With people wanting their sort of "share" or place in the digital world. So.. I'm very optimistic long term, but.. Still a bit concerned as well I admit.

I decided to wait until 5000 followers to share my most prized photography image.. But.. Here's a pretty cool one I took the other day. :)

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It's a little blurry and just from my phone, but oh well it's a pretty sunset and it's new!

I mean it when I say that this group of people has given me back more hope in humanity.. I never totally lost hope, but it seems pretty grim sometimes! We might extinct ourselves in a lot of ways and life for countless on this planet is really bad.

This idea was also partly based on a job I wanted to get into called "Online Research" where you sort of act as a human google and find information for people on a human level. Yet this even takes it to a whole new level in my opinion. The sky/imagination is the limit in regards to the kind of quests we can do.. And while a lot of these are sort of simple right now.. I think in time especially if we get a LOT of players.. That these quests could become more challenging and interesting! :D

The supportive and helpful people at the IFC and the nature of how we can send people on quests to help others.. Really tells me there could be a amazing potential here.. I think the IFC is much more than just a game.. I think it's a lot of things, including an amazing community of caring friendly people and I think in time we may help change the world for the better in numerous ways. It's an honor to do this with all of you who happen to read this and I look forward to continuing this adventure with you. :)

Oh and.. There are a couple other similar ideas out there now.. There's another social media called I think.. Provoco.me? Where they pay each other in crypto currency to do challenges.. And just the other day someone left a message on one of our posts about a contest they are doing that sort of involves a wide variety of subjects. So.. I dunno if we were the first or not to sort of put into effect a diverse mental challenge game that pays the players, but.. There's numerous out there now and I appreciate the competition. :)

I think even if they have a lot of money and support, that what we are doing is still unique and different enough to be it's own thing and have it's own niche.. We have a unique world with a crystal castle made by a great artist and UFOs and a plush godzilla and so many unique and interesting and supportive people.. Who care about others and who want to help.. I just am not aware of anything else out there quite like this.. And I'm thrilled to be a part of it all. <3 I have high hopes for the IFC in the future and I hope it's still here many years from now.

I've spent much of my life speaking out, and also creating artwork like poetry and movies, but this is different.. This feels different and almost more meaningful in some ways.. It's hard to explain..

By the way because of Dtube and dsound and dlive and steepshot and all of these other apps, it gives me a lot of hope that steemit will be around for a while! A lot of people are getting tired of old corrupt and censored media and are ready for something new.. And that's refreshing to see! :D I say bring on the new and seeya later Facebook and other less useful/corrupt social media! Oh and I'm not personally too worried about the low price of steem right now, I think in time it will hopefully go back up! Especially after the official release, we're still in beta and steemit has the most transactions and is growing rapidly in users. Who knows, I dunno much. but I am optimistic!

Another thing I wanted to mention about the IFC before I go is that.. Back in the early days I remember telling charisma777 my vision and we talked about how this idea could sort of be like that Pokemon GO game which was super popular and had lots of people out in the world getting exercise and being in nature.. And then recently we had at least one comment from a player maybe two comments about how the game reminded them of Pokemon GO.. And I was like.. Whoa..

It was from a special quest one of our players named kryptocek came up with, a scavenger hunt type of quest to go out into the world and take pictures of items for a list, and.. Pretty much everyone who played that round said they had fun, including myself.. I don't wanna be redundant.. But I really think there could be something very special here.. A game on the block chain that helps get people out into the world and into nature to go on quests to help others.. I hope in time we can turn this into an even bigger and more amazing adventure for everyone involved! :)

One more thing before I go, we recently did a quest for people to find a "power spot" and share a picture of it with us, a power spot is like a place where you feel more powerful or in tune with nature or whatever and.. We got en entry from a family who went out on the beach and wrote IFC into the sand.. And they took a picture of that with the kids playing in the front on the beach and it just made me a bit emotional.. It's like.. So many people are stuck in front of their screens and.. This game is helping to get people out in nature more.. And be with their family and have fun and play together.. That's amazing to me.

K I'ma shut up now, I typed forever! Lol. Sorry. Also sorry if my thoughts were a bit scrambled and I was all over the place, I was sort of stream of thought writing. Bye until next time!

PS If you're curious about any of this feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer. We're looking for more players and people of all kinds to be involved in the IFC and there's still time to win the 155 steem grand prize this season.

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Congratulations on the followers, and i don't think when talking about how fun something is that it ever becomes redundant. Those two get off your asses and into the real world rounds were pretty fun, and a lot of people played, and got out to explore a little bit. Even I did for the digital scavenger hunt.

I have seen a few other games, long term games, cropping up, they say imitation is the best form of flattery, I think you hit on a good idea/concept with IFC, and it is nice seeing others try to emulate it. We, (steemit), are a good group of people I think.

Thanks bashadow! And heh. Good to know! I was a bit all over the place but that tends to happen with stream of thought kind of stuff and that's how I like to write, as it comes to me naturally.
And yeah! Those two quests were really neat. :) I'm exciting about the future possibilities and how we can further work the real physical world into the ethereal internet one or vice versa. I'm sure you get what I mean.

And yeah I agree with your sentiments at the end there! Whether they copied it or not, they came up with similar ideas one way or the other whether it was spontaneous or otherwise and I think that's a good sign that other people are thinking similar things! :) Also.. Yeah.. In general the people of steemit seem to be of a more benevolent nature in general, but like most if not all groups, there are those who have other motivations in mind. But.. I think it's better these days to focus more on building the new than trying to fight the old or other ways.. I think if you bring more people to your idea, that's better than trying to take away from others or to fight it too much. There's a word I learned not too long ago called I think.. "Bricolage".. Which means to sort of.. Create something new with what's already there.. And I like that word! I wanna try to create something new. :) And I feel like many others on steemit and in the IFC do too! And that's awesome.

I think you have started something great here :) I have so much fun being a part of the championship and I' glad you're having a good time too @apolymask. and It's only gonna keep growing!

I think so too.. It's surprised me so much already in so many ways and we're kinda just getting started, I have a feeling it will continue to surprise me into the future! That's awesome to hear you're having a lot of fun too! That's really important feedback, each time someone tells me they are having fun.. I think that's a really good sign! :) If people can have fun while both making money AND helping others.. That is super duper cool! :D Will be interesting to see what happens! Thanks for the positive feedback and for being such a unique and awesome part of all this yourself. :)

All your hard work is paying off and paving the way for something great. You have started a community of people that have devoted interest in what you are doing and it shows every day with each new entry. It's been a pleasure being apart of this, and I think others may think the same way as everyone has been contributing in their own way. You're doing great! Keep the dream alive and accomplish those goals of yours!

Yeah.. I more and more believe it is.. It's hitting me a bit extra today as I see so many people active both on steemit and the discord channel... I'm just like whoa.. There's starting to be a lot of regular people here and a real community is forming of people from all over the world who want to help each other grow and play games together and have fun and adventure.. It's really amazing and continues to become more and more positive and surprising and meaningful as time goes on. Thanks for being such an important part of all this! I think in time the catch up rounds you're doing are going to be incredibly important and helpful. And.. You're a wonderful story teller, so I dunno how it worked out like it did, but.. You're perfect for it! It's almost like magic the way it worked out similar to how your stories are kind of like magic. :) Thanks for being such an awesome part of the community! :)

I have to say, the publicly visible payout reward is one of the least good things about steemit. It really encourages the darker thoughts of comparison and envy. I have really tried hard to stop looking at it, but it difficult to ignore...

Anyway, you should focus on the great things that you have done here. IFC is one of my favourite parts of Steemit. The encouragement to write about many varied topics is a great prod to creativity! To think that before IFC, I didn't really write all that much, or at all! So thanks for the inspirations, I've been having lots of fun!

... and the community of @ifc is great, I get to read about many new people who are all a pleasure to meet on the discord. Including @plushzilla, who I intend to crush with overwhelming shilling about how great he is!

In regards to the publicly visible payout, I guess I sort of agree.. But I think the open nature of steemit where anyone can see everything is a good and interesting experiment in the direction of freedom and openness.

Thanks for the advice and for your feedback and thoughts about the IFC in general, it was helpful to hear that! And.. I remember at the beginning you said something somewhere I think in the discord that was like.. "I dunno what to think about the IFC yet, I haven't made up my mind" or something like that, so.. To me that says you were genuinely giving it a fair try.. And you weren't too quick to judge one way or the other, which I appreciate! And I'm glad you're having a good time and you appreciate the contest. :) That's really important to hear from me cause a significant amount of the people might either jump in too quick or reject it took quick, but to those who take their time and carefully try to understand it, I think that's some of the best feedback to get!

Also that's awesome to hear it's helped you write more and find that creativity and artistic expression more. :) I think writing is a pretty important art! If everything is language and information, the better we can utilize that I think the more we can sort of.. Move through a lot of the challenges in life. I'm more and more learning that words are some of the most important things, and you can easily apply that to music and use notes and sounds instead.. It's very similar in my opinion, we're all telling stories in various ways! Whether it's with a song, or an essay or a painting or whatever. AND.. I dunno what your thoughts are on politics and stuff like that, but.. I think they have an overwhelming grasp on the language game and we need to try to sort of.. Not let them get too high above us with their ability to craft stories and words and "spells" dare I say.
For when we spell a word.. Are we not sort of "spelling" a world into existence? Anyways.. Sorry about the lil tirade there. Hopefully it was well received cause my intentions were positive!

Oh and.. I totally agree in regards to the last part you mentioned there. The communit is epic, and in my opinion legendary and hopefully will go down in history. :) Time will tell, but I have high hopes that this could be a much more popular game in the future, and this core group of founding players, I think will always hopefully be fondly remembered in the IFC world. And.. Lol! in regards to the plush battle! Good luck in your efforts to crush him with kindness! :D

Wow, I'm not sure if I can give such a detailed reply at the moment, but the politics part caught my eye. I agree that words have power, but the formation of these blocks of power is paramount. The old idea of rhetorical argument is something central to my day job.

My friend who helps run the @musicapoetica account is putting together a nice series of articles on rhetorical argument. First one is up here

https://steemit.com/classical-music/@musicapoetica/rhetoric-and-rhetorical-figures-in-music-from-the-17th-century-part-1

And the level of community engagement and cohesion is far beyond what I see on other servers!

Finally just got around to reading that cause I'm so swamped and busy. That was definitely a really interesting read! And yeah I think sort of similar/related what I was trying to say. So you deal with rhetorical argument a lot eh? Definitely sharpens the mind if nothing else! Heh. All kidding aside, I do think arguing is extremely important, I've just argued so much in my life I need a break for a while. Definitely a critically important skill to have though in my opinion!

This gentlebot keeps giving me big upvotes... Not that I'm complaining, but I don't know why!

Anyway, yes, in our particular specialisation of music, where speech and music hadn't yet seperated, the study of rhetorical speech is quite important. Sounds and figures and they way they are used have meaning, rather than pleasant sounds.

I had also studied rhetorical essay writing (and scientific essay writing) at school and university. The way you present an argument or try to convince the reader/audience is based on old ideas that still hold true today.

Argument is perhaps the wrong word, it is the art of persuasion...

Word. That's cool! In regards to the last thing you said though about argument.. To argue just means to make a "point" so I don't really see it as such a negative word anymore.. I think we're often all arguing certain points in our daily lives! It's a pretty normal part of human nature, which I think is all the more reason to learn about it so we can know about others and ourselves better as well!

Yes, I agree that arguments is just a part of point making and it shouldn't have the negative connotation. However, what one of a few people believe is nothing in comparison to the wider beliefs! Unfortunately, 'argument' is loaded generally with negative qualities. However, I guess realising and harnessing these positive or negative aspects (perceived aspects) of words and phrases is part of the art of persuasion!

Well said! I generally agree. Though personally I do my best to stick up for poorly stereotyped words. There's a number that have just been essentially destroyed, when in reality they are neutral words that don't mean what people think.. Religion is a good one in my opinion. So many people hate religion so much they've come to see it as a bad word, but in my opinion based on research it essentially just means to collect some ideas into a group of ideas.. To sort of, clump ideas together to form a belief about existence.. And I mean.. I think we almost all do that if not all of us.. Whether we attach to some "mainstream" religion or group thought or not, I think we're all coming to certain ideas about life and forming a sort of "worldview" or perspective on things.

@apolymask,
Congratz bro! You didn't make a fast improvement, but you are one of the best example to all Steemians who can understand step by step achievements of yours goals in this wonderful platform! Next mile stone 4,000 >>> 5,000!

Cheers~

Thanks friend! That was kind of you to say. Glad to hear from you! I check your page from time to time, though did you stop doing the blocktivity updates? I hadn't seen one in a while. I really liked it when you did those. And yeah.. 4000 and then 5000 next and then.. To the moon? :) We shall see. Whatever happens, I'm enjoying the ride and trying to help others with what I've gained and learned as well. Cheers bud!

@apolymask,
Thanks for the inspiration! I was little bit busy with my professional works in last couple of weeks! That's why I have missed these updates so much! Anyway I will probably restart that series! Thanks for your kind inspiration and support bro! I will do my best!

Cheers~

You're welcome! Glad to hear you're going to do those more in the future. :) I look forward to checking em out! Cheers friend!

Congratulations @apolymask on you're steemit journey hoping to see you produce more quality posts and one day I want to see myself reach your level mate.

Thanks shaheerbari. I just checked out your page and I see you do a bunch of contests? You may wanna check out our IFC contest, a bunch of people tell me they are having fun. :)

@apolymask - Congratulations Sir... Your journey just begin Sir... A along way to go...

+W+

Thanks steemwija! Haven't heard from you for a while, hope you're doing well! :)

Congratulations Sir @apolymask
Sometimes I wonder when am gonna get to this level, but I know that if I work hard, am gonna get followers too, serious ones though.

Thanks! And it definitely took a long time, some others do it much faster.. It depends on other factors.. We're not all the same.. But yeah.. I think there's a lot of potential for anyone who works hard and has good content or ideas to share with others! :)

I really appreciate your advice, it will help me in no small measure.
Thanks.

You're welcome! All the best to you in your efforts!

Great post! 👍
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You got an upvote, you need to follow this account for more upvotes in the future 👊🏼

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Really good post! That's great! This is a motivation

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