Let’s Play with Coestar
The rise and fall of Coe’s Quest, looking to the future, and the risks of being creative
Many of you are familiar with Let’s Plays on YouTube; the uploader shares their experiences with a title, providing game play on screen with their own commentary. The Let’s Play community played a large role in "Minecraft’s" explosive nature with the free-form game play being prime selection for such commentary. In "Minecraft’s" fledgling days, David R.’s "X’s Adventures in Minecraft" and Seananners’s "Welcome to Minecraft" series both brought much attention to the game, but their channels were about covering a large number of games, always moving on to something new.
Feeling that it was time for a new "Minecraft” adventure, Coestar picked up the torch with “Coe’s Quest,” a series that began on Sept. 16, 2010, and running until its conclusion on Feb. 8, 2013. The game play documented Coestar as he explored the area, built forts and bases, and moved on to new parts of his map, usually upon the release of a new “Minecraft” patch. With a soothing voice, determined nature, and creative building style, Coestar built a quick following and was even an inspiration for many current Let’s Players.
However, after a brief pause in channel content, Coestar announced that his quest had come to an end on May 25, 2013. According to Coestar from the final video, “Coe's Quest/Youtube Post-Mortem and Goodbye”:
[Continuing the series] relied on my enthusiasm in survival ‘Minecraft’ either increasing or remaining stable indefinitely. Today, I no longer have that enthusiasm. Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoy ‘Minecraft’ in many ways, late night PvP and map development to name a few examples. Vanilla survival, however, doesn’t hold my attention like it used to.
Three months have passed since that final video, and Player Theory got to talk with Coestar about his experience, his decision, and what lies ahead.
PT: It’s been three months since you brought “Coe’s Quest” and your YouTube channel to a close. How have things gone for you since?
Coe: This might be a dissatisfying answer, but: samey. I was in a downward spiral, and I'm still in it. Quitting YouTube didn't fix me - it protected my channel from me.
PT: You may get asked this often, but what brought about the decision to start a Let’s Play? Why “Minecraft”?
Coe: When I discovered “Minecraft” in Aug. 2010, it rapidly became an obsession for me. I was initially unimpressed with the game. I had only tried the browser applet version in an early creative mode, and I just didn't see the point of it. Then, I found Seananners' LP series. His videos showed me truly compelling game play in “Minecraft” that I hadn't realized before. Thanks to Seananners, I bought “Minecraft” and started watching LPs. The next LP I watched was “X's Adventures in Minecraft,” and I was solidly hooked on it. I used to put X's YouTube playlist up on my computer to watch while I went to sleep (much to Necomi's annoyance). [laughs] [PT: Necomi is Coestar's girlfriend.] When X stopped his adventure, I understood, but I was left unsatisfied.
Around that time, a friend of mine suggested that I try making an LP of my own. I had gotten a bit of positive feedback regarding my recorded voice, so I felt confident enough to give it a shot. I made a sort of "test" or "pilot" episode and shared it on reddit.com/r/Minecraft to lukewarm feedback (probably due to my delivery method). Still, it wasn't bad feedback, so I continued on and made the true first episode. After that, I started to develop a bit of a fanbase in the /r/Minecraft community, and we had a lot of fun discussions with each new episode. That was how I got started, and it went on like that for a long, long time.
PT: There were allusions near the end to frequent bouts of depression, lack of sustained interest in “Minecraft,” and dealing with comment trolls. What brought about the decision to terminate the series?
Coe: There are a lot of negative things that contributed to how things ended; there wasn't really any one reason or event. It's true that I was and am going through a difficult depression. It's also true that I finally lost interest in “Minecraft,” which I hardly play at all these days. As far as comment trolls are concerned, it isn't as though any one comment is to blame for anything that happened, nor is it really about "comment trolls" exactly. It's something that it seems like every artist/entertainer goes through and/or suffers from, which is the reality of having a large amount of people scrutinizing everything you say, everything you make, and every public action. It can be truly overwhelming and tiring. I think recent news in the gaming community has actually shown this is true. I think what happened to Phil Fish is a great example. If you are in anything less than a perfect state of mind or if you're vulnerable in any way (and most of us are), it will eventually wear you down. The only thing you can do is try to deal with it the best you can.
Other events in my life had already wore me down. Making “Coe's Quest” was a sort of escape from something else going wrong in my life. This is probably unknown to the viewers, but “CQ” ended up being a sort of documentary of the death of my hopeful, optimistic self and my descent into depression and cynicism. My various disappearances were really dark times for me mentally, and my final return (E209 to the end) was an attempt to rekindle some of that dying happiness. I know this is sounding pretty awful, but I've found it's best to just speak honestly about how I really feel. It actually feels good to just put it into words.
Anyway, when it became obvious that I wasn't getting better, that I couldn't rekindle those old feelings, I realized that it was time to stop. To continue wouldn't have been good for me, the audience, or anyone. It was just time to move on and focus on other things.
PT: David R. and many other LPers were met with pretty harsh backlash when shifting series from “Minecraft” to other games. Did you meet the same resistance during your short-lived “Terraria” series ("Coe’s Bane") or your multiplayer footage with Avidya or Necomi?
Coe: For "Coe's Bane" and "Coe's World," the reception was wholly positive, amazingly positive. I was at a peak of popularity at that point, so I think I could've done almost anything, and the audience would have been supportive (as long as I put proper effort in). Later on, after I had my first month and a half disappearance, I lost a lot of support. I think they felt betrayed, and I don't think that feeling ever went away. In hindsight, I did betray them. It wasn't intentional, but I let myself drown in my feelings and didn't tell anyone where I went.
PT: Were “Coe’s Quest” fans more supportive or resentful for the finale?
Coe Massively supportive, for better or worse. My departure video was my most successful video in 2013 (in terms of views and participation; the video was not monetized). It makes some sense as it was an interesting "event" as opposed to the usual routine, which generated much more attention than normal. A relative handful of viewers were angry and lashed out, but they represent a tiny minority. For example, in the final video I recommended that viewers unsubscribe, because I wouldn't be uploading any further videos. Probably a few thousand did. The channel has continued to grow since then, however. All of my numbers are in still in the positive, and I'm still gaining new subscriptions - I just passed 90,000 subscribers the other day! So, in the end, I can at least be proud that I managed to remain at least "friends" with my audience. I'm glad they don't hate me after all of my shortcomings.
PT: What kind of response did you get from other LPers?
Coe Mostly understanding and a bit of shock. Most LPers don't quit; they change, and they move on from failures to new things. Especially if they have big subscription numbers, quitting is unheard of. One neat aspect was learning about a few LPers who I didn't realize were old fans of mine. I never expected that. I'm proud to have been able to inspire a lot of other LP creators.
PT: When you returned from your previous break from the series, there were rumors circulating that you were being considered to join the Mindcrack server with Guude, Avidya, and all the others. Was there any truth to that? Is that something you would have considered?
Coe I don't believe there was ever any reality to the rumor, just hope. It seems that the majority of my fanbase had become part of the Mindcrack fanbase, so I have a lot of supporters there. I am often cited in "how I found Mindcrack" discussions. I'm also friends with and played regularly with many of the Mindcrackers. Thus, it's not surprising that such a rumor was born. It was, however, only ever a rumor.
PT: Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will both allow livestreaming of console games through Twitch.tv. Do you think edited material on YouTube will have any place in the coming years, or will livestreaming be the future of Let’s Plays?
Coe: At the moment, I believe livestreamed content and edited content are distinctly separate forms of content. I don't believe that one will ever replace the other. Generally, when considering such things, I look at the older established mediums. Television, for example, has had both live and edited content together for many decades. The same goes for radio. I believe online live streaming and edited videos will likely evolve similarly.
PT: You were a part of Dewtroid’s popular "Minecraft: Resonance Cascade" video and have shown a flair for impersonations in your livestreams. Do you ever consider voice acting?
Coe: I would love to be a voice actor, but I haven't the experience nor connections to make it happen. I think I could die happy if I could voice a “Serious Sam” or “Duke Nukem”-style character in a ridiculous FPS game.
PT: What games are you looking forward to? What are you playing now?
Coe: I'm still chewing through a big backlog of games, but I do have a few that I'm looking forward to. I'm very excited for “Final Fantasy XIV” this weekend; the game is amazingly good considering they had to scrap the first attempt. I'm also dying to play “Shadow Warrior.” I'll always have a place in my heart for over-the-top FPS games. I'm also looking forward to “Starbound” and “X: Rebirth.” If I ever scrounge up the money, I'm guessing that combining “X: Rebirth” with an Oculus Rift will probably be one of the best gaming experiences I'll have in my life. I'm very excited for “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs,” as well. I absolutely love horror games, and “Amnesia” was truly fantastic at generating real horror - not just gore and tropes. I'm thinking of having a month-long streaming horror-fest in October. [laughs]
PT: What are your current or future plans, gaming or otherwise?
Coe: Right now, I'm trying to find myself. I'm still in a really bad place emotionally, financially, creatively ... even physically. I'm trying to find answers to get away from all this negativity. The honest reality is that I just haven't found them yet. It's not uplifting or hopeful to say, and I really wish I could be this inspiring role model type of person, but I'm not. All I can say is that I'm trying and hoping it gets better. Hopefully, honesty is appreciated over fluff.
There are positives, though. I have made some new friends recently that understand what I've been through and have had similar problems. I'm realizing how important it is to have people like that in your life. I still have my ambitions; even though they can be a curse sometimes, they're also a reason to fight on. I need to fix myself so I can achieve those ambitions, so I can make games, art, and music again. That's my only real plan right now.
As Coestar said, his channel is still active. It is still a fun series to watch, and may even give players some ideas about what to do next in their own adventures in “Minecraft.” Coestar is still active on Twitter (@Coestar), and maintains connection with fans through his own subreddit, /r/Coestar. Although he currently has no plans to upload new edited material to YouTube, he does livestream regularly alone or with others on his Twitch channel.
