Originally posted: 11 May 2021

If you typed "ouisims.com" into the address bar and found yourself here, it means that two things have happened:

1. I (finally) worked out how to successfully execute a URL Redirect, and
2. OuiSims is changing.

Because my worldview is partly rooted in video games and I best express myself through metaphors, the most intuitive way for me to describe this change is that OuiSims is undergoing a process of Digivolution.

Digi-vo-what?

Digivolution is a concept from the anime franchise Digimon (Digital Monsters). The Digimon are creatures that inhabit the Digital World, a parallel universe residing within our digital communication networks. Digimon start off as cute eggs that eventually evolve into progressively more powerful and some not-so-cute creatures. This is Digivolution.

Digimon is #2 of my Top 3 Childhood Animes, second only to Yu-Gi-Oh! and, yes, ahead of Pokémon (sorry not sorry)

One of the critical differences between evolution in Digimon versus Pokémon is that a Digimon's evolution is neither fixed nor, to a large extent, promised.
There are nuances here with Pokémon but let's go with this.

Depending on the training and experiences that your Digimon endure, different evolution paths are unlocked and, conversely, locked. Some paths are longer than others. You might get all the way to an all-powerful Mega Digimon or be stuck for the rest of your Digimon's life as a mediocre Champion (just kidding, have you battled Seadramon? A ruthless Champion indeed.)

Even more important than complex evolution mechanics is that you cannot control when Digivolution happens. It's a mix of diverse experiences, timing, and luck.

OuiSims' Digivolution Path

I started 2021 by proclaiming that this year would be OuiSims' best year yet and that I was experimenting with different content, upload schedules, etc., to achieve this lofty goal.

Despite this vision, I still didn't know what to do to make OuiSims a more sustainable and enriching corner of the internet. Between posting erratically and boxing myself into a sub-sub-niche on YouTube (best laptops for The Sims 5, anyone?), my excitement for YouTube became restricted. I felt like I was doing all the "right things", but the channel still felt like more of a Sims FAQ page than a space for me to share (hopefully) helpful information and a bit of myself with my community and audience at large.

I needed help but didn't know who to ask or where to find it.
I felt like I was ready to Digivolve but (frustratingly) did not meet any of the hidden criteria to do so.
I felt a little like that stuck Champion.

One of the most unexpectedly powerful stimulants for my Digivolution has been the Part-Time YouTuber Academy. It's a 6-week live course by Ali Abdaal where he teaches people how to become YouTubers and, for those of us already on YouTube, gives us tools and techniques to enhance our current workflows. I'll write a more in-depth review of the course itself after the upcoming Cohort 3; this post is more about my personal shift in perspective on what it means to create content.

Among many of my revelations, I learned that I need to put more of myself into OuiSims. I need to make content that isn't just helpful or requested. I need to make content that is exciting to me.

Funnily enough, I wasn't as far off from this seemingly foreign concept as I thought. Ever joined a OuiStream? I livestream weekly between Twitch and YouTube with a schedule far more consistent than my video uploads. Without failure, I am absolutely bubbling with excitement for every stream. We play games, discuss the philosophy of gaming and internet life, eat (a lot of) chocolate, and of course, there's some technical stuff thrown in there too – I'm still me; I still love computers.

Through the OuiStreams, my CommOuinity (i.e. the awe-inspiring, wholesome, inclusive, supportive, kind, generous community that I have the privilege of calling Mine) was teaching me how to share more of myself with my content. This realisation felt like the ULTIMATE stimulus for OuiSims' Digivolution.

So this is my new Digimon Life Stage: I am merging Ouiza with OuiSims. That's why this website exists and I left the OuiSims.com domain: my technical guides should be in the same place as posts of this nature because all of this is part of me.

I have been beyond excited for this all, to say the least, and I think that that's a good sign.

I hope you enjoyed my very extended video-game metaphor and I wish you all the best in your own Digivolution journey.