Growing up, I would spend every afternoon after school gaming for hours. It was my passion to play all the games I owned and attempt to complete them. I would show my parents or what few friends I had my accomplishments. I’ve always had the deep joy of sharing that experience with people. I was born to be a Videogame Content Creator and share my passion for gaming.

I was what people called a “loner.” I had friends, but I’ve never consistently been part of some sort of friend group. I’ve always been an outlier, someone different, someone that doesn’t go with the grain and fit in with all the rest. My time in the virtual worlds of videogames on the NES, SNES, and Commodore 64 were an escape from loneliness and an ever-growing challenge to stimulate my reflexes and decision making. I realize I’ve always been this way, in everything I do I must blaze my own trail because not only am I unlike the others, I don’t want to be.

What I do now, ultimately connects me to others, I share the joys of the incredible worlds and journeys of gaming. I share the passion, the joy, the anger, the fear, and the anticipation with others now. That is a very powerful thing and I don’t take it lightly. I’ve met amazing people through gaming, both near and far, we get into deep conversations and go on wild adventures together and are there for each other in ways some “real life” friends are not.

I played every game I could get my hands on, thumbed through every Strategy Guide for solving puzzles along the way, saved allowances, mowed lawns, worked in the family business just to rent a game that weekend or purchase new hardware. Every Birthday or Christmas was a chance at another game and another console, and it is something I never grew out of. Who would want to?

As I grew up, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. While other people were going to College to slip into their endless career roles, I knew I wanted to do something different. I thought that would naturally be some form of Game Design. While that path did not work out, I later took Psychology courses because I was passionate in learning about human behavior and helping people. As I took those courses, I started taking Guitar lessons to develop the hobby I had for playing Blues & Jazz.

That later developed into a major passion of mine that led to a degree in Commercial Music in Guitar and Vocals. I later took this education to form a band, a solo act, and be Music Director of my Catholic Church for many years playing Guitar. Music and Songwriting has always been a passion for me in my teenage years.

I grew up listening to music from the 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s, it wasn’t forced on me by my parents but something I absorbed and loved. The Blues naturally influenced a lot of Rock I grew up listening to. I found it to be the deepest and most heartfelt music I had ever heard. Little did I know my passion and love for this music would become an outlet to overcome the sorrows and difficulties of life.

Another hobby I had ever since I was a kid was Photography. Ever since I was a kid, I would run around with toy Cameras, my parents old Cameras, and disposable Cameras cataloguing my adventures as well as family moments. Even if they didn’t have film, I was snapping photos and making the sounds myself, winding the film even as it was empty. In 2016 I purchased my first DSLR, the Canon Rebel T5 and knew I had to pursue this passion in a Professional context, even if I kept it as a hobby. During this time I took pictures and videos of the family dog, my Beagle, Presley.

I would later go on to discover my passion of Scenic and Wildlife Photography. That would lead to me shooting Weddings and Quinceañeras as a way to make extra money. I would show some of my Scenic and Wildlife work at Coffee Shops and small Galleries. Not long after I started a Blog to share my work and catalog my adventures, my journey of learning photography, new features of my Camera, my Lenses, and advanced settings.

Naturally all of these hobbies and career choices intersect in the Gaming and Content Creation space. As long as I am able to include a healthy balance of all my passions, I knew this would be what I needed to be happy as I enjoyed a healthy career built around my passions.

I started streaming on Twitch recreationally in 2014 when it was added as an app on the Xbox One and allowed me to stream directly from the console with no extra hardware. One of my earliest streams was streaming the Resident Evil Remake for the first time, all in one sitting, as the live chat guided me and encouraged me to figure out the puzzles, manage my inventory, and survive deadly encounters in Spencer Mansion and the areas around it. I remember the viewer count hitting over 100 viewers. People curious about purchasing the game on the Xbox store were seeking my opinion and watching my experience in order to judge if the game was right for them. I felt like I had struck gold but that experience was short lived when I would immediately begin to play something else. Variety is the spice of life for me after all. I could never build a career by simply streaming one game over and over, no matter how much I enjoyed it, I had to share my passion for both the latest games and the legacy of the ones that came before.

I livestreamed on Twitch for 7 years and the last few I was exporting VOD’s (Video on Demand) to YouTube to archive my work. I had been an Affiliate on Twitch for several years, making an income that allowed me to purchase my first Gaming PC in 2016 and to slowly purchase all the gear I would need to deliver a professional and high quality livestream. When I realized my subscribers and viewership was growing on YouTube faster than it ever did on Twitch, I made the switch in January of 2020. I started making videos, tutorials, livestreams, and growing on YouTube. Some viewers from Twitch would still tune in and new ones would come in especially as I shared my knowledge of DC and Marvel Comics while playing games like Batman Arkham Origins and Marvel’s Avengers.

In April of 2020, I started my podcast, the Shackcast. I’ve always wanted to have my own show, to be an entertainer, to inform, and educate people. Going back to when I was a child, I pretended when I played with my toys that each different set of figures I played with was a TV show on a Network that I hosted. My Max Steel and GI JOE figures were their own show, my plastic Army Men, my LEGO’s had many different shows including a little sitcom house I made out of various extra parts of other sets. I would often have a desk with notecards and an empty coffee cup I would pretend to sip on, where I pretended to host my own Late Night Show and News Channel at times. I would even sneak in ad breaks. Podcasting came naturally to me, as a part of my experience with livestreaming and crafting videos and people telling me I had a gift for Narration and had a “Radio Voice” I knew this was something I had to pursue.

The Shackcast started with an Interview, then led to monologues, guests from the gaming space, game reviews, updates on videogames, news in gaming, and a chance to host and promote my friends. This show would have to become the new center, the meeting place for everything I do to intersect somehow as viewers/listeners would get to slow down from all the gameplay and tune in to something real and authentic.

Three years into my YouTube journey, posting Shorts, uploading to TikTok, and continuing with all my hobbies and passions, and remaining balanced, logical, and authentic are some of my core values in the space. I’ve created a Merch store, offer Membership tiers on YouTube, and now a Website to further professionalize, memorialize, and monetize all my passions. I appreciate you reading this and I hope you also enjoy in the delight of my shared passions and become part of the conversation and the community.

Thank you for your time. Here’s to many more years of entertaining.

Aaron Shack