Life with Seb Parkinson Seb Parkinson

I had my coronavirus vaccine

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Piers Morgan, Politics, Turning 30, Part-worn Tyres and Why buying a new TV is so damn hard.


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Welcome to part 2 of the Seb Parkinson Podcast New Year Special!
In this edition we interview our very first guest - Twitch streamer AJ Avenger, who joined the platform during lockdown and has thrived.
AJ, real name Adam, talks me through the ups and downs of streaming and why he got into it in the first place. Did Lockdown create this whole new career for him, or was it always his destiny?
To join AJ Avenger, subscribe on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/aj_avenger
Enjoy - and once more, Happy New Year 2021!

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In part one of a two-part New Year 2021 special, I talk about why I distrust the media and their agendas - local and online, why I deleted social media during lockdown, how I've managed to gain 5-stone in weight since 2013 and what happens when you tear your ACL playing football.

This will lead nicely into part two, which features Twitch stream, AJ Avenger, a man I can call a friend who I am going to quiz on what life is like as a Twitch streamer, how it has affected his mental health, why he chose to become a streamer and how his life has changed.

PS - Opinions and comments shared on this podcast are for entertainment purposes only and I ask that listeners do their own research and form their own opinions on the topics I have discussed.

Sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride.




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It's been a growing gripe of mine that microtransactions within video games act as more of a necessity these days than an easy way to advance.

The new FIFA 21 video game has just launched and with it comes a new Ultimate Team for people to spend money on to produce the best XI they can to win and climb up the rankings. But what happened to just playing seasons or online mode - or manager mode, remember that?

Ultimate Team has become a staple of the FIFA video game series and FUT Champs an evolution within the revolution. This game mode allows players to buy 'packs', much like 00s kids did with Pokemon cards or Merlin stickers during a football tournament year ("Got, got need").

The game mode isn't just a monetary based though, you can play it without spending, but will be severely disadvantaged against those that have due to the speed in which better players and attributes are obtained. This may promote those who do not spend money to begin spending money and thus the industry expands.

FIFA isn't the only video game series that offers this, you can in-game purchase on many modern video games, some of which are to advance yourself faster, whereas some are for additional content to expand the lifespan of the game.

The problem I have with what Ultimate Team on FIFA offers is that it's very much a lottery - which is gambling - what you get. In some games you can very specifically see what your additional funds are buying, whereas with some aspects of FIFA it's complete chance. There are levels to it too, with more lucrative options offering more lucrative rewards such as the 'walk out' as it's know, where a player above a certain status will generate an animation which in turn excites the player to thinking they have a top player. This is more often than not disappointing as it's usually not a 'top top player', but a high-mid-range player.

With social media being so dominant and many Youtubers sharing their FIFA experiences, it leads to gamers wanting to emulate the success of their peers and this is achieved either by playing masses of games to earn enough points, or simply scanning your bank details (or parent's!) into the game and getting that hit much faster.

Belgium banned these microtransactions in 2018, while senator Josh Hawley has lobbied for a similar outcome in the USA in 2019.

Parents, if your children play these modern games, please have a look at the screens they navigate through and ensure that these 'safe' games are actually safe, because they may not have guns and violence, but addiction and gambling is just as dangerous.

Thanks for listening. 


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Coronavirus is a pandemic like no other we've seen in our lifetimes. With a war we can see the devastation, with terrorism we can see the devastation. With most things we can see it happening with our eyes. Coronavirus isn't like anything we've ever experienced and in this one-off episode of the Podcast, I openly talk about my feelings towards the Coronavirus pandemic and how I feel it's not Coronavirus that is destroying our economy, it's the government and media brainwashing us. Yes, it sounds like I'm a complete nutcase, but there are so many people who feel the same way. There are people who are scared to leave their home, people scared to go shopping, to see friends, to go to the cinema. People aren't even allowed in open-air sports stadia. It's not about protecting people from being ill, it's about control. 



This is all my personal experience. I'm not a doctor and I'm not a front-line worker. I'm just a frustrated person who is angry at the Government and media and am using this as a way to express myself. Agree or disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And if you want to discuss this with me, let\s do it on the podcast next time.

To clarify - It's my opinion. Call it a conspiracy theory, call me insane. Call me uneducated, call me ridiculous.

Coronavirus isn't destroying the economy, the Government and Media are.


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