I could dress this up as professional networking. I could use words like collaboration and relationship-building. But let’s be honest: these aren’t networking goals. They’re a wishlist. I want to challenge streamers to pickleball, land a podcast appearance, and somehow find my way onto a Medium Build track. (I’m not above playing the cowbell.)
But there’s a reason these people are on my list.
These people have made me laugh, challenged how I think, and inspired me to try new things. Before I reach out with an unusual invitation, I want to explain what their work has meant to me.
That’s part of what Skilltree is about: bringing my interests together in one place. These five profiles have inspired that concept.
Jump to: Jynxzi · MoistCr1TiKaL · HisWattson · Lemon Party · Medium Build
Jynxzi
Jynxzi is a gaming streamer who plays video games live online and brings other creators together for competitions. He is also not my wife’s favorite person to hear coming through the speakers. (Something about all the yelling? I’ve hardly noticed.) Much to her dismay, I’m a fan. Underneath all the noise, there’s a real passion for games and competition, and I connect with that.
What I appreciate is how he turns a game into an event. He’s hosted a two-on-two Clash Royale tournament with other YouTubers, giving viewers familiar faces to root for and a competition to follow. To me, that’s where his creativity comes in. He isn’t inventing a new game, but he has given people a new reason to care about an existing one.
For example, Jynxzi helped bring Clash Royale, a strategy game that was released back in 2016, back into the conversation. Seeing people get excited about it again all these years later really hit that nostalgia for me. Supercell’s CEO credited Jynxzi, along with other creators, with helping bring renewed cultural relevance and new players to the game.
I’d like to bring some of that energy to Skilltree. Could I explain a paddle without bringing Pokémon into it? Probably. Would I enjoy that as much? Absolutely not. The jokes may get your attention, but I want you to leave with more than a laugh. I want you to leave having learned something useful.
The Goal
We have some impressive pickleball players in Southern Indiana, and I want more people to see that. My idea? Get Jynxzi and any two friends from his streamer circle on a pickleball court. I’d bring two of my friends for a team challenge inspired by Major League Pickleball. We’d stream the whole thing, and I intend to destroy him in front of his own audience.
We would agree on the proposed format beforehand. This would be our challenge, not an official league event. Nobody has agreed to anything. The trash talk is simply ahead of schedule.
See It for Yourself
- An earlier-stream retrospective: a starting point for looking at the work before the current scale.
- A Siege one-on-one against a number-one opponent: the competitive gaming side I’m talking about. The ranking in the title belongs to his opponent.
- The xQc 99–0 Clash challenge: an example of making a game into a creator challenge.
- Football training with the Sidemen: a way into the football interest alongside the gaming.
MoistCr1TiKaL
When I was around fourteen or fifteen, my friends and I watched this guy with no face on screen, an absurdly deep voice, and a vocabulary that seemed designed to make us lose it. We would be crying laughing together.
I wanted to do that. I wanted to be the person making those videos. As a kid, I didn’t have the equipment or the money to make the version I pictured, but I knew how much fun his work gave us.
Years later, I found him again. He was showing his face, streaming, doing podcasts, and following all these different creative interests. I had built a picture of an effortlessly cool, confident person from the voice and the videos. Hearing him talk about his younger self complicated that picture in a way I really liked.
In his own account of university, he tells a story from his freshman year of college. Meanwhile, the work coming from that person had already meant something to people like me. The person making it did not have to feel as confident as I imagined him to be.
I admire how freely he moves toward things he finds interesting. Comedy, games, music, a comic project: he can care about all of them. Seeing that makes my own collection of interests feel less like something I need to apologize for.
That is useful for Skilltree. I can keep making something, let people see who is making it, and stop waiting for a perfectly confident version of myself to take over.
The Goal
Get MoistCr1TiKaL to talk about Skilltree in a video, in some way, shape, or form. An earned mention. Something I made being interesting enough for someone whose work I grew up loving to talk about it.
See It for Yourself
- The Most Difficult Game Ever Created Gameplay and Commentary: a 2010 QWOP video from that early commentary era. I’m not claiming this was the first one I watched.
- Anime Made My University Afraid of Me: his own recollection of the younger person behind the work.
- GodSlap: an example of the creative projects beyond commentary. The animation is credited to Sakowski Studios, not a solo animation by Charlie.
- The Gentle Men — Time Travel: another creative direction. The track credits list Charlie on vocals and Troy McKubre on music, production, and mixing.
HisWattson
I think I’m pretty good at Apex. That is part of why I enjoy watching somebody make decisions that show me how much more there is to learn.
When I was younger, I wanted to become a Call of Duty pro. I felt limited by my internet connection and my computer. Watching HisWattson brings back some of that competitive interest, but I also enjoy the person talking through the game. The self-deprecating jokes, the recurring bits, and the familiar rhythm make a long video feel easy to settle into.
The “washed” jokes are particularly funny when I’m watching him do something I find impressive. Then there is the streamer-loot joke: the apparently perfect item, the opponent who seems to need one hit, another moment that looks suspiciously convenient. I enjoy the joke. I’m not presenting it as a theory about how the game treats streamers.
What interests me most is the efficiency. Something looks effortless, but I can hear decisions being made. I get to follow the thinking rather than just watch a result I couldn’t explain. There is room for jokes and room to notice what could have gone better.
That is something I want in Skilltree’s educational side. Give people enough of the thinking to understand a decision. Make it enjoyable to follow. A list of impressive stats does not automatically teach me anything.
I take a closer look at that connection in the HisWattson deep dive.
The Goal
Play HisWattson in a one-on-one game of pickleball. My proposed deal: if he loses, he posts it on his YouTube channel. His agreement is still part of the goal.
See It for Yourself
- This Video Will Make You Better at Apex: a starting point for the teaching side of his work.
- This Video Will Make You Better at Solo Queue: another guide focused on the individual player’s experience.
- I Played in Apex Predator for 24 Hours Straight: a long-form challenge presented as an Apex Legends movie.
- The Apex Experience With HisWattson: a conversation with Falloutt on Apex After Hours, offering another way into the person behind the gameplay.
Lemon Party
This one will make some people wonder what I’m doing. Fair enough.
I know the podcast’s style will put some people off immediately. For me, some of the appeal is the familiarity. It reminds me of how I talked when I was younger, before every sentence arrived with a calculation about what I might lose if I said the wrong thing.
That is my reaction to the comedy. I’m not asking everybody to have it. I can understand why a style that feels familiar and funny to me might feel unpleasant to someone else. Enjoying it does not make every joke harmless, and disliking it does not mean someone failed to understand comedy.
I get the impression of people I would like underneath a deliberately abrasive performance. That is an impression from their public work, not a claim that I know them privately. The gap between the performance, the person I imagine, and the way different audiences respond is part of what interests me.
I want to explore that without turning it into an argument that everybody needs to approve of what I find funny. Skilltree can have a personality. I also want people to be able to understand what they are walking into and decide whether it is for them.
The Goal
Get on the Lemon Party podcast.
See It for Yourself
These starting points include explicit adult material. They are here to give context, not because I expect everybody to enjoy the show.
- Episode 001 — Anthony Cumia High: an early example of the podcast’s format.
- Episode 037 — Tallent Show With Sam Tallent: a guest episode as another entry point.
- Ben Avery Interview on Catching You Up With Nadav: the publisher describes a conversation about learning production, collaboration, and creative risks.
- Ben Avery’s My New Website Post: his own account of the project’s approach to creative independence and hosting.
Medium Build
Medium Build is connected to why this whole thing is called King of Having Fun.
His music has helped me question some of the ideas I had about myself and what I’m allowed to try. In My Room, Downpour, and King of Having Fun are part of that connection. I’m still putting the personal story into words; I don’t need to invent a neat timeline for it to have mattered.
Pickleball has given me friendships and a reason to keep showing up. I want Skilltree to give us more reasons to come together, make something strange, and enjoy it.
That is where the never-ending tournament fits. Different game nights, the same characters, a story that keeps growing. You don’t disappear from the world because you miss one event. Having a reason to come back is part of the point.
The honorary point for Medium Build is my opening joke. He starts at the top because he helped inspire the thing. Then the first event gives everyone a chance to dethrone him. It is a playful invitation, not a claim that he is attending or endorsing Skilltree.
The musical goal is harder for me to say out loud. Performing in front of people scares me. Still, if I could contribute anything to a Medium Build song, even a cowbell part, I would want to do it. That is a real dream of mine.
The Goal
Contribute to a Medium Build song, even if it is playing the cowbell.
See It for Yourself
- In My Room — Listen on Spotify: one of the songs I named when explaining this connection.
- Downpour — Listen on Spotify: another of those personal anchors, without pretending I have finished telling its story.
- King of Having Fun — Listen on Spotify: the title that connects directly to the never-ending tournament.
- Medium Build’s Atwood Interview: his account of the album and the connection to making things with friends.
Where I’m Going With This
I’m a husband, a dad, and someone with a full-time job. I’m also serious about making room for these things.
If we can make a Saturday work, I’m willing to travel, even on short notice. Friday-night flight, Saturday challenge. The actual date and travel still have to work with my family and my job. The willingness is real.
I want the people who inspired me to see what I’m making. That would mean a lot. In the meantime, I can practice, build the thing, make the invitation worth reading, and keep showing up.
Not if. When. I will be the King of Having Fun.